Chapter 10 - Prepare For War
Halfway on the road to Alexandria\'s house, Ezekiel woke up grumbling in pain while Alexandria is carrying him on a piggyback ride.
"Argghh, you did not hold back even a little, didn\'t you?" Ezekiel complained. He\'s feeling slight discomfort in his gut and cramps all over his body, indicating that Alex probably dragged him around while he was unconscious.
Alex noticed that Ezekiel already woke up because of Ezekiel\'s annoying grumbling. So Alex decided to tease him for a bit. Alex threw a very slow punch in the air like a sloth throwing a punch. "I hit you with the lightest punch I could throw. Maybe your body is just too weak. You can\'t even handle a frail little girl\'s blow."
The heck, I did not even see a single shadow of her punch when she struck me. Ezekiel can only cry inwardly.
"How long have I been out?" Ezekiel asked while caressing his stomach using his left hand, still feeling some pain in his gut.
"Hmmm, not that long, maybe, around fifteen to twenty minutes. Anyway, can you walk? You are kind of heavy." Alex stopped walking, then turned her head sideways to ask.
"Where near to your house already. Can\'t you carry me for a bit longer? You punched me so hard I don\'t have that much strength left." Ezekiel knows that Alex is lying about her getting tired of carrying him. It is because a couple of years ago, he sees her carry something twice his weight. So Ezekiel also lied to at least give Alex a hard time.
"By the way, why are you even forcefully bringing to your home?"
"I just want to ask you something." Alexandria answered.
"What the heck!? Just that!? You are some crazy girl, kidnapping a guy only to ask some questions. What would others think if it wasn\'t me you just kidnapped? You could have just messaged me and asked me in the chat." Ezekiel shouted directly in Alexandria\'s ears, scolding her for her craziness.
"Shut up!! That hurts my ears." Annoyed by Ezekiel\'s scream, Alexandria used her elbow to hit Ezekiel\'s gut while still carrying Ezekiel on her back. But this time, it was as light as possible, enough so that he will not faint again since they are already close to her house. She doesn\'t want her mother to scold her again, bringing an unconscious Ezekiel.
*Arggghhh!!!
Ezekiel wanted to fight back, but feeling the pain in his stomach worsening. Ezekiel withdrew any idea of fighting back. Fighting back at this point would only kill me. Alex might break some of my bones. Ezekiel can only cry inwardly.
Sensing no movement from Ezekiel, Alex continued explaining as if nothing happened. "It is an important question, okay?" And besides, I did not forget your punishment. Lastly, we are going to grind some materials for crafting till we are down tonight since I am not satisfied with what I got last night."
"More grinding? I\'m already tired of gri~~" Ezekiel paused for a moment, seeing Alex stopped walking and clenching her fist.
"You\'re saying something?" Alexandria asked in a threatening voice.
"Nothing, nothing, I said, I love grinding all night. You should have said it sooner I could have gone with you willingly, saving you the trouble of carrying me around." Ezekiel can only accept his fate.
...
Several minutes passed Alexandria and Ezekiel arrived at her house.
Alexandria opened the door, "I\'m, home!"
Ezekiel saw the mother of Alex cooking in the kitchen with the kids. "Hi, Aunt Irene." Ezekiel waved his hand.
Irene turned around to greet them back. However, seeing her daughter carrying Ezekiel on her back. It instantly made Irene forget to greet them back.
"What are you guys doing? Walking around like that in broad daylight?" Irene scolded both of them while waving the spatula in her right hand and carrying Zandra, her youngest daughter on the other hand.
"Ezekiel can\'t walk around, so I am doing him a favor carrying him around."
Ezekiel quickly shook his head at Alexandria\'s mother.
Looking at Ezekiel that is frantically shaking his head. Irene raised her eyebrows and put her hand on her hips after putting the spatula on the table. "Alex!?"
Looking at her mother, Alexandria instantly knew she\'s busted.
"I only hit him once." Alexandria said while twiddling her two fingers to look cute as much as possible.
