116 CHAPTER 115 CHAOS IN THE HOUSE

William jerked up from his seat, looking at the back of the woman who had just disappeared through the door. Was she threatening him? He grunted and returned to his seat. Women and their empty threats. He said as he picked the jug and refilled his cup. The coffee was warm, not as hot as he would have wanted it, but not cold either. Anabel could take a dead man to life.

She must be drunk or something. A voice said in his head as he tried to place her attitude. She had been everything but friendly. Even though she was right at some point, she still had not seen things from his own perspective. Saving Alex was not as easy as it sounds, not with the incident surrounding his departure and all. It was true that the boy is a good lad and might have some good motives behind his action. But those motives had been debunked by the council. Nobody was willing to listen to him unless he serves his five days in the dark hole. 

William sipped from the cup, hoping the coffee would gulp the discomfort and guilt that was trying to surface. He had liked Alex and had treated him and his sister as he would treat his own flesh and blood. But that was long ago when they had lost their parent and were running down the street like a robot without a remote control. It's been three years since they left. He had met Jessica April in one of his many travels and had fallen in love with her. Their relationship had been messy at first because Jessica had been against the resistance and would have no part in it. But that was until she saw the inhuman treatment in Heroes city. 

William smiled and picked up the hologram picture before him. His smiles widen as the memory came flooding in. He had married her after the Heroes city's incident and they had kept their marital life underground, until last year when she had announced to one of the reporters, that she was married to a pilot and would be expecting a baby soon. 

His smile widened. His family was had become more perfect when the other Regent and the affairs of the community had been handed over to him as the new Regent. That was why he could not soil his hands in anything disobedient schemes. The position of the Regent was a sensitive one. One mistake and he would lose everything. The food, the money and all. He was not ready to do that. Not yet, though.

He picked up the jug to refill his cup when a sudden explosion, from somewhere in the stones, spluttered the dark coffee on his body. The cup and the jug fell too, crashing in sheds on the hard face of the stone floor.

"Jessica," The words were out of his mouth even before he could think of them. For some odd reason, he couldn't help the threats of Anabel as they resounded in his head. But what is happening?

William hurried to his feet, pulling out the drawer and picking out his Candor. Anabel can blab all she wants, but if she lays her hands on his family… He trotted towards the door and his jaw dropped when his eyes fell upon the chaos surrounding the entire place.

The painted sky in the farm was gone and black smokes elevated into the heavens as the hungry fire burned the straws. Some part of the stones and also fallen inwards, revealing the green word on the other side of the mountains. The screams of people filled the air and anywhere someone was shouting, a Keeper was there, shooting balls of electricity at them or dragging them roughly to the collapsed stones. Children were also screaming, calling out to their family over the voice of the burning stones and straws. 

"Boom" Another explosion resounded, juddering the foundation of the mountains from the core.

William held his hands over his head to keep the pebbles and the dust from going into his eyes. The matching feet followed and as he lifted his head to the side where the explosion seemed to have emanated, shock sent his hair on their feet when he saw more Keepers matching in, hands-on their Shocker Gun and face blinking with a red splendor.

Flame Card Keepers. William cursed and bent his body, tracing his way to the other side of the stone where the Keepers seemed not to have noticed at the moment. That road leads to his house, and he was glad that the Keeper had not attack there. The face of his wife and son was already visible in his mind's eyes. Hang on. Daddy is coming. He whispered to himself as he entered the hallway, undetected.

He shared this place with the family of the formal Regent. So far, some lights were off, an indication that they were indoor and obviously unaware of the apocalypse that had befallen them. Hurrying towards each door, he continued to push the blue, silent emergency alarm attached to the door in the two hands of the hallway. When he was done, he hurried towards the last door where his own house was, where his family was.

The alarm bell resounded thrice inside the house, but nobody came to the door. William pushed the button a couple of times, but yet, his wife did not come to answer. Grunting irritably, he opened the plastic covering on the keypad and typed his password. The door flared a light green light before sliding rightwards into the stone wall. 

Jessica was not the one to stay indoors with the lights off and she had not come to answer the door either, for the first time in three years since they were married. Panic spread through William's stomach as he began to consider the propensity that something bad might have happened, but he was not sure. The noise of his neighbors—the people living down the hallway—could be heard as they were opening their doors one by one to check the reason for the sudden alarm.

The noise faded in William's ear as his stomach continued to rise and fall. Without giving it further thought, he pushed the button on his Candor, and a yellow, burning flame ignited, burning the darkness that surrounded it.

Flame Card Keepers were brutal and would kill anyone around them, including their controller. But they lack knowledge of their own and would only act according to the program of the flame card. According to what the programmer wants to—

William trailed off when he clicked his fingers and the light came on.

"Je—Je—Je" The Candor fell as he hurried to his wife. Slowly he picked her up, blood trailing in a viscous slur. Her eyes were wide open, staring out as if reaching for to see something. Blood also covered the sides of her wide mouth, whose yell was never heard.

"No, no, this can't be happening," William said as his vision blurred with tears. His heart was already failing him and he didn't think he could breathe. He was choking in his sob. He was dying in his own agony. 

Besides his wife was his one-year-old baby, with throat sliced open in an identical fashion as Jessica. Their blood had formed a pool, mixing together at some point.

"No!!" William shouted. 

Outside he could hear the approaching footfalls of the Keepers and no sooner than that, did they come rushing in, hands-on their Shocker Gun as usual and face blinking with red.

"You are under arrest." One of them said.

William wiped his tears with the back of his hands and dropped the body of his wife on the bed of her blood. With his left hand, he closed hers and picked up his son with the right, placing mother and son together. He picked up his Candor, however. The Yellow fire of the laser weapon was still burning, hitting, radiating with the same energy that was making his headache. Every part of him was shaking. The heat was alluring and he could feel their vigor in his stomach, hands, feet, and face.

"You—You" William groaned, locking his fist on his burning Candor. The hate that was burning inside of him was making it difficult for him to breathe at the moment.

"You are under arrest." The Keeper that had spoken earlier said again.

"You will pay. You will bastards will all pay," William gnashed his teeth and charged.

Swinging his sword at the first Keeper who was standing some distance away from him. His Candor met their mark, but he barely noticed as he jumped from one Keeper to the next, slicing, thrusting, cutting, and sometimes stopping to smash their heads on the stone walls until the only thing that was left was sparks and wires.

He could only see the face of his wife and son. And the more he fought, the more the Keepers came flooding into the room like a waterfall. They were too numerous, but not stronger than he was. He had the strength and they hate the number. They would keep weighing him down until fatigue slows his strength. That was the only advantage they had over him. His death was inevitable, but not unwelcoming. He was glad that he was fighting for his family though, and it was just a matter of time before he sees them on the other side of the world.