Chapter 122 People Think A Lot... Don't They?
[Author's Note: Even though I would like to give you guys a complete backstory of what happened with Michael and Leeway in the Fontaine Building. I won't. Not in this story, at least. I will just create another short story with about 5-10 chaps to elaborate the whole detailed outline of that event. "Code White" is the name I am going to give that story.
Should be out by the end of this month. Anyway, happy reading!]
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For the next few moments, everyone became silent as they observed me with shocked faces. The only one who knew about it here was William, who was there with me, Myla, whose father might have helped her find out about me. As for Caroline, it was probably her cousin who got her the information about me.
My eyes then traced Shawn as I asked,"how did you end up figuring it out?"
As far as I knew, the military kept it a secret, all the more because of how it would affect their reputation. If not for my mother pulling the strings from all sorts of places, perhaps they would have even killed all of us or something.
"Sir… it's because… you are a hero in my eyes… I… couldn't help but find as much as I can about you… I had found a couple of pictures in the military base secrets where I found a few things which I shouldn't have.
The information I could take out was still limited, but I still managed to take out a few things. Like your picture and…. Code Black's picture as well. Though since the picture was of 5 years ago, it took a bit of time to figure it out…" Shawn spoke with reverence in his eyes while Jeff and Clara looked at me with their eyes still in disbelief.
"Is that so?" I sighed as I saw no lies in his expression. Everything he said was more or less true. As for the secret…
'With all this apocalypse stuff, I don't think there is going to be any difference between people knowing about my existence or what not. In fact, they wouldn't even pay attention to it. Plus, I am strong enough to deal with these kinds of things anyway,' I thought before turning at Shawn and the others before speaking,
"Well… Sorry for letting you down, I guess. The 'Hero' Code White died a long time ago. All that is left is Michael Aroa." I then moved towards the unconscious Alissa and once again picked her up in my arms as I asked William,"Is there any place I can take her to?"
William pondered a little before speaking,"there is a nurse room on the 4th floor."
I nodded at him before moving to walk towards the staircase, though someone else came out of the gate first.
"William, you are back-" It was that b*tch, Arianna. She just looked at William with blood on his hands before she looked at the dead body of that hypocrite guy.
I saw her expression changing before her eyes began to widen and she shouted,"AAAAAA!!!!!!"
Though no one walked towards her to comfort her. The soldiers were just observing her. The few people who were there were still confused as before, as they still had no idea who was right and who was wrong…
'Or maybe they just don't dare to make any mistakes,' I thought as I observed their looks and analyzed them for a few moments.
"W-Wi-William!... What's the meaning of this?!!!" I could see Arianna's expression changing to horror as her eyes widened and she couldn't even begin to comprehend what was going on.
"He tried to kill one of the soldiers. We tried reasoning with him but he wasn't listening so I had to do this," William spoke with a bit of not so regret filled expression and Arianna focused on the girl who was beside William.
Looking at the carefree expression of Clara, her expression went from horror to confusion, and then a certain complex look appeared on her face as she spoke out,
"But..but.. You could have reasoned with him at least… You are strong enough to stop him from doing stupid things… at the very least. Couldn't you have just waited for me?"
Her eyes pleadingly looked at William as she moved towards him like a defenseless vixen as she was and under our gazes I saw her hugging William tightly as she looked up with those puppy eyes as she showed her cleavage to William and spoke,
"Can't you trust me even that much? We have been together in this apocalypse for so long… you… you… are the only one I can trust… I don't have anyone else…"
Tears escaped her eyes as she looked at William innocently. Though before William can speak anything, I began speaking,
"Does the military have a plan for people who survived? Anything that can help poor little Arianna?"
My eyes turned to Myla, and understanding my words, she began explaining without a pause,
"The military is trying to save the survivors within the city and providing them food and shelter. In return, all they have to do is work for them a little here and there. Manual labor of sorts, to help in building stuff, cooking etc."
I nodded at Myla before speaking,"I guess, since most of your work has been done here, you will be leaving sooner or later, won't you? It's going to get dark in a few hours, anyway. So I was thinking if you can take the survivors with you? Wouldn't that be best for everyone?"
When I spoke that, I saw the change in expression of Arianna's as her eyes began shaking as she looked at me. She turned to William for refuge, but William simply nodded in agreement as he spoke,
"Whatever you say, brother."
Arianna wanted to object to that, but then,
"Yeah! We can do that! I believe everyone above will agree too! But…how will we leave?" one of the people who was standing there spoke out with a bright face. The surrounding few also nodded in agreement.
Once again, Arianna was speechless. She wanted to retort, but the conversation just kept going.
"Is there any university bus around here? We can use that," Shawn added as he pondered and one of the men spoke out,"yeah. There should be a few in the parking area. But the keys should be with the guard."
"That's not really a problem then," spoke Clara as she stood up after finishing her popcorn. I saw her standing up and moving towards me as she spoke. "I am sorry for disrespecting you. What you have done for all of us is beyond what we deserve. I know you probably hate us for what happened and I think you have the right to do that… but for now… please rest. We will take care of things from the outside. Jeff. Shawn. Let's go." The childish nature of Clara was gone as she held her weapon tightly before moving out of there as I just looked at the three walking out.
After that, I just moved towards William and spoke in a low voice,"go watch them. Help them if they need and try signaling me if you can't handle it, either."
"What are you-" Arianna wanted to speak but
-Whoosh!
William just vanished from there before I turned to those men at a distance,"can you guys help me to the nursing room?"
Those men, though a bit skeptical, nodded before moving towards me and speaking,"this way."
"Myla. Caroline. Come," I spoke as I walked behind those men.
Just like that, everyone went to work without much words, without much action. Leaving only one woman behind who had words to speak but nobody to listen to those words.