Chapter 10

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As soon as the transporter and the ATBS had disappeared, the first soldiers joined Tyler's group.

"Zero, are you okay?" Carol asked Zero, who just regained his consciousness.

"I'm fine...", coughed Zero, surrounded by the girls.

Zane was relieved that the fight seemed to be over and that everyone was more or less in one piece. But it did not last, as panic broke out again shortly afterward.

"Sir, an Aku!" Screamed a soldier.

"There's an Infected!" Another was startled.

Carol immediately stood in front of Sora protectively and tried to shield her from the soldiers' views, who pointed their rifles at her. Asagi also tried to get up to support Carol and prevent the soldiers from firing at Deadra, who was standing close to Zero.

"Sir, what should we do?" Asked the ATBS, who was standing next to Tyler, nervously pointing his rifle at Deadra.

Zane was standing a few meters away next to Nathan. He looked around at Zero, the girls, and the soldiers, unsure of what to do. Like the soldiers, fear had seized him again as his gaze fell on Deadra and Sora. His hand began to shake uncontrollably while Zero struggled to straighten up.

"Leave her alone!" He coughed which made the soldiers all point their guns at him.

"Wait." Tyler's voice came through the speakers and the cockpit opened. Tyler jumped out of it before the ATBS could reach its waiting position.

"Did you bring her here, Zero?" Tyler asked, who the soldiers looked at expectantly.

"Yes ...", the soldiers immediately looked back at Zero and some began to whisper.

Tyler groaned and rubbed his neck.

Meanwhile, Sora and Deadra pressed carefully against Zero, whereas the soldiers took a few steps back.

"Sir?" One of the soldiers asked Tyler, who seemed to be in thought, looking around aimlessly.

Tyler looked stressed when he heard the horn of an approaching bus.

"They're here now, do what you want Zero." He groaned. "But I don't take the responsibility!" He walked back to his ATBS.

Confused, the soldiers lowered their weapons.

"Didn't he just take the responsibility?" Whispered one soldier to another.

"Thank you, Tyler...", Zero said barely audible when the hatchway to Tyler's ATBS closed as he got up again.

"We should get out of here...", Tyler looked up at the sky and then at the buses that were approaching.

"Deadra get back on the truck." Zero struggled back on his feet.

"Zero!" Asagi tried to support him anxiously when the others came to help him too.

"Zero, you have to see a doctor!" Nathan was startled, seeing Zero's injuries up close.

"It's okay...", he propped himself up on the sword.

"Zero...", Sora worried too.

"It'll be all right Sora, don't worry." He smiled at her and looked at Carol, who was also restless. "Are you going to the car with Carol? I'll be right behind you."

Carol seemed a little reluctant to leave Zero, but then took Sora by the hand and smiled at her.

"OK...", Sora looked at Zero again before leaving with Carol.

"Hurry up, you can explain the details on the way." Tyler's ATBS began to move.

Zane and Nathan propped up Zero and walked back to the truck together.

"Zane, you drive ...", said Zero as they approached the car.

"OK."

The battle in the sky raged on, but the Teikoku troops had apparently given up looking for Zane's group, which smoothed the rest of the way for them to continue.

As they passed the bridge, Zane and Nathan told Tyler how Sora and Deadra had ended up with Zero and where the sword came from that Zero was suddenly carrying around. They also reported about Kouji and that he seemed to have been after the girls. The distance across the bridge wasn't very far, so they kept the explanation short without going into details.

They also asked about the situation on the other side of the bridge, but Tyler only replied that reinforcements were already on their way. Meanwhile, Zero tried to fix himself provisionally with the bandages from a bag, which Asagi had carefully fetched from the loading area earlier.

As the convoy was about to cross the last few meters across the bridge, a message appeared on all screens, which was followed by a single ship that jumped into the airspace shortly afterward. The design was very different from all the other ships present. Ignoring the raging battle, it headed straight for the hospital.

"This is Shelter ship A54 speaking, the city is under quarantine. Stop all fighting immediately." The message sounded over the city and the Shelter logo adorned the screens on every device.

"Shelter is here!" Zane shouted happily and looked out the window at the ship.

