Chapter 345: A Choice
The approached the private pool building and noticed it was deserted without a sign of life in sight. Since Laz was expecting this, he was happy to see it was such. Scanning his badge over the electronic lock, the door latch released, opening up to let everyone in. After closing and locking the door, Laz pulled down the security cage and locked that as well. While the outside doors were made from plexy glass, this wouldn’t be enough to stop the beasts if they came. Same with the security cage. But that was to be expected.
The doors leading into the pool area were reinforced steel so after locking those and bolting them, they would provide the best protecting possible. And since the building itself was designed with needing to be extra secure and insulated due to the excessive moisture from the water, the entire building was much more fort like and secure than other buildings.
After a brief run to the basement armory, everyone was now well equipped. Even the girls, Mila, Tia and Rain had been armed with a low recoil rifle each. After all, whether you fought or not, you could still be killed. As such, it was better to fight than to just give up, at least that’s what their manager told them. As for the guys, they had traded their used rifles for fresh ones and had grabbed all the ammo they could carry just in case.
"I have no idea if they are going to know you are in here, but it’s better to be safe than sorry," Laz explained.
"Are you heading out now bro?" Mike asked, seeing Laz conversing with the sisters.
"Yeah. I’ll head out the back. Just make sure to lock and bar the door behind us," Laz said nodding his head yes.
"What’s to stop them from using something other then the front door?" Stevo asked, wondering why they had gathered in the large and open pool area.
"Because it’s the only door that can allow them to get the larger beasts in here without trying to rip out the wall. And the smaller ones are easily handled without the larger one’s protection. That double door entrance is the only way for them to do that," Laz responded, sharing his thoughts.
"Makes sense." Everyone agreed after hearing Laz’s explanation. What Laz didn’t tell them was that he had no proof to back that up, just a feeling. Send the larger ones in first to take the damage and the smaller ones after to struck down the prey quickly. It might seem simple but it was effective. And these creatures were still just beasts in the end. Their ability to strategize was highly lacking.
"Alright. So stay here, stay alert. I have no idea how they go about finding people, but fortunately, if its something like scent, the rain should wash that away," Laz said, giving them an encouraging smile. He honestly didn’t know, but Laz had the nagging feeling that they could locate people some other way, like body temperature or something. He just didn’t mention it to not scare them.
"Let’s go ladies," Laz said, indicating for the four sisters to follow him.
"You want to bring a few rifles just in case?" Mike asked, wondering why they would go unarmed.
"No, but thank you. The ones we are going to fight... well... guns won’t do anything to them."
"Ok... Hey bro. I know I shouldn’t talk about this but... you look really familiar. Like I felt it the first time I met you but I’m getting a much stronger vibe now. You just also look different. Like, different from what I remember," Mike said, trying to say what’s on his mind before his roommate disappears and he might not ever see him again.
Laz smile as a thought came into his head.
With a small smile, Laz circulated the energy inside of him while focusing on his blood, letting it rage for just a moment. Due to these actions, Laz began undergoing a noticeable change. His hair became white mixed with red while the black, tribal like tattoos covered his arms, chest, stomach and even his neck. He then took off his shirt to show it off.
"You... WAIT.... YOU’RE..." Mike tried getting out the words but couldn’t.
"Dude... you look exactly like the person on top of the most wanted list by the government and classified as an extremely dangerous individual," Stevo said, more excited than afraid.
"That’s exactly who I am!" Laz said, laughing. He then started walking away towards the back door, his entire aura aflame. Even for the regular humans he was leaving behind, they felt their blood heat up watching this dangerous figure go out to fight, one that each of them would be proud to call a friend.
Laz briefly stopped by the door and tilted his head to the side while the four girls silently waited beside him.
"Are you coming?" Laz asked vaguely.
"Who do you mean bro?" Jason asked the question first.
"Should I?" Lyssa responded back, asking the question before thinking better of it.
"You don’t have to. You can choose to hide and keep doing so. But your blood won’t be denied forever. If it could, I would never ask you to come with us. I would instead tell you to keep living your life, carefree and wild. Sing to your heart’s content, make tons of money, cause some scandals, break lots of hearts and live like you mean it. But sadly, that door is now closed to you. Whether it’s now or later, soon enough, you will have to leave your friends behind or risk endangering them. And I know you’re not the type of person to do that. Instead, come with us. I will grant you this first baptism of blood, one so legendary that forget it just being viral. It will be something that those who watch will never forget," Laz then turned, his usual kind smile and carefree look gone. Instead, his gaze was one of dark temptation and Lyssa felt her heart beat faster than ever.
Before she could even control herself, she felt the strength of her blood line, the queen of the sirens. rise within her. A shadow was projected behind her, a majestic and holy figure with pure white skin, large, voluptuous breast and long, jade like fingers which wrapped around a gem encrusted trident. Around her head was a crown of gold and bones, with gems of twisting light embedded at each of the six points.
