Chapter XIV: A Thief in the Night
6 Oct 0752 KST
Incheon, South Korea
As the morning sun broke over the police station the scene outside had changed overnight. The diminishing smoke rising into the eastern sky was joined by fresh new towers of black smoke rising from the west. The roving bands of gangsters and scavengers were gone. In their place was the occasional lone mech patrolling. The sounds of shattered glass, screeching tires and shouting threats and obscenities were replaced by a low droning hum that eerily signaled the presence of one of the mechanical monstrosities. Inside the police station however much had remained the same as when the rescuers had gone to bed.
Tae-won and Williams met Ji-hye congregating with several other officers in the police station's breakroom. "If it isn't our honored guests. Have some OJ while it's still good." the officer whom they had rescued the previous night greeted them. The officer handed Williams an open carton of orange juice when he approached the table. Tae-won sat down across from the officer while Williams, still standing took a swig. "It's still good. Warm though." Williams commented. Tae-won declined to have some when Williams offered him the carton. "Do you have anything to eat around here?" asked Tae-won. "If you're hoping for donuts we're fresh out. I'm not one to fall into stereotypes but leave a box of donuts in a cop shop and they'll be gone before you can blink." joked the officer across from Tae-won. "There might be one of those miniature boxes of cereal we used to give the prisoners in one of those cupboards over there. Vong might have left some rancid kimchi in the fridge but I highly doubt you'll want to eat that bio-weapon. Sorry but a police station isn't quite a grocery store and we've had more people than usual in here the past day or so." the officer said. "It's ok." said Tae-won. Tae-won got up and looked around the cupboard and took out a little box of honey nut cheerios. Williams still found it weird seeing familiar products with the packaging all in Korean. All the while Ji-hye was too busy with the other officers to notice the two of them had come in. After Tae-won had finished his breakfast he looked over at Ji-hye and the other officers standing off to his left by another table and waited. After several minutes he impatiently interrupted. "Miss? Uh, you were going to show us to the munitions plant this morning right?" Tae-won asked. Ji-hye turned to him looking puzzled. "What?" she asked. "Oh, I was just curious about going to get more ammo." Tae-won replied. "That's a good idea. We're going to need more bullets for the station. A few of our patrols clashed with Dong Zhao's men last night right as the fireworks started going off on the islands." one of the officers that had been speaking to Ji-hye added. So much for moving the survivors to the islands thought Williams, having recollected that from what he had heard yesterday. It appeared that the population of Incheon had been slaughtered or worse in their hiding place last night. Seemed to fit the aliens' strategy of isolating large groups then going in for the kill that had been theorized by Major Yu when they were recruited by him for this task. Again Williams couldn't help but turn his thoughts back to his beloved back in Atlantic City. Jersey, the whole state was a pretty significant population center even if you didn't account for the NYC metro area and that whole region was so easy to isolate. All the aliens would have to do was take out a bridge here, a tunnel there, a few roads over yonder and there you have it, instant penned in humanity for the slaughter. No, he couldn't stand to think of it, yet it kept gnawing at him that Shantay would have perished. Dammit man, pull yourself together! Williams slapped himself in his own mind, oblivious to the conversation and goings on happening around him in the police station. He hated not knowing, but he had to turn that curse into a blessing to keep himself going. Everything was fine back home, so long as he didn't see anything that proved otherwise everything was fine.
While Williams was lost in thought and Tae-won and the officers were discussing plans and past events a loud commotion was heard out in the lobby. Ji-hye and the officers hastily crept to the door and went into the hall, ready to draw their guns if they were under attack. Tae-won followed behind them. He tapped Williams on the shoulder as he passed by. "Come on. We should check this out." Tae-won said. Williams came to his senses and followed Tae-won. The officers relaxed once they saw that it wasn't an attack but rather a woman crying and shouting frantically. The officers quickened their step and made it to the woman who was being held gently by one officer and comforted by another. "Ma'am, ma'am calm down." the officer holding her said. She flung herself back away from the officer. "My son! He's gone! Have they taken him? Where did he go!" Please! Find him!" she screamed, exhausting her breath each time. "We've got people looking through the station for her son." the officer that had been holding her turned and reported to Ji-hye. "They won't find him! The man in the black hood! He took him while I was sleeping. (sniffle) I woke up, only half awake and saw him talking to my son. I thought it was a dream but he is gone!" the woman cried. "Search everyone here and see if anyone has a black hood on them." Ji-hye told the two officers with her. Hearing all the noise upstairs the doctor they had rescued last night and several other civilians were awakened and ventured upstairs to see what the commotion was all about. The doctor looked startled as he was one of the first people to get searched. "Black and white handkerchief, does this look like the hood ma'am?" one of the officers asked the distraught woman as he held up a handkerchief. "No, not really. What I saw was all black, and a hood. Like what a medieval executioner would wear in one of those movies." the woman said, sobbing. "What's this all about?" asked the doctor. "She thinks her son was abducted last night." Ji-hye answered. "That's terrible. Have you already checked the station?" the doctor inquired. "We're checking now." Ji-hye replied. "I'll go help out then." the doctor said and went off to join in on the search. "Go get Inspector Vong and tell him to assemble a search party to scout out the area around the station. Her son couldn't have gotten far." Ji-hye told the other officer that was standing with the woman. He promptly went to fetch the inspector. "We'll find your son ma'am." Ji-hye assured the woman. She then turned about face to Tae-won and Williams. "We'll search along the route to the munitions plant. You ready to go?" Ji-hye told them. "How could she be thinking that now?" Williams wondered. "Ma'am we can get bullets later. We've got to focus on finding her son first." Williams spoke up. "We need those bullets. If Dong Zhao or worse one of those mecha-things storms our castle here we don't want to come up six rounds shy. We'll comb every nook and cranny on our way there, I promise. We've got another crew heading out to look in the other directions. If he's still missing when we get back we will join in on the search. We will find him." Ji-hye insisted, almost as if she was trying hard to justify her priorities to herself more than to everyone else in the building. Inspector Vong, four officers and seven civilian volunteers came from down the hall just as Ji-hye had finished explaining her motives to Williams and the boy's mother. "We'll fan out around the station in groups of three and four. I overheard you talking about heading to the munitions plant so you'll be taking the north of the station. I'll take the south and the other two groups will fan out to the east and west." Vong informed Ji-hye before the groups broke up and dispersed. "Just wait here Ma'am. We'll be back with your boy." Ji-hye said before leading Williams and Tae-won to the weapons locker in order to arm them for their trip. The woman nodded, her sobbing more under control though inside she was still devastated. After retrieving Tae-won's rifle and Williams' shotgun they returned to the main lobby where they were met by two other officers. The woman "We've searched the whole station. The kid's nowhere to be found." one of the officers told her. "Ok. Go downstairs and ask for any more volunteers that would be willing to search around outside to find the boy. We'll be back as soon as possible to help." Ji-hye told them. The officers went downstairs and Ji-hye, Tae-won and Williams went into the garage to take the jeep to expedite their search. It would've been helpful if they had a functioning police cruiser as it could carry more ammo back with them but this was the hand they were dealt. As they drove out of the garage Ji-hye was frustrated with herself and the decision she had made. She couldn't help but feel bad for seemingly blowing off that woman. Williams had a good heart, and he was right on any normal day saving that kid would come first. This wasn't a normal day though. It was a hard choice, either the boy or risk the entire station. She had to side with the greater number. Cold hard numbers, that was all there was to it. They drove out onto the road and made their way north in the direction of the munitions plant while the other officers and volunteers combed the area on foot.