"Alexandria!?" Her mother raised her voice.
"Okay, okay, I hit his guts twice, but the last one couldn\'t even be called as a hit. I did not even use a quarter of my strength."
"This girl, Sigh!" When did I ever raise such a savage daughter?
"I\'m sorry, Ezekiel." Irene apologized to Ezekiel.
"It\'s okay, Aunt Irene, I am kind of used to it already." Ezekiel forcefully smiled at aunt Irene.
"Let me call your dad to tell that you\'ll be staying here for the night and apologize to him."
"Thanks, Aunt Irene." Ezekiel thanked.
Her mother pointed at her. "And you don\'t go around beating up anyone you want. What do you think would others think seeing the Vice President son getting beaten up in public?"
"Yes, yes, I understand, mom." Alex hurriedly ran to the stairs escaping her mother\'s blabbering. Because she knew that once it starts, it would take a couple of hours for her mother to end.
"Come back here!! I am still not finished with you!" Irene shouted.
"Love you too, mom!!" Alex shouted back to appease her mother\'s anger.
...
Once Alexandria and Ezekiel entered her room, she instantly threw Ezekiel on her bed and booted her computer. up
"Arrggghh!"
"Can\'t you be a little gentler sometimes?" Ezekiel said with the aching all over his body worsening due to the throw she did.
"Shut up for a moment. I\'m busy here." Alexandria said while searching for something on the internet.
Ezekiel stood up from the bed, then looked at the computer screen. "What are you looking for, anyway?"
"Samantha G. Archeon? Why are you searching for Samantha on the internet?" Ezekiel asked, puzzled by the actions of Alexandria.
"I feel that Samantha is an important person and not just a distant relative of the world president. I think that she is lying to us. And I\'m pretty sure I\'ve seen or heard of her somewhere. It\'s just that I can\'t remember exactly where or when." Alexandria said while scrolling through the web looking for any clues about Samantha.
"You don\'t remember?" Ezekiel said, walking back to the bed to rest again.
"Remember what?" Alexandria turned his chair around wondering, what is Ezekiel talking about.
"A year ago, you asked me to investigate anything that is related to Archeon corporation?" Ezekiel said while resting on her bed with closed eyes.
"A year ago? But you did not discover anything useful at that time, except..." Alex suddenly remembers the discoveries they made in the investigation she asked for Ezekiel to do.
"Except the name of the world President\'s daughter!" Alex exclaimed, seeing the picture of the whole puzzle now.
"You get it?" Ezekiel sat right up on the bed.
"You already know, didn\'t you?" Alex said with a fierce glare to Ezekiel, showing a don\'t you dare mess with me again.
"Yup, I instantly knew the moment she entered the classroom." Ezekiel answered fearlessly. Since he is already in her home, he can always call aunt Irene for reinforcement if Alex goes physical. So there is nothing to be afraid of now.
Alex grabbed the closest thing she could see beside her, then threw it to Ezekiel. "Why didn\'t you tell me earlier?"
Ezekiel ducked to dodge the flying notebook that Alex has thrown at him. "Where\'s the element of surprise if I told you?"
"Do you want to know another surprise?"
Alex did not answer, and she just gave Ezekiel a threatening glare and waited for him to talk.
Seeing Alex sulking in the chair, Ezekiel realizes that annoying her further would be the end of his life. So Ezekiel stopped playing around and continued what he is talking."Archeon has finally started to make a move again after two years of staying silent...." Ezekiel paused to see Alex\'s reaction, but she was still staring at him.
"According to my spy, they are preparing for something called Project: Parabellum."
"Parabellum." Alex looked down, then mumbled silently.
"It\'s a Latin word." Ezekiel exclaimed.
"Huh?" Alex was confused about what he is talking.
"If you search for it then translate Parabellum from Latin to English it would mean..." Ezekiel said while waving his cell phone, showing her that he is searching for the meaning of Parabellum. Ezekiel then turned his phone to Alex and on his cell phone\'s screen appears the word "Prepare for War"