Chapter 15 City of love in flames

Min Ying Li crouched on the roof of the skyscraper in Paris and was covered in splinters from the shots on the other side. She cursed in Chinese, fired back when the firing stopped, and grinned when she saw one fall out of the window. 

She crawled for cover and looked at the others on the roof, all Parisians, residents, tourists, business people. She herself was not one of them. 

She was a spy, or she had been, she didn't know. She had been sent here to carry out an assassination attempt on a company boss, she had done it and had been stranded here when the breakout took place. 

She thanked the state for the training, otherwise she wouldn't have lasted this long. If Paris had had a nice facade before the breakout, it had been a shithouse behind it, and with the breakout, people had dropped their covers and shown their true colors. Pure anarchy, the state had withdrawn and left the people to their own devices. 

The gangs had taken over the streets. Min herself had taken refuge in a ghetto of her compatriots, which had been overrun in the last few days. On the run, she had happened to see a helicopter. Just as she reached it, it took off, but the pilot threw her a radio. That was ten days ago, since then she had spoken to a man called Alex, supposedly a survivor from a community in the north. 

She didn't care, as long as she got out of here, and worst of all, she had become angry at his voice. She had told him everything, what it was like in Paris right now, where there were gangs and where there were still normals, where there were infected people and so on.... She had told him that the infected ruled the streets and the survivors moved around on the rooftops and in the cellars. The gangs, as snooty as they were, had hijacked police cars and were driving through the streets like kings. 

Alex had given her a time to leave. If she wanted to take others with her, she should let them know. She had done so, she had also told other survivors. Most had believed her, some hadn't and others had betrayed her to the bandits, so now she was in danger. Min looked at her watch.

"This isn't a joke," she muttered, she had no idea why she had been told to be on a rooftop. She began to doubt. Maybe she had imagined it all. 

Then a deep rumble sounded, getting louder and louder, then jets thundered overhead. Her ears hurt, the ground vibrated. She saw windows shatter. Then the world went snow-white for a moment and another thunderclap with a deep boom sounded and she was pushed to the ground, a wave of heat rolling over her. She didn't know how long, perhaps only seconds or minutes, she came to, stood up trembling and put her hand on the wall. 

At first she thought she had arrived in hell. Paris was burning, not only the buildings, but also the streets and the infected people in them. Her hearing kicked in again and she heard the crackling of the flames, the moans of the infected, the screams of the people in the flames. The heat pressed against her skin and the wind blew in her face. She was convinced she was in hell now, then she saw helicopters flying over the city, in front of her the building was being torn apart by gunfire, several attack helicopters whirred past, followed by a Blackhawk. Time stood still for her when she saw the open door with the people inside. She wasn't in hell, this was man-made.

She saw a bespectacled man, an agent, she recognized something like that, and he made no secret of the fact that he was pretending. Her eyes fell on the other one. He was sitting in the rear seat of the gunners who were shooting at the bandits. 

He was smoking a cigarette while giving orders and gazing into the flames, giving her goose bumps and a wave of excitement at the same time. Next to him sat another man in camouflage fatigues. His eyes were fixed on a tablet and he looked up when the other man nudged him and pointed at something. 

Min got scared, a feeling she hadn't had for a long time. The guy scared her and she didn't know why.

 Her radio beeped. She picked it up.

"Tell your people, the helicopter will be here soon," Alex's voice rang out. 

"What about the other survivors?" 

"Those who followed the instructions were rescued, the rest will burn to death."

At first she didn't understand what he meant, then her helicopter came to pick her up. When they took off, she realized. They had set the whole town on fire. She heard the pilots talking.

"Well, I guess that's it for Paris. It was a shithouse anyway."

" Yeah man, but you saw the pictures yourself at the briefing. 2 hordes in the city..."

They only now realized that Min was listening to them. 

" Ma'am, please sit down."

" What do you mean by horde?" Min asked.

"That's the term for very large groups of infected people, ma'am. Someone down there did a lot of shit to attract so many."

