25 - The Vampire

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Blood rushed from my cheeks as the others reacted to Serena's words.

"What?" Ezra scoffed.

"The tower is a weapon?" Ralph frowned. "You mean like a cannon?"

"I have no idea," Serena said. "Unless something was lost in translation, the creators of this facility refer to it as a weapon in the network - this part of it, at least. I'm sure of it."

"The parasite said that to me," I spoke, their gazes turning towards me. "It warned me not to fire some kind of weapon."

"Seriously?" Faith frowned.

Ezra narrowed his eyes. "What else aren't you telling us, kid?"

I exhaled shakily, wiping my palms on my pants. "All it said was that we needed to leave this place, and that all of us would die if we activated some weapon."

"That was it?"

I remained silent for a moment before answering. "Yes. It was just talking nonsense, Ezra. Nothing important."

"Well, it seems like it picked you to relay some kind of message to the rest of us," he scoffed. "So anything you remember might be something worth mentioning, don't you think?"

"Cut the kid a break, Ez," Ralph murmured, holding out his arm. "He says that's all."

Ezra groaned, rubbing at the bridge of his nose. "Look... I'm sorry, alright?" he sighed. "We just need to be sure we're getting the full story."

I chewed at my lip, the parasite's words bouncing around inside my head - I am too important to die. "I understand."

Ezra nodded, turning back to Serena. "What do you think? Could this place really be a weapon, then?"

Serena hummed softly, nodding. "That would certainly explain why the facility has so much power on reserve."

Ralph sighed. "But that doesn't explain why the previous tenants would need a weapon this big in the first place."

"I'll keep digging. Don't worry, I'll have some answers in no time," Serena said, her projection vanishing.

"Does any of this even matter?" Ramsey scoffed. "What good would a weapon do for us now? Unless we're planning on getting back to your hunk of junk by shooting it out of the sky."

Ezra rolled his eyes. "If this place can give us an advantage over the parasite, then I'll take it as a win."

"I'm actually with the pirate on this one," Lily sighed. "We're not going to war with the parasite, Ezra. We're trying to leave this place."

"Of course we're trying to leave," Ezra groaned. "But the parasite isn't going to just back off once we take control of the Tourist."

"Ezra is right," I said. "The more we can learn about this planet, the better. Especially if the government sends more people out here once we get home."

Ezra scoffed. "The government," he rolled his eyes. "That's a whole different story, kid. The less they know about this place, the better."

Faith nodded. "They'd learn about the parasite and try to weaponize it for the war, I'm sure."

Ellie chuckled softly, drawing my gaze. "God, this place sucks so bad that I forgot about the war entirely," she sighed, glancing at me as the others chatted. "I've been dreaming of home when it's not much better than here."

I shook my head, smiling empathetically. "Anything is better than here. We'll make it home, Ellie."

The girl remained silent, her gaze shifting back to Ezra as he spoke. "I promise, I want to get out of here as much as you," he said. "Believe me. We just need to be ready for anything. Who knows how close by the parasite will be when we get the Tourist back."

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