52 Ingress
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_Konoe's Perspective-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-2 hours before they've went inside the laboratory_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
"I must experiment that little boy of yours. It appears to be that he is currently infected with the Ophio-virus." The feminine voice echoes through our ears. It was immediately followed by a momentary silenced allotted for us to absorb these information.
"With all due respect, we're still unsure whether he's infected"Despite our tragic circumstances, we cannot hide the fact that Natsuki here is a suspected carrier of the virus, due to the slow discolouration coming from the bitten site. His veins were painted with darkish purple hue. However, among the horde of infected roaming around our vicinity, Natsuki have yet to transform…into one of them. I, myself, isn't suitable to understand the theory behind the matter.
"Come inside my laboratory. You need not to walk inside the ingress of 'that' facility. That is but a design to attract the tourists from the village" She emphasises the abandon building stationed in front, which was disparate from the main workshop.
'Then how come your 'laboratory' or whatever you call it IS INFESTED BY CROCODILES inside the fiendish swamp if it's A TORUSIT SPOT?!' is what I have wanted to ask but alas I kept it all hidden inside my head.
After finishing her sentence, the ground soon vibrated wildly like an earthquake, creating an underground passage not too far from where we are standing.
"Venture inside and we'll soon discuss your problems." the mysterious voice trails off after she had concluded her sentence.
Now the question is,
would we, by any means, put our trust in the unknown voice whispering inside our heads? How did she know about our parents in the first place? What did she mean by "experiment" towards Natsuki?
All these thoughts clouded my mind and the only person who could answer my questions was the abstruse individual conversing in our heads.
"What's your plan?" Itsuki query's me a question while carrying his little brother on his arms. The identity of the caller remains unknown yet she was undoubtedly willing to save and shelter us all inside the laboratory where the medicines and supplies are richer than the outskirts of the town. It does not only provide us a roof above our heads but space ample for us to calm our minds from the stress due to the problems that had occurred earlier from the infected beasts. However, letting Itsuki's brother be experimented upon just because he was unfortunately bitten from his leg was still a wavering decision to adhere especially not knowing whom were are talking to.
"For the meantime, let's just hear what she has to say." I've decided to hear out any information that the unknown entity could provide. It was better than surviving here on the outside of the plain lands.
"We better hurry before the zombies inside that building could even think of chasing us here in the open" Itsuki gently taps my back as he encourages me to stand. I was entrusted, or was the only person available, to carry Fleur-san's unconscious body behind my back. I could always ask him for help from the transport of her body, however his brother's condition seems to be getting worse for every passing minute evident from his pale skin and protruding veins all over his body. Although he may seemed to be fine on the outside, his blood oozing from the minor bruises and cuts scattered from his body had become darker from the shades of the normal scarlet colour of the red blood cells. Hence, Itsuki had no other choice but to carry him all throughout our journey inside the laboratory.
Just as we were about to head towards the underground ingress, the humungous zombie who had saved our lives dashed straight outside and hopped on the verge of the crater without uttering a single word. Tomori calls out for the strange zombie however his figure had completely vanished from our sight.
"Wait—!" If it wasn't for him, Fleur-san could've died from the crocodile living in the swamps. We didn't had the chance to convey our gratitude towards the peculiar monster. Even so, we were not equipped to catch up from the hasty monster escaping outside. We could only pray for his safety and kind characteristics that he may be of any help from other survivors lurking around the island.
With that in mind, we head forth on the muddy stairs built on the ground and headed forth inside the dimmed tunnel.
My mind boggled me as I began to look back from what I have witnessed from before. Fleur-san's ability was quite exquisite and incomparable from the athletes found in various series in the Olympics. Her movements from before was clearly exceptional and flawless, yet she seemed to be unaware from the nimble actions she had procured.
As for myself, I was stuck in a realm where everything went slow in pace, for the duration of 15 seconds. However, my body was unaffected from the sluggish atmosphere that I had accidentally created. Or was it?
