Hush little baby please don't cry

I was surprised when the doctors agreed to Jelo and KJ's proposition that we come and join them when they go back to the laboratory. I thought for sure they would shoot the idea down but they agreed, after thinking about it, of course, they didn't say yes immediately. Their argument as to why they're allowing it, despite not wanting to, is because many of the doctors and staff that went during the first exploration need to tend to patients. During the escape, many were injured, and the doctors have to stay because the health and well-being of the people come first.

Hence why our group is the Exploration Team, we seemed the obvious choice for it. The Watchers were needed here for everyone's safety, they also couldn't bring the Maintenance Crew along because they also had important jobs to do here. Even if those capable people were not busy our group would still be the obvious choice for it. After all, we were the ones who knew about Estrella, and their experiments, and had a clue of what was going on. And yes, I gave each team nicknames.

I asked them why we aren't sharing the information with people now that we had conclusive evidence that Estrella Corporation was linked to the virus. Ethan, DJ, and KJ also had the same question on their minds but Dr. Peralta put it nicely for us to understand. Estrella Laboratories was the biggest advanced research laboratory in the entire country, not to mention that it was part of something much bigger. Estrella Labs was just one of the many companies owned by the Estrella Group. Estrella also owns and funds various hospitals, a pharmaceutical company, and Medical Universities. One of the hospitals they funded was none other than the one we took refuge in. So Dr. Peralta asked us, how could we tell people that the organization many of these people trusted with their families' health, their medical procedures, and education, was responsible for the nightmare we were living in now. Estrella was a big important company, even children knew who they were. I couldn't answer Dr. Peralta without the image of one of the kids I met at the parking lot who needed surgery flashing through my mind. Why? Because Estrella was going to pay for seventy-five percent of the medical bills.

"Ready to go?" Jelo asked, I nodded and put my frying pan in the green and black backpack Miss Kagami gave me along with some candy bars and two bottles of water.

We didn't want to waste any time. We wanted to be back before nightfall because that's when things get more dangerous so Dr. Peralta told the Watchers that we would be heading out one more time, the Chefs, the wonderful people in charge of our food, also wanted us to pick some stuff along the way, so it also became an errand run.

"Where's Lanz?" DJ asked, now changed into a camouflage vest and cargo pants.

Jelo pointed to me and I realized we all look the same, "Where did these clothes come from? We look like we're about to dance."

"We're at a Talent Agency, it was in one of the storage closets," Ethan answered.

"How did you even know where the storage closet was and where these specific costumes were?" Jelo asked, "I just find it weird how you just seemed to know where to go."

"I cleaned up after the last rehearsal and tucked those away."

I wanted to ask more but Ethan just walked away, "Please tell me we're going to ask him about this soon."

"Definitely," Jelo and DJ agreed before getting in the jeep.

And with that, we were on our way.

Within thirty to forty-five minutes we reached the laboratory. As I had expected the place was desolate and in ruin. It was probably more awestriking before when it wasn't burnt and with holes, but it was still impressive. It was a huge circular building at around four hundred feet tall and 300 feet wide. I didn't expect that even after months the smell of soot, char, and ash would still linger.

"Alright, everybody down," instructed Dr. Peralta.

We each grabbed our things and stuck close to each other. Aside from the six of us, there were also four medical personnel with us, two nurses and two doctors, who took their car, obviously, we all couldn't fit in the jeep, it was already so cramped with five people in the back.

"Okay, I want everyone to listen," Dr. Peralta said, calling our attention, "We split into five teams…"

I wanted to pay attention to what he was saying but I thought that I heard something, it was faint so I couldn't make out what it was but I know I'd heard that sound before. It wasn't a growl of an infected, it was something, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

"... And Lanz, you're with me."

"I'm sorry, what?" I asked the mention of my name pulled me back into reality.

"You're with me," he repeated, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine, I just thought I heard something. It must've been my imagination."

"Alright then," Dr. Peralta said then he handed around walkie-talkies, "We'll all be in communication, checking up on each other. If you find something or encounter any problem, you tell the rest of us immediately, is that clear?"

"Yes," we all answered and went inside.

Dr. Peralta and I took the left side of the ground level while KJ and a nurse took the right. The entire building had about seven floors. Needless to say that we had a lot of ground to cover. We scoured every inch of each room that we visited hoping to find something, anything that could possibly lead us to a secret level. I was hoping that one of the other groups would tell us they found something because at our side we were running out of rooms to check.

