Chapter 52: The Mystery

By the afternoon, the area returned to its usual calm. Yet the mark of failure was etched in the hearts of everyone involved.

They gathered in a small room, their somber eyes glued to the map spread on the wooden table.

Dmitri leaned over, his lungs heaving deep breaths.

“Zolyah, have you traced the zombies’ retreat?” He opened the discussion.

“I did,” Zolyah stepped forward, fingers drawing a circle on the map. “They went here, to the east.”

At the center was a small industrial area. Fish ports were situated nearby. Warehouses inched adjacent to them.

From the above, it formed an enclosed ecosystem—harvest, processing, storage, and transport.

The succeeding rows of buildings imitated its structure.

“It’s a fish processing plant that migrated south,” Yunera recalled. “The city’s northern area was polluted. They didn’t want to become jobless, so they went here.”

“That doesn’t say anything.” Adrian shrugged, tossing a cracker into his mouth. “Are you telling me that zombies crave fish food now? It could all be a coincidence.”

“Or something forced them to move,” Dmitri clenched his fists. “Just like recent times. It’s not a coincidence.”

He cast a sidelong glance at the corner of the room where a door lay ajar.

“What about Kimmy? What’s her problem?”

“She felt her mind jolt for a moment before the chaos started,” Adrian retold as he downed another biscuit. “Then she panicked into a room. Can’t just leave her be so we went after her. And then we were cornered.”

“Did she say something else?” Dmitri’s heart stirred.

“She was murmuring something,” Adrian turned to the window. “It’s as if someone took over her mind. You should ask her yourself.”

“Continue the discussion,” Dmitri paced towards the door, hands behind his back. With a slight push, he entered the smaller room.

Kimmy sat on the floor, hugging her knees tightly. The black blindfold absorbed her sweat, yet not the tears that dried from her eyes.

Sofia knelt beside her, rubbing her hunched back.

“How is she?” Dmitri gazed down at Kimmy.

“She needs time,” Sofia shook her head. “Her mind is still shaken. She might not talk for now.”

Despite her words, Dmitri knelt, grabbing both of Kimmy’s hands. With a soft tone, he spoke.

“Kimmy, can you hear me? It’s Dmitri. This might be abrupt but I want to ask you something. What did you experience from the encounter earlier?”

Silence ensued. Dmitri tightened his grip for he has felt fear rising from those trembling limbs.

“I… I heard many voices calling to me,” she whimpered, choking on her tears. “It was everywhere, at once. My power, I don’t know. I really don’t know!”

“Shush!”

Soft arms embraced her body. It was Sofia, humming a tune near Kimmy’s ears. The strange sensation calmed her stammering heart.

Sofia shot a glare at Dmitri, signaling him to scram. Kimmy’s hands loosened from his grip, backing away in caution.

The door clicked shut.

Dmitri returned to the map, a cold glint flashing on his eyes.

“What’s up all of a sudden?” Adrian dropped the biscuit. “Asking a girl about that, you’re making me chill—”

“Do you still remember the apartment complex?” he shut Adrian mid-way. “The third apartment building, do you remember that?”

“The meteorite shards, of course I do. What does it have to do—the voices!”

Adrian paused in his thoughts, a sudden realization striking him.

“Kimmy heard them. You know how potent those voices are,” Dmitri gave him a nod. “I thought it was my imagination at first. Turns out it was actually this. If my instinct is right, these zombies may have been affected by a shard nearby.”

“And it couldn’t be anywhere else but that wrecked building,” Zolya added, flipping the .50 Cal into the air. “Dmitri, if it is what you say, then we have to call the Commander.”

“I have already sent a squad member. We should hear from him soon.”

“Excuse me, but” Yunera interjected with a confused look on her face, “may I know what you guys are talking about?”

“Huh?”

The room was plunged into an awkward silence.

Though Yunera restrained herself, not knowing about the subject irked her. Maybe it was something molded from her secretarial duties, or maybe it was something else.

“This planet was struck by a meteorite shower before the apocalypse,” Dmitri took patience in lecturing her. “Those shards are fragments of that event. It emits a powerful psychic aura that can influence your mind into insanity. I do not recommend approaching areas when you feel it. Prolonged exposure could allow the psychic aura to take over your mind.”

Yunera was surprised. The concept of superhumans was already a mind-boggling phenomenon. Now, they have these weird meteorite shards?

“So, what that Kimmy girl experienced was the effect of a shard’s aura?”

“It should be.” Dmitri answered.

