Alternate 2020

Episode 2: Escaping North (4)

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"I will now explain our battle plan."

We both looked at him and nodded.

He switched one of the big monitors to the floor plan of Sevco. "So, you see this floor plan?" He used a red laser pointer and pointed towards one of the smaller displays to his right. "Currently, there are 3 groups of pawns in Sevco. Hoots[1], BoS[2], L2[3]. Let's give these groups of soldiers a name: Alpha, Beta and Gamma."

He pointed towards Hoots. "After you guys left, Alpha entered Hoots. Seeing that patch of blooded-cotton on the floor, they are now cautious of their surroundings."

He pointed towards L2. "As you can see, Gamma stayed at L2 even though Alpha discovered you guys' presence. What does this mean? Alpha didn't report it even though Gamma is so close to their location."

"But why?" I asked.

"That's why they are 'pawns'. They want the achievement for themselves."

I looked at Rose and she looked back at me with a weird smile on her face that shows 'I don't get it'.

"Now look at Beta. The last time I saw them, they were heading into BoS. No idea what they're doing but that's irrelevant. What's important is that they are all separated."

He swirled around in his chair and turned off his laser pointer.

"Now, I want 'you' to go into Hoots with this," he said pointing at me with an object.

The object was slightly round with what looked like a stand. He unscrewed the stand and passed the object to me. The object was cold but smooth. Probably something made of metal. I took the object and hovered it in the air facing the monitor. Oval shape with silver mesh-like structure, it was a microphone.

What am I supposed to do with this? Go in and smack those soldiers in the head?

"Erm... how's this gonna help us escape?" Rose asked.

"Escape? No, no, no..." he stated while shaking his head. "We gonna start a 'wildfire'."

He smirked.

"I will guide you into hoots by using this walkie talkie[5] and this earpiece. Now then, you will create a diversion and smoke them out of Sevco. Take these and go."

He handed them to me.

I was dumbfounded. This kid can analyse the situation and come up with a suitable judgement and even an approach to the dilemma in mere... seconds?

As he was pushing me out of the room, Rose spoke up, "Hey! Hey! You can't do this!" She held onto my arm. "It's too dangerous! They have guns!"

"Don't worry my lady," he said with a slightly laughing tone. "He will be fine with my guidance. Just so you know, I need to get out of here as well and I won't give him a dangerous task if it means my own doom."

"Yeah... it's alright." I agreed with him. He's a smart kid. Although I've not met him for long, his knowledge exceeded our expectations already. He's also slightly... creepy as if there's a hidden monster within him. He didn't mention how we were going to escape but I guess... it should be fine right?

Rose slightly loosened her grip and after a brief hesitation, she let go.

"Oh! Almost forgot" the kid said as he pulled a breathing apparatus out of the drawer. "You won't survive without this," he laughed.

I looked at him in the eyes while gripping on to the breathing apparatus tightly. Did he purposely not give this to me earlier or did he really forget? I can't see through him at all.