This is my Gundam story, dammit! NOONE will take it from me! NOONE! MWA-HA-HA-HA-HA! Eh-he...
Gundam:
The dark era:
Chapter 3:
The deranged Howie:
"Why is he in here?" Treize asked the warden of New Alcatraz as they made their way down the halls toward the cells. The warden looked through his paper's.
"Well, he's one of our wilder ones. He's got quite a few capital murder charges on him. He's also accused of drug trafficking with his French drug syndicate buddies, whom are still on the run. He has purchased highly illegal weaponry, we don't know where he's kept it. One charge that has made him infamous is that he is a convicted rapist, a charge that has made him well known to other criminals. And he has some other charges that-dear god-I don't even want to mention, but he has charges all over the board, sir."
"That's good enough. So, what's he like? As an inmate, I mean?"
"He exhibits some strange behavior. He doesn't talk to anyone. He generally avoids people. Sometimes he'll write things and won't allow other people to look at it, even though that's not exactly the oddest thing a person can do. He mumbles a lot, and when he does talk to people, it's usually an angry or sarcastic tone he takes, and he lies a lot." They had reached the door to a prison cell. The warden turned to face Treize as a guard opened the door. "But the truth is that most of his odd behavior changes for day to day. Only God knows what he's up to today. Good luck." The warden left as the guard opened the cell door.
Walking into the cell, one thing was immediately noticeable. There were prison cloths on the floor. Turning a short corner, they saw a naked, grim looking young man sitting at a small desk, scribbling on a piece of paper. Treize spoke.
"Hello, Howie."
Howie gave Treize a pissed-off look. "Tch!" Howie broke the pencil on his desk.
"How are you feeling?" Asked Treize.
Howie responded sarcastically. "I feel like a butterfly! I feel so happy I could...FLY!" Howie laughed. "I mean, who the fuck are you to just come in here? Here I am, just minding my own business, rotting in my own fucking hell-hole, and some dumb-ass waltzes in and asks 'How are you feeling?'. You must be one fruity fucker."
"The warden let me in." Treize informed Howie.
"Oh, the warden! Man, is he one fruity fuck!"
"You've been offered a position in the military, Howie." Treize said. Nothing that he said seemed to get through to Howie.
"What makes you think I give a rat's ass?!" Yelled Howie, finally raising his voice. "GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!" He turned around in his chair and tried to ignore them. Treize didn't leave. He noticed Howie was wearing a bandanna.
"That bandanna... that's the only thing you have on. Why is that? What is it for?"
Speaking very quietly, Howie answered. "A scar that I got when I was young." His mood changed. "Didn't I tell you to get out?"
Treize continued. "That may be one reason you wear it, but is there a symbolic reason?" Howie got up and flopped face-first onto his cell bed. "Is there an emotional scar somewhere?"
"No." Said Howie quickly through his pillow.
"Really? You say that, but do you really mean it?" There was a short pause in the talking. "Does the name Rose mean anything to you?"
Howie's head snapped up immediately. Yes! It did! Rose did mean something to him! He knew that name! Rose was the girl that he spent many of the best moments in his life with...and his worst. Howie remembered. He was 5 years old when he ran away from home. He was taken in by a drug gang. Sounds odd, but the drug dealers were nice. Howie remembered thinking that they were trying to do the right thing, they were just doing it the wrong way. There he met Rose, 8 at the time. She was helping out with the gang nursery (Remember, this is FICTION!), and Howie liked her as soon as he met her. She was just a smart, pretty, brunet girl. Howie also met Peter, an 11 year-old heir of the gang. He was a black male who had dreadlocks and not afraid to express his opinion. He and Howie quickly became friends. So, as he grew older his relationships with Rose and Peter grew. When Howie turned 10, Peter was able to get him an heirloom quality handgun. A Colt .45 1911. It had a golden lion engraved into the handle, and the trigger was pure silver. About two or so years later, Howie and Rose discovered that there was love blooming between them. Howie and Rose started seeing movies together. When he was thirteen, Howie was able to return Peter's generosity by getting him a big game hunting rifle. Peter liked it so much that he punched Howie out, which Howie already knew in Peter's language meant 'Thank you'. Howie also impressed Rose by collecting the most rare roses in the world and giving them to her in a bouquet. He even recited a line from Romeo & Juliet. 'A rose by any other name would smell just as sweet.' Misinterpreting the meaning, she punched him out, she realized soon that he didn't mean what she thought he meant and forgave him. When he was 15, he proposed to Rose(Remember, this is FRIKIN' FICTION!!! Just pretend they change the marriage laws.). She accepted and on a bright sunny July day, they were wed. Peter was his best man. Peter's father, the drug gang leader and priest, married them. They were very happy together, as Howie remembered, even though it was obvious Rose's younger sister, Dory, was jealous. Howie remembered their first night together...
But it was too good to be true. About 1 year after they were married, they were taking a ride down the street and seemingly out of nowhere, people started shooting at their car. Whoever it was, they had missile launchers and automatic rifles and everything. Driving back to the gang hideout, Rose called Peter's dad on her cell-phone. They would lure their pursuers into an ambush. Somehow, they made it back to the hideout, even though their car was full of bullet holes. The gang members would wait for the onslaught of the enemy. Howie decided to fight alongside Peter and his father. When he told Rose to go inside, she picked up a rifle and made him accept the fact that she was going to fight alongside them. The only thing they could do was wait for their adversary...
And their adversary came. They seemed rather surprised at the fight that Howie and his friend's put up. Both sides fought with ferocity and tenacity. Howie came up with the idea of shooting the telephone wire and burning several of their hidden enemies. At that point, it became a shootout of who could find the most clever way to take out their opponent.
