Many seconds passed by like that, apparently embarrassing the group.
The applause finally stopped and, when silence came back, the Administrator, seeing the surprise on Johnny’s face, said, “A group ready to conquer the world, we can only admire and applaud! Now, you can…”
A clamor interrupted him and, like all the others, he turned his head in the direction from where it had come.
A little group was cutting through the crowd, which split to provide room for four security guards, who were pushing a man who tried to resist.
Everyone opened wide eyes on recognizing one of Adams’ two hit men, the bald one. He was bluntly pushed toward the pulpit and the little group of volunteer exiles. These observed that the man had his hands handcuffed.
The Administrator showed surprise and asked, “What’s happening? You, Vlad?”
“Many weeks' worth of food, which was missing, from the Community's reserves. It was found in his apartment,” said one of the guards, who, apparent from his uniform, seemed to be of the highest rank.
“I can explain everything,” yelled the man, fright visible on his face, and while watching him, Hiroto and Johnny recalled that he was the man with the goatee beard who had shunned Hiroto and him, a moment ago, in the TV recording studio.
“He’s been providing no explanation. The fact is that he’s a thief,” shouted the chief of the guards, scowling at the man.
This finally made the prisoner lower his gaze, shame visible on his face.
“Vlad, you make me feel ashamed of you,” the Administrator yelled at him, anger visible on his face, continuing, “Life in the Community is already sufficiently difficult as it is, because of the hunger which will soon make people suffer… we can’t allow thieves to live among us!”
Fear appeared on Vlad’s face, growing as he listened to Adams say, “Gentlemen, you have a final member who joins you in your expedition.”
“No!” yelled the man, as he was being pushed, despite his resistance, toward the group standing in front of the van.
“Yes!” many of the people of the crowd shouted angrily, booing.
Finally, the man, wearing his usual long, black leather jacket, was released in front of Hiroto, who was watching him with intensity.
A guard took his handcuffs off and the man yelled. Surprised, the guard chuckled when he saw the released man begin to rub his wrists, complaining about having been handcuffed too tightly.
He then pleaded, asking the crowd to take pity on him, “Please, don’t exile me, I don’t want to go!”
His pleading only increased the anger of the population, who roared even more angrily.
"Who says we want you to join us?" asked Johnny, sneering.
In the crowd someone shouted, “Hang him!”, another adding, “Let Hiroto behead him with his saber!”
Some of the people even began to walk toward the frightened man, but were blocked by the guards, who interposed themselves.
Frightened by such a demonstration of hatred and anger the man then knelt in front of the old Japanese, his hands joined, and begged, “Let me come with you, please, or I’m going to be lynched!”
Hiroto looked severely at him, remaining distant and wary.
Johnny told him, “Sensei, we can’t let that accomplice of Adams come with us!”
The old man looked in turn at his young student, then Adams, the crowd, and finally, his eye was drawn to his daughter, who was standing in front of the group of people.
She clearly nodded, and it didn’t surprise her father, who knew that she was a person of the compassionate type.
Finally, after many seconds that seemed to last centuries for the kneeling man who, his eyes shut, was bowing his head, Hiroto said, “You’re authorized to join our group.”
Grumbles erupted from the crowd as Vlad got up on his feet, saying, “Thank you, Master, thank you very much,” and he ran toward the opened sliding door of the van, jumping inside, out of view and hopefully out of harm's way.
“Well,” said Adams, his voice amplified by a speaker. “Farewell… or, who knows, goodbye.”
Johnny became tense, having seen a mocking grin on the man’s lips.
“Only goodbye, Administrator,” Hiroto answered, with a calm, cold, Asian smile, which made the old Administrator’s malicious grin fade away.
Then the Master turned around and, moving towards the front of the vehicle, he sat on the passenger’s seat, while Johnny Jackson got behind the wheel. Bo and Harry jumped inside, the latter sliding shut the door of the van as the crowd cheered.
The engine was started and the vehicle began to roll toward the giant doors, which were opening slowly.
The young colored man drove the van skillfully as the vehicle slid through the opening, almost touching the doors, jostling the living dead trying to enter.
They then rolled toward a narrow road, entering the nearby woods.
As Johnny looked into the left mirror, he saw, with a twinge of regret, the doors shutting behind them, crunching between them a bunch of other creatures which had been trying to enter.
He saw impressive flames coming out through the closing gap, flames grilling some zombies standing in front of the closing doors, the creatures agitated like flaming cockroaches.
He lost sight of all this when he turned onto the minor road and they entered a thicker wood, and he smiled.
Taking a glimpse at Hiroto sitting at his side, he saw that the old man was watching the landscape flitting past, with his usual impassive attitude.
Johnny turned his attention to the bad road and concentrated on the task of driving.
***
Confession
Johnny had been driving for half an hour, while the other members of the group were sitting on the seats, behind the partition separating them from him. As the van was rolling on a bad road, between the trees where, sometimes, he saw a worrying silhouette, he felt, progressively, something odd. It was as if someone was watching him from behind...
