Sabal stepped out of the tiny broken-down shack on the outskirts of Banapur with a happy smile on his face. The other golden path members quietly started to surround him in question. "The prince will be watching his mouth from now on," Was all Sabal told the others with a shrug of his shoulders as he stepped down in the crowd of Golden Path soldiers. Some of them carefully stepped to the side allowing him to move while others seem to stand there uneasily. Sabal noticed one of the uneasy members and gently place a hand on the soldier's shoulder, the man shuttered slightly before looking at Sabal. "Is something the matter, brother?" Sabal questioned.
"... I feel like... this isn't right. I understand that Pagan Min and Ajay Ghale must die for their crimes, but... torture? Isn't that-Never mind..." The man looked away from Sabal uneasily. Sabal simply patted the man's shoulder.
" I understand. those that have doubts, that both Pagan Min and Ajay Ghale brought this on themselves! Ajay is a blood traitor who tried to turn Bhadra on us! While Pagan Min tried to squash us under his boot! I am only doing to them what they did to Kyrat!" He spoke loudly for all to hear. Most nodded while others seemed to share a concerned look. "Speaking of Bhadra, where is she?" Sabal questioned.
"She's over by Amita's grave." Someone informed Sabal he gave them a nod and then excused himself from the group politely.
Sabal stuck his hands into his pockets as he made haste over to the gravesite. There are many dead in Banapur, so many that their graveyard was growing bigger and bigger, Sabal was sure there were more graves than people, hopefully after tonight that will change. Sabal could see Bhadra off in the distance sitting at the base of Amita's grave looking thoughtfully. She looked so cute while her brow was furrowed in confusion, but then she did something that made Sabal stop in his tracks. She let out a low but loud whistle. Sabal could only watch with Horror as an eagle flew down and landed on Amita's grave. "Bhadra!" He gasped out causing the eagle to take off quickly. Bhadra turned to face Sabal in a panic, Sabal went rushing over to her and pulled her up to her feet by her jacket sleeves. "You know better than to use what you learned by the Royal Army!" He shook then proceeded to shake her.
"I'm-I'm sorry!" She gave a loud gasp before jerking herself out of Sabal's grasp. "I... I've just been so lonely. The animals keep me company." She half whined to Sabal. That child really knew how to tug at his heart.
"... Bhadra, I understand that you've been lonely, however, no more doing what you've learned from the Royal Army. You'd be marked as a traitor and... well that would just break my heart." Sabal tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear before going to leave, but Bhadra quickly grabbed his sleeve. "I love you, my Goddess, and I don't want to see you hurt."
"Wait... Ajay told me that you... that you killed Amita when Paul attacked. You... you would never do that right?"
"Bhadra, Ajay is a traitor who would do anything to turn you against me. Of course, I never do such a thing. Now, please, I have to go." Sabal hurriedly tried to leave the conversation and then just proceeded to walk away.
Bhadra watched as Sabal left before narrowing her eyes angrily at his back. "Liar..." She seethed under her breath. She then turned her gaze upwards towards the small shack. Without so much as a second thought, she made her way up towards the shack. She had a little something hidden in her jacket for Ajay to have. It didn't surprise her to see two guards outside of the shack but thankfully she already knew what to say. "Gentleman, I wish to see the traitor Ajay." She spoke as firmly as possible.
"Sorry, Bhadra. Sabal restricted access to the traitor." One of the guards told her. Bhadra frowned before squaring her shoulders. She tried her best to look more confident in front of the two guards before speaking again. 'Rabi Ray... I hope this works...'
"I am a Goddess, am I not? I request access to see Ajay."
Both guards shared a worried look with one another before looking back at Bhadra. "Well-" The first guard paused again and swallowed before coming up with an excuse "-Sabal-"
"And as a Goddess, I believe I outrank Sabal."
"Bhadra... why do you want to see Ajay so bad?" The one guard finally asked her. "All you're going to see is a bloody and wet mess in there."
"I wish to... spit on him. That's all." She lied but made sure to smile cutely at the guard. "I want him to know that I do in fact hate him for kidnapping me."