The shootout took no less than an hour-and-a-half to finish. Towards the end, the fighting became more intense. One enemy had the guts to charge them, with his bayonet pointing outward. He was charging Howie. Now, since he had snuck over to the right side, Howie didn't see him. But Rose did. In order to protect her husband, she flung herself in front of his attacker's blade, sacrificing herself(big-ass cliche, I know). Then she took her rifle's bayonet and jabbed it up through the bottom of his head, and Howie could remember it puncturing through the top of his head. Having lost most of her energy, she fell back into Howie's arms' and they both slumped to the ground in unison. Howie heard a cry from Peter and witnessed Peter's father receiving the blunt of a bayonet blade. Peter fired on the assailant, killing him. Then he went to cradle his dying father just like Howie was cradling his dying wife. The fighting was dying down now and the opposition was retreating. Now all they could do was start to count the dead. But it was strange. Peter and Howie had some many things in common. Now they had one more thing to share. They were both losing someone close to them...
"That was when it started. My corruption, I mean." Said Howie, sitting in the warden's office, now fully dressed. "I had lost something precious to me, and I no longer cared about anything. I'm just a pitiful little bastard..."
Treize tried to console Howie. "You can start a new life, you know."
"What makes you think I want to? I'm not repenting for anything. There's no going back for me." Howie sighed. "I wish I was the one who had taken the blade."
"Well, you didn't. And that's why you're here."
"Do you know, Treize?" Asked Howie after a brief pause. "Do you know what it's like to hold someone you love in your arm's, and she's slipping away? You don't know my feeling's, Treize. If you did, you would have left me alone. I don't need to hear what you have to say and I don't want to. Why do I give a damn? What makes me so god-damn special? Actually, don't tell me, since I don't wanna' know. Leave me alone."
Sighing, Treize stood up. "I'm afraid it's not that simple, Howie. I'm afraid you don't have any say in this. You are important, but for reasons I can't divulge. You're coming, whether you like it or not. But, you're not leaving quite yet." Treize pointed to the heavy-set woman standing next to the table looking at papers. "Dr. Belle will 'recondition' you back to legal society. I will check back in a week or so to check in on your progress." Treize turned to the door. "Until then, good luck." Treize left. It was just Howie, Dr. Belle, and her two guard's.
"Hey..." Said Howie with wry smile. "Wanna' get naked with me?" Dr. Belle scowled. "I am just the guy for a whore like you."
Dr. Belle laughed. "Me? You? Don't fool yourself. I've done it with some low stuff, Howie. But you are the worst."
"Same with me. Let's just degrade ourselves even farther. Ha!"
"I would never degrade myself to your level."
"Neither would I your's."
"Stand up, scum!" Dr. Belle ordered Howie. Raising his hand's in surrender, Howie rose. Dr. Belle walked right up to Howie and inspected him from head to toe. Howie noticed a handgun wedged between her breast's. It was exactly the same as the one he had.
"Nice guns." He commented. She frowned.
"I would expect a serial rapist to notice that." She nodded to her guard's to come. When her guard's came, the last thing Howie could remember was a tingling feeling in his neck.
The next thing he knew, he was standing naked, in an all white room, with his hand's and feet chained together. He saw Dr. Belle standing in front of him with her two guard's.
"HHHHOOOOOOOO!" Whooped Howie. "You just couldn't wait to get me naked again, could you!?"
"Shut up! This is only to demoralize you further! We plan to put your..."
"Is my bandanna on?" Interrupted Howie. "Or, there it is!"
"Stop your useless rambling this instant!" Snapped Dr. Belle.
"Belle...Is it okay if I just call you Belle?" Howie was obviously trying to provoke her. "I think I'm hot for you. !!!LOOK! It's RISING! Belle look! I got horny, ma!"
"Shut UP!" She looked into the guard's face and pointed toward the door. "Leave us." Obeying her command, they left. She redirected her attention to Howie, who was looking at himself and continually rambling. "Hey!" She shouted.
"...hormones are the most wonderful thing!" Howie continued.
"Stop it!" She drew her pistol and pointed it at Howie. "Hey! I'm talking to you!" Howie finally looked up. He gave her the puppy dog look.
"Oh...You wouldn't do that, Belle. You and I both know that."
She drew closer as if to drive home her message. A grin spread across his face. She saw him move quickly, too fast for her to react, then she felt his elbow hit her ribcage. It was then that she knew she was in trouble. He spun around behind her, and before she could call for help, he had his chain's around her neck. She could hardly breath, let alone call for help. Howie dragged her down to the floor and used his feet to flip things out of her pocket's. She tried to pick up her gun since she had dropped it earlier, but Howie kicked it away. "Now, Belle..." Said Howie, whispering into her ear. "I want you to listen to me, very, very carefully."
Outside, one of the guards was pacing back and forth. "What's taking her so long?"
"Oh, come on!" Said the second guard. "If she had needed help, she would have let us know."
The first guard looked at the door. "I don't trust that Howie."
"I don't trust him either."
"Can we check on them?"
"Um...I think so. I don't think we'll get into any real trouble or anything."
"Open the door, then." The guard in front of the door ran his card through the slot. The door made a mechanical noise then opened. They saw somebody lying on the floor naked, but it wasn't Howie, it was Dr. Belle. Howie wasn't in the room.
"The alarm!" Shouted the shocked guard. "Somebody trigger the alarm!" His comrade ran down the hall and smacked the big red button. A loud alarm started blaring throughout Alcatraz. The halls were soon filled with shouting and footsteps. Several commandos came in with automatics drawn and started searching the cell. The guard was still trying to revive Dr. Belle. The guard pointed to the commanding officer.
