Embuscade

•••

" I will try to convince them tonight but I won't promise you it will be easy. It's not something easy to believe in and even if they do it's still not certain they will accept, after all the horrors they went through since that abominable night they may not be mentally ready for what I'm about to ask them, " Jamal explained through the phone in a steady voice.

" You don't need all them to be in, even though it would be better if they could all accept, neither you need to tell them in detail what that mission is all about, " Lina outlined, " looking at the actual situation even the 10% of the whole army will be a great help and you know that ".

" Yeah, I know. I will do my best, " he promised.

There was a short moment of silence before Lina chuckled, " but I swear, when you said that you will make it in 6 days, I didn't expect you will seriously do it. I should learn to believe more in you ".

" To be honest I was just trying to act cool. Those battles have been so quick but yet so complicated. It's actually a miracle that the outcome turns out this way ". He laughed joyfully.

" I remember that you would always say it's a miracle whenever you do something incredible, " she made the remark with a slightly teasing tone.

"Most of the time, you all are the ones to overestimate me too much, " Jamal joked, " but I'm serious, for this mission it was truly a miracle, or at least for the biggest part ".

Lina didn't reply immediately, she suddenly changed her tone she took a softer voice and said after a short moment of hesitation, " I... I miss you, so you better come back as soon as possible ".

" I will " Jamal responded almost immediately, " I miss you too ".

" I'm tired of masturbating every night, and that bed is awfully cold without you, " she then said.

Jamal started laughing uncontrollably, remembering that it's at those very types of moments she liked placing one of her dirty jokes.

" Are you okay? " Nelson passed his head through the opened door behind Jamal and inquired.

" Yeah... don't worry I'm good, " the man turned his head and responded to him between two breaths.

" If you say so. Just to tell that Phil and Pam finally arrived since you asked me to warn you, " Nelson let him know.

" Oh, is that so, " Jamal glanced at the phone in his hand and then said to him, " alright I'm coming ".

Then he put the phone back next to his ear and said, with a soft voice, " I have to go, Lina- "

" I heard it, " she said before he could finish his phrase, the tone of her voice let Jamal understand that she didn't want him to hang up, since she was sounding sad, however, she later sighed and told him, " it's alright you can go. Take care of you, darling, and see you tomorrow ".

" See you tomorrow, " immediately after he replied she hung up. He stayed there alone, a little while, in the silence before he finally got the strength to move and to go join the others.

They were all gathered in the biggest hall of the mansion, not too far from the entrance. When he went in he got surprised by the huge number of people inside. As they were always separated into different places he didn't get the time to consider that since they had defeated Konny the number of people grew much bigger.

Jamal also noticed how animated the hall was, despite that the party began for not so long, as the great number of people who had accompanied Phil had just arrived a moment ago, all the people there were already deep in their conversations. He first thought that there would be some problems of communication between the people since the majority of them didn't have any memory, and so they would be too shy to approach the others, moreover, he also thought that there would be a kind of awkward ambiance due to the fact besides their old comrades, among the people who lost all their memories, there were people who used to be criminals and belonged to dangerous gangs Konny had taken the control and used to fight them, so in other words, they were probably responsible of the deaths of many of their friends and family but still, Jamal couldn't detect any resentment or tension emanating from them, neither there was any kind of division where some people would be excluded from the other groups. They were just people who were sharing a good moment together.

He wandered through the crowd with a smile he couldn't wear off his face, as he was particularly happy to see people were enjoying being together.

As he was walking he ran into Phil surrounded by people, sitting around a round table, to whom he was probably telling some good jokes as they were laughing louder than anyone around. Pam was sitting on his right with a cup full of liquor, which she was holding with her two hands while staring at the people with an embarrassed smile as if she was feeling uncomfortable staying with those people.

As he moved his sight on the side, Phil noticed Jamal, and with an enthusiasm, the latter man didn't know, he exclaimed, " Mr. Jamal Sabani! The man who brought peace and the vengeance we were dreaming of for such a long long while ". Phil got up from his chair and went to hug him. Jamal was so surprised that for a moment he didn't know how to react, he finally hugged him back shyly and waited until Phil decided to release him.

