May 22nd, 2090- 18:30 PM.
Joss Coles.
Ainz and I waited around the corner until we watched my father enter his office. We then burst into his office with the VHS tape in my hand as I waved it in front of his face. He didn't say anything for a moment until he let out a sigh and sat back in his chair.
"So that's where that went," He said, "I noticed my things were searched through earlier, so I went out to search for the tape once I learned it was missing. Glad it was only you." He gave both of us a glare. "It was only you two, right?"
Ainz and I glanced at each other, and my father noticed as he sighed again. "Let me guess: Regina, Bex, Jan, and Leah know too?" We nodded. He waved his hand at two chairs in front of his desk. "Have a seat."
We obeyed and sat in chairs identical to the ones in Regina's office- my father snatching the tape out of my hand as I did so. "Everything you heard on it from Jocelyn is all true: the bunker, The Infected... You," He pointed at me for that last part, "it's all true. The bunker is still there, too- it just needs someone to go reactivate it."
"Why am I needed then? Couldn't you have done it yourself?" I asked.
"That's the thing. Due to the radiation from inside the bunker it is impossible to get to the controls without a suit. Even then, whoever designed that hunk of metal did not consider that gloved hands would need to access it, but without the radiation suit, whoever touches anything in that bunker would turn into an Infected," He explained, standing up and slowly walking over to the filing cabinets beside him. "Of course, someone who was already exposed to said radiation would not be affected by it." This time, he looked at him.
"Wouldn't I turn into an Infected then?" I asked again.
My father shook his head as he opened a drawer in the cabinet and stored the tape away. "If that were the case, you would have become one the same time your mother did."
I glared at him. "You mean my mom was one? Since when?"
He sat back down in his chair. "The day I had to kill her. You had to admit, she was acting strangely. I promised I wouldn't kill her, but I had no other choice."
I balled my hands into fists, but I didn't broach the subject anymore.
"I would have done it years ago, but the higher ups wouldn't let me. Once some of them caught wind of what I had been doing in Renfew, some decided to use that as blackmail: that if I went back to Renfrew, they'll not only let the country know that I am a spy, but they'll also kill my entire family. Something to do with ruining all the money from investors during the war."
"Well, you have nothing to worry about now since I am all you got left." I said with a grumble. I looked over at Ainz, who sat quietly in his chair up until now with his fingernails dug into the arms of his chair.
"You ordered my family to be assassinated!" He yelled.
My father brought his attention to Ainz. "I am not proud of that, but if I didn't do it then somebody else would have." He reached into his breast pocket and produced a packet of cigarettes. Since when did he smoke?
Ainz was left flabbergasted with his mouth hanging open, but he too, didn't say any more about it.
"You all better get packing since we are all expected at a banquet in Banes Point with the mayor in a few days. We can discuss this matter later now that Regina's squad is wrapped up in all this now." My father told us before standing up with an unlit cigarette between his teeth.
"Wait," I said, standing up from my chair also, "what would have happened if Renfrew never opened the bunker?"
He watched me for a moment before he shrugged. "Beats me. Everyone most likely would have starved to death and the world would have been rid of the Infected problem before it even happened, but with Renfrew... Curiosity did kill the cat," He said before leaving.
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May 22nd, 2090- 18:30 PM.
Regina McAdams.
"What the hell happened back there?" Bex asked me as we entered my bedroom identical to the other rooms in this dungeon of a base.
I flopped onto the cot with a sigh. "I have to admit, I am kind of tired of everybody lying to me," I started, twiddling my thumbs over my chest. "I just don't know who to believe or trust now considering they could be not telling me the truth or plotting my demise."
"You're still going on about that?" Bex asked, taking a seat on the bed next to me. "If you're that concerned about one of the higher ups wanting you dead, then just leave." They folded their arms over their chest.
I propped myself up on my elbows and glared at Bex through my sunglasses. "And go to do what exactly? Go back to my narcissistic husband who only wants me to be a housewife all day? Where would I go? Once I leave, nothing stops some random ass person from slitting my throat in the streets. At least here I have some sort of protection due to my status."
"So, you'd rather have your superior be the one to kill you, got it," Bex put bluntly, glaring back.
I sat up properly to face them. "That's not what I meant-" I went to say, but got cut off.
Bex exploded on me. "Then what do you want, Reggie? You're concerned about be fucking murdered, but to leave the military? Whoops! That's a much worser fate than losing your fucking life!"
