The Last Colony

Part 35

Sean followed Zero out across the compound, asking discreetly. "They told me you took off. I don't understand..." Zero stopped short to face Sean, moving in closer, Zero told him just as discreetly. "Sean, you are in danger here. If you get the chance to run. Do it." Sean shrugged not sure what Zero meant. He didn't trust the Horsemen, but he didn't feel like he was in any danger. They needed him. He was harboring the cure. Zero glanced around, then shoved Sean against the side of an empty hut. Glaring at him, Zero whispered sternly. "Don't let them in your head, Sean. The more they know about you, the deeper they can sink their hooks into you. This is how they manipulate you." Sean raised an eyebrow, curiously slipping out. "What do they have on you?" Zero stepped back from him, deflecting the question defensively. "This isn't about me. This is about what they are going to do to you if Mark fails to do what they want." Sean straightened up and Zero shuffled his feet anxiously. A few people passed them to go about their day. After they passed, Zero whispered more discreetly. "You are not as safe as you think. Trust me."

Sean started to say something, when Zero's eyes gestured to something off to his right. Leaning out from the wall, he looked around to see a set of Death Stalkers. The two men stood nearby but not close enough to hear them. Tensing, Sean looked around and noticed more men stationed around the compound from the other Horsemen's garrisons. All were watching him and heavily armed. If they hadn't been so armed, they would have blended in with the rest of the people wondering around the compound. Sean stiffened, asking very softly. "I've seen them around. They are protecting me from-" Zero cut him off to say blatantly. "From War? No. Think about it. If War rapes you... What's the downside? You feel ashamed. You hide or try to run. That's what they would want... An excuse to lock you away. This is something else." Sean rubbed his collarbone, nervously asking. "What do you think it is?" Zero hefted his bow, sighing out deeply. "I don't know... But shoving me with you after telling you that I ran... It feels like a test for something."

Zero grabbed his arm, pulling him onward across the compound. Heading toward a long hut, Zero knocked on the doorframe and one of Conquest's guards opened the cloth flap. Zero pulled his bandana down to reveal his mark and the guard let them in. Inside, Sean's eyes widened. Similar to Famine's lab, Conquest's hut was half chemical lab and half war room. Sitting at a desk in the war room half, Conquest sat with his feet up, watching the many monitors that were running surveillance around the compound and elsewhere. Lazily, Conquest told them without looking in their direction. "I miss my compound. It is far more comfortable then this hippy dump. A lot more secure as well." Zero kept Sean from getting too close to Conquest, while addressing Conquest respectfully. "I brought him as you requested." Conquest dropped his polished white armored boots to the ground, straightening up in his seat to answer dryly. "I know. He was surprised to see you, no doubt." Sean coaxed Chica into sitting at his side, asking bluntly. "Why did you want to see me?" Conquest crossed his lean legs, grinning brightly as he said aloud. "I thought I'd take it upon myself to give you an update." Zero shifted uneasily beside him. Sean stayed calm, watching Conquest lean forward to press a button on his laptop.

Two of the monitors changed to bring up a feed that he didn't recognize at first. Then he did when something was taken off and dropped to the ground, revealing Mark raising his hands to be patted down by a soldier. Sean moved closer, stating out excitedly. "Mark made it! He's ok!" Conquest's smile faded to a cold glare as he said. "For now." Sean's blood turned to ice. What did he mean by that? Conquest fast forwarded the feed, informing him casually. "You know... I'm a sore loser. I give simple directions and I expect them to be done to the letter. Cause that's how I win." Sean gawked at the rushing feed, uttering out under his breath. "You put a camera on his bag..." Conquest slowed the feed down, telling him seriously. "Two actually. Front and back of the backpack. Tiny little things, but so very effective when people don't check their equipment." Sean saw the bag get set in a box with Mark's name and set on a metal table by men in hazmat suits. The men gassed down the stuff in the boxes, then spoke aloud to log all the contents.