He patted his back and told him, " come, take a seat and have some drink with us, " they sat down, Jamal took the seat which was at the left of Phil, after a man who looked ten years older than him, gallantly offered him his place.

Phil put heavily a big bottle of alcohol of almost 50cm high in front of Jamal.

" Have some " he leaned slightly toward him as he told him, " when we were still in the police, whenever we closed a big affair, with the guys, we would celebrate it by gathering at my place and drinking some of this delicious drink ".

The people around the table nodded concisely, and that was when Jamal finally realized that they were all around the same age as Phil, except for Pam naturally. He also noticed that there was another bottle, of the same kind, lying empty on the center of the table.

" So... if I understand well, you are all colleagues, right? " Jamal asked them as he wanted to quickly change the subject and not be forced to drink one drop of that alcohol.

" Not only colleagues but the best friends ever, " a bald white man responded while smiling at his buddies.

" They met while they were all doing their military service. They came back together, graduated from the police academy together, and have stayed friends even after dad has been promoted to chief of the police, " Pam explained while staring at the cup, still between her two hands.

" She's right, even after things started to go wrong after... that night, they were still there to help me during those two years to try bringing order in our beloved city. Those guys are the best, " Phil added before pushing slightly Jamal with his shoulder, he pointed to the bottle and said, " don't be shy and have some, it's really tasty, I promise ".

" So what were you talking about before I came to disturb you? It looked like it was something very funny, " Jamal replied instead, still trying to make him forget that idea.

They all turned their heads toward one man, who was the one who gave Jamal the place, and so was sitting on his left.

" Well, the truth is that I belong to the group of people who were controlled by Konny, and thus, those who lost all my memories, which means that I have forgotten all about my friends who are around me now, " the man said with great emotion, " but despite, that they are still willing to accept me in the group and even decided to tell me about our common adventures I have forgotten ". From there, it seemed that the emotion was too much for him to hold it as tears started flowing from his eyes, " thank you guys, thank you to still love me... I- " he put a hand on his face as if to hold himself from saying too much.

When Jamal looked aside, he saw that all his friends were crying too, and even though the tears were already flowing out, they all seemed to try to hold themselves.

" What nonsense are you saying, of course, we still love you, we don't care that you don't remember anything about us... you're still our buddy... you're still a member of the family, " Phil managed to speak out the words his other friends didn't have the strength to say.

As they were still crying even after some minutes passed, Jamal didn't know what to do, he was moving his sight from one guy to another while looking sorry like a child who had touched something he wasn't supposed to.

Pam was agitating her hand to catch his attention and when he finally looked at her she put her forefinger on her lips telling him to not make any sound and with a movement of the head, she told him to follow and they both left the table as discreetly as they could.

" I'm very sorry about that, it was not my intention to put everyone in... that state, " Jamal apologized while glancing back at the table where Phil and his friends were still crying.

" Don't mind that, " Pam replied while shaking her head, " it's always like that ".

Jamal gazed at her surprised, and without taking off his sight from her, he pointed to the table behind him with his thumb, " when you say it's always like that you mean... exactly like that? "

The woman nodded with a smile, looking very amused. " Just like my dad has told you, gathering to drink together is like their rituals to celebrate the end of each case they would resolve or for other types of celebration, " she paused, raised her sight, and while looking nostalgic, she added, " he once confessed to me that when he came back from his military service he was going through a difficult time, so much that my mom couldn't bear it to see him in that state. One day, she took the lead and invited all his old friends to have dinner at our place, she then prepared herself that drink you have seen and served. You see, my mom used to tell my dad that drink has the particularity to open the hearts of whoever dip in it, she gave him the recipe and told him that whenever he feels down he should invite his friends, prepare it so that they can enjoy a good time together ".

" And it worked? " Jamal couldn't help but ask.

