Chapter 445

Chapter 445

It was Catalina who began speaking first. Although both she and Jake were from the same city, it was she who did most of the talking, recounting to the Commander and Silvia the history of their home.

She explained how the city, known as New Hope, had awakened from stasis, forcing its people to face a drastically altered world. She spoke of the city’s upgrade to Stage II, which made old mutants much stronger and introduced new types of monsters, and of how the Ravage Contamination suddenly appeared out of nowhere, quickly infesting New Hope.

The Commander and Silvia listened with polite detachment. Judging from their expressions, it was clear they weren’t particularly interested, which was understandable. Their own city had endured identical transformations long before. What was now happening in New Hope was hardly news to them.

The Commander perked up when Catalina told him about

Los Demonios

. However, it wasn’t the bandit organization that interested him, but rather Jake’s confrontation with it. While the Commander usually managed to maintain a poker face, he struggled to hide his curiosity about Jake and how he had defeated the gang. He seemed eager to learn as much as possible about Jake and his abilities.

At one point, Catalina paused her story to ask the Commander if he knew anything about

Los Demonios

and its leader, Skullface. After all, that gang came from his city. The Commander didn’t appreciate her breaking the flow of her story, but he took a moment to answer her question.

“Yep,” he said. “I knew of

Los Demonios

, though I never personally encountered any of them. From what you told me, they were real scumbags. However, while in New Hope, they were a force to be reckoned with, in our city, they hadn’t been that big of a deal. Which is understandable, of course, considering they outleveled all of you.

“Before the Ravage contaminated our city, we had several factions. While

Los Demonios

was one of them, it wasn’t the largest. I think the original leader was someone who had been a member of a cartel before the Collapse. They must have carried over the same cruel rules and traditions from the cartel to form

Los Demonios

. I never personally met their leader, but it definitely wasn’t someone named Skullface. In the original

Los Demonios

, he was most likely just a soldier.”

Before Catalina could ask any follow-up questions, he urged her to continue her story. While he was speaking to her, his eyes rarely strayed from Jake. Jake could sense there was something more in the Commander’s line of questioning about him than simple curiosity. It seemed the Commander couldn’t wait for Catalina to finish so he could hear Jake’s side of the story.

But Jake was more than happy to let his companion do all the talking. However, when Catalina began to recount how Jake declared war on

Los Demonios

, the Commander interrupted, saying, “Since it was Jake who single-handedly dealt with that bandit organization, it only makes sense for him to recount those events himself, don’t you agree? After all, he knows them better than anyone.”

Catalina gave a slight nod, her eyes drifting toward Jake as though passing him the cue to speak. However, Jake wasn’t willing to reveal much about himself. All he said was that he had destroyed all the secondary bases of the organization before heading to the main one and taking it down as well, personally killing its leader, Skullface.

Unfortunately, Catalina had already blurted out that Jake had been breeding an army of monsters of his own design, so he admitted it was true. Not that there was any point in hiding the fact. The Commander tried to pry with several questions, attempting to learn more about Jake and his abilities. Jake, however, wasn’t eager to share much information.

Frustrated, the Commander leaned forward and warned, “Jake, this isn’t going to work. If you want my trust, you need to tell me more about yourself. There’s no getting around it.”

Before Jake could reply, Catalina spoke up. “It’s alright. I don’t know much about him either, but that hasn’t kept me from standing by his side. I can tell you that you can count on his assistance if you and he are on the same side. When Skullface launched an attack on my friend’s base, Jake was the one who rushed in, fought alongside her people, and helped them hold the line. Without his timely arrival and intervention, Melissa’s base would’ve been completely destroyed. You don’t need to understand the full extent of Jake’s abilities to be his ally.”

The Commander clearly didn’t agree with her on that, but he decided to let it slide. For now. After that, it was his turn to tell Jake and Catalina about how his group had managed to survive in the city after the Ravage Contamination overtook it. As it turned out, there was nothing particularly extraordinary about their survival.

In the early days, the infestation was dismissed as insignificant. But when the danger became undeniable, people tried every method they could think of to eradicate it, but nothing worked. Eventually, it became obvious that nothing could stop the Ravage from consuming the entire city.

Panic erupted. The fortunate few escaped by helicopter, while the majority were left stranded. Once the infestation had claimed every street and building, the Ravage sealed the city with an enormous wall, cutting off any hope of escape.

