Khalifa: Queen in the Apocalypse

Chapter 155: Claire’s Surprise

Sharp eyes watched a certain newly occupied house from a distance, not knowing what its owner was thinking.

"Lieutenant?"

The sharp eyes changed to the kind and calm expression it was known for. "What is it, soldier?"

To the soldier’s surprise, even if the lieutenant had his perennial gentle expression, he felt a little… scared.

"Uhm… Captain Ryo was looking for you."

It had been agreed upon that while the General was resting, Ryo would temporarily lead the base.

And he, as a reliable right-hand man, naturally offered his ’wholehearted’ assistance.

"Of course," he said, following the soldier back to the headquarters.

As he walked out towards the central buildings though, passing through the sparse greeneries and relatively loose housing, he began to hear soft sobs.

"Lieutenant?" The soldiers asked when the man suddenly stopped moving forward.

The man simply turned his head to him, expression gentle. "You go ahead, I will follow in a few minutes. I… seem to have forgotten something at home."

"Oh, okay sir. I will tell them."

Watching the cadet leave, Hilten followed the sound to find a young girl sobbing, burying her head on her shoulders and legs.

As if just hearing the rustles he made, she lifted her head up to reveal a pretty and pitiful young girl, probably not even twenty.

Very fresh, just ripe for picking.

"Are you alright?" He asked, very gentle, as he kneeled down to her level. The pretty girl sniffed and hugged him, sobbing on his shoulder.

Hilten was a workaholic who couldn’t commit to any relationships. This was why in his mid-30s, he still hadn’t married.

However, his sexual experience was quite rich compared to other soldiers, albeit they were mostly concentrated on a certain industry.

His type was young girls exactly. What’s better, because of his gentle disposition, these young girls who likely had daddy issues ended up falling for him more than just his money.

So he was not entirely immune to beautiful women throwing themselves at him.

Especially, because of the apocalypse and the many events leading to it, he hadn’t had sex in a long time.

"What’s your name?" He asked, gently rubbing the girl’s cheek. The girl blushed, and she looked at him filled with dependence.

"Mira…"

"Okay, Mira. Tell me all about your pleas later okay?" He said, gently patting her head. "I have to be somewhere."

She sniffed pitifully, and he gently wiped the tears on her face.

He handed her a key with deep eyes. "This is my unit." He said, pointing at another town house near the gate of the community.

"Wait for me inside, okay?

"I’ll be back very soon."

***

Hilten went back home hours later in a dark mood.

He wasn’t the one on-point with investigating the poison incident.

Was he found out?

Did he leave a clue somewhere?

He was so distracted that when he arrived at his front door, he was surprised to find that it was unlocked.

He paused with raised eyebrows, opening the door a moment after. Upon entering his house, he saw a girl on the sofa with red eyes, sleeping.

He forgot about her.

But… he was not in the mood. He needed to think of countermeasures in case he was truly being suspected.

He also needed to trace back his steps, lest he left a clue somewhere.

Hearing he was going to the stairs, the girl on the sofa ’shifted awake’ and groaned, catching the man’s attention.

"You’re… back?" She asked, voice soft and squeaky, igniting men’s protective instincts.

"Ah yes, Mira, I’m sorry for waking you. Go back to sleep." He said but to the girl’s surprise, the man just removed the top button of his shirt and prepared to go up to his room.

The girl frowned and stood up, approaching him.

It was here that she realized he was deeply frowning, face tense from stress.

"You’re encountering problems." She said, "Is there anything I can do to help? I… I can do anything…"

He rubbed his temple. "What do you want, Mira?"

She looked at him with teary eyes, looking down as if struggling to speak.

"I need comfort…" she said, "No one sees me…" she added, her half unbuttoned shirt showing off her assets.

She wrapped her arms around him, expertly seducing. "Please… let me forget, okay?" She asked, "And maybe you’ll be refreshed after and have a solution to your problems…"

Hilten gulped, his eyebrows still furrowed from stress but slowly being softened by the soft breast rubbing on him.

He soon bent and slowly approached the girl’s luscious lips and his hand finding its way to her buttocks.

