Chapter 21: Breaking Apart

“NOOOOOO!”

“What the…” Eric stood up as he held his fist up.

George and Gerry also stood up as they tried to figure out what was happening. When they noticed that I was the one who screamed, they relaxed and went back to bed. Mang Kaloy hugged his pillow and covered his ears while Ethan was sleeping beside me and undisturbed.

“Seriously dude, I thought we’re under attack or something…” Eric muttered.

I wiped off the sweat on my forehead as I breathed heavily. I tried my best to remember what happened last night. Obviously, I fell asleep as I meditated, but I couldn’t remember how. All I could remember was that I was with Claire.

My memory of the dream was vague and hazy. I remembered bits and pieces of the dream where I was on a rampage and burning everything and everyone in my path. I was laughing maniacally as I watched the whole world burn. I only stopped when I realized that I also killed Claire and the others.

I closed my eyes and activated [Meditate]. I checked my mana core and found nothing was wrong with it, but as I went deep inside my mind, I could hear the faint whispers in the dark. I noticed that the whispers were becoming louder as the days went on.

I looked around to check whether I was dreaming again and slapped myself hard in order to make sure. I noticed that my bed was still hot and there’s a scorched mark on it. I realized that I may have unconsciously cast a fire spell while I was sleeping.

I stood up and went outside the bedroom. I checked the other bedrooms and saw the girls still sleeping. In the other room, it was empty. It seemed that Dad didn’t come home last night, probably because of the update. I wasn’t sure if I was still dreaming and to tell you the truth, I was beginning to have doubts which was real or not.

It’s been three days since I started to have nightmares and sleeping seemed to take more energy from me than being awake. I didn’t want to go back to sleep, so I lit up a fire in my hand to light my way into the kitchen and mixed some instant coffee. I went outside and sat on the lawn as I drank my coffee. It was still dark outside and it was quiet. I concentrated on the sound and I heard the sound of the crickets as well as the sound of the whispers.

I felt the restlessness taking its toll on my body as my hand shook. I couldn’t even drink my coffee without spilling it. It seemed that my skill [Meditate] was now useless in fighting off sleep.

“Good morning…”

I turned my head and saw Dianne also holding a cup. “Morning…” I greeted back.

“Did you sleep well?” She asked.

“Yeah, I guess...” I responded. “So who put me into bed? I don’t remember that I even fell asleep.”

Dianne let out a soft giggle. “Ethan told us that you were sleeping on the couch and we saw you snoring with your eyes open. It was creepy, but funny… Eric carried you into bed.”

“I see…”

“We went to the market near the refugee camp yesterday...” Dianne said. “It was... terrible.”

“What happened?”

“Well, after we bought some items... Someone tried to rob us, but Claire beat them...”

I shook my head. “Did she kill them?”

“No, but we stopped her. The robbers said they only did it because their family was starving... The rations weren’t enough for the refugees and they couldn’t afford the food in the market...”

“And what did you do?”

“I... uhmmm... gave them food...” Dianne stared down to the ground as she kept her gaze away.

“Good...”

She lifted her head and her eyes widened in surprise. “I-it’s okay?”

“It’s okay. You can’t help everyone, but it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t. Just remember not to give away all of your food and make sure you have enough for yourself... And be careful who you choose to help. You don’t know if those guys are just scumbags and they’ll sell whatever you give them.”

“I’ll keep that in mind...”

Dianne continued to tell me about what she saw in the market. According to her, there were a lot of refugees who volunteered to join the militia as they tried to clear the surroundings of monsters and the loot they found were sold in the market.

Some of the refugees had skills in rune magic and they sold magic items to the public, but most of the magic items were ‘donated’ to help the army. Due to the shortage of food, the army rationed chimera meat for food because the supermarkets and malls in the area were already looted by other survivor groups and the army as well.