"Hey! You! Go brief the warden! We've got one wounded and one escapee!"
"And the escapee's name?" Asked the commando.
"Howie! Now get going!"
The warden left his office and was shortly joined by his assistant's. "What's going on?" He asked. He was answered by his chief assistant.
"We don't know. The only thing we know is there may be an escapee."
"An escapee?! Noone has ever escaped from new Alcatraz before!" They saw the commando coming down the hall. "Thank god, some information." Said the warden. "What happened?"
"Well, sir, someone has escaped."
"Dammit! So it's true?!"
"I'm afraid so, sir."
"Who escaped?"
"The escapee's name was Howie, sir." The warden had a nervous tick.
"Howie! We can't let that crazy bastard to get back to normal civilization! There's no telling what he would do! Anything else?"
"Yessir, there was one injury involved. Strangely, the victim was completely undressed when she was found."
"Alright, I want a full search conducted of the surrounding waters and islands. I don't want this man to get within fifty miles of civilization. And get that general Treize back here."
"All right, sir, we're on it." Said his assistant's. They went to work. The warden tapped the commando on the shoulder.
"You just keep up the fine work, son. You hear?"
"Yessir."
Later, on a nearby island, a man was wobbling onto shore. It was Howie. He had Dr. Belle's cloths' with him, but he was using them for different reasons other than wearing them(of course, you'll have to forgive that obvious statement.), so he was still naked. He had also Dr. Belle's gun in his possessetion, just in case he needed it. When he got to ankle deep water, he stood fully erect and surveyed his surrounding's. There was about ten feet of sand between him and the tree line and the forest beyond that, filled with thick and tall trees. It was getting dark fast. He would have to build a fire. He went into the woods and gathered up some leaves and twigs. He got one large size twig to start the fire with. When he had collected enough, he went back to shore and put them in a pile. He then went to collect seashells for the firepit. And when he had collected enough of those, he went back and made his firepit, made his fire, and went to sleep.
He had a dream. He saw a familiar girl fighting in a battle. He saw a plane explode on a runway. Finally, he came to an image where he saw a lion pouncing upon a man with a shotgun. Then he heard a voice. And the voice belonged to Rose.
"Do not worry..." She said. "It will all work out in the end." Then, he felt her hand's on his shoulder's. He felt so happy that he could feel her, or was it just that he was going crazy? Her arm's started to encircle his neck. He thought he could feel her body coming against his back. He wished he could remain in this blissful state forever. However...
In reality, somebody else had grabbed him by the neck. Howie had just woken up as two big strong arms yanked him up to his feet.
"Hello, bub." He heard a very masculine voice right behind his ear say. He heard the laughter of about 5 other men behind him. Howie didn't know who these men were, but they were about to get an ass-kicking for waking him up from the blissful state he was in. Only one problem. How to do it? Howie noticed he had left the gun behind him when he was sleeping in case he needed it. And when his assailant had grabbed him, he had pulled him up and back, which would put the gun on the ground in front of him if they hadn't noticed it. He checked. They hadn't noticed it. The gun was still laying right where he had put it. Howie developed a smug smile.
"It's time for an ass-kicking."
"Well, I would say you're in no position to do that, bub."
"You guys don't know me..." He said. "I'm Howie."
When he said that, there was a collective gasp.
He flipped his gun up into the air with his foot. While it was in the air, Howie caught it. He pointed it backward, into the attacker's knee. He pulled the trigger and a gunshot exploded through the air.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Howie's repressor cried out in pain. He tried to hobble on one foot, but it made him turn, causing Howie to go with him(Since his grip was so tight). Howie now had clear shot at his other attackers. Now was his shot. Before he had been pulled all the way around by his repressor, he fired 5 shots into one of each of their leg's. He counted by the blood squirts in their leg's. They each fell to the ground.
"Kill him, boss!" One of them cried. "Kill that bastard!" From his belt, their boss ripped a machete. He held it up to Howie's neck.
"Time to die, Bub."
I think not, Howie thought. He pointed his gun back into the repressor's lower right part of his stomach. He fired and the man fell. He turned and for the first time saw his enemy.
"Don't kill me! Please!" He said, shielding his eye's.
"Pirates, eh? Don't bother stealing anything from me. I've got nothing of value..." He pointed his gun at their boss. "...but you do have some things I need. Stand!" The boss stood up. Howie noticed a bottle of beer in the man's suspender's. He took it without asking. "Now, your cloth's...QUICKLY!!!" The pirate boss did not need a second warning. He took off his suspender's and his white, sleeveless shirt and gave them to Howie. Now he was ready to take off.
"Will you please let us go now?" He asked with a nervous anxiety. A wide grin spread across Howie's face and he shook his head. "What are you going to do?"
Howie pointed his gun at him.
"Please! No!" He put his hands in front of his head again. "Don't kill me!"
Howie pulled the trigger.
There was a clicking noise. The pirate boss looked up. The gun was empty. Howie lowered his gun.
"You may go now." Howie said calmly. They hobbled off as fast as they could, although that wasn't very fast. Howie watched them as they slowly disappeared down the beach. Howie noticed that one of them had dropped a pistol. He picked it up and checked it. It was 10 mm with a ten round magazine. He would have to ration it.
Howie sat awake, looking at the flame. He was drinking the beer he had stolen, but he still hadn't put on the cloths. He didn't want to go to sleep, thinking they might come back. However, at the rate he was going, being drunk might be as bad as being asleep. He didn't care. He was just thinking about Rose, about the dream.