Each room we visited didn't reveal anything new to us. There were papers scattered on the floor of the Cordyceps research, Dr. Peralta had me collect what I could on it. He thought that perhaps he could try to understand what they were trying to do with the fungus.

"Where should I put these, Doc?" I asked.

"I think I saw a folder somewhere over there," he answered as he pointed to a toppled-over cabinet.

I rummaged through it and quickly found what he was talking about and put the papers in neatly and placed it in his bag.

"Well, that's the last of the rooms on the left side," Dr. Peralta said as he dusted off the ash on his hands, "We should've brought gloves."

"Yup," I agreed and dusted off my hands as well and sneezed as the dust tickled my nose, "Should we head over to the fifth floor and search the right side?"

"Yeah, we've turned this place inside out and we still couldn't find anything that remotely resembles anything that your friends mentioned," he said as we left the room.

As we left we heard a crackling sound from the room, "The walkie-talkie."

He facepalmed, "I can't believe I left it inside!"

Crksh. Crksh.

"Crksh- Hello? - Crksh- Does anyone read me?" said someone on the other end of the line, "Crksh- Hello?"

Dr. Peralta grabbed the walkie-talkie and answered, "I'm here Adrith, talk to me."

"Crksh- Peralta! I've got bad news, I lost the girl."

"WHAT?!" Dr. Peralta exclaimed, "How'd you lose her?"

"I turned around- Crksh- and she wasn't there anymore! I'm looking for her right now but I'm gonna need help, this floor is too big for just one person."

"Copy that, we'll be up there soon," Dr. Peralta replied and then turned to me, "Come on Lanz, let's go."

He handed me the walkie-talkie and I heard Ethan on the other end of the line, "We'll keep an eye out on the second floor for her."

"Ethan," I called out.

"Crksh- Yeah?"

"Who was with Dr. Ardith?"

"Paige."

Of all the people, Paige was the one to get lost. The girl who has a bad sense of direction and gets lost easily was missing.

When we reached the fifth floor, Dr. Ardith was frantically looking around for her. He had just walked out of one of the rooms when we found him. Dr. Peralta called him, getting his attention, "Ardith!"

He looked frustrated and exhausted. Who wouldn't be? I've heard that he's been on duty for two whole days straight.

"Did you find her?" Dr. Peralta asked as soon as we reached him.

"Not yet," he answered, "I've run around this entire floor and I still haven't seen her!"

Dr. Peralta scratched his head, "Where'd you last see her?"

"By the sort of control center place, come with me I'll show you," he replied and then started to run towards it with the two of us following closely behind.

The room really looked like a control center, what it was used for originally I don't know. But it reminded me of that one superhero show with a laboratory as their base of operations.

"We split up here since I wasn't much help to her, she tried to see if things could still work because it would help ease our search and you know how I am with all those tech-stuff so I just her be."

"It looks like she did the job," said Dr. Peralta, and then pressed something and turned on a few of the computers revealing the camera feed, "This is weird. They shut down the entire place; you'd think that they cut off all the power even from the generators."

"Add that to the list of questions we haven't answered," said Dr. Ardith, "But for now I'd like to find his friend."

Uwwaahhh… Uwwaahhh…

"Do you hear that?" I said while listening keenly. There was that sound again! The one from before, though I make it out more now.

I followed where the sound was coming from, "It sounds like it's coming from over there!"

Uwwaahhh! Uwwaahhh!

I was sure of it now, that sound, it was a cry of a baby!

"That's a-" I turned around and found no one behind me, I had walked through the halls all alone, mistakenly thinking that the two doctors were following me from behind, "- baby…"

"Lanz?"

I turned around after hearing a familiar voice, "There you are Paige! We've been looking all over for you!"

She blinked a few times all while looking confused, "Looking for me? Why would you be looking for me? Do you guys need something from me?"

"What? No!" I exclaimed, "We were looking for you because Dr. Ardith said he couldn't find you anywhere! So of course we'd be looking for you!"

She scoffed, "That's silly!"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, it doesn't make sense!" She said, "I told Miss Cooper that I heard a strange noise after turning on the computers and that I was going to check it out. She said she would tell Dr. Ardith so he wouldn't worry and let me go look."

"Miss Cooper?"

"The nurse that was paired up with KJ?"

"She was paired up with KJ?"

