"And I'm yet to discover everything you can do. I'm certain you can do more than move things with your mind; it's only a matter of time until we discover what, though."

  "Ok, Plague. I get it; I'm stronger than we thought. But we still have a little teeny-weensy issue with a mole." I said. I don't know why, but I felt more responsible and focused. Was I changing? Was I becoming boring?

  "Yes, Ayla. Look, let's not worry about this for now, and if you have suspicions about anyone, you keep them to yourself. We need to wait until the mole makes a mistake before we make ours. If he gets tipped off about us, then it's all over. Get it?" He said.

  Of course I got it. I knew what Plague meant. Basically, if we began investigating openly, then the mole would most certainly just dip and leave.

  "Ok, I ge..." I was almost going to finish the sentence when I noticed something peculiar. The faintest red shine was coming from one of the many keyboards in the room. It was blood.

  Plague turned to where I was looking at, and he also saw it.

  "Of course. Ayla, one of the displays had a nail poking out of one of its drawers; I think our little thief was a bit surprised." He moved over, and after reaching for a scalpel from the shelf, he scraped the blood and went to place it into a machine. It was a minute amount, almost nothing.

  "Is that enough?" I asked.

  "Yes," he said as he turned the machine on and set the duty cycle.

  After a moment, a big molecule appeared on the screen, similar to my strand of the infection. I, of course, couldn't understand anything, but Plague was apparently really surprised. "Holy shit." He said.

  "What?"

  "It's an isomer of your strand."

  "English, please."

  "It's the mirror of your strand."

  "Which means it can do what?"

  "From my predictions... manipulate time."

  So apparently I wasn't the only demigod in town. This was really bad.

  "It makes so much sense. Ayla, the footage from the security camera wasn't wrong. Time was frozen; that's what happened." He sat back and pondered for a moment. "More the reason to be careful. The mole could leave town, and we wouldn't even know."

  He got up and turned everything off. He then left the lab, and I followed him into the main room of the museum.

  The papers were still scattered all around the place, covering the marble floor.

  "What now? What's the next operation going to be?" I asked.

  "For now... Nothing. I want you to relax as much as possible and do a little detective work. And could you please organize all of this now?" He said.

  "Yeah." I focused hard, and all the papers began flying around the place and going back to their original places, like a storm of white circling around me, a true testament to my progress. Once everything was tidy, it looked as normal as it usually did.

  "And Ayla. Thank you for everything." He said before dismissing me.

  I needed to get away from there; I had to think. Who could be the impostor? It couldn't have been anyone that came with us to the operation; it's too long a distance to walk. So who? From the people I knew, only one of them hadn't come, Emily.

  But it couldn't be her; she said she didn't have any powers and that she was an exchange student. It didn't make any sense for the mole to be her. But then again, a good mole never stands out. But it couldn't have been her.

  So then who? I couldn't be sure at the time. For the time being, I decided to simply go home and relax.

  The walk back was quite uneventful. People walked by me, and nobody seemed suspicious, but every single one of them could be the mole. But there was another question I had. Who could have sent a mole? There weren't any bigger organizations or companies left in the world; nobody was left to be a rival. So why was there an infiltrator within our walls?

  Once I reached the apartment, I found Emily in my house, hanging out with Mary and my brother.

  "Hello Ayla!" She exclaimed.

  "Hi Emily." I answered. She was sitting on the couch next to my brother, and Mary was sitting alone on the other one, so I sat next to her. They were still playing a movie on the TV, but I couldn't recognize it. "What did you guys put on?"

  "Fight Club," answered my brother. I had heard good things about the movie, but I hadn't watched it. And sure enough, Brad Pitt was in it. The scene where Tyler and the narrator were sitting at the bar was playing right before the first fight starts.

  "You know, I think this movie is very relatable," said Mary.

  "Yes, because everyone needs an underground terrorist organization to feel alive." My brother mocked her. I didn't understand what they meant by that.