Distracted by this, he began to stray from the path so Zero suddenly stretched out his leg and reached the steering wheel with his foot to get the car back on track.

"Zane!" Nathan yelled. "Look ahead!"

"Oh sorry." Zane grabbed the steering wheel again and Zero dropped his shoulders in relief when a bus honked behind them.

"This is a level two Outbreak, obey orders and follow the evacuation instructions!" The screen continued to echo as the logo swapped with a map of the city, showing three evacuation points.

One was in the north at the military base, another a little south of it at the other bridgehead, and the third was marked at the academy.

"Evacuation?" Zane wondered. "We're already evacuating."

"They're not just evacuating the combat area. They are evacuating the whole city!" Nathan expressed Zane's concern.

"What?" Asagi was startled.

"They can't do that!" Protested Carol, while Sora looked back and forth between the two, unsure of what it meant.

"Nathan is right." Tyler suddenly said from the console, only a small picture of him visible in a corner. "It was just announced that the leadership is giving up on Halsion."

"Seriously?" Zane couldn't believe it. "This is a joke, right?"

"Unfortunately not…"

Everyone in the car was quiet when they saw the end of the bridge ahead of them.

"OK, come to the evacuation point when you've checked on Ben. Maybe he's already on the way."

"Thanks Tyler." Zero said goodbye to him while everyone else seemed to be in thought.

"Take care of yourselves." Tyler's tab disappeared and only the evacuation plan remained on the screen, which indicated the position of the car.

Zane pulled into a junction and left the convoy as he vented his anger.

"They can't just give up the city."

"You might be right, but the government has its reasons for sure." Nathan tried to appease him.

"But that's our home!" Carol complained too.

"Many will no longer feel safe after the attack and will leave the city, even if we do not give it up." Nathan tried to explain. "Let alone the Outbreak."

Nathan received no answer and again everybody was quiet as Zero placed a syringe and exhaled with relief.

On the way, they passed several others from the neighborhood who waved at them and, like them, were on their way to the academy. Unlike in the city, the evacuation on the island was more orderly. The fighting and the Outbreak seemed far away here.

"Shit!" Zero suddenly cursed, barely audible when they saw the bar in the distance. Part of the facade had collapsed, revealing the inside of the bar.

As soon as the truck stopped, Zero jumped out of the car. "Ben!" But after two steps, he fell to his knees.

"Zero wait!" Zane got out and the others followed with worry.

"I'm OK, thanks!" Zero straightened up with Zane's help.

The sliding door opened to reveal the bar. Part of the rubble from the outer wall had fallen into the bar.

The tables and chairs were moved, overturned, destroyed, or buried in the rubble. Some of the bottles and glasses behind the counter were also cracked.

Everyone looked around in horror and wandered through the bar while Sora stopped at the door and grabbed the door frame.

Carol's sad gaze fell on the stool on which she had been sitting that morning. Splinters of glass had torn open the cover and the padding was squeezing out.

"Seems like a bomb exploded here." Nathan analyzed when it suddenly echoed between the tables and the rubble.

"Welcome!"

"Sound!" Carol was happy when Zero raised the small serving robot, which turned to them and showed them the evacuation order from Shelter on its screen.

"Unfortunately, we are closed. Please come again another time."

"Nobody's here." Nathan looked around while Sora stared at Sound fascinated, which made them all aware of the evacuation order.

"Please follow the evacuation protocols."

"Maybe he's already at the academy." Asagi added.

"Maybe, yes ...", Zero stood up relieved, holding his ribs. His gaze fell on Sora, who was still hiding behind the door frame.

"Sora, are you coming?"

Sora was startled and then slowly walked to Zero as if she were entering a sacred area while Zane and Nathan cleared the way for her.

He leaned down to her and pressed on Sound, which made a game appear on the screen at which Sora looked in fascination. She looked questioningly at Zero, who nodded in agreement. Sora nodded back happily and began to push around on the screen.

"What are we going to do now?" Zane asked, who tried to hide his trembling hand in the pockets of his jacket and waited for Zero to answer.

It was quiet for a moment, everyone seemed to be waiting for Zero when he replied.

"We'll pack up, for better or worse." He let his gaze wander through the ruined bar before continuing.

