Apocalyptic Rebirth: With a repairman system space, she rises again.-Chapter 492: The confrotation.....3

Sunshine remained silent for a moment. She watched the mob and listening to their cries of anger. Every once in a while, someone else was pushed out and a new one took their place. Sunshine’s face remained unreadable.

"This is not like you." Leah commented.

Sunshine’s lips curled upwards, and she scoffed. What exactly was not like her? She was all for justice and while she wanted Fifi to face some kind of trial, to answer for every child stolen, that was not possible. Especially after she saw the faces of the parents--mothers, fathers, grandfathers and grandmothers who had lost their little ones.

To some, those children were all they had and losing them had meant losing everything. For them, perhaps, this was the only justice left.

The beating went on, relentless, until Fifi’s body was unrecognizable. Nothing more than a broken husk. Her head was even separate from the rest of the body. The mob’s fury finally quelled, leaving silence in its wake. Weapons were dropped, breaths came rugged and tears streamed down faces that were coming to terms with loss and reality.

An older woman fainted and she was driven away in an ambulance. Some people vomited, right where they stood. A man looked to the sky, screaming in pain. For him, Fifi’s death was not enough.

The girl who had been held hostage by Fifi had reunited with her parents already. She was clinging to her mother, sobbing loudly. Her father was brushing her hair, and whispering to her that she was now safe.

One of the boys was holding the hand of his father and older sister, talking to a group of parents. The ones he was talking to were crying inconsolably.

Father Nicodemus dropped to the ground in front of Sunshine. He gestured at the boy with his head. "He is apologizing to them because he failed to save their children. They cried a lot so Fifi poisoned them in order not to draw attention to herself."

Leah clutched her chest. "I have to go." She whispered. "I can’t be here. I will be taking a few days off Suni. Ala needs me." She waved her hand, created a small cyclone and vanished with it.

"Was it something I said?" Father Nicodemus asked her.

Sunshine nodded. "Poison and children in the same sentence." She stopped Father Nicodemus from walking away by gripping his hand firmly. The priest had a small bottle of oil in his hands and his rosary. Whenever he held those two things at the scene of a death, it was because he was going to give the dead final rites and pray for their souls. "She is not worth it."

Father Nicodemus frowned. "That is not for you to decide."

"Then apologize to the decision maker on my behalf." Sunshine replied coldly.

"Even the worst prisoners on death row get to see a priest before they get the needle." He pointed out. "There are some things that you cannot stop me from doing Sunshine. I have a calling, a duty. I took vows that I must fulfill. If you are worried about the parents seeing me giving the deceased her final rites, I can wait for her to be transported to the morgue."

"If heaven is real and I find her there, I know who to punch." Nimo said.

Sunshine let go of the priest.

The coroners that had been sent from the medic bay collected Fifi’s body, including her head, hand and three fingers that been cut off.

Major Elio, through a megaphone, announced, "Everyone that has been in contact with the fugitive should head to decontamination and then a medic bay. We don’t know if she brought any viruses on her.

The returned children should also follow the same procedure. No parent is to take their child home without a doctor and the command center signing off on it.

If anyone here needs to speak to the priest or a psychologist, they are available for you.

Lastly the bounty on Fifi Quinn is dead. It has died along with her."

****

Everything to do with Fifi was cleared away. It was time to deal with Amber. From the look in her eyes, the bounty was not dead to her. She had brought the fugitive in and she wanted what she was owed. "I don’t care about what the one with weird eyes said. The bounty is not dead. I brought Fifi in, I turned her over to you. The bounty is mine, all thirty million."

Hades stood tall, a short distance before her. His eyes were cold and calculating as she remembered but his shoulders were broader. Beside him, Sunshine was the perfect picture of composure and quiet authority.

"Amber," Hades said evenly, "The condition of the bounty was that she be handed to us alive. She is dead now."

Amber’s fists clenched. The wolf of the business world wanted to use tricks on her. She would not be fooled by his cunning. "Don’t twist this Hades. She is dead because that one...." she pointed at Elio, "shot her and you allowed a mob to beat her to death. Without me, she would still be hiding out in that orphanage near the mist in Ferry Island, preparing for her escape to another city. You owe me. Thirty million, supplies and shelter here."

Sunshine’s lips curled into a faint smile. "You want shelter here! How many glasses of wine have you had so far?"

The words cut deep but Amber refused to flinch. "I just want what was promised. Those three things were mentioned on the flyer. I also still maintain that I want to see my oldest sons."

Elijah stepped forward. "The last demand is more of a request." He pushed Amber behind him. "My wife has not touched a drop of alcohol in three years. Even in the apocalypse, she has not taken a single sip despite the many reasons nature has given her to do so. In fact, she stepped up and protected me and our sons in ways we never could have dreamed of." His voice was calm, measured, the voice of a negotiator. "My wife risked everything to trail Fifi, watch her, grab her and bring her here. She deserves the bounty, supplies and accommodation. It does not need to be in the same area as you are dwelling but it can be in one of the towns here. Silverdale, preferably."

Hadrian jumped in, his voice and eyes filled with suspicion. "Why Silverdale? The way I see it, you two are beggars and beggars should not have a choice. Even if we do by some slim chance give you accommodation, it is up to us where to put you."

Elijah smiled faintly, the smile of a man with an ace up his sleeve.