Xiao spent three days finishing the repair work on the weapons, as he looked at the display rack of shiny weapons, he felt a burst of pride in his chest.
Now he can finally continue his vacation and afterwards he will depart the base with another group of students. What he craved most was something that could help him forget the ordeal of the past events. He recalled reading an old book in the library, titled the History of Ocean Evolution. As a child, it was his favorite book to read. Xiao Yan's father was a nameless oceanographer. After the humans settled in the Shire, the oceans held no meaning to the people.
But Xiao remembered when he was a child his father would lie beside him and describe the strange creatures of the ocean, with a lilt of yearning in his voice. Xiao would listen with fascination and dream about the sea.
After his father's death Xiao entered the Central Academy of Sciences where he found the book in the library's terminal.
Since the base also has ongoing research projects, there should be a library database that he can access. Hopefully he can find the book in their archive. Xiao connected to his terminal device and luckily found the book.
He felt himself calm as the contents of the book poured into his mind. Another world unfolded, granting him comfort from reality and his fantasies ran wild.
Gradually he began to feel sleepy and his eyes grew heavy thinking of the undulating waves of the ocean.
Suddenly, a pair of hands grabbed and encircled him in the sea water. Strong and powerful he could not break their hold. Xiao's heart tightened and his back was pressed against a strong chest, as he turned his head all of his fears instantly disintegrated into awe at the intensity of the gaze focused on him. Then recognition and fear slammed into him instantaneously.
"Colonel Burton! Wh...Why are you here?"
The words had not even escaped his mouth when he felt the unbridled invasion of the other, a power without unparallel pushed into his mind. As Xiao's subconscious struggled to reject the moment, the other stopped his struggles and folded him into his arms. There are no Zombies here, no Surge, no tedious research or rules, just the pure world belonging to Xiao Yan.
This was the embrace of Heine Burton, the world shrank and distilled to include only them, no distance existed between. Heine's long and powerful fingers tangled into Xiao's hair, firmly gripping with crushing strength.
Xiao's wide eyes look straight into the eyes of Heine. His arm is pulled around the shoulders of Heine as though he were calming Xiao's resistance, or to drive out all distraction other than his existence. Xiao can feel the muscles of Heine rippling and the pulse of his blood. The eyes he is staring at are icy blue and bottomless, overwhelming and devouring everything.
When Heine's grip tightens on Xiao's wrist, his subconscious revolts. He attempts to push his other hand off of his shoulder, but to no avail.
Heine finally looks up and pulls him even closer, Xiao can see, in his eyes, a glimmer of light shine through the abyss.
But Heine does not loosen his embrace. Xiao continues to stare deeply in Heine's eyes, trying to find an answer in those unfathomable depths.
"For ...
What ...?
Heine's hand moves to hold his face, a finger slowly and forcefully strokes the side of his cheek as if to confirm something. In that brief moment, Xiao thinks he sees Heine's unshakable gaze ripple.
For the first time, Xiao felt he had the power to see what was beneath the surface of Heine Burton.
Suddenly Xiao Yan opened his eyes, breathing a sigh of relief, he noticed his back was coated in sweat, not only that , his whole body was soaked!
"Oh--no!"
" Xiao moved to get out of bed, realizing he was still connected to the terminal, he quickly took off the head piece and headed to the bathroom.
The water rushed down atop his head and Xiao Yan closes his eyes.
Crazy! How could he dream such a dream? And with Heine Burton!
And in the dream...Oh god.
If the other party knew... Xiao was certain he would crush his bones one by one.
The water flowed over the slope of his back, as it hit other parts of his sensitive body, Xiao felt his heart jump wildly.
The force of his grip on his wrist in the dream...even the touch of his fingers. It all felt so real that Xiao felt weak. He did not know how he had such a dream.
Was it because he accidentally rubbed his lips on him, had it induced some type of romantic reverie?
Heine Burton was indeed the most handsome man he had ever seen, but definitely not someone he would fantasize about. Shutting the water off, Xiao left the bathroom.
Good thing he was one vacation and could sleep all day tomorrow...
Xiao climbed back into bed, snuggling under the quilt he started to fall asleep. His last thoughts were of how much he just wanted to get to a place where there were no zombies and no Heine Burton.
__________________________________________________________________________
Feeling himself pulled from sleep, Xiao drowsily opened his eyes only to see a face inches away from his own. Started Xiao jumped awake. Mark's face, with that exaggerated smile, was quite scary first thing in the morning.
"Good morning rookie."
"Good morning..." How was this guy in his room? Why was he in his room? What does he want?
Was a shattered shoulder not enough to alleviate Heine Burton's hatred for him?
"Pack up, get ready for the mission."
"Mission. I'm on leave. Vacation!"
"Leave is cancelled." Marks smile waned a bit, "why don't you want to?"
Xiao swallowed nervously, "I should probably confirm with a superior." How could a class B student be assigned a mission with special forces?
He connected to his terminal, and the first message that popped up were his mission commands.
