Chapter 184: Truly kidnappers.
There was a very brief minute of silence.
Sunshine and Hades narrowed their eyes at Fifi, waiting for her answer.
"Who is Colleta?" Nurse Cole asked.
Her daughter." Hades pointed at Fifi.
Nurse Cole was puzzled, not once had Fifi mentioned that she had a daughter, nor that she was worried about her safety. Her mind had been focused on nothing but robbing food and water and getting to this base.
Meanwhile, Fifi appeared to have frozen. Her eyes were wide in panic, and her lips trembled. "What do you mean by where is Coletta? I....I thought she was here already. I told her if she ever gets in trouble she should come to you."
Hades’ fist tightened at his sides, rage brewing beneath the calm exterior. Colleta was almost a child: only sixteen. He remembered her laugh, her innocence. She was a bit of troublemaker, but she was mostly harmless.
He never wanted her to leave but she had to follow her mother when they left the Quinn manor. He was just an uncle and had no claim over her.
Hades knew Fifi and he got the feeling that his aunt had not bothered to go back in search of her daughter. Fifi put herself above others, always.
"How could you leave her behind?" Sunshine asked, gasping. "Do you even know where she is?"
"I could not go back to the hotel where she was!" Fifi’s voice broke into a frantic plea. "I had no choice....I had to survive too. You would have made the same choice if you were in my shoes." She screamed.
Villagers passing by them glanced curiously. Soldiers next to them looked towards Fifi secretly.
"I would search for my children; I would go back just to check if there was a chance that they could be okay. If I found that there was no hope, only them would I move on. You did not even visit the hotel once just to check." Sunshine said, voice shaking with fury. "You did what was convenient for you as usual."
Fifi let out a sarcastic laugh. "Your children ha! you have no children so I don’t know how you can judge me." Tears squeezed through her eyes. "Do you think that this is easy on me? You have all these men. Send them to look for her. As for me, I really need a bath and some hot food."
Sunshine growled.
Hades grabbed her hand and said to Fifi, "Excuse us."
They stepped away and he brushed her back gently. "Calm down. Let’s turn her away or dump her at Jon’s. What do you think?"
Sunshine shook her head. "Something is not right about the child. All this noise and he has not opened his eyes at all! Let them come in first. Just away from the gate."
Hades stepped forward, his eyes never leaving the boy in Cole’s arms. Now that his wife had hinted on it, the boy’s stillness unsettled him. His breathing was shallow, too measured for a child that was supposed to be asleep. "My wife says that we should let you in."
Sunshine let out a short sigh. "But before we got further, let’s take the boy to the medic bay since he is unwell. We need to make sure that he is not infected with anything." Sunshine lied fluidly.
Nurse Cole flinched, clutching the child closer to his chest. "No-no, that won’t be necessary," he said quickly, too quickly. "He is not infected, just tired and weak. He just needs to eat something, and he will be fine. Just show us our place of residence."
Sunshine’s brows arched. "Fine? He looks pale and nearly half-dead."
Fifi jumped in, her voice shrill and defensive. "He has a fever. It’s already going down. You are making too much of it."
But the way Cole’s knuckles tightened around the boy’s frame, the way his eyes darted nervously at every guard, only deepened Sunshine’s suspicions.
Without another word, she ordered the system to scan the child. "A full diagnostic scan."
[Scan initiating.]
Within fifteen seconds, the system alerted her of what it had found.
[Temperature: 98.6.
Cellular regeneration 100%
Blood levels low.
Shows signs of sedation, bruising and needle marks.]
Sunshine’s heart pounded, the sound loud in her ears. This boy was not sleeping; he had been drugged into unconsciousness! And the one who carried him was a medic, he had to be the brains behind the idea.
"You!" She shouted. Her voice rang like a blade against stone. Everyone froze, even those that were passing by. "Hand the boy over to me first."
Cole hesitated, beads of sweat running down his temples. His lips trembled. "What? W...why?"
Fifi opened her mouth to protest, but before she could Suni’s words cut through the stiff cold air.
"This boy doesn’t have a fever," she said coldly. "He was sedated. Who is he and what have you done to him?"
The words sent shock through the air. Fifi let out a loud laugh. "That is ridiculous! Why would we do that? Also, how would you know that? Did you awaken to have x-ray eyes or something?"
"Something like that." Sunshine answered, summoning the nearby soldiers. They surged forward riffles snapping into position.
Hades drew his own gun in one fluid motion, his voice thunderous. "Answer my wife’s questions. Now!"
Cole’s legs buckled. He stammered. "I_it wasn’t my idea. I swear. It was hers." His trembling fingers pointed at Fifi, desperation spilling from every pore.
Fifi’s face twisted from range and disbelief. "You pathetic coward," she spat snatching the boy from his arms and clutching him tightly. "It’s no big deal; he wouldn’t stop crying or talking nonsense. What else we’re we supposed to do? His endless crying would have attracted a mutated animal to us, so we put him to sleep. We are all trying to survive."
As if on cue, the boy stirred. His eyes lids fluttered, his small body twitching back to life. Then his eyes flew wide, panic setting in.
"Mommy? Daddy?" His voice cracked, raw from sleep. His gaze darted around wildly until it landed on Cole and Fifi. He recoiled instantly, terror on his face. "Bad people! They took me from my family!"
The child’s cries sliced through the air, attracting attention.
Hades’ face hardened, his finger tightening around the trigger. His wife’s suspicion was now certainty. This was no orphan rescued out of kindness. This was a kidnapped child!
Fifi’s response was not remorse but venom. "Shut up!" She snapped at the child, shaking his small body. "I saved you! You would have starved like the rest of your wretched family. Look around, this is our home now. There is plenty to eat and friends to play with."
The soldiers went silent, disbelief and fury written on every face.
"You have to be joking." Hades growled. "This base will not harbor kidnappers. The boy stays. You and Cole leave."
Fifi’s eyes widened in horror. "No! If I am to leave, this boy comes with me."
"You want it the hard way." Hades readied his gun to shoot.
The boy whimpered in Fifi’s arms, tears streaking along his dirt-stained cheeks.
Sunshine shot Fifi’s arm with an icicle, closed in and yanked the boy out of her arms. Soldiers took a hold of Fifi quickly.
"Now leave." Hades’ voice rumbled like thunder. Then he shot without warning. The bullet cracked against the ground, just beside Fifi’s foot, spraying dust in the air.
She screamed and the soldiers let her go. Immediately, she turned around to run away.
Cole already pale with horror tried to run out after her but Hades instructed that he be captured. "That one will tell us where the boy’s family is. Lock him up."