"Were you not listening to Dr. Peralta before? She was paired up with KJ searching the first floor with you guys. She said that they already finished searching their side and found nothing so they moved up, per the plan, to help search the remaining two floors."

"We didn't see her or KJ when we got to this floor. It was only Dr. Ardith running around the place looking for you."

"Again, that doesn't make sense! Where's Miss Cooper then? And in addition to that question, where's KJ?"

"How should I kn-"

Uwwaahhh! Uwwaahhh!

"That's a-"

"A baby," Paige cut me off while looking around, "Where is it coming from?"

I checked our surroundings looking for something, anything! A secret passage, an open door, just something that would lead to where the sound was coming from. Right now we had no idea whether or not it was just a recording or an actual child.

"Lanz," Paige called and pointed to a set of pipes, a few of them were missing valves, "I think the sound is coming from there!"

We both came close to it and sure enough the sound was coming from the pipes, "Could the baby be stuck inside one of the pipes?!"

Paige turned to me looking horrified, "WHY WOULD YOU ASK AND IMPLY SOMETHING SO HORRIFIC?! BUT YES IT IS A POSSIBILITY!"

Panicking, I asked, "THEN WHAT DO WE DO?! THE BABY COULD HAVE TROUBLE BREATHING IN THERE!"

"UH- UHH- UHM-" for a while she was frantic, as if her brain had stopped working but then her face suddenly relaxed, "Oh."

"WHAT?!"

"Calm down! I think I figured something out!" she exclaimed, "I don't think the sound is coming from inside the pipe, but rather from somewhere else in the building with an open pipe!"

"Are you sure?"

"OF COURSE NOT! BUT THAT EXPLANATION IS LESS HORRIFIC THAN WHAT YOU SAID!"

"We should call Dr. Peralta and Dr. Ardith," I said and Paige nodded so we tried our best to find our way back to the control center.

I tried to remember how I got there since I knew if we left it up to Paige we'd both get lost on this floor. There was a slight problem though, I was so fixated on following the cry before that I paid little attention to the directions I was taking!

"Do you even know where you're going?" she asked, "I think we are going in circles! We passed by that chair two times now."

I tried to focus and recall as much as I could, but I wasn't making any progress at all. Thankfully Paige noticed Miss Cooper inside one of the rooms. Our faces lit up like light bulbs. Finally! We found someone!

We tried to call out to her but she was on the phone. We weren't meaning to eavesdrop but we overheard her conversation.

"... it's a Talent Agency sir, we relocated the survivors there… The two girls who just arrived? Yes, I am sure of it sir, they're the two girls you have been looking for. I already have one of them right where I want them, it's only a matter of time before I get the other."

Paige and I stopped in our tracks, we looked at each other in fear.

'Who is she talking to?!' I mouthed.

'How should I know?!' she replied and signaled, 'I have a bad feeling about this! Let's get out of here!'

I nodded and as we tried to get out of the room, the doors closed!

"I will have them both soon," Miss Cooper said to whoever it was she was talking to, "You need not worry, Sir. It won't be long now."

As we tried to escape I accidentally hit a table causing a snow globe to topple, fall, and shatter. My eyes widened in shock.

"Let me call you back Captain," Miss Cooper said before hanging up, "Who's there? Show yourself!"

I gulped and was shaking. I felt Paige tugging on my shirt so I quickly turned towards her and saw her pointing to an empty cabinet to our right. Since the entire room was dark we could make our way there and hide. Slowly, we crawled as quietly as we could. It helped that Miss Cooper was wearing noisy high heels so we knew when she was near. The sound of her footsteps echoed in the room and for a moment.

When we got there, we squeezed our way inside the cabinets and when she was looking in the other direction we shut the doors. The cabinet was wide, and it fit both of us but it wasn't tall, we had to bend our backs so much just so that we could fit inside. It was only when we were inside that we realized that we should've just run outside as quickly as we could and not shove our way into these tight spaces.

As the sound of her heels drew closer, I was panicking and trying to stay hidden. I was afraid, we were afraid. Paige was covering her mouth for fear of making a sudden noise and I was shaking, thinking of what to do in case we got caught or what to do after we escape from here.

"Penelope?"

From inside the cabinet, we heard the voice of Dr. Ardith.

"Ardith!" she exclaimed, "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be checking the server room near the cortex?"

"We should be asking you the same thing," this time, it was Dr. Peralta who spoke, "What are you doing here? And have you seen Paige and Lanz? We lost the two of them."