"I see, who was the guy in the helicopter behind the gunships." 

One of the pilots laughed. 

"Ed you owe me a bottle of gin. I told you he was going to look."

" Oh shit I'm telling you. It's become impossible to know where he'll turn up. Even the pilots aren't saying anything."

" Ahmen brother, do you remember the last night we had him in the plane. "

" Yeah man pure VIP flying rights." They both laughed.

" Um hello?" min didn't let up. 

" Oh sorry. It's our boss, ma'am."

" Is it hard to talk to him?"

They both laughed.

" Yes and no. He's always willing to talk to someone, but you have to catch him first. They don't call him the stray cat for nothing."

"Huh?"

"Rarely stays in one place for long, madam."

"But he has an office?"

" Yes, he does, it's wonderful that he's taken it."

" He had to, after we moved the troops there."

" What about the other guys?"

"Other guys? " Came from pilots.

" Yeah the guy in the camouflage suit, blond..."

" Oh shit, the boss really brought him in."

"Ahmen brother."

" Hello?"

" If that's who we think he is, miss, then you've seen the one who set fire to the city."

" Ha! That's a good one."

" That's right."

 Min gave up, the two of them couldn't give her any useful information. 

They were flown to Saint Anne. When they got off, she saw that the island was a huge military base. Like the others, she was taken to a building where she was examined and treated. She was then taken to a member of staff who took her details. She was surprised to see that it was a Chinese man. He laughed. 

"We try to keep the language barrier as low as possible. Many refugees are inhibited if they don't know the language."

Min sipped his coffee and looked at the employee. 

"Shall we start, the first question. Do they want to stay in the north block?"

Min blinked.

"What if I say no?" 

The employee smiled. 

" Since no one has said no yet, I can't say directly, but according to protocol. We've given them basic care and a wish point on the coast." 

" I want to stay, but I want to talk to the boss."

"Why?" 

Min smiled. " Well, my last employer hired me as a spy. So I want to know from the boss if I can do the same here."

He typed something on his tablet. 

"Okay, I've made a note of it. After this, a coworker will take her to him."

"That easy?"

He smiled. 

"You're just lucky he's on the island right now. So shall we get on with the rest of the data? Or do you have anything to contribute?"

"The most I can give is my employer's address, where my service record is."

"You can do that too."

He turned the tablet towards her and Min typed in a URL, amazed that it worked, and logged in. It loaded and her profile loaded, but she couldn't see any new messages or anything. Everything was unchanged since the last time she logged in before leaving. 

"Excellent" He picked up Tablet and pressed several buttons, he looked at her. 

"You don't need to worry. The personnel network is not connected to the intelligence data network. "

"Uh-huh..."

"Then we're ready, the employee is waiting for you outside." 

Min stood up and was led outside. Babsi was standing there in comfortable jeans, sweater and sneakers. She smiled. 

"Hello, where do we start? Let's get your new clothes first and then I'll show you where you can sleep."

"Um... okay." She followed her.

As they walked around the base, Min noticed that it was very busy. 

"There's always a lot going on here. If you have any questions, just ask."

"Is the northern block a dictatorship?" 

Babsi laughed.

"What makes you think that?"

" I don't know, it just seems that way to me."

" You're in the military sector. The North Block is run by a council. It's true that Alex is on the council. But he's more with the troops."

"Alex?" Min looked at her questioningly, remembering the name from the radio.

" Ah. Sorry. General Kaiser. His first name is Alex, actually Alexander."

" I see. And I saw two guys with your boss in the helicopter."

Babsi looked at them.

"Hhmm, describe them."

"One of them was wearing a suit and sunglasses."

"Ah, that's John, our secret agent."

" Hmm, an agent after all..."

Babsi grinned.

"And the second one?"

Min pondered.

 " Like facing certain death."

Babsi stopped and looked at her.

" What does that mean?"

" Well, that was a feeling ..." 

Babsi continued to look at her, reaching for her hand.

"We're taking a detour."

" Huh?"

