Shadows of a Dying Light

Chapter 10

Brecken's eyes scanned the group, trying to find the runners he had sent out. After three quick views, he found nothing but the angered faces of the people. They were all shouting at him, calling him a liar and a fake. His entire position was on the line, and he somehow needed to fix it.

"Calm down, everyone." Brecken rose his voice, but kept it at a tranquil tone. "Now, I know I'm in a sort of bad light right now but-"

"Oh, shut the hell up! Why should we believe what you say?" One man had shouted. This didn't really falter Brecken's posture, but he found himself a bit annoyed. He listened in on more comments being flung around.

"Yeah, the runners said that you didn't want to kill that Volatile that's running loose around here. Why is it so important?"

"Kill the Volatile!"

"We should kick Brecken out of here! He's putting us all in danger."

"This man has lied to us, and he will keep on doing so if we don't stop him now!"

Brecken closed his eyes and began rubbing his temples, trying his best to keep calm. He tried his hardest to keep himself serious, but if he didn't do something hasty now, he would have to suffer the consequences of tomorrow.

"Kill it!"

"Bring Crane back!"

"Brecken for the dumps!"

"Crane would have done something about this! He should be in charge!"

The mere mention of Crane had slowly pushed him now. And in one last final intake of breath, Brecken let his voice boom throughout the entire floor, startling a few of the people there.

"QUIET DOWN!" The whole floor suddenly grew silent, the sound of breathing audible. "Now listen up! Call me the names you want to call me. You can kick me out, and you can decide to want to kill the Volatile! But the thing is, we can't kill that thing!"

The chatter began again, and more questions than rude comments were shot.

"Why not?"

"It's an extremely valuable person who, even now, still provides for us all."

"Who is this so called 'Valuable Person'?"

Dead silence. It was as if time itself had stopped. Brecken could hear his own heartbeat, a drum being played rapidly.

"This valuable person... Is Kyle Crane."

The sound of confusion sprang throughout the ever growing group. Brecken could see people from the first floor already in the crowd.

"How could that be? Crane is still out in the Countryside collecting that cure."

Brecken shook his head. "No, he's not. At least, not anymore."

"What happened? Why is he... like that?"

"In the Countryside, there was a cult by the name of "The Children of the Sun", and their leader was a woman. However, this woman had suffered the same fate as Crane; She turned into a Volatile by accidentally drinking the supposed cure."

"This can't be... No infected can even comprehend basic talking."

Brecken overheard this and continued.

"This is different. This substance has altered so much about Crane, from his physical appearance, to his emotional state. The man can barely handle his own fever dreams! Yet, it has somehow kept his sanity and his mental state alive, not completely overridden by the infection. Lena and I can't even begin to comprehend how this thing works, but we are extremely glad that Crane is still alive."