章 149: Chapter 138 - The Little Guys

Preston walked over to Mason's side, she was too busy taking pictures of the nearby scenery to even notice his presence.

"Beautiful isn't it general?" Mason asked, eyes sparkling with anticipation at what they would discover next.

"Yeah, Beauty is a dangerous thing," Preston said with great emphasis "I prefer to find true beauty in the mundane, and sometimes even battle,"

Mason looked at him a bit weirdly, but since she knew that veterans often suffer from some form of PTSD, she didn't mind his cryptic statement "How can I help you general?"

"Not-" Peyton was about to say 'Nothing' but paused immediately when he saw the picture Mason was checking out.

It was a picture of someone; he could not tell who due to the angle at which she held the camera, but for the area of the eyes, he could see a silver light leak – silver eyes?

Where has he seen this before?

He wanted to take the camera and inspect the image closer, but at that moment everyone paused.

Elizabeth had given the signal for everyone to be quiet, she could feel that they had been surrounded.

These guys were able to get so close to their location without her noticing anything, at the very least they were not simple hunters – they could barely manipulate their aura or natural energy emissions.

Elizabeth raised her hands, she considered just letting loose and breaking this façade once and for all, but it would not be conducive to her mission at this point in time

"Everyone raise your hands up!" she yelled making everyone's hand fly into the air instantly, and after a couple of seconds, even the reluctant Preston raised his hands in the air.

Suddenly, tribal warriors came running down trees, from behind bushes, and from crevices in the ground.

They had been surrounded a long time ago, should a battle had taken place, they would have no doubt lost in an instant – well that was if Elizabeth didn't lose her patience first.

The Tribal Warriors inched closer and closer to Elizabeth and company, at the moment she decided to attack, the warriors ceased all advancements.

The warriors split apart and from between them came an old man with worn-out veteran clothing.

"Hi, my name is Hank Marlow," Hank said.

"Liz," Elizabeth replied as she stretched out her hand for a handshake.

"Oh, you're real huh?" Hank asked as he poked her hand a bit before starting to laugh crazily.

Everyone introduced themselves after, but everyone was a bit wary of Hank.

What are the chances of finding someone on a newly discovered island that could speak English and seemed to be here for at least a couple of years? It was all too convenient.

Elizabeth was a bit cautious and angry at the same time but soon calmed down.

She could tell the warriors were saturated with Alice's excess energy, but she could also see that they had made the energy their own – their biology had been altered at a fundamental level making them stronger, smarter, and faster.

For this to occur, they would have to be in close proximity to the source – which was Alice, herself.

The stasis pod defense system would never let any harmful beings close enough to Alice to cause such a drastic change, so these people were considered no threat to the stasis pod.

The Warriors led everyone towards their area of living, Hank insisted they come along since the island was known to get a bit dicey after dark.

He even began shuddering a bit, no doubt recalling a very painful memory.

"How long have you been here?" Elizabeth asked Hank.

"Too long to count, should be upwards of 20 years I guess? Possibly more?" Hank replied.

"Got anyone you miss outside?" James asked since he was not unfamiliar with cases such as Hank's, though this was the first time he encountered someone who had been away for so long.

Hank paused briefly before looking back "A wife and a son… she was pregnant when I left. Just wanna see her once more,"

Slivko thought for a while before deciding to say what was on his mind "I don't think she is waiting for you man,"

Hank shrugged his shoulders "I don't expect her to wait. Just seeing them once more would be enough,"

Elizabeth stopped for a while before she turned her gaze to the skies above, everyone paused and observed her. She seemed to be in deep contemplation for a moment, after which a strange silver glint flashed through her eyes "I promise to take you home safely,"

Then she looked directly at Hank "Your wife is still waiting, and she still searches for you,"

"Uhm Thank you I guess?" Hank replied, not believing what she said for the briefest moment.

"No! Thank you!" Elizabeth replied.

"Why?" Hank asked confused as everyone perked their ears up to hear her answer, she was, after all, a woman of great mystery from what they had seen so far.

"For reminding me of the little guys," Elizabeth replied as she continued "I… no we had been adrift the stars for so long, amongst extraordinary beings for so long… that we forgot what it meant to fight for the little guys.

To fight so a father made it home to their children, so a mother would not have to see their children buried under buildings so that nobody would be driven insane by such a loss again,"

Elizabeth was currently remembering their battle in New York against The Mogadorians, all those innocent souls that died at that time were a strain on her mentality.

She eventually got over it, but she was not like Zeel, she still hurt every now and again.

Everyone, even the non-warriors, felt the atmosphere turn heavy, Preston reaching ever so steadily for his gun, but Brooks caught his hand just in time.

Brooks began shaking his head in a great panic, his intuition telling him they would all die if Preston pulled out his gun.

"Anyways, let's go," Elizabeth said as she strode forward, ahead of everyone else in an attempt to walk away from her heavy heart.

Not long after, they reached the settlement of the warriors, it was quite a beautiful place: thatch houses, farms of weird plants, huge gates of spikes, and people with paints covering the entirety of their bodies.

Everyone agreed to stall the tour until the following day since night time had already descended upon the island. Elizabeth could feel Alice's presence a couple of kilometers away, deep below the ground.

"I am coming soon; 29 years' sleep has been long enough," Elizabeth said as she drifted asleep.

Elizabeth had grown to miss Alice and Zeel even more since old memories started resurfacing, memories she had not thought of before now.

Then Elizabeth began laughing to herself, she finally noticed without Zeel around – if they could read Zeel's memories without the master nanites, wouldn't Zeel be able to read and alter their memories through the master nanites?

Wouldn't he be able to suppress the memories they could not acknowledge themselves? Memories they did not want to remember? Wouldn't he be taking away their unnecessary suffering?

"So even if you can't love us, you still care too deeply, huh?" Elizabeth mused in her head, the final thought before she fell half asleep.