  "Not like that. I mean more like how their world changes. Off with the old one and glory to Neon Genesis." She answered.

  My brother nodded. "Yeah, I can kind of see that." I couldn't understand what they meant; so far the movie was about fighting for funsies, and I couldn't understand.

  I looked over at Emily, and I noticed a single bead of sweat go down her forehead, but it was hot, so it was probably just that.

  "Someone's gotten philosophical." I nudged Mary.

  "Well, this is the kind of movie that gets you to think, I'm just saying." She continued with her eyes glued to the screen.

  Well, so far the only thing I was thinking about was Brad Pitt and how perfectly the movie nailed the dirty look.

  "Hey Ayla, why don't we go for a camping trip someday?" My brother chimed in out of nowhere.

  "Why?" I asked.

  "Because why not?" He said. "We've got a week of paid vacation; might as well use it properly. Would you be down, Mary?" He asked.

  "Um, sure, could be fun." She said. I wondered if she'd get flashbacks of her brother or something, but she seemed almost eager.

  "And you, Emily?"

  "Yeah sure, I'm down." She said.

  "Well, that settles it; the day after tomorrow we'll go out for two days or three." Said my brother.

  I guess I could use a little break from dongle town. And if Emily was coming, then I'd be able to tick her off the list of suspects, maybe.

  The movie was at the part where they were preparing Project Mayhem. And the narrator was beginning to question his own sanity.

  The scenes passed, and I was getting more and more engrossed in the movie. We reached the scene where Tyler confesses that he is just an imagination from the narrator, and then it clicked in me. Tyler had been manipulating without even existing. Like our mole.

  And then the narrator, now Tyler, shot himself in the mouth. And as Marla came to help, the skyscrapers around all blew up. My brother and Mary were right—off with the old world and glory to Neon Genesis. Was that why Slone had released the virus? Could it have been that he wanted a fresh world? After all, once some time passed, we would become a much better society. Our work is now exponentially more efficient thanks to our powers, but for them to have worked, we needed a clean slate, like this town. It's kind of funny how much this movie is like our lives; I must say I was impressed by it. This town was a new society built around equal opportunities for everyone, a clean statement of Marxism, it seemed. And with Plague as the town mayor, it would probably go smoothly. Plague, he was the mayor... I was getting the faintest suspicion of him. But if he was the mole, then why would he have told me to go find it? Oh, yeah. It is the perfect cover. Go send someone to find you while you stand before them; basically, he had played me. But it couldn't possibly be Plague; after all, he guided this entire operation. And I know the footage from the security cameras was from while we were still killing zeds, so he was out of the question. Grahh! It's so bloody frustrating!

  Everybody except those I knew could be a traitor. Well, Markus could be it, but I already knew he was a psyker, so he was out of the question. Who else could it be?

  I was seeing ghosts, it seemed. I had to listen to what Plague said: we need to wait for their mistake before ours. What words of wisdom.

  "Then it's settled; the day after tomorrow we leave for yonder!" My brother triumphantly exclaimed. So now I had something to look forward to, neat.

  So we spent some time just chatting and hanging out, planning all that we would do during the next couple of days and generally having a good time.

  Time passed like a flowing river, one that someone could freeze and walk across, it seemed. I really needed to stop thinking so much about it, gosh.

  And then something magical happened. The wifi router began working! The complex gave us internet!

  "Look! The box is connected!" I said. I had just noticed it out of the corner of my eye, but the usually red light was now blue.

  "Holy shit, you're right. Shame we don't have the password for it." Said my brother.

  "Yeah, we do, dumbass! It's on the bottom, idiot." Said Mary. My brother looked sheepishly at her. Even though Mary could use her tongue to hurt worse than a dagger, she contained herself this time.

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  So I quickly dashed to grab the blessed white box to discover its secrets and finally go back to living in the twenty-first century. Oh, how I've missed the enjoyment in doomscrolling through a random app, wasting hours upon hours doing nothing but doping myself off of lazy stuff made by lazy people.