"What did that mean?" He said aloud. There was no trace of intoxifacation in his voice.
What were those images? I've seen that girl before somewhere...I just can't remember where... Why did I see that plane exploding on the runway? And why do I care? And that lion... WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT ABOUT?! I vaguely remember that guy though... It feels like I know him somehow... Then...
"Rose... God, I miss her..." Howie ran his finger's through his hair and took a long swig out of the beer bottle.
That was the one part of the dream I liked. Rose... I could feel her again... It was...? Hard to describe. As much as I loved it, it was only temporary.
He began to have a nervous breakdown. "GOD! WHY'D SHE HAVE TO DIE?! HOW COME THERE'S NO FUCKIN' ANSWER FOR ME?! GOD, WHY?!" He wanted to get drunk. He tipped the bottom up, but there was no more left. "FUCK!" He threw the bottle into the fire. It broke and burned.
A few hours passed. To pass off the boredom without thinking of anything he didn't want to think of, he began humming songs. On the forth or fifth song he heard a cracking noise, but he just dismissed it as the fire. He continued humming. A little bit after this, he heard another noise, and this time, it was unmistakable. It was the sound of feet crunching sand. Quietly, he readied his new pistol. Whoever or whatever it was, it was right behind him. He had to be quick. He made the move. He jumped up and turned around. But it was too late. He was hit before he could find out what it was. He went out cold.
He woke up. He knew he was not on the island anymore. He was back in Alcatraz.
"Frankly, Howie, I don't know how you did it." He heard a voice say. He sat up. It was General Treize again, pacing back and forth in front of him. "Escape from Alcatraz. Now that's one for the headlines."
"I bet you want to know how I escaped, don't you?"
Treize shrugged. "Yes, I would like to know that. Take it one step at a time. First, how come your escape was not recorded on that video camera up there?" He said, pointing at the camera.
"Easy." Then Howie did something strange. He reached into his own mouth and from underneath his tongue, he pulled the top half of a broken pencil. "This little gizmo was extremely useful."
As he should have, Treize thought that this was odd. "But that's just a pencil."
"Oh, contraire. This no mere pencil. It has a small device in it that deactivates all electronic devices within nine yards. That also prevented me from triggering the silent alarm when I slipped through the bars in the window. I activated it when I broke it on the table this morning."
"All right. How did you survive the fall? That was a 50 foot drop from that cell window."
Howie lifted his left leg. "Can you say break a leg?" Treize noticed the cloth around his knee. "The trick is to land on your feet. You break a leg, shift it back into place, then use something to keep it in place."
"That's why you took Dr. Belle's..."
"Yeah. I was planning to use her cloth's for other things, but then you guys showed up and rudely interrupted my plan's."
"Right. How did you get past the yard? There are mines out there. And the sniper towers. How did you get past them? Then there's the barbed-wire-fence."
"I took care of two of those with one trick. I dug underground. Dog instincts helped. You know, such as using your feet to cover up the hole...except from inside it. I continued to dig and crawl until I reached air and fell into the water. For the land-mines it's a matter of knowing how to deactivate them." Howie held up the pencil again. "Again, this came in handy."
"Last thing. How did you avoid getting eaten?"
"What?! You mean by the sharks?!" Howie laughed. "No, no, no. You don't understand. As far as odds go, it's next to impossible to avoid getting eaten. It's just how you get eaten. Avoiding the teeth is the hard part. After that, you just have to sit tight and go with the flow. And after you're done with that journey..." Howie laughed methodically. "Well, let's just say they don't even want to touch you after that."
General Treize made a nervous laugh. "So, anything else?"
"No, that's just about it."
"All right. Now, Howie, as you can see, everything you acquired is over there." He pointed to the table. Everything was neatly arranged. "You can choose what you want to take with you when you go to the training camp."
"So I really do have no choice, do I?" Asked Howie. Treize shook his head.
"No, I'm afraid not. People need you. I have approved this with the chief overseer of the Alliance government, Marshal Noventa."
"...All right." Howie stood up and started picking out items. He picked up the handgun he had acquired from the pirates. "I don't need this. This can go." He handed it to Treize, who in turn handed it to a guard outside. The next thing Howie did was look at the boss pirate's cloths'. "I'll take these with me."
"All right." Howie noticed the handgun he had stolen from Dr. Belle. Howie pointed to it.
"Can I keep this? I have another one at home that is just like it." Treize looked at it a long time, thinking.
"I'll have to talk to Dr. Belle. She has asked that she could keep you for-quote-un-quote- 'a special occasion'."
"Oh boy, I wonder what she has planned."
"Yes. I'm sure she'll be willing to compromise."
Later, Howie and Dr. Belle were in a slightly familiar situation...
"Alright..." Started Dr. Belle, flexing her finger's. "Treize informs me you want my gun. You're going to have to earn it, Howie. The receptors attached to your body simulate a...how should I put it?...lightning strike."
"Oh, MAN! I know I'm gonna' like this already!" Said Howie sarcastically.
"Oh, it gets better! You see the remote in my hand? The dial on it has four settings on it...25...50...75...100...Can you guess what those numbers mean, Howie?"
"How many orgasms you'll have doing this?"
"Wrong! The numbers indicate how many lightning bolts you'll feel! Now..." She began talking with a sort of giddiness. "Shall we have some fun?" She turned the dial up to 25.
Immense pain ran through Howie's body. Somehow, a thought struck him...
...This is gonna be FUN!!!
