AST
PHASE 8 . SURVIVING
Something seemed to be reaching the ground. The particles interlock and struggle with each other. It was like running, crashing at everything in front of him. Mercilessly. Without regret. The entire action was accompanied by the whirring of the wind that was blowing ever louder, scooping up everything that was happening on the surface. The temperature's getting hotter. Gradually increasingly gripping, finish off the whole creature that inhabits that point. The sandstorms that occur every day make people more afraid.
Is this the new world in question?
“Sand storm occurs in the northeast, and will likely reach this area in about fifteen minutes,” said one of the men. “Make sure you guys are back, or take refuge in a safe place!”
“SIAP!”
Adnan is preparing his weapon. He stepped on foot like the other fighters around him, then walked in an area that looked dead. The young man's forehead shriveled for a moment, accompanied by his gaze that swept across the entire side of the place. Occasionally he swallowed saliva, trying to wet the draining esophagus.
Fifteen minutes.
Erick should have called me by now. But where is the boy?
The young man walked back, until he finally came to a halt in front of a ruin. The building may have been very tall. But due to the mega disaster that occurred some time ago, causing its strong foundation to erode and partially collapse, leaving the other side still standing firmly covered in sand and vines.
Adnan rushed in and investigated. Some soldiers were with him too. The young man's eye beads occasionally looked at his comrade. No one knows his identity now. Surprisingly, none of them asked him.
“Then, why are we here?” ask someone who suddenly patted the young man on the shoulder.
Adnan was surprised to make the netra they looked at each other. His eyes momentarily widened, knowing if the person in
behind the mask in front of her was a woman. To be more precise, a girl who might just be the same age as him.
“Don't look at me like that!”
“Ah, sorry.”
After a few seconds, they continued the search. The ruins are really dead. There was no trace of life, only moss and spikes that lived there. Sunlight is only a beam of light that penetrates through the cracks on the side of the building that is eroded because it is fragile.
“There are monsters here?” ask the girl who had been walking with Adnan for a few minutes.
“How do I know,” replied Adnan.
“Then why are we here, huh? So annoying!” grumble the girl. “There are no humans. There are no monsters. Our existence is only as a troublemaker here, ‘kan?”
Adnan. He did not want to talk too much if he did not want his identity known to the woman. After all, he was quite famous at the base. Many people certainly know her, and it is possible that this girl belongs to that group.
The girl paused, then lowered her weapon and fell silent for a moment. “Megan,” said, “call me by that name.”
Adnan still locked his mouth. He saw that the girl was still silent on her position.
“What?!” Megan glared at the young man who was glued to look at her. “Common, don't look at me like that!”
The bluff was the end of their introduction. Megan continued the search, while Adnan did
accompanying. Actually, the young man did not want to know anyone in that group of soldiers. However, how else, this was also for the sake of his identity that was still hidden.
Sunlight files still entered the rubble cavity, but now it has changed direction. Adnan mafhum if the sun has reached its peak point. Meanwhile, their search did not even produce results. He himself felt the strangeness of the mission this time. Without a definite purpose, and certainly without a central command.
“You daydreaming?” megan asked breaking the silence. The girl knelt down and seemed to be observing something that caught her attention. “Do you feel anything?” he asked again, this time looking at the young man behind him.
Adnan also looked at the girl. He nodded his head.
“The commander said, this time the mission aims to find the inhabitants of the eastern alliance. But, try, deh, you think. Where is there a human who can survive in this hell, huh?”
Megan looked back at something in front of her. A torn cloth is sandwiched between the ruins of the building with flowering plants growing on its side. It is located exactly under the beam of sunlight that penetrates the ceiling of the building.
“War,” his murmur continues. “What is it they want?”
Adnan looked at Megan in her silence. So long, until the silence of the place becomes a silent witness
them both. After being noticed, it turns out that only he and Megan managed to trace the building to the deepest part.
