AN: Thank you Ashmo21, Kalaong, Rainbor123, and Irishbrneyes for the reviews. I'm genuinely thrilled when people take the time to review/ leave feedback. Hope you guys like the proper start of this fic.
Chapter 1: Branded
XXX
River's POV
It's the middle of the night when she feels his presence down in the depths of their prison. Feels the raw energy and hatred boiling beneath his skin, as they leave their disgusting marks behind. Her eyes flutter closed as she feels his pain manifest on her own branded skin.
No name…Full life…Hi-Octane…Road Warrior…Isolate psychotic…Keep muzzled.
She feels him fight… break free of the ropes binding him and run. She sees thru his eyes as he darts through the hallways. She wishes she could tell him where to go as he runs. Suddenly he stops, and she can't believe what she sees. It's as if she's seeing her ghost.
"Help." Her own voice echoes in his brain.
Her eyes slam open. In all her time in the Academy or with Simon on Serenity afterwards, she had never manifested herself in someone else's brain-pan. Maybe she's finally losing the last little bits of her sanity. Her entire body becomes wracked with shakes and she screams into the muzzle in her mouth.
Despite the muzzle, she's loud enough that the War Boy standing guard comes inside.
"Shut it blood bag!" He says as he prods her with a cattle prod.
The first jolt of electricity courses through her veins and ignites her fury. Her vision blurs and she begins to see red, as her hands shake and she screams again.
"I said shut it!" The War Boys says as he moves closer.
He's close enough for her to grab, and as he goes to prod her again, she quickly snatches his free arm and the cattle prod with both hands. She quickly jams the prod into his neck and turns it on full blast. He doesn't even have time to scream before he falls to the floor in a heap.
A single thought overloads her brain: run.
If her hands weren't shaking enough before, they are now even more so from the pure adrenaline being dumped into her veins. Her hands and legs are shackled, but she has enough room to start breaking apart the cattle prod in her hands. She needs to get the shackles off before she can free herself from the cage.
Her fingers begin to bleed as she manages to free a small piece of metal from inside, and she furiously works tor try and get the shackles open. It feels like a lifetime, but when she hears the first click on her hands, she wants to cry in happiness. She quickly throws the manacles off and then throws the muzzle off her mouth. Next she rips the IV out of her arm as quickly as she can. She winces in pain and feels some blood begin to run down her arm, but she doesn't care.
The legs go faster, and soon she begins to work on the cage. The release soon snaps open and she drops to the floor next to the collapsed War Boy. She immediately raids his pockets for anything of use, and unfortunately finds nothing. She takes the oversized combat boots off his feet and quickly slips her feet into them and laces them up as fast as she can. They won't be silent if she has to run, but it's better than being barefoot.
She creeps as quietly as she can over to the door and peers out. The hallways were empty since it was the middle of the night, and she breathes a small sigh of relief.
But that relief is quickly dashed and she's frozen in place as she hears and feels someone coming towards her. She's paralyzed as they come in to view.
XXX
Furiosa was not expecting to see the disheveled slip of a girl in front of her as she rounded the corner with her 'cargo.' She knew exactly who the girl was, Immortal Joe's private blood bag, and was more than surprised to see her standing there. She holds the others back as she slowly approaches.
She steps in front of her and glances into the cell she came from to see the crumpled War Boy; the one that was right next to where he kept the wives sealed off from the rest of the world. His most valuable possessions: flesh and blood personified.
"You stable?" Furiosa asks the fragile looking girl in front of her.
She feels the other women come up behind her now, but still motions for them to stay back.
The girl looks around Furiosa at the women and then back to her before nodding a yes.
"You wanna get through this?" Furiosa asks her now.
All she gets is another nod yes, but that's enough for her.
"Do as I say and keep up." Furiosa says as she walks past the girl. Six young women trailing behind her as quietly as they can.
XXX
Max's POV
It's dark when my head begins throbbing and I crack my eyes open slowly. My entire body aches from the small cramped space, and my back feels as if it is on fire. I can barely move and begin to use my bound hands to try and feel around. I'm in a cage, shackled and bound, and there is a small fissure in the stone ceiling that enables a sliver of light to come through.
"Help." The voice echoes in my head and I shake my head violently to keep it from taking root in my brain. I tell myself...they cannot touch me. They are long dead. And I have enough demons haunting me, I don't need another.
But it's no use. The image of her is already burned in there. It's just too erie how much she reminds me of Jessie. That same wild chestnut hair, and those same haunting eyes. Just another echo of my past failures. I won't be getting any sleep tonight at this rate. Not like I could in this cage though.
XXX
…Just after daybreak…
"We are War Boys!" Ace screams as he walks the length of the rig that is slowly descending on the platform.
"War Boys!" Hundreds answer in unison.
The chanting is almost deafening as they finish hooking up the War Rig.
"Kamakrazee War Boys!" Ace screams again in the pointless ritual of it all.
"War Boys!" Hundreds reply.
Someone yells from the back of the rig now. "Hooked on!"
"Today we're heading...to Gas Town!" Ace screams the orders.
"Gas Town!" The mindless War Boys respond.
Ace yells again. "Today we're hauling Aqua Cola."
"Aqua Cola!" The mindless respond.