__________________________________________________________
This was a chapter that introduced one of the major characters, Howie. In your review, tell me your thought's one him. How did he come across to you?
Gundam:
The dark era:
Chapter 3:
The deranged Howie:
"Why is he in here?" Treize asked the warden of New Alcatraz as they made their way down the halls toward the cells. The warden looked through his paper's.
"Well, he's one of our wilder ones. He's got quite a few capital murder charges on him. He's also accused of drug trafficking with his French drug syndicate buddies, whom are still on the run. He has purchased highly illegal weaponry, we don't know where he's kept it. One charge that has made him infamous is that he is a convicted rapist, a charge that has made him well known to other criminals. And he has some other charges that-dear god-I don't even want to mention, but he has charges all over the board, sir."
"That's good enough. So, what's he like? As an inmate, I mean?"
"He exhibits some strange behavior. He doesn't talk to anyone. He generally avoids people. Sometimes he'll write things and won't allow other people to look at it, even though that's not exactly the oddest thing a person can do. He mumbles a lot, and when he does talk to people, it's usually an angry or sarcastic tone he takes, and he lies a lot." They had reached the door to a prison cell. The warden turned to face Treize as a guard opened the door. "But the truth is that most of his odd behavior changes for day to day. Only God knows what he's up to today. Good luck." The warden left as the guard opened the cell door.
Walking into the cell, one thing was immediately noticeable. There were prison cloths on the floor. Turning a short corner, they saw a naked, grim looking young man sitting at a small desk, scribbling on a piece of paper. Treize spoke.
"Hello, Howie."
Howie gave Treize a pissed-off look. "Tch!" Howie broke the pencil on his desk.
"How are you feeling?" Asked Treize.
Howie responded sarcastically. "I feel like a butterfly! I feel so happy I could...FLY!" Howie laughed. "I mean, who the fuck are you to just come in here? Here I am, just minding my own business, rotting in my own fucking hell-hole, and some dumb-ass waltzes in and asks 'How are you feeling?'. You must be one fruity fucker."
"The warden let me in." Treize informed Howie.
"Oh, the warden! Man, is he one fruity fuck!"
"You've been offered a position in the military, Howie." Treize said. Nothing that he said seemed to get through to Howie.
"What makes you think I give a rat's ass?!" Yelled Howie, finally raising his voice. "GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!" He turned around in his chair and tried to ignore them. Treize didn't leave. He noticed Howie was wearing a bandanna.
"That bandanna... that's the only thing you have on. Why is that? What is it for?"
Speaking very quietly, Howie answered. "A scar that I got when I was young." His mood changed. "Didn't I tell you to get out?"
Treize continued. "That may be one reason you wear it, but is there a symbolic reason?" Howie got up and flopped face-first onto his cell bed. "Is there an emotional scar somewhere?"
"No." Said Howie quickly through his pillow.
"Really? You say that, but do you really mean it?" There was a short pause in the talking. "Does the name Rose mean anything to you?"
Howie's head snapped up immediately. Yes! It did! Rose did mean something to him! He knew that name! Rose was the girl that he spent many of the best moments in his life with...and his worst. Howie remembered. He was 5 years old when he ran away from home. He was taken in by a drug gang. Sounds odd, but the drug dealers were nice. Howie remembered thinking that they were trying to do the right thing, they were just doing it the wrong way. There he met Rose, 8 at the time. She was helping out with the gang nursery (Remember, this is FICTION!), and Howie liked her as soon as he met her. She was just a smart, pretty, brunet girl. Howie also met Peter, an 11 year-old heir of the gang. He was a black male who had dreadlocks and not afraid to express his opinion. He and Howie quickly became friends. So, as he grew older his relationships with Rose and Peter grew. When Howie turned 10, Peter was able to get him an heirloom quality handgun. A Colt .45 1911. It had a golden lion engraved into the handle, and the trigger was pure silver. About two or so years later, Howie and Rose discovered that there was love blooming between them. Howie and Rose started seeing movies together. When he was thirteen, Howie was able to return Peter's generosity by getting him a big game hunting rifle. Peter liked it so much that he punched Howie out, which Howie already knew in Peter's language meant 'Thank you'. Howie also impressed Rose by collecting the most rare roses in the world and giving them to her in a bouquet. He even recited a line from Romeo & Juliet. 'A rose by any other name would smell just as sweet.' Misinterpreting the meaning, she punched him out, she realized soon that he didn't mean what she thought he meant and forgave him. When he was 15, he proposed to Rose(Remember, this is FRIKIN' FICTION!!! Just pretend they change the marriage laws.). She accepted and on a bright sunny July day, they were wed. Peter was his best man. Peter's father, the drug gang leader and priest, married them. They were very happy together, as Howie remembered, even though it was obvious Rose's younger sister, Dory, was jealous. Howie remembered their first night together...
But it was too good to be true. About 1 year after they were married, they were taking a ride down the street and seemingly out of nowhere, people started shooting at their car. Whoever it was, they had missile launchers and automatic rifles and everything. Driving back to the gang hideout, Rose called Peter's dad on her cell-phone. They would lure their pursuers into an ambush. Somehow, they made it back to the hideout, even though their car was full of bullet holes. The gang members would wait for the onslaught of the enemy. Howie decided to fight alongside Peter and his father. When he told Rose to go inside, she picked up a rifle and made him accept the fact that she was going to fight alongside them. The only thing they could do was wait for their adversary...
And their adversary came. They seemed rather surprised at the fight that Howie and his friend's put up. Both sides fought with ferocity and tenacity. Howie came up with the idea of shooting the telephone wire and burning several of their hidden enemies. At that point, it became a shootout of who could find the most clever way to take out their opponent.
