Valer was right to make that choice, she told herself. If she didn't, she wouldn't have the opportunity to escape with the others. If she didn't, they would be left behind like others. In her mind she had to tell herself that she was right and she had no other choice, otherwise she would be swallowed by guilt to even move herself forward.
It's one of her weaknesses no matter how strong she is. She always had to move forward and make choices that weakwilled don't. She had to place that bomb in those walls
"Is Nina alright?" she asked William.
"I hope so…"
There was a sad look in his eyes. They're all alive thanks to Vale, but William couldn't imagine what they must be feeling. But being alive doesn't necessarily mean living here. All the regular people here just avoided death one more time. Everyone was unsure if they could keep on doing that, or how long.
The little girl was too terrified by the whole nightmare. Even for a glance, those monstrosities were more than Nina could bear. Thankfully they closed the bunker's gate before the plague reached them.
Sera was in a disillusioned state. The reality keeps slipping away from her, just when she thought she could live peacefully in area four, it was also destroyed. Just like the rest of this god forsaken world.
William had no time to process all that. He just focused on tending to his family.
The bunker was like a large tunnel–beginning with steels on all sides and followed by concrete. The civilians who survived were less than forty. The army was halved until Bucky managed to gather–only thirty remaining normal troops and fifteen who were in good condition.
The ones who suffered the least losses were, as Crimson expected, the wanderers–the unruly awakened people under him. But he didn't have the time to smile at this development. It was too soon to relax.
They were still inside the base. Without knowing where the other side of this large tunnel leads, they might fall right into another monster horde. Or reach the fire from level two.
The bunker area lies adjacent to the civilian area, the other side of it facing downward reaching deeper into the ground. Kai, Daksha and Vale were all hiding among the large crowd gathered in this place. They were all fearful and uncertain about their future.
Everyone was still too shocked to move forward, as silence and uneasiness creeped-in the dark shaft.
"Turn on the lights!" Crimson said to the nearby soldier, making his way forward in the crowd.
Vale saw that red haired man gathering his people while the rest of them stood by and sat down—exhausted.
The army was scattered and crippled at this point, soldiers too injured to move–being tended by the able and others–due to the stampede–helping to organise the casualties. Even among their ranks, the death toll has turned them too weak to ignore.
Bucky, the most dependable among them, was seen tending his sister among the injured. He could no longer get his eyes off of her. Until she wakes up again, he needs to handle whatever situation that lay ahead.
"If you're done mopping around the bodies, let's get moving." Crimson said, coldly. To him, they all carried no value other than information. Bucky was the only decent foe that had it. The others–who were nothing more than hostages–might as well be meat shields as long as the people he cared about were safe.
'If it wasn't for that explosion, the stampede wouldn't have happened. That is odd. Someone must have triggered it from the main link to open them all. But we had control over that and the infirmary. Did someone break in? or—'
He thought of all the different reasons why all this was happening but nothing seemed logical unless they had been outdone by someone they don't see.
'Is it the leutenent? Or Kai? I still haven't seen him yet.'
Regardless, he can't stay here for more time. He needed to force Bucky to get them out of here.
"So, where does this lead?" Crimson asked, the other wanderers behind him.
This attitude of his infuriated the good natured bucky, but he bit down his anger without letting it show. But this won't be the case for long. He already set plans ahead of time to take care of him. He slowly stood up.
"Okay, tell me where this le—"
The moment he faced Bucky, the barrel of the lieutenant's handgun was staring at him.
The other wanderers became alerted and Koul and Ember immediately grabbed their knives to protect Crimson. But they were stopped by him–lifting a hand– telling them to stand back.
He needed to do this in front of all of them, Bucky had to show his position as a leader to have the people follow him. Unless he takes charge, he will be seen as weak and cast aside by others.
"What are you doing?" Crimson asked, narrowing his hostile stare.
"It seems you're forgetting something important," Bucky said, returning the resentment. "I'm not working for you. If not for the hostages, I'd kill you."
Crimson could sense what Bucky was trying to do. Unlike him, it was his duty to protect all these people–to protect his influence. In an apocalyptic world, with awakened powers, he needs them as a placeholder for that power—the law of coexistence. He needs them as much as they need him.
If nothing else, Crimson admired that trait in him.
"Fine then, you led us here. So you will also lead us out of here."
If acknowledging Bucky as the leader serves his purposes, he would gladly do it.
"As a show of good faith, I will even release the necktie of those five people." He lifted up the remote he grabbed so all could see it and conjured a fire that engulfed his arm, turning the remote into ashes.
Immediately, the collars around the five hostages unlocked with green lit sounds.
To Crimson, at least, the lieutenant held onto his end of the bargain and got Crimson inside the bunkers–which he had suspicions from the start, so that was one reason. And, regardless, he could always kill these hostages even without the bombs—they had that power since no one from his team had died yet.
'I would've killed them if not for that,' Bucky thought, looking at the tunnel ahead of them. 'Who knows what lurks inside those creepy corridors?'
He did not want to encounter another swarm of guard robots or get lost down there. So needed them as much as he liked to deny it.
"Alright," Bucky dropped the gun when he saw the five hostages being released from their neck collars. He ordered the vice captain sunny to gather the remaining cables and round up the civilians.
"Let's move out before it's too late."
***
Among the people who were lucky enough to survive and unable who needed others to carry them onward, anxiety swept along like a flood. The small place could no longer hold it all.
While the guys with powers made decisions about their survival without their consent, they had no choice but to play along.
Meanwhile, the metal handle on Kai's neck. The collar was unlocked. Glad, he immediately threw it into the floor. The clang resonated when the other four joined him as well.
Thanks to Daksha's illusion, the others cannot recognise him yet. And after losing his power for the foreseeable future, he had to rely on his partner to help him while he was weak and not allow his alter ego to take control again.
'I'm concerned because he intends to do something with these nukes beside us—'
"Are you okay, man?"
Suddenly, voice broke his thoughts. It was Sunny Will, currently looking after the squad troops and Angeline–his captain and lieutenant's sister–asked Kai out of concern. They met back in the infirmary when he was looking after the captain Ange and helped in moving her. They were together after the hostage incident.
"Yeah. I'll live," he replied.
There were few who would help others considering the situation where everyone was in danger and when Kai offered help carrying Ange, Sunny was surprised.
There was a slight guilt involved as well considering it was him in the first place who put her in that state. Not to mention it was the perfect cover when he got there.
"The captain told us to move, so hang on, okay. I have to look at others too."
"Its okay. I can take care of myself from here."
While the rest of the people were emotionally preparing themselves and others licking their wounds, Crimson got Bucky to move forward.
The fully capable twenty soldiers behind Bucky still trusted him. Without commander Leo, he was the heist authority still left. If someone can lead them through this predicament, it was him.
"Hey, before we go, this does lead outside right?" Crimson had doubts because the path was leaning downward.
"Yes, it leads outside, to answer your question, though it takes a bit of detour…"
Bucky had no intention of chumming with these criminals, and to get rid of them he set a plan in motion when they took hostages and forced a truce between them. Now he doesn't have to hold out for much longer.
They could settle this once and for all.
The only problem was the anomaly named Kai was still among them and both of these forces had no idea what they were about to face.