"Oh, the girl? I saw her," she sounded so casual. There was not a hint of suspicion in her voice, unless you heard what we did, that is, "I saw her when Lady Claymore and I switched floors, we finished checking our section of the first floor. The restroom was just what it was, a restroom. The boy however I haven't seen. To be completely honest with you, I haven't seen Lady Claymore for quite some time as well."

"Unbelievable!" Dr. Peralta exclaimed, "How could we lose three teenagers?!"

"Come on, they must be here somewhere," Dr. Ardith said before we heard various footsteps leave the room.

For a few seconds everything was quiet. For a while, we contemplated on whether or not we should leave the cabinet and after thinking about it for a good seven seconds we decided it was time to come out, being cooped up in that small room wasn't good for our backs.

When we got out, we looked around for any sign of Dr. Peralta, Dr. Ardith, and Miss Cooper, "The coast is clear!"

"What do we do?!" she asked me, "Should we tell them? We should tell them, right?"

In panic, I replied, "Why are you asking me?!"

"I'm asking for a second opinion! We should tell them about that suspicious phone call, right?!"

I didn't know what to do and thankfully I didn't have to answer her question because at that moment we heard the cry again.

Uwwaahhh! Uwwaahhh!

"Baby?" said Paige as she turned around after hearing it.

"I'm genuinely curious whether or not that cry is real and if it is, where is it coming from?! Hopefully, not from inside the pipes!"

"If you're really curious then help me look for the origin of the sound!"

"Right!"

We wandered back to the place of the pipes, "This is literally where it's coming from!"

"Sound can travel upwards," Paige explained and then turned towards me, "What's right below us?"

"I'm not sure, but from the floor plans Dr. Peralta and I saw earlier I think it's the theater thingy where they used to show kids some projects and explain stuff."

"The auditorium. Jelo and one of the nurses already checked that place out, they confirmed that nothing was there over the walkie-talkie a while ago."

"Then there really is a baby in the pipes?!"

"Calm down and let me think!" she exclaimed and wandered for a bit with me closely following from behind.

And then, I remembered something, "At a closed pipe end… Sound… Must bounce!"

Paige turned around and looked at me in shock, "What did you just say?"

"Sound must bounce at a closed pipe end!" I repeated, "Jelo randomly says stuff like that once in a while and every so often, I listen."

"Smart and helpful, but that means that the sound could be coming from anywhere!" said Paige.

"No wait, look! The sound isn't coming from all of them, but a specific one!" The two of us listened closely and I was right, the sound only came from one of the five pipes, the one at the furthest right.

Unlike the rest of the pipes that came from below, this one came from the right side of the wall. Thankfully, the wall was broken and we were able to see it.

"Lanz, look!" Paige called as she looked towards the direction of where the pipe was coming from. At the end of the circular hall was a restroom."

"Should we-"

"Definitely," I said, cutting her off and then followed her as she headed towards it.

"Do you think-"

I didn't have time to ask the complete question when she answered, "Probably."

The two of us went inside, "It looks… normal."

"Well, the one in Prasinos looked normal too," she said, "Let's see just how normal it is. Grab onto something,"

And so, I did. I held tightly to the sink and she held onto the nearest one from the lights, "Okay, here goes nothing."

Right then and there she flicked the switch.

Just when I thought nothing was happening, I heard something, like a click from behind the walls as if a mechanism had just been turned on. The door we came from closed and then shutting in front of it were doors of an elevator.

"We found it," I said, "Now what?"

"Uh, hold on tight and hope that the floor leads to that baby," she said and then turned to look at me, "And that there isn't a gigantic tree with infected people growing below us."

"Oh, alright. Now that you mentioned that it is a bit concerning."

As the elevator went down we realized how bad our decision to go down all alone with no back up or walkie-talkies was, "We probably should have thought this through!"

"We're Oh-for-Two on bad decisions!"

Then what felt like a long trip down was finally over. The elevator doors opened and revealed what we had been looking for this entire time, "The lab…"

Right in front of it was a gigantic tree, it was just like the one Paige and KJ were talking about. Right down to the last detail, "What am I even looking at?!"

Paige scoffed, "There really is one too here and it was growing just a few kilometers away from school."

Uwwaahhh! Uwwaahhh!

"Lanz!" Paige exclaimed.

"Yeah, I know!"

