Part Two
Marcus slowly twirled his finger around is a slow circle, signaling his comrades in arms to begin. Along with Marcus, there were only four others, but their numbers were large enough. They had staked out the facility that they were in front of months ago and had been biding their time for the perfect moment – and that moment was upon them. They knew that there were only three parasites in the building, but the rest of the inhabitants were a mystery to the five men.
The five humans, rebels fighting for their lives, slowly moved in unison towards the front entrance of the building. Peter, seventeen and well built, was almost to the door when it swung open and a black woman stormed out into the cold air. As the woman passed him, Peter grabbed her, held her tight, and silently knocked her unconscious.
One down, two to go, thought Marcus as he gave Peter the nod and watched as the boy and one other entered the building. The remaining three circled around, slowly lighting fires as they went. The fires were contained to the building, creating an abundance of smoke to confuse the souls and would then slowly burn the building to the ground, giving the men enough time to search the facility for items that might be useful at their camp.
"Marc," hissed Bradley. "We're done. You good?"
"Yeah," whispered Marcus back as he drew near his friends. "Let's go find us some buggers." The three men let out cold laughs and quickly made their way into the building to help out Peter and their friend.
It was the smoke that woke Gwen up, she realized. That confused her, and the smoke was not helping her thoughts. It was billowing in through her air vent and she knew that it would soon kill her. That thought triggered some primal instinct in her, a will to live, that sent her scrambling.
Gwen lurched forward and crawled across the floor to the small nook that was created by a broken brick in her cell. She reached into the nook and felt the cool, reassuring metal of her pendant. She slipped it around her neck and felt the solid weight of the silver compass in the crevice between her breasts. With that deed done, she crawled over to the door and began to fight for her life.
Marcus and Bradley, along with Peter worked their way through the rooms at a quick pace. The three souls that they had captured were tied up, unconscious, and being watched by the youngest in their party. The fifth member was packing up medical supplies for their camp's use.
The men were at the lower level, completely underground, when they heard the clawing sounds. They shared wide eyed looks and then allowed Marcus to take the lead. Marcus began down the long hall that stretched out in front of them, opening doors as he did so. As soon as he opened one door, Bradley or Peter would glance in through the smoke and check the room.
At the last door, Marcus held up a hand and slowly swung it open. From the inside, a figure slumped forward and crawled into the clearer air. Peter and Bradley roughly grabbed the figure and drug it into the hall as Marcus swung the door back shut. "Grab it," he ordered Bradley as he stalked back down the hall and up the stairs. Peter followed quickly, leaving Bradley to hastily grab the figure and swing it over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
Marcus quickly ushered all of his men out of the now blazing building and into the crisp night air. They all breathed in deeply and watched as Bradley roughly dropped the figure on the ground in front of three souls.
Upon seeing the souls, the figure quickly scooted backwards coming into contact with Marcus's legs. It looked up and for the first time, Marcus lost his breath. The figure was a girl, and a beautiful one at that. Her eyes were a green so pale that they seemed to borderline white. Her copper hair was roughly cut, the ends of her hair not even touching her ears. Her skin was pale, bruises marring the soft texture. She wore a thin brown shift like dress and soft slippers, causing her to shiver with cold. The light from the burning building shone in her eyes causing the other four men to gasp as they realized that she was not another soul but a human like themselves.
Shedding his coat, Marcus knelt before the girl and gently wrapped the large coat around her shoulders. "Thank you," she whispered in a scratchy voice, pulling the coat closer to her body.
"You're welcome," replied Marcus. "I am Marcus. What is your name?"
"Gwen," she replied softly before slipping into the blackness that was always welcoming.
Marcus stared down at the woman, for she was much too beautiful to be a girl, and then up at his friends. "Home?" he asked, unsure about his decision.
"And the other bodies?" asked one of the men.
"Kill them," replied Marcus, not having the energy to deal with the souls or the bodies. The others raised an eyebrow but did as they were told, leaving Marcus, Bradley, and Gwen alone as they drug the bodies into the woods to dispose of them.
Bradley peered at Marcus and wordlessly asked his question. Knowing that a response was needed, Marcus said, "Look at what they did to her." He pointed at Gwen and her shaking form. Bradley looked down upon her and saw what his friend saw: carelessly shaved hair, multiple incision marks on the back of her neck, bloodied nails and partially healed wounds from those nails. "They tortured her."
"Let's pack up and get back home," whispered Bradley as he gave Marcus an awkward pat on the back. Marcus nodded and gingerly picked Gwen up before heading back to the cargo van they had hidden in the trees surrounding the burning building.
The gentle sway of a moving vehicle brought Gwen back to the waking world. She was sitting on the lap of the man who had talked to her before. Marcus whispered the tiny voice inside Gwen's head. Gwen moaned, attempting to rid herself of the invasion, and was surprised when no other words came from the voice. The moan though brought Marcus's attention to her. "Hello," he said softly.
Gwen didn't reply but instead gazed up at her rescuer. He had chestnut colored hair that curled around his ears and was almost in need of a haircut. His chocolate brown eyes looked upon her with concern as she studied him. He was quite a bit larger than she was, nearly six foot two compared to her five foot five inch stance. He was also very muscular, broad shoulders that seemed to have the ability to carry the world caught her attention first. Gwen felt tiny in his arms, and she supposed that she was.
"We are heading back to our home," said Marcus softly, using a tone of voice that surprised the other men in the van. Usually their leader was borderline harsh, but talking to the girl in his arms, he was gentle. "Bradley is driving, Peter is in the passenger seat, and back here with us are Tim and Tom." He continued speaking to her, looking into Gwen's green eyes as the van made its way through the trees to their destination.