Their lips touched and their bodies flushed together. Hilten would carry the young girl to his bedroom, starting a very… unexpected relationship.

____

Days later.

"How is he?" Ryo asked the silver-haired woman as she removed the hands hovering over the General.

"Clean." He said, looking at Ryo. "He should be okay."

She then turned and looked at the General who was wide awake during the whole thing. "Congratulations, General."

The old man chuckled. "Thanks to you."

She smiled and looked around the room. She was so focused on healing that she didn’t bother looking at the room before.

Now that she had, she was a bit surprised that she didn’t even see his adjutant, who was usually nearby.

"All people around him are suspects." Ryo said, answering her unvoiced question.

Khalifa nodded. She had never heard of Hilten in the books. Considering his supposed big role, he probably died or left early in the story, like the general himself.

Of course it could also be that he simply didn’t matter much to the love triangle the story focused on.

Or maybe… his influence was somewhere else.

However, such guesses were useless to her and she quickly put the issue aside.

She then looked at Claire beside her. "Did you get that?" She asked, referring to her use of power earlier.

"You just concentrate like so…" Khalifa said, making the same movements as she did earlier to demo. Claire looked at her with pursed lips.

"Are we really going to get abilities as well?"

Don’t blame her for questioning. Khalifa kept telling them many would awaken, but so far all they knew was that only Khalifa and her men had done so.

Khalifa pretended not to see her cynicism. "Yes, from what I see you’ll get water based powers as well."

"You can tell?"

"You’d have figured it out yourself, but I can tell you this in advance."

Ryo and the General watched the interaction between the two girls. "Ms. Claire would also have similar powers?"

"No, likely a variant. Like, say, just water."

"It’s great that you will awaken." Ryo said with a smile. Despite his relatively taciturn personality like the rest of his family, he still had a small amount of EQ thanks to his gregarious mother.

He was also very handsome and his smile made Claire blush a little. Just out of shyness.

ChrisxClaire-shipper-Khalifa frowned and then looked at Claire, decidedly diffusing the moment. "You should also be able to diagnose some basic things with training."

"Then can I still diagnose?" Claire asked, successfully distracted.

"Yes."

"You’d have figured it out on your own, even without me. Let me try it on you so you can get the feel of it," she said, extending her hand to Claire, who absentmindedly placed it on her hand.

"Thank you…" she said, for sharing all this information, and watched as Khalifa wrapped her arms in a weird but friendly energy.

Khalifa blinked, eyes wide as she gaped at her. The expression was so unlike the composed Khalifa they knew that Claire (and Ryo) couldn’t help but feel concerned.

"What is it? What did you find?" She asked, and Ryo was paying apt attention.

Khalifa pursed her lips, before finally speaking. She looked Claire straight in the eye. "You’re… pregnant."

"What?"

"You’re pregnant." Khalifa repeated, and Claire stared, unable to fathom what she had just heard.

Khalifa’s peripheral vision couldn’t help but capture Ryo’s eyes, who was looking at Claire with a complicated expression.

"I… how can I…" Claire mumbled and Khalifa knew what she was so reluctant to say.

"You should get a second opinion from a doctor."

"Thank you." Claire said and stood up, immediately going to the doctor to officially get checked out.

Claire became the first person to get a pregnancy ultrasound in their new base.

***

Half an hour later, Claire gazed blankly in empty space as she left the consultation room, absentmindedly patting her stomach.

She was really pregnant. Two weeks.

She felt like crying and she felt confused. It hadn’t even dawned on her completely yet, but she was already shaken.

What was she going to do?

When saw Khalifa standing not far away, she immediately ran to hug her, breaking down in the hallway.

Khalifa sighed and gently hugged her back. "It’ll be fine. Everything will be fine…"

"Chris… he…"

"I’m sure he’s fine." Khalifa said, patting her back. "Stay calm. Too much stress isn’t good for the fetus."

Claire heaved a deep sigh, trying to compose herself. It took a while for Claire to part from Khalifa, and she wiped her tears, heart a bit more settled.

With a calmer mind, she couldn’t help but look out the window.

"Chris… where are you?"