In the middle of the infected, in the midst of the surrounding chaos, the infected were too busy devouring the miserable left behind by the zombies. Lyris did not stop; Lorane seemed tired and exhausted but she ran without ceasing, both worried about the woman they admired most.
"Mom..."
Lyris could not remove that image from his mind. Once they arrived at his apartment, Lyris climbed the stairs in an athletic burst; the young man fell into an empty living room where all the things had been savagely overturned.
"Lorane f—"
Before Lyris could say anything, a searing pain shot through the back of his neck; as his last vision, he saw Lorane's piercing screams and the silhouettes of hooded men.
Town Hall of Lyon, April 17, 2030 — 00:35
Lyris woke up on a roof overlooking a gigantic square; his expression darkened instantly with coldness and dread. In a panic, he tried to free his bonds, but the soldier behind him would immediately throw him to the ground from over thirty meters if he tried.
"DIE, BASTARDS!!!"
In front of Lyris stood a crowd of enraged men and women, calling for the deaths of other women, children and men — an almost medieval execution scene.
"THOSE MURDERERS!!!"
The crowd began to stone those people; the children were shielded by adults who bore the rage of these men. Yet Lyris knew they were not responsible, that this was only a set-up by one man...
Lyris screamed a howl of despair, muffled by the cloth over his mouth that prevented him from speaking. He saw old Charles, Thomas, the humanitarian rescuer who had saved her, and above all the most admirable and important person in his life — his mother.
"MOM!!!"
His inner voice shouted in despair. He struggled with all his strength; his wrists tore under the bonds until blood welled on his hands.
"Units on the ground, this is Lieutenant Léo Marchand — proceed to eliminate accomplices and virus carriers."
The man behind Lyris exclaimed with a vengeful look. Lyris turned and saw the horrible Léo. Young Lyris was already shedding his first tears of overwhelm...
"Please... spare... them..."
Lyris uttered, bawling with sorrow and restrained hatred; his heart was wracked by violent chest pains.
"RAISE YOUR RIFLES!"
The dozen soldiers, in line, raised their rifles, their riot gear and military fatigues streaked with infected blood beneath. The soldiers had blank looks; one of them trembled at the thought of killing this child before him and the nurse who had once cared for him.
"ON MY COMMAND!!"
The soldiers chambered a round. Lyris's mother, gaunt and weak, stepped toward the soldier she had known when he was a child, the same angelic smile on her face. The same smile she had always given him, even in the worst moments. Lyris, a spectator, must have felt devastated at the idea of seeing his mother suffer this new torment...
"Please... please... please... mom..."
The young Lyris's pleas continued. Léo Marchand, faced with the boy's suffering, let a faint smile cross his face. Lyris could not stop crying, chattering, begging — losing every shred of dignity in his implorations.
"FIRE!!"
The soldiers fired; the muzzles mowed each of them down. His mother felt her abdomen pierced by a bullet; her blood already stained the ground. Lyris could still make out the last words on his pillar's — his everything's — lips, his mother's: "I love you."
The crowd screamed in ecstasy, some shocked by the bloodbath, but faced with Lyris's acts, the consequences, and the violence of this new world, civilians as much as the military had become infected by this new savagery — not the savagery of the infected, nor invisible forces, nor revenants, but pure human violence.
"Mom... No... My mother is..."
Tears flowed. Hundreds of images flashed through his memory of a happy family life.
His vision went black as distant voices drifted in. Léo Marchand put a sack over Lyris and forced him to stand.
1st arrondissement of Lyon, Prison, April 17, 2030 — 01:05
When Lyris saw the light again, Lieutenant Léo Marchand violently threw him into a prison cell. Beside him he noticed Lorane; Lyris hurried to her side and touched one of her shoulders.
"Lorane!"
But Lorane, distant and cold with Lyris, shielded her body and pushed him back. Lyris, distraught, immediately noticed Lorane's vacant, empty gaze, stripped of all substance.
"Lyris..."
she answered, tears in her eyes...
"I can't anymore, I can't live... I feel dirty now... he…"
Lorane collapsed into sobs. Lyris could no longer bear all this pain — seeing Lorane sad and broken marked a step in Lyris's progressive dehumanization.
"But you know... as long as you're here... I will always stay strong... Because you promised me, didn't you?"
she said with a weak smile that barely hid her sorrow. Lyris held tightly the only girl he had ever loved romantically in his life.
Léo Marchand could not help but let a slight smirk at the scene.
"How touching... But you will die soon... won't you? I told you, kid... This is what happens when you don't obey the adults or the rule of law..."
Lyris rose immediately, his gaze full of rage. He pressed his hands against the bars and pressed his forehead to them, defying the look of authority... facing Léo and his cruel justice.
"I promise you... Not today... But I will make you suffer so much... that you will beg me, as I begged for my mother, I swear... It will be worse than hell, believe me!"