Chapter 21

XXI. Closer

June 30, 2013

Waiyip, China

"SO THIS IS it, huh? Waiyip, China..." Andrew remarked, sighing in dismay. We are finally nearing our destination and is bound for drop off in a few minutes. Phyllis and I had already geared up and changed from our dirty clothes to a more comfortable attire. We loaded up our guns and equipment. We are basically preparing for a war that we weren't supposed to join.

"Geez, more like what's left of it." Phyllis replied with a hint of sarcasm. She looked over the window to get a view of the chaos down below before flickering her gaze back at her favorite sniper rifle. My eyes flitted from the vast city, and it would have made a good view if it weren't for the partially destroyed skyscrapers, fires and the mixed crowd of civilians and J'avo-which according to Andrew's brief were the BOWs created by the C-virus.

Convincing Andrew to take a detour to China wasn't a walk in the park. I didn't bother to hide the fact of any possible dangers that awaited us and I had considered every repercussions and the worst case scenario. Phyllis did most of the talking, and I could tell that he listens and complies to her every whim. But there was a catch. Andrew gave us a handicap of three hours to complete our objective and he'd haul our ass back to America. Take it or leave it. Well, at least he gave me a chance. But what he didn't know is that I won't leave until I finished what I came for.

Piers... it's possible that he's here, too. I can't imagine his reaction once he discovered that his wife and cousin doing some shady business in a war zone. We just have to avoid the places where most of the casualties take place where military presence is most needed.

I stood up and went for the door, my right hand on the top of the door frame to steady myself. The helicopter hovered to our drop off point. I was about to grab the rope when Andrew called for our attention.

"So there's nothing I could do to change your minds, huh?" His face was stern as he looked over us through his shoulder, but his voice was filled with concern and sadness.

Phyllis shook her head, "We're already here. It's now or never."

Andrew nodded in understanding, "Okay... I'll cover for your parents for the time being. Just keep your radios on so I'll be able to keep tabs on you."

"Roger that!" Phyllis saluted her boyfriend before grabbing the rope and descended to the roof below us.

"Thanks, Andrew." I said, and he only nodded with a small smile.

I was about to follow her down when Andrew called for my attention again.

"Ms. Hansen,"

I peered over my shoulder, "Yeah?"

"Please take care of her."

I nodded, then grabbed the rope and followed Phyllis down below who was on one knee and examining the floor and surroundings.

The hotel's rooftop can be also considered as a bar and restaurant which is famous for the spectacular view of the skyscrapers. Well, indeed. I can already see the highlights of the damages of the city from up here. The sky is dark due to the smokes and fires coming from the burning buildings and the light coming from Andrew's helicopter serves as our source of sight.

Once my eyes grew accustomed to the darkness, I can make out the decorations and furniture which were obviously well thought of and probably costed a lot of fortune. At every corner lies long beige sofas, glass tables with unlit scented candles on it, huge black umbrellas with bulbs toppled over it, the walls were wrapped in a green material that would surely feel soft to the touch, the other benches were either made of narra and mahogany, and there was a bar by the far left side of the room. The whole layout of the rooftop was identical to the one I've always visited when I was a child. And if my hunch is right then this whole structure should be no different from the one I last visited in Germany. I still memorize this hotel by heart even if my last attendance here was like a lifetime ago.

Henry and Camilla owned chains of hotels, resorts and restaurants from around the world. And by pure coincidence, the only hotel branch that was built in China was located in Waiyip, where the eye of the outbreak is taking place.

"There's been no sign of any human activity in here." Phyllis reported, her fingers swiping over the clean tiled floors, "It's clean..."

"Strange." I commented, then looked around, "The housekeeping department couldn't have possibly cleaned the whole hotel before evacuating, are they?"

Phyllis scoffed before standing on her full height, "That's ridiculous. Any sane person wouldn't."

"Anyway, we should set our watches now."

