Chapter 20: The Base
The journey had continued in silence.The vehicle slid across the wet asphalt, but inside Richard, nothing was at peace.
Something in his core had changed. Before, the energy had felt like dirty water—light, without any consistency. Now… it was different. Denser. As if the mist had turned to mercury, vibrating with every beat of his heart. His body felt it clearly: muscles tighter, tendons drawn taut like steel wires, vitality accumulating in steady waves, pounding inside him like a drum.
That sensation grew with each passing moment until it became irritating, a constant itching beneath his skin.
Fortunately, Richard was distracted by Ethan before stopping the vehicle."What the hell happened out there?" Ethan asked.
His eyes were fixed on Richard. Too many emotions crossed his face to mistake them—anger, confusion, fear… and something else. Something Richard knew all too well, because he had seen it in his past life: the look of someone who doesn't understand what stands before them, but knows they could lose it at any moment.
Richard exhaled slowly."It's the awakening of my talent…" he lied shamelessly.
Rebecca watched him in silence. Her eyes were crystal mirrors, able to strip him bare with a glance. Richard felt an uncomfortable shiver crawl down his spine.
He forced himself to keep speaking."It was a strange feeling… I guess you could say I lost control for a moment." He paused, lowered his gaze. "It won't happen again."
Ethan didn't look away."That's not what we're worried about." His voice was deep, but carried a hint of warmth. "What you can't do is throw yourself into death like it means nothing."
Richard raised an eyebrow, surprised at the tone."We're like your parents, kid," Ethan's voice cracked slightly, but he didn't back down. "And our job is to worry about you. Not the other way around. You… make me feel useless. Like an old man who can't even protect his own family."
The words pierced him like a spear. A strange weight formed in Richard's throat.
Feeling that someone cared about him was a heavy blow. Since the start of the pandemic, he had never had a real conversation with them, and he had thought things would never be the same again.The only talks he'd had with Ethan and Rebecca were to answer questions or solve problems. He had wanted to tell them everything, but had held back, always feeling that he was drifting further from his adoptive parents.
When someone tells you they care about you… it's like receiving fresh water in the middle of a barren desert. An unexpected surge of life.
Richard forced a bitter smile."Don't worry, old man… next time, when you're a Awakened, you'll be the one standing in front of everyone."
Ethan glanced at him sideways."Really?""Of course. That way you can kick down everyone who gets in our way." Richard said it with a mocking tone.
Ethan let out a dry laugh and pulled Rebecca into a hug."I hope so, brat! But remember: you can still count on us. These old bones can still break skulls. Don't treat us like useless baggage."
The atmosphere tensed and softened at the same time. Until James, with a nervous smile, broke the moment."Not that I want to interrupt all the sentimentality, but… we've arrived."
He pointed ahead.
At first glance, the street looked empty. However, columns of smoke rose from distant buildings, and in the shadows, pairs of eyes gleamed with human greed.
Richard tightened his grip on the wheel.
James lowered his voice."It would be best if we moved quickly."
No one spoke after that.
"We're in no man's land," James added, as if to underline the obvious. "Here, we're not welcome. At best, they'll just strip us of everything we're carrying."
Richard pressed the accelerator, guiding the van through the ruins of what had once been Los Angeles. The city, once bright and full of life, now looked like a post-war wasteland: mutilated buildings, shattered windows, patches of dried blood staining the pavement.
Rebecca watched in silence… until she couldn't anymore."How much the city has changed…"
She covered her mouth with one hand, but the sobs still escaped.
The wave of emotions from her ability was crushing her. Pain, hatred, despair, twisted desires… every shadow in the city projected a poisonous torrent that seeped into her mind like an unstoppable flood. Her face contorted, bearing the weight of countless people's suffering.
Richard extended his hand toward Ethan."Put this on her forehead…"
A seal of runes glowed in his palm, carved with his own blood. It wasn't perfect, but it would be enough to silence that maddening tide.
