Chapter 27

"Ngh..."

Aidan woke up! The sudden groan alerted us.

"Wait!" I said in a voice as low as possible, hoping that Aidan would fall back asleep.

The seconds dragged on painfully as we waited anxiously for his reaction.

Finally, Aidan opened his eyes, panic evident in the way they darted around the room. When he spotted me, his forehead creased in a scowl.

"Tes, what are you doing?" he demanded, his voice harsh.

Without waiting for an answer, he looked around and asked, "Where are we?"

I remained still. Something felt off. This impulsive big guy should have jumped at me already. There's the thing with his disabled legs. But his arms should work fine.

Moments later, after a prompt analysis, I noticed that he was paralyzed. He could only move his face.

He barked like some kind of monster, frustrated for being unable to see me as I stood in his blind spot.

"Tesla! Answer me! Where the hell are we? Don't tell me... are you bringing me to that damn organization? Get me home now! Hey, are you listening?"

My mouth opened as I considered the possibilities of what happened. I recalled the sleeping syrups Aidan had taken. The amount should be accurate as my time to administer it hadn't come, and Persephone or Nadia wouldn't make a mistake.

"Can someone force himself to wake up from a sleeping drug?" I whispered to Izara, who was right by my side.

"It's not impossible. I've heard of such cases in the past," she replied.

Izara had lived long enough to know a lot of things in the past, even the ones before the Parliament spread HRD through the air. I trusted her judgment.

"Get me back home! This is kidnap! What did you do to Nadia? Is she alright?"

His accusations continued to fly at me. I tightened my lips before angrily scowling back at him. "Do you think so low of me? Is this how you've been seeing me? As a vile person who is able to hurt her best friend..."

I glanced at his legs and corrected myself. "...intentionally."

He wouldn't back down. His eyes were piercing. "I don't know. Are you a vile person who is able to hurt her best friend, intentionally?"

It was me who lost in this menial fight, in the end. I lowered the tone of my voice when I told him, "She's fine. I won't hurt her."

"She'll freak out when she finds out I'm missing," he argued.

"No, she won't. She is in on it. Who do you think injected the sleeping syrup into your body? I don't have the knowledge."

Aidan's mouth opened but he closed it again. His eyes widened. "No way. Why would she betray me?"

It hurt me that he thought of this as a betrayal. While it was true that we went against his wish, we did it for his own good. I crouched beside him.

"The analysis will take time, Aid. We don't know if we have enough time. You know that the government's plan is to make puppets out of its citizens. This is our best bet right now. Please understand."

Even if they embellished it with nicer terms, such as protecting humanity or whatever, taking control of human brains was a despicable action that would turn humans into living dolls.

Aidan looked away. "You ask me to understand you when you can't even understand my wish to die."

He closed his eyes, unwilling to talk more with me.

With that, I fell silent. I picked up the box handles and began to roll the box forward with heavy steps.

***

After some time, we arrived at our destination. It was a run-down, abandoned building with all windows shattered.

Scipio kicked the wooden planks that were barricading the entrance and shoved some old furniture to clear a path.

Debris and rubble covered the floor, and occasional rustling and creaking could be heard as the wind blew through the deserted building.

"Is this the right place?" I raised the question.

"It should be. I was here when he came to me, and he told me to come back here," Scipio responded. Despite the confidence in his voice, he looked a bit confused.

"Maybe he's late," Izara offered a possible explanation of why we were the only ones here.

"Maybe he drops out," Aidan chimed in, still with his eyes closed.

"He won't," I denied. Then, I hesitated. "He shouldn't, right, Izara?"

"If he does, I'll make sure he pays the price," Scipio said threateningly.

"I see that I don't have to play pretend anymore. Bye, bye, mask." Right at that moment, a boy with unruly hair entered the space. He took off his gas mask and let it drop to the dusty ceramic floor.

Aubin's hair was unkempt and sticking out in all directions, making him look like he had been running from something. But his breathing was stable.

His eyes were bright with a mischievous glint that suggested that he was up to something.

"We thought you bailed out," I said, my voice full of animosity.