According to the rumors she heard in the market, the army and some volunteers were now beginning to try and domesticate these monsters. Unfortunately for them, I knew that it was inevitable to fail because chimeras weren’t classified as beasts and only the dungeon that spawned them has the control of their behavior.

Surprisingly, the taste of chimera’s meat wasn’t as bad as it looked. It was black in color and almost looked like a strip of charcoal than meat. Dianne gave me a sample of chimera meat jerky and it was super delicious. The taste was comparable to a high quality beef, but it has a distinctive taste that I couldn’t really explain in detail. My mouth waters at the thought of juicy chimera steak.

Food wasn’t the only problem though. I heard from Richard that there were exactly 52 mages, not including the healers, in Camp Aguinaldo and only 14 were capable of water magic. Even though it’s rainy season, clean and drinkable water was scarce, especially when the farm was being constructed.

As a result of lack of clean water and poor hygiene, there was an outbreak in the refugee camp and hundreds were quarantined to keep them from spreading the disease to others.

I noticed that Dianne was more talkative than before and she smiled a lot. Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain in my head as the voices inside my head became louder.

“TRAITOR!”

The voice was clear and very familiar as I realized that it was my own. It was screaming ‘traitor’ over and over again as I saw flashes of images from my dream.

“Please don’t… I beg you… stop!!”

Dianne was grovelling at my feet and begged. I cast a fire spell on her as she tried her best to appeal to my humanity. She shrieked in agony as the flames devoured her flesh slowly. I grinned. As Dianne’s charred corpse lay on the ground, I looked down and said:

“Traitor…”

“Is there something wrong?” Dianne asked as I snapped back to reality.

“Yeah… I’m fine.”

“You’ve been acting strange lately… Is there something bothering you?”

“No, it’s nothing… Really, I’m fine…”

I didn’t know if anyone would believe me if I tell them that I got the attention of the Dark Lord. You see, hearing voices wasn’t a good sign even in the world of magic. Coupled with my extreme paranoia and claims that I saw the Devil with my own eyes, they will think that I really am insane.

After I finished my cup of coffee, Dianne took my empty cup and went inside while I meditated as I wait the others to wake up. After a few hours, the sun rose up and the others woke up. Eric and the other men were groggy as they suffered hangover from last night.

I did whatever I could to distract myself. Claire and I practiced the Six Strikes technique flow. We practiced for a couple of hours until we were interrupted by four soldiers wearing breastplates and military fatigues.

“Is Miguel Arevalo here?” One of the soldier asked.

Player: ??? Race: Human Level: 21 Faction: AFP Party: 1502nd Infantry Brigade Team 21 “Soaring Eagle”

I stepped forward. “Yes, what do you need?”

“Col. Medina wants to meet your group. He wants to know the details of your survival.”

“Okay… Does everybody need to come?”

“Yes…” He nodded.

As much as I wanted to spend the whole day doing nothing, we didn’t have much of a choice, but to go with them. I called the others inside the house to meet with the colonel. It was just a few minutes walk to the AFP Officer’s Club. It was the same building where dad’s office was located.

[Okay guys… Here’s the deal. You should try your best to show that you’re useful, but not too much that you’ll oversell your abilities. It’s probably a job assessment.] – Miguel

[What should we tell him then?] – Beth

[Just answer his questions. Nothing more, nothing less. Don’t give too much information, but at least give him something that could help…] – Miguel

When we reached the 3rd floor, the soldier asked us to sit in the waiting room just outside the Colonel’s office. They called us one by one starting from Eric. After a few hours, everyone met the Colonel, except for me. When George exited the office, I was the last one to be called.

“I’m Col. Medina. Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Arevalo…” The colonel stood up as we shook hands. “Take a seat…”

Player: Col. Medina Race: Human Level: 9 Faction: AFP Party: N/A

As I sat on the seat in front of his desk, I used [Observe] on him, but it seemed that his level was lower compared to the soldiers in his command. I guess it made sense since he only needed to give orders rather than to fight the battle itself.

