48 A Transaction

"This information is top secret, even I wasn't told-" the soldier paused immediately as he saw Jay pulling his katana out again.

"Please, I really don't know the details, I just know that people like you are called innovators, and apparently your friend was also one and he was transported to a local helicopter pad to be taken to a hidden military base. I really don't know anything else," the soldier immediately spilled what he knew.

Alex was also an innovator, like him? Jay was only getting more confused by the answer.

"Tell me, what are innovators," Jay paused for a second and asked.

The soldier was also a bit confused too, not expecting a higher level innovator that could stomp their squad captain, Mr. Kitzu, to not know about what they were.

"Sir, I will tell you everything I know. Innovators are basically humans with enhanced spirit power, with a body capable of producing GN particles. The spirit essence from your body fuels the production of GN particles, and those particles can be used for different purpose. For example, what you just did earlier was, you coated your katana with crimson-grade particles, making it a lot sharper than normal. Mr. Kitzu coated his body with the particles which functioned like an armor that can deflect bullets, and he also learned how to heal wounds with the particles. I heard the GN particles have a lot of other functions, but I swear I've told you all I know, can you let me go please..." the soldier pleaded.

"Get out of here. His backup is on the way. He didn't get a chance to reveal too much about you over the radio before we came, so yeah, you should probably kill him, unless you want the whole world to know about your power and hunt you down," the dulcet voice sounded again from the depth of Jay's mind.

"Wait, aren't you napping," Jay thought.

"I changed my mind, okay? Just finished eating the spirit essence snack here. You can't nap right after you eat or you will get fat, don't you know?" The voice sounded again.

"Oh, you can hear me without having me to speak out loud? Awesome, now I won't look like a weirdo when I'm trying to communicate with you." Jay let out a sigh of relief and popped a bullet into the soldiers' head.

"Jay..." Elon and Christian didn't know how they should feel.

"He has backup coming and he has information on all of us. We already lost Alex, we can't afford to take any more risk. Showing mercy to our enemies is being cruel to ourselves," Jay said as he went into the van and scavenged for any supplies.

Elon and Christian knew Jay was right. They indeed had to adapt to a new way of living now in this apocalypse. Elon went and drove their good old pickup truck over while Christian began collecting any useful supplies he could find from the dead bodies.

"Kitzu squad, Kitzu squad, this is Red Panther squad, what's your status?" a voice spoke through the radio.

Thought for a second, Jay pressed down his voice and said back to the mic beside the dead soldier, trying his best to imitate the dead soldier's voice, "Safe. They didn't spot me and traveled west on 8th St in a blue van. They captured Mr. Kitzu."

On the other end, the person grew a bit suspicious. "Soldier, report your ID."

Seeing that he might've been exposed, Jay immediately hung up. "Hurry, we got to go!"

Elon immediately drove over, and they just grabbed whatever they could and immediately left.

...

- Helicopter Pad, Outside of Miami City -

Two military convoy vehicles arrived, and the soldiers greeted another group that seemed to be in combat gears that were a lot more advanced than theirs.

"Here, four million in cash. Load those two guys in." The group waiting at the helicopter pad threw two bags onto the floor for the soldiers to pick up.

Although it was a bit disrespectful, the captain leading the two military convoys still picked up the money with a big smile on his face as his men carried Alex and another guy into the helicopter. The two were still unconscious.

While the transaction took place, other soldiers stationed themselves around the takeoff zone to secure the perimeter. Expressions stern, their hands tightly gripped onto the gun with the finger laying on the trigger, as if they were anticipating for a battle to soon break out. Surprisingly enough, despite the uniform, neither group was working for the government, nor were they on Nirvana's side.