Chapter 29: Retribution

Retribution

A faint aroma of alcohol permeated the air. Not the liquor or wine the young Vines Pall would have preferred, but the undrinkable medicinal ethanol.

La Quilla. City of Docks.

This sprawling province was located in the western region of the Republic of Manecia.

Its main attraction for tourists had always been the beaches, a place dominated by cabins and overwater structures used by visitors, locals, and fishermen alike.

However, Chase was at the far end of the province, too far away to enjoy an ocean view, and his visit was not in the least bit touristy.

In this area that served as the border with the province of Matria, the eastern-looking landscape could not have been more atypical in relation to his own knowledge and that of those accompanying him.

White tents were erected as far as the eye could see, and around them, white figures dressed in hermetic suits.

Each tent was filled with sick patients. Their weakness barely allowed them to complain of the pain they suffered.

The number was so great that they even used settlements to shelter them, including temples and schools, which they then equipped with whatever was on hand to care for them.

According to the police officers' comments, the disease was mild but persistent.

Of course, Chase and the others didn't mention what they experienced. First of all, who would believe them? In the remote scenario where their words were heard, there would be no change motivated by mere assumptions without evidence to support them. In fact, they could be incriminated. The fear of this forced them to remove all traces of blood from their clothes and hands before arriving.

They were just a handful of disoriented young people.

During their walk, everything seemed so real that they felt the previous events were nothing more than a terrible nightmare that could never happen. That's what their atrophied minds wanted to think, because they would have no other safe place to go.

What will we do now? This was the question swirling around them as the group watched their friend Jevo being carried on a stretcher to one of the large white tents.

His face was bandaged and he didn't look like he would recover soon.

"But what happened to him?" Vines asked.

"...I don't know."

Despite being the first to find him on the outskirts of the city, Earlene also had no idea what caused his deplorable condition. When she saw him crawling back then, she immediately approached the police at the entrance, who were quick to treat him.

Now, her companion was being carried away like a body from the morgue.

The group had also been medically examined. Breathing tests, saliva tests... The response didn't take more than a few hours. Everything looked in order, somehow.

If something strange had been found, they would most likely be isolated at that moment as well.

He didn't say a word, but Chase couldn't help but frown.

Did he feel responsible?

It wasn't as if he'd forced him to stay behind, so why did he feel uneasy?

Likewise, they couldn't stay close together for too long. Certain isolation rules had been imposed throughout the city. They were only a precaution against a disease of unknown cause or consequence, but rules were rules, and police officers were around, ensuring they were followed.

Because they were 'foreigners' to this city, they were temporarily granted access to a group of apartments used by other residents. So, they returned to these.

Each room was reserved for a maximum of one person, and more than that was strictly prohibited.

Exhausted from the trip, each of them checked into their own room except for Chase.

There was a lot to think about, or maybe nothing at all.

He, holding onto the railing on the second floor of the complex, sighed as he gazed into the distance.

"Is something wrong?" A faint voice made its way near him. Earlene was coming up the steps toward him.

"Shouldn't you be in your room? Go on, it's getting late."

"..."

The young blonde ignored his words and stood right next to him. A few minutes passed without exchanging words.

"Tsk..."

"Jevo did it. He was able to bring Cadie with him," she whispered.

"..."

Chase didn't know if that should matter to him. His situation wouldn't change whether he'd succeeded or not. One way or another, he didn't want to be there when he woke up.

He wouldn't know what to say to him.

"Good for him."

"...That means we can take Cadie to her brother, right?"

"Why would I…?"

"He seems to be someone important," Earlene interrupted. "If we take her, he might give us a safe place to stay."

"How do you know that?"

"I heard it from the nurses who examined her. Actually they recommended it."

"I wouldn't be surprised, seeing this number of patients..."

"But that's what you thought, right?"

"...”

He really did not have the will or energy to think about what to do from now on.

Yes, their stay was only temporary. They were warned that they couldn't stay more than a few weeks. If the number of patients increased, these would be given priority to occupy the facilities.

"They could all wake up. They could all become Dreamers..."

Sharing her gaze into the distance, Earlene murmured those words with a strange calm.

She had hit the target, the boy's subconscious concern.

