Under The Veil of Night

While they walked away, they had completely ignored the presence of Vena. Standing on the back as she watched them leave, her eyes turned dim. She felt deep envy from the bottom of her heart.

’They’re really comrades.’

Arm in arm, they helped each other and assigned roles to one another. They trusted each other and entrusted their back to the other person, never thought that the other person would betray them.

’It’s really nice to have friends,’ Vena slowly walked forward. Monsters were everywhere, so she didn’t really have any place to go. Some of them were ordered to only attack the strangers, but she knew better that many of them just killed randomly.

All her life, she was used to do everything alone. In her opinion, the only person she could trust was herself and no one else. Especially after the massive betrayal that she experienced, she no longer trusted anyone near her.

After an unknown amount of time her communication device vibrated.

"Yes, Vena is here."

"Vena," the low-pitched voice and that demanding voice caused her body to tense up instantaneously. She recognizes his voice more than anyone.

"Yes, Sir Ferdinand?"

"Call the others who are alive to the tower. I’m going out in a moment."

"Yes, Sir."

As the communication device was closed down, Vena’s pupil shrunk. She realized that this meant Ferdinand had finished his preparation. Right now, Ferdinand was basically unbeatable. Those people from Kevin’s party would be killed right away.

This should be a piece of good news for her, but she didn’t understand why she didn’t feel happy at all. All she felt was nothing but emptiness at the thought that Ferdinand would get out and destroy the entire place.

’I don’t belong anywhere.’

Vena dragged her body to reach the stairs. Even though she was not wounded, her body felt extremely heavy. She didn’t even know if she would have enough strength to climb the stairs.

Bang!

Her body stopped moving as she fixed her eyes to her front. Several monsters appeared from the room, wearing doctor robe. Her pupil dilated as realization dawned to her.

The doctors have turned into monsters!

Turning her body rapidly, she tried to run away as fast as possible. Her feet felt weak, but her fear of death overcame everything as she used her entire strength to run. The monsters behind here were closing up at high speed.

Slash!

She felt deep pain on her back as she stumbled on her feet. From the corner of her eyes, she saw the monsters were reaching out to her. Closing her eyes in fear, she braced herself for the pain that was about to come.

Bang! Slash!

’Who’s that?’

Opening her eyes slightly, she saw a man was fighting with the monsters. His body was riddled in wounds, but he still fought and killed the monsters fiercely. The movement of the man was familiar for her.

For a moment, his image overlapped with her memory when she was young.

...

*15 years ago*

At that time, she was still very young, barely in her teens. She was doing her first work as an employee in the company, but her father didn’t allow her to get in.

"Father, why? I’m already capable enough to listen and make decisions!" the young Vena argued.

"You’re just a kid and a woman. You should learn things more suitable for a woman."

"I want to inherit the position as the president, Father! I’m more than capable for that!" Vena yelled.

Her father shook his head. "Go back to your room, Vena."

"But, Father!"

"Go back to your room!"

The young Vena was annoyed by her father’s decision. She glared at her father and screamed. "No!"

She slammed the door open, nearly knocking into her brother. Even though she knew he was there, she didn’t pay any attention to the young boy and stormed out of the house. Her feet brought her to the street, to be exact, to the place where she put Randy in.

"Young Miss, what is it?" The young Randy was outside his small house. He was cleaning his courtyard when he saw the young Vena.

"I’m angry, let me stay here."

"It’s dangerous here."

"I don’t care!" the young Vena retorted back. She was simply too angry with her father that she didn’t care where she was.

The young Randy could only let her stay. However, it didn’t take a long time for ruffians to come. They were attracted at the sight of a young and attractive young lady like Vena.

"Randy, give her to us!"

"Yeah, don’t take her all of yourself."

Randy ignored their request and stood before Vena. He glared at the group of men in front of him. "Go away, you’re not welcomed here."

"What? Get him and take that girl!"

They beat up Randy and the boy fought back. On the back, Vena was watching with fears filled her eyes, but she didn’t dare to step forward. All she could do was wait for the fight to end.

Randy won, but he was not unscathed. His body was riddled with wounds and torn skin, but he smiled brightly at Vena.

"Young Miss, are you alright?"

"I’m fine," Vena replied. "You’re not allowed to lose, understand?"

Randy looked startled, but he nodded his head obediently. "Yes, I understood."

...

Vena returned back to her senses when she felt a hand grab her shoulder. Her eyes looked straight to the man before her, the man she had loved from her young age.

"Randy," Vena muttered out.

Randy smiled in relief when he saw that Vena was fine. "It’s good that you’re alright, Vena."

"Mhm," Vena murmured incoherently.

Randy turned the woman around and frowned at the sight of the wound on her back. He carefully tore part of his clothes and pressed it to her back, causing the woman to jolt in pain because of his action.

"Please hold on, I have to stop the bleeding," Randy said softly as he tried to coax the girl.

Vena looked up to Randy’s face for a moment. She shook her head lightly. "There’s no need. It’s better for you to let me die."

"What are you talking about, Vena?"

Vena hesitated for a moment before pointing to her own chest. "They planted the controlling device in my body. In a few more weeks, it’ll completely corrode my mind and erase my consciousness, turning me into a complete robot."

The real purpose of the controller was to control robot and not monsters. Because of that, Professor Taren added something into the device that would affect their mind slowly. Some of them were given more while hers were given pretty fast. From the moment the device was planted inside her, she knew that she would never be able to get away from this place.

"I’ll save you!" Randy proclaimed in frustration. There must be a way to save her.

Vena shook her head. "Even if I get out from here, there’s nothing waiting for me. I have lost everyone."

"No, I’m still here!"

"I have had enough from you, Randy," Vena’s eyes flashed with pain. "There’s no second chance for you. You’re too late."