Reunion Part 1

Chapter 3: Reunion

“Do you know why you are here?” Jefferson looked at Anna. She pinched the bridge of her nose. Was her other son in trouble? He usually wasn’t the type to start problems so this was unusual.

“Daniel had disrespected his homeroom teacher into quitting. He said, and I quote, “I won’t tolerate a student who thinks he can teach my class better than I do.” Jefferson deadpanned, handing Anna the resignation letter. She was genuinely shocked by the revelation. Alex pushing his teacher into resignations? That was a normal Monday for her but Daniel?

“I apologise for the way I behaved Mr. Jefferson. I didn’t mean to overstep my boundaries, I just wanted to help my class understand better to improve their performance. I give you my sincerest apology. I’ll make sure to personally apologise to Mr. Thomas for this mistake. Once again, I’m really sorry. Please forgive me.” Daniel left no room for argument with such an extreme, unnecessary but well structured expression of regret. Anna learned early on that Daniel didn't need her to solve his problems even if he was young. She was just there for 'formality'.

Jefferson's face twisted a bit but nodded, satisfied with the perfunctory apology. "As long as you understand."

He brought out a set of papers, like the incident was resolved already. “Putting that behind us, I would like to propose an early graduation for Daniel.”

Anna looked at the certificate in interest. There was even a scholarship admission to one of the eight Leagues.

“As you know, Daniel isn’t like his peers… or brothers. He is a genius." Jefferson's voice became chirpy, proud that Daniel represented their school. "We had him take an entrance exam to one of the Ivy leagues and he passed it with a perfect score."

A much smaller comment, that Anna couldn't catch, left Jefferson lips, "At least one of the kids wasn't a mistake."

"I…" Anna looked at the papers and then at Daniel to check his expression on how he felt about it. An early graduation was every parent’s dream. "This is an amazing opportunity for my son. I'll have a look and see if this is the path we want our son to take."

"Of course. I'll await to hear good news." This was her cue to leave. Daniel followed suit as they both briskly walked out of the office.

"Do you want to graduate?" She greeted the passing teachers with a smile.

"No," Daniel replied.

"Why not?"

"I don’t want to leave my brothers behind."

"Ah, I see." Anna continued smiling as she tore the papers into pieces and threw it to the nearest rubbish bin.

Daniel halted as his mother figure continued ahead, confused with her swift decision.”I don't understand… why… why is she nice to me?

___________

The long ride came to an end when he reached a concrete road blocker near the airport. He got off the motorcycle, taking off the helmet, letting it settle on the handle. From a distance, a crowd formed near the entrance of the airport. The handicap area became overshadowed by well lined rows of soldiers. People from different age, gender and races loitered around the restrictive columns. "Welcome to Terminal Two" sign seemed unwelcoming now. He waited to hear why chaos ensued.

"Those without a ticket please leave." A woman wearing a full set of uniform paced around, repeating this line over.

"You can't do this to us!" A buff, bald man yelled, the people behind him nodded in agreement. Those near the entrance were watching as if it was a show. "Have you seen what happened to London? I'm not believing those lying politicians that everything is under control. I want to leave... NOW before everything escalates in Manchester as well. Once things are under control I'll come back but don't stop me now!"

William whistled, impressed by the fact there were some people not falling for an obvious trap.

"No, you listen. It’s selfish people like you that put everyone’s life in jeopardy. You are supposed to follow instructions to avoid spreading this disease further. We are doing what's best for the people. If you continue to act this way, I'll have no choice but to force you out." Her tone was stern, lacking any type of emotions as if everything she said was rehearsed. The crowd were silenced with the potential threat that they murmured among themselves about their next course of action so William took this as his cue to start his negotiation before they disperse. He needed them to create pressure into submission. He took a long stride, closing the distance in seconds. They stopped him immediately, the same female soldier took a step forward from her three man squad, being at the centre. She had a look over at him, seemingly interested in his forgotten occupation tag. "A doctor?"