Then, a voice cut through the air."Could you… help me with some food?"
A child stood right in front of the vehicle, blocking the path. Drenched by the crimson rain, pale as a corpse. He looked like a normal innocent boy—there was no strange energy about him, just his wide, naïve eyes.
Rebecca swallowed hard, struggling to control her ability."It's a trap," she said softly after a moment. "There are more people hidden ahead."
Richard kept driving without slowing down.
There was no need: Rebecca had already warned them. Yet what unsettled him wasn't the ambush, but the boy. He wasn't infected, nor Awakened. Beneath the red rain, he was still human.
James tapped his shoulder, breaking his thoughts."A lot has happened in just one week…" he murmured with a tired sigh. "I was supposed to take my entrance exam when all this started. I guess the bright side is… I can't fail it now."
Richard let out a dry laugh."To be honest… I'd have preferred to continue my studies rather than this damned apocalypse."
* * *
The conversation died the moment the road was blocked.
A massive wall rose before them, rough and reinforced with metal plates welded in haste."Stop your vehicle!" a voice thundered from above.
Immediately, a swarm of spotlights blinded them. The entire van was drowned in a sea of white light."Identify yourselves, or turn back!"The order came again, followed by the metallic click of weapons being readied to neutralize any wrong move.
Richard slowly turned his head toward James."What a lovely welcome your best friend is giving us. Didn't you say you had already informed her of our arrival?"
James' face flushed with shame. He swallowed hard before answering."Well… yes, I did tell her. But she didn't reply."
His excuse was so weak it only worsened the tension. Not even an apology could soften the feeling that they were seconds away from being riddled with bullets.
"They are my guests!" a female voice cut through the air.
A young woman appeared, descending the metal stairs with measured calm. The nurse's uniform she wore seemed out of place in that warlike setting, but what drew attention wasn't her clothes—it was the energy she radiated.
Richard sensed it immediately. Her very presence was different, like an invisible field pressing against the atmosphere. This was nothing like the fire-wielding bandit he had faced earlier: this girl was a step away from reaching the "Limit" of the "Threshold of Humanity."
Instinctively, he clenched his fist in a gesture of respect."A healer with that kind of power… this place isn't as ordinary as I thought."
Richard's mind raced. She wasn't a warrior. That meant only two things: either they had an abundance of cores to hand over to their medics, or they had discovered another method of increasing necroplasmic energy in an individual. Both possibilities were dangerous.
"Do you know them, Miss Amelia?" asked the gate guard, lowering his weapon the moment he recognized her.
"Come now, Oliver, don't be so stiff…" she replied with a calm smile, before fixing her gaze on the vehicle.
Her eyes found James' face. A dangerous gleam flashed within them.
The memory of being abandoned, left alone against a tide of infected, wasn't something that faded easily. She could still picture the scene clearly: James leaving the city, forgetting his dear friend behind. The idiot hadn't even sent a message, a call—nothing… until, after days of silence, the only thing she received was: "Can you help my friends with a sick patient?"
Amelia's lips trembled with restrained fury. If she didn't beat him half to death on the spot, she would at least hang him from a mast for days, until he begged forgiveness for being the worst friend in existence.
"Miss Amelia?" Oliver's voice trembled, cutting through her rising pressure.
The guard didn't dare look at her directly. She was just a young woman, no older than nineteen, yet the oppression she exuded was real, heavy enough to suffocate everyone present.
Finally, Amelia exhaled, as if extinguishing a fire within."Yes, it's fine…" she murmured, calming the energy radiating from her core before stepping down the stairs of the wall.
"Open the gates!"The order rang out from the background, obeyed immediately by Oliver.
The metallic screech of the gate shattered the silence. The crash echoed like thunder, breaking apart the tension that had smothered them since the moment the spotlights first blinded their eyes.
Amelia's voice cut through the growing noise."It's time to see my dear friend…" her lips curved into a venomous smile. "Who knows, maybe now he'll be able to withstand a punch… since he's an Awakened."