The colonel sat straight in his chair. ”Your group told me that you were the reason they survived…”

“They give me too much credit. I didn’t do much really…” I said.

“Humble…” He chuckled. “Actually, I’m impressed. You came from the deepest part of the city and you made it here with no casualties… So tell me about yourself. How did you survive out there?”

“Luck…” I answered.

“Of course... One of your friends told me that you’re a healer and you even cured someone of a zombie virus. I’m not really sure if there’s such a thing, but I guess with all the monsters and magic appearing out of nowhere might make it possible. I disagree that sheer luck helped you survive. Come on, tell me more.”

It took us almost an hour when I told him the details of how we got into Camp Aguinaldo. I explained to him our formations and tactics that we used to kill monsters on our way. Of course, I only told him the information that could help the army, but I didn’t tell him anything about my unique skill. It seemed that he learned from the others that I could do magic and he asked me to do a little demonstration.

I took the bottle of water he had on the table and used my magic to make it cold. Apparently, he wasn’t that impressed. What did he want me to do? Set the whole building on fire?

After the conversation, I was asked to wait as the colonel rummaged through the piles of papers and folders. A few minutes later, the colonel asked the others to come into the office once again.

“Now that you’re all here, I want you to join the army. This base needs experienced people, especially in dealing with these monsters. As you can see, we currently lack a proper HR department and a process. I was asked by the general himself to take care of the matter personally. Usually, It will take a day or two before I assign you to your new jobs, but I just couldn’t let go of people with good talents. Fortunately, I have the perfect job opportunities for you…” The colonel said.

“Do we have any other choice?” Eric asked.

“I’m afraid not.” He replied. “I need you to disband your party and you will be assigned to Team 29 except for Miguel, Dianne, George and Carlos.”

“What?! No, they’re with us! Miguel is our healer and our mage!” Claire shouted.

“Miguel and Dianne will be assigned to Medical Services Unit and we need them to help the other healers to find a cure to the outbreak. I understand your loyalty to your leader, but as I said before, Camp Aguinaldo might be the last bastion of humanity. We need to work together. Besides, Team 29 has an experienced combat medic and sergeant. They also have a mage, you know him well...”

“How about me and George?”

“You will be assigned to Technical Services Unit. They’re currently working on our steam engine and they’re the ones who repair and maintain our equipment. George will be our office staff and you can bring your son here with you if it helps…”

“Is it okay if you give us a day to think about it?” I asked.

“Of course… I already promised Sgt. Naval that the next recruits will go to her team. It’s a newly formed team, you see. They’re on a break for the day and it will be good if you could meet with the team today.”

“You’re throwing us back there to die. What’s in it for us?” Eric asked.

“You can keep 20% of the spoils and you will be given food and proper lodging as payment. The risk is minimal compared to the other teams. Team 29’s mission is to clear the monsters around Camp Aguinaldo and I’ve heard that the chimera’s population has been lessened significantly.”

“Uhmmm… Why do you need me for Medical Service Unit? I’m not even a healer…” Dianne asked.

“Your potions will probably help. You will be compensated by the AFP for the expenses that you may incur.”

“Give us a minute, Colonel.” I said.

“Sure…”

[I don’t like where this is going…] – Eric

[He’s asking us to disband? Is he fucking nuts?] – Claire

[Not to mention that we’ve only just met. We can always say no.] – Melissa

[What do you think, Miguel?] – Beth

[We need to earn our keep. It’s not like we won’t see each other forever. He’s right though. The monster density in this area is low and you’ll be fine.] – Miguel

[Are you really okay with this?] – Dianne

[Yes… And besides, we don’t have a choice. At least we can sleep in peace at night.] – Miguel

[I don’t feel safe when you’re not around. I mean, you’re our healer…] – Claire

[Don’t worry, Claire. There’s a combat medic in your team and he’s probably more experienced than me…] – Miguel

[Well, at least we can still keep the loot…] - Eric

[You’re a fucking asshole, you know that? All you can think of is the loot…] – Melissa

[S-sorry…] – Eric

[I’ll leave the party. Me and my son aren’t going to do a lot of fighting anyway…] – George

[Me too… I’m not much of a fighter either.] – Mang Kaloy

[It’s okay, I guess… See you around…] – Miguel

Carlos Ocampo left Boston Tea Party George James left Boston Tea Party Ethan James left Boston Tea Party

“So… Will you join the army?” Col. Medina asked.

