Caught Red Handed

Chapter Forty-Seven, Capture and Kill

This is a long chapter-.

Tord's Perspective

I awoke to loneliness. Cold, eerily silent loneliness. I assumed that he had slept in his den, which I didn't mind. I slowly got out of bed and slinked out to the bathroom, taking a piss and continuing my sluggish train of thought. I should go check up on Matt today, see how he's adjusting to his new additions. Now, I would have taken the time to stop pissing and continue my bathroom routine like a normal person, if not for the sudden blaring of sirens. That made it very convenient that I was already pissing, because otherwise I would have needed new pants. I quickly got myself together and looked around for the spare radio Thomas kept in his room, which I only knew existed because of procedures. I yanked it out of his nightstand drawer and listened to the reports being shouted in, hectic and unorganized. I could make out something very important despite the chaotic overlapping of voices. "Blue Angel" was missing, so the base was of course having one hell of a fit.

I listened to the many channels as I pulled on a coat and picked out a handgun. There were reports of checking the cameras of footage, searching through the past hours of radio reports for a location check-in, and many other things. Now, I may have thought Tom was still in his den, but people would still be able to detect his heat signature in his fox-hole if he was in there. Once I carefully loaded the handgun I picked out from the case under Tom's bed, I walked out of the room to see soldiers walking in an orderly fashion. They were a bit panicked, but kept form and calmly walked through the halls. Once one of them noticed me, they walked over and saluted. "Sir, please allow me to escort you to one of the designated safe areas." He requested politely and I sighed. "Of course soldier, lead the way. And update me in the situation, I want to know what's going on." I added and he quickly nodded, taking a defensive position to escort me through the halls. He hovered over me with a loaded gun, keeping himself ready for an attack.

The base was definitely on a higher scale alert, because as we walked through the halls I could see medical staff already being sheltered and preparing for anything. It was rather normal for this protocol if any high-ranking soldier went missing, but people were more high-strung because it was the leader. "Red Leader sir, the base is on a lockdown and search drill because Blue Angel disappeared around ten minutes ago. Right now we're reviewing footage and checking radars for any sign of him, but it's as if he's been wiped off of the continent." The soldier reported and stopped near one of the walls, knocking to open up the panel that held protected personnel. The panel opened up once a camera spotted us, letting the soldier escort me in. He then left me in a group of people worriedly glancing at each other like a nuke was coming. The panel promptly closed, and I felt a little hand tug on mine.

I looked for the source of physical contact to see JuJu crying. I gently scooped up the crying girl and comforted her, holding her close. "What's wrong JuJu? What happened?" I asked and sat down on a crate, holding her close. She kept uncontrollably sobbing and clung to the blue jacket I wore. Eventually after a lot of comforting and reassurance, she looked up at me with her pretty blue eyes. "Th-The n-nice man- taking care o-of me- he- he- he died-!" She choked out before sobbing once more, burying her face in my neck. I slowly rubbed her back and sighed, trying to soothe her. For many minutes, she continued to cry and cling to me. Then, she started to get sleepy and tried to get comfortable in my arms. I let her rest in my lap, the very least I could do to comfort her in the situation. What a poor little girl. I had to turn my attention away from her as one of the personnel, seemingly a cook, gently tapped my shoulder. I looked up at the worried person and they nervously smiled, trying not to look like they're about to have a panic attack.

"Sir- Blue Angel was abducted by a group of cult looking figures in robes. We've already sent out soldiers in their last seen location." They reported and I looked down again at JuJu. "Thank you." I said to the cook and slowly rubbed JuJu's back. If she doesn't have an assigned caretaker right now, and Thomas isn't here to stop me, so.. I'm adopting her for now. I carefully took off my coat and wrapped it around the sleeping child, making her warmer as time went on. She seemed happy to rest in my care, trusting me with her life. I turned off my radio as to not awake her, slowly rubbing her back. The room was soundproof, so it was already very quiet. The only noises were breathing, shifting, and the quiet chatter of radios. My content attitude was ruined by a soldier reporting more bad news to the group. Apparently, a number of soldiers who had been guarding Tom or near him were also snatched, and names were being listed as he read them off from the radio. Most of them were soldiers I didn't care about, but one of the people I recognized instantly.