"Today we're hauling produce!" Ace calls out/
"Produce!" The mindless mass respond.
"And today we're hauling...Mother's Milk!"
"Mother's Milk!"
The platform touches the ground and dozens of War Boys move to the front to protect the rig and mount their vehicles.
The War Boys begin to chant for their leader now as they wait for him to appear on the platform above. "Joe! Joe! Joe! Immortan Joe!"
"Rev it up for the Immortan Joe!" Ace screams as the escorting War Boys rev their engines for their leader.
XXX
River's POV
They were in the belly of the beast, listening to the deafening roar of the engines and the chants of the War Boys. She had hidden them in the cover of night, in a small compartment only a handful of people would even know of. The compartment couldn't have been any bigger than the length of the small room she had on Serenity, but there was not enough room to stand. She had told them to sleep, but they all knew that sleep would not come even if they begged for it. They were too tense.
The other women huddled together in one corner, fear and tension radiating off of them in nauseating waves. She was a few feet away from them, her ear pressed to the floor. Listening to the crowd, listening for anything that might tell them if anyone knew of their escape yet.
But when his booming voice came over the speakers that he had strategically placed to bark orders to the crowd, her skin began to crawl and her hands reflexively balled into fists.
"Once again, we send off my War Rig to bring back...guzzoline from Gas Town...and bullets from the Bullet Farm!" Immortan Joe's voice echoed in her brain.
She snaps her eyes shut and tries to keep the memories she had gleaned off him from bubbling up to the surface.
His voice echoes around the metal walls. "Once again, I salute my Imperator…Furiosa! And I salute...my half-life War Boys...who will ride with me eternal...on the highways of Valhalla. I am your redeemer. It is by my hand...you will rise from the ashes...of this world!"
She wants to throw up…wants to scream. She feels and hears the others grow concerned for her, and for themselves, since they are trapped in this small metal room with her.
"If she screams, they will hear…"
"What wrong with her?"
Their voices are almost as load as the chanting War Boys outside the rig. She curls into a ball and closes her eyes. But not long after, she feels someone pull her into a tight embrace.
"Shhh…it's alright." She opens her eyes to see Angharad calmly running her hands thru her hair and whispering to her. She's a ball of nerves herself, but she's trying to be strong for them all.
"We're going to the green place of many mothers." She says as she continues to stroke her hair.
It's the first time anyone has touched her without malicious intent since… Kaylee and Inara played with her hair. Thinking of them now brings back sad memories, and she can taste the sadness.
The War Rig lurches forward now, and she feels them all relax. She doesn't say anything, but as Angharad brings her over to where the others are huddled, she feels the dark memories recede back into the recesses of her brain. She had wanted to help them before, but being here with them, seeing and feeling their tension and fear of having to go back; it's enough to make her instantly protective.
"He will never hurt you again. She promises." She says to more than one confused face. It doesn't matter to her though. They don't know anything about her, and they aren't the people she knows and loves. But they are soft, full of sunshine and hope, and provide some comfort for her fractured and broken brain. And she can't let this broken world break them too.
XXX
Max's POV
"I got a War Boy...running on empty." Someone calls out as they enter the room where I am caged. The man is supporting a smaller, visibly weaker man walk into the room. They all look the same though, bald head, white skin, cracked skin with grim and grease. They are walking ghosts.
Somewhere deeper in the room a voice calls back to them. "Hook up that full-life."
The man deposits the weaker one underneath the cage that I am in and grabs the IV line that is attached to my arm. He quickly jams it into the weaker man.
Before I realize what's happening the floor of the cage opens and I am dangling by my feet upside down. The man who hooked up the IV moves past me and purposefully smacks me. I taste copper in my mouth, and spit blood in his face.
"Hey! Careful Slit. That's a universal donor." The voice of from the back of the room yells as it draws closer.
The man glares at me now. Tiny flecks of blood coat his white skin. "Worthless blood bag." He says as he walks off.
I'm left stewing watching his retreating form, and all I can think is I cannot wait to kill him.
XXX
… Back on the War Rig…
Furiosa watches the Citadel become smaller and smaller in her side mirror. Sees the blinking light signaling Gas Town in front of them. She takes a deep breath before she swerves off of the road in front of her and begins to head East.
In a minute Ace comes up to the side of her door. "Boss, we're not going to Gas Town?" He asks Furiosa. She doesn't respond and keeps driving.
"Bullet Farm?" He continues to press Furiosa.
She glances at him quickly before turning her eyes back to the wasteland in front of her. "We're heading East."
Ace looks skeptical as he moves back towards the War Boys on the rig. "I'll pass it down the line."
XXX
River's POV
As she feels the War Rig pull to the left, she knows it will only be a matter of minutes before he discovers the truth… discovers his precious 'property' has flown from its cage. She moves herself away from the others and feels them watch her with apprehension as she moves back to where she was earlier; ear pressed to the floor, hands slowly making circles and tracing patterns on the floor. Silently trying to calculate how much time they have left.
Her eyes flutter closed, and she tries to hear anything that may tell them what he knows. So far she feels nothing, hears nothing. But she knows their head start is slowly clocking down to zero.
XXX
AN: Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Until next time, stay shiny ;)