Chapter 149 Mother and son reunion

Chapter 149: Chapter 149 Mother and son reunion

As the president’s address continued in the main hall, Madison quietly followed behind the commander who had been ordered to bring in the suspects. Her body remained invisible as she moved through the dark hallway, keeping several steps between herself and the three men.

So far, everything was going smoothly.

Too smoothly.

The commander suddenly stopped.

Madison froze. She immediately slipped behind a nearby pillar and held her breath.

The commander wasn’t alone. Two other soldiers were walking with him, both armed and alert.

"We’re being followed," the commander said. His voice was low. "I can feel it."

Madison’s heart jumped into her throat.

The commander turned around and slowly looked through the hallway.

Madison pressed herself harder against the pillar.

Don’t move.

She could hear her own heartbeat pounding inside her chest.

The footsteps came closer. The commander walked slowly, his eyes scanning every corner.

Madison clenched her teeth. If he discovered her now, everything was over.

She watched his shadow approach the pillar. One more step. Then another.

The commander was just about to move around the pillar when a hand suddenly gripped his shoulder.

He stopped.

"Hey." The other soldier pulled him back. "The president is waiting for us. We shouldn’t waste any more time."

The commander glanced toward the hallway. "But I felt someone."

"We’ve checked everywhere." The soldier gestured toward the empty corridor. "There’s nobody here. Let’s just go."

The commander hesitated. For several seconds, Madison thought he was going to ignore the man’s warning and search anyway. Then he finally turned around.

"Fine."

The three men continued walking. Their footsteps gradually disappeared into the distance.

Madison remained behind the pillar. Her hand immediately went to her chest.

"That was scary as fuck," she whispered.

She had almost been caught.

But her son was in greater danger than she was. She couldn’t turn back now.

Madison stepped away from the pillar and continued down the hallway. The deeper she went, the darker the surroundings became. The elegant atmosphere of the main hall was completely gone. No chandeliers. No expensive clothes. No music. Nothing that resembled the festival happening above.

Instead, the hallway smelled damp and rotten.

Eventually, the three men reached the prison section. Madison stopped several feet behind them.

The smell hit her immediately. She covered her nose. "That’s disgusting." Her face twisted. "How is my baby surviving in a dumpster like this?"

The stench of rotten food, urine, feces, and something far worse filled the air. Madison had to force herself not to gag.

She looked around. The commander and his men were preparing to open the first door leading deeper into the cells.

Madison’s eyes narrowed. This was her chance. If she could distract them, she could get inside and find Thomas.

But another thought suddenly entered her mind.

How am I getting out?

She froze. She hadn’t thought that far ahead.

What she had just done was treason. If the president discovered that she had followed the commander into the prison and attacked his soldiers, she wouldn’t simply be questioned. She would be executed. Beheaded, just like the president had ordered for the suspects.

Madison swallowed. She hadn’t come here planning to die. She needed to save Thomas and get away. Somehow.

She looked toward the prison. The more she stared at it, the more convinced she became that the safe zone wasn’t what everyone believed it was.

This wasn’t a sanctuary. It was a cage.

The people inside were being protected from the outside world, but they were also being controlled. And judging from everything she had heard tonight, there was something much darker happening beneath the surface.

Her son might have discovered it. Perhaps that was why he had been taken. Perhaps he had tried to expose something.

Madison didn’t know. But she intended to find out.

She tightened her grip around the wooden stick she had picked up earlier.

The commander reached for the door. That was when Madison moved.

She quietly approached from behind. One step. Then another. The soldiers didn’t notice her.

Madison raised the stick. Then—BANG!

She swung it directly into the back of the first soldier’s skull. The man let out a painful yelp and collapsed forward.

The other two immediately spun around. "Who the hell—"

Madison didn’t give them time to finish. She swung again.

The stick slammed into one man’s face. He stumbled backward.

The commander reached for his weapon. "Woman! What are you doing here?!"

Madison attacked before he could pull it out. She swung the stick viciously. The wood struck his forehead. He staggered.

The third soldier tried to grab her. Madison twisted away and struck him across the side of his head.

The three men collapsed one after another.

