:Refer to the information on the first part for disclaimers and such:
Upon a Moonlit Night Part 04
His head hurt and there was something cold under his cheek. Ky blearily opened his eyes and tried to sit up but his whole body felt like dead weight. There was a dull pounding in his forehead. He shut his eyes again against the pain, but it wouldn't go away. And he was incredible thirsty. The blond's mouth was parched as he swallowed forcibly.
"Hey," a voice called out in a horse whisper. "You awake, sir?"
Ky opened his eyes again and faced the voice. Everything took a moment to come into focus. Brown eyes peered down at him. There was a man sitting next to him wearing a black and white uniform. He had black hair cropped short and his face carried a scuff or two. Ky took a moment to put name a face together.
"Brendan Jameson…"
"Yes, sir?"
"Where are we?" Ky groaned a bit as he sat up. His surroundings were spinning. He wanted to close his eyes again but was afraid he would pass out if he did.
"Don't know, sir," the Knight responded. "Last thing I can recall is fighting the Gears that attacked camp and then waking up here."
Ky looked about their new environment. They seemed to be in a small room with dirty floors and cinderblock walls that rose high; at least twice a man's height. Further above were thick heavy beams that look rotted. To his left, iron bars had been crudely shaped and jammed into the surrounding stone, creating a rudimentary gate of sorts. Beyond the bars was dim, Ky could just barely make out another cell on the other side. Weak sunlight filtered in from the holes in the walls.
So we've been captured… He turned to Jameson. "Were there any others? Here, with us?" Ky wondered if the Gears had overrun the camp entirely, taking everyone prisoner. The thought seemed unlikely. There had never been any reports of Gears taking humans hostage for any reason. Though, there were the occasional missing persons.
The swordsman nodded. "Hubert Kollwitz was here too, but got taken away shortly after I came to."
"Taken away?"
"Two Gears, big burly ones, came and got him. Don't know where they took him," he replied lowering his voice. "Said something about information." Ky furrowed his brow, furious. Then, as if on cue, a howl of agony swept thru the building. It sounded human. Jameson swore and his Commander felt bile rise in the back of his throat. The two of them sat in silence while another scream ripped through the compound.
"Bastards…" the young Knight growled again through gritted teeth. They both knew it was beyond them to do anything. Even if they could, they were still amidst a horde of Gears; the nearest Order base was who-knew-how-far away. For Kollwitz's sake, Ky prayed for a swift end. From the corner of his eye, he saw Jameson struggle to his feet then limp towards the wall to the right. There was a deep gash on the swordsman's right thigh that the blond hadn't noticed before. The right leg of his pants was soaked in dark, red liquid. When he had reached the wall, Jameson peered out of one of the holes from where one of the cinder blocks had cracked and fallen loose.
"What do you see?"
"Not much," he replied. "There's some other structures to the left, no clue what they're for though. One of 'em's got a bunch of thick cables coming out of it." Jameson scoffed. "Enough Gears milling about to look like a small village."
Ky bit his lip at the last comment. He had hoped there weren't an abundance of Gears, but from Jameson's remarks, it seemed like they had gone beyond the borders of Gear territory. There was no telling exactly where they were but there was a good chance they were in deep. "And to the right?" he asked.
"Can't really tell," the other said after a moment. "There's some brush, but this building extends further out that way so I can't see around it." He turned away from the fist-sized hole and hobbled back over to the blond, almost falling into a heap on the grimy floor.
"How's your leg?"
"Not so good," Jameson replied, wiping his brow on his sleeve. Back during the battle he had been engaging a bulky, human-sized Gear when a smaller one crashed into him. It shrieked a howl, an oversized tongue lolling over the edge of its jaw. Before the swordsman had even moved, the small Gear shoved off, the talons on its hind legs digging deep into the flesh. There was a lot of pain and then darkness. When he awoke, the wound was no longer flowing blood; rather a slow oozing that was gradually hardening. He cleaned the gash as best he could, and then wrapped it with strips ripped from his cloak. They had bled through in under an hour. There was no way to tell how much blood he had lost during the transit from the Order's field to the Gear base, but his gut told him it was a dangerous amount. He couldn't move without breaking into a cold sweat and any pressure he put on his leg caused excruciating pain to flare up. There was a good chance it was poisoned.
"You've got a pretty good trophy there yourself, sir," Jameson said, pointing at his Commander's head. Ky tentatively reached up. His fingertips brushed a hard ridge that began just above his right eyebrow and disappeared in his hairline. It felt sticky. Well, at least he wasn't feeling dizzy anymore.