The Mutation Wave

Chapter 38: Now You See Me

William chewed on his food nonchalantly, ignoring the hushed whispers around him while Marianne fared considerably worse, shifting her eyes ever so often at the people around them. The frown on her face grew wider by the second, until she set her utensils down with a loud clang and sighed audibly .

"I don't like this, William." She pouted, folding her arms. "Can we go somewhere else? We have no privacy here."

"We won't have privacy anywhere else too," William mumbled between bites. "Calm down, dear. Those are looks of admiration being casted our way."

"I still don't like the attention. How can you remain so calm about this?"

"I get this a lot. I used to be a celebrity, remember?"

Marianne rolled her eyes and opened her mouth but a woman interrupted her, approaching them hesitantly. A loud exhale escaped from Marianne's nostrils as she stared daggers at her, making the poor lady flinch.

"Mi-mister? The others said you wouldn't mind, but one of our water tanks is malfunctioning and we don't have enough people to move it. Could you help us?"

"Sure thing. Just give me a minute to finish my meal." William flashed a professional smile. "I'll help with the maintenance too."

"Thank you, sir! You really are an angel sent," the woman piped, looking considerably brighter. "Oh and regarding this week's physics lessons-"

"Same time, same place. It'll be theory, so tell the kids there's no need to bring tools this week."

Marianne watched the lady practically bound away before turning back to William. "What's gotten into you? You're really been a good samaritan lately. Did something happen?"

"N-no, nothing happened," William said hurriedly. "I'm getting paid for this, in both coins and freebies. Of course I'd take up the offers. I'm enjoying this, dear."

"Well, I'm not." Marianne huffed. "No one ever asks me for help."

"You could get them to by looking friendlier and smiling more." William grinned cheekily before immediately holding his tongue at the look on Marianne's face. A rush of footsteps from behind caught his attention before he could say anything to defend himself.

"I said I'll be right there- Oh, it's you." William's fake smile slipped off his face quickly at the sight of the settlement leader standing behind him.

"There's someone you two should see," Victor said, his voice sounding abnormally dry. "Your friends are in danger."

~ ~ ~

Why'd it have to be a kid...

William mustered the warmest smile he could at the small figure in the command room, but it quickly slipped away upon seeing the boy. He sat in the middle, an expression of worry and determination etched deeply into his face as he clutched a book in his hand. The boy looked back at the rest of the adults with surprisingly intimidating eyes, almost as if he was a war veteran determined to kill every last enemy in his path. A chill went down William's spine; he could almost envision this boy growing up to be a terrifying looking man in the future.

"Miss- The Red Clover is in trouble," the boy started. "And so are Brett and Masako. She gave me the coordinates to this place in case anything happened. We need to save them from Firdaus."

Damn, this boy is straightforward.

"Can you start from the beginning? Or at least start with some basic information," William asked. "Like your name for instance."

"We don't have time; Firdaus could be torturing Miss Yuxia right now for all we know." The boy shook his head. "My name is Henrik, and this book has all the information we need-"