Chapter 6: New Meeting(Lee and Sam) and our Assignment(Kenneth)

They both ran and ran until they ran out of energy, it got to the point where both Lee and Sam were nearly falling over. Lee placed his hand on a tree, nearly heaving and feeling like he's gonna throw up.

"We built...it...so far away" Lee threw himself off the tree and began limping the way he was going before

"If...it was....close to the school....it wouldn't be a hideout....would it?" She had her hand on her stomach, trying to catch her breath. "Kyle and Kayla...why did they go back into the building?" Both had begun to walk instead of sprinting, allowing them to regain their stamina.

"Where do you think Kenneth and Nicholai are?" He examined his guitar, trying to see if it still works

"They couldn't have gone far....so maybe they went to the basement? Or the roof? Anywhere safe" In the distance, they saw it, the hideout they made when they were younger. It was in the middle of the city, but it wasn't obvious looking, so people wouldn't know it was a bunker.

"We're here Sam.....God my legs burn" Most people would consider Lee and Sam psychotic considering they're so calm, they have their reasons but that was a story for another time. They both stood up straight and walked in front of the bunker, looking around the city was in chaos, how could such a peaceful and kind city go to hell so fast?

"Who knew that having four different families that can build would be so handy?" Lee looked at Sam confused

"Most...people would consider it handy though....fixing TVs or electronics, helping with renovations and whatnot" They both were silent for a minute before the bunker began to activate

"Lee #*@(#*$@*! and Sam Callstionos welcome back" Lee's last name....no matter how much everyone tried, they couldn't remember what it was.

"Kenneth, once again with his weird improvements" They both entered and began to look around "We have food and water, if it stays the two of us, we have about 2 months, if the others join, it'll be about 15 days, and that's only if we all eat three meals a day." Lee put his guitar on a rack

"To think this place has a use now, we used to just practice here, it was fun doing that, just doing random arrangments" Sam sat on the couch near a fireplace, she took out a match sitting on the shelf above the fireplace, she was ready to strike it but Lee took it from her hands "Hey!"

"Don't Hey me, did you forget what happened the last time you used fire? You burned the entire room" Sam was going to argue against Lee, but then realized he was right. Lee looked at her, feeling guilty "....here" He handed her the matches "Burn the place somehow and you're never touching anything relating to fire ever again okay?"

"Yep!" She grabbed the matches and strikes one against the box, she held it next to the fireplace but she soon noticed that the wood was extremely old "Burning old wood won't change its burning will it?" Lee thought for a minute, then just shrugged "Talks to me about fire then doesn't know"

"This is different, I didn't burn an entire room" I'm sure that all of her friends deep in their heads wondered how she hasn't been arrested for arson yet, considering how much she burns things.

"That's....an okay point, even if I don't agree...." She lit up the fireplace, everything looked and felt fine, so she sat back down "So? What do we do now?" Lee sat on a chair to the front left of Sam

"We should go look for others, they may have stayed over at the school, and we've got enough food to last for a good while if we bring it to them" He started to look around the hideout "Tsk, nothing can be used as a weapon that's not bolted down" A bang hit the door, causing Lee and Sam to jolt up and ready themselves

"Did you tell anyone else where the hideout was?"She got on one side of the door waiting, Lee got on the other side, holding his guitar

"No, the only people who know are Kenneth and Nicholai if we exclude us" The banging continued "I doubt this person is either of them" Both were ready, and in silence agreed to open the door.

"The door opens immediately right?" Lee nodded to Sam's question, Lee put his hand on the keypad and began to open the door.

When the door opened both of them started up their swing, only to stop when they realized it was a little girl. Both Lee and Sam had no idea what to do, so they relaxed and began to talk

"Sorry, for the surprise....it's just, we didn't expect a kid" Lee knew there was no point in asking where her parents were, after all, why would she be here if they were alive, and if they were in danger, she would've told them.

"I...I..don't know where to go..." Lee must've been on the mark with his thinking

"Well, I'll say this first, going to a stranger's...bunker..is not a good idea, you don't know what type of people they are." The kid seemed to understand Sam

"I...I'm sorry" On a closer look, well, more if you just look at her, you'll see she's wearing a hat, and a coat that's obviously a bit too big for her.

"It's alright, we're not all that hostile....well, I'm not" Every now and again Sam would throw random jabs at random people, no one really knew why, but this one was clearly aimed for Lee. The kid didn't realize it was a joke and looked scared

"It's fine, she was just joking, I'm fine really, I just don't talk with people I don't know that often" Sam gave Lee a look, he knew what it meant 'even a kid?' That was the type of look she gave.