After setting our watches to three hours, we approached the glass doors leading to the inside of the hotel. Its hinges creaked as I pushed the door open and it echoed throughout the room as I stepped inside and took the lead. It was almost completely dark. Due to us arriving in China at dusk, there was hardly any light inside and the power was obviously shut off. If it weren't for the little flashlights on our ear, we would have been rendered blind. Through the pitch darkness to the right were the elevators which were useless as of now, by the end of the hallway was a closed restaurant and to the left was a staircase descended into the darkness. We cautiously cut through the narrow staircase as our first priority is to get to the power room to restore the electricity because all of the residential and high security rooms-are operated and opened via key cards. Henry's office, well, I think I have an idea on how to open it somehow...

"Where's the power room located?" Phyllis asked, our treads echoing through the narrow stairway.

"It's on the twelfth floor."

Phyllis sighed exasperatedly, "It's a good thing we started from the top."

We stopped by the door to the twelfth floor and without further ado, we had arrived at the deserted dark halls. Henry liked to have the walls, ceilings and floors have the color black and silver scheme as to appear a minimalist. But the colors only contributed and emphasized the void and anxiety we are feeling right now. The power room is located at the end of the right hallway but before we could proceed, I stopped dead on my tracks.

"What's wrong?" Phyllis asked.

"Haven't you noticed?"

"What do you mean?"

"Up until now there's no sign of movements and human activity everywhere you look. The hotel isn't trashed and is completely void of life. If the people had already evacuated, there should be a couple of personal belongings that had scattered around the halls because of panic but there's none. And there's no sign of forced entry as far as we had observed... where are the J'avos? Infected? Survivors? It's as if this place have been left untouched on purpose."

"Yeah, now that you've mentioned it, that's kinda weird."

I wouldn't call this a coincidence though. Henry obviously prepared for this. He purposely didn't tell me his exact location because he obviously likes to play mind games-to which I always had no choice but to take part in. He knew that my first stop for clues would be the hotel so most likely, there could be traps or J'avos watching our every move.

It's like a mouse being watched finding her way out of a maze game. I wonder if you're watching right now, Henry... My mind sneered.

When we reached the power room, I started for the door handle and it rattled. My shoulders slumped in disappointment and frustration.

"It's locked." I grumbled.

"Well... that's to be expected. Now what?"

Then suddenly, gun shots pelted through the walls around us which made us immediately duck and hide against the wall in an attempt to shield ourselves from the onslaught of gunfire. Whoever was firing at us had very poor aim because we are out here in the open which meant that they had a clear shot. We already expected an ambush because it was a little too quiet for our comfort. But more importantly... where the hell did they come from? The rooms... the rooms can only be opened from the inside so did they hide from the rooms all this time?

At the end of the corridors, numerous yells and barks of orders along with the sound of the gun shots filled the once quiet hotel.

"Behind you!" Phyllis warned, and I tossed an eye over my shoulder to see a masked person ready to strike his machete at me. I dodged and immediately grabbed his wrist that was holding the machete and turned the sharp end towards the assailant with a jerk, stabbing his machete onto himself. He cried out in pain before falling dead to the floor before disintegrating like the rest of the infected. I suddenly remembered Andrew's brief about the J'avos... and they all fit the description!

Phyllis leaned against the wall, holding a compact mirror around the corner to take a look at the gunmen, but not before the mirror was shot out of her hand.

"Well, fuck." She muttered.

When the fires ceased, it was our turn to return fire at the horde of J'avos. I counted about six or seven hostiles hiding against the wall and rooms. When I hit the J'avo's arm, it stumbled to the ground as the area that dealt damage mutated into a more grotesque form, its limb extending to the joints. It's rounded, wider and flexible. Just from a great distance, it stretched and grappled me by the shoulder and dragged me toward him, earning a surprised yelp from me. But before the J'avo could have the chance to close our distance, Phyllis shot the J'avo in the head with her sniper rifle, killing him instantly. I dropped to the ground with a loud thud. I quickly moved for cover as the remaining J'avos are nearly finished reloading their firearms.

