Chapter 25 Chapter 25 Gary's Little Carrier Pigeon

Gary stepped back, the door was wide open. "come in." Seeing the hurt done to Gary, Thomas felt suddenly so guilty that he didn't know what to say or do.He just nodded and forced himself into his apartment. The room was dark with no furniture but neat and smelled like bacon.Yellow blankets hung over the large windows, giving the room an eerie glow. "Sit down, please," Gary said. Thomas just wanted to know why the Righteous knew he was in Denver and what they wanted, but his instinct told him that if he wanted to know the answer, he had to play by the rules of their game.They sat on the empty floor, he and his friends lined up, Gary facing them like a judge.Gary's face looked horrible in the dim light, his puffy right eye was bloodshot.

"You know Minho," Thomas said awkwardly, and Minho and Gary nodded casually at each other, "This is Brenda and Jorge, they're from WICKED, but—" "I know who they are," Gary interrupted, sounding nonchalant, just numb, "those WICKED bastards restored my memory. Of course, stuffed it back without asking me .” He stared at Minho, “Hey, you were so kind to me during the last meeting! Thank you so much.” All in a sarcastic tone. Thomas's heart tightened when he thought of that incident - Minho threw Gary to the floor while threatening him, Thomas had already forgotten about it.

"I had a terrible day." Minho answered him, his expression made it impossible to see that he was serious, and there was still a hint of apology. "Yeah, well," Gary said, "let's let it go, huh?" He snickered, obviously not saying what he meant. Minho might not feel regretful, but Thomas felt guilty. "Gary, I'm sorry for what I did," he said, meeting his gaze.He wanted Gary to trust him and understand that WICKED was their common enemy. "Are you sorry? I killed Chuck and he died. I did it." Hearing what he said, Thomas didn't feel relieved, but sad.

"It wasn't your fault," Brenda said reassuringly. "That's a bunch of crap," Guy said deadpan. "If I had the guts, I couldn't let them control me. But I let them do it because I thought I could kill Thomas instead of Chuck, I wouldn't have killed that poor kid." "You're quite honest," Minho said. "You want me to die?" Thomas asked in surprise, not expecting the boy to be so honest. Gary sneered and said, "Don't blame me, I hate you the most in my life. I've never hated anyone like that, but the past can be written off. We have to talk about the future, talk about the end of the world."

"Wait, brother," Jorge said, "first, you have to tell us what happened between you being transported from WICKED and back here." "What I want to know is, how did you know we were coming," Minho added, "and when did you know. Also, who is that strange guy who sent us the message?" Gary snickered again, his face looking even more terrifying. "Is it because after I was in WICKED, people can't trust me now, can they?" "They have a point," Thomas said. "You do have to tell us what happened, especially if you need our help."

"Need your help?" Gary asked him back, "I don't know if I made it clear, but I'm sure we have a common goal." "Listen," Thomas said, "we need a reason to believe you, please tell me." Gary paused for a long time before saying, "The man who handed you the note is Richard, and he's a member of an organization called the Righteous Army, and they're in every town left on this damn planet. They're WICKED's mission is to overthrow our old friend WICKED, and use WICKED's money and influence to do great things. But they don't have the resources to take down an organization this large and influential. They want to act, but lack certain some information."

"We've heard about these things," Brenda said, "but how did you get involved?" "They had a few spies in the main building at WICKED, and they found me and told me that if I played crazy, they'd send me out. Of course I'd do anything to get out. Either way, the Righteous Army Needed an insider who knew the inner workings of the building and the security system stuff. So they raided the truck that transported me, got me out, and made it here. As for how I knew you were coming, it was because we went over the internet blockade Received an anonymous message, I assume it was from you guys."

Thomas looked at Brenda for an explanation, but she shrugged. "Then it wasn't you guys," Gary said, "or it could have been an alert from someone at HQ, trying to set up a bounty hunter or something. The point is, once we knew, we could easily hack into the airport system , you can know where a Berg ship will fly to." "And you've got us here, talking about taking down WICKED?" Thomas asked, hopeful even though the possibility of that was remote. Gary nodded slowly deliberately, and then said: "You say that, it seems that the matter is very simple. But yes, this is the key to the matter. However, we still have two very difficult problems at hand."

Brenda was clearly impatient. "What is it? Tell us." "Don't worry, girl." "What's the problem?" Thomas urged. Gary stared at Brenda, then looked back at Thomas. "First of all, some people say that the Flare has spread all over the goddamn city, and that there is all kinds of corruption, trying to cover it up. Because those who are sick are high-ranking government officials, and they use heavenly medicine to cover it up. Virus, it slows down the spread of the Flare so the infected can blend into the crowd, but the virus continues to spread. I guess it's the same everywhere in the world, and there's nothing we can do to stop the monster."

Thomas felt a wave of dread, a dreadful thought of the world full of hordes of demented people.He couldn't imagine how bad things could be -- and if they did, immunity wouldn't help. "What's the other problem?" Minho asked, "It seems like that problem won't be so bad." "People like us." "People like us?" Brenda repeated, confused. "You mean people who are immune?" "Yes," Gary said, leaning forward, "they disappeared. They were either kidnapped or escaped, like the air, all disappeared. No one knew where they went. A little carrier pigeon told me that they were rounded up and sold to WICKED so they could continue the experiment. They would have to start all over again if necessary. Whether the news is true or not, for the past six months, the city and other The number of immunized people in the city has been cut in half and most of them have disappeared without a trace, which is a headache. People don't know that the city needs them badly."

Thomas' concerns deepened. "Don't you think most people hate Immunity? Don't they call us that? Maybe they got killed or something." He hated the other possibility that WICKED might have kidnapped them and put them through the tortures he has endured. "I don't think so," Gary said. "My little carrier pigeon is a very reliable source of information, and it's making WICKED stink from head to toe. All these problems combined, it couldn't be worse. Flash Flames are spreading across the city despite what the government says is not the case, and the immune population is disappearing. No matter what is going on, no one is going to stay in Denver, and who knows what other cities are like." "So what does this have to do with us?" Jorge asked. Gary seemed surprised to hear that. "What? Civilization is about to collapse, don't you care? Cities are crumbling too, and it won't be long before the world is left with psychopaths who want to eat you for dinner." "Of course we care," Thomas replied, "but what do you want us to do?" "Hey, all I know is that WICKED has one goal - to find a cure. Obviously, that's absolutely impossible! If we get their money and resources, we can actually use it for good, which is People who use it to protect their health, I think you want this too." Of course Thomas wanted to, and he couldn't imagine it. Seeing no response, Gary shrugged and said, "We can't afford to lose, we have to try to do something." "Gary," Thomas said, "do you know the news that Teresa and a group of others escaped today?" Gary nodded and said, "Yes, we found them too and gave them the same information. Guess who my little carrier pigeon is?" "Teresa," Thomas whispered, with a gleam of hope in her heart—she must have remembered everything about WICKED after removing the brain card.Did that surgery make her change her mind?Was her insistence that "WICKED is good" finally a thing of the past? "That's right, she said she couldn't agree with them doing it all over again, and she said she hoped to find you, but there's one more thing." Thomas grumbled. "That sounds off-putting." Gary shrugged. "It's been a rough couple of days, and one of our people out looking for you heard a weird rumor about something to do with all the people who escaped from WICKED. I don't know if they can track you down, but it's likely that, They've guessed you're coming to Denver." "Why?" Thomas asked. "What rumor?" "There's a big bounty out for a man named Hans, who used to work and live here. WICKED thinks you're going to come here to find him, so they're going to kill him."