63 Lucifer's Story

The slight smile on Lucifer's face remained, but his eyes hardened. He began recounting the days he experienced since they separated. "I was betrayed. After my brothers and I climbed onto the rope with a few other people, Noah dripped infected blood onto us and cut the rope, dropping us into the city. We were completely blindsided by that evil woman."

"We were all knocked unconscious by that huge fall and were unconscious for a while after that. Luckily, the area we fell into was an abandoned factory without any people so we weren't eaten alive. When I woke up, I realized that we had all been infected and had rashes all over our bodies."

"At the time, I was very conflicted. None of my men were awake yet, but I could see that they were infected as well. I knew that once we went into an Enraged state, we would inevitably kill each other. Despite that, I couldn't bring myself to kill these men who had followed me through thick and thin for so many years."

"Instead, I decided to tie each of them up and threw them into different rooms. Of course, I also tied myself up and locked myself in a separate room. During the time that I was Enraged, I could feel every fiber of my being wanting to break through the ropes I tied myself with and attack my brothers. There was just an extreme hunger within me that screamed for blood, as if I had been starved for food for a very long time."

"That feeling lasted for what seemed like forever, and then it suddenly stopped. I don't quite recall what happened at this point as I was unconscious, but when I woke up, I felt myself again. After that, I spent hours trying to carve away the ropes that I tied myself with to no avail. Just when I was about to give up, I wished I could reach the nail that was just out of arm's reach from me. Reaching as far as I could, the nail suddenly flew to my hands. That was when I discovered that I was able to move things with my mind."

"I quickly freed myself and went to check on my brothers. Of the 5 that came with me, only 3 of them remained conscious while the other 2 had turned into Reapers. One of them attacked me, but I wasn't in full control of my power at that time and reflexively protected myself, unintentionally killing him." Lucifer looked down, feeling extremely sad.

"My other brothers came in and helped me subdue our other brother who had turned. We keep him sedated to prevent him from using his powers."

"Anyway, after we left the abandoned warehouse, we found this base that had been founded by Peter, a former politician here in City A. We had had some interaction with him prior to the apocalypse and were also investigating him. He's an absolute slob, but he has a skill for manipulation. There's also an opposing group led by a rich businessman in City A who goes by the name Mr. Nunn."

"When my brothers and I arrived, we were stronger than them and had a different outlook in how we felt the base should be run and ended up creating a separate faction as well. At the moment, the three of us co-lead the base. Mr. Nunn runs most of the logistics, Peter runs a lot of the management and controls most of the researchers, and I am the manpower. Right now, we have a delicate balance but everyone is more or less walking on eggshells."

"I see. Interesting development," responded Aida blandly while squinting her eyes. Randy was truly fortunate to have survived and made it to the base. "How many people are here at this base?"

"At the moment, we have roughly 100 Variants. The numbers fluctuate as more Enraged become Variants, we will receive more people but will also lose a lot of people to the Reapers. While both Variants and Reapers have powers, we have noticed that Reapers are stronger than we are."

"The morale in the base is generally fairly low as well. Even after one recovers from being in the Enraged state, they still keep all the memories of their actions during that time they were Enraged. The knowledge that they had killed someone they knew or loved is tearing them apart from the inside out."

Aida nodded. This was to be expected. The world had been such a safe place for the majority of the population prior to the apocalypse, it will naturally take them some time to acclimate to this new environment. She suspected that there would be a number of suicides in the upcoming days of people who couldn't accept what they had done. It was up to management to help these people overcome their psychological scars.

"Well that's all for now," said Lucifer as he got up from his chair to shake each of their hands. "Unfortunately, right now I have to send you back to your cells because the two other leaders at the base don't take well to humans but I promise to get you all out as soon as I can."

Walking them out, he had the guard guide them back to their cell. Lucifer's recount left Aida with much to think about.