Company
1704 Words
It was dead in the middle of the night when a car was driving on the empty streets with low headlights.
“Isn’t this exciting?’ A woman with a big smile said while chewing her bubble gum. Her shoulder length blonde hair is tied lowly and some of her hair is either sticking to her face or dancing in the night’s wind.
“Please put your feet down and shut up.” Gabrielle answered as she turned the wheels to the right.
“Shesh. You are no fun, really…” Pretending to sulk, the woman removed her legs from the car's front.
Giving a side look on her, Gabrielle, profiled her.
Alexa Hummings. 37 years old. Ex renaissance soldier. Dishonorable discharge for insubordination. She is Gabrielle’s superior and mentor until then.
“What is this?” Alexa raised an eyebrow at Gabrielle.
“Water. Please wash your face with that. We are meeting other people.” Though adding ‘please’ should make the sentence look respectable. Gabrielle’s tone remained commandeering.
*Plop
Alexa’s bubble gum pop, suck it all and chew it over again.
“You used to be so cute.” Alexa complained but did what she was told but only, she washed her face inside the car. The water is spilled all over the car seats and carpet.
‘I really can’t deal with her, should I return her?’ She seriously contemplated.
Whisking her hands and droplets of water came to slide off Gabrielle’s cheek and made her snap. She hit the break and faced Alexa.
“That’s dangerous.” Alexa said after pushing herself back in the seat.
“Please take this seriously… senior.”
“What is making you so nervous?”
“You’ll know when we get there, please until then behave. Will ya?”
“What can I do if my cute junior asks me like this, okay I’ll shut my mouth.”
It only took three minutes until Alexa opened her mouth again.
At the gate opening, Alexa read the signages.
“Wall 103? What are we doing here? There is no fun to see here!”
“...”
“You choose an odd place but okay, I’ll try to see the good in your weird tastes… you always have this peculiar taste, so I am not surprised. HA! Don’t tell me you are meeting a guy here? Or did you kill someone that you wanted my help to hide the body…”
It’s amazing on a different level that Alexa had guessed all possible scenarios except for the real one.
Alexa didn’t stop guessing until they arrived in front of a rundown factory.
Gabrielle went straight to the back door since the front has a huge wood ‘X’ sign nailed on the door.
Entering it, a single light was lit in the middle of a round table where two figures are seated on opposite sides, while the other one is finishing cigarettes.
“I hope you all didn’t wait that long.” Gabrielle said as she approached the table followed by now muted Alexa.
“Well, what do we have here? Ex Sergeant Hummings. I didn’t expect to see you.” A low voice of a man said. He is sitting on the side tapping his fingers on the table.
“Likewise, Ex Lieutenant Addington. What is a r****t doing here?”
“Woah! You are a r****t? I am disappointed in you. I thought you were a good guy.” Slamming the table, the guy sitting on the other side complained. The lights showed some of the features. Brown curly hair and thick glasses
“Hold that! r****t?! me?! Can you stop slandering me? We were married and we did it with mutual consent.” Ex Lieutenant Addington sounded victimized but with his built screams he might or look more of the ‘bully’ other than being bullied. He also doesn't have any hair.
“Eh? You two were married?
“Unfortunately!” Alexa answered.
Just as the other guy retorted, Gabrielle spoke out.
“May I have your undivided attention now? Hmmm? What do you say?”
“You have mine.” The man who was smoking said. He smoked one last time and threw the cigarette butt and stepped on it.
Walking out the dark area is a man with perfect brush up hair, deep eyes paired with a beauty mark underneath his eyes.
“Why did you invite us here, Captain?”
It took only a few minutes explaining the situation from her finding the building with hundreds of undeads on it to her suspension a day ago.
“In short you are disobeying your orders and continue to investigate anyway?” Alexa clarified.
“Yes.”
“I like it. I am in. I am getting bored doing menial tasks anyways.”
That’s one down.
