Chapter 83: The Investors

In the quarantine area.

General Xavier was in his office with many other lieutenants standing in front of him.

One of them gave him a salute and said, "My team had successfully captured the researchers in the Prion Dynamic Lab."

"Good job." General Xavier glanced at the lieutenant and said.

They had all accomplished their mission and came to report.

His eyes swept across the room and he frowned when he realized that Lieutenant Lee wasn’t back yet.

"Any of you know where Lieutenant Lee is at?"

"No, sir."

"We’ve not seen him back yet."

"Maybe he is delayed in his mission?"

"But I heard that he had wrapped up his mission an hour ago from the signal corporal?"

General Xavier felt something amiss and he glanced at his runner beside him.

"Go and check if Lieutenant Lee and his team is back."

"Yes, sir." His runner gave him a salute and went on his way.

The other lieutenants glanced at him and one of them asked, "Do you need us to go and help, sir?"

Lieutenant Lee and his team were the strongest among them all.

It was rare for Lieutenant Lee to slip up and they weren’t going to miss out on this chance to gain more credit from General Xavier.

General Xavier’s face turned long and he narrowed his eyes at them.

He drummed his fingers on the tabletop and waved his hand at them, gesturing to them that they were dismissed.

The lieutenants nodded their heads and they left the office.

After the doors to his office closed, he gave out a long sigh and laid back onto his seat.

This was supposed to be a simple mop and cleanup mission for him.

But now, he had a lot of ammunition and engines for all sorts of vehicles that were unaccounted for.

Even viewing through the footage of the surveillance camera yielded nothing.

Someone must have had the ability to become invisible and steal all the ammunition and engines.

He cursed at his luck and it would be disastrous for him if the higher-ups found out about his little hiccup.

Just as he was in his thoughts, his satellite phone rang.

He picked up the phone and frowned when he saw who it was.

"Good evening, Secretary Logan." General Xavier greeted the person on the other end of the call with a sigh.

"Xavier, I don’t have much time. Update me on the progress."

General Xavier pondered for a moment and said, "We are wrapping up as we speak."

"Good. The investors aren’t too pleased with the progress.

"You better speed up with the research and deliver results before all of your men and toys get withdrawn from you.

"Between the two of us, you should know who is paying for everything right now."

"Yes, Secretary Logan." General Xavier narrowed his eyes and said.

Then, the phone call was cut.

"All these rich fat fuckers hiding in their doomsday hideout." He grumbled to himself and the doors to his office were opened.

It was his runner.

His runner shook his head at him and said, "There is no sign of Lieutenant Lee and his men anywhere, sir."

General Xavier gave out a sigh and said, "Get everyone in here right now."

"Yes, sir." The runner gave him a salute and ran off.

General Xavier glanced out at the night and he had a feeling that the night was not over yet.

...

Meanwhile, in the woods.

Alex with his group was leading in front of everyone else.

The groups behind him, that were led by Riley, Terry and Brian, were some distance away from each other, making it viable for them to separate and go in different directions if they were caught up by the soldiers.

Although he was much more powerful than even Lieutenant Lee, he wasn’t sure if he could go up against the hundreds of Awakened all at once.

He was not going to risk his friends’ lives for it.

And even if he could fight them off this time, they would be coming back with more if he stayed put afterwards.

So, it was still better for him to get to the hydroelectric dam first.

Thankfully, the trek to the top of the hill was smooth so far.

Everyone was armed with automatic rifles and was cooperative enough to stay calm and be on the alert.

The air was cold in the night and they felt colder as they ascended to the top of the hill.

But as they went further up, Alex realized that it was not right.

The temperature was getting much too cold, even for the night.

His warm breath turned into a white mist immediately.

"Get ready for battle.

"Patricia and Alice, stay close to Teresa and her team.

"Run away from danger if you can’t hold off the enemy." Alex turned around and said.

Patricia and Alice nodded their heads.

Teresa and the team of researchers nodded their heads.

They weren’t used to fighting against the mutated beast so it was best to let them stay out of danger.

It was best to let Patricia and Alice keep them safe, while he and the other students with experience could help deal with the mutated beasts.

Alex went forward and took a few steps into the darkness.

He sensed a mutated beast that was moving around rapidly among the trees.

Rustle.

The branches of the trees rustled as the mutated beast swung off from them.

In the next moment, Alex could feel the chills and a gust of wind came at him from above.

A huge icicle that was at least two meters long came down at him.

However, before the icicle could reach him, a slit appeared on top of him and it opened up into a portal.

The icicle got absorbed into the portal and there was nothing left except for the rustling of the branches up above.

Alex lifted his head and with his enhanced vision, he could see a mutated beast in the form of an ape moving very fast among the trees.

He frowned and raised his hand at it.

But even before he could have a good aim at it, the mutated ape had already moved on to the next tree.