"Pack everything we could need. Asagi and Nathan, you check in the kitchen and on the ground floor to see if you can find anything useful. Carol are you going upstairs? "

Everyone nodded in agreement when Zane asked.

"What about me?"

"We're going to the basement Zane."

"OK!"

The group began to split up, Carol ran upstairs while Asagi disappeared into the kitchen, and Nathan looked behind the counter.

"Go ahead, Zane." Zero waved him in the direction of the staircase, who started walking down a little perplexed.

"Deadra...", whispered Zero, whereupon the tarpaulin began to move on Zero's truck and Deadra carefully moved from the loading area and hurried to the bar.

Zero leaned over to Sora, who seemed fascinated by the game and had already reached a high level.

"Sora you stay here with Deadra. If anything happens, call for me, OK?"

"OK...", she looked at Zero uncertainly before he ran a hand through her hair, which made her smile.

"Take care of her." He looked at Deadra and went after Zane.

Zane walked down the basement. The corridor was relatively wide because the bar, as a public space, had a slightly larger bunker than most private houses. In the room at the end of the stairs, Zane saw that the light was turned on and heard something rustling as he turned the corner.

"Ben?" Zane asked into the room.

Then he heard something fall on the floor.

"Damn, you scared me!" Ben cursed, frantically picking up the things he had dropped.

"What are you still doing here?" Zane wondered as he watched Ben put some pieces of paper together.

"I could ask you the same thing", he said annoyed. "You almost scared me to death."

"Sorry. Are you alone?"

"Yes, the guests have all left." He put the stack of paper in a box that was placed between the supplies.

"Is Zero here too?"

"You called?" Zero suddenly stood in the doorway.

"Zero." Ben greeted him happily.

"I'm glad you're okay!" Zero hugged Ben, who patted him on the back.

"What happened to you?" Ben looked at Zero, who was covered with bandages.

"We were attacked", Zane told him.

"Oh, are you all right?"

"Yes, so far, Zero got the worst of it."

"It's okay." Zero said and looked around. "Have you packed yet?" He asked Ben.

"I was just about to leave. Do you need anything else?"

"I'll have a look." Zero began to look around the shelves. "Zane, if you still want something, let me know...", it seemed as if Zero wanted to add something, but he stopped.

"Gladly!" Zane decided not to elaborate on it.

Meanwhile, Carol was walking through Zero's room, looking for whatever she thought was important. It seemed like she was packing for a trip. She had already ransacked Zero's closet and shoved some of the clothes she liked best into a large bag. Among them were some of her own clothes that she had left here because she had stayed at Zero's several times. In the process, she had stumbled across some chocolate bars and other sweets that Zero apparently wanted to hide from her.

She also packed various other items that she thought were useful, including a Japanese scroll that she and Asagi had once given Zero, as well as some pictures that Zero still had in print.

At last, her gaze fell on the bookshelf, without hesitation she pulled out one of the books and packed it up before leaving the room.

"You can't be serious!" Carol heard Ben yell as she came down the stairs. She wanted to happily greet him when she realized the situation before her.

Zero stood between Ben and Sora, who fearfully hid behind Zero and clung to his clothes. Deadra also stood behind the two and seemed to be looking at Zero.

"An Infected and an Aku? What do you want with both of them? Do you want to take them with you?"

"In any case, I won't leave them here!" Zero began to struggle while Nathan and Zane stood between the two uncertain of what to do.

"You know these things are the main reason we have to leave the island, don't you? You can't even bring them near the ships. "

Confused, Sora looked up at Zero, who seemed to be out words.

Zero and everyone else knew Ben was right. Sora, however, didn't seem to understand what was going on.

"I don't care!" He began after some hesitation. "I won't let her d...", Zero began when his gaze fell on Sora, who looked at him fearfully. "I won't leave her here."

"You stupid idiot ...", Ben grabbed his neck and turned away from Zero and Sora. "Do what you want."

There was silence and Ben disappeared into a room further back when Carol came to Zero.

"Everything alright Zero?"

"Yes, everything is OK..." he replied, clearly affected by the argument.

