With the two guards following close behind, Ridge quickly sent out yet another message, this time urging every single person within the base to keep an eye out for a commander's beck. Other than that, he also quickly went to the armory and grabbed the flamethrower just in case.
Whilst there, he grabbed two more stored plasma rifles and carried them with him to the cafeteria where a good number of soldiers were.
"Need two more soldiers to come with me," he continued, "Commander Becke, who had been infected, has managed to escape his imprisonment and, in the process, killed Dr. Lind. So please remain vigilant at all times and report any clues you may find immediately."
Two volunteers had come up and grabbed the rifles that Ridge tossed their way before the group of five exited the cafeteria and continued searching.
Scouring everything, the first thing Ridge did was go to each gate of the base. They had three in total. One in the north, the east, and the final gate in the south. There was no gate in the west since that way simply led out to more trees and the body of water that was scouted early on.
At each gate, he had two guards permanently stationed as soon as the wall was built. Ridge had wanted to make sure that these points were always defended, and with this type of situation, it was perfect. If anyone had left, they would know. The only other way was simply jumping down from the wall, but even that is conspicuous and would likely lead to more injuries for Becke, not to mention they would notice some sort of markings on the ground where he would have landed.
Unfortunately, visiting each gate one after the other led to no results. The guards at all three had reported no activity of people going in or out within the past hour or so, which was when the first rotation of guards had begun their shift.
He wasn't too surprised by the results when asking the southern gate, since it was the busiest section of the base, what with all the new residential housing as well as it leading to the mining outpost, but he wouldn't be telling the truth if he said he wasn't expecting at least a clue.
Once he finished with the gates, he simply let them know the situation in case they hadn't read their messages yet and moved on to the new houses.
Although it was technically a breach of privacy within their new homes, any soldier who was still inside when Ridge entered understood immediately and didn't complain.
Searching all fourteen also led to no results, so he continued his search, from the houses to the laboratory and finally to the main building once more. This went on for at least another hour before Ridge sat down at the cafeteria and called off the soldiers following him.
Yayha had at some point joined him at the table and tsked his tongue before speaking, "Looks like there are no results on your end either."
"Mm, we searched all over the base and even asked the guards at the gates. Nothing." He said while rubbing his chin in thought.
Tapping on the table slowly, Yayha also began to think in silence. Finally, after a good minute or two, Ridge broke the silence.
"He has to be in this base still; in fact, I'm thinking he's likely still here in the main building, probably waiting till it's dark to make his escape. Maybe even trying to hash out a quick plan to sabotage and distract us while he attempts an escape."
"Could be; I just don't quite understand where he would be hidden. After all, the main building only has the armory, the cafeteria, the jail room, which we thoroughly checked, and the two now-empty sleeping quarters," Yayha agreed, though not without questioning their inability to find him.
"I don't know at this point; just have the soldiers continue looking. I'll help arrange the funeral for Lind; the loss of a scientist is especially heavy, so when and if anyone manages to spot him, don't hesitate to shoot him down," Ridge said sternly before walking off.
As he walked off and left the main building, Ridge made his way to the walls. He had forgotten to check for marks on the outer perimeter while they were searching the first time around.
The ground was completely metal within the base, so Becke couldn't have dug himself underground somehow. The vents within the main building also weren't large enough for a body of any size to fit, and they didn't even lead outside, so he would still be stuck in the building even if he went that route.
While these thoughts continuously raced through his mind as he ascended the wall, he noticed something off. There were marks on the ground.
Now, on the wall, he bent down to examine it, and his face changed quickly. It was blood; the trail continued a bit further until it got to a section of the wall that apparently hadn't been patrolled yet, because there was even more blood. Not enough that it would be noticeable from a distance, but enough to know that Becke had dragged his body over it for sure.
Looking down, he saw an indent in the foliage just below it with some more of that blood. Smacking his head for not checking this, Ridge opened his wrist panel to mass message everyone.
'Lockdown is lifted; Becke has escaped; however, remain vigilant at all times'
Sending it, he then pulled up Yayha and sent him a personal message.
'Found traces on the wall, and then some on the foliage just below it; he clearly jumped and ran off into the forest. Looks like we just weren't paying attention.'
Yayha, who had received both messages, shook his head in disbelief and called off the soldiers who were just about to start another mass search of the main building.
Some time later, Hopi had joined Ridge on the wall alongside a few others, including George, Caroline, and Yayha, and she tested the blood.
Beeping sounds from her device came back, and reading the results, she said loudly enough for the small crow to hear, "No results from the blood, which means it's definitely Becke; after all, he was in the midst of transforming, so it makes sense his blood is no longer, well, the original Becke's."
She repeated this same test on the foliage just outside the wall and got the same readings. Ridge, who was with her, simply nodded and spoke to the group as well, "We'll just have the soldiers on the wall and gates keep a close watch on our surroundings for now. Since he's no longer within the base and isn't a current threat, we will have the funeral for our friend today," he said solemnly.
The others didn't disagree, and so the group returned to the base and gathered up the entire crew.
Like the first funeral they had for the two dead soldiers, Ridge spoke some words of encouragement and listed out her contributions to the base; then he had some others, like Yayha and Caroline, speak in remembrance of Lind.
Finally, to finish it off, he took his flamethrower and cremated her body, letting her ashes spread into the wind. The third tombstone was erected, and everyone sat in silence for a good while before they soon left to get back to work.
Ridge remained this time till he was the last person left. Looking down, he let out a sigh and returned to work as well.
As much as he would have liked to have held her funeral the day after the incident, he knew they didn't have an actual cold storage for her body, so there was no point in delaying it. He would avenge her in compensation when the time came.
The next two days were a blur for Ridge, cleaning up the jail room, moving Lind's stuff out, and also having talks with Caroline about the plans for the upcoming greenhouses.
At some point during these two days, the new seeds that Hopi had researched were planted, and it was also during this time that she approached him with a proposition.
"Sir, I have an idea, and I think it would work; just to be specific, it's concerning the power grid," she said while walking up to him in the cafeteria, where many of these talks seem to happen.
"Okay, let's hear it," He replied after swallowing some food.
"I think it's completely plausible to use the large crystal we currently have to lighten the burden on our current power grid, which is currently just the solar panels. The heat naturally generated by the crystals' radioactive decay is converted into electricity and fed into a basic distribution network of wiring, which should last around ten months. This crystal generator, so to speak, gives us more than enough power to take the time to upgrade our old system with something more sustainable and also expands the capacity for more greenhouses."
He didn't understand the process too much, but Ridge knew this wasn't actually a bad idea. With the current power grid, it was amazing enough as it is that they could sustain their current usage with just solar panels.