The shootout took no less than an hour-and-a-half to finish. Towards the end, the fighting became more intense. One enemy had the guts to charge them, with his bayonet pointing outward. He was charging Howie. Now, since he had snuck over to the right side, Howie didn't see him. But Rose did. In order to protect her husband, she flung herself in front of his attacker's blade, sacrificing herself(big-ass cliche, I know). Then she took her rifle's bayonet and jabbed it up through the bottom of his head, and Howie could remember it puncturing through the top of his head. Having lost most of her energy, she fell back into Howie's arms' and they both slumped to the ground in unison. Howie heard a cry from Peter and witnessed Peter's father receiving the blunt of a bayonet blade. Peter fired on the assailant, killing him. Then he went to cradle his dying father just like Howie was cradling his dying wife. The fighting was dying down now and the opposition was retreating. Now all they could do was start to count the dead. But it was strange. Peter and Howie had some many things in common. Now they had one more thing to share. They were both losing someone close to them...
"That was when it started. My corruption, I mean." Said Howie, sitting in the warden's office, now fully dressed. "I had lost something precious to me, and I no longer cared about anything. I'm just a pitiful little bastard..."
Treize tried to console Howie. "You can start a new life, you know."
"What makes you think I want to? I'm not repenting for anything. There's no going back for me." Howie sighed. "I wish I was the one who had taken the blade."
"Well, you didn't. And that's why you're here."
"Do you know, Treize?" Asked Howie after a brief pause. "Do you know what it's like to hold someone you love in your arm's, and she's slipping away? You don't know my feeling's, Treize. If you did, you would have left me alone. I don't need to hear what you have to say and I don't want to. Why do I give a damn? What makes me so god-damn special? Actually, don't tell me, since I don't wanna' know. Leave me alone."
Sighing, Treize stood up. "I'm afraid it's not that simple, Howie. I'm afraid you don't have any say in this. You are important, but for reasons I can't divulge. You're coming, whether you like it or not. But, you're not leaving quite yet." Treize pointed to the heavy-set woman standing next to the table looking at papers. "Dr. Belle will 'recondition' you back to legal society. I will check back in a week or so to check in on your progress." Treize turned to the door. "Until then, good luck." Treize left. It was just Howie, Dr. Belle, and her two guard's.
"Hey..." Said Howie with wry smile. "Wanna' get naked with me?" Dr. Belle scowled. "I am just the guy for a whore like you."
Dr. Belle laughed. "Me? You? Don't fool yourself. I've done it with some low stuff, Howie. But you are the worst."
"Same with me. Let's just degrade ourselves even farther. Ha!"
"I would never degrade myself to your level."
"Neither would I your's."
"Stand up, scum!" Dr. Belle ordered Howie. Raising his hand's in surrender, Howie rose. Dr. Belle walked right up to Howie and inspected him from head to toe. Howie noticed a handgun wedged between her breast's. It was exactly the same as the one he had.
"Nice guns." He commented. She frowned.
"I would expect a serial rapist to notice that." She nodded to her guard's to come. When her guard's came, the last thing Howie could remember was a tingling feeling in his neck.
The next thing he knew, he was standing naked, in an all white room, with his hand's and feet chained together. He saw Dr. Belle standing in front of him with her two guard's.
"HHHHOOOOOOOO!" Whooped Howie. "You just couldn't wait to get me naked again, could you!?"
"Shut up! This is only to demoralize you further! We plan to put your..."
"Is my bandanna on?" Interrupted Howie. "Or, there it is!"
"Stop your useless rambling this instant!" Snapped Dr. Belle.
"Belle...Is it okay if I just call you Belle?" Howie was obviously trying to provoke her. "I think I'm hot for you. !!!LOOK! It's RISING! Belle look! I got horny, ma!"
"Shut UP!" She looked into the guard's face and pointed toward the door. "Leave us." Obeying her command, they left. She redirected her attention to Howie, who was looking at himself and continually rambling. "Hey!" She shouted.
"...hormones are the most wonderful thing!" Howie continued.
"Stop it!" She drew her pistol and pointed it at Howie. "Hey! I'm talking to you!" Howie finally looked up. He gave her the puppy dog look.
"Oh...You wouldn't do that, Belle. You and I both know that."
She drew closer as if to drive home her message. A grin spread across his face. She saw him move quickly, too fast for her to react, then she felt his elbow hit her ribcage. It was then that she knew she was in trouble. He spun around behind her, and before she could call for help, he had his chain's around her neck. She could hardly breath, let alone call for help. Howie dragged her down to the floor and used his feet to flip things out of her pocket's. She tried to pick up her gun since she had dropped it earlier, but Howie kicked it away. "Now, Belle..." Said Howie, whispering into her ear. "I want you to listen to me, very, very carefully."
Outside, one of the guards was pacing back and forth. "What's taking her so long?"
"Oh, come on!" Said the second guard. "If she had needed help, she would have let us know."
The first guard looked at the door. "I don't trust that Howie."
"I don't trust him either."
"Can we check on them?"
"Um...I think so. I don't think we'll get into any real trouble or anything."
"Open the door, then." The guard in front of the door ran his card through the slot. The door made a mechanical noise then opened. They saw somebody lying on the floor naked, but it wasn't Howie, it was Dr. Belle. Howie wasn't in the room.
"The alarm!" Shouted the shocked guard. "Somebody trigger the alarm!" His comrade ran down the hall and smacked the big red button. A loud alarm started blaring throughout Alcatraz. The halls were soon filled with shouting and footsteps. Several commandos came in with automatics drawn and started searching the cell. The guard was still trying to revive Dr. Belle. The guard pointed to the commanding officer.
