Chapter 13: Somewhere Far from the Island – Officer Viren's Panic
Inside a fortified military operations base, buried under layers of steel and secrecy,
Officer Viren paced like a trapped animal across the cold concrete floor.
The blinking monitor on his desk still showed the last encrypted pulse —
the faint electronic signal from the Black Site.
Viren's throat was dry. His hands trembled as he wiped sweat from his forehead.
> "No, no, no… This wasn't supposed to happen...!"
Two days ago, he had secretly blocked all outgoing transmissions from the island.
He believed the Black Site had been destroyed, all witnesses buried.
He thought he had erased his mistake — permanently.
But now, that small, stubborn pulse...
That heartbeat from the void...
Proved someone — or something — still survived.
If the military discovered he had tampered with classified communications,
if the Secret Intelligence Wing even suspected betrayal...
Viren knew his fate.
There would be no court-martial. No trial.
> "Ghost Units don't do trials," he thought bitterly.
"They erase you like you never existed."
Panic churned his gut.
He needed to act fast —
send a warning to the enemy before anyone traced the signal or dug deeper.
Frantically, Viren opened a hidden communication channel —
a forbidden frequency he had used only once before to leak the Black Site's location.
He began typing:
> "Island not fully neutralized. Survivors detected. Immediate secondary strike needed. Risk of exposure critical."
But just as he was about to encrypt and send it—
BZZT — BZZT — BZZT!
His internal communicator buzzed harshly.
An urgent priority call flashed on his screen:
Commander Abdul – High Priority Meeting Request.
Viren froze.
His blood ran cold.
> "Abdul...?"
"Why now?"
Commander Abdul, the head of the Black Site operations himself,
had summoned every high-ranking officer to an emergency meeting.
Viren's mind spiraled into terror.
> "Did they find out?"
"Did someone trace the blocked signals?"
"Am I already exposed?!"
His hands hovered over the keyboard, unsure whether to complete the betrayal or delete everything.
Every second felt like a ticking time bomb inside his skull.
He had no choice.
If he refused the meeting — if he acted even slightly suspicious — it would confirm guilt immediately.
Heart pounding, Viren wiped the panic from his face, straightened his uniform, and hurried toward the command room.
But inside him, a war was raging.
He needed to find another way to inform the enemy.
Fast.
Before Abdul — or worse, the intelligence unit — discovered the survivors…
and his role in the treason.