Necrocide

Chapter 80

Colonel Schaefer angrily swiped everything off the table. He stood at the top of Matheson, the unfinished tenth floor right before the rest of the building became just a twisty series of beams rising into the sky. Kat and four other DZI officers accompanied him, each of them on edge as they watched him blow off steam.

Schaefer picked up his handheld transceiver one more time, only seconds away from smashing it to bits. "Tell me again one more time, Shaw!" he growled. "O'Connor is an Abnormal?!"

"Yes!" Shaw replied. "For the third fucking time, yes! Why is this so hard to contemplate? Mathis handled the news better!"

"Don't bring me into this," Kat added grimly.

"Shut it, Mathis!" Schaefer screamed, and he returned to Shaw on the walkie-talkie. "Tell me, Shaw. Why is it so fucking hard to kill a young lad like him? We've established multiple times: aim for the fucking head!"

"That wasn't my mistake, sir," Shaw replied. "That was Richmond's, and it cost him and six other men their lives."

"Well it's gonna cost more now that O'Connor is out!"

"Let's be honest, Colonel," Kat interjected. "Of all people, he's gonna be coming for you."

Schaefer froze, holding the walkie-talkie out in front of him. He slowly turned his head back toward Kat and stared at her with a cold, wrathful gaze. "I'm gonna need to call you back, Shaw," he spoke into the device one more time before leaving it on the table.

He then slowly made his way toward Kat, cracking his knuckles as he approached her.
"Do you mind repeating that, Mathis?" he asked in a disturbingly calm voice.

"Aaron told me about what you did in the past, sir," Kat replied. She spoke softly in order to avoid provoking him further. "He says you were part of something called the Ambrosia Project. That you were the one who killed Bloodletter and his daughter."

"You're gonna believe the words of a boy who not only killed multiple DZI, but was dying of the Deadman infection?"

"I believe him more than I believe you."

Schaefer stayed silent as he paced back and forth in front of Kat and the rest of the soldiers in the room. While Kat remained militant, the rest of her comrades grew more fearful.

"It's understandable why your trust is stronger in him than it is in me," Schaefer said. "You care about him."

"He's my friend," Kat replied.

"Yet I'm the one who saved you from your depraved parents and the Ration Card-thieving parasites wandering the streets of London. I made it my top priority to protect you from the incoming threat and kept you and the other vagrants properly fed."

"I know that, sir, and I'm thankful for everything you've done for me back then. In fact, I won't even try to stop you since I know you're my superior, despite the fact you killed Jonah Franklin."

"That was his mistake."

Kat nearly dropped her calm demeanor. "Comments like that only make it harder for me to sympathize with you. But that is why I'm leaving all conflict between you and Aaron."

"You don't want to get involved in anything personal, is what you're saying," Schaefer added.

"If we're being honest, yes. That is what I'm saying."

Schaefer nodded before pulling his walkie-talkie back out. "Shaw, this is Schaefer. Gather up your troops and reinforce defenses around the tower walls. Now that there are two Abnormals roaming the Dead Zone, a siege could occur at any second. I'll be sending down a few officers to aid you with your mission."