Chapter 23: Chapter 23

CHAPTER 23

THE NEXT DAY

Pulse who was lying on one of the beds in the emergency unit slowly opened his eyes. Looking around it drawn to him that he was somewhere unfamiliar. Trying to sit up, he felt a hand on his shoulder, pulling him back to lie down. Looking up, he was shocked on who he saw.

“ John” He called faintly to be sure he wasn’t hallucinating.

“ Dude” John called back.

" You’re awake” He chuckled in happiness seeing that his best friend was alive and awake. Without thinking twice, he hugged him and Pulse’s body stiffened in shock.

So he wasn’t hallucinating….. it is true, John is actually hugging him.

John pulled out from the hug chuckling so as to prevent the tears of happiness threatening to fall.

“ John is this really you?” Pulse asked as he let his tears slip down his cheeks. He wasn’t just happy….he was overjoyed that his best friend was before him after all these years.

“ Yes” John nodded to his question.

“ Tell me dude, where have you been all these years, huh? For once I thought you were dead” He asked sniffing back his tears.

“ I can’t really recall what happened but all I knew was that when I woke up, I saw myself in the Sentinels headquarters and…I don’t know what they did to me” Pulse replied gently sitting up.

“ They saved your life and took control over you. But not anymore” John said and Pulse pulled him to another hug.

“ I’ve missed you so much buddy, I thought I would never see you again” He mumbled.

“ Even I thought I won’t see you again” John replied, patting his back. Pulse pulled out from the hug.

“ Anyways dude, tell me….where is this place?” He sniffed, wiping his tears.

“ Did I forget to tell you?” John chuckled.

“ I did it dude, I finally set up a home for more than a hundred mutants, I fulfilled our dream…. Welcome to the Underground Pulse” John announced, making Pulse’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“ Really bro?” He asked and John nodded.

“ Wow!” He mouthed in awe looking around.

“ I can’t believe this” He chuckled happily.

“ Too bad I wasn’t there to help you” He mumbled sadly.

“ Com’on buddy, it was totally not your fault. I knew if you were here…we would have done it together” John assured and a smile formed on Pulse’s lips.

“ Thanks bro” He smiled at John. A slight cough interrupted the both of them, making them turn towards the door only to see Eclipse, Polaris, Blink and Ben.

“ Can we come in now?” Eclipse asked on behalf of all of them.

“ Sure guys, come on in” John smiled and they all complied. Pulse raised a brow at them in confusion. John noticed so he spoke up.

“ Oh Pulse, meet some of my friends; Blink, Polaris, Eclipse and Ben” He introduced making Pulse mouth an ‘oh’.

“ Nice to meet you all” He smiled at them.

“ Nice to meet you too” Eclipse greeted back.

“ And we’re also glad to see that you’re awake. Welcome to the Underground…….

×. ×. ×

A knock came on John’s door snapping him out of his thoughts.

“ Come in” He ushered and his door knob twisted revealing the person. Seeing Blink standing at the door, John’s heart skipped in happiness. A smile formed in his lips immediately.

Truth be told, he have missed Blink a lot. For all these few days she has been avoiding him made him swore never to kiss her again if it would make her run away from him.

Blink too was missing him which was why she decided to go talk to him. To her, it felt like it has been ages since they last did that.

“ Hey” She said breaking the long stare between them.

“ You’re here….Is there a problem?” John tried acting cool whilst trying to calm his heart which was beating hard against his chest.

“ Erm…not really. Just that I noticed something lately” Blink replied, stepping in fully.

“ Erm…ok. What happened?” John asked standing from his bed and approaching her.

“ Are you ok?” Blink’s question caught him off track.

“ Why the sudden question?” He couldn’t help but ask.

“ Lately I’ve observed that you look restless…like as if something is bothering you” Blink replied and John’s lips parted in shock.

“ How was she able to notice that despite how hard I tried hiding it?” He questioned himself.

Blink was right, something is bothering him but he doesn’t want anyone to know about it.

“ Are you ok?” Blink asked again snapping him out of his thoughts.

“ Erm….yeah I’m ok” He chuckled nervously making Blink raise a brow at him.

“ You’re lying john” She said, folding her arms.

“ I’m not…seriously I’m not…I’m ok” John tried not to shutter.

“ Are you sure?” Blink asked not buying what he said and John nodded.

“ But why do I feel like you’re lying right now?” She glared at him suspiciously.

“ I’m ok Blink, you don’t need to worry. Maybe I was stressed out because of Pulse but I’m ok now” John lied and Blink let out a sigh.

