CONNECT: Rise Of The Undead King

"How?"

Kante wondered, his brow furrowed. He sat on a wooden chair, one leg crossed, staring blankly at the near-dead old man who was strapped to a pole in front of him.

"I'm sure both sides failed to get him, and the cops had injured him until he passed out, so how the hell did he escape?"

He muttered to himself. Kante was at the edge of the road, watching the chaos he had tamed unfold with a proud expression; he had always been proud of himself.

His mission had been to get Uche and leave the pawns on the battlefield to eliminate each other. The only chance he had to get Uche was when the battle turned into close range, with nobody keeping an eye on him. But upon getting there he found nothing. Not even his body could be found — it was as if Uche had disappeared after being consumed by the flame, or the explosion had incinerated him.

"No, that alone could not kill a Connect, unless he's a weak Connect."

Even so, there should have been remnants of his body after the flame died down; he shouldn't have been reduced to ashes. There were other corpses there and their bodies hadn't turned to ash.

So Kante wondered how his pawn had escaped.

"Could it be that girl?"

He wondered.

What bothered him was that he had tried making a connection with him through his eye, but that feeling never came. He even played the music loud enough — the music that always connects them — but he couldn't feel anything.

"I'm sure he's not dead. Maybe something is blocking the connection now,"

Kante reassured himself.

---

Slowly, Uche opened his eyes. For a second everything was blurred, then he saw a pair of beautiful eyes staring down at him with a smile.

Startled, Uche quickly sprang up and threw a punch, but stopped himself immediately when he saw who it was.

"Mira,"

He said, surprised.

"Hey!" Mira said, smiling.

"How did I get here? Were you the one fighting the cops? How did you cause so much mess, and where is this?"

Uche asked, still shaken. He looked around; he seemed to be lying on a small white hospital bed. Several unfamiliar pieces of equipment stood around him, and the room itself seemed to have come alive.

Mira smiled, drew a chair closer to him, and sat down.

"Too many questions, which should I answer first."

She sipped a cup of coffee that stood on a table beside Uche and said.

"You're in my house, I brought you here, and no, I was not the one who ambush the cops and I didn't plan it either, I just got there, picked you up and leave, I didn't even fight anybody, you could see how easy it was."

Uche stared at her in bewilderment.

"You mean you weren't the one fighting the cops? Then who was?"

Mira gulped down the coffee, crossed her legs, and said,

"They are the organ traffickers who kidnapped you. I didn't know how they got the information that you were arrested, but I saw them loading weapons into the bus, and several men I'd never seen before came in. I decided to follow them. Thanks to their ambush, I was able to save you with ease."

"I told you not to fight them, but you stubbornly did. If it weren't for those people who attacked them, I wouldn't have been able to save you — they already knew what you are. Or did you not get the voicemail I sent?"

Mira asked, waiting for an explanation.

Uche adjusted his eyepatch and sat upright; it seemed Mira had gotten him a new one, since the previous had already turned to ash.

"I didn't have a choice. I willingly surrendered, as you said, and they cuffed me. But that bastard Snowflake — he was the one who set me up. He made a connection again, telling me he was sure the cops had gotten me by then. He framed me to get the cops off his back, so they would think they had arrested the invincible Snowflake. I was enraged, so I screamed."

"The cops, scared that I was trying to escape, shot me all at once, and that's when they realized what I was. But none of them knew the word 'Connect' or anything like that; I didn't hear them say it, so I had no choice but to fight them,"

Uche explained.

"That cunning bastard. I knew he did it after seeing your photo everywhere,"

Mira said.

"I think he was the one who sent the organ traffickers after the cops, because he said something about sending people after me — that it wouldn't be fun if the cops just took me away like that,"

Uche added.

"What is that bastard planning?"

Mira wondered, her expression distant.

"Do you think they're working together?" Uche asked, curious.

Mira shook her head.

"No, they're not working together. I think he has some plan for you. He used you to get the cops off his back, then he used the organ traffickers to save you back from the cops, for some reason. I think he was around the battlefield, waiting for the best opportunity to grab you, but luckily I got there before him."

Uche stared at her, deep in thought.

"I think he wants to use me for something. That's why he couldn't let the cops take me, nor could he let the organ traffickers get me."

"Yes — that bastard is too cunning. Only a few of the cops survived, while the organ traffickers were all killed, every one of them. Only the gods know what he's planning to do with you. But you should rest here; you can't go outside — your photo has been posted everywhere."

"I'm sure he will contact you again. We'll think of something before that. We can't let him get his way,"

Mira assured him.