Madison stood there breathing heavily. Her hands were shaking. She stared at them.

She couldn’t believe she had actually done that.

"Sorry," she muttered. Then she stepped over them. "Mom’s busy."

She reached the cell door and opened it.

The moment she entered, the smell became even worse. Madison’s face immediately twisted. "Oh, God." She covered her nose again.

The deeper she walked into the prison, the stronger the smell became. Rotten corpses. Urine. Feces. Sweat. Blood. Everything seemed to be mixed together in the air.

Madison nearly turned around. Then she heard something. Voices. Whispers. A familiar voice.

Her steps stopped. She listened carefully.

There was also the sound of someone grunting.

Madison’s heart began beating faster. Thomas.

She followed the voice. The sound became clearer. Then she heard him.

"They take awakened people and hand them over to a man popularly known as the Mad Scientist."

Madison stopped. She listened.

Thomas continued. "He opens them up and begins extracting the essence—the things that give awakened people their abilities."

Madison’s eyes widened.

"They take those properties and put them into different bodies to test whether they can survive." Thomas’s voice trembled slightly. "But it’s fatal."

He paused. "The new test subjects become brutally violent when those foreign properties enter their bodies. Their bodies reject the abilities, and most of them die horribly."

Madison felt a chill travel down her spine.

"And the process continues." Thomas continued speaking. "They keep doing it over and over until they manage to create another awakened human with the same abilities—someone capable of surviving the brutal world outside."

Madison stood completely still. Her blood ran cold.

Everything she had seen tonight suddenly connected. The creatures in the glass chamber. The scientist. The new humans. The president. The General’s death. The prison. All of it.

A second voice spoke. "Thomas, aren’t you supposed to keep this a secret?"

Madison recognized the name immediately. John Allen.

"The whole thing is supposed to be classified. It isn’t meant to leave this zone."

Thomas shrugged. "It doesn’t matter, does it?" His voice sounded exhausted. "Nobody is hearing us. It’s just you and me." He paused. "So we’re safe."

Footsteps suddenly echoed through the prison.

Thomas stopped talking.

Madison stepped out from the darkness. "Thomas."

His eyes widened. The expression on his face changed instantly. "Mom?"

Madison smiled. "My baby boy."

Thomas shot to his feet. He stumbled forward before rushing toward her. "How did you find me?"

Madison grabbed him and pulled him into a tight embrace.

For a moment, she forgot everything else. The president. The soldiers. The execution. The experiments. None of it mattered.

She had found her son.

She finally released him and looked around. Then her eyes landed on the other prisoner.

Madison froze.

The man sitting inside the cell looked almost like a corpse. His eyes were sunken. His face was gaunt. His skin was pale. His body looked like it had been starved for weeks.

Yet Madison knew that face. She had seen it before.

"Commander?"

The man’s eyes moved toward her. Recognition appeared in them. But he didn’t say anything. He simply looked away.

Madison stared at him in disbelief.

She remembered him. Back when the world had first begun collapsing, he had been one of the people who helped her and Ava escape a horde of zombies. He had protected them. He had sacrificed himself for other survivors. He had once been respected.

Then, suddenly, he had been branded dangerous. A traitor. And he disappeared.

Now he was here. Locked inside a filthy prison cell.

Madison’s blood ran cold.

After everything he did for them?

She looked at Thomas. Then she grabbed both of his shoulders.

"Is there something you’re not telling me?"

Thomas swallowed.

Madison’s voice became sharper. "If there is, tell me right now." She glanced toward the prison entrance. "They’re asking for you to be executed. They’re going to behead you."

Thomas’s throat moved. His expression changed. "Mom..."

"Don’t." Madison shook her head. "We don’t have time." She stared directly into his eyes. "If you know something that can save you, tell me."

Thomas trembled. His lips parted.

"It’s..." He looked toward John Allen. Then back at his mother.

Madison waited. She had never been more serious.

"Thomas

." Her voice softened slightly. "I’m listening."

Thomas took a shaky breath. Then he finally spoke.

"Mom..." His voice cracked. "I wasn’t the one who killed the General."

Madison’s eyes widened.

"It was someone else."