Maria slumped on the floor with the wall behind her back. She still couldn’t believe it. Yet the floating blue window was right in front of her. She saw her name down to her middle name, which she hated. No one else knew that middle name except for her and her parents.

 

Her eyes wandered to the sight of this man who was deep in thought. He was the one who told her everything about what she was experiencing. She wondered how he could be so calm over an experience like this.

 

I’m impressed by her status. Her dexterity and stamina are way better than mine. She must have been working out a lot.

 

He took a peek at Maria who was still in a daze. Since she was sitting, he couldn’t see the evidence of her going to the gym. A hand reached out to Maria. She tilted her head and saw Jason’s nonchalant face.

 

“Come on, we've got to get going,” said Jason.

 

She grabbed on and he lifted her up to a stand. They went inside the room but not without a surprise.

 

“Oh,” Jason halted in front of the doorstep.

 

Eugene standing just beside the door entrance from the inside. Her eyes kept on staring at him.

 

“Are you not going to tell me?” she asked.

 

The man stood there confused.

 

Tell her what?

 

“Jason, I think she heard what you just told me,” Maria shined the light over Jason’s confusion.

 

It hit him as he acknowledged it.

 

Oh, that’s what she’s asking about.

 

“Well since you heard it already, now you know,” he patted her by the head and walked passed her.

 

Maria face-palmed herself, seeing how ignorant this man could be at times. Sometimes he was as sharp as a detective and sometimes ignorant like a buffoon. Eugene wasn't satisfied with how he responded. She blocked his path and with both her hands on her waist, she demanded to be treated properly.

 

“Tell me what’s going on oppa,” said Eugene.

 

Her voice was loud and clear, a few eyes in the room paid attention to her.

 

“We’re going out, simple as that,” said Jason.

 

It caught Eugene off guard, it wasn’t the answer she expected. Eugene’s father took the liberty of speaking out.

 

“Shouldn’t we stay here until the military arrives?”

 

“We can’t uncle, Gina needs a doctor. I can’t let her die,” said Jason.

 

His uncle fell silent as he too felt pity about Gina’s situation.

 

“Okay then, we won't’ be following you,” his uncle made a decision.

 

“But Dad,” Eugene was surprised by her dad’s decision.

 

Eugene’s dad waved his hand off at her daughter. A sign that he had made his decision.

 

“Wait, you’re not going to tell them?” Maria whispered beside Jason.

 

“Tell them what?” said Jason as he packed up the first aid kit.

 

“The airplane bombing?” she replied.

 

“Well, we don’t know if it’s going to happen. So why bother telling them? It will only make them more anxious,” said Jason.

 

Maria fell silent as his words do make sense. But she couldn’t rid this gut feeling she had. After what Jason told her about the blue window, this bad feeling came knocking on her conscience. It was just a simple thought, could the military handle these creatures?

 

---

 

Jason returned back to the event hall. The corpse of the ebony pterodactyl laid there on the floor. His cheap katana laid just beside the dead living fossil.

 

I need a better sword.

 

The shine of the ebony scales pulled his attention. He stroked his chin with a thought in mind. Maria arrived behind Jason while still staring at the blue screen. No matter how many times she looked at it, she never ceased to be amazed. A slight glance at Jason and his action made her thought it was odd.

 

“What are you doing?”

 

With the broken katana in his hand, Jason was trying to pluck the scale off the dead pterodactyl. But to no avail, he couldn’t even get one off of this damn pterodactyl.

 

“Damn it,” the sound of a broken katana clanged on the floor.

 

He thought of trying to use some part of the pterodactyl as a weapon or an armor. Like in a game using materials looted from dead corpses of animals for the sake of building a stronger item. But he forgot about one thing.

 

“Shit, what level is this dead bird,” said Jason.

 

Even after death, it’s defense was still unbreakable. Jason needs a sharper blade or in a sense more level to strengthened himself up. As of now, the level gap was too huge.

 

“Jason?”

 

“Fuh, it’s nothing,” he grabbed the katana and stood up once more.

 

He grabbed something behind his back and gave it to Maria.

 

“My gun,” said Maria.

 

“I forgot to give it back,” Jason walked passed her brushing her shoulder in a gentle manner. It wasn’t intentional.

 

“Are you going now?” asked Maria.

 

“Nope, but first thing first. We need a ride.”

 

---

 

After a heated debate, Maria managed to tag along. Eugene, on the other hand, was forced to stay behind. She was snooping around following them behind their back and the moment Jason found an elevator for the hotel staff, Eugene popped out in time. He wanted Maria to take her back to the room with her parents but it sort of backfire since now both of them stood inside the elevator.