I looked around and the others seemed to agree with the job offer.

“Is it okay if we check the job first before we disband?” Claire asked.

“Of course, Team 29 can wait…” He answered. “By the way, Miguel, I have a quest for you and Dianne and it needs to be dealt with immediately.”

“What is it?”

The colonel took out four gold coins from his pocket and placed it on the table.

“As I said before, there’s an outbreak in the refugee camp and I need you and Dianne to help if you can. Dr. Salazar is our head of Medical Services Unit and he’ll fill you in with the details. You’ll be given 2 gold coins each if you complete the quest. In addition, the army will reimburse you for the expenses. You should go and check it out.”

Quest: The Outbreak In Refugee Camp There's an outbreak of unknown disease that's been plaguing the refugees since the start of the Merge. Col. Medina request you to check it out. Meet with Dr. Salazar of the Medical Services Unit for more details and decide if you’d like to join the faction "Armed Forces of the Philippines" Difficulty: D Rewards: EXP and Two (2) Gold Coins.

“Should I accept it?” Dianne asked.

“We won’t promise that we can do it, but we’ll see what we can do.” I said.

“Good…” The colonel nodded and smiled as the gold coins on the table disappeared.

Miguel Arevalo accepted the Quest: The Outbreak In Refugee Camp Dianne Duria accepted the Quest: The Outbreak In Refugee Camp

“Wait… There’s a quest for them? How about us?” Eric asked.

“I’ll give you a quest after you join the army. For now, you should meet with Sgt. Naval.” He replied.

After the conversation with Col. Medina, we shook hands again as we were dismissed. The two escorts led the others as they went off to meet Sgt. Naval. George and his son, Ethan were left behind as he started to work in the office.

The other two escorts followed me. Dianne and I went back to Col. Medina to ask why we had chaperones. He told me that healers and mages are important assets in the camp and all of them have bodyguards to protect them from harm. It’s probably my dad’s orders to keep an eye on us. I went to the 4th floor to see my dad to ask him again for help. I told Dianne and the bodyguards to wait outside as I knocked on the door.

“Can I talk to you for a second?” I asked as I sat on the chair.

“Of course...” Dad put down his pen on the table. “So... what do you want to talk about?”

“The same thing as yesterday...” I replied. “I need your help...”

Dad let out a sigh and shook his head. “I already told you my answer. I won’t let you leave this base.”

“Are you still mad at Mom?”

“I’m not mad at your mother.” He answered. “I just don’t want unnecessary risk… I can’t risk the lives of my children and my men.”

“You sent off my friends to a monster clearing mission. What do you call that?”

“And that’s why I told the colonel to assign them to Team 29… They’ll be fine.”

“…”

“If that’s all, you’re dismissed...” Dad said as he picked up a pen and continued to write.

“Last question…” I said.

He looked at me and stopped writing. “What is it?”

“I’m just wondering… Are you still my father?”

“I am… and that’s why I won’t let you leave Camp Aguinaldo.”

“I’m ashamed that I even called you father…” I said as he fell silent.

“Kill…”

The whispers in my head grew louder as images of fiery destruction flashed in my head. I suddenly felt an urge to kill, but I restrained myself from doing it by activating [Meditate]. When I calmed down for a bit, I stood up.

“Thank you for your time, General… I will stay here in Camp Aguinaldo as you ordered. I don’t have a choice anyway… I just hope you won’t end up regretting your decision.”

Without saying another word, I left his office as Dianne and the two bodyguards followed.