"I...I see" The girl began to fidget, and as she did, Lee and Sam heard something in her bag, almost guaranteeing it was full, whatever parents or siblings she had, clearly cared about her.

"By the way, what's your name? Just your first is fine" Normally, in japan, or an area with a Japan-like culture like here, you'd only call people your very close with by their first name, I guess it was to make it seem like they're closer.

"...Crystal" She took a minute to speak, but eventually gave an answer, she also stopped fidgeting, and seemed a tad more upbeat

"It's a nice name! Why do you think you were named that?" Lee smiled, he himself didn't know why, but it may be because Sam was being her weird usual self again, talking off stranger's ears and asking random questions. It was surely a minute of peace after the outburst that followed their arrival at the school.

"They said it was because of my hair..." Crystal tried taking off her hat to show them, but it was too tight on her head. Lee smiled even more and went to help

"You've got caring relatives that's for sure, making sure your hat doesn't fall off, and a full bag to boot." Lee took off her hat and saw Crystal's hair, it was pinkish-white, it hit Lee, like a random sense of déjá Vu, yet he didn't know why, while Sam only smiled and started talking off ears again

"So cute! The name fits perfectly....but, they had to have named you before your hair grew right?" She may have been wrong with some people, after all, not every single kid is born without hair, it really depends.

"No, not every baby is born without hair" And Crystal voiced that opinion.

"Really?" Lee just looked at Sam, questioning her just with his look "ah, I guess I misunderstood people then..."

"Listen Crystal, me and my friend here are probably going into a dangerous area, you don't have to come along" Lee warned Crystal

"Yeah...I don't think I should go either...hold on! What're your names?" Sam realized they didn't say their names, and so, she gave introductions

"I'm Sam, this here is Lee! If you want, you can stay here until you find your family! We'll be back soon I swear" Sam had already taken it upon herself to protect Crystal, and while he didn't say anything that would make people think he did, he wanted to protect her as well.

"Thank you...but I don't thi-"

"Come on! It's way too dangerous out there all by yourself, we've got food and water, and even games to play here!" Sam interrupted Crystal

"You do realize you're sounding like the zombie outbreak version of a kidnapper right?" Lee said it in such monotone that you'd know it was a joke, but Sam couldn't help but realize he was right

"I...I see, my bad..but Crystal, we won't be here, so you don't have to be scared of us, you can leave the moment we come back!"

"I know that he was joking, it's fine, I'll wait for you guys to come back!" Crystal entered the bunker...or hideout, depending on which of the four you ask. "Are you sure it's okay though?"

"It's fine, it's meant for a large amount of people anyways" Lee started to exit the bunker "Make sure you don't break anything though okay? It's very expensive....and probably non-reparable"

"Okay! I'll make sure" Crystal sat down on one of the couches and began to relax

"Alright Lee, let's get going, keeping them waiting any longer makes me more anxious" Both were about to leave

"Hold on, I forgot something....here" Crystal took a pistol out of her bag, it was shocking for the two that was for sure.

"Your parents gave you a gun too?" Crystal nodded to Lee's question, and handed it to him

"Getting a gun is hard enough but...giving it to a kid is another story" Lee took it from her hands and put it in his bag "Regardless, me and Sam will be back, see ya soon okay?"

"Alright, I'll take care of the hideout" Crystal raised her hand, showing off a happy smile.

"See ya later then" Lee gave a two-fingered salute as he and Sam left.

10 minutes later

"What a surprise" It was silent for awhile so Sam attempted to start a conversation.

"What do you mean?" Lee had his guitar over his shoulder, using the normal sling it has.

"The girl? Did you forget alrea-" Sam was interrupted when both of them saw figures in the distance "D-"

"I doubt it's Kenneth and the others" Lee knew what Sam was thinking, yet he had a feeling she was wrong, more of, the figures didn't match up to them, they were all adult figures and the four of them were decently short, so it's impossible. Lee started counting the figures "5, even the numbers don't match up"

"Run or fight?" Sam looked around for something that could even resemble a weapon, finding a glass shard in the process

"Fighting may not be an option, yet if we run, we could get caught and our stamina will all be gone and we won't be able to fight back" He went over to where Sam grabbed a glass shard and picked one up himself, using his sleeve to not cut himself

"So fighting it is" They both got ready to fight, were they both extremely bold? Maybe, is what they're doing stupid? Yes! FIghting people who are most likely adults is the most brain-dead thing you could do, yet these two are extremely cocky when around one another. The five figures came closer, it turned out two of the figures were kids and just the distance made them seem taller. Lee and Sam both kept their guard up, if anything their guard went up even more now that two of the five are most likely weaker.

