THE SEARCH BEGINS

Zev returned to his room for a sweatshirt because the weather outside the bunker had changed and it felt very cold but before leaving he went to greet Luna to tell her what had happened, she was dying to go but due to her health it would be impossible, they he wished the best of luck from his bed and Zev went with the others.

"Do not forget that we must be discreet so that the reinforcements cannot use their loops, understood?"

They agreed. They climbed into an armored all-terrain truck and began the march toward the assembly points of The Community snipers.

"Hey Evander," Ocean called him.

"Tell me."

"We have to separate."

"Are you breaking up with me?" He was paralyzed.

She looked at him, puzzled.

"I mean on this mission," she took him by the hand, smiling slightly.

"Ah…" he sighed, outlining a subtle smile, "Why?"

"Trust me," she caressed his cheek.

"I always do," he kissed her forehead.

They let go of hands and each one was going to go to a different point. Zev noticed that separation and ran straight for Evander to intercept him.

"Evander!" He called him.

"What?"

"Since you and Ocean are not going together, can I go with her?" He put his hands up in supplication, "come on, can I go out with her just for today?"

Evander was enraged when he heard him say that, he wanted to kill him with his own hands.

"How dare you ask me that?!" His face was red with anger.

"It's not what you think," he lowered his gaze.

"So, how is it? Damn weakling," you could hear his heavy breathing.

"I want to apologize…"

Evander didn't expect that, his exalted mood dropped when he saw Zev with another posture. The black-haired boy was willing to let his guard down with him but the pleasure wouldn't last long.

"It's just that she and I were a couple a while ago, about a year ago, I still remember it and I ruined everything," he lowered his head hoping not to break down in front of the blonde.

"What are you saying?" He took a long breath before exploding. "Better get out before I kill you!"

A gust of wind accompanied his aggressive expression and Zev got up to run away from him. He didn't know how to interpret that but he didn't take no for an answer either. He headed towards Ocean at full speed to catch up with her, she felt his presence so she started walking faster.

"I don't want to keep running towards her anymore but if I don't, she won't come towards me," he thought grimacing with disgust, "if I hadn't been such an idiot, everything would be different."

After complaining for a few minutes, he began to hear a whistle in the distance and saw that Ocean stopped immediately.

"Ocean," he said to her.

"Shh," was interrupted.

The whistling seemed to diminish until it disappeared, however, in a millisecond a roar surprised them from behind.

"Move" she said, holding him by the shirt at shoulder height to get him out of there.

Zev didn't understand anything but he listened to her and ran along with her. The sound seemed to spread towards them but the more they fled, the further away it got. Soon a voice was humming.

"¡Oh no! This is bad Ocean, it's the girl's song."

At some distance from both of them was Jolene with a group of snipers and next to her, Maeko. As always the woman was experimenting and the girl followed her instructions.

"How much can you expand your musical waves, Maeko?"

"My vocal cords can't make my voice reach more than a hundred kilometers," she looked at her blankly, "I have to use the loop if you want to catch the traveler, mom."

Maeko looked at her decisively, Jolene had no choice but to look away for a few seconds, she really wanted to capture the traveler but that meant a lot of risk for her and her men, she was afraid that Maeko would play a bad game. The girl couldn't use her loop at her own will as Jolene had her threatened.

"How much magnitude does your loop cover?" She asked, looking for something in her bag.

"Up to those mountains," she pointed to the landscape.

"Very far from here," she took out a pair of glasses, "bring me the rabbit."

Maeko's eyes widened and a sniper pulled out a small cage carrying a brown rabbit.

"Franky!" She exclaimed with a twinkle in her eyes.

"You can use your loop as long as you don't betray me," she said as she took the rabbit out of the cage and put it on her lap, "Okay?"

Jolene took a knife in her hand and pointed it towards the rabbit's throat to cause Maeko a reaction, the girl simply nodded, she wouldn't betray them since the life of her little furry friend depended on it.

She walked a few meters away from the rest, then brought the index and ring fingers of her left hand to her third eye and uttered almost in a whisper.

"Infinite sound loop."

A sonic boom impacted as far as the distant mountains, catching Ocean and Zev on the way. The ground for them began to move non-stop, the beeps were sharp and they had to jump down covering their ears.

Many sounds were mixed in their eardrums, audible, inaudible, soft, loud, subliminal and more, causing them to collapse, blood gushing from the openings of their ears.

"What a nuisance!" Ocean said, trying to get up.

"What is this, Ocean?" he yelled, fearing that she wouldn't hear him, but when she did, the echo of her voice resounded with force.

"Shut up, don't yell at me!"

Ocean got up and in her desperation began pulling out some of her hair. Zev stopped her, tried to calm her down but it was difficult.

"This is a loop, isn't it?" he murmured, thinking that this way his voice wouldn't sound as loud as with the scream.

Ocean nodded in affirmation. Zev analyzed the situation. The girl with the murderous song was the owner of that loop but the effects of her power were different from just listening to her song. It aroused the murderous instincts of people but the loop was on another level, it made you want to end your own life.

Ocean was hurting herself, ripping her own arms and pulling her ears hard.

"I have an idea," he murmured. Zev was more aware than her, so he gave her some advice.

"Focus on a single sound, the one you want and make your brain only listen to that one."

She tried but when she wanted to choose just one, the others attacked with more force.

"Try it."

"Keep talking," she told him knowing it was easier to focus on his voice.

Zev started spouting nonsense after his sentences finished, it sounded ridiculous but that way he could keep Ocean's sanity. He thought about diverting the sound to get out of that loop but he didn't have the head to do it.

"We'll never get out of here," she mentioned, falling into despair.

"Yes we will!" he exclaimed.

She hit him on the arm, it had bothered her that he raised the tone of his voice.

"We have to go out because I want to tell you something."

"Some of what?" she asked, annoyed.

"Something…"

"Stop being mysterious, dammit!" She raised the pitch of her voice causing a pain in Zev's eardrums.

"I need to apologize, okay?" he blurted out, "also, don't you want to see Evander again?" he questioned, clenching his fists tightly.

For a moment, Ocean felt relieved and stopped paying attention to the rest of the sounds, seeing Zev containing everything inside him snapped her back to reality. She was about to speak until he stopped her.

"Don't say anything and just listen to me."