"How far are we?", Elena asked.

"Just 3 blocks away.", I replied.

We arrived at the location that was written on the letter my aunt gave me. Many questions flooded my mind. "What did my father leave for me?" "What does he look like?", endless questions about my father ran around in my mind. "Stop here.", I instructed Elena and she stopped the car.

We stepped out of the car as Marina and Ethan arrived in their behind us. They got out and followed. I looked at the house. It looked normal considering how ruined this world had become. I broke open the door handle with the hilt of my sword and opened it. Inside the house the furniture was still intact but dusty. I read the letter and went into the living room, moving the couch to find a small fake wooden tile. I removed it and found 2 tapes there. I wiped the tape and put it in a DVD player next to the TV.

"I-Is th-is thing on?", A man stood, facing the camera. He was wearing a lab coat with the SKYTECK logo and was alone in the lab. At first I couldn't believe it. It was my father. He looked like an older version of myself with brown hair. 

"Good, it's on... To anyone watching this. I think SKYTECH is hiding something.", he said, his voice sounding scared. "The manager sent me into his office when he wanted me to fetch those files. One of them caught my attention. It was a plan for creating human biological weapons. These are some pictures for proof." A series of pictures of the human bio-weapon plan were shown on the screen. 

"Listen, I can't record any longer because I might get caught. I'll record more tapes. Please keep this information a secret. I need to get more information on this project so we can stop SKYTECH.", he warned.

An older woman entered the room. "Felix, what are you doing here?", she asked, her voice stern.

"Apologies ma'am. I was just recording another video for my son.", he said.

"Oh my. I hope I'm not interrupting.", she pardoned.

"No, I just finished, haha.", he chuckled nervously.

"I understand how hard it is for a parent not to be able to see their child due to work. There is no need to push yourself.", she said in a cheerful tone.

The tape ended there, and we all sat in silence. Samuel seemed disturbed.

"What's wrong?", Ethan asked him, his voice still sounding soft due to his face mask.

"I'm just… disturbed by the fact that someone would want to create human weapons.", Samuel replied, feeling worried.

I took out the next tape. It was titled. "To My Son". Everyone stepped out of the house to give me space. I inserted the tape. The face of my father appeared once again.

"Hey, kid. Well, I guess I shouldn't say kid anymore because you'll probably be older when you watch this tape."

He moved the camera to a baby. It was me when I was younger.

"Look at how cute and little you are.", he said, smiling at the camera. The scene shifted to him in a lab again. He looked tired…really tired. He paused and looked at the ground.

"Listen, Tyrell. I don't have much time.", he continued.

"I want to tell you something… Life is unfair, son. In life there will be challenges. Some will be easy to overcome…but others…others will kick you even when you're down… and sometimes, in order to overcome these challenges, you will need to make sacrifices. Sacrifices where you will have to lose people…sometimes sacrifices that may require you to risk your life."

 "But you don't have to make these sacrifices alone. You need friends. friends who will help you go through the harshness of this world. But…don't easily trust anyone. Some of the people you trust, may turn out to be your enemies. People who will betray you and leave you at your lowest moments."

"I'm not saying this to discourage you. I'm saying this to warn you of how disgusting world works. Life will not become easier. You will have to become stronger. I want you to be a strong man and protect the people you care about. Goodbye, my son. I know you will make the right choices."

The screen went black, the tape ended. I looked at my reflection in the TV. Black hair and blue eyes. With a scar that went across my right eyebrow. I was unsure how to feel. Should I have felt happy that I was able to see my father and hear his voice? Or should I have been sad that I didn't know what happened to him and that I would never see him again?

I got up and removed the tape. I placed both of them in my pouch and walked upstairs. I opened the door to a bedroom and searched through the drawers. Inside I found a few pictures. 

One of them was of me and a few others of my dad. The last was a picture of a woman. She had silky black hair, azure, blue eyes and cream white skin. It took me a moment to realize who it was. It was my mother…my actual mother. I looked more like her than my father. I packed the pictures and put them in my pouch. I left the house and found everyone standing outside.

Elena approached me and patted my shoulder. "You're not alone in this, Tyrell.", she said as she smiled.

Lily ran and hugged me. "Please don't leave us.", she sobbed.

I patted her on the head. "I promise I won't, Lily."

"Can we hurry up already?", Ethan murmured.

Old man Samuel cracked a smile.

"Okay, okay. Where's the next destination?", I asked.

"Base Alpha.", Marina replied.

"Then let's get going.", I said.

The journey would be long and maybe dangerous…But I had people I can trust...people I can call my friends.

End Of Chapter 5.