According to my bodyguards, there’s a hospital in Camp Aguinaldo located in northeast. They quarantined all of the infected to prevent the spread of the disease. As they led me towards the hospital, I was thinking of an escape plan.

I looked around to see if there were holes in the security. I realized that it will be hard since the high walls, they built had sentries on top of them and there were patrols everywhere in the base. Also, both of my bodyguards have a higher level than me and I wasn’t sure if I could take them out without killing them. I guess I’ll just play around for a moment while I work with my plan.

After a few minutes of walk, we reached the hospital. Like the AFP officer’s club building, the hospital wasn’t heavily damaged by the earthquake. We went inside the building and I noticed that it was crowded with people. Nurses and doctors were running around the hall as they tried to accommodate all of the patients. Most of which weren’t attended properly.

As I tried to find the officer in Medical Service Unit, there was a soldier lying unconsciously on a stretcher in the waiting room and the wounds on his leg had gangrened. I stopped and used [Heal] on him, but the wound didn’t heal as I expected. It’s probably because of the infection.

I used [Cure Disease] on him as I tried to eradicate all of the infected tissues and cells in his body. Once the rotten flesh was gone, the wound started to bleed and I used [Heal] again to close the wound. As soon as the other patients saw what I did, they gathered around me to be healed.

“Please help me!” A woman pleaded as she carried her baby.

I prioritized those who looked like in a critical condition. Of course, I made sure to cure the children first, then the adults. Most of them were level 1 NPCs so my MP was high enough to cure and heal 30 persons per full MP. As I meditated on a chair in the waiting room, a nurse noticed the commotion and approached me.

“Mr. Arevalo? Ms. Duria?” The nurse asked.

“Yes…”

“Follow me… I’ll take you to Dr. Salazar.”

I stood up and followed the nurse to the upper floors of the hospital. The patients who were waiting to be healed by me tried their best to stop me from leaving, but my two bodyguards stopped the crowd from swarming me. As we reached the third floor, the nurse led me to a hospital ward as she introduced me to Dr. Salazar.

“I’m Dr. Salazar. Head of Medical Services Unit…” He said as Dianne and I shook his hand.

“Dianne Duria…”

“Miguel Arevalo… I’m not a doctor, but I have a skill [Cure Disease].” I said to him.

“I’ve never heard of that skill before… All the doctors and some nurses here have [Heal]. Where did you get it?”

“Skill book. A monster drop…” I replied.

“I see…”

The nurse gave us white coats and simple shirts. She also gave us face masks and latex gloves in order to prevent from catching the disease. Dianne and I changed our attires because we didn’t want to ruin our mage robe and leather armor.

“Here… You should drink this.” Dianne said as she handed me a bottle.

I looked at the bottle’s content and the liquid has a teal color. I used [Observe] on it.

Potion of Mana Regeneration Quality: Rank E (Low) Effect: +20% Mana Regeneration for 12 Hours A low quality potion made by Dianne Duria. It improves mana regeneration by a small amount.

“Do you have more of these?” I asked.

“Yeah…” Dianne took eight more bottles of the same potion and gave it to me. “These are all the potions I made.”

“Thanks…” I said to her as I put all the potions in my inventory.

“Oh, I forgot… I also made these for you…” She gave me more potions, but they were different. The potions have a milky white color in it and it was glowing.

Lesser Potion of Mana Restoration Quality: Rank E (Low) Effect: Restores 100 MP A low quality potion made by Dianne Duria. It restores mana by a small amount

“Are you sure you want to give all of these to me?” I asked.

“Of course… I made those potions for you...” Dianne replied as she scratched her head.

“Thank you…”

“Besides, the colonel said the army will reimburse me for the costs of these potions.” She smiled.

I guess Eric and I rubbed off our greediness to her. After we’re done changing, I drank a potion of mana regeneration and we followed Dr. Salazar to the quarantine area.