"Hey! You! Go brief the warden! We've got one wounded and one escapee!"
"And the escapee's name?" Asked the commando.
"Howie! Now get going!"
The warden left his office and was shortly joined by his assistant's. "What's going on?" He asked. He was answered by his chief assistant.
"We don't know. The only thing we know is there may be an escapee."
"An escapee?! Noone has ever escaped from new Alcatraz before!" They saw the commando coming down the hall. "Thank god, some information." Said the warden. "What happened?"
"Well, sir, someone has escaped."
"Dammit! So it's true?!"
"I'm afraid so, sir."
"Who escaped?"
"The escapee's name was Howie, sir." The warden had a nervous tick.
"Howie! We can't let that crazy bastard to get back to normal civilization! There's no telling what he would do! Anything else?"
"Yessir, there was one injury involved. Strangely, the victim was completely undressed when she was found."
"Alright, I want a full search conducted of the surrounding waters and islands. I don't want this man to get within fifty miles of civilization. And get that general Treize back here."
"All right, sir, we're on it." Said his assistant's. They went to work. The warden tapped the commando on the shoulder.
"You just keep up the fine work, son. You hear?"
"Yessir."
Later, on a nearby island, a man was wobbling onto shore. It was Howie. He had Dr. Belle's cloths' with him, but he was using them for different reasons other than wearing them(of course, you'll have to forgive that obvious statement.), so he was still naked. He had also Dr. Belle's gun in his possessetion, just in case he needed it. When he got to ankle deep water, he stood fully erect and surveyed his surrounding's. There was about ten feet of sand between him and the tree line and the forest beyond that, filled with thick and tall trees. It was getting dark fast. He would have to build a fire. He went into the woods and gathered up some leaves and twigs. He got one large size twig to start the fire with. When he had collected enough, he went back to shore and put them in a pile. He then went to collect seashells for the firepit. And when he had collected enough of those, he went back and made his firepit, made his fire, and went to sleep.
He had a dream. He saw a familiar girl fighting in a battle. He saw a plane explode on a runway. Finally, he came to an image where he saw a lion pouncing upon a man with a shotgun. Then he heard a voice. And the voice belonged to Rose.
"Do not worry..." She said. "It will all work out in the end." Then, he felt her hand's on his shoulder's. He felt so happy that he could feel her, or was it just that he was going crazy? Her arm's started to encircle his neck. He thought he could feel her body coming against his back. He wished he could remain in this blissful state forever. However...
In reality, somebody else had grabbed him by the neck. Howie had just woken up as two big strong arms yanked him up to his feet.
"Hello, bub." He heard a very masculine voice right behind his ear say. He heard the laughter of about 5 other men behind him. Howie didn't know who these men were, but they were about to get an ass-kicking for waking him up from the blissful state he was in. Only one problem. How to do it? Howie noticed he had left the gun behind him when he was sleeping in case he needed it. And when his assailant had grabbed him, he had pulled him up and back, which would put the gun on the ground in front of him if they hadn't noticed it. He checked. They hadn't noticed it. The gun was still laying right where he had put it. Howie developed a smug smile.
"It's time for an ass-kicking."
"Well, I would say you're in no position to do that, bub."
"You guys don't know me..." He said. "I'm Howie."
When he said that, there was a collective gasp.
He flipped his gun up into the air with his foot. While it was in the air, Howie caught it. He pointed it backward, into the attacker's knee. He pulled the trigger and a gunshot exploded through the air.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Howie's repressor cried out in pain. He tried to hobble on one foot, but it made him turn, causing Howie to go with him(Since his grip was so tight). Howie now had clear shot at his other attackers. Now was his shot. Before he had been pulled all the way around by his repressor, he fired 5 shots into one of each of their leg's. He counted by the blood squirts in their leg's. They each fell to the ground.
"Kill him, boss!" One of them cried. "Kill that bastard!" From his belt, their boss ripped a machete. He held it up to Howie's neck.
"Time to die, Bub."
I think not, Howie thought. He pointed his gun back into the repressor's lower right part of his stomach. He fired and the man fell. He turned and for the first time saw his enemy.
"Don't kill me! Please!" He said, shielding his eye's.
"Pirates, eh? Don't bother stealing anything from me. I've got nothing of value..." He pointed his gun at their boss. "...but you do have some things I need. Stand!" The boss stood up. Howie noticed a bottle of beer in the man's suspender's. He took it without asking. "Now, your cloth's...QUICKLY!!!" The pirate boss did not need a second warning. He took off his suspender's and his white, sleeveless shirt and gave them to Howie. Now he was ready to take off.
"Will you please let us go now?" He asked with a nervous anxiety. A wide grin spread across Howie's face and he shook his head. "What are you going to do?"
Howie pointed his gun at him.
"Please! No!" He put his hands in front of his head again. "Don't kill me!"
Howie pulled the trigger.
There was a clicking noise. The pirate boss looked up. The gun was empty. Howie lowered his gun.
"You may go now." Howie said calmly. They hobbled off as fast as they could, although that wasn't very fast. Howie watched them as they slowly disappeared down the beach. Howie noticed that one of them had dropped a pistol. He picked it up and checked it. It was 10 mm with a ten round magazine. He would have to ration it.
Howie sat awake, looking at the flame. He was drinking the beer he had stolen, but he still hadn't put on the cloths. He didn't want to go to sleep, thinking they might come back. However, at the rate he was going, being drunk might be as bad as being asleep. He didn't care. He was just thinking about Rose, about the dream.
