Chapter 200 Tensions

Riley and Randy gazed into the sky in horror, blistered with thousands of influx gates. They abruptly understood why everyone was feeling pain and also the consequences.

Moreover, the gym was outside the training ground. Despite the spacious exterior, more than a dozen corpses were lying on the ground, riddled with gunshot wounds.

Soldiers mowed down sick soldiers in the area before the current scene played out, and they could hear similar screaming and gunfire in the distance.

"Hurry, lock the door." Riley ordered her major, ignoring the soldier that ran in, taking vengeance behind them, "We need to lock this place down—now!"

The man nodded hurriedly and shut the door.

-

"Wait!"

"There's people in there!

"Help us!"

-

They could hear a dozen voices running toward the door before it shut.

"Why didn't any of you do anything to help Jenna?" [Jason] asked, looking at the dead blonde body, "Why…."

"Lieutenant Rhodes, go find chains or a pipe to lock the door with!" Riley ordered, pressing against the door, ignoring the soldier, "Major Wheatfield, go lock the north side doors by any means necessary!"

"Lieutenant Colonel, why would—"

SLAM! Slam-slam-slam!

-

"Let us in! We're not sick!"

"Hurry! They're coming!"

"Let us in!"

"What are you doing!?"

-

"NOW!" Riley barked to her soldiers, setting them into action.

-

"Wait! Are you fucking barricading us out!?"

"They are!"

"Alex put down the gun!"

"No! If they're gonna hold the fucking door shut and let us die, I'm gonna return the favor!"

-

Riley's eyes widened when she heard a soldier lifting his gun, preparing to shoot through the door and kill them. "Open it, Randy!"

Alex laughed when his threat to shoot instantly opened the door. "That's right, you fucking—oh fuck."

However, when the door opened, the man, holding his rifle at the door with an arrogant expression, came face-to-face with a pistol barrel.

Bang! THUD!

Without warning the slightest hesitation, Riley shot the man in the skull and aimed again.

Bang! Bang! Bang! THUD, Thud! Thud!

Of the eleven people present, four were aiming, and Riley killed all of them within a moment, leaving the other seven stunned.

"You have three seconds to leave before I do what's rational and kill you all." Riley declared coldly, "Don't even try to kill us—we have 3,500 people here that will kill you at any time."

A male soldier heated up in rage. "You have 3,500 people, but you won't let eleven—"

Bang! THUD!

His body dropped to the ground after his head exploded, spraying blood.

"What part of three seconds didn't you get!?" Riley roared, making everyone snap to attention, "One! Two!"

The remaining six panicked with fear in their eyes as they ran to a sidestreet.

"Shut it." The redhead ordered coldly, triggering Randy to take a sharp breath and comply.

Lieutenant Rhodes ran back with gold military flag poles. "These should work. I've already given two to Major Wheatfield on the northside."

"Good work; set it up." Riley ordered, moving back from the door, pistol still lifted.

The brunette soldier put two flag poles between the handles, barring the door.

After turning and checking the other door was locked, she looked at the panicked civilians and soldiers, staring at her with fearful eyes.

"Why… why didn't any of you help her?" Jason asked again, crying, looking at the dead blonde on the ground, "WHY DIDN'T ANY OF YOU DO ANYTHING!?"

The civilians felt a deep pang in their hearts hearing his words. They all felt useless during the apocalypse, as the soldiers didn't let them do anything out of fear of them getting hurt.

So they listened as the woman died behind the door and did nothing once she got inside.

While they felt that way, a redhead soldier didn't. She strode to the man, grabbed his vest at the neckline, and yanked him backward.

He slid across the slippery, blood-sprayed floor until he felt his back crash against the cement wall.

The man opened his adrenaline-fueled eyes and found a fierce green gaze peering into his soul as her hand pushed his vest into his neck.

"If you say another word for any reason in the next two hours—I'll kill you." Riley warned coldly, sending icy chills crawling down his spine, "Blink twice slowly if you understand."

