Riane asked Lito and Sam to follow him outside. They arrived at a backyard. He told them to try out their new abilities, since they were the first batch and needed some testing if the abilities could help big time. He told Lito to conjure as much as fireballs he can, Lito can only conjure five fireballs before he collapsed in exhaustion. As for Sam he told him to make a tornado, to test how long and how big it is. The tornado is atleast five meters and can only last for two minutes before he collapses as well. He made them rest for a while before he ordered them to take a bath.
Meanwhile, in Germany, a man in a green uniform entered a secret facility. He watched the live feed of the drones that was sent to the Philippines, his eyes glinting in eagerness as he watched the radiation spreading along with the virus, he saw many people dying or being infected, their eyes turned black, screams of agony turned into an animalistic roars. He saw cities crumbled, then a flicker of surprise as he saw one particular city with destroyed drones while the machine guns missing. He also saw some anomalous activities in the subdivision. "It seems there are more interesting thing than the mutation." He said as he ordered the others to keep an eye on that particular city before he left the facility.
Riane and the others began cleaning up the subdivision and subduing the infected and burning the dead bodies of those who died. They also tried to rescue some other survivors but due to the spread, they turned to infected, Riane killed them himself. It was the only mercy he could give.
"It's not your fault, it was necessary, it was the only way." Lito said trying to comfort Riane. "I'm fine. Thanks Lito." He replied to Lito before he stood up and went to his basement. The basement was still a secret he and Lito were the only one who knew of the entrance. The earth shook as they heard explosions, they were at it again, the elites were bombing the city again. Trying to rat out survivors. Good thing the subdivision was not on the target list since there were less houses.
A week later, Lito and Sam's abilities improved little by little by using them daily. Riane had deduced that the abilities is some genetic mutation due to the radiation and virus mixing the other way and unlocking an unknown human evolution. It grows if the body gets sturdier and stronger. As for the infected, it was not devolvement nor mutation it was also an evolution but for the parasite living in the host's body. He called the virus a parasite since it is more like a parasite than a virus mixed with radiation.
The spread of the radiation was not wide since the facility was the only affected. It seems that there were hidden devices around the broken facility to stop the radiation from spreading. When they were resting after lunch. Riane and the others heard footsteps, it was unified. As they arrived at the only entrance they saw a small unit of soldiers with weapons raised towards them.
"Dear citizens, we are here to rescue you, we are here to take you somewhere safe. Do not resist. I repeat do not resist or you are branded as a rebel by the government." The captain shouted through his microphone, he expected the survivors to come out but instead he was met with a cold face of Riane. He chuckled at the Captain. "In be half of these survivors, we do not welcome you, we do not follow orders from you. If we are branded as rebels then so be it." Raine answered while still standing a distance away from them. Then the radio phone on the Captain's side made a static noise before a command was given. "Kill on sight of the rebels." The captain then affirmed the order and raised his gun towards Riane.
Riane laughed, as the bullet hit his hands he turned his arm into metal like claws. Making a clanking sound. Before the unit could react, he rushed toward them while fireballs was thrown towards them. They were bewildered, their order shattered as they tried to run away in fear. But Riane's infected instincts, instincts not of his own but the parasite inside his body emerged, it was of bloodlust. He ran after them tearing them apart. His eyes turned black, not red. It was like he was hunting. As the captain sank into his claws, he regained consciousness, breathing heavily. He tried to control his bloodlust, he slowly calmed down and returned to his calm self. He knew that he has a big chance of losing control when he fights, he needs to control it since it can jeopardize his plan.
Lito then burned the bodies of the soldiers while the others collected the things from the soldiers. They now knew that these soldiers were the so called puppets of the government.
In Switzerland, the preparations of the rescue plan is almost complete, Gregory along with his two sons and Alec made a lot of contingency plans. If their main mission deviates.
In the middle of the night, Gregory, Riane's father, secretly went to a high rise building where he met Endo Tanaka, a man who controls half of Japan with his businesses and underground connections. "Mr. Tanaka, I am here to humbly buy your latest tracking and containment technology. The price is no problem. I just need it ASAP." Gregory started after they shook hands and sat down. "Since you're a long time client, I will give you the highest of quality Mr. Aven. I will make sure that what you ordered will be delivered to you to the fastest. We will take priority. Pleasure doing business with you." Tanaka said and started calling his men to prepare Gregory's requested items.
