Meg nudged my ribs again and whispered furiously, "what's going on? I want to see!"
I couldn't say anything. My throat had closed up.
Who was that guy kissing Hylla? Was this Hylla's idea of recovering after battle?
I'd never seen him before. Was he a random civilian? I wanted to punch his face.
Were they dating? How long had this been going on?
Maybe they were in love? They were kissing after all.
No.
No way. Couldn't be. I tried to shake the thought out of my head.
Just then, as if things weren't bad enough—maybe she sensed my presence or something—Hylla's eyes opened mid-kiss and she spotted me, hiding in the flowers outside her window, my fingers prying open her blinders and peeking through.
Like a real stalker.
I'd admit, this was not my proudest moment.
At that moment, I desperately prayed the ground would implode and an Armageddon Bringer would come out and gobble me and the entire camp up.
Yeah, that's how badly I wanted to escape at that moment.
Anything other than being there in that moment would have been a welcome mercy.
We held eye contact for a fraction of a second, her eyes widening in shock before I quickly ducked under the window like she hadn't just seen me.
I squatted under the window with Meg, my heart racing as I listened to her approaching footsteps.
"She saw me." I said breathlessly to Meg. "We have to run."
"Calm down. What's going on?" Meg asked.
Meg opened her mouth to say something else but she was interrupted by the front door swinging open and Hylla stepping out on the porch.
I stood up too quickly and bonked the top of my head below the window ledge.
"Smooth." Hylla sneered.
"I have something super important to talk about with you." I said, trying to get straight to business, hoping and praying she didn't actually know I saw her kissing that guy, which was stupid cause she most definitely saw me.
We had made eye contact.
She cocked her head to one side, a sly smile playing on her lips before she said, "Sure, come in I guess."
I hesitated, thinking it was maybe a trick. Had she not seen me peeping? Was she mad?
Was she going to pretend like nothing had happened?
This was somehow worse than actually yelling at me.
She waited, the door ajar behind her and said again, "Come on in."
"Uhh, okay." I managed, "Thanks."
Meg didn't know what I'd seen but she looked at my face inquisitively, but I said nothing.
A blast of cold air from an air conditioner bathed my face when I stepped into the dim living room.
Wasn't it already too cold for a full blast A/C? It was near winter.
Her living room was simple yet spacious. An average-sized plasma TV hung neatly on the wall, while the couches opposite it curved into a loose semicircle, arranged for comfort rather than show. Settled at the center of it all—relaxed and entirely out of place—sat the random guy Hylla had been smooching.
I still wanted to punch his stupid face but more hesitantly than before, now seeing him up close.
Not because he looked more likeable. Nope. But because he looked like he could easily take me in a fight.
He looked like those guys that would usually slap books from my hands in the school hallway for no reason.
He looked more muscular than I was and had a chiseled jawline on his stupid handsome face.
It made me so angry. I really wanted to punch his face.
I heard Meg take a sharp breath beside me for some reason.
"Uh, this is my…friend, Vektor." Hylla said, running her fingers through her hair nervously, "He was just…visiting."
I bet he was.
But I didn't say it out loud. I just nodded.
There was no need for Hylla to hide it from me so why…
I didn't even care anyway. I wanted to run away from that place back to my dorm and maybe cry myself to sleep.
"Hi." Vektor said with his deep low voice and extended his massive hand for a handshake, "Nice to meet you kid."
I didn't like the look on his face. It was slightly mocking, slightly amused.
Almost like he knew he had what I wanted.
Oh I wanted to punch him so bad.
But I didn't. Instead I took his hand in a firm handshake, determined to not let him intimidate me. I even went as far as trying to squeeze his hand with a little of my super strength…
But something strange happened.
He matched my strength.
And no one had ever matched my strength before.
Not Brody. Not Hylla. Not even freaking Bloodfang.
I'd only encountered someone else overpower in terms of raw strength in only one other place.
Back in that helicopter.
Vektor was a possessed too. He was a Hollowbound.
He smiled into my face and squeezed my hand back and I yanked my hand away a little frightened.
When I sat down, I sat as far away from him as possible, on the edge of the farest couch, absolutely freaked out.
Hylla brought a small tray of cookies and a chocolate drink.
"So, I literally just came from the battlefield and—" I started but Hylla raised her hand to stop me.
"Hey Vektor, why don't you give us the room for now." Hylla told Vektor with a small smile.
He gave me a long look like he didn't trust leaving Hylla alone in the room with me but he stood up, nodded at her, gave me a nasty look again and left the room.
Might have been a robot the way he didn't say a word.
What did Hylla even see in him?
It wasn't even my business.
Meg who was happily oblivious of all this was now stuffing her mouth with cookies.
"Who's that guy anyway? Kinda hot, no?" She said with a mouthful of cookies.
"Anyway!" I said too loudly, " I actually have something important to discuss. So, while we were retreating in the helicopter…"
After I'd recounted everything that had happened to me, from the Hollowbound situation in the helicopter and the sighting of the Harbinger towering over the city, Hylla paced the room in silence for a while.
I noticed she had sustained new bruises on her arms from the battle.
She stopped pacing and stopped in the center of the room and asked, "Does anyone else know about this?"
"I told Brody. No one else." I said.
"And me." Meg chipped in.
"And her." I agreed.
Hylla hesitated, "So you are saying a Harbinger made every Hollowbound in that aircraft go berserk and start killing each other? Like the Scokytocles."
"Positive." I confirmed.
"Did you feel it?"
"Uh…"
"Did you feel the brainwash? Did you also get brainwashed?"
"Umm…" I hadn't really thought about that. "I uh…no. I didn't exactly go berserk."
"How?"
"I…just didn't. I fought the brainwash I guess." Even as I said it, I knew it wasn't true.
I mean I did feel it.
Overwhelmingly even.
But it didn't exactly feel like I was losing control of myself the way I should have.
I remember what the Scokytocles had said about me being able to withstand their poison. At first I'd thought it was just willpower but that time…it felt different.
"Look, I don't know." I admitted. "For some reason I was fine. It doesn't matter now. We should investigate Commander Scuria. He orchestrated this."
"Definitely he did." She agreed, "But the thing is, at this state the camp is in, I wouldn't be able to conduct an investigation on Scuria. The higher-ups wouldn't want to hear of it."
"So are we just going to let it slide? He indirectly caused a massacre of END soldiers, possessed or not." I pressed on.
"I know that, Zeph!" She rubbed her temple in tight circles with her fingers.
She paced the living room again, muttering "I have a meeting in about thirty minutes...and with all this chaos in camp..." She paused, a new smile forming on her lips, "Now if you really want something done... How do you guys feel about breaking some rules?"
"What do you mean?" I asked, not sure I wanted to hear the answer.
She smirked at me, a twinkle in her eyes, "How do you feel about kidnapping Commander Scuria?"