Chapter 1 (1/2)
Chapter 1
“G.o.d of Mercy, You greet the new soul, into the eternal life, filled with light joy, in the Fellows.h.i.+p of the Saints in Heaven. And when the Lord Jesus comes the second time, the man who dies in Christ's name will be resurrected from the grave, and shall have eternal life.”
”Amen.”
The priest kissed the silver cross and held it up to the sky light through the high stained gla.s.s windows of the church, projecting its silhouette onto the black pine coffin placed in the middle of the altar. A black-cladded white woman crouched down in front of it, covering her mouth with icy palms, barely able to stop her sobs as she hugged the little boy at her side.
”…… Mom? ”
”Yes?”
“Does G.o.d love the world?”
“G.o.d …” the woman trembled and breathed deeply, before answering in a hoa.r.s.e voice, “G.o.d loves all sentient beings, so He gives blessing to His Son, Jesus, so that all who believe in Him will not perish and gain eternal life…”
“Then why are we deprived of our liberty, plundered and imprisoned?”
”……”
“Isn’t the world created without unequality?”
Before she could answer, the door behind the woman was suddenly knocked open, and numerous figures rushed into the church, all snapping and shouting. The woman only had time to pluck the pendant she was wearing off her neck and thrust it into the little boy’s hand, before she was caught by several heavily armed soldiers, and dragged back forcibly.
“Run, Run!” The struggling woman cried out through the chaos, “Run, get out of here!”
“Don’t look back, don’t give up!”
“Mom loves you!….”
The church then collapsed in a loud bang, the burning flames turned the view surrounding it to be as grey as the cloudy sky above. Screams and cries soon turned into nothingness, while the wind blew away the ashes, scattering them to the vast desolate land.
The little boy was running in the wilderness, with the soldiers and hounds following behind him. A sea of lights gradually cleared in front of him, and he soon saw a huge city appeared under the cliff he was standing on. The boy heard the sound of his pursuers closing fastly to his position, and hurriedly jumped!
The wind whistled through his ears, and the pendant on his chest rose with it.
The little boy closed his eyes as he began to fall rapidly. The last thing reflected in his black pupils was the view of the lonely, cold, endless night.
“Those who are dead will be resurrected and have eternal life–“
He said in his heart: ”Amen.”
***
2019, T City.
”…… Ah …! ”
The young man sat up in the dark, sweating from the nightmare he was just having. In the next moment, he felt a sudden ache in his body, like a current was making its way over each of his nerve. The dizziness it caused made him began vomitting immediately.
However, there was nothing to vomit from his stomach, as he had not been eating for days. The only thing it made him felt was the sharp tightening of his internal organs. After a while, he finally let out a gasp as his nausea calmed down. With a barely focused-sight, he took a look at the small dark cell he woke up in, relying on the faint light coming from the only iron-barred window in that place.
…… What is this place, a prison?
What am I doing here?
He tried to get any useful information out of his confused mind, but he couldn’t even remember his own name, and thinking about it was giving him a headache. As he tried to climb down the bed, he suddenly heard footsteps and voices from outside the door.
”…… We've been searching the city for three days, and still didn't find someone alive, maybe it's because omega's smell is particularly appealing for zombies…”
“Alpha's too I heard, only useless beta is relatively safe.”
“Forget it, these few Omegas should be enough for us to report …”
A sound of clatter was soon heard from the padlock and then, with a sharp friction, the door was opened. The two soldiers walked into the cell. By virtue of the dim light in there, they could see a thin figure lying on the bed, looking lifeless, without any movement from his chest.
“Is he dead?”
A gloved finger stretched out to the young man's nose, before moving to check on the pulse of his neck.
”Coma.” The soldier said, “And he is actually a rare good-looking one. ”
Hearing this, his companion laughed: “Come on, this one is muddy with ashen-skinned, what are you saying?”
”Even if he's covered in 18 layers of mud, I'd still be able to see it.”
“You are so thirsty!”