Suddenly he looked back and, startled, saw the hated face of Vlad, who was looking over his shoulder.
“Pay attention,” the hit man yelled while watching the windscreen, stressing even more than Johnny.
The latter turned his attention back to the road and, wide eyed, uttered a cry of surprise while violently turning the wheel, escaping a collision with a big oak.
The young colored man grunted, remorseful because of his lack of attention as much as being angry at the hit man. Focusing more on the bad road, now, he asked, "What do you want, Vlad, apart from making me lose my concentration, and killing us all?"
"Me? But... Hey, it's not my fault if you can't drive alone!"
"What?" Johnny shouted, and he braked all of a sudden, making the man standing beside him almost smash his head against the windscreen. He avoided that, thanks to putting his hands on the glass surface.
"Hey," bellowed Harry's voice behind them. “Why did you brake like that?"
"That bloody servant of Adams drives me completely mad," shouted the young man, as he saw his father's head stuck out of the separation wall, behind them.
"Hey, it's not my fault," Vlad yelled, upset, and he added, lowering his voice, "I only wanted to ask him to change his course."
"What?" the black giant in the cap said, as he looked through the windscreen and its protective grid. They were in the middle of the wood. The numerous high trees around them intercepted the sun's light and gave to the scene a dark, gloomy appearance.
"There's nothing here, man!" shouted Harry Jackson, scowling at him.
"Not here, but not very far," yelled the man wearing black leather, in a whining, almost imploring voice.
"But before that," the man added, "I've got to confess something.
The colored giant scowled even more at him, replying, "A confession? Do I look like a fuckin' priest?"
"Let's listen to what he has to say," intervened Hiroto, who had just joined them, his attitude denoting his curiosity, as he looked a
t the hit man with interest. The latter smiled timidly at him, and then lowered his gaze, looking at the metallic floor, apparently ashamed.
***
Vladimir was standing in front of the full group, who was sitting in the seats behind the wall, separating them from the driver's cabin. Bo, Johnny, Hiroto, and Harry were looking at him severely, and someone watching the scene could have thought it was a trial.
"We're all ears, Mister... What's your name? " the old Japanese asked, smiling in his shy, enigmatic way.
"Vladimir… Vladimir Hark. My name is not very well known, but I think that you've already seen me on the Community's TV Channel, next to the Administrator..."
"You mean on Adams' TV Channel," Johnny said, mockingly, happy to interrupt him. "Everyone knows that it's not controlled by the Council, but by your big friend!"
The bald man winced, not used to being cut off, and after sighing, he resumed, "He's not my friend, or I would not be here with you. He'll be condemned, and God knows how much he will have to pay, when we reveal to the Community all the things that I know about him.”
The emphasis that he had put on the last sentence had clearly captivated the attention of the small audience, because the others were watching him intensely, waiting for him to continue. He was using Adams' technique, with silences smartly put, from time to time, in order to keep the attention of people.
"Please continue, Mister Hark," Hiroto finally said, with a shy smile.
"What if I said that the Community's undead infestation, at least in its surroundings, wasn't due to chance? Or should we say, to misfortune? "
This time, Vlad was sure he had caught their attention: Bo, Johnny, and his father Harry were looking at him, eyes wide. Hiroto, for his part, kept his usual Olympian calm, a glimmer of curiosity in his gaze being the only thing betraying the surprise that had seized him, too. Vlad sighed heavily, and what he said to them, during the following minutes, astounded them.
"You assure us that everything's true, man?" asked Harry, the palms of his hands becoming white as he was pressing on the border of his seat, so much had the news outraged him.
"It's one hundred per cent the truth," the man answered, obviously happy to have been able to pass on the information.
"Only God knows to what extent Adams is corrupt," the old Japanese added, thoughtful, his half-closed eyes lowered toward the floor of the vehicle.
"You can only imagine a small part of it all," added the man in black.
"What’s to say you’re not lying?" asked Johnny, a mix of doubt and hatred on his face.
Vlad approached him, lowered his head so that he glared at him too, and he said, "Let me show you."
He then went silent. Johnny and the others looked at each other.
***
Discovery
Night had already come, as the van slowed down. Bo, who was now the one driving, was zigzagging between the trees, being careful to not damage the vehicle, in this area very well known for its zombie concentration.
"There," Vlad said, standing beside him with the others, "we're approaching. Turn off the highlights now."
"Really, you're sure?" asked Bo, feeling uneasy.
"Yeah, sure! We do not want to betray our presence here, right?"
"OK," the young driver answered, deactivating a switch with a finger.
He immediately regretted that action, feeling suddenly stressed when all of a sudden he could only discern menacing tree silhouettes, rushing toward them along their path. Fighting with the steering wheel he almost touched a few giant oaks, in the darkness of the night, the light of the moon entering with difficulty through the thick canopy of the woods.
"There," the bald man murmured, "let's stop here. Turn off the motor. "
Bo obeyed as he braked to a stop.
Everything fell to silence, creating a heavy atmosphere.
"Where have you brought us, man?" asked the young colored guy, defiant, and the hit man answered, "It's just a short walk to get there."