  My brother had his phone with him, and once I told him the password, the look upon his face was priceless.

  "Houston, we have contact." He said.

  And we all screamed like morons.

  "Yeaaaaaaahhhhh!!!!!!" We cheered as one.

  After we all calmed down, the possibilities were made apparent.

  "I'll go right now to get a laptop, and I'm going to pirate every series I can find." My brother rubbed his hands excitedly before getting up from the couch and making his way to the front door. It was around midday now, and the shops would be open. But just as he opened the door, he found someone. All we could hear was my brother not slamming the door shut after bolting through the door. But we also heard Plague.

  "How are you doing, Donn? I have to talk to you all." And he let himself into the house. I didn't know why he could be here; it couldn't be about the mole because Emily was here, and she was a liability. "How would you all like to go to White Wall?" He said.

  "What!?" I said. White Wall was the main city, the savior that had made one last stand against the infection and won, allowing us to stay in Dongle Town. But why would we want to go there? It was a long way from here, and I sure as hell wasn't going in another fucking troop transport, and I was willing to die on that hill.

  "Yes, Ayla. We have a tiny issue with something, and we need you! Just kidding, but Central Command needs all of the scouts for a good reason. Emily, this time you can come too." Plague sat down on the couch, just like if he owned the place. "Ooh, fight club. I love this movie. Oh, Sofia's squad is also going."

  So whatever it was, it most certainly was going to mess with our plans to go camping.

  "But what's the matter?" Asked Mary.

  "Well, I'm glad you asked. You see, there are a lot of reasons why we should go; for one, I need to debrief everyone on what happened at the complex. And also there's another more 'scientific' reason. I'll explain later. We leave tomorrow, ok?" Plague was kind of like my brother; he always showed up in the worst of moments, but it couldn't be helped.

  "And where will we be staying?" I asked. I supposed they'd just give us a crappy apartment or a hotel room.

  "You and Mary will stay with Cooper, and that's an order." Cooper? I mean, I wasn't going to complain, but it was really weird!

  "Oh... And why?" Mary asked.

  "Classified, but you'll find out soon enough. All I can tell you is that it's going to be a really important event." Plague was nonchalantly telling us nothing.

  So I guess this means that something is going to go really wrong.

  Nothing else of importance happened during Plague's stay, and when he left, Mary and I had a lot to think about. Emily also left shortly after, as did my brother, who was still going to buy that laptop.

  Mary and I were the only ones who were staying with Cooper, but it was still strange we would stay with him.

  "Why'd you reckon this is happening?" Asked Mary.

  "I'd be lying if I told you I knew." I sat back down on the couch. "I'm honestly more worried about this than when we took over the base."

  "Really?"

  "Yeah, back then I at least knew what was going to happen."

  "I guess so." She sat next to me, and we huddled together, almost as if trying to merge our minds to try and find an answer to this mess. But maybe I was just going there to be a symbol of hope for the people? Or maybe I was just getting full of myself for thinking that. But nothing answered why we were staying with Cooper!

  Hours passed, and nothing happened other than my brother coming back with a brand-new laptop, which he immediately used to pirate series and movies. But hey, at least we'd be able to watch things while we were away. Night rolled in, and we had to pack our things. Luckily, I didn't have much, other than what I had gotten used to hauling for two bloody months. But we then went to bed and mentally prepared ourselves for whatever horrors we would face, or maybe I was just being a pussy and overthinking it all?

  Morning rolled around, and we got a knock at our door at about quarter past seven in the morning, which sucked. The whole gang was assembled. Tyrone, Sofia's squad, Emily, us... Plague. We were all ready to go on a magic trip to White Wall. This time, thanks to whatever gods exist, we went in a luxury coach with padded seats, air conditioning, and screens! So thanks to my brother and his legit acquisition of intellectual property, we could enjoy the series while lying back in comfy seats! Why couldn't we have gone in this thing when we were going on D-Day on a coms installation!? I'm mad!