"You okay?" Phyllis asked urgently.

"Yeah, thanks for the save."

She glanced at her watch, "We're already fifteen minutes in. This is a waste of time. We have to do something!"

I clicked my tongue in annoyance. We are barely even starting our venture in here and we are already cornered by these assholes. We're already behind schedule and we still have to find the key to the power room. This hall is already a dead end, which means that we have no choice but to kill all of the J'avo in here. But that would cost us an ungodly amount of time. I only counted four remaining. So we worked on taking down those hostiles for five minutes more.

After killing them all, I had realized something. Some of them were wearing hotel staff uniforms and the others were civilians, meaning that they're the guests and employees in here. Shit, Neo-Umbrella has totally screwed the world over.

"Let's check the reception desk. There might be keys in there." I turned back to Phyllis who had a hard expression. She nodded her head in affirmation, then we made haste to go down to the ground floor, taking out J'avos along the way. I wonder why they decided to come out now of all times?

"Camilla Hotel..." Phyllis read the hotel's name out loud, reading a brochure by the front desk. "Camilla... that's your mother's name, right?"

"Yeah..." I answered nonchalantly whilst browsing through the files and the boxes for the keys.

"I never imagined that your family's filthy rich, Cheryl." She commented while skimming through the brochure once more.

I snorted. Yeah, wealth that was obtained through terrorism. I sneered on my mind bitterly. "Just help me find the keys."

I had completely trashed the whole reception desk and I was getting annoyed because I still couldn't find the damn keys. I could flip the whole desk in frustration, even if it's attached to the floor.

"Cheryl, you might want to see this."

That made me stop and finally give my full attention to her. I climbed up to my full height to take a look at her outstretched hand, giving me the brochure she was taking interest in just now. I took it then looked down upon the page she left open for me. My eyes squinted in suspicion when I saw something scribbled over the glossy paper in a neat handwriting that said: "Geh zurück zu dir nach Hause".

"Go back to your home..." I whispered to myself. Another mind game...?

"What? Is that a riddle?" Phyllis' forehead creased in confusion. "That's bullshit. Why not just get straight to the point?"

Home. Did he mean Germany? America...? No... it's not... it's not supposed to be as complex as he made it seem to be.

But damn it, what is it...? Think... think harder... what did he mean by that?

A place where I considered home? In this hotel? Will I find the key to the power room in a place I call home in the hotel? I turned toward the whole structure of the hotel. Damn it, I considered this whole hotel my home for some time. Whenever I'd come here when I was a child, I used to always spend the whole day by the pool area, just reading books and staring at the water. Could the power room key be there?

I beckoned Phyllis to go to the pool area just to test my theory. J'avos in uniforms came and ambushed us when we took our first step by the open area. Some were even by the balcony and some were taking covers by the bar and tables. We took our time taking them down, and one J'avo dropped a bundle of keys. Phyllis bent down and took it, washing the blood off by the water in the dirty pool. Then without another second wasted, we headed back to the twelfth floor and to the power room door. Phyllis tried every key possible on the bundle while I took watch in case some J'avos decided to ambush us again. I heard the satisfying click sound of the door, indicating that it was unlocked.

"Finally," Phyllis breathed a sigh of relief.

Phyllis pushed the door open and guns ready, we secured the area inside first, seeing as though there was a single corpse by the corner. We disregarded it until we had finally restored the hotel's whole electricity. I blinked my eyes multiple times, trying to adjust my eyes to the brightness. We finally had the chance to see more clearly that we can turn off our flashlights for now. I bent down to examine the corpse that was sitting against the bloodied wall. By closer inspection, he could be from the housekeeping department and one can conclude that he died by committing suicide by shooting himself in the head. Beside the hand gun he used was a journal of some sort. I took it and tried my best to read the suicide letter which was a little unintelligible because some words were obscured by blood.

