Dishonor From Nightmares

Chapter 35

Josh sighed, ordering his food in the dining room again. He didn't know what he was looking for until he saw the symbol. A lone member wearing a curled-up unicorn symbol. A Pony Express member he sought. Before heading to the woman, he grabbed a bag of chips, carrot cake, and tacos.

"May I sit here?" He asked her, standing before her until she nodded as she ate. Josh calmly sat down, beginning to eat, and hesitated slightly. "I haven't seen anyone else with that badge on their chest. Are you visiting from another site?" He asked as he began munching on his chips. "No, I've been tasked to this site since my promotion to watch over things." The woman answered in a Northeastern Thai accent. Josh nodded, thinking before speaking, "Promotion? Does that mean you're a leader of sorts? Or higher up?"

"Higher up. We clean up messes that are too big to handle."

"So, how do Foundation members deal with stuff the police can't? You guys deal with what we can't?"

"Yes. But the police are a part of the Foundation. They are like you guys to us."

"Us? So there are more? Like a special service?"

"Yes, but I would say my team isn't like the other Alpha teams."

"How so? Alpha means you are the strongest of the strongest, right? I'm a little old... I don't know what this is. Two boxing gloves bumping fists?"

"Mobile Task Force Tau-51. It is important to this site due to an anomaly we keep hold of with the town. But since we stopped trying to contain and started killing, we're just trying to assign units to specific sites."

"So that's why everything is a bit... fucked? We're working with an entirely new system and throwing soldiers at beasts and shit?"

"Exactly. The O5 council is working on it but can't agree on whether they want to do it. They're teetering the line between kill and research."

Josh went silent when she spoke on the O5 council, frowning softly as he sat back, sighing softly as he finished his food.

"I'm Josh, by the way. Thanks for the talk."

He stated as he got up. The woman pulled out her badge before sliding it over to him. "I'm Mali. The council told me about you, so I wouldn't try and take you out." She chuckled, making Josh pause before sitting back down, taking the badge, and slowly chewing on his lip. "They said they wouldn't make things easy on me."

"No, this wasn't their choice exactly. They wanted my judgment on you to decide whether I should help you on your last path. You've spent a long time trying to get answers, and I'm impressed, honestly. Our soldiers don't care about knowledge over a paycheck."

"I just want to know what's happening to me."

"Yet you said nothing about your conditions when you started talking with me. Maybe you've fooled me, but I've been an Alpha tier for twenty-six years after another twenty-five years working for this company. I doubt you're able to fool me."

"I may want to know what's going on. If I am one of those things they want us to kill, I'll want to know about my world."

"We all do deep down. It's good to see someone who will start working towards it."

Josh nodded, listening to her words, playing with the badge in his hand. "Is there a catch?"

"No catch, kid. Just know if you're a creature of danger, then you won't last long. But maybe the O5 will lock you away instead of killing you."

"Like that bird human in the basement?"

"Indeed." She chuckled, getting up before walking out of the mess hall. Josh swore, looking down at the badge before leaving the mess hall. He was only getting halfway out before suddenly his ears began to ring, an ear-splitting noise only growing louder and louder. Grabbing his bleeding ears, he fell to his knees, gasping out, trying to breathe as the sound became overwhelming until it won over Josh, and he collapsed.