She was pulled along, saw a cheerful woman in a poncho with a bundle in her arms.

"Why are we following her?"

"Because I want to see what she's doing here. The woman only appears in this sector when there's a fire."

" Well, Paris was on fire. "

Babsi didn't listen, Min was pulled along. They got to the loading zones, which surprised Min, because the crates were being driven down or hoisted up a ramp.

"What's this?"

Babsi pulled them in.

"Our supplies, something even my father is afraid of." 

Min saw the woman with the poncho running towards someone.

"Ha ..." Babsi grabbed Min tighter and pulled her along. With every step, fear began to rise inside her. Because when they arrived, she finally knew why. It was the guy she had seen. 

"Hey Babs? Why are you dragging someone with you?" came from him. His voice itself increased the fear in her. 

"I just wanted to see where your daughter was running around."

The one in the poncho looked at her. The guy put his hand on her face, which was still covered by the hood.

" That still doesn't explain why you're dragging someone along."

Babsi looked at Min, let go.

"Oops... a new girl who wants to see Alex. Supposedly an agent."

He looked to Min.

"The ones in the helicopter said they burned down the city..."

A grin appeared.

" Yeah, when you add it all up, yeah."

" Why? I mean..."

She couldn't read him like people usually did.

"Preparations for the recapture, Paris attracted the swarms from the region. Now they're gone and the bandits in the area are scared. "

"What about the survivors who died there because of you?" came from Babs.

"Oh, I sent my little girl and my bloodhounds to get them. Alex doesn't know yet."

"You..."

The guy patted Babs' head.

" Babs, you're always complaining. Yes. They were dragged out by force. That's what they live for. By my count, only bandits and criminals were burned there. Otherwise, another 12 thousand people were burned. "

Min froze.

"It was you... People have been disappearing all this time..." Babsi looked at her.

"What do you mean by that? "

"It was around the time I saw the first helicopters, more and more survivors were disappearing. I always thought it was the bandits or the infected. "

The guy lit a cigarette.

" And you say I always kill everyone, yet my rate is lower than the main forces. "

" You say that, what do you use to prove it?" came from Babsi.

" I see what you use, bullets, water, food, electricity, even how much you shit Babsi. Except for the fact that I have to clean up after you. "

" The ins ..." 

The guy looked at her.

" Yeah? The heroes have left, the civilians have been evacuated. To take care of them. I had to send two squads there to recover the bodies, take care of the infected, the survivors, the hermits, the resistance fighters and once all of Ireland. You came back to a cleansed area, with basic supplies. "

Min looked at Babsi, who remained silent. 

"Eh... what's she got in the bundle?" then came from her. The guy looked at Ponchotusse. She pushed back her hood and Min saw similarities between him and her. She took a violin out of the bundle.

"A violin..." She looked at Babsi. 

Babsi stared at her. 

" She can play something like that?" 

Poncho looked at Babsi. 

" No..." she looked at the guy.

He stroked her hair.

" Where did you get that from?" 

"From a bazaar, the guy traded it for rations and water. " 

" You traded it for rations and water?" Babsi asked.

" No, 3 crates of rations and 2 crates of water, he still had an attachment. " 

She handed it to him.

" What should I do with it?" 

" Playing, mom said that's what you played when you turned her on."

" That was a long time ago..." 

Min leans towards Babsi.

" Info..."

Babsi looked at her. 

" She's his daughter, his wife is here somewhere too."

" Uh-huh..."

The guy took the violin, looked at it, held it to his ear and plucked the strings. Min had never seen a musician do that before. 

He sat down, took the bow and stroked the strings. Min had expected her ears to hurt. Instead, she heard music that gave her goose bumps.

 Not because it was bad, but because she found it beautiful. She could feel the music spreading through her head. 

For a moment, as she looked at him, she thought she saw countless wings on him and a burning wreath of saints hovering over his head like a crown. The armored soldiers standing in the hall flickered as if they were made of energy, and the bride in the poncho, her skin shimmering golden.