𝗧𝗼𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗿𝗼𝘄'𝘀 𝗟𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗕𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗵 | an apocalyptic novel ©

Chapter 41

Missing in Action
2031
Aidan

The General steps up to the front of the crowd of recruits that have gathered in the main quarters. It was an urgent call for everyone – we were called to get up earlier than usual.
Something happened.
"We have an MIA case."
I get shivers when I hear the words and my shivers get goosebumps when I see whose picture he pins on the whiteboard with magnets.
Jason.
How?
"If you know this affiliate and know where he was last seen, report it immediately," the General takes a breath. "Taking it from the current weather conditions, he won't make it long, yet far."
"Missing in action..." Sina whispers next to me. She had gone just as quiet as I did, or as the rest of the crowd did, all of the color in her face had vanished.
What happened to Jason when he decided to go missing? Our argument was yesterday, late in the evening. Missions were called off because of the acidic rain.
What caused him to-
Me?
I can hear the hesitant chair squeaking when Sina leans back and clears her voice.
"I have an idea where he might be headed." Her voice echoes clearly over the heads of everyone as she stands up straight.
The General narrows his eyes. "You do?"
"You do?" I ask her quietly, in disbelief.
Sina bites her lip. "He is possibly headed to his childhood home."
The silence was loud before, but now it's deafening.
"I don't need a Possibility, I need a statement."
"Yes, sorry, Sir!" Sina echoes loud and clear and sits back down, burying her face in her hands.
Although, given her poor choice of words, it is a lead.
The General waves his hand – dismissed.
"How do you know that?" I ask Sina. She looks up to me – not a trace left of her partial disappointment about me leaving her in the healthcare station yesterday.
"Jason told me a lot about his childhood home and where he came from. His parents fled from Belgium when the weather anomalies were catastrophic there too, merely because of... resources," Sina explains and leans back to cross her arms, "And their first temporary home was thirty minutes away from here. That's what Jason told me. So, I assume that."
Her words knock me speechless. Jason went to his childhood home.
"Who... is going to look for him?" I ask hesitantly. To Sina, Jason was and is a friend. This is hard for her, I can tell.
"Special forces," is her blunt reply.
"Special forces..."
"-doesn't include us," she ends my sentence, "Let the real men do it."
The real men...
I'm about to have a snappy retort on the tip of my tongue, but I spare myself the discussion that could erupt from that.
Sina's reserved gaze drifting over the other recruits makes me leave the hall as well.
No need to bother her.

I feel exhausted.
Is this what stress and overworking have as an effect?
Or am I at my limit? I'm denying that the time for the balloon to burst has come yet.
My thoughts drift off.
Jason is missing. He left the base, probably to collect his thoughts, after our fight.
It might as well be my fault why he is missing.