  But the cloth seats were comfy, and the reclining backrests let us be as comfortable as can be, or rather would have if I hadn't been tasked to sit at the front and use my telekinesis to clear the roads whenever there was a roadblock. But it was an overall much better experience than the stupid troop transport. God, I hate that thing. And I could actually see! Even though there wasn't that much to see in the first place. It was mostly just crashed cars with bloodied windows that were broken in, which you can probably guess the story of. The trip lasted the better part of the morning. Once we reached the white wall, there was a big bunch of soldiers waiting for us. Plague told me that only the center of the city had been sealed and most of the zeds were still alive for the most part. So we needed an escort.

  The bus rolled much slower now, waiting for the escort. It was uneventful for the most part; we were going through a highway that was inaccessible for the most part from the ground, so zeds couldn't get to us, but even still we saw some. With quick shots from the escorts, the monsters were dispatched. Once we reached the historic center, I saw how elaborate the walls were. They weren't corrugated sheet metal put together with spit and duct tape; they were concrete barricades thrice as tall as me. Even from the top of the bus, I'd have trouble reaching the top.

  "How do you reckon they put those up?" I asked Mary.

  Plague sat on the aisle next to ours, given that he had to be close to the driver, who was some random dude I had never seen before. Plague answered for Mary. "A month is a long time for a big group of people to do anything. The construction workers did their absolute best, and it shows. It's impossible for any zed to get through, guaranteed."

  "Huh," I said. Mary was also in awe at it all.

  There were some massive gates through which the bus passed, and we entered the white wall refuge. It was big, gargantuan even compared to Dongle Town, and much better prepared.

  "Ayla, you'll go with your brother, your girlfriend, and the blond one and follow Cooper. You and Mary stay in Coop's flat, and your brother and the other one will stay in a different one on the same floor. Take this, and everything and anything that happens, you tell me immediately." He looked me dead in the eye and handed me a military walkie-talkie.

  "But why?" I asked.

  "Coop will explain, and please, no fucking around. The fate of the world is literally resting in your hands." Woah, what a way to pressure someone.

  I put the walkie-talkie in my pocket and got my stuff. After Mary and the others did the same, we got off the bus and followed Cooper. Cooper was unreadable; I couldn't tell what he was thinking. His mouth was twitching, and I could see sweat dripping down his forehead, and they weren't heat drops. He was worried, very worried, but also excited. I was feeling uneasy. The bus had left us at the central square of the city. In front of us was the town hall, and behind us was a hospital. It wasn't a big hospital, but it was bigger than a clinic. There were standard apartment buildings around the square, which was a park. And Coop led us straight to one of these, on the east part of the square.

  "Hey Coop, why are we staying at your place?" I said.

  Cooper gave a little jump; I startled him even though I was walking right beside him. "I need you, specifically you."

  He had some keys and let us into the main landing of the building. There were two lifts, and it was a very expensive block. Like I could just tell by the landing that the flats were at least twice as big as the apartment in Dongle Town. We took the lift to the first floor. There was a big hallway in front of us with a pair of doors every ten or so meters from each other; I counted around five of these in total. There was green carpet and ornate lights. Coop first opened the first right door and told Emily and my brother to go inside. He then handed them the key. Now it was only Coop, Mary, and me.

  Cooper sighed; he was slightly more relaxed now. "The reason you're here is very hard to explain. Just know that these next few weeks are going to be imperative to everyone alive." Again with the fucking pressure! Like jeez, could you not give me the weight of the world every fucking time someone needs a fucking favor!? For fuck's sake.

  He went to the left door; keep in mind it was the one closest to the lifts. He got the keys and, with a shaky hand, put the right one into the hole and twisted. He opened the door. "Helen...?" He was cut off by someone throwing themselves onto him in a passionate hug. I couldn't see them; Coop's big muscular back was blocking the view. "Oh, I've missed you so much!" He said.

  "Me too!" The voice was definitely female, soft, and eager. Like a sweet lullaby.