" You mean the drink? Yes sure. That day, at that dinner, it worked so well for them that they all decided to become police officers. The next few days, they went to apply to the same academy and their adventures continued until they ended up where you see them now, " Pam answered with confidence.

" You seem familiar with that when you're talking about it, but you looked quite uncomfortable when you were there with them, " Jamal pointed out.

The woman blushed a little before she answered, " because the truth is that I don't feel at my place when I'm with them. They would usually gather at my dad's house so I had the time to familiarize myself with that ritual ". Her voice gradually became melancholic, " the first time he invited me was when I resolved my first case. I was just a rookie at that time, and seeing such a young woman officer being so good and efficient caused me to be excluded by many of my coworkers. Some of them even started spreading rumors that I was kinda advantaged because my father was the head of the city's police department and that all his friends who were like relatives to me had high grades too. Dad noticed that I couldn't get along with the others, but with his position, he couldn't really intervene and do anything about it, worried that it would worsen the situation. That day he called his friends at our home to organize their ritual and celebrate my first case and it was adorable of him to do that since he wanted me to feel less lonely. But, as you can guess, it didn't really help me it was just... "

" Embarrassing " Jamal completed.

" Exactly. Anyway since that day, before I couldn't realize, they integrated me into their group and it became more and more difficult for me to escape ".

" Why didn't you drink a little bit of that liquor and confessed your feelings to them? " Jamal said jokingly.

Pam chuckled while shaking her head, " I have never gotten a drip of that drink and I pray to never reach the point where I would drag myself to have some ".

They were walking silently through the crowd when Jamal suddenly remembered something, he turned to Pam and asked " I wanted to know, do you have an idea how come people are so friendly to each other like that? Not that I'm complaining but I can't help feeling intrigued by that ".

" Oh yes, I was feeling the same way earlier, " she confessed. She ran her sight around the hall as if she was looking for something and after a short moment, she fixed a point and before Jamal could find what she was staring at she started explaining, " my dad revealed to me that all this situation, or rather the greatest part, was due to one person, that young man over there, " she pointed to where she was staring, Jamal followed the direction of her finger and saw that she was talking about Andre, the first guy among the people who had lost their souvenirs, Jamal had interacted with.

" When dad, and those people he had brought to go to our HQ and collect all our stuff, arrived there, he said that there was a tension between them. They weren't mixing and they were barely talking, but before clans could start forming themselves, that person intervened. Dad said that before he gave the order to get into the work, that young man stepped up in front of everybody and started apologizing ".

Jamal didn't have to ask her to be clearer as she immediately developed, " he said that he had heard what people were saying about him and the other people, that they used to be bad people, and that, even though they were controlled by Konny, they still used to be criminals and that they would have ended up hurting them anyway. In that speech, he continued swearing that he didn't have the slightest memory of what kind of man he used to be, and he honestly wanted to not care anymore about his ancient identity, but for him to turn the page he had to first face all the sins he had done "

" He started apologizing to everyone, he said that to whomever he had hurt or done bad things he was sincerely sorry and would do whatever it takes for them to forgive him. From there all the ex-criminals started stepping forward to apologize as well. The coolness and the attitude of that young man were said to have impressed everyone, he said he was not naive and was conscious that there would still be people to resent him but he was ready to accept all their hatred and that he would work hard to prove them that he was not the same evil person as he was before and that he deserved a second chance ".

Jamal stared at Andre, from afar, very impressed while saying, " he did that? " Pam confirmed by nodding, he then asked " what happened next? "

" My dad grabbed the occasion and ordered that group to do all the work by themselves. He told them to enter the building and collect all the stuff and charge them into the cars, " she paused and smiled, " guess what? That guy didn't hesitate one second and immediately ran inside. I was told that he had worked so hard that he ended up collapsing. When I arrived there I saw him begging my dad as well as the other people to let him go back to work. He didn't stop saying that he didn't have the right to rest and that he had to accept his punishment. In the end, his efforts ended up breaking down the wall of mistrust between the people ".