Both guards, once again, looked at one another before nodding. "Alright, we'll allow it, just don't stay for too long. Can't have Sabal see this." Bhadra smiled sweetly and walked on into the old shack. She made sure the door was securely shut behind her before carefully and quietly locking it. She gave a little cringe when the lock 'clicked' into place and even stood there for a few seconds almost frozen. She relaxed once she realized that they didn't notice.
"Ajay..." She breathed out in a whisper at the site before her. Strapped to a table, keeping him completely immobile unable to fight back as he was shirtless with blood running down his torso- staining his pants- she could see that Sabal had carved something into his chest. She could also see that he was absolutely soaking wet and that sent shivers down her spine. Sabal didn't seem to be such an 'Elephant' as he claimed to be. Ajay's eyes were open, and he was breathing, she watched his chest rise and fall many times just to make sure he was still alive, but he was just staring numbly at the ceiling. "I'm so sorry-" With all of her force, she released the collar around Ajay's neck before moving on to the other restraints.
"Bhadra?" One of the guards asked her from the other side of the door as she was on the lest restraint. "It's been too long, you must leave." Bhadra quickly broke the restraint. She then reached into her coat pocket and put a pistol in Ajay's gloveless hand. She smiled with Ajay started to show some signs of life. First, his eyes twitched a little, then he wrapped his fingers around the pistol.
"C'mon, Ajay-" Bhadra gasped when Ajay sprung up and pointed the gun at her.
"You!" Ajay seethed. The gun now held tightly with his finger on the trigger. Bhadra felt her heart thud painfully in her chest as she stared at Ajay with wide eyes. "You did this!"
"Ajay- no- yes- please, I can explain-"
"Bhadra!" The doorknob jiggled before someone tried to slam their weight against it. This caused her to turn her head away from Ajay. When she turned back he now had the pistol against her forehead.
"Give me a reason." Ajay had a nasty sneer on his face. His breathing now heavy and his hands were shaking.
"Ajay, I want to kill Sabal as much as you do. He took Amita away from me!"
"Then why betray us?"
The banging on the door got harder and Bhadra knew the guards were probably ready to start shooting at the knob to open it.
"Because I wanted to sneak up and kill Sabal myself for killing Amita but I couldn't do it. I need you-" There was a gunshot and the door was kicked open. Ajay suddenly grabbed Bhadra's arm, yanked her back behind him and aimed. He didn't hesitate and shot them before they could pull their guns out. Ajay turned back to Bhadra, who now had his torn and broken jacket in her hands. With shaky hands, she ushered the coat towards Ajay. "I never meant for you or Pagan to get caught, I swear."
"My aunt is dead because of you."
"And I'm sorry... Please, forgive me... we both want the same thing don't we?" Bhadra looked up at him with pleading eyes. Ajay looked down at her his eyes unblinking for a few moments of silence before finally taking his jacket back from her. Carefully he put the jacket on over his shoulders. Unfortunately, he couldn't zip it up because Sabal had broken the zipper.
"Does it hurt?" Bhadra asked him, he could see her staring at the carving in his chest that was finally starting to scab over.
"Well... It doesn't exactly feel great." Ajay grimaced as his jacket gently rubbed against the first half of his injury. "But, I'll live..." Ajay sucked in several deep breaths and looked out the open door. "Let's get going before Sabal comes back." Ajay lead her forward and out the door.
They quickly hid behind a pile of ammunition crates. Ajay gently pushed Bhadra back against the boxes to keep the two of them hidden for the time being. Ajay shyly looked around the corner and survived the area. He saw one guard off towards the distance and some more crates- but these looks to hold guns... The problem was that beside the gun boxes were two more Golden Path guards. Ajay pulled back before he spotted and he opened up the magazine to see how many bullets he had left. "...two...four... Six. I have six bullets... Now a full thirteen" Ajay snatched some pistol ammo up and reloaded his gun. "Now, I just need a better gun."
"Ajay- we need to move," Bhadra hurried him along. "Sabal is probably getting ready to come back."
Ajay shook his head. "If I shoot them it'll probably be alert others-"
"Oh-" Ajay could just feel Bhadra roll her eyes irritably before she suddenly let out a very loud and alarming whistle. This made Ajay almost freeze, thinking for just a moment that their freedom was short-lived- but suddenly with no warning, an eagle came and swooped down from the sky.
