Hey! I'm back! So sorry about the wait. I got really busy with my new job and what not. And my friend/editor was busy as well so this chapter is a bit behind schedule. And by a bit I mean a lot. But I have this Friday off so I may get chapter seven done this weekend. It may even get edited and be put up by then. But probably not. Here's to hoping though, huh? Anywho, Here is chapter 6. I hope you have as much fun reading it as I did writing it. Enjoy!
- Twiin-Vii2iion2
...
Chapter 6
Karkat didn't have time to think. He ran to John's aid, but he wasn't fast enough. One of the guards had already struck John from behind, taking him by surprise. John collapsed, and the other guard raised his baton to strike but never got the chance. Karkat was already on him, fist clenched and flying. He connected with the guard's face, feeling a satisfying crack of the jaw under his knuckles.
The second guard stood still for a second, stunned at the attack, but he quickly regained composure and made a move to attack Karkat, a move he would regret. John, having recovered from the initial blow took advantage of the guard's distraction to tackle him to the ground. The two began struggling, and Karkat watched for a bit, admiring John's sudden ferocity. He was snapped out his reverie by a shout.
He turned to see the guard he'd punched launch himself at him. Karkat managed to dodge the worst of the blow but still took a shoulder to the stomach. He grimaced but tried to remain focused, drawing on all of the training he'd had with Gamzee. He held his hands up to block the next attack. The guard spun around and wound up running at him. Karkat allowed himself a small smile. 'Good,' he thought, 'This guy is going to telegraph everything.'
Karkat deftly blocked the punch to the side, allowing his attacker's momentum to carry him straight into a well-placed punch to the gut. As the guard's momentum stopped abruptly, increasing the damage of the punch, Karkat pushed to get him going in the other direction the spun around on the balls of his feet, connecting an elbow to the back of the guard's neck.
The guard's eyes bugged out, and he slumped to the ground. Karkat couldn't tell whether he was dead or just unconscious. Either way he would have a broken neck. Karkat looked over just in time to see John beating the life out of the other guard. Something had changed in the human. He was wailing on the already unconscious guard with such ferocity that he almost seemed a different person. Karkat ran to John's side and pulled him off the guard.
"John! John! He's done! John! Stop!"
John struggled to continue his needless assault until Karkat could calm him.
"Shoosh… shoosh… shoosh." Karkat rubbed John's chest and shoulders to calm him. It worked and soon John collapsed onto the ground, crying.
"I didn't mean to… He just… He was there… he was in the truck when they took them… I… I just lost it." John blurted, staring at the guards beaten and bloody face. Karkat knelt next to him and rubbed his back.
"You did what you had to do. Now come on, we have to get your friends."
"W-we?" John looked at Karkat confusedly.
"Well, I can't just let you go on alone now. Come on. We have to hurry. They'll notice when these guys don't come back, so I'd guess we have maybe ten minutes at best." Karkat searched the guards and found what he was looking for. "Good! Now we don't have to worry about picking locks." Karkat smiled as he swung the keys around his index finger. "Now come on." He turned and grabbed the sheets and threw them over the top of the fence. John picked up the rope and handed it to Karkat. Karkat threw it over the fence and started climbing it. He rolled over the sheets and dropped down on the other side. John jumped down beside him. Karkat nodded for him to follow, and they both crept to the nearest building.
Karkat approached the door, crouched over. He stood up just enough to see through the door's window. The room inside was empty of people but lined with tables and benches. At the other end was a door that led into another room. Karkat assumed this was the mess hall and that the other room was the kitchen. Whatever the place was, there was obviously no humans or trolls anywhere inside.
Karkat looked back at John and shook his head. He motioned to the next building. They snuck over, keeping low to the ground to avoid being seen. When they reached the door, Karkat peaked through the small window on the door. Jackpot. Karkat smiled to himself and then turned to John and mouthed, "Bobby pins." John nodded and got them out as well as the Allen wrench and handed them to Karkat.
Karkat made short work of the locks on the door and opened it, quickly motioning John inside. Once they were both in, Karkat silently shut the door. He turned to John and whispered low, "Let's find your friends and get out."
John nodded slowly, and he and Karkat began slowly moving through the rows of cots, looking at all the sleeping faces. It was a terrible sight. There were half as many cots as there were people. There wasn't room in the building for as many people as were in there. Almost every square inch of the floor that wasn't an aisle had sleeping bodies on it. Some people were piled in corners on top of each other. The sight made Karkat feel a sudden pang of guilt. He understood why John didn't want to leave them behind. They all just looked so pitiful.
Karkat more followed John through the room as John examined face after face, looking for any of his friends. He stopped after a bit and sighed.
"There are no boys." John whispered.