The Commander didn’t reveal much about himself. He didn’t even tell them his real name. It seemed that, just like Jake, who didn’t want to talk about his abilities, the Commander had no interest in discussing his pre-Collapse life for some reason. He only shared that he had once been a high-ranking military officer.

After the Ravage infested the entire city, he was too stubborn to let the contamination win. Determined to fight against it for as long as necessary, he began searching for other survivors, bringing them together, believing their best chance lay in unity.

At some point, they discovered that the Ravage didn’t extend into the subway system, so they established their base there. Deep underground, they found a source of drinkable water, and the meat from the massive bugs proved edible for humans.

Every so often, his people ventured out into the city for various reasons, scavenging for supplies or completing tasks assigned by the Commander, most of which had something to do with combating the Ravage contamination.

“For several months, we’ve been surviving in this damned city,” the Commander concluded. “Our determination to wipe out the Ravage never wavered, yet with each passing day, it becomes clearer that such ambitions may never be fulfilled. That’s our story in a nutshell. Of course, those months were filled with many events, but I don’t really have the time or desire to recount them.”

During his entire story, Catalina occasionally made casual remarks, mostly in admiration of the Commander and his Spartans’ ability to survive in this horrible city for so long. As for Jake, he hadn’t said a word throughout the Commander’s account. He remained crouched on the ground, staring up at the Commander with unblinking eyes.

When the Commander finished speaking, Catalina said, “That’s incredible. I can’t even begin to comprehend how you’ve managed to survive in such a dreadful place. I have so many questions I want to ask you, but the one that interests me the most is about the weapons your people wield. I’ve seen Silvia’s group use them in action, and I’ve got to say they’re far more powerful than anything we’ve developed in New Hope so far. Can I ask, where did you get those weapons? Are they common at this stage of your city’s development, or did you create them yourselves?”

“Yes, they are pretty powerful, if I do say so myself,” he replied, pulling his large sidearm from its holster on his hip and demonstrating it to Catalina. “With these weapons, we can actually hurt and kill the ravagespawn.” He holstered the pistol again. “I’ll tell you where we got these weapons and answer any other questions you might have, but later.” He shifted his gaze to Jake. “First, I need to speak to our quiet friend. You’re staring at me so intently, I can feel you’re trying to read my mind. But don’t bother. Your mind-reading abilities won’t work on me. Or any of my people, for that matter.”

Jake wasn’t actually trying to view the Commander’s memories. He had used

Mind Reader

on the Commander and his people only once, when he first saw them, but he hadn’t tried again, finding no reason to do so.

Catalina couldn’t hide her amazement. She looked at Jake and exclaimed, “You can read minds?!”

“Something like that.”

“He never told you, did he?” the Commander said to Catalina.

Jake returned his piercing gaze to the Commander.

“And how exactly do you know about my ability?” he asked.

“I just told you,” the Commander replied with his usual self-confidence. “My Perception skill is so high that I can feel when someone is using a mind-reading ability on me. And just moments ago, you tried to read my mind, didn’t you?”

“No.”

For the first time, the Commander seemed unsure of himself. He had just made a mistake, and he knew it. “You weren’t?”

“I just told you. No. And I can see your stats, so I know your Perception isn’t actually that high. It was a lie. So how did you learn about this ability of mine?”

The Commander fell silent, clearly trying to come up with a plausible explanation.

“Don’t think,” Jake said. “Just answer my question.”

The Commander said nothing. Jake rose to his feet.

“I knew from the very beginning there was something off,” Jake said. “And now I know exactly what it is.”

The Commander frowned. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“When Silvia’s people first saw me, they looked absolutely terrified,” Jake said. “At first, I didn’t think much of it. After all, most humans react that way when they see me, especially for the very first time. But there was something unusual about their behavior… and about Silvia’s conversation with you. She deliberately described me to you and more than once emphasized that I was from another city. Almost as if she feared you might mistake me for something, or someone, else.

“And when we arrived here, I noticed it again: a mix of horror and familiarity in your people’s eyes. They didn’t seem shocked to see a creature like me. Instead, they seemed horrified because they thought I was someone else.” Jake took one step toward the Commander. “So, I’m gonna ask you a question, and I hope you’ll give me an honest answer. Is there another morphus in this city?”

For a moment, it seemed as though the Commander was planning to deny it. Then Silvia said, “I think we should tell him, sir. There’s no point in hiding it anymore. The sooner he knows, the better for everyone.”

Finally, the Commander made up his mind. He met Jake’s gaze and said, “Yes, there’s another being like you. Another morphus lurks in our city.”