“It should be?” Yunera raised an eyebrow. “You’re not sure?”

“The possibility is high,” Dmitri argued. “The psychic aura floods your senses until agitation. The voices are just its medium. That was what Kimmy experienced.

Second, a nearby building’s rooftop collapsed as if something fell above. That was what Zolyah’s microdrone caught on camera.

Third, the irregular behavior of the zombies—they attacked when stimulated yet retreat after a distance. Though this point is weak, but if it is true, then the threat of those meteorite shards has risen to a higher level.”

Yunera’s hand twitch. Dmitri’s clues all pointed to the existence of a meteorite shard. As she opened her mouth, she stuttered asking, “Which means—?”

“Which means the city is not as safe it is,” Dmitri’s eyes landed at the center of the city. “If countless shards fell here, we can only hope that we are ready when they have fully influenced the zombies.”

“Could this also be the reason why they approach our base?” Yunera added a conjecture.

“It could be, but who can say?” Dmitri furled the map back into his pack. “The Commander has arrived. He will be here with us shortly.”

The team members stepped to the sides, mimicked by the cautious Yunera. To her, she never understood this zealous loyalty of the soldiers toward Hans. Whatever the reason was, she was bound to know soon.

The wooden door creaked.

Every soldier snapped in attention.

Hans stepped inside, the custom combat boots thudding loudly on the dusty wooden floor. Behind him, the scout closed the door and strode beside Yunera.

“I heard that a meteorite shard has been found.” Hans spoke.

“Yes, Commander,” Dmitri responded.

“What’s the situation now?”

“The zombies were in full retreat,” Dmitri reported. “We believe that the meteorite shard has influenced the zombies’ behavior, but the effects has not been investigated nor were they verified.”

“Interesting,” Hans showed a rare smile. “Bring me to where it is, now.”

“Wait!”

The door on the right slammed open. Kimmy hurried into the room.

“You can’t go there, Hans. It’s too dangerous!”

The soldiers looked at her in amusement. Yunera was baffled because of their reactions—Kimmy was because the troops kept their mouth shut.

“Wha—what are you doing? Why are you not persuading your Commander?”

Hans let out a laugh much to the two girls’ confusion.

“Kimmy, I understand that you’re worried, but they are not necessary.”

He grabbed her trembling arm and pulled her closer to him. Before she could complain, a cold, calming sensation washed over her body.

The looping voices vanished from her mind. Vanished, not faded.

“This should convince you.”

He yanked her again as they strode to the exit.

“Everyone, let’s go.”

Helpless, she was dragged into the block again. She winced, not in pain, but of a dreading expectation.

Yet the ethereal voices no longer echoed from the void.

The spatial structure of the area formed within her mind. It drew the buildings, the rubble, the soldiers. Hans.

Just who is he?

Her head tilted upward. Then she realized Hans’s gaze down on her.

“Do you feel it?”

“The voices?” She paused. “No, they’re gone. If they’re all gone, then—”

“Search carefully,” Hans stole a glance at her expression before he directed to his soldiers. “It might be deep in the rubble.”

A shard in the open may be concerning to Hans, but its sudden disappearance would terrify him.

The soldiers scattered around the wrecked building. Their hands latched onto the debris and threw them away—one grunt at a time.

The space cleared up.

Etched at the center were burn marks that circles around the impact. The floor depressed, forming an irregular shape that once held an object.

On its place were drips of blood, and strips of rotting flesh. It churned on its own matter while it sizzled with white steam.

Hans ignored it and reached out with his hands.

“It’s at least 40 centimeter long,” he frowned. “Larger than the previous samples. Who could have taken it?”

He clenched his fist, breathing cold air.

“Zolyah, where did you say the zombies where—”

Hans paused. Zolyah’s mouth was shaped like an egg, her brows spasming as she stared east.

“That… that doesn’t look normal now, is it?” She asked.

Everyone turned into that direction. Hans’s muscles tensed as his eyes settled upon an unnatural sight.

A dense formation of particles drifted in the air—not as black as smoke, not as grainy as polluted air.

Though the golden hue of the setting sun shone upon the horizon, it paled to the bright orange reflection that clustered above the tall, smoked chimneys.

These shards. Their effects, it evolved. What could be happening over there?

Hans opened his Radar map, focusing on the clump of massive red dots at the edge of the interface, east of his position.

This is worse than shown here. I need to make a move.

“All exploration teams, prepare to scout that area,” Hans’s voice thundered on their ears. “We have a huge problem ahead.”

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