"Is ...", Sora began, looking up at Zero. "Is it OK if Deadra and I stay?" She asked him, intimidated by the argument.

Zero turned to her, knelt down, and started patting her on the head. The tears had already welled up in her eyes when Zero said to her: "It's all good. Don't worry, I'll take care of you."

The tears started to fall from Sora's eyes when she started to smile. Zero wiped away the tears and turned to Carol, who had also started to smile.

"Can you take care of her?" He started to stroke Deadra's head before he got up again.

"Sure!" She stood by Sora and started playing around on Sound's screen with her.

"Are you all set?" Zero asked Nathan and Zane, who had watched the scene wordlessly.

"Yes, almost. Do you have another bag Zero?" Zane asked.

"There should be a few more in the closet." Zero pointed to a closet in the hallway.

"We should hurry...", Nathan looked at his PDA.

"Yeah...", Zero agreed when he saw the bag on the counter that Carol had put there.

"What did you put in here?" Carol suddenly heard Zero ask, who had started to examine the bag she had packed when he turned a little red.

"Well clothes, the scroll that we once gave you, a few pictures, the book you always read to us, and the sweets that you tried to hide from me." She listed the contents of the crammed gym bag.

Groaning, Zero closed the bag again when a rumble could be heard in the kitchen.

"Everything OK?" Zero rushed to the kitchen immediately.

"I'm OK, thanks." Asagi sat on the floor with a few pots scattered around her. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

"No problem." He helped her up again. "Are you all set?"

"Yes, I packed some supplies." She went to a bag that she had placed on the kitchen counter. She opened the bag and wanted to show Zero the contents when she saw him looking around the kitchen. Then she turned away from Zero's sad gaze and closed the bag again.

"Oh sorry...", the sound of the zipper brought Zero back to the present.

"It's fine." Asagi smiled at Zero.

"Do you still need something from your apartment?"

"Not really...", Asagi mused. "Maybe some clothes, but that's not that important." She looked down at herself at her clothes, which had been torn and dirty from the fight.

"Right, I can't let you walk around just with that, let's get something from your apartment."

"It's okay, Zero, don't worry." She tried to dissuade him.

"Alright. Let's see what the others still need. "

"Are we ready?" Zane asked everyone when Zero came back from the kitchen with Asagi.

The group appeared to be split in half. On one side, Carol and Sora stood by Sound, to whom Asagi walked over, while on the other, Ben, Nathan, and Zane, who stood at a distance. Between them, Zero could hardly look Ben in the eye.

"I think so. Do you need anything else?" Zero asked the group. "We can make a detour to your apartments if you want."

"Maybe a few small things, but nothing important, I have most of it on my phone." Zane explained casually.

"I don't have anything important either, the only thing I would like to take with me are some magic books in my locker at school."

"Have you already packed?" Ben asked in amazement since it seemed as if the two of them just wanted to leave everything behind.

"I've already sorted out some things and, like Nathan, the most important stuff is in the academy."

"Most of my things have already been picked up for my studies."

"Ah OK ...", Zero remembered that sooner or later the two of them wanted to leave the island and the final exam was, in a way, the starting signal for both. "What about you guys? Are you sure you don't need anything else?" He turned to Asagi and Carol.

"I had the most necessary things here, I also packed Asagi's stuff." Carol explained while Asagi blushed.

All eyes suddenly turned to Asagi. Everyone knew that Carol had some clothes here as she almost lived at Zero's, but Asagi was surprising news to Zane and Nathan.

Zero had suggested Asagi to move in with him and Ben several times, which had always earned him a bit of teasing from Tyler, who asked Zero if he wanted to build a harem since Carol practically lived with them already.

"Uhm... OK, in that case we're all set?" Zero tried to change the subject, seeing how uncomfortable Asagi was.

"Let's pack up." Zane nodded.

"What do you want with that?" Zane asked when he saw Zero heaving sound onto the truck bed.

"Take it with us of course, it was very expensive!"

"You're hurt!" He rushed to Zero to help him.

"You OK?" Zane asked when they had heaved Sound onto the truck bed.

"I'm fine, thanks, I took a painkiller earlier, it seems like I got a bit overconfident." He grabbed his chest and rubbed the bandage with heavy breath.

