Phantoms

"Ugggh!" A loud moan of agony echoed across Alan's small apartment. Alan, after traveling to the start of the day once again, was left in complete agony after advancing his body for twelve hours. Left unable to get up, he was left paralyzed in his bed by the pain shooting across his back. He desperately tried to grab his phone, but when he touched it, it fell to the floor. Realizing that he had just lost his only way of contacting for help, he gripped his sheets in pain. With sweat draining out of every pore of his body, he groaned in pain, waiting for time to pass.

A half hour had passed, and Alan was slowly losing consciousness. Only hearing the muffled sound of his front door being pounded on.

"Al… are... ou... ka…" As Alan's consciousness slowly drifted off, a pained smile was plastered on his face after hearing the faint voice of his best friend. Moments later, he fainted.

~~M~~

On the other side of the door was Marshal, anxiously pounding like a madman. "Alan, are you okay?" he shouted, only to hear no response. Fearing only the worst, Marshal gave up on knocking and decided to break down the door. Marshal, with the limited space he had, charged at the door with all of his weight. As the door swung open, he made sure that he broke only the lock before heading inside to check up on his friend.

"Alan!" Marshal yelled, after looking at the state he was currently in. "What the hell happened to you?" Marshal was met with nothing but heavy breathing. He walked up to Alan and turned him over onto his side. Upon doing so, he noticed that the scar on his back was softly glowing red and was radiating a lot of heat. "What the hell?" He muttered to himself and wiped off the sweat from Alan's body. Moments later, he noticed that Alan's condition was only worsening by the minute, so he looked through his phone to find a contact that might know what was going on. "Who is this?" he said while stumbling across a contact that was unfamiliar to him, "Since when did he have a caretaker...no, that doesn't matter right now." After snapping himself out of his thoughts, he called the one contact that was labeled "Caretaker".

~~E~~

At the same time, three women were getting dressed in the NaviCafe female changing room.

"Today's your first day on the job Evangela, I hope you are ready!" Linda said in hopes to boost

Evangela's confidence.

"I am ready… and nervous," Evangela muttered softly.

It was a few minutes before opening for NaviCafe, and the three-morning waitresses were currently changing into their unique work uniforms. Each waitress, immediately after getting hired, is tasked with creating a unique outfit for them to wear that symbolizes who they are as a person. Linda, being the head waitress, had a purple and white uniform with the top half open a little to allow for her to comfortably wear it. Evangela, who at this point was currently only wearing a bra and a skirt, had a light green and white outfit resting in her hands.

"Hehe, daring aren't we?" Linda said with a suggestive smile while staring directly at Evangela's black, expensive-looking lace bra.

"!?" Evangela blushed after realizing what she was talking about. "Look, it was the only set I have."

"If only my underwear can fit me as perfectly as ours, then maybe I could score a man of my own." Linda acted out as if she was in a romance drama. "I mean," she continued, "You have two gorgeously perfect palm-sized breasts, meanwhile I just have these two large melons." Linda looked at Evangela with envy but then was interrupted by the vibrations of her phone.

Evangela, still embarrassed by Linda's comments, continued to get dressed, only to be interrupted by an intense-looking Linda.

"What's wrong Linda? You look pale." The third waitress had spoken as she was about to leave the changing room.

Linda put down her phone and immediately went to grab her things. "It's Alan, he collapsed," she said, "Evangela, forgive me, but I need you to come with me. I really need someone to watch over him once I finish treating him. I'll give you three times a day's pay to make up for it. Also, Maddie, tell the boss that I'll be gone for about an hour or two."

"Yes ma'am." Maddie said while leaving the room.

Evangela stood frozen in fear. 'Alan, that Alan?' She thought to herself.

After the two got ready, they ran straight to the train station to reach Alan's apartment.

"So, what's wrong with him?" Marshal had asked. "And why is Evangela here with you?"

"I brought her with me to look after the boy after I finished treating him," she said, "and for his situation, this is a normal recurrence, except for the fact that it's a whole day early." Linda grabbed a bag full of medicine and walked over. Alan wiped his back.

"Normal? How?" Mashal asked, dumbfounded, "For the years that I have known him, this is the first time I'm seeing this."

"That's because he never tells anyone," Linda said while placing a wet towel on his head, "but I am quite certain that you noticed something was up, considering that he is always unavailable to contact once every three months."

"..." Marshal knew he lost this argument, but couldn't wrap his head around the fact that his best friend was keeping something so big away from him. After some time had passed, Marshal and Evangela helped Linda out with the treatment of Alan until Marshal's phone went off non-stop.

Linda glanced at Marshal's uneasy face. "Don't get it twisted. He didn't tell you because he didn't trust you are anything. If word got out about his condition, it would place him on the city's hit list." Hearing this caused Marshal to look up in surprise. But before he could speak, his phone once again went off. "If you have to go, then go," Linda said while feeding some soup to the unconscious Alan, "Evangela has already agreed to look after the boy today."

"Is that a good idea? Last time I checked, those two hated one another."

Linda turned to Evangela for confirmation. Evangela saw the look in her eyes and then turned to look at Marshal, "I'll be fine, plus, I'll use this as an opportunity to show him a better side of me so that he will change how he feels about me." She said this with a slightly depressing tone, but that alone was enough to reassure him.

"Alright, but before I go, I just wanna say this: Alan doesn't hate you as a person. He only hates you because of your upbringing, so use that as a stepping stone to help the two of you get along." After saying that, Marshal left the apartment.

"Umm… wouldn't this go faster if we took him to the hospital?" asked Evangela.

"It would, yes, but it's too risky in doing so."

"What do you mean?"

"The condition that he's in is what's commonly known as 'Phantom Marks', and they are only on those who received a fatal injury during the earthquake ten years ago." Linda turned Alan onto his side to show Evangela his back, "Unfortunately, there is very little data on what this really is, but what we know are two things: one is that those who received this mark were revived and became immune to the genetic mutation that currently affects about 99% of all survivors; the second is that the police have been collecting those with these marks. Lucky for us, he had his medical data erased, but the others...aren't so lucky." She finished with a pained look on her face.

"What happens to those taken?"

Linda bit her lip, then turned to look at Alan and stroked his hair. "I don't know, but we just assume that they are dead. After all, anyone who has been taken by the police never was seen again." Linda's voice differed from what Evangela was used to.

Evangela and Linda sat in silence for a while, letting her process everything she had just been told. She looked around the room, trying to escape the negative thoughts in her mind. Evangela noticed a small photo frame that was knocked to the floor. She picked it up and analyzed it. The photo had four people, two older mother-like women, a little girl, and a little boy.

"Wondering who they are?" asked Linda, who was currently preparing to leave. "If you do, then all you have to do is get close to Alan and ask him directly."

"..." Evangela put the photo down. "Where are you going?"

"I gotta head back to work, so I'm counting on you to look after the boy. He should be fine, but make sure you give him that medicine every two hours." Linda walked towards the door, then stopped and thought for a second. "Also," she turned to look at Evangela, "I understand that you two aren't on good terms, but…I kinda need you to take off his clothes and wipe him down." Upon saying this, Linda walked out the broken door, leaving Alan in the hands of Evangela.

After seeing Linda walk out the door, Evangela turned to look at Alan and blushed. "No, snap out of it. This is only you helping him, nothing else." She said to her herself while undressing him. Once she took off all but his underwear, she couldn't help but notice the anguished look on Alan's face. She frowned as she recalled what Linda had told her moments ago. "The more I learn, the less I understand." She muttered faintly, "Father, what are you trying to do?"