Ch 751 - A Mysterious Sound

Ep751: A Mysterious Sound

As Alex and the others went deeper into the desert, the environment and surroundings began to change. Gradually, there were more rocks and uneven surfaces until, eventually, a large wall appeared just in front of them, blocking their way.

It was as though an earthquake had split the earth along a fault line, and the land on the other side had risen more than thirty feet. It loomed over them, but somehow, they hadn't seen it coming.

"Wait," Alex said, but before they could even assess what was going on, they heard a sound that startled them; it sounded like fighting and seemed to be coming from beyond the wall.

"Did you guys hear that?" Alex asked.

"Yeah," Sawyer replied. "But how can that be?"

"Sir, what did you hear?" one of the soldiers asked curiously. Other than the occasional sound of sand falling, he couldn't hear anything.

"I heard the sound of fighting," Alex said, frowning. "And it sounded like it was coming from inside the wall."

"How is that possible?" Sawyer couldn't understand what was going on. He looked around. "The operation has begun, and if we're late, the special forces will be under a lot of pressure. Do you think we should try to go around the wall?"

"We need to find out what that sound is," Alex said firmly. "If we go around, then we might miss something. Give me a grenade." He put his hand out.

Sawyer obeyed and gave him a standard military grenade. When that type of grenade exploded, it would send fragments flying everywhere. Although the range of the explosion tended to be small, it was extremely powerful and lethal.

Alex took the grenade and walked forward two steps until he could touch the wall. He reached out and knocked on it, but it was solid, so it hardly made a sound.

A gust of wind suddenly blew, causing loose stones to fall and dust to fly into Alex's face.

He turned his head to avoid it, and he heard the sound again, making him even more certain that it was coming from the wall. He swore he could hear the distinct sound of gunfire.

Puzzled, he stretched out his hand, clenched his fist, and punched the crumbled layer of the wall with great force.

Dust went flying in all directions, and fist-sized stones fell to the ground.

Everyone was shocked to see him punch so hard that he could effortlessly smash rocks. Even Sawyer hadn't known that he had that kind of strength.

He and the others looked at each other, knowing that a punch like that could easily kill a man.

Some of them, including Sawyer, had already witnessed Alex in action, and they had known that he was powerful, but they hadn't known just how powerful. They had underestimated him and his strength, and now it frightened them.

"Bring the explosives!" Alex shouted, with a crazed look in his eyes.

He punched the wall again, wondering if something was beyond it, like a hidden crevasse. He had seen something similar at the secret military base on the outskirts of Baltimore, and he guessed that there might be another underground space around here.

One of the soldiers brought over a small bag of explosives, and Alex decided to use that instead of the grenade.

"Everyone, retreat. Find a place to hide," he commanded in a deep, authoritative voice.

Sawyer was surprised. "You're not going to blow up this wall, are you?" he asked nervously.

"What?" Alex replied, scratching his head. "You don't think this is powerful enough to blow it up? Let's add some more, then."

"No, no, no." Sawyer wiped the sweat from his brow. "That's plenty. Enough to blow a big gap in this wall, but if we detonate the explosives here, won't we alert the enemy? That'll be bad for the operation."

Alex smiled and said, "Don't worry. Blowing up this wall will have unexpected gains; I promise you that. All of you go and find cover. You don't want to be too close when this thing goes off."

Everyone knew that they had no chance of persuading Alex to stop, so they quickly scattered in all directions. They hid behind piles of weathered rocks, peeking their heads out to look at the wall.

Alex tucked the explosives at the base of the wall and brought a rock over to place on top of it. The greater the surrounding pressure, the more powerful and destructive the explosion would be.

He then took the detonator, which was slightly smaller than his phone, and hid behind a huge rock. Once he was out of the way, he pressed the red button on the remote control, but nothing happened.

"What's going on?" he asked, frowning as he turned to look at Sawyer. "Why isn't it working?"

Sawyer looked down at his watch and replied, "There appears to be some electromagnetic interference here."

"Damn it!" Alex cursed. His plan had been foiled. The explosives were ready, but there was no way to detonate them.

"I'll have to do it manually," he said, gritting his teeth. Under the shocked gazes of the others, he went back to the wall and examined the explosives. He pulled out the fuse, which was the only other way to detonate them. It was riskier, but Alex was willing to take his chances.

He took a deep breath and looked back, trying to map out his getaway. The fuse was short, so he wouldn't have much time to run away once it had been lit.

After confirming his escape route, he pulled a lighter from his pocket and took a deep breath. Clenching his teeth, he flicked the lighter on, lit the fuse, and ran as fast as he could toward the safety of the same rock he had hidden behind the last time.

Within seconds, a huge boom shook the earth around them as a violent explosion erupted into the sky. Debris flew everywhere, and the group was suddenly shrouded in a cloud of smoke and dust so thick that they couldn't see one another.

No one knew if Alex had made it to safety.