"But we should just run away, shouldn't we? That's... what we've been doing."

"Uh...?"

"Hm?"

"..."

His hands kept shaking.

Escaping, procrastinating, evading, disappearing... This wasn't as satisfying as it had been before.

Immersed in his own frustration, Chase was unable to see it in others; it only drew them toward it. And that hadn't changed despite so many years.

"Uh... How...?"

Earlene suddenly fell silent.

"What?"

"Over there, at the entrance. Over there is Iz."

She wasn't just surprised by seeing her; she was surprised by being able to see her.

Earlene could easily distinguish distant objects with the naked eye, Chase knew that well, but she herself wouldn't have imagined distinguishing a person with such clarity, at a distance of approximately 4 kilometers, in the middle of a crowd.

It had been terrifying, and thankfully, momentary.

While Earlene shook her head and massaged her own eyes, Chase went down the stairs.

"Ah... W-Where---?"

She immediately went after her.

Rousset, who secretly heard the conversation from her room, locked the door and remained locked inside.

Dusk was falling in that town of La Quilla. A curfew had been in place for days, and it was approaching. If any police saw them, they would bring them back to the apartments.

Somewhat agitated, Chase and Earlene reached the entrance.

Three large trucks. On their sides were the words "Military Police." But men in uniform were nowhere to be seen. Those who had gotten off these trucks were ordinary people, among them the young woman Izzy Rylee.

By then, she had already passed the medical tests and received permission to enter. The others were still in the process.

"L-Look who we have here," Chase offered his usual attempt at a sarcastic gesture. "If we were going to end up in the same place, what was the point of separating in the mountains?"

"Ah... Chase."

She was distracted, that was the first thing they noticed about her. More than that, she seemed shaken for some reason. Strange to see in her.

"Um... And the others?" Chase looked for the rest of his companions in the surrounding area, but the crowd didn't let him see any further.

He tried to get the words out. The young woman with hair as black as night and eyes as clear as the moon, serene as water, tried to say something, but her voice didn't reach for some reason.

“...”

“…?”

“Chase... I have something to tell you... Hm...” Izzy approached him and said in a low voice “Is there a secluded spot where we could talk?”

“What's that question? Well, it could be behind the church or something, I don't know.”

“Yeah... I guess the temple is in that direction. I'll see you in... two days, at that spot, at about this time.”

“Okay...?” Chase raised an eyebrow.

They both watched Izzy continue on her way and pass them by.

“What the fuck...?”

“It's getting late. Let's go back” Earlene commented.

“...”

He couldn't have been more confused about it, but he felt too exhausted to think about it or the future.

Letting things settle in their own time, he headed back toward the apartments.

“Is everything fine?

Earlene had entered her own room on the first floor. On the second floor, Chase stopped just before entering to his own.

The question came from Rousset Onslow, peeking slightly through her door. One room next to another.

"What about you?"

"Um... Yes, I guess."

"Nice..."

Finishing turning the handle of the door framed with the number 11, he locked himself in the small room.

He wasn't sleepy.

Something told him he wouldn't be able to sleep that night either.

-[Ø]-

"Ah...AAAH!"

Shortness of breath, heavy legs, and a perception of no progress despite the effort.

The ground felt like thick, black mud, and that was it. Around him, immense buildings rose up, crumbling with the eternal passage of time and prowled infinite space.

Enormous pipes let torrents of the viscous mud flow like waterfalls in the distance.

This wasn't an enclosed place. It ran through a mountainous plain that seemed to have no end.

In the miles away, clouds of mist revealed silhouettes of colossal size: collapsed structures and creatures with shifting shapes.

He hadn't realized the long distances he'd traveled, nor did he know what he was running from. Therefore, he turned around once to confirm.

At this point, he was miles above sea level. A little further, and he might be able to see the circumference of the Earth. No, he could see it clearly, a curved line on the horizon. Below it, he could make out millions of faint lights that were like stars in the sky. Illuminated cities that went out one after another, because above them, a hurricane of stellar proportions was devastating everything in its path.

The sound it made was that of a blizzard brushing through hundreds of tunnels.

"Tsk!"

Stumbling over rocks in his path and against the current of black mud, he quickly got up to continue climbing the mountain.

