49 World War III

[...this apocalypse changes everything and how we, the human race, will never be able to go back to how things were before…]

They had been on the road for about 10 minutes already.

Mark reduced the volume of the radio and sighed heavily.

David Dolan shook his head and said in disappointment, "And to think this was foretold but everyone refused to listen."

"That's more of Ivan's fault than anybody's. He acts so crazy that if one believed him they would have questioned their sanity." Mark counterjected.

David Dolan switched to a more relevant topic, "Since you're an officer, you should know the contents of the emergency executive order, right?"

"I quit yesterday. As for why? I can't tell you."

"No… please don't tell me you're trying to keep the 'police conduct'. Let's say you break it, can you show me the courthouse you'll get tried in this apocalypse?"

"There are things that need to be left unsaid. Still following proper police conduct even though I've quit is more about discipline. The government isn't allowing citizens to know because of a reason, and I assure you that reason is to protect people from themselves."

"Well no sh*t. It's the government, isn't it? This shouldn't come as a surprise. Everything they do is never against your safety even though it's invading your privacy."

Mark noticed David wasn't pleased with the situation and said, "They've more or less realized they're powerless against these creatures. Police officers and every military personnel shouldn't throw their lives away like that when it'll yield nothing. It's better to wait a bit and assess the situation."

"So that's what the executive order is about…"

Mark practically told David Dolan that part of the emergency executive order was an order to all forces to not act on any circumstances and wait until they know more about the situation. He succumbed and said,

"No one apart from you is allowed to know this, okay? If it gets out people will panic too much and most likely start obeying the phase rules."

After a few seconds of silence, David Dolan looked around as he held his shotgun and asked, "Have you noticed that none of these creatures is trying to attack?"

Mark replied frightenedly, "Y-Yeah. We must be lucky. Come to think of it… uh what did you do before this apocalypse began?"

David Dolan hesitated a bit before he spoke, "...I came back from my deployment three years ago and decided to be a stay-home dad for the moment. I was gonna go for an interview in a start-up company in about a week but… you know the rest."

"What about your wife? I-It's fine if you don't wanna talk about her..."

"Her job demands her attention 24/7."

"Aren't you worried about her?"

"I am, but I can't just leave our kids and go start searching for her. In the army, we were always taught to keep a cool head and act rationally. Sometimes, when we see it feels like we're just complete strangers."

"Did you voice your opinions on how her job was affecting your marriage?"

"At first… yes, then I tried to become more understanding. I left for months so it's not entirely her fault."

"Karin, my ex-wife, ended our marriage about 2 years ago after I got shot 3 times. She said there is something wrong with me because I didn't want to quit being a cop. But now… here I am. I quit in a way that made it seem… f*ck..."

"How old is your daughter?"

"9 years old, oh, I forgot 10. Her name's Rebecca…" Mark took out the small family picture he always kept and showed David, "She cries a lot and is always nervous. Haha, she's very smart too."

"She sounds like a nice kid. You're lucky she isn't in her teenage years yet…"

"Haha, what? Are you talking about Stephanie? She looks like a great kid."

"I remember once she locked me in my room because I didn't let her go to a friend's party… then came back an hour after crying that she hoped she didn't starve me to death. Ha, I'm sure her friend told her some dumb sh*t."

"Hahahaha, really? Wow, that's sweet. My daughter once went missing after school. I was so worried I asked for my whole department's help…

"In the end, we found her hiding under the last desk in her classroom. She was afraid to come home because her teacher said she was going to tell 'Officer Jordan' his daughter was talking during class…

"Karin almost ran mad that day. Haha! After that, we all went to get ice cream but Rebecca said she wanted potato chips instead. Damn… we were happy."

The atmosphere felt melancholic. There had gotten to a point there were little to no mindless demons around.

"All the more reason we should end this apocalypse." David Dolan said.

"The apocalypse… I spoke to Ivan again…" Mark paused.

David Dolan added, "He keeps on saying he can't tell me more about the apocalypse. I wanna break him but he's just an old man. Maybe… just maybe if I listened to what he was saying before the apocalypse…"

"There's no point in blaming yourself. Trust me, there are things beyond human comprehension at play here."

"..."

"Ivan also told me about the stuff between you and Damian… Is it true? What Damian did?"

"...Yes, yes he did it. He killed my first daughter." David Dolan said solemnly.

"How---"

"Stop the car! Now!" David Dolan shouted, stopping Mark abruptly.

Mark parked the car. They were just less than half a mile away from NYC Central Health.

They both got down, crouched and hid behind the truck.

NYC Central Health had about 5 large conjoined buildings with at least 20 floors each.

Mindless demons stood upright and in a horizontal file in front of the hospital.

"Ahhh! Someone help!" A woman wearing a suit and holding a microphone ran out of the building and was in front of a man that had a camera on his shoulder.

Mark got up to go help, "Let's go---"

David Dolan pulled him back down and said, "Let's just watch. We can't waste our ammo. This isn't what we sought out to do."

"Let me go!" The mindless demons were civilized in restraining her as she punched and kicked.

"Stay back!" The man holding the camera walked back slowly then dropped his camera bolted away.

Boom! A mindless demon that was flying landed on him and pinned him on the floor by using its leg to press his neck.

"Cough! Cough! Please, cough! Just take her alone…"

Mark stood up to go help but was once again held back by David Dolan.

"We have to help them!" Mark whispered.

"No, we don't! We have to check the state of the hospital. And now we know, we should be on our way. Time isn't on our side…"

David Dolan pointed at the demons and continued, "These ones aren't crazy like the other ones. Something's wrong. We can't be bothered by this as of right now. Damian needs to run experiments so we will definitely come back."

"...Damn. Fine, let's leave."

They got back into the truck and reversed slowly.

A shirtless man with grey skin, short black horns, bulging veins and red eyes came out of the hospital. He was standing on the back of a mindless demon that was hopelessly flapping its wings for two.

The mindless demons brought the reporter lady close to him. He held her jaw and looked down at her.

Mark was stunned. There in front of him was another half-demon.

The half-demon looked up and his eyes locked with Mark's although they were at least half a mile away from each other.