“Aren’t you thirsty?”
“Being thirsty is useless, I can't afford it anyway …”
The young man closed his eyes tightly and stayed extremely still as he felt himself being picked up from the bed and carried out of the cell.
However, the b.u.mpy road prompted him to slightly open his eyes. The only thing that he could see from his narrowed sight was a strong muscled arm belonging to a man cladded in some protective clothes. The man's companion behind him was similarly dressed, looking tall and athletic, with short boots on his legs and a black holster on his thigh.
Two alphas.
A shadow from the corner of the stone corridor infiltrate the young man’s line of sight, and he closed his eyes hurriedly. Not long after, the two soldiers entered a lift and pressed the up b.u.t.ton, their faces bright and lively.
However, before the lift's door closed, a man suddenly came running in their direction, shouting: “Pack your belongings! Prepare to retreat! The base's helicopters are on the roof! ”
“The city has fallen, there is no time!”
“Come on, go! ” said one of the soldier before leaving.
Seeing this, the young man squinted his eyes, now is his chance.
“Take the Omegas to a helicopter, don’t let them run, we are going back to the base …”
The soldier was just about to open his mouth, when the young omega in his arms suddenly seemed to lean sideways, out of his hold and fell toward the ground–
His first reaction was to bow down and picked him up once again, but at this moment, the originally unmoving young man unexpectedly reached to the holster on his hips, hooked the gun, and kneeled while pointing the gun at him.
The incident was too sudden, the soldier didn't even have a chance to speak before the young man swept his long legs to his knees, causing him to immediately fall!
Boom！
“What’s going on?”
”Stop! ”
All around them, people were shouting one after another, but the young man ignored them all. He dragged the fallen soldier by his hair, and used the alpha's bloodied body to block in front of him: “Back off!!”
He wanted to say 'back, do not move', but his throat was still hoa.r.s.e from his period of unconsciousness. He took deep breaths for a few seconds, before finally shouted: “Stop! Drop your weapon! ”
The faces of all the approaching soldiers in the hall changed color, and they stopped, forming a fan-shaped encirclement around the young man; the atmosphere was tense.
“Colonel, there’s an emergency–”
Tang Hao hung up his phone and looked up: “What?”
“One of the Omega is rebelling,” the aide pointed to the hall not far from where they were standing, his face filled with surprised anger: “He not only took one of our soldier hostage, but also wants to escape!”
The young man’s painful gasps and the trembling breath of the alpha soldiers mingled in one place. The hostage soldier felt the icy muzzle of the gun barrel on his temple, and swallowed in difficulty: “Put … put me down, you can’t run away … Ah! ”
The young man’s grip tightened on his neck, ”Shut up. ”
This place was the prison's public area, a round-shaped hall which was now filled with heavily armed soldiers. The young man’s squinted his eyes, and did a rough estimate, at least one hundred of them. There were many emergency facilities and stretchers covered with white clothes around them. He couldn't guess how many corpses were there, as the air was filled with the smell of smoke, c.o.ke, blood and rotten meat.
What is this, a riot?
War?
Who are these people and why are they here?
The exit at the end the hall was locked by a solid iron door, which led to a small office. A tall and slightly tanned man dressed in military clothes walked out of that door and strode towards them.
The young man stepped back bit by bit, until he was finally separated from the crowd. He raised the gun in his hand, and aimed it at the newcomer.
“Let go of my man.” Tang Hao looked at the young omega who had retreated to the corner. He was obviously a strong man as he came from the special force, but during this time, he actually took care to adjust his voice to something softer as to not startled the omega: “-We saved you, the city has fallen, you can't run out.”
The young man closed his eyes, took a deep breath, then opened it once again: “Who are you?”
Tang Hao did not answer his question directly: “Our mission is to search and protect Omegas as a precious strategic material until you are escorted back to the base. You are not in any danger, the base's preparation to take you over is ready, and you will soon be moved to the safe zone…”
There is no safe zone, a voice in his subconscious said to him.