He kept stumbling, the current growing stronger, but he kept getting up. If he didn't, the massive tornadoes behind him would catch up.

The black mud began to entangle his legs like hands emerging from the earth. They dragged him back.

"Gah..."

However, a gust of white wind crossed near him. In the blink of an eye, it freed his legs from the mud. The pent-up momentum threw him violently forward, and the gust returned to its source.

"Woah! Aah!"

After a moment, the boy opened his eyes. The sound of the trumpets had disappeared. The sound of the air, the water, and the earth as well.

Had he made it to the other side? It seemed he had.

The hand that had helped him up dug into the loose earth.

With a strange calm, he looked up and saw his surroundings.

Emptiness.

A boundless plain of gray sand as far as the eye could see, and nothing else.

There was no direction to take, so he just stood there, standing in the vastness until a strong crimson blizzard blurred his vision.

He opened his eyes again, but this time he saw the deteriorating ceiling of apartment’s room 11.

It seemed he had indeed slept, dreamed, and woken up.

He moved the empty instant food containers away from his bed, adding them to the mess scattered on the bedroom floor. Although he wasn't as agitated as expected, his body was covered in sweat.

“...”

He shook his head slightly and placed his feet on the carpet.

Another dream he couldn't recall.

His usual grumpy expression was gone. Instead, his gaze was cloudy, focused on a point on the floor.

“I want to go back... Ah.”

He hadn't intended to say those words. They came out on their own, as if they were the only thought in his mind.

A calendar to the side told him what day it was, and the setting sun indicated the hour. Apparently, the time for his reunion with Izzy was approaching.

This was the only reason that had kept him in this area of ​​La Quilla South province until now; after all, they were supposed to deliver the ailing Cadie to her brother in La Quilla North for asylum.

This was what had been agreed upon, and what they were talking about outside his room. Indeed, there was an argument going on outside the complex, and the voices of his companions could be distinguished in it.

He put on his shoes, shirt, and cap and headed to the bathroom.

He wiped his face and looked at his reflection in the mirror. It was the first time he'd done so in days. He hadn't noticed his beard had grown until now.

As he left his apartment, he could see Earlene, Vines, and Rousset gathered from the balcony.

Vines looked somewhat uneasy.

"I don't know what they'll do, but for me I don't have the slightest intention of taking her." The robust young man shrugged his shoulders.

"..."

"Don't tell me it's our responsibility either. I never approved of this. If we're pointing fingers, it was your idea to bring her with us. Look what happened to Jevo."

"Vines..."

"Did I go a bit too far? Well, I think I'll go further then:” he said, “we’ll abandon her here.'"

"So... we'll stay?" Rousset asked, sitting on a stool.

"I'm not staying," he raised his hands evasively. "I don’t wanna be here when everything goes to hell. I'd rather be anywhere else."

"..."

"What if you go with Izzy?" Chase chimed in.

The others looked at him, confused by his question. He just walked down the steps.

"...Izzy? Is that girl here?" Rousset questioned.

"Yeah, I'll meet her."

"Can I come with you?" Earlene said.

"It's not like I can stop you from doing so."

"Are you serious?" Vines immediately became agitated. He must have a reason. "Man... wasn't she mad crazy?"

"I guess we'll find out in a bit. Are you coming or not?"

"Tsk..."

Annoyed at hearing Chase's offer, Vines sat down on a bench, spat to the side, and drank from a can he carried. With a wave of his hand, he signaled them to leave.

He thought traveling with someone like Izzy would cause him problems to fulfill his personal intentions.

"I don't feel like it. Just don't expect to see me when you get back."

"Do what you want."

"Heh... You said it. I shall do that."

Sunset was approaching, and once again they had to walk the paths, careful not to be spotted by security officers.

It didn't take long for them to reach the spot Chase suggested, in the shadow of the church. Rousset and Earlene accompanied him.

"Was it... too early?"

"We didn't even set a specific time”"

"Hey..."

Few people were hanging around, but one caught Chase's attention. It was a young man he'd seen before. His memory strangely was good at remembering that.

"Hey."

"?"

"You were one of the guys who left with Izzy. Gitta, weren't you?"

"..."

