Lemuria: The City of Mysts

Chapter 50: Close Call

"Dr. Williams was infected by a virus called V-X2103. It spreads from person to person through bodily fluids. The progression of the illness is unpredictable. The victim can die within seventy-two to ninety-six hours. There is no vaccine to this disease as of now. The cure," he paused, "the doctor's medicine – a green liquid was our hope. That too, however, was lost to us."

Louis' brows furrowed at the mention of a cure. He remembered Zafeera's brother's talk about a medicine that cured the man before them. Fred hadn't been inclined to share what made it the medicine special then. "What kind of medicine was it?" he interjected out of curiosity.

"One that saved my life." The President-General's expression became regretful. "It was perfect, so perfect that it banished all traces of the plague from my body. My suffering seemed like a terrible dream." He frowned. "My son fell ill afterward and we used what was left of the cure. But it wasn't enough and we tried to replicate it. The ingredients were herbs that can be easily acquired. My best scientists, however, couldn't reproduce the cure. They couldn't comprehend the reason behind the potency of an all-natural remedy." His gaze snapped back to the Roucans, anger swirled beneath his dark brown eyes. "My only mistake was allowing that snake to deceive me. The Hyena Quarter's own leader led me to believe that the doctor had more to offer – power like the heroes in legends possessed." He scoffed. "The daughter, on the other hand, was a little wiser..."

Louis felt the tug of an oncoming Vision. He gripped the arms of his chair and breathed through his nose while the ground shifted under him and his surroundings became distorted. His vision cleared for a moment and saw the President-General's crazed eyes on him. A blur of movement in Louis' right and he was falling.

The fall slammed him back to reality. Glass shattered and wood cracked. Louis looked wildly about. The window and grill had broken. The wooden leg of the chair opposite him had splintered. He heard the President-General shout in Arabic and numerous feet fast approaching before he saw the soldiers.

"The portal, Louis," Mr. Roucan's urgent whisper brought Louis' gaze to his father who had somehow toppled both their chairs on its side. "Summon it now."

The head of state was yelling and the soldier closest to them pulled the gun from his holster.

Louis' eyes widened as the man aimed at his head, finger closing around the trigger. Then he was freefalling again until he hit the floor, hard. At the impact, his chair broke, his breathing whooshed as the armrest underneath him snapped and dug against his ribcage. Louis' teeth clacked when his head and shoulder collided against the floor.

Mr. Roucan was on his feet in an instant, issuing orders to his people. The flight attendant rushed over to the pilot's cockpit. They were leaving immediately. Control would only be notified once they were in the air on the way home.

"Sir, you have blood on..." the security staff, who helped Louis up, pointed at his face.

Louis touched his cheek and his hand came away with blood. He gave himself a brief assessment of his body's aches and pains. "It's not mine," he answered, with a shake of his head.

From the corner of his eye, he caught his father speaking on the phone. The flight attendant administered first aid on the wound at Mr. Roucan's head.

That would've been me, Louis thought. Worry over his father wormed its way through the resentment that had built up over the years. He squashed it, but knew it was futile; he'd rescued Mr. Roucan the past year despite knowing his old man had lied about his sister.

A distraction was what Louis needed and found. He picked up Code Red from a passing personnel.

The plane activated a force field that would deactivate weapons within a hundred-meter radius. The Mysts would also be on high alert. Its own anti-weapons technology up and running before they even reached home. The system would disintegrate any man-made weapon that enters the country's national waters and skies. The only means to carry a weapon intact was to smuggle a dismantled version of it inland and reassemble it there.