He coughed with hazy vision, suppressing the desire to answer before complying, blinking twice.

"Good." She said coldly, "Not a single word. If you say so much as [hello], your ancestors will come to greet you in the afterlife.

If you need to take a piss, move to a wall and do it. Beyond that, sit in one place silently and cry softly for your lover or whoever the fuck she is, and be grateful I didn't just kill you. Blink twice if you understand."

He swallowed back tears and mucus and blinked twice.

Thud!

The redhead dropped him, letting him fall to the floor, and turned to everyone in the room. "LISTEN UP!"

Everyone snapped to attention at her words, taking sharp, shallow breaths.

"That sharp pain you're feeling—that's a Qi influx!" Riley yelled, shocking everyone, "And those screams and guns shots are from soldiers who turned!"

"S-Soldiers turned…?" Lieutenant Rhodes, the brunette with the flagpoles, asked, "B-But we're… cultivators…."

Fear and anxiety spread through the room after hearing her comment.

"You didn't see… no, forget that; you can feel it still, right?" Randy asked, "How long has it been since it started? We saw the warp gates, what… five… ten minutes after we felt them?

It's larger, and they're not closing—even cultivators can turn."

Panic spread through the room like wildfire, passing between thousands of people.

CLAP!

"If this is an influx, we need to take turns cultivating." Riley clapped loudly, striding to the front of the room with an indomitable gaze.

A flurry of whispers exploded a moment later, spreading through the room like a malignant tumor.

"What's wrong with that?" The redhead frowned, "Do you want soldiers to turn on you?"

Everyone shivered but fell quiet until the woman taking care of her husband, still suffering from the gunshot to the chest, spoke up.

"You want people to close their eyes while soldiers shoot, threaten, and kill people?" She scoffed in disdain, "That man shot my husband, and you want me to close my eyes around him!?"

The guilty soldier's mental state worsened by the second. Knowing he shot an innocent man was harsh; however, hearing that his actions led to a lethal breakdown was brutal. He stared at the ground, on his knees, listening in a haze.

-

—Present Time, Immortal Skye—

"No, people didn't die at that point." Riley told Evalyn, "We avoided a massacre with brute force and pure luck—if you could call it that."

She explained the situation in detail, recounting how everyone's attention got diverted to the situation outside and how she handled the situation.

"How did you get everyone's trust back?" Kaze asked curiously, impressed by her decision-making, "Or did you fail to get them to participate?"

He was impressed by her and was mining her for leadership information, curious if she was a potential asset to Immortal Skye.

"As you can imagine, things got worse before they improved." Riley said, taking a deep breath, "Ultimately, you can't beat someone until their morale improves.

But you can sure as hell beat someone else and pray it helps."

-

—July 7th, 2032, Lainwright Military Base—

When the woman scoffed at Riley and the soldiers, it increased everyone's stress multi-fold. While everyone was rationally afraid of the outside, they were equally afraid of the soldiers inside.

"I understand your point." Riley nodded, striding to the man sobbing on his knees, "It's unfortunate that this one dumb fucking Lieutenant might kill 3,500 people by creating trust issues."

"L-Lieutenant C-Colonel—" He pleaded with trembling, teary eyes.

CRaaaaACK! THUD! Thud! Thud, thud.

Without an acknowledgment, she kicked him in his chest with her boot—hard. Everyone heard the man's breastplate break as he flew across the room.

The soldiers and the citizens were too shocked to react immediately.

"I see a lot of people in this room and only one dumb fucking Lieutenant." Riley yelled, "Since I'd rather see a lot of people than one dumb fucking Lieutenant, he's out of commission—perhaps permanently.

Soldiers! If you see another soldier panicking, threatening to start a mass tragedy, I order you to put them out of commission by any means necessary. Kill them if you have to."

The soldiers were shocked, hearing her words, especially when there were rows of civilians preparing to strike.

-

—Present Time, Immortal Skye—

"So you beat the man?" Evalyn asked curiously, "Did that work?"

