Godfire: The Split Soul-Chapter 179: The One

The rain intensified the moment Lieutenant Wang stopped in front of Merlin.

The communications officer moved away from them, almost as if fleeing from a ghost.

Kai stood at Merlin’s right side, his fingers wrapped around the necklace. Pain lanced through his skin as the silver locket pressed against his palm.

Wang’s smile widened as he shifted his gaze and looked Kai up and down. "You look different. Taller than the last time I saw you."

Kai said nothing, just blinked.

Wang’s gloves creaked as he folded his arms across his chest. "I heard the second Titanaboa died. The creatures scattered." He shifted his gaze to Merlin, yet his attention never fully left Kai.

Merlin stepped forward. He placed his hands around Kai’s shoulder. "The reports are still being processed."

"Processed," Wang repeated the word as if it had been pronounced wrong. "Or sealed?"

The communications officer slowed his steps as he reached the side of the MRAP. Soldiers who had been moving toward the dorms slowed as well.

They grew quiet as they focused their attention on the two commanders standing in the rain.

Merlin kept his voice flat. "Standard procedure, sir." 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

Wang laughed in a dry voice. "Standard procedure doesn’t involve locking survivor lists."

Kai’s jaw tightened, his fingers twitching at his sides. But he kept his eyes forward.

Wang took a step closer to Merlin, enough that the rain streamed from the brim of his cap onto the commander’s shoulder. "You’re protecting something instead of obeying command."

"I’m protecting information until it can be properly verified. That’s what we are tasked to do, sir."

"Verified." Wang’s expression changed. "You’re stalling. Do you know that?"

Behind them, a stretcher clattered as two medics carrying a wounded soldier slipped on the wet ground.

The soldier’s scream shot into the air, but the sound was instantly swallowed by the rain.

Merlin’s hand moved to the sword at his waist, then he exhaled sharply.

Wang noticed the reaction, then shifted his gaze to the handle of the blade, then back to Merlin’s face. "You would draw on me here? In front of all these men?"

Merlin hesitated, then moved a step forward. "If you give me a reason."

The rain kept soaking through Kai’s hoodie as both men stood there, unmoving.

Wang nodded, then stepped back, his gloves creaking as he spread his hands in a mock surrender. "I’m not here to fight, Commander. The creatures are still out there. The city is still burning."

He paused, shifted his gaze to Kai, then laughed. "So now I’m being told that a boy who should have died with Team Alpha is somehow killing monsters that even trained soldiers can’t stop? Interesting."

He tapped Merlin on the shoulder, then turned, throwing a sharp gaze at Kai.

"Your time will come, Yung Chin K!"

Only the rain filled the atmosphere until Wang’s smile returned. His boots splashed through a puddle, then stopped. "I’ll be reviewing the full operational reports by morning. All of them."

Merlin watched Wang walk away, tapping the handle of his blade.

He exhaled sharply when Wang disappeared into the operations building, then turned to Kai. "Come. Before more of them decide to ask their own questions."

All the soldiers who had tried to question the boy stepped back when they saw the look on the commander’s face.

They walked past the medical block where Lena’s body had been taken. Moved past rows of darkened supply containers. And finally toward a narrow building at the eastern edge of the compound.

At the door of the dormitory, Merlin stopped. "This is where you’ll stay. No one comes in or out without my approval."

Kai glanced at the building. Through its rain-streaked windows, he saw figures moving inside. Voices muffled.

Kai turned his gaze to the commander. "What about Jinx?"

Merlin’s expression shifted. "She’s stable and is being guarded by two of our top soldiers."

"Can I see her?"

"Not tonight."

Kai’s fingers tightened around the necklace as he inhaled deeply. "Tomorrow, then."

Merlin kept his gaze on the boy for a moment, then smiled, tapping the boy’s shoulder once again. "Tomorrow."

He turned and walked back toward the operations building, his coat darkening as the rain began to fall on him again.

Kai stood by the front of the building’s door and watched the commander go. He pushed it open and entered without knocking.

A great surge of warmth hit him like a wall. Heat radiated from pipes that ran along the ceiling, giving the air a wet wool smell and the sharp tang of antiseptic.

Men and women were scattered across the room. Some sat on cots, others leaned against each other on the walls, kissing.

All of them stopped what they were doing and turned their heads toward the boy as the door swung shut.

Brann, who had been sitting on a bunk near the window, looked up. He blinked countless times as his eyes drifted over Kai’s blood-stained hoodie, the sword at his back, and the necklace visible at his chest.

"You made it, boy," he whispered, then stood up, clapping.

A young soldier with a bandage wrapped around his left hand leaned toward a man by the door on the opposite end and whispered something Kai couldn’t hear or read on his lips.

The man whispered back, his eyes remaining locked on Kai.

This time, Kai heard it. He brushed it off and moved forward.

Rockson pushed through the small crowd that had gathered near the bunks. "Where have you been? They starved us of any information."

He stopped beside Kai. He swallowed hard, seeing the blood that had crusted on Kai’s hoodie. "What happened out there, bro?"

Kai tried speaking, but his throat tightened.

The thought of MJ running toward the Titanaboa, both rifles blazing, made him lower his head. As if on a loop, the image of Lena’s body on the floor replaced that of MJ, followed by the creatures that were still feeding on her when he found her.

"Later," Kai said in a flat voice.

Rockson’s brow furrowed. "Kai..."

"Later."

Rockson’s open mouth closed as he stepped back, his expression shifting from concern to something more guarded.

Kai’s boots left wet prints on the floor as he moved through the room.

Soldiers who stood in his way parted for him without him even asking. Some turned their gazes away when he passed.

But others tracked him like they were trying to solve a puzzle that kept making them uncomfortable.

At the far end of the room, near the door to the sleeping quarters, a soldier with a scar that ran from his forehead to his jaw coughed, leaning against the wall, arms folded across his chest.

He stood still as Kai approached. "So you’re the one," his voice echoed loud enough for everyone in the room to hear.