-end of the line now. I may be the only one left. -a coward until the end is a shame beyond words. I knew something was wrong from the moment I saw a-the rooms and the guests and staffs were screaming. I got scared so I hid in here and locked the door. All I can do right now-time to escape is to completely shut off the power. I can hear them. I can't bring myself to open the door. I'm scared. They're banging through the door even as I write this. There's no escape... and all there's left is to end it here and leave this world as a person. Forgive me, Mary.

I immediately stood up by the sound of guns blaring in the distance. It was coming from the floor below. Is there a survivor currently engaging combat with the J'avos? My assumption was debunked when the radio suddenly chattered and Andrew's voice registered.

"Guys, do you read?"

We instinctively flick the radio in our ear to acknowledge him, "Yes, Andrew. We read you." I stated.

"Look, the BSAA has entered the building and currently have their hands full with the J'avos on the ground floor." My eyes widened in shock and dismay, my chest constricting at the horror behind those simple statements.

"What? Why's the BSAA here?" Phyllis asked with furrowed eyebrows, "Don't they have better things to do than to check a luxury hotel?"

"They received distress calls from the survivors hiding in there. You have to get outta there before they spot you."

"We just restored the power. I still have to check Henry's office." I interjected. Before Andrew could protest, I already turned my radio off. Gun ready in hand, I marched straight for the door, listening and estimating the time when the BSAA would arrive in the ninth floor.

Henry's office is located at the ninth floor, and it could only take a minimum of fifteen minutes to reach the designated floor, search through the office... but what if it took longer than needed to find the information? What if the information I need isn't even in his office? And most importantly...

"Do you think Piers is among them?" Phyllis asked as if on cue.

"I don't know. And I don't wanna stay to find out. Let's go."

We made haste and didn't bother to even use the elevator to our advantage to avoid attracting unwanted attention from both parties. We have to avoid contact with either the BSAA and the J'avos as much as possible. I glanced at my watch as we skidded down the stairs, seeing as though we are already forty-five minutes in. We burst through the door on the ninth floor and did our best to take down several J'avos using hand-to-hand combat. We stopped in front of Henry Hansen's office. And the door can only be unlocked via a fingerprint scanner.

"We don't have his fingerprint though." Phyllis commented, which earned her a snort from me. To test my theory, I jabbed an index finger on the scanner, and after a few seconds, the door clicked indicating that it was already unlocked. I turned back to her just to see her gawking at me in bewilderment.

"He registered my fingerprint." I drawled. Why do I somehow already knew you'd do this?

I turned the knob slowly just to be safe. There could be a trap lingering around waiting to be triggered. I stepped in and turned on my flashlight, whipping my head at different directions to make sure the area was clear. I glanced at my wristwatch again, fifty minutes in.

Henry's office is also a presidential suite. It looked like a normal expensive room with surrounding decors that screamed luxury and riches. I clenched my jaw then tried to shake off the memories that was beginning to form at the back of my mind. Phyllis stayed by the door to take watch while I went to the room on the left which was his office and study. I looked through the bookshelves, taking out all of the books, breaking the furniture in the process and forced the drawers to open but all of my efforts were put in vain. There was another drawer that intrigued me because it had a sturdy lock. Not having much of a choice, I pulled out my gun and shot the lock. I opened the drawer to find it empty.

"That's what he want you to think." I muttered to myself.

"Cheryl, they're almost here!" Phyllis called out, and by the distance I could also hear the sound of guns coming closer to where we are.

Ignoring her warning, I focused on my objective. I took a piece of paper clip and bent it until it was straight. I inserted the pointed end of the paper clip into the small hole on the side that anyone would have overlooked if not inspected thoroughly. One edge of the false bottom raised up, then I grabbed the false bottom and ripped it off the drawer, and it revealed a flash drive of some sort. Adrenaline pumped into my veins at the sound of the walls thumping like something was thrown against it, and the sound of yelling.

