The Mercenary's Daughter

Chapter 2: An Unfortunate Meeting

Author's Note: It's another ooes song; quite a few of her songs inspired the story. Yeah uploads are going to be wildly inconsistent. I got two other writing projects I'm working on (not fan-fic related, more like original stories/novel concepts) besides this one alongside procrastinating so yeah, enjoy. 

"Is he out there mommy? Will he come and visit us?"

"I— It's a little more complex than that."

"Will he?"

"N-no. He passed away before you were born sweetie. I'm sorry."

buzz buzz. buzz buzz. buzz buzz.

Ada stops and pulls out her phone from her cargo pants pocket while shimmying through an air vent. Unknown Caller.

buzz buzz. buzz buzz. buzz b—

Picking up and answering the call, in a low voice, "Who is this?"

"Heyyy, Ada, remember me?" a man's playful voice rings out from the phone speaker.

A familiar voice. With a small smile, "If I do remember who you are, let me guess. Hmmm. Deacon Amanita."

"So you do remember who I am!"

Ada, in a demeaning manner, "Of course I do, sweetie. Now, what is it?"

"Got something you might be interested in."

"Oh really now? Do go on."

"Well, it starts with an 'm' and ends with an 'm,' and its spores create the roots that connect it all."

Annoyed, "Cut to the chase Deacon. You know I don't entertain guests."

"Sigh. You're no fun." Pause. Deacon, shifting from an unnatural sing-song playfulness to his natural baritone seriousness, "Why don't we change the subject? Found someone you might know. Been looking around Vesna. Found a girl around ye tall, black hair, wearing black pants and a light purple shirt— sound familiar?"

Ada, playing dumb, "mmm...No."

"Maybe I need to get a little more personal here. Usually stays inside for her safety; says 'damn' and 'hell' a lot; has brown eyes instead of blue; slim, toned legs of an acrobat and my God does Luisa have a really, pretty smile—"

Blood running cold, "Where is she, you sick fuck?" Ada snaps.

"Woah, never heard you swear before."

"Where is she, tell me or I'll—"

"Zima."

Stunned, "What?"

"You heard me, Zima. Probably wanna figure out those coordinates that I just sent real quick, getting bored of staring at her pretty face right now and thinking about prying a tooth—"

Beep.

When dealing with unpredictable situations, one should keep calm and collected, even in the most volatile moments. But Ada forgot that. Forget being calm when the city that you thought your daughter was safe in was overrun by bioweapons and infected people. Forget being collected when a man kidnapped your daughter and doing who knows what to her.

"'Damn this,' 'damn that,' 'who gives a damn,'" Ada murmurs to herself as she continues on shimmying through the air vent. "I miss hearing Luisa say that." Seeing a way out, Ada unscrews the bolts to the air vent grate and drops down into the small entrance room with the exit door to her left.