While Lyssa was hesitating, her projection reached forward and grabbed Laz’s hand turning back to look at Lyssa who was still in a daze. Feeling the stirring of her soul, Lyssa smiled as well and reach for his hand while walking forward.
"Lyssa..."
"Lys!!!"
Her manager and teammates called out after watching the scene play out and seeing the change within Lyssa.
"He’s right. I’m sorry everyone. I can’t be with you anymore. I can’t deny who I am either. But just know that I love you all and I’ll never forget you!"
"Don’t be crazy Lyssa... you’re not..." Manager May tried to say before stopping herself.
"But I am. And you should know how dangerous I would be to be around. He’s right about that. You’ve even warned us how many times about people like me? Perhaps now though, you can understand that we aren’t what they say we are. I don’t know when I’ll see you all again or if I will. But I hope that one day, we can be together again. Just tell them I died today because Lyssa of Cherry Bomb will no longer exist," the tears were falling from Lyssa’s eyes uncontrollably. Manager May had told them that the infected were dark, twisted humans they should avoid at all costs. And now, she had no choice but to admit that she could no longer be a regular human. It wasn’t until she made the choice to grab Laz’s hand that she realized she could no longer go back.
Death and War both set a hand on Lyssa’s shoulders, helping to support her. Their minds might be twisted and more than just a little deranged, but as far as they were concerned, this girl was now an ally of theirs. She had given up everything else to follow along with them. Even if it was just a little, they felt respect for her.
"Lyssa..." Manager May had no words. She herself didn’t know what to think, how to feel or even what she could say to convince Lyssa otherwise. She knew Lyssa was an infected and in her mind, infected were evil, ugly beings. Her government had told her so.
But as she watched Lyssa walk away, tears in her eyes, May couldn’t help but question how such a sweet and hardworking girl, one she had watched grow and develop over the last few years, could possibly be evil.
As Mila, Tia and Rain waved their goodbyes with tears in their eyes, Laz and the others walked out the doors and into the rain drenched night.
Laz quickly spread out his spiritual sense and confirmed that the massive group of beasts were still where he had sensed them earlier before quickly withdrawing it, afraid to alert that one beast to his presence.
"How epic cinema of you master," Famine joked.
"Yes. Truly like a climax scene never before seen in real life," Pestilence also laughed before noticing a strange feel to Laz. They noticed a serious look on Laz’s face before quickly turning to Death to check her opinion. Her silence said it all and they stopped joking while letting Laz sort out his thoughts.
"We need to go get something first before we try to take out the lead group," Laz said after a moment.
"You don’t think we will be enough?" War asked, feeling a little hurt that he thought that they weren’t strong enough.
"Not for what we will be facing. And besides, we don’t want to just match them, we want to kill them all."
Laz then turned off from where he was going and quickly located another building. Along the way, several groups of beasts came upon them but were quickly wiped out. Between the sisters and Laz all being at the Void Palace stage while Lyssa wasn’t weak having already achieved the foundation building stage, a whole realm stronger than the last time Laz met up with her, their enemies were no match for them without being lead by a commander type of beast.
Lyssa was holding on to a spear type weapon that War had pulled out from somewhere. Laz had given War a look when she had produced it to which War just simply responded,
"I have one of everything with me."
"Here we are," Laz said after having killed their seventh group of enemies.
The building in front of them was only two stories, but the impressive array of satellite dishes on the roof along with the large, half broken sign that read command center gave the feeling of impressiveness that couldn’t just be shown with more floors.
The doors were busted up and blood was splattered everywhere, red mixed in with black. Strangely enough, there wasn’t a body in sight, although while walking through they did see several pieces of remains strewn about, too small of be of any concern.
Laz led them deeper in. While he had never actually worked in this building, he was given a tour when he had put in his lot with being a reserve security officer. He soon arrived at a door in the first lower layer titled ’Armory.’
"You came here for guns or something" Death asked, puzzled. She knew he didn’t put much stock into those things and even took a quick glance at Lyssa before turning back to Laz.
’There is no way he would do all this just to get her a firearm,’ Death muttered to herself while watching Laz tapping on electronic lock with a badge. Soon the light on the lock turned green and the door began to open on it’s own.
"You have access to this place?" War asked, a bit impressed.
"Of course not. This is Bruce’s badge. I swiped it before we left to join up with everyone," Laz said with a laugh before making his way inside.
The room was lit with a sharp and cold fluorescent light from overhead. While it was apparent that others had come here and grabbed additional ammunition, the place still looked pretty untouched.
"I don’t get why a club would need such weapons," Lyssa said while looking around.
"All I can say is ’Texas.’ This is Texas." Laz laughed.
"So what did we come here for?" Pestilence asked.
"For this," Laz said and pointed ahead. On a rack in front of them were several strange looking weapons with wide barrels that looked like really large rifles.
"What are these?" Death asked while War, having recognized them straight away couldn’t help but laugh.
"Fucking Texas... these are grenade launchers... I mean seriously though... grenade launchers? What the actual fuck..." War just continued to laugh having understood what Laz wanted to do.
"That’s right.... God Bless Texas...."