I retracted myself from the desk and marched out of the room to find Phyllis readying her gun for what's to come inside the room. I beckoned her toward the window and opened it.

"I hope you're not afraid of heights." A twisted smile tugged at my lips.

Her face paled to one with horror, "Uh... I'm not. But something tells me that's not what I should be afraid-AHH!"

I pulled Phyllis by the wrist and jumped out of the building. Phyllis' shrilling scream was drowned by the gun fires from different sections of the hotel, but I'm sure it didn't go unnoticed by the soldiers. I braced myself for the impact and landed on a soft cushion that's full of odor-a large dumpster full of plastic bags of garbage. Through the sound of gun fires and my own ragged breaths, I could hear Phyllis catching her breath, which was a sign that she's fine.

"You're... out of your fucking mind..." Phyllis moaned, crawling over to give me a light smack on the face, making me crack a smile.

"Can you run?" I asked her, to which she nodded her head on. "Then let's run."

Before the BSAA or the J'avos could reach us, we were already running on the street level of the ruins of China, taking down stray J'avos that dared to charge at us head-on whenever possible. After running for a few more minutes, Phyllis called for a time-out as exhaustion was kicking in. I don't know where the hell we are right at the moment but I think we ran eastwards. It appears that we're in the slums of a small town. Although I didn't want to stop moving because time was ticking, I agreed and decided to take refuge at an abandoned house.

"I need a report on your situation." Andrew's voice had a hint of irritation and impatience. I can't blame him, I turned off the radio on him when it was one of the conditions to keep him posted about our situation.

"We managed to get out of the hotel." Barely.

"Are you guys okay?"

"Yeah, I think so." Phyllis answered.

"I retrieved a flash drive from Henry's office. I can only hope it contains the info I need on his whereabouts." I pulled out the flash drive from my bra-to protect it from the fall-then inserted it into my COMs device.

"Have you already checked what's inside?"

"Already on it."

I read the entries and decoded the images of the familiar cocoons-chrysalids as they were called and the BOWs created by the C-virus. But this time, data and analysis is included. It also included data about my vitals that's most likely obtained through TriCell's archives or maybe passed through. It also contained images of Ada Wong, Derek C. Simmons and Henry Hansen's connections, collaborations, transactions, contributions-every evidence that could point out their involvement in this bioterrorist attack.

But something doesn't sit right. Why would Henry leave a piece of evidence that could be easily found? Did he want me to find it? But why?

"Andrew, I'm going to send you a copy of the files I found. Make sure it doesn't end up in the wrong hands. It's crucial evidence we have here."

"Roger that."

Ada Wong is also the woman from the videotape back at Tall Oaks. I remembered just now that she was the same woman Piers had mentioned to me in his e-mail a long time ago. She was the one behind the bioterrorist attack that occurred in Edonia that made the BSAA suffer heavy losses and for Chris' hospitalization and amnesia. It's possible that the three of them are operating separately in different parts of the city... and based on the file I've read, Henry might have been located in a facility in the slums of Poisawan District. I have Andrew direct us to the fastest route in there.

While I was waiting for the files to send, I clamped a free hand on my hip as I turned back to see Phyllis still sitting on the chair, checking her weapons for the remaining ammunation while at the same time resting.

"I received the file. I'm going to analyze it for the time being. The underground city is the fastest route to Poisawan. It serves as a defensive refuge so most likely you'll find survivors on your way there."

"Or J'avos." Phyllis added.

"Just try to avoid contact with anyone as much as possible." Andrew reminded, making her roll her eyes. Andrew sent the coordinates and she also peeked over my shoulder so that she could also mark our next destination.

"I never thought that underground cities were a thing." Phyllis' voice was soft as we exited through the back door.