" Impressive " Jamal gasped, " do you permit me to go have a chat with him? "

" Do as you please. I will try to find Volga to discuss a little bit with her. She looked to be a very nice person, I think we can get along, " Pam shrugged before she replied.

" I'm sure you will. See you later " he said before he went off.

The party went on for hours before Jamal could realize it, he was so absorbed in his discussion that he didn't feel the time passed.

Around them, people were already installed on their seats and were enjoying the delicious foods set on the tables in front of them. Since the hall was still filled with joyful laughter, Jamal didn't notice that the food was ready and set and that people were already digging in.

He turned his head and ran his sight around for a minute before he found Carla, at the other side of the room, waving her hand at him.

" Come with me and let's go eat, " he said to Andre.

The latter looked around and seeing that there wasn't any place for him elsewhere, thought that he didn't have other choices but to accept his offer.

" Why didn't you call me earlier? " Jamal complained to Volga while he was taking his seat next to her.

" You seemed like you weren't hungry so I didn't want to rush you, " the latter joked before throwing a piece of carrot in her mouth.

" We haven't started yet anyway, we were waiting for you and Sania, " Carla let him know.

Sania indeed seemed to have just taken her seat between Nelson and Carla.

Jamal took a look down at the plates and he couldn't help but feel impressed. The table was filled with various and colorful dishes as if they were in a famous restaurant. With only the good smell emanating from them, he could tell that they were delicious even without having a taste of them. He didn't suspect Sania to have such a talent. He looked up to compliment her but she looked to be already proud of herself.

" Let's not waste any more time staring at the food and witness how talented I am, " Sania gave the signal and everyone started digging in.

When they finished minutes later, Jamal stroked his belly and said to her, " thank you very much, it was really great ".

Then everyone started congratulating the chef, even the people who were at the tables around.

At a moment, Nelson suggested that it was the right moment for a speech, the word spread and everyone in their seats started shouting while clapping on their tables in the same rhythm, encouraging Jamal to give some words.

The man finally got up from his chair accompanied by the cheers and went to stand where everyone could see him.

He cleared his voice, " well I don't have too many things to say besides thank you all for your hard work. It has not been an easy journey since we have been fighting from one city to another while barely resting. My primary mission, as I didn't stop repeating it, was to save as many lives as possible and even here, where we were confronted with a very delicate situation where the enemy has the strange and scary power to use our companions to fight us against their will, we have still managed to pull it together and win that fight without spreading the blood of our friends or family. And for that, I would want to thank you again ".

A round of applause raised again, Jamal waited for them to calm down before he continued with a more serious tone, " now what I have to say is a very important matter. You should know, whenever a battle is over in one city, I would step up, like I'm doing now, to ask for help in my next battle. This city is the last one I came to help and I would like to say that the battle here was the last one but the truth is that it's not, " he paused to see the faces of the people and identify their reactions, " some of you may be impressed or actually asking yourselves why I was in rush, why did I insist to end with those wars in six days. The reason is that the day after tomorrow it will be the turn of my city, Stainfall, to be attacked ".

Everyone gasped with expressions of shock and they started to mutter some comments which created a little wave of noises. " That's right we are on the fifth day and on the seventh day my hometown will be attacked by a fearsome enemy which is not easy to deal with. I don't want to force anyone to come to fight along with me. I won't come to tell you that I have saved your lives and so you owe me that because that's not it. If my comrades from the other cities could remember me, they would testify that I don't force anyone but unfortunately they lost all their souvenirs. I'm standing here to ask for the help of those who can and are willing to fight that last battle. I'm sorry if I have ruined the mood but my duties as the protector of my hometown asked me to do so. I may know your answer tomorrow morning when we will be going back to Stainfall but until then please don't hold yourselves and enjoy the party, thank you all for your attention ".

He returned back to his seat leaving the room in uncomfortable silence as everyone was trying to understand those words he had just said.

