Chapter 10 (Survivor)

Ian didn't find Nikolay prying into Keres and his affairs funny. Hunter said they could make friends only because they needed to be like the other kids but Nikolay knew the truth about their sibling story and now he was talking to Sally like she was his friend and Legend on the other hand was listening in like a chipmunk. Worse, he wanted to hang out with them after school.

"Hunter said no mingling with people from school outside school" Ian said

"But you can? And since you said Hunter said not to, it makes me what to do it even more" she said

"Don't you dare Keres, I'll tell Hunter" Ian threatened

"I don't care" she spelt out and walked towards Nikolay

"Hey Nikolay, do you still want to hang out later?" She asked

He glanced over her shoulder and saw Ian glaring at him

"Of course, why not?" He said

"Cool" she said and walked out with other students while he placed his books into his bag

"When did you start hanging out with Sal after school?" Legend asked him

"Since now?" he said

"I'm surprised you know" she said

"Sal made you accept my lunch and made you apologize to Oscar after you punched him. You even began to smile again in class after she came" she said

"And your point?" He asked eye brows raised

"Just what does she have on you? She makes you do everything she says and when she's around I see you get kind of nervous" she said

"Have you gotten over Hazel? Because of Sal?" she asked

"Don't talk about Hazel" he said

"Sorry, but I heard you tell Sal about her today" she said

"You were eavesdropping?" he asked

"No, I was curious why you didn't come in immediately since we left the cab together but that isn't the issue here. No one in class is allowed to talk about her but you told Sal about her. The same person you punched Oscar for" she said

"Stop" he said

"You talked at length with her. You even asked if she and Ian slept in the same room" she said

Nikolay feared she heard him say Sally and Ian weren't siblings. If she heard everything they said it meant his sudden closeness with Sally would come to a halt

"What else did you hear?" He asked

"Nothing else. Why? Is there something I wasn't supposed to hear?" She asked

He heaved a sigh and made to walk out. He wasn't ready for her long talk but she wasn't done. She pulled him by the arm.

"Why her? Why not me? All the things I've tried to make you do and you didn't why do them now because of Sal?" she asked

"I know it's because of her you attend class and have lunch with us and not because of what I said to you" she said

"Stop it, Legend" he said

"Nikolay, please come to me, hmm? We'll be happy together" she said holding his hand

"Didn't I tell you before? I only see you as a friend, nothing more" he said brushing her hand aside and picked up his bag

"Stop this one-sided crush before it gets out of hand" he said and made to leave

"You know what's funny?" She asked stopping him in his tracks

"This is the longest you've ever talked with me. And it's about Sal" she said

"See you next week" he said

He left her sitting on the desk crying out her eyes

"So, what do you want to do?" Keres asked Nikolay

"What's he doing here?" He asked pointing at Ian

They were standing opposite the church for the arranged meeting and he had hoped it would just be them but Ian had other plans. He told the Priest Keres was going out with the most notorious boy in school and that was okay because she could lead him to Christ but he had to go with her to ensure her safety.

"Oh, Father John wouldn't let me go alone with a boy" she said

"That's funny" Nikolay laughed

"Um..... We can go anywhere. You choose" he said

"I don't really remember North Valley that much. Actually, I was hoping you'd show me around?" She said making puppy eyes

"Sally" he called

"Hmm.." she answered

"Will you date me?" He asked

"What?!" She and Ian asked in shock

"Then don't make my heart flutter. Let's go to the amusement park, my treat" he said walking ahead of them. Ian knew he was up to no good. Date him? Ha!

"Why's your face so red?" Ian asked

"You are not perhaps thinking of dating him, are you? Hunter would have your neck" he said

"My face isn't red and I can date anyone I want to. I don't need your permission or Hunter's. Especially Hunter" she said and hurried over to Nikolay

Ian's phone began to ring. It was Hunter and he had to submit his daily report on Keres.

"It's Ian" he said picking up

"Are you with her?" The caller asked

"Yes" he said

"Who else is there?"

"Diego. Nikolay Diego"

Ray who was always the rejected stone amongst his friends became the chief consoler in Legend's lamentations. She cried like a child who witnessed her Barbie doll crushed by a moving vehicle. Sandra and the rest saw no reason why she should spend her afternoon crying over Nikolay. To them, he wasn't that great. Ian was more handsome compared to him.