Hiroto asked, walking toward blankets behind the rear passenger seats, "And what will we do, when..."
The old Japanese had stopped speaking as he had pulled up the cover, discovering Red who, startled, was lying underneath.
"So, that was the shallow breathing that I thought I had heard!" yelled Hiroto, scowling at her like no one had ever seen him do, in the past. "Your mother is going to lose sleep, thanks to you, Red!"
The ginger teen girl was clearly ashamed as she looked back at him.
***
Indeed, Mei had been frantic, the same morning, when she had returned to Red's bedroom, after saying goodbye to the members of the expedition.
"Red, I told you it's time to get up!" the young woman had said, almost yelling, as she switched on the big bedroom's light, scowling at her adoptive daughter, who was still lying in the bed.
Mei stopped in the middle of the bedroom, goggling at the bed. On it, the girl, lying with her eyes closed, moved, but she was…
… translucent.
She was like a ghost, the bed sheets visible under her.
Aghast, the Asian woman felt terribly anxious as she guessed that she was watching an empty bed. Mei moved to the side and Red disappeared completely.
She turned around and gasped, then moved again, no longer blocking the holographic projection coming from the 3D iPad that was behind her. Her daughter had left it switched on in a nearby seat. Red had recorded a little 3D video of herself, moving in her bed, with the iPad's integrated camera, enabling her to deceive the supervision of her adoptive mother.
The latter knelt down on the clean, pristine floor near the seat, completely stunned. In the complete silence which permeated the bedroom, she lowered her head towards the floor, her inner voice resonating inside her mind.
Red, why? Why did you go? Why did you leave me? Why did you do this to me?
She didn’t ask herself where she was and what she was doing... She knew very well how much her father was loved by her adventurous, adoptive daughter.
Extending an arm, she switched off the iPad.
Red's almost invisible "ghost" disappeared. Mei contemplated the empty bed.
Let's hope this isn't premonitory…
***
Anger
Red had never seen Mei's father, her beloved grandfather and Sensei, so angry!
"How could you dare do such a thing to your mother?" the old man shouted, his voice resonating on the interior metal surfaces of the van.
"I'm sorry, I assure you," yelled, pleading, the red-haired girl, tears trickling down her cheeks, her normally white face reddening.
Seeing this, the old man gradually calmed himself and looked at her intensely, for a moment, the others trying to feign not listening to their conversation.
The girl, kneeling on the cold and hard metallic floor in front of Hiroto, was now sobbing.
The old man then smiled timidly and said to her, with a now softer voice, "Since I’ve known you, it's the first time that I see you being so racked by your emotions… I trust you, when you assure me that you're sorry. "
There was a noisy clearing of a throat.
Turning around and looking in the direction where the sound had come from, the old Japanese understood that it had come from Vlad. The man was looking at him with an insistent attitude, and Hiroto waited for him to speak, but the ex-hit man did not seem to dare open his mouth.
Finally the old man asked, "You want to tell me something, Vladimir?"
"Yes… I think we should go now."
"What, you would want us to go there now? My granddaughter is with us, we must take her back to the Community," Hiroto replied, having difficulties to hide his surprise.
"Adams must be stopped as quickly as possible," replied the man in black, "and, after all, the van will provide a great shelter, while we collect evidence, via some videos."
Thinking about all the repercussions of what the man had just said, the old Japanese looked in turn at all the others wh
o had been listening, Red included. He had the impression that Johnny, watching him with intensity, wanted to speak to him but was restraining himself. "Johnny, you want to tell me something?" Hiroto asked.
His young student answered, "Well, if what he's said to us is the truth, we must go back to the Community, and show the evidence to everybody over there, all the evidence we will have succeeded in accumulating against the administrator and his clique!”
"Hmmm," the old man murmured, weighing the pros and cons.
Vlad added, impatience visible in his gaze, "It's possible that it's our only chance to reveal his crimes; if ever one of his many men see us, he'll warn the others, and they'll scatter everywhere, becoming more suspicious and discreet, next time.”
The old Japanese realized that Red also looked at him insistently, and she said, "I'll stay inside the van, I promise, Sensei!"
"Really?" he said coldly, looking at her intensely for many seconds, before resuming, "Beware, a promise is a promise!"
The ginger girl swallowed hard, obviously pissed off, and answered, calming down, "Yes, I promise."
"Well, OK, let's go, gentlemen," Hiroto said, bowing his head slightly, imitated immediately by his granddaughter. He continued, "We won’t use firearms during the approach. There are many Zombies here, but we’ll only use our blades, Johnny and me. They’ll be best, during the moments of stealthiness and discretion we need. At a moment we’ll no more be able to remain silent, and if we’re surrounded by zombies, then and only then firearms will be used. But we must take a maximum of videos before retreating to the van. How much ammunition do we have? "
"Plenty," Bo answered.” The members of the Council gave me some of their last bullets. "
"Great," said the old man, satisfied, adding, "I know that you're a firearms expert, Boris."
BESIEGED (HUNGRY Series Book 2) Page 6