Something was captured by Adnan's hearing. The young man threw a glance in various directions,
then browse around even guessing something that happened outside the current building. Until finally, something strange seemed to happen behind the crack of the building that sends sunlight from the surface. Small particles begin to fall
from the gap, accompanied by a rumbling sound. The young man churned looking at the crack that was right above Megan who was in the middle of a snarl. His legs stepped quickly, with both agile hands grabbing onto the girl's body.
“AWAS!!”
A rumbling sound ruled the silence in an instant. The gap is widening and now causing something in the
below it sank into silence. The sun file could barely pierce through the dust and particle splashes caused by the collapse of the gap.
Adnan closed the netra, and made it open slowly as the murmuring of the particles before him began to dissipate. His gaze lifted, looking at the gap that was now like a vent where sand and other wry particles were able to break through the hole.
His breathing was stingy, hunting each other with his heartbeat. While both of his hands were still hugging the body of the girl earlier. At least, Adnan can breathe a sigh of relief because it managed to save Megan from the rubble. However, he himself even grimaced, feeling pain in his head due to the impact earlier.
Megan wriggled, then broke free from the young man's embrace. He sat stiffly as he turned around and looked at the spot
be revived. No tear of cloth and flowering plants. The flower crown that he held a few seconds ago, had now been scattered into tiny pieces covered in sand and dust.
He turned around, returning to the helper shortly after opening the helmet covering his head and face.
“K—you!!!”
Adnan tried to sit down while grimacing. He was silent, holding his head. The protective helmet has come off
from the head and thrown not far from him. Meanwhile, red liquid feels flowing down the surface of the temple.
“Sial,” muttered.
“K—you!!!” Again Megan squealed in shock. His index point was pointing perfectly towards the young man.
Adnan looked at him for a moment, then sighed in alarm. “I got caught also finally,” cleanly.
“Captain shouldn't be here, ‘right?!” exclaim that girl. “I didn't see wrong, ‘kan?! Am I dead?!”
Megan was watching herself. He nodded foolishly. “I must be dead.”
Adnan nodded in response to the girl. While his hands were palpating the blood flowing in the temple, looking for the source of the chaos on his skull. The collision may have soured a few skull bones, but it was not fatal for him. The main source of danger later is, as he and Megan return to square one and the girl divulges her disguise identity.
“You okay?” ask Megan.
The young man nodded, then got up. Megan followed him.
Adnan checked the local situation. The sandstorm had not only caused one of the fissures to collapse. However, many collapsed sides even covered the entrance that they had passed through a while ago. The young man clucked violently for a moment. He turned around, back to Megan.
“Is there no way out?” megan asked doubtfully.
Adnan nodded. This misfortune was like doubling up for him. It had fallen down the stairs, that was how it was
he feels it now.
“Captain.” Megan opened her mouth again. “You should be banned for ground missions, ‘kan?” tanyanya.
Megan clenched her hands. He should have known from the beginning about the identity of the young man nearby. He lowered half his body for a moment.
Adnan jerks. He was glued for a moment before one of his hands scratched his nape slowly. “Ng .. This is not
salahmu,” said later.
The girl straightened her body. “I should have known it from the beginning,” timpaly, “pardon me.”
“Don't be too stiff,” shrewd Adnan while wasting face.
The young man's eye beads led to something that caught his attention. He was quick to check the earphones and some tools that can at least connect the point of its existence with the center.
“Mati?”
“Punyaku too, Captain!” megan Sahut.
Adnan looked at Megan for a moment.
Damnit damnit!
Even Erick didn't call me. What the hell is going on?
“Tadi, the Captain said that the storm would get to this point fifteen minutes later. But, I think we still have five minutes to get back to the starting point of—”
“Who can guess the speed of the storm? No one can guess when disaster will come,” cut Adnan.
Megan looked straight at the young man whose temple was still stained with the red liquid. The young man looked
no matter the wound. Megan wanted to act, but she herself was confused as to what to do at this crucial moment.