"Heyo!" One of the adults called out to them "What're you two kids doing out here?" Lee's face showed his anger, being called a kid was irritating him. The two didn't talk, but every time they walked forward they walked backward "Are you scared of us? I mean, I'll be fair, trusting strangers after this outbreak started isn't a good idea" This was now serious Déjá Vu, Sam just said this to Crystal minutes ago!

"Yeah, that's why you should back off!" Lee emphasized the last part by leaning forward but hiding his weapons

"That's fair, you don't know us after all, come along now, let's leave the two alone" He waved his hand in a circle and they all went to the left "We'll most likely meet again you know, so let's introduce ourselves then, we're in the middle of something right now" Lee and Sam stayed on guard, waiting until they were all out of sight.

"What are they doing? The outbreak just started!" Lee knew Sam had a point

"You're right, which may mean, they either don't know, which isn't possible, they've got psychosis, or, they knew when it'd start, and planned for it" Lee began to walk to the school, while Sam began to follow shortly after.

"They give off a bad feeling..." Sam looked over her shoulder every now and again, making sure no one was following.

"Yeah, let's do our best to stay away from them" Lee still had the glass shard in his hand, while it had a shorter range, it surely would do the job better. They both continued their hike towards the school, soon they saw figures that looked like Kenneth and the others "Let's go Sam!" They both ran for the entrance.

Back to "Present" day

TTS Active

Lee-"huh?"

Alice-"Hello! heh heh, sorry for the delay, I forgot how far New Min was...Regardless, I found Bravo Squad's new assignment"

Kyle-"That's good I guess..."

Kenneth-"What is it?"

Alice-"During your time during the apocalypse, you've had to rely mainly on stealth, so it may be a hard mission to start off with, but it's right up your guy's alley!"

I don't know what it was, but Alice felt like an older Sam, that was surely something I'd have to research later.

Sam-"Yep! Right up our alley, we'll do it!"

Nicholai-"You don't even know what it is!"

Matt-"Don't worry about it too much. We'll be fine"

Nicholai-"Sounding an awful lot like Lee, Matt"

Alice-"By the way...we're working on something back at Eaxura, Kenneth may be the only person in your squad who can start it up though..."

Kenneth-"What is it?"

Alice-"Someone had an idea after playing something, so we decided to try and recreate it using our magic, it's a way to enter someone's subconscious or a dream-like zone so we can get information or help people who are traumatized"

Lee-"Oh! I know what you're talking about!"

Alice-"Well, it's good that someone knows how it'll work, the others are confused on how it works, so you'll probably need to explain it to everyone...oh, by the way, the first person Kenneth should use it on is you"

Matt-"Why him?"

Alice-"Well...No one knows his last name right? So that means he has a few memories that don't exist in his mind, so we should go get them back!"

Kenneth-"I see...alright then, when we come back and get it I'll try it on Lee...if he's fine with it of course"

Lee-"You have my permission, just try to not go too far in my memories m'kay?" Lee was smiling "So? What's the mission?" That last bit 'What's the mission' It seemed like such an unimportant thing to focus on...but it felt like those words were engraved in our minds, like I've heard it thousands of times

"You okay Ken?" Sam looked over from the passenger seat, with a concerned look

"I'm alright, just a weird feeling" Another thing hit me, Crystal...where did she go? If she didn't become a DT, did she live? Was she not considered old enough or worthy enough? But...there are toddlers in Eaxura as well...so children are allowed in Eaxura...Everything here felt wrong, Eaxura felt untrustworthy, yet I didn't know why yet, I'd have to play along, for now, in case they aren't trustworthy

Alice-"So! The mission I mentioned earlier, there's an area near New Min that contains Reunion Members...our enemies if you don't remember, it's preferable if you go in stealthy, but going in guns blazing is an option...though not the best. Whatever you choose, just don't mess it up, remember the chain of command. The mission is to take files inside of the commander's office, which will be one of the rooms in the top middle, after you grab it, plant explosives and get out of there, good luck!"

TTS Deactive

"Let's get to it then!" A new waypoint set by Alice appeared and Lee turned the car to face it "I got an Idea, Sam, remember how you have a sniper?" Sam nodded, changing her dual swords into a sniper as Lee pulled up his hud, using the map function. "I want you to stay on this hill and sniper anyone who spots us, or when you're called for" He set a secondary waypoint marked 'Sam's lookout'

"For someone who was reluctant at first to be our leader, you're really into it aren't you?" Normally I disagree with Nicholai, but this time around she was on the dot, Lee really was into this whole leader thing.

