Stuck in an Island with Twelve Beautiful Women
Chapter 854 - 856

Chapter 854: Chapter 856

Jude watched from a distance. The fences were tall, electrified. Cameras covered every angle. Inside, he saw children playing under artificial lights, watched by guards dressed as counselors. Smiles painted on like masks. He saw Rhea, small, thin, eyes dull.

"We’ll get her," Jude said.

Tamir didn’t speak. He just nodded once.

Jude called in a favor. One he’d hoped to never use. The voice on the other end was reluctant, but when Jude mentioned Ascendia, there was a pause, and then silence.

"I’ll give you twenty minutes," the voice said. "No more."

It was enough.

They entered through the maintenance access under the garden wall. Jude neutralized the sensors with a device Mina had left behind. Tamir followed close, holding a flashlight in his teeth and a crowbar in his hands. No guns. Not yet. They moved room to room, avoiding patrols, checking the dorms. The children were locked in at night, but not guarded, no need. The locks were coded to their implants. Jude broke through the digital interface and opened Rhea’s door quietly.

She didn’t scream. She blinked and stared.

Tamir dropped to his knees. "Rhea," he whispered.

She stood, walked to him, and wrapped her arms around his neck. No words. Just the sound of breath.

Jude felt something crack inside him. Then he heard the sirens.

"They know."

Tamir grabbed Rhea. "We can run!"

"No. There’s too many," Jude said. "We go loud."

He triggered the device strapped to his wrist. The lights blew out, plunging the compound into darkness. Panic erupted. Jude moved fast, cutting through corridors, disabling systems, clearing paths. He didn’t kill unless he had to. But when he had to, he was quick.

They reached the exit tunnel just as guards began to organize. Gunfire trailed behind them. Tamir shielded Rhea. Jude returned fire.

One guard dropped. Another screamed.

They disappeared into the sewer just before the final gate sealed shut behind them.

The compound burned that night. Not from explosives. From data leaks. Jude had copied everything, names, locations, schedules, and released it to the city. The news tried to spin it. But people were beginning to see the truth.

When they reached the forest again, Rhea slept soundly in Tamir’s arms. Jude stood outside the cabin, looking at the stars for the first time in years.

"You could’ve left," Tamir said. "You could’ve stayed hidden."

Jude shook his head. "Not when they’re still doing this."

Tamir stepped beside him. "Teach me. Teach me how to fight like you."

"I will," Jude said. "But first, sleep. We have a long road ahead."

The boy nodded and went inside.

Jude stayed on the porch.

The war wasn’t over.

But this time, he wasn’t alone.

Rain fell in slow sheets over the canopy, heavy and steady, like it had been waiting for a reason to return. Jude sat near the window, a dull ceramic mug of coffee steaming in his hands, though he wasn’t drinking it. His eyes were locked on the edge of the trees where the mist clung thickest, waiting for movement, for sound, for anything out of the ordinary. The cabin had become more than shelter, it was now a base of operations, quiet enough to hide in, remote enough to defend. And lately, there was little peace, even in silence. Tamir was outside, soaked through and training alone in the cold, repeating drills Jude had shown him days ago. He refused to stop even when Jude told him to rest. It reminded Jude of himself, not long ago, full of fire, unaware of how much it burns you from the inside out.

Inside, Rhea was curled up in front of the fireplace, humming quietly, drawing with a half-broken pencil and some torn scraps of paper Jude had found for her. She never asked for anything. Her silence hadn’t changed, but she watched everything. Her eyes missed nothing. And when Jude gave her instructions, she followed them with absolute precision. There was something unsettling about her calm, like she’d learned how to exist without ever being seen. Jude didn’t know if that made her strong or if it meant she was still broken.

They hadn’t heard from Elias in over a week, and Mina hadn’t sent any signal either. Jude tried not to think about that. The truth was he had no one to call. Every ally he once had was either dead, missing, or too deep in their own operations to lend more than a coded message. That didn’t matter. He wasn’t looking for support. He was building his own.

The first time Tamir brought back a radio, Jude didn’t ask where he got it. The boy had taken to sneaking out at night, using paths Jude hadn’t taught him, finding scraps, electronics, food, medicine. And with each return, Tamir looked less like a scared brother and more like something dangerous growing behind tired eyes. He didn’t talk much anymore either. His grief had hardened, molded into something fierce and wordless. Jude didn’t stop him. He knew trying to suppress that kind of change was pointless. What he could do was guide it before it turned self-destructive.

On the tenth day since the last communication, Jude picked up a faint signal on the shortwave. It was buried under static, masked with distortion, but it was Mina’s frequency. Three quick beeps. One long tone. Then silence. Jude stood instantly, the mug forgotten, spilling coffee on the floor as he crossed to the back wall, pulling the concealed drawer open and grabbing the locator map. He marked the signal’s source roughly, north-east, just beyond the canyon. That was close. Too close.

That night, he didn’t sleep. Tamir was waiting by the fire, still awake, rubbing oil into the blade of a hunting knife he’d found. Jude nodded to him.

"I’m going to check something."

Tamir stood. "I’m coming."

"Not this time. Watch Rhea. If I don’t come back in two days, take her south. There’s a bunker past the broken ridge. Use the blue fuse key."