Chapter 6: Captivity
Mandaiyar's head hurt. In fact, he was sure that for the most part his head was broken in hundreds of pieces and each was sending out an equally painful signal.
He existed on a different plane, of pain and darkness. No thought was coherent. He wasn't even sure that his head injury was real, nor the entire day. Perhaps Joseph had had a severe brain injury, and he had hallucinated the whole thing-
A fresh shard shot its way through his brain, clearing these thoughts. He could hear voices in the background, perhaps a couple gunshots. "I think he's waking up," one of the voices said.
Mandaiyar opened his eyes, the sunlight causing him to close them again quickly. After several seconds, he opened his eyes again. He was in a security office with a window, tied to a chair. A pair of Marines were looking over him.
"Are you Mandaiyar?" one asked, trying to mask his high-pitched voice with a fake bass.
Mandaiyar did not want to reveal his identity if possible, so he responded "No entiendo Inglés,": I don't understand English.
One of the soldiers raised his fist and hit Mandaiyar in the jaw. "Alright, I'm Mandaiyar, arsehole," he said. He summoned bloodied saliva and spat it at the soldier, taking him in the vest.
"Defender of justice my foot," he said. "I knew we had ulterior motives for going to war in some places, but this is taking it too far."
The other soldier laughed. "You best be showin' some respect, cuz' we ain't just Marines. We're the Containment and Security Unit. Top secret. They picked the best of us for this unit."
"I remember you type of grunts from my mercenary work in the war when I was younger. Idiots who'd follow any order they were give, cowards who abused their "power" by scaring cadets and civilians. I have nothing but contempt for you, no respect."
A glint of fear showed in man's eye. Mandaiyar was a mercenary who'd had fought in everything from private service to fighting with SAS in North Africa. He knew he could take these two morons down in a flash, and he was slowly working his way through the rope binding his hands. "I'll teach you some respect you son of a-"
"Sarge's coming!" the other hissed. The soldiers stepped into line in front of Mandaiyar.
The door opened. A gruff looking man, likely about 30, stepped in front of Mandaiyar. After looking him over, he said "You know why we kept you alive?"
"So you can bully me?"
"No," said the man. "It's because you might know something we don't."
"So you're going to bully me into telling it to you?"
The man was confused, and after a moment of pondering proceeded to strike Mandaiyar in the face.
"Amazing response. Your wordplay was excellent, stunningly put-"
"Shut it!" the man yelled.
"Yessir!" Mandaiyar said.
The sergeant ground his teeth. "We know it's Matarus who's attacking you. When did the attack start?"
"This morning."
"Broad, Mr. Mandaiyar. Too broad. Can you narrow it down?"
"0830? 0900? Idunno."
"All right, I'll drop the diversions," the sergeant said. "We aren't here to ask questions. We're here to shut you up. All of you. But someone important has decided that you should live, Mr. Mandaiyar. We're welling to let you. All you have to do is promise to keep quiet about this whole thing, and we'll give you an armored ride the hell out of here. We'll be watching you, of course."
Mandaiyar thought of the situation; of Matarus attacking an unthreatening research facility, and the US government trying to cover it up. And he replied. "If you think that, after all I've seen here, I'll be quiet about the whole thing, you're dead wrong."
The sergeant nodded his head, then said "There is another alternative." He pulled out a Desert Eagle from a holster and pointed it at Mandaiyar's jaw.
"We'll make you unable to speak."
Mandaiyar's hands were almost through the rope at this point, and he suddenly struggled to break it. C'mon, Joseph, you weak-
Suddenly, the glass window behind the sergeant shattered into pieces. The shot took the man in the chest. His eyes grew wide as he crumpled onto Mandaiyar, dead. The soldier rushed to the door, rifles pointed at an unseen enemy. Mandaiyar's jolt at the shock of shot caused his hands to shoot right through the rope, freeing him. He took the Deagle from the soldier's hand, and shoved him off. He stood up, not worrying about the other soldiers, for they were preoccupied. Behind him, he saw a rusted metal grate, barely held on its hinges. Joseph looked back at the soldiers. They barely saw him. He kicked in the grate, causing it crumble into the vent below it. One of the soldiers turned around. "Stop him!" he yelled.