"Of course not." Riley laughed bitterly, "But it felt good relieving stress on the person who threatened the lives of thousands."

"So what did you do?" Jake asked in confusion.

"I told them the truth about their situation." The redhead replied dryly, "Fear tactics are more effective when there's something honest to fear."

"Did that work?" Kaze mused with a sarcastic smile, making her smile bitterly.

-

—July 7th, 2032, Lainwright Military Base—

Beating and potentially killing the soldier who shot the civilian didn't inspire confidence or trust. It only reminded everyone that the soldiers were shooting, beating, and killing people.

As a result, the civilians scoffed and claimed she only proved the soldiers were violent and willing to kill if it were rational. They noted that they had thousands against twenty soldiers and didn't need to take the risk for their help.

"You're right—we're savages." Riley laughed sardonically, "That's why the ten thousand soldiers outside, not tasked with protecting you, will jump on a chance to kill, enslave, and defile you and your children.

So when you kill us, make sure to kill them too so you can make it to the world of sadistic humans, super zombies, and starvation we've been protecting you from."

All the civilians felt icy chills crawl down their spines when they heard her words. However, it didn't change the situation in the slightest.

"How despicable." A woman scoffed, holding her children, "You're saving us from yourselves? I get that's reality, but it just confirms we can't trust any of you!"

A commotion broke out instantly, sparking a debate.

-

—Present Time, Immortal Skye—

"Of course not." Riley smiled bitterly, "People don't like getting criticized, and they don't handle the truth well. So, speaking honestly didn't improve things; if anything, it worsened the situation.

Then again, I didn't know what else to do. So I did what helped calm my soldiers and me down."

-

—July 7th, 2032, Lainwright Military Base—

"I can't do it." A soldier winced, opening his eyes. Five soldiers surrounded him like a wall, assault rifles in hand but not aimed, "It's impossible to concentrate."

"These fortunate fools haven't seen the outside." Riley scoffed, overlooking the civilians who had moved to the bleachers, "Still, I can't blame them."

They were glowing green, calming down, but their rationality didn't change their mindset—if anything, it made things worse. Trusting people was irrational.

She couldn't fault them, as the consensus was rational: [You're soldiers; you're only helping us because you have to. Once you don't, it's unknown what you'll do.].

***

"It's been two hours." Randy groaned, breathing heavily, trying to keep his sanity, "How long will this last?"

"I don't know." Riley frowned, watching the civilians and soldiers, trying to figure out the best course of action. Unfortunately, she couldn't figure out the best course of action, "Let's wait for our orders from General Peyton."

***

"Gah, I can't take this!" A soldier yelled, getting off the ground with a crazed look in his eyes, "I'm leaving! These people can fuck themselves and die!"

"Sit down; if you leave, we'll die." Riley ordered coldly, "It's not helping anything."

"As opposed to what? Dying here as these people slowly kill us!?" The man laughed ominously, "At least I can cultivate out there.

Even if I can't, I want to go knowing that these ungrateful, sheltered sheep regretted their decision until they died a gruesome, trauma-filled death."

The pressure in the room multiplied, weighing everyone down.

"You're not going anywhere!" A civilian man yelled, "Sit down!"

"Shut the fuck up!" Riley yelled, unholstering and pointing her pistol at the man with a crazed expression, "If you want our help, you'll have to let us cultivate!

If people I hear people start trying to use us, we'll leave!"

The man quivered under her gaze. "Y-You can't do—"

"The fuck we can't." She yelled, "We control the doors and ranged weapons. At a minimum, we'll drop hundreds of you before you can reach and kill us."

All the soldiers raised their weapons as two grabbed the flag poles, preparing to unlock the doors.

While the civilians wanted to take them out, they were too far away, untrained, and had no weapons. No one wanted to die.

Moreover, they were afraid of Riley. She was their advocate for four hours, but her mind was becoming aggressive, and her patience was thin.

