The next morning we packed up and left the precinct. I took my pills, which are just a variety of foods compacted into tablets using a small device given to me by an old friend, Mynde. I take these tablets once in a while to satisfy my hunger. One tablet always does the trick. If I don't take the tablets, I would lose control and everything would go awry. It's a control measure I have been taking for years.
We set off but halted in front of an alligator crack across the road, left of the precinct. Dante surely made a mess during his fight. Broken glass, doors and rubble in the midst of the chaos.
We proceeded. This wasn't going to stop us to survey the surroundings. We crossed over it and the ground started trembling.
The crack broadened behind me and the edge I stood on crumbled beneath my feet. I caught myself before falling several metres into the earth or the sewage system. Tarius came and helped me up.
"Thanks,"
"What's going on here? An earthquake?"
"Maybe it's an earthquake or something else is causing these tremors,"
I was speculating but my hunch was on to something. We were several blocks away from the police precinct. On the digital map, it showed that we were in North Pine in the city. The buildings and houses there were not as intriguing as the rest of the city. Nothing new was established in the area as well. Some of them were lavish and stylish to say the least, others on the other hand were simple and minimalistic.
The ground trembled again, but it was less intense than before. It didn't seem to be an earthquake at all as the buildings did not shake along with the ground. I looked at the distant buildings in the background and saw a giant demon. The same one we encountered on the day we awoke from our cryo-sleep.
It was roaming the city, aimlessly. Each step it took would make the ground shake. It definitely was the cause of all these tremors. What it was doing was of no importance to the demons, but how did it get through the dimensional gate.
We went into one of the houses, looking for any vehicle we could procure to help traverse the city quicker. It didn't have much, no one was around, and the books, furniture and appliances were all on the floor. A complete mess. We rummaged through the mess to find any car key.
Donny found a silver coloured laptop which was still operating, and it was recently used. He looked through all the files in the laptop, messages and even web history. Whoever lived here researched somewhere in the city, since I picked up one of the papers on the floor. I looked at the screen while he was searching through it. One of the folders piqued our interest and was named 'Day One: Dimensional Gate Research'.
Donny looked through all the files in the folder including photos, videos and reports. He played one of the videos and called my attention on to it to see what had been recorded. The video showed a man in a lab coat, recording himself, explaining what they had found. He said that they went through the gate and came back unscathed. Throughout the video he said General Mynde's name a few times, does he something to do with this.
After that video, I told Donny to look into the rest of the files. We needed to find where that dimensional gate was located. Meanwhile Tarius found a secret. Pulled a knife that was a lever from inside the knife holder. A door opened up by the kitchen counter. I went through door leaving Donny to deal with laptop.
Through the door was a secret room. It had file cabinet on one side that were opened and weaponry on the wall opposite and a table in the centre of the room. The room was also a mess, some file cabinets were open, files and document papers were on the floor and on atop the table. This room was not small it was spacious.
A man, sat against the wall opposite the entrance and across the table, had blood coming out of his mouth. It was the same man Donny and I saw in the video we watched. I rushed to his and checked for a pulse on his neck. I used the pulse sensor, equipped in the suit, and it signaled that he was still alive. He coughed up more blood and breathed heavily.
"Stay with me, we are going to make sure you get of here safely,"
"Ah, Captain you made it. Ngh. At least… you made it… with your team,"
He groaned in pain, struggling to utter each word. He clenched his chest and tried stand up. He strained and struggled to stand on his feet. He fell over on the table and support himself on the edge.
"I don't have time to explain, Captain. You are looking for the dimensional gate… right? There are two in the city. The first… is inactive and in a lab… down at Marygold Boulevard. To get to the dimensional gate… you need retinal access. The second one… is in the outskirts… of the city." He explained.
"What do you there are two? Wait are you telling us?" Mary asked.
"Look, I do not have time… for your questions… nor do you have time for the answer. Well not from me… anyway. You will get your… answers at the lab. Take my SUV… and follow the GPS. It's already… pre-set for you. You need… to stop the demons… from getting through the other gate. End this… invasion."
He went over to the file cabinet on his right and searched the drawers. Took out the keys to his SUV and his lab access keycard. He asked me to come over and give handed them to me.
"The SUV is in the garage… through the door on the right. The retinal scan isn't… for the whole lab facility, it's… just to get you into... the research room. It has a reactor... in there. The first... gate might be... inactive... but it needs to be destroyed. We need you... and your team... Captain. General Mynde... wants you to do this."
He held on to my shoulder, clenching it tightly and looked me in the eye with a glimmer of hope and nodded. I helped him out of the room into the living room and sat him down in his leather reclining chair. He looked out his window, out in the city. He smiled, took his last breath and his head slowly lowered onto his shoulder. He died.
I looked at the keycard and read his name. 'Bradely Hendricks' it read. I read that he had every security in the lab facility on his keycard. I just hope what he informed us with about the retinal scan was correct. He did say I can get into the research with my retinal scan.
We went through Bradely's home into his garage. Inside was two beautiful luxury cars and three different SUV's. The car keys only unlocked a black sport SUV big enough for a family of five.I gave Donny the car keys to drive the SUV. I pressed the garage button door to open the garage door while everyone got in.
Donny started the SUV, I checked around the outside of the home. I was checking for any demons outside. We were clear. I signalled Donny to drive out with everyone inside. He drove out of the garage and I got into the SUV as it was moving and Donny sped up. We were on our way to the lab facility.