The African-American boy stopped walking as soon as he heard his name called. Sure enough, it was Gitta Vintana, one of the foreigners who survived the plane crash in the Acracia Mountains weeks earlier.

"Hello, how can I help you?" he answered.

"Where's Izzy? Do you know?"

"May I ask who wants to know?" Gitta raised an eyebrow. He had some marks on his face and minor bruises, but Chase wasn't interested in questioning him about that or his mistrust.

"I'm Chase... I was with you in the mountains. She knows who I am. We'd meet behind this temple, but as you can see, there's no one there except the four of us."

One thing he did question was the gift the stranger was carrying in his arms: a package of wines and sweet liqueurs.

"...Is that alcohol?"

"That's right. I was heading her way.”

"Is she having a party? Now? You must be kidding." Chase frowned at the ridiculousness he was witnessing.

"I suppose... you can call it a party. If you want, you can join me. Just the two of you, though."

"...(Fuck that bitch...)" Chase thought.

Earlene and Rousset exchanged glances. The former had someone to see at that party, while the latter was still wondering why they were there.

"Chase, I have to..."

"Yeah," he sighed heavily. "I... I'll just wait. Tell Izzy I'll be right here, waiting."

"..."

Gitta didn't know what was happening, and even though he was in a hurry, he took a bottle of liquor out of his bag and handed it to Chase, who was sitting on the sidewalk outside the building.

"Do you want one? Here you are."

"Two."

He reached out to take a second bottle from the crate. It would clearly be too much for him, and it didn't leave a very good impression on Gitta.

“...”

Followed by both girls, the stranger retrieved the package and left the place.

Without a cell phone or watch, Chase had lost track of how many minutes or hours had passed.

Clearly, curfew had already begun. Only nurses and security guards roamed around in the dark, so he preferred to sneak away near a lumberyard behind the church to avoid being seen.

It bothered him to know he was going through all that trouble just to heed Izzy's request, and his pride didn't allow him to consider going to the blessed party, even though it wasn't a particularly cold night. Maybe drinking the wine gave him that feeling.

What to do from now on? He had time to think, after all.

The plan was simply to take Cadie Saggiatore to the north of the province in the hope of finding refuge.

They would selfishly take advantage of the sacrifice Jevo made to bring her alive to the city. Until that moment, the thought had only crossed his mind.

It was true. While he was concerned about his own well-being, he didn't stop to think about what was happening around him.

He had taken advantage of the kindness of others, lied, stolen, burglarized, hurt, betrayed others, and even taken the lives of several people. Someone like him should be serving a life sentence in prison, or worse.

He was an individual who brought no good to others, he thought.

He noticed his own reflection in the bottle in his hands. The expression on his face didn't look good at all.

It was true, he had to take Cadie north, he reminded himself.

"I'm tired..." he told himself, setting an empty bottle aside.

To…

“I-I'm tired of this shit...”

...keep running away.

“!”

The sound of footsteps on the grass woke him up. Fortunately for him, it was Rousset.

She saw him for a moment, then quickly continued back to the apartment, without saying a word. He couldn't see her face clearly.

Behind her, Earlene and Izzy approached. Earlene, for her part, also didn't look very happy; in fact, she refused to meet Chase's gaze. Izzy stared at him intently.

“...Let's go in.”

Earlene preferred to wait by the exit. Izzy and Chase entered through the back door of the church.

The building, like the rest of the city, had an oriental feel. It featured writings on its walls in Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, Hindi, Filipino, and other languages, including Portuguese, Spanish, French, and English. It was a symbol of cultural unity characteristic of the La Quilla province.

This temple was empty except for these two visitors. Each footstep on the wood echoed faintly in the silence.

"Did you know this city was one of the cultural epicenters of this Republic? In fact, they're scattered throughout the province."

"..."

Listening to Izzy try to make conversation only made him scrunch up his face. It was strange enough that an independent, egotistical woman like her would call him about something, and now she presented herself in such a manner.

Chase decided not to answer, trying to decipher her true intentions.

“Since the founding of this nation and the massive arrival of immigrants from all over the world, this province became evident; they weren't brought together out of necessity, nor out of obligation; it was simply a coincidence that they met in the same place. And so they were able to move forward.”

Admiring the picturesque scenery, she commented.

