主妇丈夫倡导的户外生活

As Victoria heard footsteps, she sighed in relief. "Thank god. I still haven't dissected the hippocampus and—"

"Don't move." Roland's cold voice came.

She soon felt something cold and metallic pressed against her temple, and Victoria quickly raised up her hands.

Harker took out the flashlight he had grabbed from the maintenance man. He flashed it around with gritted teeth. "Where did you keep my mother, you fucking old bitch—"

He stopped on his tracks when he saw the cell. Inside was Josephine Jones, caged like an animal. She was hunched on a corner, hugging herself. Veins popped out from her face down to her neck, and even her arms and fingers.

She looked more bulked up than usual too. Harker almost dropped the flashlight from shock.

"Sweet mother of... What did you do to her!? Mom!" He rushed to the cell bars and called out.

"Son…." She mumbled with her eyes wide and unblinking.

Mina and Harker joined together to break down the metal bars that were keeping her there. It went down with a clang, and Harker embraced his mother's cold arms once again.

"I'm so sorry, Mom…. You've been kept here for so long. I should have caught up with you faster when you were kidnapped by these assholes." Harker told her, tears falling from his eyes.

Josephine Jones felt the hot tears over her shoulders, and felt something stirring in her. Something awakening. These strong emotions….

It was awakening something that had died in her.

"It's alright, son." She hugged him back. "Go ahead, let it all out. Just keep on crying."

Harker wiped his tears away, feeling so relieved. He helped her stand up, and turned to Victoria Seward, who was being held at gunpoint.

"I'm not going to let you experiment on my mom like she's some animal, much less some kind of panacea to cure all of humanity." His eyes were scorching with fury. "I want you to release all of them back to the cemetery where they belong. We have ended G.G. Faust's curse, and I want you to tell me everything about him and An Xin."

"What?" The old woman just blinked. "I don't know what you're talking about—"

"Don't lie! We know everything now. Are you also a Satanist like him?"

"Well, if you consider Satanism to be about the anti-theological belief and practices that focuses on the importance of the individual rather than some ancient ritual and book humans made thousands of years ago—"

"Don't be a smartass, Ma'am." Roland cocked the hammer of his revolver. "Just answer the question truthfully."

"I am answering truthfully. I don't know any G.G. Faust, An Xin or any Satanist cult. I just want to develop a way for humans to no longer be affected by illnesses and death."

Harker clenched his fist. "Then how did you know when the zombies will attack the hospital? How did you know about the incident at all?"

"Why shouldn't I?" Victoria said. "It's simple, really... But I have to show you something first. In my pocket."

"You're not fooling anyone here, Ma'am." Roland said.

But Harker felt that she did have something to show them. So he said. "Let her put one hand on the pocket and you keep hold of the other."

Roland did so, still pressing the gun to her head. Victoria took something in her pocket….

And inside was a small chip of sorts.

"What is this?" Harker said.

"It's a device that has the Global Positioning System. If at the present you rely on radio waves or electromagnetic fields to find locations of certain places, this will give you more accurate coordinates of your target worldwide." She explained.

"Soon, even your cellular phones and communicators will have these. It would be easier to find missing humans…. and non-humans."

She let Harker examine the chip. Was this small chip also implanted on his mother? But if she used this to find the zombies, then she should have implanted it before seeing them. And yet she claims to be unaware about the curse of G.G. Faust.

Harker too tujhe chip and—

It turned out that Victoria was holding else when she took out the chip. It was a small button and she gripped Harker's hand tightly so it would be pressed.

Sirens came not long after, and while they were distracted for a nanosecond, Victoria kicked Roland on the shin. She grabbed the gun as it fell from his hand. She quickly ran towards the stairs, and Harker and Mina followed after her.

"Don't come closer!" She fired shots towards them, but it was too dark and she was not skilled.

Still, the two had to dodge the bullets. It was easy enough for them to do so, but it did hit someone else….

"Ahck!" Josephine Jones exclaimed.

Harker turned and rushed to his mom. This bought Victoria some time and she was able to reach the top floor, where several bodyguards were waiting for her with shotguns.

"They're with the specimen! Some of you go and capture them, the rest stay here! It's dark there, so be careful not to shoot the main specimen on the head!" She ordered.

The bodyguards followed her instructions. However, she did not notice that one of them without a gun had followed the ones that headed downstairs.

Josephine Jones was hit where her lungs were. She was breathing raggedly, and Harker pressed at the wound.

"Don't worry, Mom! I-It'll heal soon! Let's get you out of here!"

"Mm….." She nodded, seeming to be in daze because of the pain.

Roland and Mina helped her up, while Harker prepared to face off with the guards waiting for them.

However, he heard several bodies collapse and fall to the floor. A familiar bald guy had knocked them out with a single karate chop on their carotid sinus and vagus nerve.

"Hola, mi amigos." Alejandro greeted with a wide grin. "Let's get out of here, vamo, vamo!"

They didn't need to be told thrice. Harker had wrapped his Mom's wound with his hair and carried her with it, and they escaped the underground laboratory. Harker hypnotized people and controlled their bodies with his scent, and Mina also broke their weapons with her claws.

But Victoria Seward was nowhere to be found.

"Where the hell is she!?" Harker continued to look around for that old lady. "I need to learn about how she found the zombies, damn it!"

He needed to get his answers from her. However….

The ground of the laboratory was starting to shake.

"It seems that she had pressed a button to self-destruct her own headquarters." Roland guessed. "We have to get out of here now! We'll look for her later."

"But—"

Mina placed a hand on his shoulder. "Roland's right. Think about getting us out and Mrs. Jones first. You can solve the mysteries later."

One thing Harker hated the most was leaving his most burning questions unanswered. As a very curious person, it's his one fatal hubris to always search for the truth. Still, the sake of those he cares about matters more than that….

And so he let this mystery go. For now.