"Eagle!" One guard exclaimed as he tried to shoot at it while the bird had already torn the other guard's throat to shreds. Ajay took this moment to rush the still living guard and in one quick movement Ajay took the guy's tactical knife- that was hooked to guard's belt- and stabbed him in the throat, killing him instantly. The Eagle flew away once its job was done and Ajay turned over to Bhadra as not a soul had caught them standing there during the whole thing.
"Impressive," Ajay clapped her on the back, he even managed to pull just a little smile. He then put his hands on one of the crates and opened it to see a nice large pile of guns and bows inside. "Now, let's see how you do with a gun."
"No, no guns... I prefer bows and arrows."
Ajay chuckled just a little before patting her on the head. "My little hunter."
The roar from the ATV was the only sound Jason could hear. After some looking Jason twisted the accelerator going faster than he's ever been on an ATV. He needed to go fast as off in the distance he could see Paul's fortress. Jason narrowed his eyes and stood up on the still moving ATV, he braced himself as the door got closer and closer to him. Jason was never one for stealth and he knew he was in for a battle judging by all of the blue Golden Path trucks surrounding the place.
In one good move, Jason bashed through the fortress doors. Of course, an ATV wasn't exactly made to be a battering ram and Jason went flying off of his ride. He rolled on the dusty Kyrat ground and instinctively put his arms over his head as the ATV went rolling away from him. Once the ATV stopped rolling Jason poked his head up and just saw... what could only be described as a bloodbath. Just bodies all over the ground. Both from the Royal Army and the Golden Path. Jason let out a bit of a groan as he stepped into a puddle of blood. "Christ... " It as a sea of bodies, but in this sea, Jason was lucky to find a shotgun. An 1888 shotgun at that. Jason opened the shotgun up and counted how much ammo was left. "Enough." He concluded and pumped the shotgun shut. It'll have to do for now.
Jason looked around for any signs of life, which was a little hard with the numerous dead bodies littered around him. "Hurk? Paul? Are you two still alive?" Jason spoke aloud, all he got back was his own lonely echo. Still, Jason narrowed his eyes, even though nobody answered he could tell he wasn't alone.
Jason practically strained his ears to make out any sort of noise. Any noise at all. At first, he heard nothing, which was normal, but suddenly he heard a slight scuffle behind him, like terribly close behind him- so close that he didn't hesitate to turn, pump the shotgun, and fire. This turned out to be a good decision as a Golden Path member went flying back away from Jason. The guy died almost instantly- of course, he did he was practically shot at point blank. Jason looked at the pistol in the soldier's hand and simply took it as a backup weapon. Pocketing the gun Jason took a quick look around to try and figure out where Paul or Hurk would be. So... he walked.
He walked around, wandered like a lost child- occasionally kicking a body out of his way. Jason kept his wits about him and kept looking around and behind him. After a few more minutes of walking around and finding nothing but dead bodies Jason was almost ready to give up and just try to save Ajay on his own- but that was when he heard the sound of someone grunting out in pain of in the distance. Jason turned his gaze to a small lone shed not too far away from him. Jason held the shotgun up and started to cautiously walk over towards the shed. When he got too close Jason crouched down to be even quieter. Once close enough he heard voices.
"-Let's just put a fucking bullet in their heads!" One voice demanded.
"-Not yet!" Another voice snapped.
"Oh, please Monkey God, forgive me." Hurk's angelic southern voice pleaded. 'He's alive.' Jason breathed out a small sigh of relief, but he knew he couldn't stay relieved for too long.
"Monkey God... " Jason could hear Paul shake his head. "I'm tied to an idiot..."
Jason carefully pushed the door open just a crack. Two Golden Path guards stood with their backs to the door. Paul and Hurk were tied up to chairs back to back. Jason could see that Paul was most definitely missing his ring finger. Paul looked like he got the worst of it, yeah Hurk had a few bumps and bruises, but- from experience- Jason could see that Paul was 'pistol whipped' quite a few times.
"Yuma is dead, Noore is dead, let just kill Paul now and be done with it!" The first man huffed.
"No! Next, to Pagan, Paul is the closest to Ajay- I want him to see Ajay die, the same way we were forced to watch our loved ones die." The second man fought back with venom in his voice. "If I could get to his daughter, I would..."
