The Wastelands

"And I knew your father too." A stunned silence filled the room. "Although if you're standing here, then I did a disservice to them both." Dr. Remerez's voice had a defeated tone.

"Dad too? I never heard of you before." Stella seemed to mull over notion. Then she straightened up with resolve. "Never mind that. Do you know where my mom is? Is she…."

Dr. Remerez shook her head, "All I know is that she isn't here."

Stella became excited. "She's still alive. I knew it. I can't wait to tell Lillie." Then she slumped. "If we get out of here."

"Lilie?" Dr. Remerez asked.

"My sister, she's…." Stella rushed in.

Dr. Remerez's eyes widened in alarm, then she held up her hand to stop Stella from speaking further. "Enough, speak carefully." Her eyes roamed the walls. "This is not a safe place to speak freely."

"That means you could only speak to what they already know." Rachel surmised. Too bad, as soon as Dr. Remerez mentioned that she was r. Spenser's mentor than a cl.i.c.k.i.n.g sound went off in Rachel's head, and how the older woman acted when she realized who Lilia was merely a confirmation in Rachel's mind.

Her gaze fell on the older woman in speculation. 'She must know about Lilia's origins. Something that Dr. Spencer only knows about. But then why was the Doctor was here? There were only but a few reasons why.'

"Or maybe just a part of it." Rachel wondered. "Because if your Dr. Spencer's mentor, then your expertise must be groundbreaking."

Dr. Remerez stopped then turned to Rachel. "A good assessment. Too bad."

"About what," Rachel didn't like where this was heading.

"Because Inspector Lui, you're about to experience first hand my greatest failure." The Doctor's voice was devoid of emotion, not because she didn't care. It was more like she just ran dry a long time ago. "And I apologize."

She knows my name and rank. 'So I was the target, after all. Her thoughts were bitter-sweet. But I have suspected that. Still, my resolve hadn't changed. Stella needs to get out of this, no matter what happened to me.'

"And Stella?"

"The child may be…."

Suddenly a banging sound echoed through the cell as the door abruptly opened, and two guards came through. "You two, you're coming with us." Grabbing onto the two girls and dragging them.

"Rachel, Rachel!" Rachel could hear Stella crying out.

"Leave the child," When the old woman's words were. She started hitting the bars. "If not, take me too."

But it was no use. Soon Rachel will meet her fate. All she could hope was that Stella would be spared… somehow.

***

Andres and Shadow retreated to get a viewpoint, and what they saw was daunting. There weren't only Zombies either marching or standing in a neet line. There were humans, although keeping a wide berth. But they were still working around like them like it was no big deal.

"Maybe you're wrong. Maybe it isn't a Lumeye?" Andres inquired imploringly. "Maybe it's brainwashing or something like a remote control. Anything else."

"Something like remote control is iffy in the Wastelands, and brainwashing, come on, their Zombies," Shadow explained. "Plus, Lilia had a similar experience, and she said that the Zombie she faced attacked anything that moved. There's no mistaking those prominent Vine markings. So they must be the same type. The explanation why they not must be a Death Elemental."

"Damn, I was afraid of that."Andres sighed.

Shadow gave Andres an impatient look. "Why are you hesitating? Our objective is still the same."

"That's not why," Andres denied. "Because if there's one Lumeye, then there will be others, and we're delayed enough just getting past that without getting detected." She swept her hand toward the clearing and the robust activity. Then she stopped looking closely at Shadow's face. "And I don't like that look on your face."

"What look?" Shadow played innocent.

"That look you have when you just want to tear everything apart." Andres's eyes were knowing. "And enjoy every minute of it."

Shadow's eyes turned feverish. "Fighting another Death Elemental and finding out who's better. Plus, knowing that they were involved in kidnaping Lilia's sister and… friend. They deserve to be cut into pieces. And I freely admit that I find that hard to pass up." Pulling out one of his daggers and ran his finger against the blade before reluctantly placing it back. "But you right. Now is not the time. Getting the girls to safety comes first."

'Besides, there might be a better time later,' Shadow thought with glee. 'I can't let them passed me by without saying hi, now can't I.'

Andres paused, then nodded her head."Agreed, what we need is a distraction."

Shadow spotted something moving quickly through the brush. "I don't think we need to wait long."

Suddenly Va jumped into the clearing, attacking Zombies and humans alike. Then as soon as it got too messy, she hid before reappearing somewhere else. There was shouting and screaming everywhere. Then gunshots and stomping feet. It was utter chaos. But in Va's case, it was controlled her. They were chasing after her… and away from the Tunnels entrance.

"That works; let's go." Then Andres added quickly. "Quickly."

Shadow gave one last look at the fighting cat and the destruction that was left in her wake. And he had, but one thought. 'How envious.'

***

Ruined City

"Just one more," Lilia mumbled as she finally untangled the last piece; there was a moment of thinking that was this was a good idea before falling down to the nest below. At that moment, she wished she could fly like Heather, but all she could do was adjust her body and hopefully land on her feet. She couldn't help but hiss as she landed hard on her injured ankle, then rolled to reduce the impact.

She slowly got up and limped. Lilia cursed her luck. She finally got out of that tangled mess, but now she was pretty much standing in a nest spanning a couple of blocks, and she didn't want to meet the bird who made it. So checking on her injuries was out of the question until she gets as far away as possible.

Lilia' felt water drops landing on her face. Lilia's head was so messed up. She was having strange visions, and she didn't like what she saw. Lilia couldn't shake this bad feeling like she would lose someone… and she felt hopeless. "I need to find them. First, there was the incident with Bryson and Druid. Then seeing Stella and Rachel, they were so scared. Terran was running from something, but I didn't see Heather, which worries me even more. And Shadow, why are you there?" Lilia whispered. If only to conform, they are still alive. Just feeling their breath was enough. That their skin was still warm. "Why do I feel like everything is connected?" If so, why was she sitting at the sidelines, just watching? "Ah, frustrating as hell." Lilia g.r.o.a.n.e.d out.

Then Lilia stopped and turned, placing her hands on her earphone, adjusting the volume."What's that sound?" It was hard to see there were too many buildings blocking her line of sight. But there was something. A charged crackling in the air. Lilia didn't like it.

Suddenly the ground started rumbling, then Lilia widened her eyes with shock to see a dust storm spilling between the cracks of the buildings, then came barreling toward her. Lilia sprouted out. "Crap." And managed to protect her face and braced herself before the storm hit like a freight train, and she went flying.

Lilia hit the ground with a thud. She only had a second to breathe before something broke beneath her, and she was buried alive.

She woke up with a scream on her lips, trying to get her breathing under control. Lilia didn't know how much time had passed, seconds, hours. All Lilia wanted was to get out, although that was tricky. Her handholds pretty much crumbled under her hands, and down she'll go. and down she went again. Finally, Lilia managed to break through to the surface. All she could do was flop over, exhausted.

Maybe making this nest her new home was her fate because it looked like she would never leave.

Then she felt something disturbing. Yet different from the distortion she felt before. That distortion was still there, but it thinned out for some odd reasons. Most likely from the explosion that swept her off her feet. They were keeping their distance for obvious reasons. This was different; it wasn't the sound of anything off-key; the sound drowned out everything else.

"I heard this before L… Oh no!" Lilia widened her eyes. And with newfound energy, she quickly got back on her feet. Her eyes searching. Lilia's instincts were to run, but she knew that she just ran out of time.