At the moment, he sat down on his seat, all his friends started to beat him with questions. He didn't have the time to respond to one question that another one was asked. In the end, he raised his two hands to tell them to calm down, and once they were finally quiet, he took his time and said to them, " once we will return to the little house Konny had attributed to us I will tell you everything in details, so, for now, can you spare me? "

They glanced at each other before they all nodded and moved back to give him some space, " thank you " he sighed.

" Wait, what? Why would you want to return to that small place? " Sania complained after realizing what he just said.

" I'm more familiar with that place and I think it's a better idea to leave this mansion to Phil and his men, I think they will enjoy more occupying Konny's place than us, " he replied.

" Can I come with you? " Pam appeared from behind Jamal and ended up surprising everyone, " I can't stand staying here ".

She had her two hands on the backrest of Jamal's seat and was staring at them with insistence.

" The problem is that the house can only hold four people, " Jamal responded while looking sorry.

" And even if we don't count Andre you're still five, aren't you? " she replied not discouraged by his answer.

" I will stay in Nelson's room, " Sania raised her hand and said.

Everyone gazed at her silently while looking surprised. " What? " the woman said while glancing them, surprised before she raised the eyebrows, " oh come on, we won't do what you think we will be doing... I would have wanted it though, but this man here is too much of a gentleman, " she added while moving the head to point Nelson.

for a short moment, before Pam came again, " so that means that I can stay in someone's room, Volga for example ".

" Are you sure? " Jamal inquired.

" Yes, why? You want me to stay in your room with you? " she replied jokingly with a smile.

" If you ever talk to his girlfriend, you wouldn't dare to do those kinds of jokes, believe me," Sania said with a serious tone while staring at the palm of her hand.

Pam looked at him confused with the impression like she wanted him to explain what she meant but Jamal didn't dare to cross her sight.

He stood up. " well I don't know about you but it's time for me to go, I will let you enjoy the party as much as you want, we don't have to wake up early tomorrow anyway," he told them while stretching out, discreetly trying to dodge the question. He looked down at the young man next to him, who was looking a bit lost, he put a hand on his shoulder, " will you be okay on your own? "

" Yes, thank you, " Andre paused to choose his words and said to him, " I don't quite understand what it is all about but I want to tell you that I'm in. I mean, the battle to protect your hometown you can count on my help ".

Jamal smiled at him, patted his shoulder, " thank you, I appreciate, " and then he went off. Almost at the same time, his friends left the table one by one to follow him.

The next day in the morning, when they were about to leave the city after they finished loading in the cars all the things of value they have found, they all gathered at the gate of the former territory of Konny where Jamal was expecting to finally hear the answer of the people concerning the request he had made the night before.

Phil was the first one to speak, " Mr. Jamal I have well thought about what you've told us last night, and firstly, I wanted to say I'm not talking on the behalf of anyone, it's just about me. I regret but I can't go with you in this battle for the simple reason that I'm too old to engage myself in a fight against fearsome enemies like you've said, I hope you may forgive me ".

After that, all his friends passed to refuse too, while advancing the same excuse.

" I would want to be the next to talk, " a man a little bit corpulent stepped forward and said.

" Pat'? " Nelson mumbled with his eyes full of regret, he was one of his men but due to Konny, he ended losing his souvenirs.

" Yesterday night I had a dream... about me, it was not really a dream, but I rather some pieces of my memory, " the man began to say. Jamal and his friends glanced at each other and they instantly understood each other. " I remember that after we finished our battle in MontClay and you asked us to help you fighting for the other cities we all responded yes and today again I won't let you down, I will come along. I may not know completely who I am but I still know what I'm fighting for ".

As the explications carried on they discovered even more cases of people who recovered some parts of their memories, they didn't ignore the fact that they were all belonging to the army of the other cities, and so, they were of those who were controlled for no more than one day and like that they were the only ones who agreed to help in the fight against the undead.

Even though he was expecting a greater number Jamal didn't complain as he knew that it was better than zero.