"Me? Bailing out?" Aubin touched his chest, highlighting the worn-out parts of his shirt. He did wear another layer underneath, but this tattered look convinced me that he didn't care much for appearances.

Aubin continued, "One thing I can assure you, I'm a daredevil. That's why I accepted their offer to be the messenger. You just don't know what kind of person you would meet. Although transporting the packet is the most interesting part of my job."

"Packet?"

"That's you—the packet to be delivered safely to the headquarters. Well, the safe part isn't my responsibility. Since Ad Maiora only recruits strong people from Genesis, I believe this wouldn't be a problem. I'm actually more like a guide, yeah, you can say that. I volunteered for that, you know."

Aubin added a wink at the end of his long explanation. He seemed to be treating this as some kind of game. His lack of seriousness irked me, especially considering how hard it had been to drag Aidan here.

I stopped humoring him and suggested, "Shouldn't we leave now?"

The kid snapped his fingers and smiled playfully. "Got it. Let's get moving, otherwise, this young miss will develop early wrinkles from frowning too much."

I decided to ignore him and stepped out of the building.

Aubin hopped his way out, then walked backward ahead of us. I hated the smile on his face and couldn't help but feel distrustful of his true purpose.

"Can we trust him?" I asked Izara.

She inspected the boy for a while before replying, "I'm not sure. But this isn't about trust, is it? As long as he can lead the way, we would be fine."

Izara's insouciance stemmed from having her large hubby around. But I didn't share the same view. I promised myself to stay alert and looked for any missteps.

The road we were taking was desolate, with cracked asphalt that seemed to have been untouched for years. He originally led us to a narrow alley but retreated after considering Aidan's condition.

We made a U-turn and proceeded down the wide street. As we walked, we passed a familiar pile of old vehicles. The lane on its right led to the water source I used to visit.

Like other buildings in the area, everything was abandoned.

The farther we went from the meeting place, the more treacherous the road became. I doubted that many people ventured into this area.

That explained how Ad Maiora's people could enter Genesis without getting killed by NSS soldiers before the country was deserted.

The badly cracked asphalt exposed our feet to sharp rocks and dirt. The state of the road made it extremely challenging to push the rolling box.

"Leaving me here will save you a lot of trouble," Aidan spoke.

I didn't have time to argue, so I kept my mouth shut, only opening it to catch my breath.

Contrary to the hassle I was experiencing, Aubin had it easy with his light feet. He stopped once in a while to check on me.

Scipio and I took turns moving the rolling box, accompanied by Aidan's non-stop blabbering about how we should leave him behind.

Before we knew it, the sky began to darken with shades of orange spreading across the horizon, mainly because of the dusty air. The remaining tall buildings around us cast long shadows, while the shorter ruins were swallowed by the shadows.

"It never seemed this far with my automobile," I commented.

"Too bad we can't attract any attention. That's the whole idea of what we're doing. We need to discreetly slip out of Genesis," Aubin said, making exaggerated gestures as he spoke.

"But it's empty now."

"Yeah, you're right," Aubin said, already aware of it. "But the wall is still too high for us to climb, no? Of course, there's the special path that your government took. But then again, it must be locked."

He solidified his choice of path, reminding me that other options were not viable.

My arms were sore from pushing Aidan's rolling box, and I could hardly feel my feet. Night had fallen when we arrived.

The hidden door was barely noticeable, blending seamlessly with the concrete floor in an abandoned factory. It was covered with holes, perfectly lined. Aubin probed the floor with his delicate fingers, upon finding something, he smiled at us and pressed his index finger on one of the holes.

"The door looks almost imperceptible to the naked eye, but for those who know where to look, this is the way out," Aubin explained.

The door beneath us opened, revealing a narrow platform leading to an unfinished tunnel. Izara coughed as she adapted to the damp and musty air underground.

Deeper in the tunnel, the air grew colder, and Aubin's flashlight was the only light source. The sound of our footsteps echoed off the wall. If not for the exhaustion, I wouldn't be able to tell how far we had traveled.

Finally, we reached what appeared to be the end of this tunnel. Although I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. "Isn't this a dead end?"

To be continued...