"For the love of God, Legend stop crying over a guy!" Ray said frustrated. He was beginning to get fed up

"You don't understand" she said blowing her nose into a tissue paper. It was time for her flashbacks

"We grew up together. We were everything and our parents were thinking of getting us engaged but he said this was the 21st century and he didn't want me to be tied down to him so they called off the engagement idea. I thought he was thinking about my welfare when he said and did that but it was because of Hazel"

"When she died I thought everything was going to go back to normal but after two years he still remained like ice. Now Sal's in the picture" she cried

"The first time I saw that Sal I knew she was a seductress" Sandra said

"Ian began to avoid me and yell at me when Sal and I argued. He never raised his voice on me once" Emma said

"I should never have asked her to take those lunch boxes to him. It's all my fault" Legend cried

"This is crazy, you'all crazy" Oscar said drowning his lemonade

"No, I'm not" Legend said looking outside the window

"What's that?" Ray and everyone else asked looking outside

Nikolay, Keres and Ian were walking on the road across the Cafe

"You see that?" Legend asked Oscar

"Wow, he really is smiling" Oscar said astonished

"So?" Ray asked

"Shouldn't we be glad that someone is doing something that we failed to do for two years? Are we going to hate that person because we aren't the ones who accomplished that thing? Nikolay's finally looking like a human and not a zombie so we should be happy about that"

"What? You want him to go back to his old self? You are all so pathetic" he said and walked out

The others continued watching them through the window.

"I had fun today. Thanks" Nikolay

"It was nothing" Keres said

"A survivor from the blast at Diego's paper factory by name Sheldon Yale has spoken with the Police and has given his testimony on the incident" The news caster read

The three of them stopped walking to watch the news on the LED screen across the road

"He stated that the blast wasn't an accident but a terror attack" the news caster continued

"Oh my gosh, it was a terror attack?"

"I knew the people who work for Diego Enterprise wouldn't make such mistake to cause a fire"

"Unbelievable" people commented

"Here's an exclusive interview with the survivor" The worker at the factory who sold Keres the A4 papers had survived the blast and was giving his witness testimony to the Police.

"The girl in the uniform came and asked for some papers but when I asked her how many she needed she answered me in a weird manner. She asked 'For a family that died? There was a Father, Mother and two daughters but one daughter died along with the Father and Mother while the other one went missing. How many papers do you think they'd need to narrate their sad story to the world?' that was what she said"

"When I told her I didn't understand what she was saying she said I'd never understand then she asked to use the bathroom and when she came out she said she loved patronizing us, shortly after she left, the building exploded" he narrated

"Man, I sure am glad to still be alive" he said

"Our resource also spoke with the security guard who also survived the blast"

"The student didn't look suspicious at all. I honestly think it was the fault of the people in the bulk room, they must have done something to trigger the fire since the fire originated from there"

"But I can't say much since I was never in the building. But for that student, she had nothing going on with her. I've got a daughter who's a high schooler and she behaves the same way" he said

Ian looked at Keres nervously as they continued to talk about her on the news. He knew she was responsible. When Hunter told him and the other members of Black Cat what she had done they were left baffled.

"The Police is lead to believe that it could indeed be a terror attack as the Hospital, Police station and Fire Station were caught off from the survivors and rescuers as a result of an IED going off. Unfortunately, all CCTV footages were lost to the fire so no one can ascertain who this infamous high schooler is" the news caster said and moved on to the next news

"It's me. It's me, you losers" Keres said to herself

"Can't you see me? I'm standing right in front of you" she said. She looked like she was going to jump straight into the road and go all I am the culprit you mother fuckers!

"Nikolay, we have to go now, okay? See you next week" Ian said and pulled her away

"Wait!" Nikolay called

"I didn't even get to say goodbye"

Ian dragged Keres out of the taxi they had entered into the church building. He wasn't going to say anything after he heard about the blast but with two survivors who saw her face giving interviews to the press he knew they were in danger.

"What exactly is your problem?" Keres asked

"Oh, you know how to restrain yourself from talking about what you did in the taxi so the driver wouldn't hear you but you couldn't restrain yourself from blowing up an entire building which held human beings!" He shouted

"I had the tools, I saw where to use them and I made good use of my opportunity" she said

"An opportunity that would lead to you getting caught?!" He asked

"At least I did something whereas you guys in Black Cat sit down all day at a round table like Arthur and the three knights looking for evidence to pin Diego down with" she said

"There's a survivor, two or maybe more survivors. More questions would come out and then they'll find you" he said

"That's if he'd be able to talk" she said

"Keres!" He yelled

"Oh please, don't act like you haven't killed people to cover up your tracks" she said and walked into the church but was dragged out by a very angry Hunter.