In China, a group of escaped elites were having a meeting about the missing unit. "They were trained, although those assets are little but still there is no reason that they disappeared." An old man said. "I agree on that, if they escaped we would've known. Since we already put trackers in them and make them explode if they try to disobey or escape." A middle aged woman said. "The unit was killed by some survivors, call your men and those who controls the drone to check on Area 056. I want them alive." The man said, he was on the head of the table, meaning he was the leader. The others quieted and followed his orders.
In the following days, Riane, Sam and Lito faced not just the infected but also the soldiers and the drones. They also widened their search and rescue towards the city. They rescued five more survivors. Three were children, one an abled man but the other is an old woman. They arranged them to live in the farthest house away from them in order to isolate them and try to see if they will turn into infected. Fortunately they were all clean so they let them stay closer. The children were 12 to 14 years old, helped in mundane tasks while the abled man, he was a former security guard so he was tasked to guard the only entrance of their small base. Meanwhile the old woman, despite her age, helped in cooking and cleaning up mess during the trio's missions.
Riane then decided he would do a mission alone. Lito opposed this idea but eventually gave in. Riane ordered Lito and Sam to protect the base. He then entered the broken facility, this time he did not go to the office but to the laboratory below. As he descended he saw that molds and moss was spreading from the laboratory, as he entered the laboratory, what met him shocked him. The laboratory was wide, it was the size of three football fields, but what greatly shocked him was a full blown ecosystem. However, he can feel his skin tingling due to the radiation. The plants were full of radiation, then he saw a tree, it has no bark, the trunk held a large hole, he can smell a stench of decay, as he looked inside the hole, he saw remains of dead humans, and a bluish acid trying to melt the bodies. He heard rustling noise coming from the stairs so he hid behind a normal looking tree. Then he saw roots carrying dead bodies then it stuffed them inside the hole. He never thought that the facility had even gone far as to mutate trees to eat human flesh. He gritted his teeth and tried to burn the tree. But it was no use. The tree did not attack him, he only thought it was due to the tree not being sentient. He then went deeper in the underground laboratory, where he found glass cages, where he saw many mutated dogs and some of the glass cages containing dead ones. There were also broken ones. The ones who escaped. The infected and mutated all went out, he couldn't find a single one inside the facility. Then he saw an entry in one of the abandoned files. These creatures can detect heat signatures, they will go to this signature no matter what. He also saw an entry about a human hybrid but died a few weeks later. It said in the entry that the project was almost a success.
He went further down, this time he did not feel the heat of the radiation but a chilling cold. He then saw many dead bodies being hanged, humans and animals alike. It was like this particular floor was made like a freezer to preserve meat. He then reached the final and lowest floor. He saw a large congrete gate. The gate dwarfed him. It was 20 meters high, the gate was even vaulted with three massive lovks that look like large steel bars. As he neared closer, he felt the radiation getting stronger mutliple folds. He then heard growls of a large beast. He also can hear chains being dragged on the floor or being clashed with concrete. He felt something invading his mind, whispers of lost and ancient tongue. He can hear it calling him. He fought it off and ran away. For the first time in his life, he felt great fear. The fear of what is unknown. He thought that the elites and the government were playing gods but there is something far more sinister. As he reached the floor above the lowest floor, he vomitted blood and fainted.
He started dreaming again, in his dream he was still the soldier, this time, he was being tortured. His blood flowing from a knife wound but seems endless. It flowed for a long time, he can feel pain not from the wound but from his mind. He felt something is trying open his head. In the dark room he can hear chants and murmurs of prayers towards a god he couldn't tell which. When he thought the torture was going to be longer, he felt his hands being chopped off, his feet and finally his head. He woke up with a gasp. As his mind cleared after a few seconds he found out he was back in his room. He was puzzled, he was about to stand up ehen Lito entered the room. Lito rushed towards him and asked if he was okay. He asked how he was there. Lito then said he felt something amiss when he didn't return for a full day, so he went to the broken facility wearing a hazmat suit snd found him on the ground floor, unconscious on the floor. Riane remembered that he fainted on the second lowest floor in the underground laboratory but something or someone had put him up or maybe it was just his imagination. However it wasn't. He knew it was not his imagination about the laboratory. So he went again, this time Lito followed him, he wore a hazmat suit as well. They entered the laboratory and it proved that everything wasn't his imagination and the beast in the lowest floor is real. However, he kept it secret from Lito and the others.