I invite you to read my new novel Alice in Borderland and support it with a review.
Thank you for reading and have a nice Sunday.
...
..
.
Chapter 234 – Much Darker
Military Base in Texas.
At that moment, a C5 aircraft was once again landing at the base to continue loading supplies to the Washington base, from where they would be moved to the base Rick had taken.
The number of survivors arriving at this base could be counted in the hundreds. Ever since Jason's team reached this place, radio broadcasts had been announcing how safe the base was and how anyone could come and request asylum.
Although it could become extremely dangerous if even one thing went wrong, everyone took the risk because they didn't plan to stay there for long.
When Jason's convoy stopped at the entrance of the military base, and after a brief inspection, the soldiers guarding the gate gave a military salute and opened the doors.
This base was massive—full of planes, helicopters, and something even Jason's people didn't expect to see: fighter jets.
The place was impressive, but Jason had no intention of separating such a large force from his territory in Atlanta, so he decided to leave only an outpost here for now to continue receiving survivors.
"Take that man to the others. We need to be ready to get everything they know—no matter the cost. Otherwise, we'll never find out where the hell Teddy's cult is hiding."
Jason began giving orders after stepping out of the armored vehicle. He looked at a few soldiers approaching and said, "Take these survivors to be evaluated, then isolate them with the others. The wounded go to recovery. One of them requires special attention because what he knows is very important."
"Yes, sir!"
"What's going to happen to us?"
Ario looked over at Lee's group and said nothing. He signaled the soldiers to leave the area immediately. Once everyone had moved away, Daniel, who stood beside him, said, "If that cult of lunatics wants to destroy the world and already has the weapon to do it, we have to act fast."
Jason understood what Daniel meant. In truth, he had just been waiting for the right moment to eliminate that group of psychopaths, but he needed to act carefully and know everything precisely to avoid mistakes.
"So you finally made it to this shithole…"
When Jason heard that raspy voice, he turned and saw Daryl looking at him—just before a fist came flying at his face. Daryl punched him hard and said, "Now we're even. Don't ever separate from the group like that again."
"I missed you too, Daryl. I didn't expect things to turn out this way, and I'm sorry for that," Jason said, raising his head and looking at him.
"Tens of thousands of people are depending on your vision. If you keep taking risks like that, one day you'll end up dead." Daryl glared at Jason after saying that.
"I'm not trying to justify my actions, but thanks to that risk, I discovered something deeply disturbing—something that would kill all of us anyway if we don't stop it." Jason handed Daryl the letter and started walking toward the interrogation room. "Apparently, a group wants to destroy everything we've rebuilt… using nuclear weapons."
"You're kidding, right? That sounds like something out of a movie…" Daryl focused on the letter and read it silently while following Jason.
"I'm not joking, my friend. I don't know how the hell they found a submarine—weren't they all supposed to be out at sea…"
…
Inside a special interrogation room, Daniel silently observed the two men seated in front of them. Alongside Jason, they waited in silence. On the other side of the room stood Shane, Sam, and Daryl, waiting for everything to begin so they could finally understand what this cult was really about.
"Ehhhh!"
"Hmmmm!"
One of the men had already woken up, growling and trying to scream for a while, but he couldn't see anything—his eyes were covered with a blindfold.
Jason looked at the man, then grabbed a bucket of cold water and threw it on the still-sleeping one, as if they were in a damn hotel.
"Arrgh!!"
"We need to keep them alive long enough until they tell us where the cult is hiding. Of course, we won't need to cut off their legs—if they talk before that."
Hearing someone speak in front of him, the thin man—who had been captured recently—felt his heart pounding violently. He tried to scream, since he couldn't speak.
"Relax, I haven't even started yet."
Seeing how nervous he was, Jason stood up from his chair, walked to the table with the water, approached the man closely and asked, "What's your name?"
"You… you son of a bitch, who the hell are you? Where are we?"
But the man didn't answer Jason's question, and once he calmed down, he began making soft threats.