"What did that mean?" He said aloud. There was no trace of intoxifacation in his voice.
What were those images? I've seen that girl before somewhere...I just can't remember where... Why did I see that plane exploding on the runway? And why do I care? And that lion... WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT ABOUT?! I vaguely remember that guy though... It feels like I know him somehow... Then...
"Rose... God, I miss her..." Howie ran his finger's through his hair and took a long swig out of the beer bottle.
That was the one part of the dream I liked. Rose... I could feel her again... It was...? Hard to describe. As much as I loved it, it was only temporary.
He began to have a nervous breakdown. "GOD! WHY'D SHE HAVE TO DIE?! HOW COME THERE'S NO FUCKIN' ANSWER FOR ME?! GOD, WHY?!" He wanted to get drunk. He tipped the bottom up, but there was no more left. "FUCK!" He threw the bottle into the fire. It broke and burned.
A few hours passed. To pass off the boredom without thinking of anything he didn't want to think of, he began humming songs. On the forth or fifth song he heard a cracking noise, but he just dismissed it as the fire. He continued humming. A little bit after this, he heard another noise, and this time, it was unmistakable. It was the sound of feet crunching sand. Quietly, he readied his new pistol. Whoever or whatever it was, it was right behind him. He had to be quick. He made the move. He jumped up and turned around. But it was too late. He was hit before he could find out what it was. He went out cold.
He woke up. He knew he was not on the island anymore. He was back in Alcatraz.
"Frankly, Howie, I don't know how you did it." He heard a voice say. He sat up. It was General Treize again, pacing back and forth in front of him. "Escape from Alcatraz. Now that's one for the headlines."
"I bet you want to know how I escaped, don't you?"
Treize shrugged. "Yes, I would like to know that. Take it one step at a time. First, how come your escape was not recorded on that video camera up there?" He said, pointing at the camera.
"Easy." Then Howie did something strange. He reached into his own mouth and from underneath his tongue, he pulled the top half of a broken pencil. "This little gizmo was extremely useful."
As he should have, Treize thought that this was odd. "But that's just a pencil."
"Oh, contraire. This no mere pencil. It has a small device in it that deactivates all electronic devices within nine yards. That also prevented me from triggering the silent alarm when I slipped through the bars in the window. I activated it when I broke it on the table this morning."
"All right. How did you survive the fall? That was a 50 foot drop from that cell window."
Howie lifted his left leg. "Can you say break a leg?" Treize noticed the cloth around his knee. "The trick is to land on your feet. You break a leg, shift it back into place, then use something to keep it in place."
"That's why you took Dr. Belle's..."
"Yeah. I was planning to use her cloth's for other things, but then you guys showed up and rudely interrupted my plan's."
"Right. How did you get past the yard? There are mines out there. And the sniper towers. How did you get past them? Then there's the barbed-wire-fence."
"I took care of two of those with one trick. I dug underground. Dog instincts helped. You know, such as using your feet to cover up the hole...except from inside it. I continued to dig and crawl until I reached air and fell into the water. For the land-mines it's a matter of knowing how to deactivate them." Howie held up the pencil again. "Again, this came in handy."
"Last thing. How did you avoid getting eaten?"
"What?! You mean by the sharks?!" Howie laughed. "No, no, no. You don't understand. As far as odds go, it's next to impossible to avoid getting eaten. It's just how you get eaten. Avoiding the teeth is the hard part. After that, you just have to sit tight and go with the flow. And after you're done with that journey..." Howie laughed methodically. "Well, let's just say they don't even want to touch you after that."
General Treize made a nervous laugh. "So, anything else?"
"No, that's just about it."
"All right. Now, Howie, as you can see, everything you acquired is over there." He pointed to the table. Everything was neatly arranged. "You can choose what you want to take with you when you go to the training camp."
"So I really do have no choice, do I?" Asked Howie. Treize shook his head.
"No, I'm afraid not. People need you. I have approved this with the chief overseer of the Alliance government, Marshal Noventa."
"...All right." Howie stood up and started picking out items. He picked up the handgun he had acquired from the pirates. "I don't need this. This can go." He handed it to Treize, who in turn handed it to a guard outside. The next thing Howie did was look at the boss pirate's cloths'. "I'll take these with me."
"All right." Howie noticed the handgun he had stolen from Dr. Belle. Howie pointed to it.
"Can I keep this? I have another one at home that is just like it." Treize looked at it a long time, thinking.
"I'll have to talk to Dr. Belle. She has asked that she could keep you for-quote-un-quote- 'a special occasion'."
"Oh boy, I wonder what she has planned."
"Yes. I'm sure she'll be willing to compromise."
Later, Howie and Dr. Belle were in a slightly familiar situation...
"Alright..." Started Dr. Belle, flexing her finger's. "Treize informs me you want my gun. You're going to have to earn it, Howie. The receptors attached to your body simulate a...how should I put it?...lightning strike."
"Oh, MAN! I know I'm gonna' like this already!" Said Howie sarcastically.
"Oh, it gets better! You see the remote in my hand? The dial on it has four settings on it...25...50...75...100...Can you guess what those numbers mean, Howie?"
"How many orgasms you'll have doing this?"
"Wrong! The numbers indicate how many lightning bolts you'll feel! Now..." She began talking with a sort of giddiness. "Shall we have some fun?" She turned the dial up to 25.
Immense pain ran through Howie's body. Somehow, a thought struck him...
...This is gonna be FUN!!!
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This was a chapter that introduced one of the major characters, Howie. In your review, tell me your thought's one him. How did he come across to you?