"Are we ready?" Nathan asked when everything seemed to be loaded.

"Seems so. But we should get going anyway, most people are already at the academy." Ben explained, typing on his PDA.

"Are you coming Carol?" Zero turned to her, who was the last one standing at the front door.

"That's not fair...", she stared at the floor with clenched fists. "I don't want to! Why is this all happening!?"

"Carol," Asagi hurried over to her, who was starting to tremble, and tried to calm her down.

Carol hadn't really noticed the attack on the city or the outbreak in the hospital and when she got back to Zero, everything was too hectic to really grasp. Only now did she seem to understand what was really going on as well as the full extent of it.

"Come on Carol, we have to go." Nathan tried to get her to come along.

"But... it's our home...", tears welled up in her eyes while Asagi looked at her concerned. "I do not want to leave!"

"Carol...", Asagi tried to comfort her while Zane turned away with a concerned expression as Zero approached her.

Tears ran down her cheeks as Zero stroked her hair. With tears in her eyes, she looked up and hugged Zero, who continued patting her on the head. "Everything will be fine…"

"Nathan's right Carol, we have to go now." He said calmly.

"But...", Carol said and let go of Zero again.

Zero leaned down a little to be eye level with Carol and smiled.

Carol looked at Zero, the sadness in his eyes and smile was evident. It hit him as hard as it hit her, as hard as it hit everyone.

They all had their memories here - in the bar, the academy, the city.

Carol started to sob when Zero wiped the tears from her eyes and whispered something to her.

She looked at Zero with wide eyes, and after a brief moment of hesitation, she began to smile, still a bit depressed, and nodded.

"Ready?" Zero asked calmly.

"OK." Carol replied, wiping the remaining tears from her eyes.

It wasn't long before the truck caught up with the other evacuating civilians who had already gone ahead.

Zane sat in the passenger seat again and looked out the window. The back row was set up as earlier, Asagi, Carol, and Nathan, only the driver was different. Ben had taken the wheel while Zero was sitting on the loading area between the luggages, leaning his back against the cab. Sora and Deadra were with him, the latter hidden under the tarpaulin. The ride was smooth as Zero looked out into the city.

The smoke had covered most of the city.

The English ships had withdrawn shortly after the Shelter ship surfaced and had already jumped back. Only the Korean ships were left, which had withdrawn from the fighting at Shelter's command.

The ships on both sides had regrouped and it seemed as if the battle might break out again at any moment.

Everywhere, one saw smaller ships flying around, taking the injured soldiers and civilians left behind out of the danger zone. The evacuation had long since started at the military base. Some ships had already cast off and jumped into the next alliance area.

The sounds of battle were gone. Only in the distance could one hear a few explosions from time to time. Most of them seemed to come from below the Shelter ship, which had positioned itself between the hospital and the city center.

Every now and then, the ship shot to the ground, but other than that it seemed calm.

"All public channels are blocked, what's going on?" Nathan pressed on his PDI.

"Don't worry, the Shelter guys can do it!" Zane looked confidently at Nathan.

"You think really highly of Shelter." Ben commented.

"Of course, they ended the Second Outbreak and even united the factions among themselves."

"As a former UN initiative, it wasn't that difficult though."

"Still!" Replied Zane to Ben, who seemed to downgrade Shelter's merits. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell at you, Ben."

Ben laughed. "It's okay, no worries. I didn't mean to denigrate them. I'm sorry if I offended you in any way."

Zane nodded and looked through the rearview mirror at the ship hovering above the city.

"You have met Shelter before, right?"

"Yeah, I owe a lot to them...", Zane said, seeming to be remembering something when the screen suddenly turned on.

"Tyler?" Asked Ben in astonishment.

"What's up?" Zane also asked while everyone was looking at the screen in the center console.

"Ben? You are here too? Where are you?" Tyler asked, looking back and forth between the camera and his screens.

"We're already on our way to the academy." Ben explained.

"Good, hurry up then."

"What's going on?" Zane was surprised by Tyler's nervousness.

"The situation has changed. Shelter has ordered the city to be evacuated immediately."

"We have a level three Outbreak."