Remain Nameless | Michael Langdon

xii.

Snakes had been found in Emily's closet. Mead took an axe and chopped them in half. She was excited, and they turned it into soup. They all sat at dinner that night, presented with the snake soup. This time, Noah sat next to Elizabeth. "I have a strict rule of not eating things with no legs or too many legs."

"But you're fine eating something with two legs." Andre retorted to Coco.

"For the last time, we didn't eat your boyfriend." Gallant scoffed, and Andre flipped him off.

"Eat it or don't. No ones going to force it down you." Ms. Mead shrugged.

"Adversity makes strange bedfellows and worse dinner companions. It's food, and we're starving. We should be grateful for the fruits of the earth." Dinah humbled herself, and Elizabeth gave her a dirty look. Noah just assumed that she just hated her talk show, but was smart enough to know there was more. She'd never tell him, though.

"Well, steamed snake soup is actually quite delicious. It was the centerpiece of a dinner that I attended at the Royal Court in Kuala Lumpur with Gina Lolabrigida." Evie said. People laughed from around the table, along with Elizabeth. Emily and Timothy shared a glance before she spoke.

"So, who's in your office?" She asked Venable. The table went silent as all attention was directed to her. This was the first time Elizabeth had any care about what people here said.

"I beg your pardon?" Venable retorted.

"Alarms went off before, someone came inside." She stated the obvious.

"Who else is here?" Timothy stuck up for her.

"All questions will be answered in due course." She knocked her cane once. That was something Michael had said to her when they first met. "Eat."

Snakes slithered out of peoples soups as they opened them up. She stared at them so intensely, Noah had to grab her up and away from them. Who was here?

They all sat in the cocktail room as Venable stood to the side. Footsteps filled the room of whoever was coming, they were all so silent. Elizabeth's heart beat so loud she could barely hear. And then it was him. She saw him. She almost wanted to embrace him with a hug she was so excited, but at the same time she was angry. She was angry with him for leaving her here like this, suffering without him. Without any communication or gesture from him. He seemed like he was taller, and his hair was long. It was almost like he had grown up fully, without her. The simple fact was that he looked so insanely hot, the room almost felt sweltering when he walked in- but that was really because he was the Antichrist. His expression was so smug. He knew who he was and what he was going to do.

He stepped around the room, never making any contact with her. He stepped closely to Venable, eyeing her. She moved out of the way. He was so powerful. "My name is Langdon and I represent The Cooperative. I won't sugarcoat the situation. Humanity is on the brink of failure. My arrival here was crucial to the survival of civilized life on earth. The three other compounds in Syracuse, New York, Buckley, West Virginia, and San Angelo, Texas has been overrun and destroyed. We've had no contact from the six international outposts, but we are assuming that they, too, have been eliminated."

"What happened to the people inside?" Timothy asked, and she had to stop herself from punishing him for interrupting.

"Massacred. The same fate that will befall almost all of you." He looked at them all. He still never made eye contact with Elizabeth, and her heart continued to beat faster than it should.

"Almost all?" Mallory questioned, and the fact that she had spoken to them with neither of them knowing who the other was, was simply nerve racking. Elizabeth had put a thought protection spell over herself a long time ago. It seemed to have worked. Hopefully Michael wouldn't know who she truly was.