"Bex...-"
"You gave me shit for leaving the military and abandoning you, but how do you think I felt when I heard you'd rather die in the military than possibly run away without that fear? It's bullshit, Reggie, and I'll be damned if you died on me!" Bex stopped to catch their breath before rambling on again with their finger pointed at my chest. "The tape gave us a way out! If we tagged along with Joss and Xavier to that stupid bunker, then we could just run away from everything and start over in Renfrew without the influence of the military. Doesn't that sound nice? Just us against the world!"
I stared into Bex's eyes, who still bore into my skin. This was somebody that left everything behind with the military and swore to never return- only to come back because of me and only me. All of their previous actions claimed to have been everything about Joss, but those words they just told me made me rethink every interaction since the meeting in Banes Point five years ago. I frowned. Everything was about me from the beginning.
Bex slowly reached for my sunglasses and a part of me didn't resist for a split second, however I moved out of reach anyway. "Hypothetically, if I never existed; why would you still follow Joss even though you don't believe the recording?" I asked, finally.
They chuckled, retracting their arm to their lap. "That sounds like a 'would you still love me if I was a worm' question," They turned away and looked at the desk at the far end of the wall, dust collected on top from lack of use. "But I will follow her because she's like a daughter to me. I worry about her even if I may not show it- don't you dare tell her I told you that. However, she's family to me and I would do anything for her even if I think she's stupid for believing in something as unsubstantial as a recording her dead mom left years ago."
We said nothing for a while, but I continued to watch Bex stare at the desk until I uttered: "Do you feel the same way about me?"
Bex shook their head slowly. "No. You're not family to me- you never were."
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September 18th, 2067- 10:25 AM.
Regina Zacharias.
I sat in front of the vanity with a mirror that had elegantly carved roses along its wooden frame. I dared to catch a glimpse of my sunglasses that sat on the vanity off to the side- just out of my reach.
"I really wish you would stop wearing those things. What would your husband say?" My mother said as she swerved over to me in her pristine, red, flower-patterned dress that sighed as she moved.
The woman working on my hair halted her fingers briefly before continuing decorating my updo hair with glistening pearls. "He isn't my husband... Not yet..." I said sounding gloomier than I had hoped to sound in front of my mother.
My mother swatted the hairstylist away and cupped my face in her hands. "He will be good for you, Regina. His family has connections within the tech sector and marrying him would allow us to be a part of the market, although it isn't booming now, I promise you, it will."
"I don't love him, though."
"You're eighteen, you don't know what love is. Eventually, you'll learn to love him just as his family learned to fall in love with you. Those children growing up may not have been able to see that when you tried playing with them, but just think of the possibilities for our family!"
My mother's words made no sense, but I wasn't about to begin an argument with her an hour before my wedding. However, that hour went by in a flash, and I found myself standing at the altar in front of my fiancé surrounded by bountiful flowers and faces I don't know or remember despite my mother's claims I did, in fact, meet them all before.
"Do you, Fredrick McAdams, take Regina Zacharias to be your lawfully wedded wife?" The priest asked the man holding both my hands in his. I refused to look at his face.
"I do," Fredrick said.
I felt the priest's eyes land on me. "And do you Regina Zacharias take Fredrick McAdams as your lawfully wedded husband?"
My lips didn't move since I swore if I opened them, I would vomit all over Fredrick. Instead, I glanced towards my mother who stared at me for my answer with gleeful anticipation. I tore my eyes away from her and dared to finally look at my fiancé. He was handsome, sure, with bleach blonde hair and blue eyes, but I saw no love in them. However, despite my better judgement, I pried open my mouth and said: "I do."
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March 2nd, 2069- 17:17 PM.
Regina McAdams.
Fredrick sat at his desk and filed paperwork while I leaned against the windowsill and watched as a tank rolled down the street. The world appeared dull and grey, albeit, I was wearing my sunglasses, but even when I didn't wear them- everything looked deprived of colour. "Get away from the window; it isn't safe," Fredrick told me, I swerved my head towards him as he continued: "why don't you start cooking dinner?"
"Why? Because it's safer being your maid than being a human being?" I said, sounding angrier than I intended. Fredrick stopped his work and glared at me.
"Well, what else are you supposed to be doing? I don't see you doing anything else all day," He said.
I crossed the room in three strides and slammed a hand on his desk and yelled: "because I can't do anything else! All you have me do is cleaning, cooking, and such and that is my entire day since I never have time to do anything else, plus you won't let me! I am not even allowed outside!" I said, motioning my hand at my paper white skin. "I am not happy, Fredrick."
