Revelations (The End 5)

Despite the cold, Xander could not help but sweat as he gripped the shoulder straps of his black backpack tight.

“Are you okay?” Suzanne asked over her shoulder.

“Apart from the fact that I’m probably about to die. I guess so,” he said.

Suzanne rolled her eyes.

“We’re all going to die one day, Alexander. That’s inevitable. What matters is how we do so. Stop thinking about that. You’ll get yourself too worked to be coordinated. Focus on the bright side. If we win, we save a whole nation, including your family. That’s what matters,” she said.

Xander remained quiet as he thought about her words. After waiting a while longer, Suzanne sighed.

“Alexander, I’m going to need you to walk to that restaurant and try to open the door. Then, pull out your device and act as though you’re making a call,” she said.

Xander’s eyes widened.

“What! I don’t want to die yet,” he said.

“You won’t die. You’ll just bring them out of their holes.”

“Why don’t we just wait?”

“In case you haven’t realized, we don’t have the whole day to do this,” she said, looking serious.

Xander sighed.

“I hate to do this,” he said as he left. When he reached the glass doors, he peered inside as though looking for something. He tried to open the door, but it was locked. He looked up. Sure enough, there was a camera. It looked new. It was probably installed after the EMP. He pulled out his white mini-tab and tried to make a call. Then he put it back in his bag and walked back to the hideout, glad that no one had come out.

“Well done,” Suzanne said. “Now, we just wait.”

“So, what kinds of food do you guys eat in

Russia,” he asked her to try to calm his nerves. She didn’t reply immediately.

Xander was about to ask again, but Suzanne turned sharply and put her index finger to her lips. He paused, wondering why she had been so abrupt. That was when he heard the voices. The sounds of two people talking came from the front of the building. They were walking towards the back where Suzanne and Xander were hiding. Suzanne looked around her for a place to hide. There was a small garden in the backyard with some fruit trees around. She looked at Xander.

“Can you climb trees?” she asked in a whisper.

“I don’t think so. I haven’t done so since I was a kid,” he said.

She sighed. She had to think fast.

Mandy and Cole walked to the back of the building. They weren’t allowed to smoke in the main building, so they had snuck outside to relieve themselves under the pretense of going to look for the suspicious man. They wore the moss green uniforms of the organization with leather boots.

Mandy leaned against the wall at the back of the house and pulled out a roll of weed.

“Hey, Cole, pass the lighter already. We don’t have the whole of today,” he said in Russian, impatient to get his indulgence over with.

“Calm down, man,” Cole said as he lit his own joint Once done, he moved to give the lighter to Mandy.

Suddenly, something whizzed through the air, and a needle appeared in Mandy’s neck. Mandy fell to the ground.

Cole was in shock. It had happened so fast. He didn’t have to think long on it, though. The next second, a needle pierced his neck, and he fell to the ground as well.

Suzanne jumped down from the tree branches where she had lain like a serpent.

“Come out, Xander,” she said as she walked over to the unconscious men’s bodies. Xander came out from where he stood behind a tree.

“Why didn’t you just kill them?” he asked as Suzanne dragged the body of one of the men to the shed in the garden. Xander dragged the other.