"Well, no one else wanted to be the leader, so even if I was nominated, I should still give it my all" Nicholai jokingly rolled her eyes at Lee's excuse, as he continued to give out the plan idea "Nicholai, Kenneth, and Kayla will handle this site since it requires more electricity, and Kenneth has that power" Alice's waypoint also showed different things including where the generators were, or electric fencing, it was really useful, and a great amount of intel.

"Alright, so that leaves you, Kyle, and me right?" Matt joined the conversation from his turret station...actually, it gave me an idea if we went guns blazing

"Right! We'll take the opposite side from Kenneth and his team, while dealing with the other explosive" Lee pulled the car to a stop, the driving from an hour ago allowed us to get close to New Min, so we were already near the site. We all got out of the car, Sam sprinted off to her overwatch station and began setting up with stiff padding on the grass, which I assume was for stability.

"Come on, everyone, let's go" I called over my team and we began our infiltration. We put our backs against one of the fences that didn't have electricity on the base, giving me both cover and time to use my drone, I threw Dave in the air and used a controller with a phone on it as a screen, although Neal told me one day I could just use magic as the screen. I looked around, there were a few of them on our side, but more so on Lee's, I understood why he brought them over now

"I'm done!" Kayla had cut open a hole in the gate with a blow torch, as the magic she had caused a loud boom.

"Thanks, I'll handle the rest" I brought back Dave and used him to cut into the base of the fencing, after a minute or two I was met with wiring, a lot of wiring. I raised my hand and cut a big chunk of the wires, my logic was that this wasn't done by humans, so maybe it worked differently. Turns out, my line of thinking was correct, although only this part of the fence's electricity turned off. While the others were getting through the fence I got a message from Lee

Anything seem off to you about Eaxura?
Recipients: Lee and Kenneth

I saw your face in the car
when we were talking about
going in our minds, you're skeptical too
Right?-Lee

You better hope that they can't see this...
but yes, I do feel like something's off
like, where's Crystal?

Yeah, I don't recall her in my memories
besides for a few moments, and even then
Not a single one shows what happened to her.-Lee

Back when we were first DTs, you
were knocked out longer than us.
Do you think they erased
parts of your memories?

I don't know, there are a few
points in time where things are
fuzzy for me so I wouldn't doubt it
regardless, let's continue this another time,
Some of the guards are getting close.-Lee

Yeah...I'll try-Lee

I joined the others through the fence and we started crouch-walking to our waypoint

"What was that about?" Kayla noticed my extended absence, I assumed Nicholai did as well

"Don't worry about it, just talking to Lee about some stuff relating to tech" It was a good excuse, the headband that Lee has holds electronic components I made that allowed him to do things others can't, for all I know his random commanding spirit came from the headband, maybe some memories could come back from the headband too.

"Right...his headband and ring are electronic, right?" Nicholai said something I didn't even know, I didn't even realize he wore a ring nor that it was electronic "By your expression, I'm assuming you didn't know, heh, maybe he knows more about electronics than he lets on?" Nicholai was joking, but a part of me believed it, I mean, he helped with Dave every now and again, damn, i should've noticed then, programming Dave would've been 50 times easier if I had help!

"I guess so, I wonder what that ring of his can do" I played it off as if I wasn't mad that I spent a year and a half working on him when it could've taken 4 months with Lee's help. We came to a stop when we heard chatter, it was behind a wall so we couldn't understand it at all. I peeked through the window, enough not to be seen. "There's three of them, one near the door, one beside the left wall, and another at a table in the middle of the room" I came back down.

"How do you wanna handle it?" Nicholai took out her knife and pistol "I should take the table, since they're the farthest"

"Yeah, that's a good idea, I'll go in first and take out the guy on the wall with my spear, Kayla use your polearm to take out the guy next to the door" The plan was mainly based on everyone's range

"Alright, I'm all for it!" Kayla summoned her polearm and got ready on the door, I stood in front of them while Nicholai stayed the farthest away

TTS

Sam-"Hold on! Even if you put a silencer on Nicholai's gun, it won't do much and everyone would be alerted! Alice messaged me about using magic as a suppressor, I tested it out with my sniper with Lee's team and it worked amazingly, it doesn't last forever though, as it's freezing the noise temporarily, so after maybe 2 or 3 hours, the noise will all go together!"

Kenneth-"So if we shoot, wait a bit then shoot again, the time on the freeze goes with the one we just fired?"