But it was too late. Mandaiyar had already jumped into the vent, beginning to slide down the tube, the waste pipe he had not known of.
Mandaiyar's landing was by no means smooth. He initially intended to crouch-walk out of the pipe, but the pipe was slippery with water. He slid down rapidly before coming to a light end. Mandaiyar fell into a pool of water below. He swam upwards and crawled out. The water was far from ideal, unclean though it was; however, it was still better than fecal matter. Drawing the Desert Eagle, Mandaiyar continued on.
He could tell that he was in a far back area of the facility. He traveled through a shallow ravine, and at the end of it, he found the an exposed wall. It was labeled "Maintenance Entrance", and it was marked by several different ladders and platforms. The most prominent feature, though, was a name, painted on the walls in bold white letters: SECTOR E.
It was a shock to Mandaiyar. He had believed himself to be in a much different part of the facility, perhaps Sector D, which was the Energy and Waste Management Facility. To reach Sector E this soon was both a joyful and worrying status: on one hand, he was closer to his ultimate goal, which was uniting with the E survivors. On the other, if the Marines were so close to the facility, there was the possibility that...
He shook this thought from his mind. Such thoughts had never helped him, and he did not expect them to start doing it now. Joseph walked to one of the ladders. He began to climb when he slipped on the bottom rung. He looked down: it was blood. He climbed forward, reaching the top in a matter of seconds. Up at the top was a dead CaS (Containment and Security) soldier. He had been shot in the throat, and recently, it seemed. Unfortunately, he was deprived of any weapons. Mandaiyar walked along the path which the soldier was on, coming to a door, which he opened. The door creaked, causing Mandaiyar to freeze; however, after that, the door made no more noises, and he walked into the room in which it was located.
It was indeed a maintenance room. It seemed to be a storage room, full of crates. It was empty. Joseph walked along the path, crouched. He came to the end, and turned the corner. Suddenly, a pair of voices cried out. Mercenaries. Mandaiyar ducked behind a crate as gunfire ripped through it, crumbling it. He pulled out the Deagle, and lifted his head up above the crates and aimed down his sights. The two men were rushing towards, him, their gun barrels unwisely pointed down. He fired two shots, taking each of them in the head. They crumpled to the ground.
Taking a deep breath, Mandaiyar reloaded the gun and walked over to the Mercenaries. In their hands were a TR-37 Assault Rifle. He picked it up and took its ammo out of the second rifle. Reloading the weapon, he walked on. Suddenly, he felt something grab his leg. He was pulled to the ground, his rifle knocked out of his hands. A bullet merely grazed one of the mercenaries helmets. He took a knife, and advanced on Mandaiyar, the knife blade pointed right at his throat. The mercenary was talking to a radio, alerting his fellows to Mandaiyar's position. Mandaiyar came up and tripped him, falling the man and grabbing his knife. The man came at him again, but now Mandaiyar slashed him in the stomach. The mercenary fell, and Mandaiyar kicked him in the head, killing him.
But the damage was already done. As Mandaiyar ran to the door to get out of the building, it wouldn't budge. The door had been electronically locked shut.
He ran back behind a crate and mounted his rifle on top of it. At the very least, he'd go down fighting.
And so ends Chapter 6!
I know it's been a long time in coming, but I've had a lot of work recently and it hasn't been easy to write. I was urged to get this out by Christmas, and hey, I did it!
I think I've decided to write a book much like this fanfic, except without the elements of it from already-created book series. I would even make Joseph Mandaiyar a character. I won't reveal much about the story other than that.
Merry Christmas...or whatever you celebrate. (Happy, antitheists?)