The sound was louder, we were in the right place. We ran around frantically looking for the baby making those cries. I looked through every place I could desperately.

"Come on, come on! Where are you?!"

"OVER HERE!"

I stopped running when I heard Paige yell and turned around to look for her. She was at the other corner of the level waving her hands at me, "I FOUND THE BABY!"

I breathed a sigh of relief and then fear and dread came over me again after a realization, THERE IS A BABY DOWN HERE! WHAT IS A BABY DOING DOWN HERE!

"I can't believe it," Paige said as soon as I got there, "Look! An actual baby! WHY IS THERE A BABY DOWN HERE?!"

"H-Hello? Is someone there?"

The two of us were surprised and caught off guard when we heard the voice of another person.

"Was I imagining things or did you hear that too?" she asked.

To which I replied, "I heard that too."

"H-Hello?"

"There it is again!" she exclaimed.

"Hello? H-Hello?"

"T-That sounds different from the first two," I said then looked around, "It's coming from there!"

As we went inside we jolted and fell to the floor as an infected woman surprised us as she desperately banged on the glass wall that divided the room.

Ggggrrrarrr!

"AHHHHHHH!" we screamed, causing the baby to cry louder.

"Please don't be frightened!" said the man at the other side of the wall with the woman, "It is only my wife. Forgive her for startling you, she has no control over her actions."

"H-Hello, s-sir," Paige greeted the man, "M-My name is Paige and this is my friend Lanz, and y-you are?"

"I'm Dr. Hartwell of Estrella laboratories, but you can call me Nathaniel dear, and this is my wife Apollonia. On the other side of the room is my brother Fr. Philip Hartwell."

The two of us turned to the other side of the room and found another glass wall and inside was Fr. Hartwell, "Good day to you both. Tell us, what brings two young people like you in a place like this."

"Hello, Father, We… We came here for answers," said Paige, "We were hoping this place could tell us what we want to know, a solution perhaps to what's going on."

"I'm afraid this place makes you ask more questions than provide answers my dear."

Then Mr. Nathaniel introduced us to the baby we'd been looking for the entire time, "Now that you've met my brother, let me introduce to you the newest member of our family. That little bundle of joy right there is our son, Conan."

"If you don't mind me asking, sir," said Paige, "What happened Mr. Nathaniel? What happened here? The outside world is a mess and your family… is inside glass walls and… infected."

"I want to tell you everything I know dear but I am afraid you and I don't have long," Mr. Nathaniel said.

"What do you mean, sir?" I asked.

"You see that timer?" asked. Fr. Hartwell

We turned to look at what he was pointing at and sure enough there was a clock behind us counting down and by the looks of it, we only had nine minutes and thirty seconds remaining. But remaining until what?

"Somebody activated activated the distress call and we have nine minutes left until Estrella's men get here," Mr. Nathaniel said, "Listen closely to what I am about to say. You are at ground zero. This is where everything began, where this madness started."

So we were right. I listened intently to what Mr. Nathaniel was saying because it was vital information, "Estrella's research and project with the Ophiocordyceps sinensis was going as planned until that one day. One of our scientists who was researching the fungus' spores made a breakthrough, but not the one we were hoping for. He said he found something in the bioengineered sample spore that we had been working on and that adding it to the plant prototype would be detrimental and could be fatal as the spore was now not only latching onto the soil like we had been working on but to various living creatures including us humans. He got into a fight about this with another member of the team and during their fight the two of them accidentally spilt the spore onto the plant. That day, this virus claimed its first two human victims."

"How long ago was this?" Paige asked.

"This all took place seven years ago."

"Seven?!" I exclaimed, "That means from this tree alone we have what, eight years before its spores go airborne!"

"I'm afraid so, but as long as the trees are inside their glass cages, the spores are secure inside," Mr. Nathaniel exclaimed, "You sound just like my brother when he learned about all this."

I don't think our reactions were surprising considering that we just found out about a deadly organism just a few feet away from us.

"After the fire, he looked for us tirelessly, and after searching for months he finally found us and this level of the lab. And just a few days after Conan was born too. I wanted him to take our boy out of here and have our sister raise him because…" Mr. Nathaniel scratched his hand and there I saw the same thing I saw on Thea's foot. A wound, specifically a bite mark in his case, that won't heal. He tried his best to compose himself but we could hear the sadness in his voice, "I can't be the one to raise him anymore, not without a cure for this."