Sam-"Yep!"

Kenneth-"So why wouldn't we just keep shooting?"

Lee-"Heh heh" Lee cleared his throat, it sounded like 'oh, you don't remember?' which is exactly what it was "MP remember? We can't use magic forever"

Matt-"Honestly, how do you not remember? You got your magic first!"

Kenneth-"Fair point, even I'm forgetful at times you know..."

Sam-"No worries! I'll continue to provide overwatch, good luck!"

TTS Deactive

I attempted to use magic on my gun, I didn't exactly know what I was doing, but eventually, it worked, by putting my hand on the top of the barrel of Nicholai's gun, it began to glow.

"Do you even know what you did?" Nicholai looked at me, smug as ever.

"Nope, I guess it's just that easy" It was easy for me, but, it did feel a bit draining. We got back in our original positions, going to strike. "Ready?" Nicholai and Kayla nodded. I kicked in the door, knocking the guy near it back, I darted towards the person near the left wall, jabbing my spear forward, it grazed the soldier's hand as he moved away

"The hell!" The soldier at the table got up and tried running outside, but not before Nicholai shot him directly in the head, dropping him almost immediately, while I jabbed my spear forward I moved my hand to throw the spear down, it impaled the soldier's leg causing him to drop to the floor in pain, I took out the spear and changed it to a bow and arrow, shooting him in the head with it, I turned to see Kayla already finishing off the soldier.

"Good job everyone" I put the bow around my shoulder, it fit and felt better than the spear.

"Let's go plant the explosives now....where...are they?" I hadn't even thought of the fact that we didn't even pick up any explosives, and sadly Kayla had to tell me we didn't

"Magic is a fine substitute right?" Nicholai was looking at me...she can't be referring to when I almost blew us sky-high in that pod right?

"I guess it could work" I stepped outside the building, it was small after all, and looked to my right, I saw Lee's team in the distance, he waved a file in the air, he must've gotten it. When I turned around I saw a bunch of wires and a long wire touching the floor, I knew what they wanted me to do. I put my hand on the wire and after a second it began sparking, eventually lighting on fire, the fire was slowly rising to the other wires, and I'm sure we can all assume what'll happen then. I looked back over to Lee's team, and they were already making a break for it. We rushed over to join them, after a minute the alarms rang

"Tsk, they must've noticed the missing files!" I could hear Lee "Kenneth! Let's bail!" Already on it bud. We both saw the entrance gate and our teams followed. We were practically outside before something blocked our path...It looked exactly like what we fought in Eaxura, the corruptors, but it was way more different, in a distorted human-like manner it began to walk towards us, we all stood still, we didn't know what it could do, thankfully, Sam was around to do her job. A laser sight hovered over the thing's head, and after a break in the air sounded off, the bullet hit it, although, it didn't kill it, it looked like it had just eaten it!

TTS Active

Sam-"Get a move on!"

TTS Deactive

Sam's shouting broke us out of our trance and allowed us to continue running. We hadn't decided on a meetup point, but it seemed like going to where we left the car was a silent agreement.

"huuh...huuuh" I was taking deep breaths, using magic was exhausting as is, and running only made it worse.

"Welcome back" Sam stood up, I didn't even notice her at first, she had blended in the bushes and trees so well. Sam packed up her gear and made it disappear, that power really was handy. I completely forgot about the makeshift bomb we had planted, the only reason why I remembered was the wind that blasted our backs and almost knocked off Lee's hat. I turned and saw the explosion it created, even for magic it was ridiculous and overkill. Lee stood still, like he was deep in thought, it was worrying

"Lee?" I tapped his shoulder, knocking him out of whatever trance he was in

"Well...let's get going now ay? We got New Min to visit still." Lee headed back into the car, acting like a mini-nuke didn't just go off behind us.

"Riiight..." I held down my bow and headed back into the car. Soon everyone was in, still with the surprised faces they had outside it. Lee started up the car and drove off.

"Alice said it'd be hard right?" Matt on his turret overhead began to talk "Seemed easy to me"

"Well, she may have said that to boost our ego, or, because on the outside, we're such misfits that no one thinks we'd work well together!" Nicholai sounded like she was ready to go on a tangent

"Hey, Lee" But I didn't feel like hearing her speak for 2 hours. "How'd your mission go? Did you read the files?"

"Heh, I guess you could say I did, but that's a story for a different time." Lee looked forward and continued driving, the pausing, not saying what's in the files, it made me sort of skeptical of Lee himself, it didn't matter, after all

I found out eventually