In the end, he thanked everyone even those who decided to not continue the fight before they all got on their cars and they left with Volga's convertible leading the cortege.

•••

They have been rolling for a long time when Jamal finally noticed that they were not too far to arrive in Stainfall. From the way they took when they left, they couldn't directly go to the entrance of the city, they had to pass by the back near the territory of the outlaws, round the zone before finally arriving in the city from the front.

It was usually a safe road, not very risky since they were not, in reality, rolling through the outlaws' territory, so their chances to be localized by them were very small. But that day, the way was not as safe as Jamal would have expected.

" What is that thing which coming toward us? " Volga asked him carelessly, " you didn't tell me that there were still some wild animals in these areas ".

Jamal leaned forward to have a better look at what she was talking about, he saw a dark point quickly progressing in their direction and as they were getting near that dark point was getting a clearer shape. His eyes were wide open in shock when he finally recognized it. That thing was progressing way too quickly for Volga to notice directly, she could see only the shape of a human being and Jamal only had the time to shout " look out! " before the collision.

Volga managed to manipulate the steering wheel and stopped the car before it got into a fatal accident. All the cars which were following them behind automatically stopped.

Jamal untied his seatbelt and jumped out of the car, " take your gun and don't get out of the car, " he told Volga with a serious face before he turned around to give the same order to the others. " Don't get out! Stay in the cars! " he shouted again before quickly bringing his sight forward him.

" What was it? " Volga shouted from the car.

Before Jamal could give her a proper answer, the corpse suddenly stood up, its right leg and arm were broken and were forming an abnormal angle but it was still standing on its feet. Black veins were running up its body until its neck while the face was very pale, its black blood, like ink, were gushing from its mouth and its eyes were all white like white pearls.

" Is this the fearsome enemy you were talking about? " Volga shouted again without taking her sight off the undead, she looked more in shock than afraid what reassure Jamal a little bit.

He didn't have the time to ask himself what the hell was it doing there as it was preparing to attack. " Cover me, " he shouted at Volga and the latter nodded at him. Hopefully, he was still carrying weapons with him, he pulled out his two knives without any confidence that they would work. [ Only Natasha with her power could kill definitively those monsters ] he recalled while thinking he didn't have any chance to get rid of that thing without her, but he still knew that he couldn't give up, he had to try whatever he could to protect those people behind him.

The undead jumped toward him, it was so fast that Volga didn't have the time to react, though, it was still not enough fast for Jamal. He caught it in the middle air by planting hardly his knives in both sides of its chest and threw it down, he then started to forcefully slash it everywhere as fast as he could, and before it could make another move its head was already rolling away and its two arms were far away from the body.

It may be not completely dead but at least it couldn't do any harm. He slowly stood up while keeping an attentive eye on it, he walked back to Volga's car and he was about to open the door when he heard screams coming from the cars behind.

Another undead was attacking a car. It had already broken the door and was pulling out the leg of a guy, while his friends inside were struggling to hold him.

Jamal knew that he wouldn't have the time to run until there so he threw his knife toward the undead which went to stick in its palm but instead of stopping it or drawing its attention on him it just put it in a rage. It raised its fist and was about to break the leg of the poor guy when the sound of a rifle roared. The undead was pushed backward before came another roar and then another one.

Jamal didn't waste that chance and quickly caught up with the undead, he took a grenade armed it, sank it in the mouth of the undead, hit it up on the chin to make it swallow and then Carla kicked it, pushing it far away and five seconds later the undead exploded spreading its various pieces rotten meat everywhere.

" I told you to stay in the car, " Jamal told Carla

" You're welcome, " the young woman replied while reloading the rifle.

When gunshots were heard coming from ahead, they both suddenly turned around to see what Volga was shooting at.

" No, impossible... " Jamal exclaimed in shock while looking at the group of ten other undead who was walking toward them.

" There are too many and without her, we can't get rid of them definitively, " Jamal said while picking up his knife on the ground, " we may probably all die here ".