Chapter 10

"Aid, are you alright?"

He showed great discomfort at my concern. He closed his eyes and rolled to the side to avoid my scrutiny. "Be quiet. I'm just tired."

Tired? Aidan Bathory said he was tired? Something was definitely off.

"Let me see your face," I turned to the other side of the automobile to see him. He immediately rolled around, but I had seen enough.

The glow in his ever-so-radiant amber eyes had dulled considerably. His pupils shrunk.

"Did you, by any chance, inhale the outside air?" I pushed.

"Ugh. I'm fine, Tes. You worry too much. They cut the oxygen in Zone A last night. My folks warned me against exercising—haaah... like it's something I could do."

The free supply reduction only happened yesterday. It was impossible that he got worse overnight as he claimed. It must be the effect of his headache.

But festering him further might not bring better results. I needed Mom to extract a blood sample from him. Only a thorough examination would my mom determine what was wrong with him.

So I pretended to not care about his pain and focused on being who I usually was.

"The supply shortage that you mentioned before, seems out of hand now. To cut off the supply of the richest zone is a big move. Thousands of officials are there. What if they strike? Wouldn't it be disadvantageous for the government?"

"It's a huge risk no one would take at this point. Officials are being laid off. I heard the NSS came to their homes and forced them to leave Zone A. I have no idea where they went. But Zone A is almost deserted."

"The school was empty this morning," Nadia noted.

"What will happen to them?"

"Your guess is as good as mine."

I let out a deep sigh. The system balance of Genesis had been shaken up pretty badly. "This country has been in lousy shape lately."

"Tell me about it! President Irwing temporarily takes control of Genesis until the Parliament assigns a new Prime Minister—"

"Why? What about Prime Minister Pachis?"

Aidan looked around and whispered, "She's in jail. We can't talk about it here. Let's go to your house."

Before heading back to my automobile, I gave the twins the vitamins in my custody. "More pills for Aid."

The roaring sound of Aidan's vehicle told me that the twins were close behind me. Once we were in the vicinity of Zone C, I saw a familiar person get caught in a fight.

It was not even a fight. Several people just brazenly kicked and punched Varg, who was crouching on the ground. I stopped my automobile to assess the situation.

Then I realized that he was in that position, and not running away, was because he was acting as a shield to little Roxy. "Stop!! You'll hurt her. Stop! Please. She's just a girl," he screamed.

About fifteen men, a quarter of them were bulky, surrounded Varg. None of them had weapons. It showed that they didn't see Varg as a threat.

"Shut your mouth! Dammit! Just shut up, won't you?!" the hooligans howled.

"Don't hurt my daughter. She's done nothing wrong to you." Varg moved his body a little, enabling me to see Roxy curling with her shaky body.

"Tell me your sister's hiding spot. Give us your supplies!"

"I don't know. I don't know," Varg wailed.

I jumped from my automobile. I grabbed the jacket of one of the men, hauling them under my arm and slamming his body on the ground. I took a step forward and grabbed another man by his neck. I twisted it until he fell to the ground.

Then I sent knee kicks while flying in the air to about three men.

They were all caught off guard and were surprised to see my entrance. "What the hell?!" one of them shouted.

"Leave them alone!" I shouted.

Amidst the commotion, one big man seized Roxy from Varg's feeble defense. "NOOO!!!!!" she cried out.

"If you do anything stupid, I'll kill this girl." The man held Roxy's head with his big hands, ready to crush it anytime.

"Hold on, Tes. Don't be reckless," Nadia said beside me while holding my wrist. I didn't know when she got here. Aidan was beside her. He was rather pale. But the sick Aidan was still far stronger than all these shrimps.

Varg's face distorted as he witnessed his daughter in grave danger. Hopelessness was drawn across his face. "Why are you doing this, Kiri? Aren't we neighbors?"

"You killed my family!" The man roared. The veins in his arms bulged.

"What?" Nadia muttered in confusion.

"My sister did," Varg corrected. "I had nothing to do with this."

"If it is the supplies you want, I can share mine. But first, let her go. Don't do this. You don't want innocent blood on your hand. You won't be able to live with the guilt," Nadia tried to dissuade him.

The big man frowned. He gritted his teeth and said, "You don't understand."

"No, we do. You're just trying to survive," I said.

"Don't you know us? Him?" Nadia pointed at her twin sibling. "We can give supplies to your families."

"Shut up! Just shut up!" The man shook his legs anxiously. Nadia's words seemed to get into his head. He started to waver. Nice one, Nad!

Varg suddenly latched into my leg. "Tes, please save her. Save my daughter. She's just a child. You're strong."

"Shh!! He might let her go," I said to him.

Instead of turning calm, Varg did the opposite. He got up with all the strength left in him and charged at the man. "UAAARRRGGGHHHHH!!!!"

"Shit!" Aidan rushed forward and pulled him back to our side. "Are you out of your mind?!?!"

"B-but... Roxy..."

"Keep quiet for now! We're trying to get her back alive."

The big man huffed. His whole body was shaking. I had no idea what startled him that bad. He had the turf card. And the one lunging forward was a wimp. What was he scared of?

Roxy's breath became short. She had difficulty breathing. "What's wrong? Nad, what's wrong with her?"

"It must be the shock. Roxy, sweetheart, calm down. Take a deep breath. He won't hurt you, okay?" Nadia tried to soothe her from this distance.

"Shut up!! SHUT! UP!!" The man paced aggressively back and forth, with Roxy's small body dangling from his arm. "I don't wanna do this. I don't wanna do this."

"Kiri, come on!" One of his henchmen shouted.

"If you don't want to do this, then don't. I know you're not a bad guy. Just because your body is bigger than anyone here doesn't mean you're scary," Nadia said.

"Keep going, Nad. It's working," Aidan whispered.

She raised her arms high. "Look. I'm not looking for any trouble. I'm unarmed. As you can see, you can fling me easily if I try anything funny."

Nadia took a step forward.

"Nad, what are you doing?!"

"Nad, stop! It's dangerous!"

Nadia turned around and looked at me and Aidan with determination. "Let me do this. I'll be fine."

"Nad!!!!"

"AAARRRGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!" It was really the worst time for Varg to act like a good father without a brain. He bolted forward before thinking of the consequences.

"NO!!!"

"Stop!!!"

"SSSTTTTOOOPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!"

As Varg jumped forward, the big man opened his eyes wide. His hand moved, almost on its own.

CRACK.

What was that sound?

Shit. What the hell was that sound?

To be continued...