Yumiel climbs into the shopping cart and rolls herself up in the duvets and sheets until she's almost suffocating.
« You good, Yumiel? »
« Yeah, yeah. »
Jack pushed the cart toward a light source to check that Yumiel wasn't burning.
« Do you feel anything? You're in direct sunlight right now. »
« Nah, nah, I'm fine. »
Jack grabbed the cart and headed for the exit, crossing areas of light.
« If there's anything at all, you tell me, Yumiel. »
Once outside, Poppy was right behind Jack, following closely. The two of them started walking under the rising sun toward the house.
« Jack, how long do you think it'll take to get there? » Poppy asked.
Walking calmly to keep a pace similar to Poppy's.
« I'd say about thirty minutes. »
Poppy simply followed Jack, asking him a thousand and one questions.
« So what's it like being a monster? »
« It's fine, I guess. »
« But then, since you're a zombie, you can't die of old age, right? »
« Maybe. »
« And so, could I become like you too? I don't want to be weak anymore and get pushed around, I want to be strong, I want to— » Suddenly Yumiel cut her off.
« Is she ever going to shut up, Pocahontas. I've never heard a human this annoying. » Yumiel's voice was muffled by all the layers she was wrapped in.
Poppy looked shocked. « You're saying that because I'm mixed-race? »
Neither Yumiel nor Jack answered, simply moving forward. They were now not very far from the house. For almost the entire walk, Poppy didn't stop talking.
Yumiel was about to snap just a few minutes from the house. Fortunately, Jack knew Yumiel wasn't patient and calmed things down before they arrived.
« I think that's enough questions, Poppy. We're almost home. »
Arriving in front of the house, Jack went up the steps with the cart, then looked for the house key, but couldn't find it.
« Uh, Yumiel, I think we've got a problem. »
« What, Pocahontas is dead? Finally! »
« Uh no haha, I've, let's say, lost the house keys. Could you do like at Andrew's place and open the door? »
« Ah shit, I was expecting good news. No problem, it happens, let me handle it. »
Jack positioned the cart toward the lock. Yumiel struggled to stick her head out on the side of the lock, still shielded. Out of the sun, she drew blood from her hand and directed it toward the lock, but suddenly her blood evaporated and burned as it touched a ray of sunlight hitting the lock.
« Ah shit, Jack, can you make some shade over the lock? My blood burns in the sun, it completely destroys it. »
Jack shaded it and she tried again. This time everything went well, crystallizing the key and turning it, thus opening the door.
On the other side of the door, Marie was standing right in front of it, still pointing her Colt 45 at the door, crying softly. Jack and Poppy entered the hall with the cart, closing the door behind them. Marie didn't see Yumiel and began crying frantically.
Then Yumiel came out of the cart. « Wow, finally, I couldn't take suffocating in there anymore. »
Marie saw Yumiel and threw herself at her, hugging her as tightly as she could, crying against her. Yumiel struggled a bit, wanting to hug Marie back, before simply running her hand through her hair, slowly stroking her head.
Jack, standing nearby, glanced at Marie, then looked at Yumiel. His gaze was a mix of pity, weakness, understanding, and regret. Yumiel caught his look clearly and answered it with a cold stare.
Yumiel lifted Marie's head, wiping away her tears.
« Let's go eat. »
Marie ran to the kitchen, sat at the table, and waited.
« Pocahontas, go make her something to eat. »
Poppy wanted to explode with rage, but Jack's cold, rational look told her: "Be careful." Poppy obeyed and went to cook.
Jack went off to isolate himself in the bedroom with Yumiel. In the bedroom, Jack kept digging, this time with real equipment he had recovered. Yumiel, for her part, was lying on her bed, looking at her notebook, searching for new ideas to strengthen her power. Tired, finding nothing, Yumiel sighed, then went on the PC to look for news. And suddenly—
« OH FUCKING HOLY SHIT JACK COME LOOK AT THIS! »
Jack came over to Yumiel and then saw on the PC: Important announcement from the Coalition of the New World.
A massive full web page describing what the Coalition of the New World was.
: The Coalition of the New World.
And the advent of humanity. Almost all countries in the world have agreed to join it in order to reform and structure new rules, providing the necessary information to everyone. Please refer below to the new world law established by the Coalition of the New World.
Yumiel scrolled down with the mouse, clicking on the new legal text linked to the recent brutal changes.
: The Coalition of the New World.
These new legal texts are valid and apply to all of humanity so that it may prosper. They explain the changes caused in the world as well as the solution, in order to return to a life of peace.
Yumiel frantically scrolled down.
: explanation
For a reason unknown, on September 25 at midnight, millions of people transformed or obtained abilities. Global panic was born, and some countries are still in a state of anarchy. In these hard times, countries around the world united to recreate laws, and thus the Coalition of the New World was born.
« Yeah, great, what kind of bullshit are they going to feed us? »
: information
This chaos is caused by the Awakened. The Awakened is the official name for people possessing powers. However, there are two types of Awakened.
: Awakened. A person possessing supernatural abilities or abnormal power causing only very few problems; their power relies on mastery and learning in order to improve and costs, for almost all of them, no additional resources.
: monsters. Second category: people who do not hesitate to kill to become stronger, or even to live. Scourge of the world, this category is the one that plunged the world into chaos. In response, the Coalition of the New World has opened a special brigade called the Seraphs, composed solely of people with powers or abilities who wish to fight the evil spreading across the world, whether linked to monsters or Awakened.
« Nonsense, so monsters are automatically evil! »
: Law and regulations
Any person seen helping a monster, or an Awakened recognized as guilty, will be subject to a fair trial that may result in death.
« Hahahaha, the government has completely snapped, they don't even recognize us as living beings anymore, just as parasites to be eliminated. »
Yumiel skimmed through the article quickly; she had understood where the coalition was going with this. She went straight to the last announcement she found interesting.
: controlled zones
Here we will show you unstable countries that have fallen under the control of monsters and malicious Awakened. For this we will use a color code.
: yellow: countries on the verge of being under control, still be cautious.
: orange: dangerous countries under the control of monsters or malicious Awakened.
: red: completely controlled and ruled by monsters or malicious Awakened.
Here you will find the list of countries: countries not listed = partially secured countries.
Yumiel scrolled down the long list, moving from yellow to orange and then to red, finding London among them.