THE SANCTUARY

A beautiful ray of sunrise permeated smoothly through the windshield. The car has stopped and it's pretty much bright outside. I reached up my hand to shade my eyes. It's morning already. Which made me realize i was asleep all night.

I didn't see Jerry on the driver seat. Where could he be? When i opened the door, a misty and cold breeze whipping from out of nowhere right into my face. I could feel a burning sensation tickling on my skin. My checks turned red and felt like a rubber. Everytime i gasped, puff of vapors billowed out.

"Want some coffee, Mrs. Hope?"

I startled like a kitten. I pushed my chest and sighed in relief when i saw Jerry brought two plastic cups of coffee.

"Woa, woa, chill, Mrs. Hope. It's just me."

"You creeped me out. Don't do that again. Anyway, where are we?"

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Hope. It won't happen again. Aaa, yea, we are at a gas station. Here's your coffee, Ma'am."

My eyes swept around while sipped the warm coffee. Apparently there's only a gas station around here. The rest were woods and bushes. Just like a desolate place.

"I don't see any workers. Weird."

"I thought so. When i parked the car here this morning it's been this empty and creepy. Like Hogwarts Castle in an apocalyptic magical world war where Voldemort still alive and handsome with his afro hair. That's why i decided to make the coffee myself, Mrs. Hope."

I gave him a quizzical look. His wild and peripherally childish answer quite bewildered me. I didn't expect someone who's part of the renowned Apex Predator would be this boyish.

"Wait a minute, Jerry. What do you mean by make the coffee by yourself?"

"Uhhh, yea, uhh, i, i borrow their coffee machine, Mrs. Hope."

"You broke in, right? You stole this coffee."

"Aahh, ye, n, no." His voice pitch changed.

"We have to pay them." I took a hundred dollars bill.

"There's nobody in here, Mrs. Hope. We could just leave without everyone else even knowing."

"No. We called it, stealing. Now go inside and put this money on the cash register."

"Ayyooo, but the coffee is not even that much."

"Consider it as a gratitude fee and for the broken door or windows you made. Now!"

We left the place and heading to Alvedatov. It's getting dark when the rain came. I didn't know if a place like this could have a rainy weather. We almost reached Alvedatov, but from afar i saw buildings were on fire. That's the border town that separated Alvedatov and the woods. The road were blocked by the cars and the people looked like running for their lives. It's a chaos. I could hear their desperate screaming. It's hysterical. Just like what i watched on the TV.

"What's going on out there?" i asked.

"Well, Mrs. Hope. Even if i tell you, you might wouldn't believe me."

"Just tell me!"

"I'll give you a hint. Do you know the classic horror movie, Resident Evil, Mrs. Hope? That's what happening down there."

"No way. I've been a scientist for years and i could assure you, there's no such a virus in real life."

"Apparently they are exist, Mrs. Hope."

He might be right. My sight was not that clear from here because of the rain and it's already dark outside, but those people were not running from a wild animal or a monster, but human.

"I don't wanna say this, but we are not making any progress here, Mrs. Hope."

"What?"

"My car would stuck if we force our way there. We have to walk."

"No, it's too dangerous, Jerry. What do you think you're doing?"

"I don't see any other way, Mrs. Hope. Hold on a second, i want to make a call to my boss."

He kept saying, boss and boss and boss. Just who's that person?

"Hey, Bos. I'm sorry to bother you. I'm just saying i have to bring the package on feet."

"Excuse me?" It's quite irritated when he referred me as a package.

"No, no, Boss. The road seems blocked and i don't see any other way. My car would have stuck in there. It's even more dangerous for the package."

Again?

"Alright, Boss. I'll protect her with my life. Just make sure Ghost is already there when we arrived."

Ghost?

"Copy, Boss! We are heading to The Sanctuary."

He hung up his phone and took a pistol from the dashboard.

"This is Glock 19, Mrs. Hope. Perfect for a woman. Nine millimeters, lower recoil, it'll save your life," he gave me the pistol. "And my life. We have to watch each other's back out there, Mrs. Hope."

"No, no, i can't. I don't know how to fire a gun. I'll missed all the shots and, and--"

"It's different, Mrs. Hope. The gun you were using back in the facility was bigger. It was a Deagle and quiet difficult to control for an amateur. This one would be fine for you."

I took the pistol. I still couldn't get over the traumatic incident in the facility. A man died because i missed the shots.

"Let's heading to The Sanctuary, Mrs. Hope."