"Calm down." A civilian suggested, "We can—"

"Calm down!?" Lieutenant Rhodes, a brunette soldier, scoffed aggressively, "You're preventing that! Not only is this Qi making us aggressive, but the panic from being on a ticking time bomb to death makes it impossible to concentrate.

Hah, we're almost dead, and you're threatening us and making demands? You'll be lucky if we don't start shooting people randomly, you idiots!"

Panic spread through the room when she said those words. The stressed-out soldiers aimed their weapons, preparing to fire before—

"Ack!" The brunette hacked, getting chopped in the throat by the redhead.

A blonde soldier tried to counterattack, but Randy, the major, pistol whipped the back of her skull, dropping her to her knees.

"If things break down, we're leaving, not massacring people aimlessly, soldiers!" Riley yelled at full volume, freezing everyone in the room, "Civilians! You can help us, or we will leave!

You've had four hours to get your senses together, so I'll only give you two minutes to decide!

After that, we're leaving you to suffer and die—if you try to stop us, we'll secure our escape route by dropping anyone who gets near us!"

Once she laid out the ultimatum, the civilians panicked, understanding they couldn't push things off further. Many felt guilty about the situation.

***

"Hey, men! You have thirty more seconds to decide the fate of your wife and children." Riley yelled ruthlessly, aggressive from the Qi overexposure, "So you better hurry the fuck up!"

A man rushed forward.

Bang!

"AghHHHhhHHhHHh!" He screamed, crashing into his face after his kneecap exploded.

"Thanks for demonstrating consequences!" The redhead yelled, making the civilians shiver as the soldiers aimed their weapons, "Major Meyers and I will gladly strip anyone of their mobility at this critical juncture. Just take two steps forward!"

The soldiers got the message that only she and Randy would fire, one on each side of the room. He readied his aim, preparing to fire.

Another three people rushed forward.

​ Bang! Bang! Bang!

Three more people dropped to the ground, screaming.

"That was your last warning!" Riley roared, holstering her pistol and picking up her assault rifle, "After this, we'll indiscriminately shoot as we escape. And, we won't miss!"

"WAIT!" The man who originally got shot coughed, wincing and falling silent. He whispered to those around him, convincing them to negotiate, and his wife stood to represent him.

"We're talking!" His wife said, "What do you suggest!?"

"At this point, you've made cultivating near impossible!" Riley yelled, "So if you want to play the rational card after your actions, you need to send brave people to cultivate near us.

Your technique will calm us down. It's our only hope."

A discussion broke out among the citizens.

"We'll agree, but you'll have to put down your—" The woman began before getting cut off.

"No." Riley said coldly, "You had the better deal before the influx and retained it throughout. You're damn lucky we haven't left you to die."

The citizens shuddered, and the area fell quiet. After only a few seconds, a brave teenage boy stood up. "I'll do it!"

"You will not!" His mother snapped, "I won't let you run to your death!"

"So you'll let me wait for it!?" He scoffed, "Don't stop me, I'm going."

-

—Present Time, Immortal Skye—

"Four hours in, desperation drove us to work together." Riley sighed, closing her eyes.

"So what went wrong?" Kaze asked.

-

—July 7th, 2032, Lainwright Military Base—

As twenty brave citizens walked past the screaming bodies of the kneecapped civilians, the hope and trust that everyone built got snuffed out in an instant.

ChhhHHhhhHH!

"Lieutenant Colonel Lycan! Can you read me!?" A male voice yelled over a walkie-talkie, "This is General Peyton speaking!"

Everyone froze when they heard the person on the other end.

ChhhHHhhhHH!

"If you're listening, kill the civilians and move to outpost one!" General Peyton followed immediately, "Immortal Skye has survived the operation and is seeking vengeance. We're planning to abandon the base.

I repeat, kill the civilians and move to outpost one! Immortal Skye has survived the operation and is seeking vengeance. We're preparing to abandon the base!"

-

—Present Time, Immortal Skye—

"General Peyton gave us the order to kill your people." Riley said coldly, "Things got messy after that."