  And then Cooper got out of the way, and I finally smiled for the first time since I'd gotten there. Mary took my hand and squeezed it.

  The woman was perfect. She was white-skinned, and her face was just perfect, like Cooper's. She had beautiful blue eyes and a cute jawline with soft lips that made her smile the prettiest thing I had ever seen. The female Cooper, the best eye candy possible. But more than that, she had a big round bump on her. She was carrying.

  Suddenly it clicked in me. That's why Cooper had been nervous! I didn't know how long it had been since Cooper had been in dongle town, but he was worried about her! Oh, it was like the missing piece to my puzzle!

  "Is that her?" The woman asked Cooper, with her arms still around his neck.

  "Yes, dear, it's her." He said.

  The woman got away from Coop and went to me; I then noticed how she was in her last month of pregnancy. She put her arms around me; she was slightly taller than me. "Thank you so much! Without your brother, my Coop wouldn't be here! And thanks to you getting the comms back on, I was finally able to talk with him! I can't stress enough how thankful I am to you." She was an absolute charm; she was making me reconsider Mary. But I couldn't compete with Coop. They were like the most sappy couple from a movie; they were just made for each other. She took her arms off of me and hugged Mary. She also thanked her for the same.

  "Please make yourself at home!" She said. And we were both pleased to be there. Their apartment didn't fit their personality at all, though. It was an old person's retirement house, not a shining couple's first baby house. By that logic, it wasn't their house.

  The house was big, though. Three queen rooms and a library along with a living room. I and Mary were given the room next to Coop's girlfriend or wife; I hadn't asked them yet. After leaving our things in our room, Coop told us that he had to talk with us. He led us to the living room, where his girlfriend was sitting on an armchair. He left us and went to stand right next to her.

  "This is Helena, and as you can see, she's expecting. But that's not why you're here. Helena is going to be the first person we know of since the outbreak to give birth. We don't know what will happen. Plague has made countless predictions, but most of them were horrible. My wife is a psyker, and I'm an elemental. Nobody knows what will happen when our genes mix; we don't know what the baby will be like. This could go really wrong. So Ayla, you're here to help us when the moment comes and to be a bodyguard, not to us, but to everyone else from us."

  Oh no, oh no no. I got it now. Oh god, that's fucked up in so many ways. They were scared that they were going to give birth to a Zed. That's why this wasn't their house! The government, or whoever was in power, arranged for them to be here. Plague wasn't lying when he said the fate of the world was resting on me. If it turned out that that baby came out wrong, then that was it. Humanity would basically be neutered.

  But they wanted me to do what!? They wanted me to be there to kill her and the kid if something went wrong! But why me? Of course. A Zed was the last of their worries. What if the kid came out a superhuman? What if it came out with laser eyes and wiped out the entire delivery room? What if anything happened!? Oh god, I couldn't do this! Why the fuck did I have to do this!?

  "Coop, I—I can't! You're asking me to kill if anything goes wrong!?" I said.

  "I'm terribly sorry, Ayla. It just has to be done. I know you understand that it has to be done. The world needs to know if babies are gone for good or not." He was blinking back tears. Of course, it was hard on me to think about killing that baby, but he was the one risking his life, his lover's life, and his son's life. Poor guy.

  "Ayla, what are you talking about?" Asked Mary.

  "Mary, what if the kid comes out a Zed? Or what if it comes out worse? What if she suddenly has lasers cutting her in half and a demigod pops out?" I told her. She was smart; she understood what I meant.

  "Holy shit." Her eyes opened like dinner plates.

  "But don't worry, you're just there as a redundant cog in the machine. I feel perfectly fine, and I'm sure everything will go ok!" Said Helena. "And we still have about a week and a half left. Don't worry. Everything has been planned. God bless Plague; we couldn't have done it without him." She had a contagious hope. Whoever this girl was, she was definitely deserving of Cooper, and vice versa.

  This was terribly important. The fate of the world really was in play. I hated it with all my heart.