Before the Fall

Chapter Thirty-Four - Muddled

Aster

I guess it had never really occurred to me that every human on the planet might have been murdered.

I had heard the officers speak of the Extinction but I didn't know it literally meant everyone. How would it even be possible?

But Namjoon just said I was not the last. Had these killers actually saved people instead of killing them?

"He used different tactics," said Namjoon quietly. "Some places had their water tainted. Some larger buildings were pumped full of poisonous gas. Smaller places were just shot up. He has hybrids everywhere that are under his command and an endless supply of biochemical weapons that can kill thousands in mere seconds."

I was trying to wrap my mind around what he was saying. In a way I almost felt lucky for still being alive. I had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach and I pressed my face into my hands, trying to focus on just breathing.

"I know it's a lot to take in, Aster." Namjoon stood and knelt down on the floor beside my chair.

"No kidding," I whispered.

"We have to know that you will help keep our secret," said Yoongi from the sofa.

"Who would I even tell?" I looked at him curiously, as if he had three heads.

"Li. When he comes in a few weeks," said Jin softly.

"I don't even want to speak to him!" I said harshly.

"We know. We just want to know if we can trust you. It's not just us that are depending on your silence. It's about five hundred people, women and children, handicapped, and elderly, who are counting on you too." Namjoon's quiet voice beckoned my eyes to him.

I looked deeply into them and saw a fellow fighter. Someone I could call a friend and know that they would do everything in their power to help me fight Li, even if it meant their own death.

"I vow my silence," I said, staring at him. My hands itched to reach up and touch his soft black ears, but I kept them clasped in my lap.

The me that existed before would never have trusted these people. Xander would probably question what I'm doing. I had ambitions of taking them all down from the inside but the more time I spent with them, the more I learned, the more I changed, the more I came to trust them little by little. I dare say I even came to like them a bit.

I still felt a bit of uneasiness around them but slowly and surely it was passing.

Namjoon instructed Yoongi to return me to my room. He said I looked tired and I was. I really hadn't even looked in a mirror so who knows what I looked like. I guess certain cares and concerns go out the window when you're merely fighting for your life.

* * *

Jimin

I was pleased.

A routine blood test on Aster that morning had given me so many things to be happy about.

I'm not a psycho. I'm a doctor, a scientist if you will. Even though I know it wasn't ethical for us to hybridized Aster, I'm still happy to see the formula working.

It pains me, however, to see her looking like Sugar. We all know how attached Yoongi was to that cat and later on Moonsik. But also, in a way, it felt like they were both back with us again. Like we were a whole unit once more.

And it was all thanks to Aster's hybridization process was progressing quicker than I had ever seen.

Her body was changing slow enough for her to not be uncomfortable, but fast enough it wouldn't take the standard 3-6 months before the process was complete.