“I am curious about the outside walls… Are you going to protect me? Unlike all of you, I don’t have military skills. . .” The man with curly brown hair.
“We will, as long as you abide by the rules and don’t go wandering around on your own.”
“Noted Captain. I am in.”
“How much will you pay us? How much is our life’s worth?” Ex Lieutenant asked.
“As long as we can find them and uncover the trust, I’ll gladly pay you a million dollars each.”
“WOAH! You have that much? How much is your salary huh?” Alexa was eager to know.
She is only a captain. The pay is decent but not enough to have millions sitting on her bank account.
“That is my bonus pay every time I can successfully transport new mutant undeads back.”
“Ah… I see. Of course, that is something only you can do.”
“... not really…” There is a solemn tone in her reply.
“Why us? You could have your squad backing you. I am sure they will all be willing to follow you.” The man with a brush up hair asked.
“... This is an act of insubordination. I will not ask them to risk it for my selfishness. They have a bright future ahead.”
Alexa sighed. “Gab… Don’t be too blunt, you are hurting our feelings.”
It was a poor acting of her feelings.
“I am in. When do we leave?”
She looked at her watch and saw it was already 2 in the morning. “Now.”
“Come again?”
“Now.” She repeated for the curly hair man.
“We are not fully equipped, we need to prepare things for these things. I am sure I taught you that.” Even Alexa has this serious tone.
“I’ve prepared everything we will need.” She replied as she pushed rusting equipment revealing black bags piled inside.
“!! That’s my junior!” Alexa felt proud and hugged Gabrielle. She is a head foot taller so she drowned Gabrielle to her chest.
“Quit it, will you!”
“Since you’ve prepared this thoroughly, let me ask you one last thing.” The brush up hair man said.
“... are they unto you.”
Everyone shutted their mouths and waited.
“Yes.”
“Oh well… I guess that’s the million for.” Alexa brushed it off and the others didn’t comment.
After an hour, two cars convoying past through the slums and from there, they met a man that guided them to a secret door a few kilometers away from the main gates.
Activated by a key card, the door opened and two cars successfully exited the gates of wall 103.
“Is that Wall 104?” Alexa asked, seeing the under construction wall as they passed on the sides.
“Yes… Sleep for now, Alexa. We will be busy in the next few hours.”
“You are only saying that to make me shut up…”
“...”
“Wow you really do. Where did you pick up that attitude?”
“...”
****
“Sir, they left through the emergency exit of Wall 103.” A man with headphones reported to his superior watching from the back.
“Haaa. She got way too arrogant because of her skills.” A man wearing a black soldier uniform said.
“Should we send a group after them?”
“No, let them be. They will not be able to find them anyway.” He said as he watched the monitor showing the disappearing tracks of the cars.
“How is the progress of stage 2 clean up going?” He walks to a different section where a large monitor on top of them is displayed.
“It will take a while to gather the remaining undead because of a malfunctioned door.”
“Show the camera on that door.”
The big screen was switched upon his request.
“Zoom it at the door.”
After zooming in, there they find the key card’s lace is wrapped around the keycard reader.
“It’s not malfunctioning… This is intentional.”
Because of the open door, the undead were scattered all throughout the stadium. It was hard to gather them in one place.
“Who is this annoying prick that gave us more work?”
“It’s Player Liam Vicarman.”
“Ah… He should be thankful that he is the strongest player right now.” He mumbled.
“What about the survivors on the second round sir?” The sitting agent showed camera sightings of people that already gave up and just continued to hide.
“Pick them up, I know just where to place them…”
“Yes. Sir!”
Walking towards the behind part he patted another man’s shoulder. “You, edit the video in the safe zone, we will need them to send to the sponsors, when it’s done.
“Yes Sir!”
“Aren’t working too hard Lieutenant Macord?” Another man with a big smile suddenly greeted him. He has great features with chiseled jawlines, sharp nose and blue eyes.
‘Here comes another work.’ Macord internally complained.
- Writer