"No, no, no…"
Seeing that the man wouldn't cooperate, Jason didn't care. Even cowards tend to resist properly before receiving a real threat. This wasn't unusual—not even for Daniel.
With a signal, Jason said nothing more, but Daniel quickly drew a knife, stepped up to the first man, and stabbed him hard.
"Ah!"
Looking at the blade stuck deep in his leg, the man instinctively turned his head toward the thin man. Trembling in fear, he shut his eyes and let out a scream more hideous than a dying squirrel's.
The pain quickly flooded his body, rising slowly through his tendons and spreading everywhere. When he opened his eyes, he could barely see the blade embedded in his leg and began to sob uncontrollably.
Jason looked at him with a smile and said, "From now on, I'll ask a question—and you'll answer it. If you say something stupid or lie to me, a new hole will open in your body. Do you understand me?"
Sweat dripped from the corner of the man's forehead, and Jason could see that his eyes were filled with more than just terror. Sensing death itself, the man immediately nodded. Now they understood each other.
"Same question: What's your name?"
"Dario… my name is Dario."
"Dario?"
Now that this man was fully in a state of terror, Jason continued, "What exactly were you doing in your shelter, and why were you torturing all those people?"
"That's because…"
Hearing those two questions, Dario's pupils shrank, and he began stammering, unable to form a coherent sentence. His eyes shifted nervously from side to side—clearly hesitating whether or not to answer.
Seeing this, Jason knew he might need stronger methods and feared the man would need to suffer more. So he grabbed a hammer and stomped on Dario's foot with force.
"AHHH!"
Dario never expected to be hurt again—and certainly not like this. The excruciating pain took him completely by surprise, and he howled.
The force Jason used was massive, and he even infused a bit of energy into the blow. Dario burst into tears and snot. His face turned red, the veins on his neck bulged—clearly, the pain was unbearable.
Despite Dario's miserable howls, Jason didn't tell Daniel to cover his mouth. The sound, while loud, wasn't too annoying.
"Don't you dare lie to me. I'm not playing around, Dario." Jason then pointed at the other man and said, "And you—think carefully, because your damn turn is coming!"
"Now answer my question!"
Slowly recovering from the brutal pain, Dario heard Jason's voice again and looked at the other man's eyes—full of panic and fear. So he hurriedly told him what he knew, terrified of going through that pain again.
"I… Our people were stationed where your people arrived. We served the cult—just like the others. Everything we did, we did for the cult. We did it to survive," Dario said with a pained expression, then muttered, "We were looking for a key… the key to a nuclear submarine. The goal is to cleanse everything, so new life can be born. It sounds crazy, but we were all just looking for a way out while fulfilling their demands. Do you really think we're crazy enough to want to die in an explosion?"
"How many people are in the cult?" Daniel asked this time.
"About eight hundred. Teddy made sure to recruit and force people into his cult. He had food and protection, which is all that really matters nowadays."
Hearing that number, Jason frowned slightly, realizing it was much higher than he had estimated before.
"Where is the cult located? Are they still killing survivors in the surrounding areas?"
As soon as those words left Jason's mouth, Dario froze—then snapped and shouted, "You bastards… you're from the S.C.T. organization!"
"Seems you've forgotten what I told you." Jason raised an eyebrow, stomped on Dario's foot again, and pressed gently on his ankle.
The pain once more surged through Dario's body, and without thinking, he blurted out: "Ahhh… The Doomsday Cult is led by Teddy. It's a group of hostile survivors, formed long before the Apocalypse, as far as I know. They were created for one purpose only: to fulfill the end of the world."
"We found a submarine not far from here. It contains UGM-133 Trident III nuclear warheads. Teddy plans for his cult to use the missiles stored on the USS Pennsylvania to wipe out the rest of humanity on the Earth's surface—and give humanity a fresh start."
Jason closed his eyes as he heard that. His blood ran cold at the thought of nuclear bombs being launched by Teddy's cult.
"How many keys are they looking for?" Daniel asked in a cold tone.
"Teddy already has one key. We're searching for the other."