“Ayo hurry! We have to find a way out before nightfall.”
Adnan started moving, combing back the ruins. Megan nodded firmly to him. There was nothing a girl like her could do but help the young captain.
***
Erick. His mouth was tightly locked, and his head half bowed. His eyes are still staring
the legs that stand before him. Some are still standing, some are walking to and fro.
“What are you doing there?” ask the man who had been walking like an iron in front of him.
Erick was unmoved, not wanting to answer the question that the man was asking.
“Leave us!”
The man asked his comrades to come out of the room, leaving him and Erick still kneeling before him.
“Erick!” snapping the chocolate-baked man. “Did you forget my advice, huh?!”
The young man still kept his mouth shut, even after he was jolted when the man before him was bluffing just now.
“You already know that that bastard boy is Harris' son. Why are you still hanging out with him?!”
Erick raised his eyes to the man. He quickly got up from position. “But Adnan has done absolutely nothing wrong!” his reply slightly raised the tone of speech.
The man frowned, looking questioningly at the young man before him. “What he has also washed
your brain, huh?” the scales.
Erick screeches. His emotions seemed to overflow to the surface, but he was still trying to hold it.
“What do you know about our relationship?!” emphatically. “Dad hasn't even raised my call all this time. And now, why is Dad here asking me that?!”
The man fell silent. His lips were stuck for a moment.
“You are still the same as you used to be. Too meddling in other people's affairs,” he said later.
Erick was back. Saliva glides perfectly in his throat. Meanwhile, the man he called ‘Dad’ was silent for a moment.
“Cosmo's whereabouts are threatened,” he said breaking the silence.
Erick widened his eyeballs in a flash. Stiff, and also surprised. In the next second, the father looked straight at him.
“You certainly already know if our alliance declares war on the eastern alliance. And now, Cosmo is inside
our power. Even so, there would be a time where they would coup the place. With the current situation, the possibility of an intruder into our group for the sake of destroying Cosmo is very—”
“What does Father mean ... The eastern side sends a spy to Cosmo?” cut Erick off instantly.
The brown unraveling man glanced sharply at Erick. He seemed to reach into something from his pocket and threw it at the young man.
Paper piece.
Erick hurried to open and read something written in it. There was some blood splashing there. Erick's eyeballs widened for a moment when reading the writing on the paper.
“But ... who sent this?” tanyakanya.
The man clucked for a moment. “Who knows? If the letter is addressed to the western alliance, then most likely there is indeed an intruder who already knows our movements so far,” he said, “if this continues, the existence of Cosmo will be increasingly threatened.”
Erick was silent and thought for a moment.
“Didn't Cosmo exist for world peace?” muttered. “Then why are we fighting over each other now? For what?”
“Why don't you just ask that jerk?!”
Erick jerking. His father quickly grabbed the paper he was holding and rushed to the door
exiting. A split second later, the man paused for a moment.
“Harris ignites fire between us,” he said. “Save it!”
The brown-blossomed youth fell silent stiffly. His saliva almost stuck in the esophagus. Hears
his father's last words made Erick's emotions run high. But he knew that he could not make a fire in this place. This base is part of the power of the western alliance—his group—and whatever he will do even if it pertains to Adnan once, it will be considered a ban.
Erick himself could not understand why so many people hated Harris, including his own father. Yet it
never minded that because Adnan convinced him not to be influenced by things that offend about Harris—, the young man in black.
In the aftermath, Erick was aghast. He had to immediately return to the control room to contact Adnan. That young man must have been waiting for him.
His steps accelerated, heading to one of the rooms where the father had found him earlier. Erick
hurriedly snatched the door knob, opened it, and entered the room. He mustered all his abilities and intelligence to trace the whereabouts of his partner. However, something made his lips choked instantly.
Bead his eyes wide open—muscled. His breathing and heartbeats hunted each other when he saw something on the big screen in front of him.
“Adnan?”
***