We left his armored vehicle and walked into the dark. We didn't pass through the town, but took another route through a thick dark woods. I couldn't see anything. The only source of light came from a flashlight that attached on Jerry's left shoulder. With the Glock he gave to me, i tried my best to protect his behind. Even if Jerry said this gun was easier to handle for a woman, for some unexplained reason i doubted myself. What if a monster suddenly ambushed us and tried to maul Jerry? What if i missed the shot like i did before? It scared me.

"You said we are going to The Sanctuary. What is that? Is it another secret facility?"

"No, Mrs. Hope. It's our code for the assembly zone. My partner Ghost will get us there."

"Alright then. Is it far?"

"Not really, according to the GPS, it's up there. After the bridge, there will be a steep passage to the hill. Ghost will be there for us, Mrs. Hope."

After walked for a while, we saw the bridge he mentioned. There's a rapid river under it. Looked shallow with some exposed rocks above the flow surface. Meanwhile on the bridge, the police cars seemed blocked the road. I wasn't sure. I could only see the roof lights from here.

"That is the bridge, Mrs. Hope, but we won't go up there. This river looks deadly, but we'll have our way on it."

When we're looking for a way to circumvent the river, a loud voice blasted from the east.

"It's a gunfire, Jerry. What's going on there?"

"None of our business, Mrs. Hope. Just ignore it."

"No!"

I run through the woods tried to find the source of the gunshot. I found it. They're on the other side of the river. I wasn't sure what's going on, but i could see there are four people over there. One person laid on the ground motionless, the other one laid his back on a tree and the other two seemed kneel on the ground?

"What are you doing, Mrs. Hope!"

"Ssstt, look." I pointed at the source of the gunfire.

He took a small night vision binoculars.

"This is getting out of hand. What the fuck they're doing here?"

"What do you mean, Jerry? Who?"

"Even if i told you, you wouldn't understand, Mrs. Hope. They are CW."

"CW? What is that?"

"Forget it, Mrs. Hope. Wait, even Nicolai is here? What is he doing down there?"

"Nicolai? Do you know him?"

"Yea, yea, he's very popular, Mrs. Hope. Notoriously."

"Is he a criminal or something?"

"I'm not sure, but you can keep up on that, Mrs. Hope."

I remembered him called Leonora as Kira when we were in Vilavostok. He even showed up his face after Leonora wound up badly in my room. Did he the reason Leonora almost died back there? Somehow, it's kinda different from what Leonora was saying to me. She was attacked by one of Professor Ivan's loose monster. So, why did he come to see her?

"Oh, poor man. His girlfriend is dying."

I thought they were knelling. When i looked at them one more time, i realized he's somehow pushing her stomach.

"What's going on, Jerry?"

"There is only one possible answer. She got shot in the stomach."

It was just drizzling, but it's raining harder now. Somehow, i could hear him screaming in lost. Did something happened to his girlfriend?

"Noooo! Please, please, please Sweetheart, don't leave me. Baby, please! Look at me, open your eyes!"

I recognized this voice. I snatched the binoculars from Jerry. I was right. It's Lennon! Which meant the one who's laying on his lap was Evelyn!

"We have to go there!" I tried to leave, but Jerry hold me.

"No, Mrs. Hope! The situation just getting worse. If the CW is here, that means something far more dangerous is happening on this island."

"No! I don't care! Get off your hand!"

My throat closing up and the tears welled up my eyes. How could that happen to her? Poor girl. I wish i could do something to save her, but seemed like i was too late. She's gone.

Eventually we left the place and heading up to The Sanctuary. Another armored vehicle parked under the trees and a man in a demon face mask waited for us. I believed he's Ghost.

"What took you so long, Kid!" said Ghost.

"I'm sorry, things happened, Sir." Jerry looked at me. "But i collected some interesting intel. CW somehow appeared on this island. I saw one of their man died, i might be wrong, but it seemed Nicolai killed him."

"Nicolai and CW? Are you sure about that?"

"Positive, Sir!"

"If you say so. Now get in! We are leaving."

I didn't know what's really happening. If i could have a dollar for every unanswered mystery that kept coming like raindrops, i'd be super rich.

Just, what's a WC? Was it an abbreviation of Water Closet or something? Why did everyone seemed like knowing Nicolai? Who was he? What really happened to the people in the border town? What's happening to Lennon and Evelyn under that bridge? There were tons of mysteries.

What's actually going on on this island?