Meridian | The Second Life III [COMPLETED]

28 - Revelations

- three days ago -
- R O N N I E -

I look up as I hear Cross grunt something. His body sits bound in an old chair with crudely tied rope from the pier. Aubrey sits near him in an identical situation. My knots certainly aren't perfect, but they'll hold them.

"Wake up, guys," I exclaim, poking them with the tip of my pistol. Their bodies stir as they snap back into consciousness while I take a seat. It's time to talk.

Cross panics first, frantically trying to get his arms unbound. Aubrey is right there with him.

"I don't think that's gonna work," I state, and his face snaps to mine. His eyes go wide as his arms freeze. He looks like he's seen a ghost.

"What the fuck?" He mutters incredulously, Aubrey joining him in his confusion.

"Let's have a conversation," I say calmly, leaning back in my seat and setting the pistol on the armrest.

Cross looks at me in disgust. "Fuck... you," he punctuates, gritting his teeth due to what I assume to be head pain. I did have to deliver a big hit to knock him out cold. For a bit, I thought I'd killed him.

I sigh. "I already overheard your little spat," I mutter, unimpressed with his vitriol. "You're fleeing the city."

"So what?" He snarls, staring me down with a murderous gaze.

"You have nothing to lose by talking," I answer, nodding my head toward the gun. "...and everything to lose by not working with me."

He sputters as Aubrey looks my way. "Dude, we're done with this city! Let us fucking go!"

"You tell me what I want to know, and no one gets hurt," I reiterate, looking at Cross. "You should know I follow through with what I say."

"You belong in a bodybag, bitch!" Cross exclaims, stomping his feet. "You killed my friends and left your own, you coward!"

"And you're doing a poor job at keeping you and your sister alive," I counter, raising my voice in return. "Now. What have you done with the people of Battery?"

They pause, looking at each other in surprise before turning back. Aubrey laughs, nodding her head. "You're so dense."

"I can see the Z's from across the river," I sigh, looking at Cross, who's begun to settle down. "I mean you guys blew up the entire gate. What have you done with my people?"

"Your people are the sickos, dumbass," Cross laughs as my heart drops. "They're all dead."

I sit still for a bit, studying their body language. "You expect me to believe they're all dead? That you and your cronies blew open the gate and killed literally everyone?"

"Wasn't us," he responds. "I can do a lot of stuff, but explosives aren't one of them."

"They got overrun by the sickos," Aubrey adds, crushing my spirit in the process.

"You're too late," Cross sighs, and I avert my gaze to the floor. "This is bigger than either of us."

"And you're just laughing at that shit?" I mutter, looking at him with too much concern for my liking.

He chuckles. "Yeah. Karma comes quickly, doesn't it? Not so tough without your girlfriend, huh?"

My expression falls neutral as my train of thought comes to a screeching halt. Cross's triumph instantly melts away as he realizes what he just said.

I stare at him in silence for a few seconds, unsure what to do. "How do you know," I manage to utter, my voice completely monotone. Cross controls the panic in his eyes, staring at me with cold anger. I begin to see red.

"Don't play with me, bitch. I'm not bluffing," I growl, ready to unleash hell in this small room. "Tell me."

He glances at Aubrey, hanging his head. "Fuck you," he says defiantly, raising an eyebrow.

I move my pistol away from Aubrey, pointing it directly at Cross. "Goodnight-"

I yelp as I'm tackled from behind, landing hard on the floor with a yelp. It's Aubrey; she escaped the rope. Fuck. I scream as she effortlessly slides a knife across my cheek and nose, spilling blood into my right eye. She plunges the knife straight for my throat, and my arms race up to block it.

"Cross, get the gun!" Aubrey screams. In the corner of my obscured vision, I see Cross cutting his own rope with some shard.

I roar as the knife inches closer and closer to my neck, before eventually touching it. The sensation gives me a burst of adrenaline, as my tired arms overcome her strength. I flip her off of me, racing to my feet and knocking her off of hers with a hate-laden punch.

Blood flies from her mouth as she is rocked back, screaming in pain and landing on the floor in a heap. That had to have broken her nose. Turning around, I see Cross fly off of the chair towards my dropped pistol. I run straight for him, tackling the man into the tile floor. He gets a serious punch into my ribs, eliciting a yelp.

I wipe some of the blood off my eyelid as we both stand up. Noticing a glass vase on the desk, I take it and slam it into his face, splintering glass and leaving some nasty cuts across the left side of his head. With both of them down, I grab the gun back off the floor.

"YOU FUCKING KILLED HER!" I scream, hurling another old glass toward Cross and watching it shatter on his shoulder. My gun instinctually finds its way back to being trained on his forehead.

"Chuni's- Chuni's who ordered it!" Aubrey pleads, barely managing to stand back up.

"Look around," Cross snarls, wiping blood off of his face. "You can kill me all you want. Nothing will change the fact that everything that's happened is all on you." My hand begins to shake as I squeeze tightly on the trigger.

"I mean, think about it," he continues. "The reason Evan turned was your decision to abandon your friends. The reason Colt went on his rampage was your discovery of the cure. You killed Colt, who was keeping Chuni in check. YOU unleashed every bit of mayhem and destruction, and fled west because you know what? You're a fucking coward, Ronnie."

My arm slowly drops, dragging the pistol with it as my grip loosens. Cross is right, like a broken clock twice a day. This is all on you. I steel myself, looking away from the ground and back at his angry, bloodied face. "Chuni did it?"

"Yeah," Cross snaps back. "He did."

"How?" I press, furrowing my brow.

Aubrey looks up, seemingly surprised that I'd asked that question. She glances at Cross before turning back to me. "There's a safe house in San Jose," she explains in an obnoxiously nasal voice. My bad. "Chuni contacted a group there. He promised a code to a vault of food and supplies in exchange for both of your deaths. A bounty."

"It's genius, really," Cross adds his thoughts. "He lured the Battery soldiers into Harlem before striking with the horde. The Sanctuary and Battery are both gone."

"Strike with the horde?" I repeat, cocking my head.

"Yeah," Aubrey sighs. "Why do you think we're getting out? He's controlling pretty much every Z in Manhattan."

"How in the fuck do you expect me to believe that?" I laugh nervously.

"We're done," Cross laughs obnoxiously. "We don't have shit to hide. He has the Chaho Device. It's from the same lab as the Replicator."

I stare at them for a second, watching the blood continue to slide down Cross's face. I'd have to see it for myself, but the dots line up. I overheard Chuni say something about Central Park on the radio call I'd heard with these guys; I'll head there first.

"Chuni's gonna die."