"He was about to leave with Conan when my wife bit him, after that, he couldn't leave anymore. We feared that he would be too when he was born because my wife was pregnant when she got infected, but the boy was born healthy just over a month ago and as you can see, there is no trace of the virus in him."

"How long have you been down here?" I asked.

"A little over four months, in the other room you would see the other survivors of the fire, but you won't have much success talking to them for everyone except me has already advanced to the second stage which is why as much as we would love to raise Conan, we can't. My wife has already been infected for months and my brother has begun to enter the first stage of the virus. Thankfully before he did, he was able to baptize his nephew and my best friends, who are in the other room, were there for their godson."

Mr. Nathaniel looked up at the timer and then to his son, "At the desk just outside this room you will see files about the virus and an external hard drive that contains all the data I could put in about it."

"Beside it is an envelope," said Fr. Hartwell, "Inside is his baptismal certificate, I happen to have a few newly printed ones the day I found them, a few pictures of his father and I, and letters from me, his dad, and his godparents. Memories of us, his family. This way he'll remember us as he grows up under your care, his new family."

"W-What…" I said barely finishing the first word of the sentence I couldn't complete.

"Please take care of my nephew," Fr. Hartwell said earnestly before he started coughing up the same yellowish substance.

"You haven't got long!" Mr. Nathaniel exclaimed, "Take my son and go! Keep him safe! Go, now!"

With little time to react, we did as we were told. Paige grabbed the one-month-old from his makeshift crib while I rummaged the desk in front of the room for everything they mentioned. I went and told them I got everything and found Paige showing the child to his father and mother for the last time.

Holding back his tears, Mr. Nathaniel did his best to smile and tried to hold his son but because of the wall, he couldn't. He could only touch the glass in front of him, "You'll take care of him, won't you?"

"Of course! I'll take good care of him, I promise," Paige said.

Looking directly into his son's eyes he said, "Be a good boy, now, you hear me Conan? Always listen to your Mai Paige and Fran Lanz and don't make them worry, be brave and strong with a kind heart. We love you so much."

And at that moment alarms went off. As the lights of the level were slowly opening Fr. Hartwell said, "Someone turned on this level's generators!"

"And that could only mean one thing, they've already informed their personnel here that they're already in Valens!" Mr. Nathaniel exclaimed and then turned to us, "Go! Get as far away from here as possible, take my son and whoever is with you and leave!"

We nodded and ran as fast as we could back to the elevator. Conan was crying and crying, Paige kept on hushing him, trying to calm him down. I kept on looking back, making sure that they were behind me. When we got into the elevator I immediately hit the switch and activated the elevator.

"Shhh, shhh," Paige hushed him as the elevator went up, "It's okay, sweetie. It's okay, we've got you. No one's getting to you."

"Come on, come on!" I said, anxious for the elevator to open.

When the elevator doors opened we bolted. We ran as fast as we could and as carefully as we could because we weren't running alone, we had a baby with us!

"I know we shouldn't judge people but Miss Cooper was acting really suspicious. That phone call she was on with whoever this Captain was and the fact that we haven't seen KJ around at all makes me think that she's one of Estrella's goons! I mean, think about it!"

"Lanz, I think you do have a point. Right now, all the hints are pointing towards Miss Cooper being a goon but right now I am more concerned with getting back to where Dr. Ardith is right now! We have to warn them about her and that Estrella is coming!"

After running down the fire exit, we eventually reached the first floor and headed towards the entrance where we found Dr. Peralta, Dr. Ardith, and all our friends, minus KJ, in front. We wanted to get back to the agency before the sunset but it was already dark!

Jelo's face had an expression of relief at the sight of us, "There you a-"

I'm pretty sure Ethan did a double-take when he spotted us, Jelo didn't even finish the sentence he was saying!

"I would like to ask where the two of you have been but the more pressing question is WHERE DID THE BABY COME FROM?!" Dr. Peralta exclaimed.

"This is Conan," I explained, "We'll get into the details of things later but right now we need to get out of here Estrella's men are coming!"

"How do you know that?" Ethan asked without looking at me, he was fixated on the baby.

"We just do! Now get in the jeep!" Paige said and we all hurriedly entered the vehicle.

Dr. Peralta stepped on the gas and we were just leaving Estrella's compound when they began to ask questions, but we had some of our own.

"Now could you explain to us where Conan came from?!" Jelo exclaimed.