"What?"
"There are no boys. No men. Everyone we've passed has been a woman or a little girl."
Karkat looked around and noticed that the human was right. "They may have separated the men and women. The guys may all be in a different building." Karkat looked to John and added, "Don't worry. We'll go get Dave next."
John nodded. He turned away but paused then turned back. "Karkat, I can't leave them all here…"
"I know, I know… We'll cross that bridge when we get there." Karkat knew that there was no talking John out of it, but even more so, he knew he couldn't leave them behind either.
"so… we should find Jade and Rose…"
No sooner had John finished his sentence when both he and Karkat heard a soft noise from nearby. Both froze and kept utterly quiet, waiting for the sound to happen again. Then they heard it and John's face lit up.
"John? Is that you?" came the voice at barely a whisper.
"Jade? Where are you?"
A figure sat up on the floor nearby, the moonlight reflecting off of glasses, the light illuminating nothing but the glass. John practically ran to her.
"Jade! I can't believe you're okay. Is Rose with you?"
Jade looked at John with a huge smile until he mentioned Rose. "Oh, John… I'm so sorry… they… they… well… I was supposed to go to the useless section but Rose wouldn't let them take me so…. So… they took her instead…"
John's smile faded and he searched Jade's face. "You mean she's…"
"Not necessarily." Karkat chimed in. "if she was only sent to the useless section, then she may not have been killed but merely left there to starve to death. It's only been a few days so she could still be alive."
Jade turned her gaze to Karkat, and her hand shot to her mouth. "T-troll!" she almost yelled. People nearby started to stir.
"Shhh. No, listen Jade, I know he's a troll, but he helped me get here, and he's helping us escape. It's kind of complicated and I can't get into it right now but he's on our side. I trust him."
The last sentence made Karkat blush a little as his inner self did a little victory dance. John trusted him.
"O-okay. If you say so. What are you doing here though?"
"Well, we came to rescue you guys. And I guess the rest of the slaves here." John beamed at her.
"How?"
John scratched his head in thought. "Oh… I guess we hadn't really planned that far ahead…"
Jade facepalmed. "You mean you don't have a plan?"
"In our defense," Karkat spoke up, "the original plan was John would come in, get you three, and the go out the way he came in. I wasn't even supposed to be here so… we're improvising."
Jade examined the two men, troll and human, and shrugged. "I don't know why I expected you to have a plan anyway, John. You always wing it."
"Yup." John beamed. "But I'm open to suggestions right now, cause I'm really stumped."
Jade smiled. "We need to start by getting Dave. He's good with plans."
Karkat groaned. "Do we HAVE to get the blonde male-human? I really don't like him."
"Oh shoosh Karkat. Yes we have to get him." John smiled wide at him.
"Anyway, about this plan to get out…" Jade said, trying to steer the conversation back on course.
The wheels in Karkat's head started turning and he began whispering aloud, to no one in particular. "Well, we can't climb the fence because A: the guards will have been found by now and B: too many people. There is no back gate… we could go out the front gate, but that bottlenecks us and makes it slower getting out. Do you know how sturdy the fences are?" He directed the last question to Jade.
"Not that sturdy. We had strong winds yesterday and the fences shook pretty bad." She answered.
"Good. I think that's our way out. Here's what we need to do: you two need to wake everyone up in here and tell them this: we are getting out. Wait for the signal from the men's house to rush the fence. Enough people rushing it should make it fall over. Make sure that they pick everyone up in the front and that no one gets trampled. Got it?" Jade and John both nodded.
"What about you?" John asked. "What are you gonna do?"
Karkat looked at the door they'd come in through. "I'm gonna go get the guys."
"You sure? What if they don't trust you?" John looked worried as he said this. Karkat merely shrugged it off.
"Let's hope it doesn't come to that."
"And if it does?" John blurted loudly.
"Look, it won't. But if it does, when you are done waking everyone up, wait 5 minutes, if you don't get the signal then come and get me." Karkat pulled the flashlight out of John's pack. "I'll signal you with this. Three quick shines." Karkat put a hand on John's shoulder. "I'll be fine, fuckass. Get to waking people up." Karkat turned and headed for the door. He glanced back at John before leaving, but John was already waking people up. Karkat sighed and opened the door. He glanced both ways before slipping outside.
Karkat crouched down low to the ground and slipped across the ground to the only building they hadn't been to yet. He moved quickly and quietly, reaching the door in no time. He pulled out some bobby pins he'd stashed in his pocket and the allen wrench. He set to work on the lock, twisting the bobby pin a bit and turning the allen wrench slowly until he felt the lock give. He let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding only to have it jump back down his throat as he felt a hand on his shoulder.