“ Fine, if you say so” She finally gave in.

“ I trust you won’t hide anything from me and I hope my trust won’t be shattered” Blink smiled at him. A sting of pain and guilt struck John’s heart knowing full well he was lying to her.

“ I’ll get going then. You can call if you need anything” Blink added before leaving. John let out a deep sad sigh.

“ I’m sorry I lied to you Blink. I just don’t want you to worry” He muttered. Just then Polaris, Eclipse, Ben, Hudson, Alvara and Maverick entered his room.

“ You called us” Polaris said snapping him out.

“ Yeah” He mouthed absentmindedly.

“ Are you ok John?” Alvara asked on noticing how worried he looked.

“ Not really guys” John sighed sadly.

“ What happened?” Ben asked.

“ We’re…. we’re out of funds guys” John dropped the bomb.

“ What?!” Everyone exclaimed in shock.

“ Since when?” Eclipse asked.

“ Since the past 5 days” John replied.

“ Why didn’t you tell us about it?” Ben asked.

“ When Jayden informed me about it, I thought I could handle it myself but I guess I couldn’t”

“ Is that serious?” Polaris couldn’t help but ask.

“ The money at hand now won’t be enough to feed everyone for up to two days” John answered.

“ Fuck it is serious” Polaris cursed.

“ I don’t know what to do guys. All our accounts have been frozen by the Sentinels and I’m out of savings”

“ Even I, I’m out of savings” Eclipse sighed.

“ Erm…Ben, what about you? You’re account is still on, right?” Maverick asked.

“ It was… not until 3 days ago, it was frozen and I seriously don’t have any savings” Ben replied.

“ This is complicated Mehn” Hudson groaned slightly and everyone let out a deep sigh.

“ I can help” Alvara spoke up and everyone turned to her.

“ How?” Polaris raised a brow at her.

“ Well…I’ve been saving for long now plus my Mom…she can also help” Alvara offered.

“ But doesn’t that mean you have to go to your house?” Eclipse inquired and Alvara nodded.

“ That’s risky and dangerous. I can’t let you take it”

“ We will be at more risk by the time everyone die out of hunger” Alvara snapped.

“ John, Alvara is right. We have no other option” Ben backed her up.

“ But she’s endangering her life by going home” John protested.

“ Then I’ll come with her….to be fair” Maverick offered and Hudson sent him a hard glare.

“ Is this guy crazy or what?” He scoffed inwardly.

“ I don’t need anyone to come with me, I can handle it myself” Alvara hissed.

“ It is important you go with someone…just in case” Eclipse said.

“ I can go with them too…just in case” Hudson offered immediately making Alvara glare at him.

“ Yeah that will be fair” Polaris chimed in. A smirk formed on Hudson’s lips knowing he was gonna ruin Alvara and Maverick’s special moment. At least that’s what he thought.

“ I said I don’t need anyone to come with me not especially you. Is that so hard to understand?!” Alvara half yelled at Hudson.

“ Hey don’t yell at me. I’m still coming along and nothing is changing that” Hudson snapped.

“ Hudson, Alvara, this is seriously not the right time to fight” Polaris groaned slightly.

“ It is decided Alvara…. Hudson and Maverick will be going with you” John concluded.

“ But I don’t…..

“ That’s final” He cut her off. Turning to Hudson, Alvara shot him a resentful glare before leaving.

On the other hand, Maverick too was glaring angrily at Hudson. Gradually, his once normal eyeballs turned bloody red as he glared at Hudson, his fist tightened.

Hudson turned to look at him and his eyeballs went back to normal as he forced a smile up his lips and Hudson smiled back.

Unknown to everyone, Blink was by the door eves dropping on their conversation. She felt a weird pain stab her heart just then.

“ How could you lie to me John.. why?” She scoffed in pain.

“ Didn’t you trust me enough to hide this from me?” She muttered as she clenched her jaws. Thinking about the whole thing, she quickly rushed downstairs, leaving the underground.

×. ×. ×

“ Ok. Are you guys ready?” John asked and the latter ( Hudson, Alvara and Maverick nodded).

“ Right. Make sure to inform us if anything goes wrong” John said.

“ Eclipse went to call Blink. She will portal you guys there since Maverick can’t portal more than two people” He added and just then Eclipse ran in.

“ John we have a problem” He rasped panting.

“ What happened?”

“ BLINK IS NO WHERE TO BE FOUND…….