Chapter 09 – Conference
Once they went back to their house it was already late at night.
Vincent left all the bags in the car and told Klaye, later a servant would bring it up to his room.
They walked into the hall and Klaye suddenly stopped. He just remembered, he left his luggage in the corner. He looked around and didn’t find it.
„What happened?” Vincent asked him.
„I left my luggage here, but I can’t find it.”
„I think one of the servants already took it into your room.”
„Maybe, but… I didn’t know where my room is.” Klaye felt depressed. After he reached this city too many things happened and he forgot about it.
„Roe, show him his room!” Vincent called over a young servant boy. He was around 14 years old but did his job perfectly.
He bowed then turned to Klaye. „This way, please.”
Klaye followed him and they went up to the fifth floor. He looked back, but Vincent didn’t go with them. He felt a little dejected.
He looked around and saw 10 doors on the corridor. Usually, these big villas had 3 or 4 rooms on a floor, but it was rebuilt. He could see Vincent spent a lot of effort to make the city able to accept more people.
Klaye sighed. Doing so many things in such a short time, he really envied the nobles.
„Here is your room.” Roe stopped in front of a door. „There’s only one bathroom on the second floor. You need to share it with the others.”
„Okay. Thank you.” he nodded and went into his room.
The room was really little. It had a single bed and a wardrobe. There wasn’t enough space to take in anything else.
Klaye saw his luggage on top of the bed. He searched for his pajamas and put the other clothes into the wardrobe. There he found some towels and went to take a bath.
On the second floor, there were 7 doors. 2 of them had a sign on it.
Klaye went into the bathroom. There were some chairs and shower cabins. He saw some clothes and heard the splash of water. He didn’t know who was here so he just stood the farther he could and started to take down his clothes.
When he wanted to take down his pants, he felt that someone was looking at him. He turned back and saw a naked man watching him. He didn’t realized when the man finished his shower. He looked at him blankly.
„Good evening.” Klaye finally reached and greeted him. He turned back and folded his clothes. He didn’t dare to take down his pants in front of him.
He was Howard Reade, Vincent’s best friend. He was a big playboy. He didn’t care about the others’ gender if he fancied someone he just took them in bed. He was the last person Klaye wanted to meet in this kind of place.
Howard laughed and put on his clothes.
„I didn’t think you have the nerve to come back.” he said gently.
„…” Klaye looked at him confusedly.
„Do you forget it?” he smiled. „In the morning, Gardena shouted that you are gay. Everyone was able to hear it.”
Klaye’s face paled. He really forgot about it. He was too happy to spend the afternoon with Vincent, he didn’t think about anything else.
Howard walked behind him and slapped his ass. „You have such a nice body! I live on the third floor, visit me when you feel lonely.” he laughed and left the bathroom.
Klaye’s face turned green. He waited for some minutes then went out to see if he really left the floor. He only dared to take a shower after it.
He went back to his room and laid on the bed. He watched the ceiling and tried to remember what he knew about Howard. He played with anyone, but he had a bottom line. He never touched those who were married or had a lover. In the book, he disappeared in the beginning. He went with his family instead of following Vincent. So Klaye didn’t know if he died or not, and it wasn’t mentioned if he had any connection with Gardena…
Klaye didn’t know who was trustworthy and who wasn’t. He turned in the bed and sighed. They were old friends and loyal servants of Vincent, but the book never mentioned how Gardena turned them against him. Klaye finally realized, a big piece was always missing from the story.
He thought a lot and slowly fell asleep.
In the morning he went down to eat breakfast. He saw a lot of familiar faces but he didn’t see Egbert. He went back to the stairway and waited for him to come down and ate together. He didn’t felt well for staying with the others.
After a while, Lex came down alone. He smiled happily and went into the dining room.