"What's your point with this?" Chase interrupted.

She turned around; with the same serene look he hated so much.

"It has nothing to do with you. It's something I needed to remember, I guess," the young woman said, sitting in the front pew of the church.

"Tsk..."

Chase was starting to feel tired of her mind games, but decided to follow them a little longer. With his second bottle in hand, he sat down next to the girl.

"Earlene has told me what you've experienced up to this day."

"..."

"Which means I shall be the only one talking from now on."

It was at that moment that she began her story; the story from the moment the groups of students and foreigners went their separate ways in the mountains of Acracia.

Many things happened.

The night was long and would be even longer. For him, she didn't omit a single detail.

This included the deaths of people dear to Chase in a recent incident back home.

Furious, at first the boy dismissed it as a horrible joke in very bad taste. But as he heard the details of the fire, counted the dead, and described the consequences that led them to exile, the story became more and more believable.

Still, he refused to accept it until a final verdict was delivered.

Izzy took his hand and extended it, placing a small, stained object in his trembling palm.

It was a luxurious watch, one he couldn't forget; Ofilia Termiane's watch, his mother’s.

His mother and younger brother had lost their lives in a fire.

"Ah... A-Ah..."

He was stunned. Her words didn't come out, but Izzy's did.

The young woman, with abominable serenity, stood up, leaving the bench and the stunned boy on it.

"You know our objective..." she said, before taking one last look at the white doves painted on the church walls.

By the time she had left the chapel, Chase wasn't trembling anymore. He just stared blankly at that stained, broken clock.

Outside, his friend Earlene saw him leaving and immediately tried to go in instead, but Izzy quickly stopped her arm.

"We still have things to discuss, Earlene. You know how important this is."

"Gh..."

From then on, the world seemed blurry. From where he was or what he was doing, Chase couldn't clearly make out anything.

Although his steps were slow and shuffling, he somehow made it back to his apartment without being noticed by passersby.

There he was again, standing in front of the door with the blurry number 11 framed in it. He watched it for a long time from the outside.

It was approaching midnight, and he had an obligation tomorrow. It would be a long day.

However, he didn't turn the handle of this door. Instead, he chose the next room: apartment 12.

Ignoring the rules of the place, he entered Rousset's room in the middle of the night.

The door was open. Inside, the young woman with saffron curls wasn't sleeping.

She was sitting on her bed, looking surprised by his presence.

"C-Chase?"

She knew. She knew exactly what had happened. She had been told about it during the time they went to the party before.

"..."

He didn't speak. He shook his head in denial, but he didn't speak.

"Do you… want to talk…?" Ah!

By the time she decided to ask again, Chase had already interrupted her, walking up to her and easily pushing her onto the bed. With both hands, he tore the white blouse she was wearing as if ripping thin paper.

"W-What...?"

At this point, why would he care? One more sin on his list would have no effect on the fate awaiting him.

He was paying for it. He didn't need to be a believer to understand that he was paying for it. Or, on the contrary, if the price had been too high, it would make up for it.

It was an indescribable and confusing feeling.

Human beings have something to hold onto in their lives, regardless of time, race, age, or status... There is always a reason to be and to continue, so vital that it could be considered intrinsic to nature.

Because there is no action without a reason in a living being.

That being so, what would happen when this element was taken away?

He felt it. High school, work, family, friends, his past, his present, and his future. He felt that all of it had lost meaning.

The reason. The moment a human being is forced to lose this precious element, what would they become?

And yet, what lies beyond this despair and suffering?

"N-No! Don’t…!"

She struggled. It was to be expected against an immoral act.

But a drop stopped this struggle.

"...!"

This drop fell against and slid down the freckled cheek of the shocked young woman.

It is said that a man does not cry until he felt truly devastated.

One drop after another.

"Hey!"

A middle-aged man who lived next to their room had heard the commotion and come out to find out what was going on. Needless to say, seeing a man on top of a woman had astonished him. However, there was still a question mark over whether it had turned out to be a consensual union.

This doubt was dispelled when Rousset hugged the young man stalking her tightly.

"D-Damn, at least block the door. What a lack of decorum..."

The old stranger chose not to comment more on it, and closed the door of the apartment #12 behind him.

To be continued…