"It was built in the 19th century when the Boxer Rebellion was put down by the Eight-Nation Alliance. As a result, the Qing Dynasty abandoned Poisawan, leaving the area into a lawless zone. The refugees began settling in the barracks in fear for their safety. To support the growing number of population, their areas also had to expand." Andrew's voice chattered away in our ear as we follow the coordinates.

"Wow, you really did your assignment." Phyllis chuckled.

We managed to shimmy through the narrow space of debris of buildings as per the directions said. We cut through a dark passage which didn't look and sound very promising. I can already hear the distant yells of the J'avos over the pitch darkness. I switched on my flashlight and the light didn't even reach the other side of the passage.

"Signal's going to be really weak at this point but I'll still be able to keep track of your movements. Be careful." Andrew reminded as the transmission ended.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and tried to ignore the thumping of my heart against my ribcage as I took the lead inside the underground city. I expected for it to look like... well, a city that's been build underground but it looked like a cave with houses on it. The temperature was dropping as we progress on and it sent involuntary chills down my spine. I looked down upon my device to keep track and I figured that it would take another mile or two to get to the street level. I stopped short when I saw two J'avos banging against a door of a house, forcing it to open. I heard loud cries inside, and it's attracting unwanted attention.

"Hey, assholes!" Phyllis snapped at the J'avos, making their attention shift to us. She pointed her Beretta Nano at the duo, making me mirror her move. "Why don't you pick on someone your own size?!"

The J'avos automatically locked their target on us, and we opened fire at them before they could have the chance to close the distance. The sound of the gun fire might have alerted the other hostiles nearby because more came from different directions. Another J'avo was engulfed in flames for a moment before his whole body froze to encase himself in chrysalids. Shit, it's going to mutate!

The others mutated, too. The damaged limbs regenerated and was replaced with an even more disgusting form. Phyllis had no choice but to throw a grenade at the horde, killing and damaging the surrounding buildings even more. We darted our attention back at the sound of a monstrous growl and saw a creature thumping its chest much like a gorilla when aggressive.

"Shit!" Phyllis screamed as it charged at us head-on with all its might, and we barely dodged his tackle by diving to the side. It ended up colliding with a house, destroying the wall in the process.

We shot the creature several times but it proved to be futile as its skin is hard like a protective layer. But then that same protective layer shattered when Phyllis shot it with her sniper rifle. The impact made the monster kneel, giving us a view of the softer muscle tissue underneath, which could serve as its weak point. Phyllis boldly dashed at the creature and performed a roundhouse kick, earning a pained whine from the monster. It swung its arms blindly, barely grazing her to the side. We continued firing at the monster before succumbing to the trauma.

A family of survivors seemed couldn't take the riot that ensued because they burst out of their house to flee the area. Not a second longer, J'avos came from the opposite direction, as if the timing couldn't get any better. We eliminated the rest of the J'avos along the way while trekking our way out of the underground city. We came across a flood of ice cold water that ended up on the waist.

"I can't feel my legs." Phyllis said.

"Stop being overdramatic."

"Oh, shit!" She exclaimed then jerked her head down at the water then at me in horror.

"What is it?"

"I-I don't know! It's like something hit me under the water, man!"

"Really?" I went over to her but before I could react, a force from under the water pulled her down. "Phyllis!" I dived under the water and saw her being strangled by a J'avo. I quickly pulled the J'avo away from her then twisted his neck, breaking it in the process. Phyllis quickly rushed to the surface and coughed uncontrollably, wheezing for air while holding out her bruised neck.

"Are you okay?" I asked as I held her face to examine her features for injuries. She offered a thumbs up, making my shoulders slump in relief. We took a break once we reached dry land just so Phyllis can catch her breath.

"Now we're all dirty and drenched and cold. This is not how I imagined my first out of the country." Phyllis grumbled aloud as she strip off her white button-down shirt and tossed it to the side, leaving her in a black tank top. I can't remove a piece of clothing because I don't have any to spare, so I just settled by just wringing the cold water out of my purple turtle-neck sweater.