Baffled from the surreal events that had previously occurred, I couldn't help but wonder the phenomenon that happened to me during the battle. Although I did nothing from the span of the sedate time, a surge of nostalgia came running inside my mind as if the whole circumstance was something naturally done by my powers alone. It was also accompanied by a screeching pain that lasted for about a minute or so after I had lifted both of my arms, as I thoroughly checked the unhurried atmosphere. If I had remembered it correctly, the only muscles that I moved during the process was my upper limbs alone—hence the conclusion towards my aching arms.
As a matter of fact, these prowess are impossible to obtain here in our modern world. According to the books left on the town's public library, no humans are able to progress these unexpected happenings, specifically the apocalypse. However, there are cases that few individuals have altered their body and obtained unique "talents" based from their personal characteristics and hardships. These people are able to attain physical enhancement of their body. To name a few, there are others who are able to digest metallic substances despite not having the enzymes needed to break down these compounds, and a man who was able to run at 44.72 km/h.
Even so, these strange happenings—zombies and the like, are a bit farfetched to transpire in our world. Did we obtained supernatural powers coincidentally to fend off the anomalies destroying our planet? Or are these happenings are linked from the origin of the zombies from whatever they had and mutated with the healthy individuals and received immunity during the process?
We do not know.
"Watch your step" Itsuki grabs hold unto my arm as we finally arrived at the centre of…something unknown.
We are all standing inside an isolated room, far from where we had come from. I didn't noticed the weight behind my back as I carried Fleur-san 200 steps below underground. Was it because of the additional prowess bestowed onto me? It was surely amazing that my body had enhanced ten folds after that event.
"Splendid. Now, step right there on the centre and…observe your balance." The mysterious voice alerted us once again, as she gives us instructions upon entering the dome.
"Whatever you do, please hold your breath. I'd really hate a corpse reanimating inside my lab" Soon after we positioned ourselves at the centre of the circular surface, the floor below us immediately launches itself downwards throwing everyone off into an endless cascade. Following the instructions from the unknown voice, each of us held our breaths and awaited our bodies to crash against the sturdy surface of the ground.
However, the pain that we purely expected had never reached out body.
We were greeted by a bright chandelier swaying from above and the dazzling monochromatic walls secluding us inside the spacious room.
"Are you awake?" We were greeted by the same voice who had intervened inside our thoughts. However the distance from the echo we've heard seemed to be standing close by, and the sound was discern naturally unlike before.
"It seems you're up, Konoe."
I pry my eyes slowly to perceive the face of the person who was willing to save us from the surface.
Despite her white coat dangling unto the edges of her sleeves indicating that she was either a scientist or a doctor working inside the facility, she had a younger appearance nearly alike from Fleur-san herself. Her forest green hair was a stylish feat accomplished by this woman despite living under the apocalyptic hell outside her abode.
"Is that so?" I replied, amazed from her elegant presence.
"Worry not. You're friends are safe…or should I say, sleeping right over there"
she points out at the couch at the left side of the room. True enough, all of them were snoozing at one piece, barely fitting on the miniscule sofa.
"Then why am I placed here?"
"You seemed to be waking up sooner or later. I saw you twitching. Aren't you having a bad dream?"
She turns her back away from my fore uninterested from the flow of the current conversation, and went straight towards the piles of paper resting on the same desks across my sleeping comrades. Observing the items displayed beside the mountain of documents in place, a small picture frame catches my eye. The photo includes herself and a little girl that I could only assume to be her younger sister, evident from their matching hair colour seen in the photograph.
"Who are you?" Up until now I never knew the name of the girl standing right before me.
"Forgive me for the late introductions." She turns her body once more and bows gracefully similar to the Japanese culture I am familiar with.
"My name is Rose Garfield, the step-daughter of the current prime minister and the secretary of Andrew Turner"