Jason felt eyes on him and looked to see that Paul had spotted him. Jason just nodded at Paul, stood up, and kicked the door it. "Surprise, fuckfaces!" Jason roared, pumped the shotgun and fired twice. He hit the first guard then the second guard. Both men fell to the ground in an explosion of blood and brains that painted the walls behind them. "You two alright?" Jason questioned Hurk and Paul as he reloaded his shotgun.
"Oh yeah, just fuckin' Peachy!" Paul spat blood out of his mouth bitterly before looking at Jason. "I can't believe you actually came for us."
"I knew the Monkey God wouldn't let me die yet!" Hurk exclaimed suddenly. Jason really didn't want to know right now.
"Yeah, well, don't take this the wrong way but I'm not exactly here for you two alone. I need an army, now." Jason explained and hurriedly cut their bonds with his Kukri. Paul let out a noise and stood up. Jason watched as Paul walked over to a busted cellphone on the floor. For a moment Paul had a bit of a forlorn look on his face as he scooped the broken phone up in his hands.
"I don't know if you've seen it, Jason. But most of the Army is... well... outside dead." Hurk felt the need to inform Jason- earning an eye roll from the recipient.
"Yeah, I got it... but surely there's gotta… someone... We can't take on the Golden Path with just the three of us!" Jason snarled out.
"I told you-" Paul looked over at Jason. "-It's over! They won-"
"We can't give up now! We can still save Ajay and Pagan, I'm sure of it!" Paul just shook his head as a low sigh left his mouth. After an overly long few seconds of silence, Jason slapped his hands to his side. Paul grimaced and looked up at Jason. "What do you even expect to do? Storm the Golden Path? If we do have men left they'll be blown away in seconds!"
"We have to do something... Please, Paul... We can't give up now." Jason shook his head. "Not when they need us the most."
"Why do you care anyway?" Paul challenged before standing up and giving his broken phone a good kick. Paul puffed his chest and squared up almost like he was ready to throw down. "You haven't even been here long enough to care!"
"You don't know that! I... I am Prince Ajay Ghale's bodyguard and unless I am buried in the ground nothing and I mean nothing is going to stop me from at least trying to help him!" Jason snarled back to Paul before turning quickly. "Fuck it, I'll do it with Hurk. Let's go-"
"Yuma's men. In the mountains... They should still be there. I mean the only way to get to them is to be able to fly an airplane... I don't think the Golden Path have airplanes- rocket launchers, yeah, but no aircrafts. It's not many people, but enough for a small army." Paul had his eyes shut for a few seconds before finally opening them and looking directly at Jason.
"Can you fly a plane?" Jason asked Paul almost a little too hopefully only to instantly be met with disappointment when Paul shook his head no. "Hurk?" Jason turned to his friend.
"Sorry, Buddy..."
"I can..." Riley's voice suddenly interrupted the conversation. Jason spun around to stare at Riley and Liza. He narrowed his eyes at them.
"How'd you find me?"
"Wasn't too hard..." Liza sighed almost irritably, she had her arms stiffly crossed across her chest and a big frown on her face. "We followed you. We can't let you get yourself killed."
Then Riley butted in: "So, lets just do what we can to save your boyfriend... even if this is a suicide mission."
"Thank you. Both of you." Jason gave them a small smile, Liza seem to soften a bit, but still have a bit of hostility in her at the same time. Riley simply sighed out and shook his head at the same time. Both of them had their arms crossed telling Jason that they really didn't want to be a part of this.
"Let's just... get this over with." Liza finally broke the sudden silence that started to hang in the air. Jason shot Liza a look of gratitude towards Liza only to met with a kind of angry sneer in response. The better half of Jason took control and decided not to push her.
"Okay, I'll drive." Hurk quickly offered and one by one everyone started to pile out of the small shed, Jason watched them leave before being the last one to leave- before he got out of the doorway, Liza put a hand on his shoulder stopping him.
"Just so you know... you should really be more grateful to you brother- he's literally the only reason I'm agreeing to help your sorry ass." Liza then gave him a bitter shove and walked away from Jason, leaving him standing there for just a few seconds almost a little stunned by the sheer hatred in her voice. "I want you to know, I practically gave up everything for you! And still... it's never enough for you, Jason. Is it?" Jason thought for just a moment. He might have stayed there longer if Paul hadn't of suddenly shouted-
"You comin' Brody?"