"Sorry to ruin the experience." I smiled sympathetically, to which she just dismissed with a wave of her hand.

We were interrupted by the sound of a muffled explosion from the surface, making the ground shake and small rocks to fall. Then it was followed by a foreign authoritative voice that sprouted commands.

"Alpha Team, get out of there now. Preparations to bomb the building are complete. Planes have been scrambled."

"Alpha Team..." I trailed off, eyes widening in horror.

"Uh-oh... we're dead..." Phyllis let out a nervous chuckle.

It's within our line of frequency which means that they're close... closer than I could've imagined. Piers is...

I don't even want to finish that thought.

"Come on. We have to move. Fast."

"Hey, wait up!"

I jogged on ahead, not bothering to match Phyllis' pace. Scheiße! We have to draw the distance with the BSAA as much as possible. Crossing paths with them is absolutely out of the question!

The passage out of the underground city has been blocked off by a big piece of rubble... from the explosion? But a good push will do the trick. Phyllis and I attempted to push the rubble out of the way with all our might, but then we were bombarded by bullets from behind us, grazing Phyllis by the arm. She let out a yelp in pain as we quickly jumped for cover by the side of an abandoned house.

"For fuck's sake!" She yelled as I moved over to examine her arm.

"It's a flesh wound," Blood dribbled past her arm, and I clamped a hand over it and applied pressure.

"I'm fine." She grunted, pulling out a gauze from her pack.

I turned back to the group of J'avos who were continuously firing at us. Chances are, they could have alerted the whole army outside. And as if on cue, the rubble that we were trying to push out crumbled to the ground and in came the soldiers. Then they also opened fire on the hostiles.

"Fuck." I whispered, leaning my head against the wall and shut my eyes.

"They're in, aren't they?" Phyllis scoffed, finishing up her bandage. "I think I'd rather deal a dozen J'avos than face the wrath of my cousin." She laughed without any humor in it.

We quickly trotted our way into the walls of houses while the BSAA is still distracted with the J'avos. But there was a stray J'avo that appeared through the dark, ready to strike the machete when his head was shot in the head. I gave one quick glance back and saw a silhouette of a man by the distance. I sucked in a startled breath when I saw it advancing towards us, making us move to make an effort to get away from him.

"Freeze!" The very familiar voice of Piers almost made me stop on my tracks, but hearing his demanding voice made the running even the more faster. I heard him swear when we didn't comply with his orders, and it earned a chuckle from his cousin.

"We need to scatter." I instructed Phyllis.

She nodded and dashed through the alleyway and out of sight, leaving me to fend off the man I love the most. As much as I could, I avoided looking back at him at all cost in hopes that he wouldn't get even a little glimpse of my face. But I could still hear him even after practically performing parkour from around the broken buildings, and he was still able to keep up without even breaking a sweat.

"Hey! Stop right there! Cheryl!"

Ha-ha. He knew it was me. But no way in hell am I going to stop now, Liebe.

But he was faster than me. He was able to tackle me to the ground, knocking the air out of my lungs in a rushing wheeze. I ignored the pain that shot through my side as I felt my survival instincts kicking in. I moved my leg to kick him and it connected to his shin, making him grunt but he didn't bother to ease the iron grip. I tried to knee him on the stomach but it also proved fruitless because of his thick vest and gear. He secured my wrists by pinning them against the ground, and my struggling stopped when he called out my name.

"Cheryl." He was glaring at me. He's mad... no... he's furious. Furious is even an understatement. I think heʼs seconds away from going berserk.

"Piers." I pronounced, matching his stare with the same intensity.

"Piers, where are you?" I heard Chris' voice register in our ear.

"I had to go and investigate the noise I heard." Piers' voice was stern, his stare burning me. "And I just found my wife."