Dr. Salazar told me all the details about the disease. It was similar to ebola, but because most of their equipments they had used electricity, they couldn’t figure out what caused it. The symptoms were bleeding from ears and eyes, nausea and vomiting, chest pain, fever, headache, stomachache, red eyes and other symptoms. The victims usually die in three days.

Where it came from or how it was transmitted was unknown. Since it has similar symptoms to ebola virus, they assumed that it could be transferred through body fluids. So far, they concluded that it wasn’t airborne.

As we reached the hospital ward at the end of the hall, the doctor told me that there were 108 patients on the other day and now there were only 29 left. As we entered the ward, he led me towards the patient who was about to die.

Quest Update! Quest: The Outbreak In Refugee Camp Cure the infected refugees. Progress: (0/29) Difficulty: D Rewards: EXP and Two (2) Gold Coins.

The little girl was about 6-8 years old. She was lying in bed as she breathed heavily. Her eyes were red and her ears were bleeding. Beside her was a woman, which I assumed was her mother and she was infected too. The woman sat up as we approached.

“What’s her name?” I asked.

“Angela…” The woman said. “Please… save her… save my baby…”

“I’ll see what I can do…”

I placed my hand on the little girl’s forehead as I cast [Cure Disease]. I checked her mana core first because the sickness might be caused by dark mana. I felt relieved when I saw her mana core was normal. I spread my mana throughout her body in order to find all the infected cells.

The virus looked like a strand of thread infecting the host cell. As I described the nature of the disease, Dr. Salazar took notes and gave me instructions on how to deal with the disease. I killed some of the infected cells including the infected white blood cells and the infection in the organs.

The only problem was the infection was too spread and the more infected cells I kill, the girl’s condition only got worse. In order to prevent organ damage and to replenish her healthy cells, Dr. Salazar used [Heal] while I cast [Cure Disease]. It took us a few hours to cure the little girl, but it was a success.

“Thank you! Thank you doctor!” The woman cried as she tried to embrace me.

“It’s alright…” I backed away for a bit. “I’m not a doctor…”

“Ma’am, I suggest you stay away from anyone for a while especially your daughter. It may infect her again…” Dr. Salazar said.

“Sorry…” She nodded as she wiped off her tears. This woman was literally crying tears of blood.

I drank a potion of mana restoration and rested for a bit as I meditated to restore my MP. It only took me a few minutes to fully recover, but Dr. Salazar took more time to recover. I gave him a potion of mana regeneration and restoration to help him recover much faster.

The nurses moved the little girl from the quarantine area. After we rested, we moved on to Angela’s mother and did the same process. Dianne, on the other hand, took out her alchemy kit and made more potion of mana restoration.

It was already lunch when we successfully cured Angela’s mother. We took a short break and ate chimera meat’s steak. After the break, Dr. Salazar called two more people who have a skill [Heal] because he couldn’t keep up with my MP regeneration rate.

We spent the whole day in the quarantine area as we tried to cure all of the patients. It was already midnight and we have 16 more patients left. Obviously, we were exhausted, but I didn’t want to sleep. I insisted that we should continue until all of the patients were cured.

Dr. Salazar and the two others took a break as another three other doctors took the shift. Dianne also refused to go home and insisted that she too will stay. A few hours later, she fell asleep while working on her potions.

“Mr. Arevalo. There’s a young woman outside and I told her you were busy, but she’s persistent to see you…” The nurse said while I was in the middle of healing a patient.

“Who is it?” I asked.

“She said her name is Claire…”

“Tell her to wait…”

After a few minutes, another patient was successfully cured, but before I moved on to the next one. I was stopped by one of the doctors and insisted that I should take a few minutes break as they also needed to rest. I went outside the ward and took off my gloves. The nurse led me downstairs and I saw Claire sitting on a chair in the waiting area.

“What’s up?” I greeted as I sat down next to her.

“What’s up?” Claire folded her arms. I swear, I saw a vein in her temple popped as I greeted her. “They’re not giving you a break! They should at least let you sleep!”