Mission time was today, the site was a deserted city, the task was to clear the city of the Surge and rescue hostages....He read further down, danger level was A. Meaning he could be killed at any time.
"Noooo. No way!" Xiao's expression was that of a broken man. "What will happen?"
Mark threw a pack into Xiao's arms. "What is this?"
"A bomb."
"Wha!"
Before he could properly react to the barrage of events, he was dragged out of his room.
Liv was in the hallway propped against the wall.
She gave a comforting smile to Xiao and said, "Don't worry."
At Liv's side is Maya, who pulling at some type of silver thread. Xiao recognized it from the weapons room, the wire was no more than a few microns in thickness, but dealt a deadly strike. It was not an easy weapon to wield. It required very advanced skills, otherwise the weapon was more likely to injure the one wielding it.
To be able to use the silk thread as weapon Maya's combat ability must be first class. It is no wonder that Mark held a lower rank than him.
Upon seeing Xiao, the corner of Maya's mouth crooked up, "Miss me, baby?"
Feeling a burst of aversion crawl over his body, Xiao hurried past the hallway. There were a total of 6 special task force members, some were wiping down their blades, others packing their equipment. Using a whole task team meant this mission was not going to be easy.
Measured footsteps sounded down the passage and Heine Burton walked by. His forceful presence and lowered brow made Xiao feel his courage to stand drain from his body. The memories of his dream last night flitted through his head, and he quickly turned toward Liv as though afraid Heine could see what he was thinking. If he knew what kind of dream he had last night, Xiao was certain his life would be snuffed out. He was sure Heine would not give him an easy death.
"Move out." At the command, Xiao grabbed his backpack barely keeping up with the long strides of the special forces. By the time they arrived at the aircraft he was covered in a heavy layer of sweat.
Maya, in accordance to rank, should have been at the front but he slyly moved back to where Xiao was.
"Baby, I'll take you." Maya's hand moved to encircle Xiao's waist.
"No, the bomb will explode." Xiao hurriedly dodged Maya.
"Mark, he is too slow." Heine didn't look back as he spoke but Mark instantly understood the meaning. He moved from the front of the line toward Xiao and hauled him over his shoulder, in no more than 3 steps, he deposited him at the front of the line.
Maya chased after him. "Hey if you want to marry him, you better watch after him."
Mark flipped him off.
"Hey boss, does the rookie have to leave the aircraft?" Xiao immediately prayed fervently. No no no nonono. Please say no. Don't let him have to go down.
The city they were headed too had been one of the most densely populated 200 years ago. Therefore it was one of the most affected. More than two thirds of the world's zombies were concentrated in these urban areas.
"Of course."
Heine words felt like a brick hit his chest. He really wasn't going to make it this time. He was going to die. Definitely Dead!!
Xiao was thrown into the craft and they left the base according to the flight path, quickly ascending towards the bright sun.
"Hey Xiao, trust me this is going to be a very fun mission." Liv sat face to face with Xiao. Maya, having been transferred to the cab, lost his chance to harass Xiao through the flight.
Xiao had a feeling that to the special forces 'fun' meant very dangerous.
As Xiao's mood starts to calm, he remembers to ask, "Why am I here?"
"Because you are the only one." Mark answered him, throwing a heavy arm over Xiao nearly crushing him.
"What does that mean 'only one'? I'm just a student. A reserve technician! Don't you understand? Why are you dragging me here, I'll be nothing but a liability." Mark shrugged his shoulders.
"Because last time all the tech students died, the tech soldiers at the base thought we would just throw them away on the battlefield and Col. Raven said he wasn't sure his men were ready so.."
"So what?"
"So you were chosen. How powerful you are. Opened the vault door, unlocked the device that held the uranium.... I believe you can live through this bomb detonation."
"Detonation...bomb...."
Normally when battling zombies cold weapons are used since any radiant heat allows them to absorb the energy. However, the Surge is an organization of humans and bombs are the most effective way of dealing with them."
"Why not launch missiles and directly hit the target?!"
"Because they have a hostage."
"Then save the hostage and fire the missile!" Xiao Yan thought their battle plans were outrageous.
Mark's face was blank for a second and then he burst into laughter.
"Ah rookie, you are cute. I bet even Liv let you continue thinking that way. If that's all this was about then why would we need a technical soldier? We can do that on our own."
Xiao Yan's veins were about to break through the skin on his forehead. "What do you want me to do?"
The Surge installed a device over 200 years old to build a small base. They shielded their signal and formed an internal network. Most of our techs are accustomed to operating the terminal systems to process data but they don't know how to handle the older technology. After your performance last time at the reactor, the Colonel thought that you were a better fit for this task than the technicians who only know how to rely on the terminals. Looks like you are quite good at handling antiquated technology."
"What? Which Colonel?" Both Liv and Mark pointed at the cockpit.
There was only one colonel in the cockpit - Heine Burton.
"What...Did you think the colonel hated you?" Liv asked with a smile.