206 Returning to the Bases

Right at that time, a few guards walked past the tent and everyone froze tensely. This area of the base wasn't very populated so few people would walk past which is why they chose to hide here.

Guard 1 started, "I heard we're deploying troops soon to get revenge against those infected who attacked us. General Mills is determined this time huh?"

Guard 2 responded, "Well of course. We can't have those damn rats running our country, we have to go out and reclaim the land. I support his decision."

"Well… I guess that's true, but they haven't harmed us yet. Why are we doing this?"

Guard 2 scoffed. "It's rightfully ours. Whatever, you're too stupid to understand. Let's just look for those escaped rats."

Inside the tent, Lucifer appeared in deep thought. He seemed to be making a difficult decision and the struggle could be seen in his eyes. Abruptly standing up, he declared, "We will leave the wall base and head to Green Base."

Artemis' eyes widened as he heard this and was about to protest vehemently. Lucifer gave him a hard stare. "She would rather sacrifice her own life than the life of every one she left behind."

Hearing this, Artemis snapped his mouth shut and looked down at his feet. He knew this rationally, but voluntarily leaving her behind where she could die…

Lucifer continued, "We won't give up on her. We just need to warn the base to prepare themselves and gather reinforcement before returning to rescue her. Based on what you told me, those people won't kill her that soon. If they wanted to kill her, they would have dragged her off with you to be disposed of."

"I'll stay here and watch over her!" Artemis insisted.

"No. We need you to do reconnaissance right now. You can't do anything for her right now anyway." Lucifer responded harshly.

Artemis nodded reluctantly in agreement and complied.

One could say that Lucifer was made to be a commander. He took in all the information calmly and made his judgement based on the facts rather than using his emotions. Even when faced with the opportunity to destroy Noah, he still placed the cause and the people above his own needs. It was truly admirable. Aida's faith and decision to make him the leader was a sound one.

Breaking out of the base and back into the "wild" should be far easier than breaking into the city, especially since most of the forces were gathered towards the city checkpoints instead.

Having made a decision, Lucifer began passing orders to each person in the group. He simultaneously warned them that if they screwed up or did anything stupid, he would personally kill them to prevent Noah from taking them back to the lab. All the Variants present shuddered at the threat but were also secretly thankful that Lucifer would kill them instead of donating them to that psychopath.

Artemis ran around scouting the area for information. He also tracked down where General Mills was located and tried to steal some information on what was to come. His job was to grab as much intel as possible before they left so the bases would be prepared for the war. Green Base was his home and Aida's kind-of home, so he would put in the necessary effort to protect it.

With his ability to go through walls, he simply had to make sure that no one was in the room and sneak in. The soldiers guarding the secure locations never expected someone to enter seamlessly through walls so they were unable to guard against Artemis' abilities.

Everyone had changed into soldier clothing and casually walked towards the wall. They practically went undetected by the remaining soldiers. Despite the previous attack, most of them were still fairly relaxed and some were even drinking on the job. Of course, they were also remarkably good at hiding their libations whenever they heard a big shot was coming around.

As a former special forces guy, Lucifer couldn't help but shake his head in disappointment at the neglect and incompetence of his former government's military. He was simultaneously ashamed of their performance and relieved that they were so incompetent. It would make things easier for them as they escaped. Hopefully the people they were sending the "destroy" the Green Base was equally as pathetic.

Reaching the wall, Artemis was in charge of opening the gate while the rest of the Variants found cars. They hijacked the cars and stepped on the gas, all the soldiers leaped out of the way to avoid getting hit.

Naturally this raised the attention of many soldiers by the wall but none of them did anything. They were so surprised by the scene they simply continued to watch without even drawing their guns.

By the gate, Artemis closely tracked the approach of the cars. He stood right in front of the cars and many soldiers watched on with fear, thinking he would get hit. Instead, he jumped up slightly just as the car passed through him and landed straight onto the car seat. It was a pretty neat trick that many of the Variants in the car applauded.

By this time, the soldiers finally reawakened and pointed their guns at the car. Only a few disorderly shots managed to hit the cars but didn't do any damage. As they drove away, everyone in the car cheered at their successful departure from the wall base. Their time at the base had been short but was extremely vivid and chilling. They were endlessly thankful to be alive and eager to get as far away from there as possible. Only Artemis was left looking back longingly and worriedly towards City M.

***