Klaye followed him with a dark face. He was sure, Egbert would have a hard time to leave the bed…
He sat at the end of the table and slowly ate his breakfast. He felt that the others looked at him time after time. He remembered what Gardena said yesterday and felt annoyed. Couldn’t they forget it?
Vincent came down and greeted everyone. He reminded them, later they would have an appointment.
Klaye drank tea and thought about what to do. He didn’t notice almost everyone left. He was stunned when someone patted his head.
„Don’t you come?”
He turned back and saw Lex and Vincent stood behind him. He was confused and pointed at himself.
„Who else, stupid!” Lex said angrily and left.
Klaye stood up and slowly followed them. They walked for some minutes and went into an office building. They went up to the second floor and there was a big conference room.
„Klaye!”
He didn’t have the chance to turn around before he was hugged. It was Susana.
„Why are you here?” he was surprised. The Warburton and the Machart families weren’t in a good relationship. He was sure they would be the last ones who could be here.
„I told you to don’t run around! Really, kids nowadays!”
Klaye turned to see who spoke and cried out. „Grandpa Radbert?!”
An old man limped into the room with a swagger-stick in his hand. „Good morning, Klaye! I ’m glad to see you are healthy again.”
„Good morning, Mr. Machart!” he said respectfully. He was too surprised and called the old man how he used to call him when they were alone.
Suzana let him go and grabbed his hand. „Let’s go and look around! This city is really interesting!” her eyes shined and she was ready for an adventure.
„Stop right here, little girl! We come here to share some important information. You need to sit still and listen carefully!” her grandfather scolded her.
Suzana dejectedly nodded and pulled Klaye into a corner to sit down. She told him how they come here.
It happened that a month before Vincent suddenly visited her grandfather and showed him some secret information. She didn’t know what it was, but her grandfather suddenly put a hold on almost all of the works and joined hands with Vincent to buy Future city and help with the rebuilding. She never saw him be so serious and asked Klaye if he knew what happened.
„I don’t know, but maybe we’ll know after this appointment.” he shook his head.
„Ah, I want to go out!”
Klaye just smiled. Suzana was always like this. She was hot blooded and hated to sit still. She wanted to sneak out, but Klaye promised her they would visit every part of the city later, so she reluctantly stayed.
Klaye watched the attendant people and he was stunned. Half of the Warburton family members were missing! He didn’t know if they just weren’t called here or they weren’t even in the city, but Vincent answered his question right away.
„Welcome, everyone!” he greeted them. „I’m sure all of you confused why we are here, so let’s take it slowly…”
Vincent told them he bought this city together with the Machart family. He was really grateful for their help. He hoped they could work together in the future too, so some members of the Warburton family who had hatred towards them didn’t take part in this project.
Vincent collected here his most trusted men and build the city into the safest place. Later he showed a video to them to understand the situation.
In that video, they saw a little village, where the residents were infected with a special virus. This virus caused high fever from some days to weeks. It was different for everyone. Some of them died from the illness and after some hours their body moved again. They attacked the others and ate them.
Everyone was confused about why they needed to see a movie about zombies. They knew Vincent wouldn’t joke with them, but they couldn’t believe what they saw. Other proofs were shown to them and they slowly accepted the fact it was real.
The virus spread fast after it entered the water. Sorrowfully they found it out too late and there were already infected patients in other countries too. Some of them remembered, their neighbors were sent to the hospital with high fever and they panicked.
Vincent asked them to be prepared and check on everyone who didn’t leave their room. If they had a high fever send them to the hospital. They would get the best treatment there, so their surviving rate could be better.
Klaye sighed. He knew, even with the best treatment from 5 people only 1 would survive… or not! There would be some research related to the virus and they would create a serum that could raise the surviving rate. The institution was destroyed by Vincent, so he didn’t know if he had that knowledge or not… But it had nothing to do with him, so he let them solve this problem.
He turned to Suzana next to him and facepalmed. He didn’t know when but that silly girl fell asleep. He really envied her simple mind.