I sighed. “Actually… They wanted go home and sleep…”

Her eyes squinted and glared at me. “Then why don’t you?”

“You know there’s an outbreak, right? They’re dying and I have to cure them before it’s too late.” I replied.

“But you push yourself too hard.”

“I know… We only have 12 more patients to cure. I’ll take a break once I’m done.”

“Just…” Claire sighed. “Just don’t push yourself too hard, okay? I mean, look at you. You look shitty and you barely get enough sleep.”

Seriously, I think if Claire becomes my girlfriend, I’ll have a lot of trouble explaining why I didn’t come home. I couldn’t begin to imagine if she becomes my wife, but I’m sure it will be much worse and drinking poisoned coffee sounded better. I was still skeptical about what she said yesterday. I didn’t feel any difference on how we treated each other. I mean, you know, if she really was my girlfriend, we should be kissing, cuddling, doing stuff together and making out, right?

“Anyway, what happened to you? How’s the meeting with Team 29?” I asked as I tried to change the subject.

“I guess they’re alright… Sgt. Naval is a bit strict, but I can tell she cares about her men…” Claire said. “We talked about our formation and how we’ll approach the monsters…”

“And?”

“It sucks. What they want to do is to fight the monsters head on. We tried suggest our tactics, but Sgt. Naval said it was inefficient and pulled out a ‘I’m the ranking officer here’ bullshit!”

“Oh…”

“You should be the leader of that group, you know… Oh, and Richard was also in our team…” Claire said.

“How about the combat medic?” I asked.

“At least their combat medic is a decent guy. His name is Mark and unlike the rest of the team, he’s a down-to-earth guy…”

“I see…”

I didn’t know who this Mark guy was, but when she started to talk about him, she looked excited. Although he’s not a mage like me, he had an AoE heal spell that can heal all of their party members at once. I admit that I was a bit jealous on the way she talked about the combat medic. I just hoped that Mark wasn’t a stunningly good looking guy.

It took us almost an hour before she was finished with her rant. Just a few days ago, Claire was complaining that I was being a dictator of our group, but now, she’s telling me how my leadership was better and I should take charge instead of playing Doctor Quack Quack in the hospital. I was nodding occasionally while pretending to listen to her rant. She’s complaining about the same thing over and over again and she told me again to not forget to rest.

Even though her nagging was a little bit irritating, I think I can get used to it. It felt good when someone’s worried about you. Especially, when that someone is a sadistic, prideful, short-tempered, but pretty woman.

“Just be careful and try not to get yourself killed.” I said to her.

“Okay…” Claire stood up. “See you later…”

“Yeah… Good luck with the mission.”

“Behind you!” Claire shouted as she pointed behind my back.

“What?” I turned my head to see what it was, but there was nothing.

Before my mind could register what was going on, I felt Claire’s hand grabbed the back of my head and pulled me towards her. My eyes opened wide in shock as I felt our lips touched.

Have you ever watched the movie Big Fish? Edward Bloom said that time stops when you meet the love of your life. But, in my case, it happened three times and on the third time, my entire world stood still when Claire kissed me on my lips. It's like the whole world stopped spinning and we were the only persons in it that mattered.

My tensed and panicked body relaxed and my eyes slowly closed as I cherished the softness of her lips. I didn’t know how long we kissed. Seconds? Minutes? Hours? All I knew was that it was indeed a long first kiss. It seemed that she wasn’t willing to let me go as her hand forced me to stay.

As our lips depart, Claire grinned as she saw my reaction. She laughed.

Claire ran to the exit as she waved at me. “See you later, retard!”

Even though she left the hospital laughing, her tone didn’t have a trace of ridicule on it. I touched my lips and pinched my cheeks hard to check if I was dreaming. Even the dark whispers inside my head fell silent as I recalled that moment in my head. Claire managed to steal my book and she even stole my first kiss. I didn’t mind the latter. In fact, I wanted more of it. I began to have second thoughts with my plan to go alone to find my family. What would I miss if I leave?