His brain orchestrated a plan he didn't intend to do when he first wanted to come here. Everyone stared at him in question but nobody said anything. "I can offer my assistance as a doctor in return, I leave on a plane as soon as my family gets here."

Some people protested immediately at the potential “special treatment” but she silenced them by lifting her hand. She quirked a brow at him, almost scoffing at the attitude. "We don't need assistance from unauthorised staff. If you haven't booked a ticket beforehand, I ask you to go back or I'll send you back."

They tried to intimidate him with their guns. The barrel on each of her side while she remained passive. He stood his guard. This was their way to implement their authority and he would be damned to fall for such a basic trick.

"I don't see why you are even refusing to let everyone in." He motioned at the people suspicious of him and they seemed to let him talk now that he mentioned them. "Military has protocols for a reason. I expected better than this considering this is a disaster but of course we are playing this silly charade with you leading it."

Her face twisted at the choice of words but he didn't care. "You should have stopped all aircrafts from travelling to their predetermined station and instead, have them sent to Scotland, Wales, or Ireland, after they have been informed, to decrease casualties before they lock us out completely without any help."

"How presumption. We have everything under control. We don't need help." She glared. "You think our aircrafts can handle trips back and forth if we allowed everyone in? We are regulating movement so it won't overflow."

"The earthquake crisis in Haiti, in two thousand and ten, had airports switch their shifts from thirty five to a hundred trips. You have no excuse." If they haven't even thought about this, this division might have a incompetent commander. A novice who didn't have enough experience.

There was silence and one of her partners glanced at her, shrugging. "He did his research, Olivia."

She sent a small side glance to shut up and he grimaced, keeping quiet. She raised her hand to signal them to pull back. Annoyance was in her face when she saw everyone backing him up, now convinced they should force their way in. "Inform commander, lieutenant Matt."

That was a code for, "we have a problem". The man who spoke, nodded, saluting before leaving. The people behind him were growing anxious and the head member of the family from earlier were insisting they should be in.

"Well mister-"

"Walter," he finished for her.

"Mr. Walter," she got close, almost whispering. "Have anyone told you, you are a troublesome fella?"

Her glare had him smirk before she backed away. "I'll let everyone in, however, anyone with an injury, big or small, will need to leave. Any resistance will be met with a bullet. Do I make myself clear?" She signalled for the guards to get away from barricading the entrance.

William frowned, they had an earpiece on so they must have gotten an answer… but… why did it feel like a setup? He decided to not question it and just walked in. Going through the counter where they asked for his identification. He tried to test if they will let people in even without the identification, bringing up the topic of how people may lose their belongings during a disaster. It was acceptable as long as they remember their own security number. He followed the trail over the multiple stalls in rows and asked people to get in an orderly fashion, one by one. Similar fashion in how they do vaccination. He was glad at least they were quick in medical response. Their side suffered a lot of casualties. Their checkup, however, was pretty bad. One of the doctors asked him to strip after checking for fever. Any scar, as long as it was punctured, is an atomic no for them. This was their way to avoid people hiding their bites to get in and make sure only those, who are one hundred percent safe, in.

His doctor, Evan, handed him a cup of coffee, conversing with him on the side after he finished the last batch of people needing a check up. William took in his surroundings studying his way around. "Hey man, I really appreciate having an extra helping hand around here."

"Aside from the bites, how much do you know about this infection?" William asked, trying to gather information that he may have missed since he was riding all day long that he didn't have time to do proper digging. Evan blinked at him, sipping casually. "Huh? Is there something we need to know? Last time I checked, we only need to avoid getting eaten."

William looked at him incredulous. Nobody knew? "So you don't know their types? How long does it take to infect? Other variables?"

"There're types?" Evan suddenly put the cup down on the table, curiosity clear. "You know something, don't you?"

William realised he might be the only one who currently held the most information. "This is a bigger problem than I thought."

(Next Chapter will be updated on 17 January.)