"What are doing?" Ian asked

"Didn't I ask you to watch her?!" Hunter shouted at him

"Hunter. I didn't know she was going to do something like that" Ian said

"You've been found out" Hunter said

"I could just shut him up" Keres said

"What?" Hunter asked bewildered

"Darn that bastard, why didn't he die along with the others. He's giving me extra work" she said and walked inside

"What do we do?" Ian asked

"I don't know, but this isn't the revenge I wanted"

"She's ruining everything because she's blinded by hate" Hunter said

"What if she tries to kill the survivor? It would only make the talk about the blast being a terror attack true" Ian said worriedly

"No she won't do that. I hope she wouldn't" Hunter said

"Nikolay, we're going to get your Dad from the hospital. Remember his getting discharged today" Claudia said

"I'll come on my own, I just need to finish my school work" he said from his room

"Okay, see you there then"

After a while, Nikolay took out his phone and tried calling Keres' number but it wasn't going through. He laid on his bed thinking about where she would be for her not to pick his calls. He had gotten her number earlier in the coolest way possible. Dialing his number with her phone.

"Where's she? Perhaps in the shower?" He smiled as he thought naughty thoughts. Thinking she was in the shower he too got in and acted like they were together. That was the dirtiest he had ever thought but he didn't care. At that point she was all he could think about. Still trying to get through to her, he went to the hospital as he had promised his Mother.

"Why isn't she picking up? I should stop, she might find it annoying" he thought and he turned off his phone. He walked to the entrance of the hospital and saw Keres run out like someone was chasing her. She took off the lab coat she was wearing and placed it inside her bag.

"Sally?"

"Nikolay!" Stellar called snapping hin out of his thoughts

"What are you doing? Come in" she said and walked inside the hospital

"Yeah, I'm coming"

Before Nikolay arrived at the hospital, Keres was in the hospital headed for the survivor's room. Hunter and Ian thought she didn't mean it when she said she was going to silent the survivor. It was Diego Enterprise, the most powerful and influential in the town. If Diego gave even a glimmer of thought that it was a student who blew his Factory she was going to be ripped to shreds before she got to him.

"Hello Sheldon, how're you doing today?" She asked

She was dressed in a Doctor's attire with a pair of spectacles, a surgery glove, a nose mask and any other thing she needed to look like a Doctor.

"Good, Doctor" he said smiling

"Time for your dosage" she said

"But they didn't give me anything" he said

"Oh, you're getting one now" she said as she picked up the catheter with the intravenous line attached to it which was already inserted to his vein. She took out a syringe from her pocket and injected the content into the line

"What's that?" He asked

"Nothing much. Just a combination of lethal drugs that would kill you slowly" she said still injecting the content of the syringe into his blood

"What?" He asked surprised

"Don't worry, it's just an anesthetic and a paralytic agent in potassium chloride. It was used to kill prisoners in the United States you know, now you're my prisoner but in a hospital"

"Only fair I use this" she said taking off the spectacles and nose mask

"You!" He shouted recognizing her

"Yes, me" she said

"Should I tell you how you'd die?" She asked him as she cut off the oxygen supply

"You'll soon begin to feel sleepy. Very sleepy and then you won't be able to move or make any noise at all. You will have trouble with breathing and finally, you're dead. Pretty interesting and dramatic right?" She asked laughing

She turned around and began to walk away

"Why? Why are you doing this?" He asked as he struggled to talk. The drug was already taking effect

"I told you at the factory. You'd never understand. You should have just died in the fire" she said and walked out. She had her head down backing the CCTV and swiftly stole out of the hospital smiling to herself

"Room seventy-five, Room seventy-five" the Nurse at the desk said as she noticed the emergency light blinking on the screen. The Doctors and Nurses rushed there but it was already too late

Sheldon Yale was dead

"It's too bad he's dead. I was hoping that when he'd be more stable I would ask him what happened at the factory" Diego said on the phone

"Okay, thanks for the update" he said and ended the call

"What was that about, honey?" Claudia asked

"Sheldon Yale, the only man who had information about the blast at the factory. He died last night" he said

"Oh my God! How his family would feel right now" Claudia said

"What caused his death?" Stellar asked

"Respiratory problems. Maybe he wasn't able to breath because of all the smoke he inhaled from the fire" he said

"What about CCTV's?" Nikolay asked

"Huh?" Diego asked

"What if he was murdered?" Nikolay asked

"What do you mean? By the school girl he mentioned?" Diego asked

"No way" he said

"But he would have been able to tell us the uniform she wore. Maybe that's why they killed him" Nikolay said

"They?" Diego asked

"Maybe the people responsible for the factory going up into flames made her do it so no one would suspect her because she's a high school student. Don't you think so?" He asked

"What are you? Sherlock?" Stellar asked

"I know what I'm saying!" Nikolay insisted

"Honey, just ask for the footage from the hospital. It won't cost you anything" Claudia said trying to get Nikolay to calm down

"Fine, fine" Diego said

"Great. Nikolay gets what he wants but I don't?" Stellar asked

"Why? What do you want?" Diego asked

"The designer bag the President's wife owns. They are only two pairs in this world, I want the other pair" she said

"Fine" Diego said

"Yes!"