Anyway, should I go back home immediately and ask her for more? Perhaps I can get laid. I dismissed the thought and I shouldn’t push my luck. I went upstairs while prancing like an idiot. I felt like a new man on my way to a new chapter of my life. I could almost hear angels singing Gloria in Excelsis Deo.

I went back to the quarantine area and called the other doctors on their breaks. It was already morning when we continued to work on the remaining patients. Dianne woke up and she continued to work on her potions, albeit rather slowly.

I noticed that it was already morning as I looked at the window. After I successfully cured a patient, I rested for a few minutes and checked the progress of my skill [Cure Disease].

Cure Disease [Active] Intermediate Lvl. 7 Effect: Diagnose and cure diseases by using mana. It is possible to cure an undiagnose disease given that the caster has destroyed the cause of the disease. Sufficient knowledge of anatomy and pathology is required to diagnose a disease. MP Cost: ??? (Depends on the disease) Disease Diagnosed: • [Common Cold] • [Not Tapeworm]

A few hours later, the nurse told me again that Claire was looking for me again along with the others. Dianne and I went for another break and went downstairs to meet with them.

“Hey…” Eric greeted me. “We’re just here to… uhmmm…”

“So you decided to join the army?” I asked.

“Yeah…” Eric answered. “Oh, by the way, this is Sgt Naval, Team 29’s leader.”

“Nice to meet you…” Sgt. Naval said as we shook our hands.

Most guys have fantasies of sexy women in the military wearing short fatigues showing their flawless legs and have voluptuous bodies. Kind of like, Natasha Volkova in Red Alert 3. Unfortunately, I’ve never met a single woman serving in the military with those kind of features. Not yet anyway. Sgt. Naval, like Mina, was a muscular woman with short hair.

“So, you’re the leader of Boston Tea Party?” She asked. “They’ve told me a lot of things about you.”

“Yeah… I am. I hope those things they’ve told you were good?”

The sergeant chuckled. “I was actually expecting a guy from the military, but I guess you inherited your father’s knack for strategy…”

Tactics, actually, and not strategy. There’s a difference. Anyway, I didn’t want to sound like an ass and correct her.

“I’ll take that as a compliment. Anyway, I’ll leave them into your hands, Sergeant.” I said.

“I’ll take a good care of them, don’t worry…” She smiled.

I looked around and I noticed that Claire had puffy eyes. I guess she didn’t sleep well last night. Beside her was a man in heavy armor and military fatigue. He was carrying a mace with spikes on the end. I think it’s called a morning star.

“My name’s Mark… I’m the combat medic.” He said as he shook my hand.

“Nice to meet you.” I said.

Mark, as I expected, was a good looking man. Handsome wasn’t the right word to describe him. He’s gorgeous and if I was gay, I’d totally fall head over heels for him. Tall, perfect muscular body, and his body posture was screaming: ‘Imma steal ya gal…’.

He looked like Ben Affleck from Armageddon. No wonder why Claire looked excited when she talked about him. Anyway, I didn’t want to make assumptions that Claire liked the guy. She kissed me last night and it must mean something, right?

Claire stepped forward and embraced me tightly while Eric and the others grinned as they saw us.

“This isn’t goodbye. We’ll see each other around…” I said to them. “Good luck…”

One by one, the members left the party and Dianne and I were the only ones left in Boston Tea Party.

Professor Gerardo Bato left Boston Tea Party Elizabeth Uy left Boston Tea Party Eric Reyes left Boston Tea Party Melissa Panis left Boston Tea Party Claire Roque left Boston Tea Party

“Bye! Take care!” Dianne shouted and waved at them.

As the others left the hospital, the whispers came back and their voices were clear just like the other day when I heard them in my dreams.

“KILL THEM ALL!!!”

“Come on, Dianne. We have work to do…”