Dead to You (BxB)

Chapter 44: La Résistance

When he loaded his rifle, the man's large tan biceps bulged while his pecs rubbed against his bulletproof vest.

Michael stared at him. "Wow."

Jack glared at him and elbowed his boyfriend.

Other people stepped after the armed man, a woman with a disheveled appearance, a man a skater boy look, another man with a mauve suit, and a businesswoman who held a child by the right hand.

"Wait, some of you are from the hospital?" asked Michael.

Caroline shot daggers at them. "You're working with David?"

"No no!" The mauve man rose his hands up. "We're what you call la Résistance," he said with a posh accent.

"I prefer the Zedders," the skater replied.

"And why should we trust you?" inquired Caroline.

The tall man shook his weapon a bit. "You don't really have a choice anyway."

"Wait, let's not fight." The businesswoman spread her arms between the two of them. "I'm Mathilda, this is my son, Jonas."

The little boy hid behind his mother and watched Caroline. He smiled at Michael and the young man recognized him. He was the child who gave him the angel drawing.

The latter sighed. "I'm Caroline."

"Jack." The young man put his hand up.

Ariel made a step toward Michael. "Ariel."

Michael curled his fingers back. "You guys already know my name anyway."

"Anyway, our little troupe is composed of a mother and her child as you can see. I'm Howard." The mauve-suited man said before he gestured at the skater. "This young man with the atrocious clothes is Simon." Howard made a head tilt at the disheveled pale woman. "This ghost of a literature teacher right here is Judith." Then he pointed at the armed man. "This brute is Lieutenant I. Marriott."

"You're the only one I never saw at the hospital," Michael said to the soldier.

"I got lucky," he replied.

Ariel tilted her head to the left. "What do you mean?"

Marriott sighed. "It's a long story."

"Make it shorter, then," Caroline replied.

He glared at her. "If you insist." The soldier paused. "I'm part of an organization called the Security On Bioterrorism."

Michael giggled a bit. "SOB?"

"Yes, SOB..." The soldier shook his head. "About five months ago, a small team was sent to investigate Little Brook as a bioterrorist was suspected to happen here."

"Was one of them named Lisa?" wondered Ariel.

Marriott furrowed his brows. "How d'you know?"

Ariel exhaled. "David, the one behind the outbreak, he knew about your organization."

"I'm not surprised." The soldier looked down. "We got betrayed by our medic, Isaac, wish I could kill that bastard right now."

"Already done." Caroline gestured at the giant squid-like corpse behind them.

"Oh, Lord." Howard put a handkerchief in front of his mouth.

"I don't understand though. You guys could have just overpowered Isaac?" marveled Jack.

"We could have had the superiority indeed." The soldier clenched his fists. "But I didn't expect David to... to know about whatever we wanted."

Caroline shot daggers at him. "So you guys just got played by a bunch of fancy words?"