"Right there. Stop" Nikolay said as the security operator showed them the CCTV footage of the previous day

"What's there?" Diego asked looking at the footage

"A Doctor walked into his room" Nikolay said

"Because it's a hospital" Diego said

"Does it show her leaving?" Nikolay asked

"It's not a her, but a he" the operator said showing him another footage of the Doctor leaving the room

"What? No way, look at this first one. It's a woman and then a man comes out?" Nikolay asked

"How can you tell when the Doctor is backing the camera?" The operator asked

"And you too, how can you tell it's a man?" Nikolay asked

"Get the front view of the Doctor walking into the room" he said

"Here" the operator said opening the footage with the front view

"It's blur" he said

"What do we do Dad? It's a woman" he still insisted

"Thanks for your time" Diego said to the operator and lead Nikolay out of the room

"Nikolay, do you know something that I don't?" Diego asked

"If I do, what are you going to do about it?" He asked

"I'd find the person who took down my factory and killed my workers and I'm going to make them pay" Diego said

"I saw....."

He remembered seeing Keres walking out of the hospital and discarding a lab coat into her bag. It didn't make any sense that she would want to kill the survivor because she had no relation with him and it could just be another person who looked like her.

"It's just a hunch, nothing more"

But it wasn't a hunch. It was a fact. The truth. Keres was summoned by Black Cat for questioning. The survivor had died and someone said she was going to kill him.

"Keres, did you do it?" Mrs. Peters asked

"Do what?" She asked picking her nails

"Kill Sheldon Yale. The survivor of the blast that you caused" Hurricane said

"Oh that. But I don't think you guys have the right to ask me that. And besides, you aren't supposed to be calling a high schooler into meetings like this" she said

"Keres, stay out of this. This isn't your fight" Silas said

"Then whose is it? Yours?" She asked

"Anyway, I've already stayed out of it. I mean, I'm not in Black Cat any more and I'm not begging you guys to let me get involved. So, you too should stay out of my business. What I'm doing now is my fight and not yours" she added

"You're asking me if I cleared up my tracks?" She laughed

"At least I not the one who keeps using a family's fortune to hire more recruits in Black Cat when no job is being done. And next time you try to drag me here again using Ian I'm going to do something you guys would hate" she said and walked out

"We have to stop her from doing what she's doing" Silas said

"Great idea, how about we crush her from behind with a bike? She'd be hospitalized for at least few weeks. How does that sound?" Hurricane asked

"Shut up. Please" Mrs. Peters said

"I think maybe we should frame her for using drugs and then report her. Since she's a student the Cops are going to detain or monitor her for at least a week" Jesse, a new recruit suggested. She had an experience as an ex convict

"Great idea. Ian, I'll give you the drug and then you put it in her food or water then we get the Cops there" Hunter said to Ian

"In the meantime time, I have found the ultimate evidence to use again Diego Enterprise and the government. A USB key" Hunter said

"It contains all files, transactions and video audio recordings between the representatives of Diego Enterprise and the representatives of the government" he added

"Where is it then?" Ian asked

"That's the thing. Diego kept it safe to black mail the government in case they decided to cut off their little game and now, with the slow down fall of Diego Enterprise, the government is trying to withdraw from mostly all their dealings with them" he said

"Well, Diego Enterprise doesn't know about this but the government's representatives who work with Diego Enterprise are hiring investigators to find the USB key" he added

"So, if we get our hands on it first it's a win?" Silas asked

"Bingo" Hunter said

"But how're we going to find it when we don't know where it is?" Hurricane asked

"Can't you try to be positive for once?" Yvonne asked

"Well, I'm only asking the question no one wants to ask" Hurricane said

"He's right" Hunter said

"Thank you!" Hurricane said eying Yvonne

"We are going to follow every worker in Diego Enterprise, know their every move, favorite place, because one of them might just have it"

"Are we clear?" He asked

"Yes Sir!"