 

The staff elevator can go down below the ground floor and Jason thought it would be a better choice compared to the hotel guest elevator. There would be less chance of the elevator door to suddenly open and meet with an unwanted reptilian. While inside the elevator, both of them didn’t open their mouth as silence enveloped them. Jason was still mad at Maria.

 

“You still mad at me?” she broke the silence.

 

But the man in question didn’t respond.

 

“I can take care of myself, Jason. I’m a grown woman with a bad... I mean I can handle things when it gets rough,” she stuttered in the middle but she ended it well.

 

Jason glanced at her finding something peculiar. From his memories, she wasn’t the type to stutter her words.

 

“So is the silent treatment still going on?” she asked.

 

DING...

 

They arrived at their destination. The elevator door opened and revealed the underground area. A storage area for housekeeping from bedsheets to new pillows. He took a peek and there was no one around. The place was deserted.

 

“Stay in the elevator,” said Jason.

 

“No, I’m not,” she talked back to him.

 

For some reason, he felt Maria was getting bossy, different from the days he dated her. He glanced at her with narrow eyes, much to his surprise. He saw firsthand, Maria holding on to a gun in a posture far from being an amateur.

 

Hunched slightly forward with her knees bent a bit and her arm extended straight. Her movement was natural as if it was second nature to her. Her line of sight leveled with the Glock she was holding. It got him thinking.

 

It can’t be, can it?

 

But he shrugged it off, seeing it was useless in their current position. Even if it was true, then did it even matter to him.

 

“Don’t leave my back,” he whispered.

 

“I won’t,” she replied.

 

He held the broken katana in his hand as both of them tip-toe around the storage facility. Jason thought of finding something useful to replace his broken katana but replacing a broken blade with a pillow was definitely a no go. They checked the rooms around the area, and it was empty. Not a soul in sight.

 

“Coast is clear,” said Maria as she checked the last room.

 

Seeing her in action made him think. From the way she moved and acted, Jason had a tough time ignoring this ex of hers who was mimicking a cop. Acting? Perhaps, but he of all people knew that acting wasn’t Maria's cup of tea.

 

“Jason?” she called out to him, breaking him from his daze.

 

“Let’s go to the parking lot,” he said as he led the way.

 

The sound of a door open rang in the air. Jason, winced as he would have preferred silence.

 

“Keep it quiet Jason,” Maria reprimanded him from the back.

 

There was no possible way to keep it silent, the door was made like that. He wanted to defend himself but he kept it to himself as he peeked out his head from the small gap between the door. From side to side, it was nothing but an empty long corridor. A few boxes stacked to the sides here and there but nothing worth mentioning. He noticed the lights kept blinking on and off much to his dismay.

 

This kind of place is definitely in one of those horror films.

 

Like a perfect set for a slasher to chase down their victim. But enough of that, the only killer here are those monsters lurking above ground.

 

“Let’s go,” a silent whisper.

 

Both walked out to the corridor. Jason noticed the green exit sign plastered over the huge door at the end of the corridor. A light jog as time was of the essence. Maria at the back was keeping watch for the rear with her Glock neatly grasped in her feminine hand.

 

They were just a few feet from the exit door but then the door opened up from the outside. Someone was coming, or something. For a slight second, Jason saw through the open gap of the two doors. A man with a bloody face with fear-stricken eyes.

 

“Run back,” he shouted.

 

Maria didn’t dawdle and made a run for it. He followed her from the back. Waiting around to see what was going on wasn’t in his plan of action.

 

The bloody man entered the corridor. As he saw the two people running away from him. He shouted to the top of his lungs.

 

“Help!”

 

Jason glanced for a second and saw what was coming from behind the bloody man. A shining silver luster that was hard not to see. A creature with two muscular legs covered in big silver scales. But what came next was the unexpected.

 

The huge single horn of that creature was shining for a brief second before it swung its head at the fleeing bloody man. Jason couldn’t see it, but the fleeing bloody man felt the brunt of it. Right in front of his very eyes, the bloody man was split into half as if a very sharp blade cut right through him. But it wasn’t the end.

 

Shit.

 

A quick glance to the front and he wasn’t confident enough to escape from this attack not until his subconscious mind reacted.

 

Five points to agility.

 

A new surge of strength swelling inside of him and he leaped in the air towards Maria. The woman who was running without looking back felt a force rammed over her as both she and Jason flung to the floor close to the wall of the corridor.

 

“Ugh, Jason?” her head ached a bit from the fall but as she glanced at Jason. She saw him staring at the floor.

 

“Maria, run,” he said after seeing what he saw.

 

The floor was split by a sharp invisible projectile.