"I thought you were. All the other housewives appear that way."
"You can't compare me with somebody else's wife. Also, I am not a housewife, I am your wife!"
"Then as your husband, I wish you would take off those sunglasses," he said mockingly as he reached up to snatch them off my face. I promptly swatted him away.
"You don't deserve to read me like an open book."
"I don't like how you're speaking with me right now, Regina."
"Then give me a reason not to! Let me go outside, let me be a human for once, let me live."
Fredrick didn't say anything and went back to filing papers in his desk, while I continued to stand at his desk with a hand on its surface. My body shook, but not from the argument, but from the deathly silence that now lingered in the air between us. Once his desk was rid of paperwork, Fredrick finally looked up at me and said calmly: "we all have a role to play, Regina. And yours right now is to start dinner." Then he promptly shooed me from the office.
I hated that I obeyed, but as I crept through the halls of the house, I caught glimpses of what was happening outside. The tanks had halted, and I could see soldiers milling about in groups as they chatted and laughed amongst each other. I heard stories from the war; the devastation Renfrew left in its wake, the piles of bodies needing to be abandoned, and whatever soldiers Renfrew didn't kill- The Infected did. Despite all that, I couldn't see it- all I saw was people being free.
I never made it to the kitchen. Within the hour I packed a few of my belongings and found myself outside of the house after months of hiding inside like a ghost. I blocked out the glaring sun with my arm before letting it fall limply to my side. The world was becoming brighter, which was a step in the right direction, I thought as I walked towards the soldiers and never glanced back at the house.
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December 4th, 2081- 2:20 AM.
Regina McAdams.
"God, I feel so old!" Bex said with a whine as they flopped onto my bed. Bex decided to join me for a game of cards in my private room in the military base not too far from Greyson's Tides. We spent a good few hours doing so until Bex had one too many drinks and started eating the cards and then it became a one-sided existential conversation.
After they mellowed out a bit I replied: "Turning thirty doesn't make you old."
"It does, though...! Now I can count all my fingers three times over! That's simply too much!" Bex said, rolling onto their side on the bed to face me. "Look at you, you're already sprouting grey hairs!"
"What?" I quickly gripped strands of my hair and inspected them to see nothing and what Bex said was nothing but a bluff.
"I am just kidding, but if you keep worrying about stupid things then you will get them by the time you're thirty-five!" They said, with a smile as they patted the empty spot on the bed next to them.
I followed and inched my way next to them. "But that only gives me three more years."
Bex shrugged their shoulder. "Then stop worrying about those stupid things I mentioned."
"You never did tell me what those were, though."
Bex stared at my eyes through my sunglasses for a long moment before replying: "It's the military. All you do is worry about it."
"I do not."
"Yes, you do."
I sighed.
"This is a nice part of the country, isn't it." Bex said, changing the subject. I watched their hand lay limp on the mattress and my own hand inched closer. However, it stopped after thinking about Fredrick.
I haven't thought of him in forever, but it felt wrong to move on to someone else when I am still married to him. He never came after me, but his last name is plastered all over my uniforms, so I believed he could still track me down if he really wanted to. Even though I ran away, I still had a leash around my neck that led back to him. "Yes, it is," I answered Bex, letting my hand go limp as well.
We laid in silence for a while, with Bex only staring at me until they spoke again. "You wouldn't rat me out if I were to stay here, would you?"
"What do you mean by that?"
"I mean, what if I just left the military to start a bar in Greyson's Tides? You can come with me if you want."
"You know I can't do that."
"I know," Bex glanced down at my hand before rolling over in bed. "It was just a silly idea; I'll just forget about it." Then they fell asleep soon after. However, as I fell asleep in the same bed as them and woke up the next morning to a note from them saying that they had gone ahead with the idea- I realized they weren't actually asleep.
I felt the spot in the bed where Bex was go cold. That was when I realized I was the one being abandoned for a change and wondered if Fredrick felt the same way when I left him without even leaving a note.
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May 22nd, 2090- 18:30 PM.
Regina McAdams.
I went to open my mouth, but I never got to say what I wanted to desperately tell Bex since Ainz and Joss, once again, burst into my room. It felt like Groundhog Day with them short of breath before ranting on about what Xavier told them. I only sighed. "Let's go. It's time to put on our party dresses."