Outbreak: Desolation

Part 7

"What do you want, Ozell?" Genevieve asked. Her hands were around his neck, and his hands were sown around her waist. No doubt-she thought-Damion would be rather jealous.

"Nothing much. I heard there was gonna be a reveal tonight." Ozell had managed to wear a suit and tie to the event, but failed to mask his breath. Genevieve wanted to pinch her nose, but she knew that if she moved in any way, Ozell or his thugs would kill everyone here.

"A reveal? First I've heard of it." Genevieve mentioned. She cocked her head so to steal a glance at Damion. Ozell noticed and squeezed her hip to the point of pain.

"Don't look at him, look at me." Ozell smiled. He raised his eyebrows to try and gain a verbal response, but only got an annoyed glare. They turned with the music and he glanced over at Damion. Genevieve pinched his neck and gave him the evil eye.

"Do not look at him." She demanded.

"Oh? Feisty tonight, are we?" Ozell returned his gaze to her as they spun. He noted that her eyes were beautiful, but the other half of him wanted to see what they looked like when in pain. How they looked with tears falling from them, and how they looked when her tears were all dried up.

"Only for you." She caught glance of a thug brush by them. He'd managed to pick up his own woman to dance with. Suddenly, interrupting Genevieve's thoughts, there was a ding of a glass up towards the stage. The music died down just after and everyone slowly turned to the stage.

"Thank you for the dance." Genevieve nodded and tried to back away, but Ozell grabbed her arm.

"We're going to continue dancing after this announcement." Ozell smiled after his command, as if he got pleasure from treating her like an object. The stage was behind them, and they turned to watch as the Mayor took his place. Skylar, Damion, and Rachel were revealed to have been watching them. Rachel and Skylar turned around quickly, but Damion locked eyes with Ozell. Ozell twirled his finger, and Damion reluctantly turned when Skylar nudged him.

"I thank you all for coming tonight, and my heart goes out to those who couldn't make it." Mayor Warren smiled and rose a small glass of a red liquid; most likely wine. Warden, as he was nicknamed, had never taken much to strong wine. He'd have wine only at parties such as this. "As many of you are wondering, this time, I do actually have a reason for the party."

He laughed at his joke and set his glass down after taking a small sip. The table next to him had a moderately sized box on it, and the front was slanted. There was a white cloth over it, with no designs. Warden signaled to turn off the lights, and a green glow shone through the cloth. There was a collective murmur throughout the crowd of elegantly dressed individuals.

"Wanna hear something insane?" Ozell leaned over to Gwen and smiled. She felt his hand come around her waist and she swatted it away.

"No, I don't." Genevieve mentioned, clearly annoyed.

"Fine. Whatever. You'll find out on your own. And... You'll wish I'd been the one to tell you." Ozell left her side, walked around her, and seemed to mold into the crowd. Genevieve looked around, but saw no one but familiar faces. Without spotting any of the thugs either, Genevieve stepped forward; confident they didn't have any jurisdiction on her anymore.

"Where'd he go?" Damion asked first. Skylar turned to greet Genevieve, didn't turn his eyes to look at her. They were still watching the green glow from the odd item on the table.

"Please, hold the commotion." Mayor Warden raised one of his hands, and placed the other hand on the cloth. The room went silent as the Mayor threw off the cloak and revealed a flat item-tilted forward-and with a black disk on the surface. A green line was rotating around the radius of the circular glass. A collective gasp went out over the crowd as some recognized the device, while others struggled to understand its purpose.

"Is that...?" Skylar asked. Tyler answered him.

"It's a radar." Tyler's voice squeaked. "I uh, I've read about them in the library over at Cactus Elementary school."

"I thought that library was burned?" Rachel asked.

"Not the whole building. Besides. I'm in the clean up crew. Remember?" Tyler asked.

"Yeah.. yeah.. I remember." Skylar's voice trailed off as he watched the radar device outline the general shape of the city. Then something else popped up. Something large. The Mayor was going on about hot intense heat will show up as red and normal buildings and such would show up green.

There was a large red blob just outside of the city, just sitting there. The Mayor swore and looked around, before another official ran up and covered the radar. The green glow turned off a few seconds later, leaving the crowd in darkness and an odd sense of longing for knowledge.