"Before we answer you guys, mind telling us where the others are?!" I said.

"Dr. Ardith took the others back to the agency," Dr. Peralta answered, "When you guys started disappearing we knew that something was wrong so we figured that we needed reinforcements."

"Oh, something was wrong alright!" I exclaimed, "Paige and I have reason to suspect that we have a mole!"

"What?!" said Jelo.

"We found the hidden level," I explained, "But everything was already going downhill before that, and fast!"

Everyone, except Paige who was focused on Conan, was listening attentively to what I had to say, even Dr. Peralta who was driving!

We told them everything, about how we found the secret level, the Hartwell's, about how this entire thing started almost a decade ago! And of course about Miss Cooper and her suspicious phone call to the Captain. Even the part where we got smushed inside that small cabinet!

"This is bad, this is bad, this is totally bad!" DJ said on repeat, "She was with KJ the entire time! Wait… DID YOU TWO FIND KJ?!"

"No, we didn't!" Paige exclaimed, frightening Conan so she had to calm him down again, "Sorry, sweetie!"

She then turned to DJ again and shouted in a whisper, "I was hoping you people had seen her!"

"I saw her in the car Ardith took," Dr. Peralta said, "She was with the rest of them. Cooper said she was dizzy and wanted to take a nap, but who knows the truth about that!"

"We have to get to the agency fast! Not only because we have to talk to Miss Cooper, but because we have to leave Valens immediately!" Dr. Peralta stated before stepping on the gas.

"CAREFUL, DOC!" Jelo exclaimed.

"THERE'S A BABY ON BOARD!" we all shouted causing Conan to cry again.

With the speed we were going, the agency was in view after thirty to thirty-five minutes. I was holding onto Jelo so tightly that he screamed begging me to loosen my grip on his arm multiple times, Ethan was treating this as if it were a roller coaster ride and so was DJ.

"Wait, doc, stop! Hit the brakes!" Paige shouted, making Dr. Peralta step on the brakes hard.

Ethan swung to the front and hit his head on the dashboard, "WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!"

"Look!" Paige exclaimed while staring in front of her with a frightened look.

Our heads turned to see what she was looking at and at that moment we realized why she had such a reaction. In front of us were men dressed in white armor, all armed, with various vehicles with the label Estrella Group.

"Why are they here?!" Jelo asked.

And then I remembered a detail I forgot to mention, "Miss Cooper! She talked about the agency on the phone!"

"And no one knows we moved here other than us," DJ stated, "Unless of course, Estrella has access to the satellites or something."

As we talked, we witnessed the men load people into buses. And right in front of us was Miss Cooper, talking to one of the armed men, seemingly giving them orders.

"Your suspicions aren't suspicions anymore, I guess," said Dr. Peralta.

Then we saw one of the men holding KJ, who was in shackles.

"KJ!" Paige exclaimed.

"What do we do now?!" I asked.

"We can't just let them take her! Who knows what they'll do to her!" DJ exclaimed.

"Calm down," said Ethan, "You know she's fully capable of handling herself, relax! There's nothing we can do right now that could actually be of help."

"Ethan is right," Dr. Peralta said, chiming in, "For now we retreat. We hide and use our heads to come up with a good plan. Right now our objectives are to keep you hidden, Paige. They're looking for the two of you, they won't leave Valens until they find you. And the other is to keep those files you got from Dr. Hartwell secure. We figure out what those files and that harddrive contains and we keep them safe."

"And you know, keep the baby safe," I said, cutting in, "Just a quick reminder in case anyone forgot that WE HAVE A BABY TO TAKE CARE OF! I mean, does anyone here know the first thing about taking care of babies?! How are we even going to protect the kid from the Inmourtis and from Estrella?!"

"Deep breaths Lanz, deep breaths," DJ said while demonstrating how to inhale and exhale. I know how to breathe you know!

Dr. Peralta looked so exhausted and lost, but tried to keep calm in front of us, "We'll figure this all out, Lanz. Trust that we will."

"You don't look too sure about that, doc," said Ethan.

"Oh, I'm not," Dr. Peralta confessed, "But we'll work something out."

Dr. Peralta slowly drove away trying to stay hidden from Estrella, the darkness of the night helped shroud our escape.

As Dr. Peralta hid us deep in the woods, all that we could hear was the crickets chirping, the cold wind blowing, and the melody of a lullaby that sent Conan into dreamland.