Dmitri and his squad hopped off the Light APC. Their boots thundered on the brick pavement, sounding their rushed arrival.
Dmitri scanned the destruction laid by the recent conflict.
"Where’s the target?"
"Gone," Johannes sighed. "Escaped through the backyard. I couldn’t strike him down."
"Shouldn’t we give chase?"
"Don’t," Johannes frowned. "Elias may be reckless, but he’s not stupid. I haven’t even seen his two lieutenants."
"What do you suggest?"
"Ask that guy," Johannes directed to Tyrus’ figure who had entered through the mansion’s doorway.
Dmitri studied Johannes’ expression, then leaned over the comms and tapped on the channel.
"All units, this is Echo Actual," he said. "HVT has escaped. Echo Two and Three, check the backyard. Bulldog and Escort One, guard the perimeter. Do not engage on non-targets."
"What about the mansion, Echo Actual?" Zolyah asked.
"Will confirm individual ID. Wait for my confirmation. Echo Actual out."
The radio became silent, but the troops’ actions were loud. As they dispersed around the mansion, three women approached Dmitri and Johannes.
First came Evelyn, her short hair dancing around as she ran over.
"Was that him?" She asked, face full of concern. "Is he... still alive?"
"For now," Dmitri answered bluntly.
Evelyn’s fluctuating emotions had become a problem, but not one he couldn’t solve. If she decided to hinder his path when the time came, he wouldn’t hesitate to pull the trigger and pin a bullet into her head.
Amidst his thoughts, his attention shifted towards Kimmy.
The delicate woman cautiously measured her steps, her palms sticking out in the open. Yunera clung tightly beside Kimmy, hands already placed on the blade’s hilt.
"Oh, how devastating," Kimmy murmured. "Can humans really have this scale of power in their hands?"
"Yeah," Yunera frowned at the battered scene. "I don’t even know if we’re the hunters or the hunted anymore."
"We’re still hunting," Dmitri interjected. "Don’t let your guard down."
When he turned around, Yunera clicked her tongue in annoyance.
"Always butting in..."
"Sister Yunera," Kimmy touched Yunera’s hand. "It will be fine."
"I sure hope so, Kimmy."
Yunera felt that her knowledge about superhumans were too shallow. They may have killed a bunch of zombies before, but she had never seen a battle between two superhumans until now.
She closely watched Dmitri moving back to Johannes.
"What about him?" Dmitri nudged towards Tyrus’s figure.
"A possible HELIX recipient," Johannes studied Tyrus’s frail stature. "He’s an arrogant prick. You should be careful of your words, because this guy is not."
"He’s not the first."
The five of them walked around the garden. Despite the elegant display of flower beds and trims, they focused on this strange, black-haired man.
As Kimmy’s perception reached his, her brain jolted in shock. A wave of aura pulsed from her to him, then him to her.
She quickly stepped back, pursing her lips in doubt.
The rest noticed her sudden reaction.
Yunera quickly shielded Kimmy.
Evelyn quietly retreated to the sides.
Dmitri and Johannes exchanged glances, then they stepped forward.
Tyrus stopped beside the corpse of the old man. Blood had long dried due to exposure, filling the air with the scent of rust.
"You have died with honor," his hands reached out, feeling the hardened skin on the old man’s eyebrows. "Your sacrifice will not be in vain."
Footsteps echoed near him, prompting his focus anywhere but the corpse.
"You’re still here," he examined the two newcomers with interest. "Your target is not me. I am starting to wonder what reasoning compels your continued presence inside my mansion."
"Cut that useless banter," Johannes snorted. "Who are you? Why was Elias targeting you?"
"Why ask a question you already know of?"
Tyrus sighed, then stood up. "I can see that your objectives concern me with none. Rather than wasting time, should you not pursue your HVT instead?"
The air stilled.
Dmitri furrowed his brows; He heard what I said?
He quickly examined the chaos surrounding him. Shattered glass, broken wall, dented doors.
"Your sense of hearing alone doesn’t strike innocence," Dmitri rebutted. "Answer the man’s question."
Tyrus glanced at Dmitri, startled by his full military outfit.
"Most military units should have been compromised," he remarked. "Continued operations are a stretch, much less an intact force like yours. From which unit do you come from?"
"That’s classified," Dmitri internally smirked, but he felt that something didn’t feel right.
"Typical of your bunch," Tyrus turned around, not disengaging, but weighing his options.
His hand hovered slightly above the table’s edge, his mind wandering deep into his memories.
Tyrus’ figure paused, head turned slightly. Dmitri and Johannes barely saw a hint of his side frame, but enough to express the tangled emotion.
"Upon where you stand is yours truly, Tyrus Shearman’s mansion. Elias is a man born out of greed—quite the potential of a subject, but strength has overtaken his rationality. Should I tell more from this note, or have you heard enough?"
With a flick of a switch, the fluorescent bulbs lit up, casting a dim illumination upon the scarred lounge.
"Tyrus Shearman, you’re someone from that Shearman?" Johannes stopped on his tracks.
"It seems your information gathering skills are lacking in front of my family’s efforts," Tyrus lowly chuckled. "Must have been uncomfortable seeing my frame for the first time."
With palms wide open, his hands motioned in arc, as if invisible curtains unfurled in front of the dumbfounded audience.
"It won’t be the last," Dmitri took over the conversation. "Not a single soul has been found. How come you’re the only one who survived?"
"I wasn’t, until Elias chose it to be," Tyrus entered a large hallway, more spacious than most streets Dmitri had seen back in the colony.
"Pandora is a district built, not only for the wealthy, but for those who had done much for the country."
"I can see that," Dmitri affirmed.
"Disasters, wars, pandemics—any one of them could shatter the world, but not Pandora. Not how it was intended to be."
Tyrus approached the fridge, his hand faltering right before the handle.
"But Elias wasn’t any normal phenomenon. He was a disease. A curse. One that is unrelenting, driven to desperation."
Dmitri felt that this guy was too long winded.
"So he killed people, that’s what you’re trying to say?"
"He didn’t only kill, he plundered. From one mansion to the next, thinking that each was a land of HELIX III supplies. But every decision was incorrect, the next one even, he couldn’t even be more wrong."
"Until he encountered your mansion," Johannes decided to butt in. "Should I guess he chanced upon a jackpot too? You’re a Shearman. That alone makes you special."