Hello everyone. Lord Pugsy here. I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and ate far too much for your own good. Here is the latest instalment and I hope you enjoy it.
The team of six, armed men had led the group through the jungle; following the stream where they collect their water, up to the waterfall where Danny had encountered the baboon. What Danny saw next, made him mentally kick himself. Just around corner of the waterfall was a colossal complex, one that could rival Fort Knox in a jungle setting. Only nature hadn't been too kind to the prison compound. The outer fencing had collapsed in on itself and one of the watch towers had fallen and taken out one of the outer walls. The rest of the building was surprisingly intact, in spite of the amount of vines covering it. Danny theorised that the building must have been there for at least a few decades. He was about to turn to Sam and discuss it with her when he was sideswiped from the guy bringing up the rear.
"You speak without being spoken to first and I will take great pleasure in gutting your little girlfriend here, and make you watch as she dies a very slow and painful death." He said gruffly, flashing a machete he had at his waist, just to show he wasn't playing around. Danny took Sam's hand, nodding stiffly. He knew he could take out two or three of the men quite easily (starting with the one who just threatened Sam); maybe four if he was really quick.
But the other two will be quickly on me and probably start shooting everyone, Danny thought morbidly. I can't risk doing anything stupid just yet.
"You do as you're told, and you won't get hurt. Well, you won't get shot, put it that way." Said the man who spoke at the campfire, laughing maliciously as he ushered his captives over the debris and into the building. "Welcome to your new home." The group was surprised to see, as they were led down a corridor, that the armed men had electricity; lights adorned the ceiling, illuminating their path as they ventured deeper into the building. Before too long, the groups' armed escorts brought them to a heavy bolted door.
"Welcome to your new accommodation." Declared the leading man, whom Danny suspected was already lying to them. "So go on in, make yourself at home and get to know your new roommates. A couple of us will return later to discuss a few things." With that, he motioned to two of the others and they unlocked the door. When no one made a move to enter, the one who threatened Sam before unsheathed his machete. Everyone's stomach dropped when they got a proper look at the large knife; the electric lights showed dried blood encrusting it. This was all the encouragement the group needed as they hurried into the room, the door closing behind them.
"Hey. You're that kid from the ship." Came a voice from within the room.
The group stood in shock at the sight before them. The room they had entered was a thirty by thirty foot, windowless room with a single table in the centre. Around the table sat five people; two adults, male and female, twin male teenagers and a little girl. It was the male adult who had spoken.
"You are, aren't you?" He asked again. "The kid who bowled a perfect game."
"Um, yeah. That was me." Danny said embarrassingly, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Yeah, I remember that." Piped up one of the teenagers. "You were awesome." Feeling embarrassed, Danny glanced over at Dash, who was just as embarrassed as he was.
"Thanks," said Danny, walking forwards and sticking out his hand. "I'm Danny. Danny Fenton." The man leaned forwards first, sticking his hand out and shaking Danny's.
"The name's Frank Baker." This caused the others to make a move.
"I'm Ellie Tyler." Said the woman, giving the group a warm smile. "These are my two sons, Max and James." Whilst everyone shook hands and introduced themselves, Danny noticed the little girl staying quiet.
"Who's the little one?" Asked Danny softly, observing that she had shrunk away from them as soon as they entered the room; slowly making her way to Frank and hiding behind his leg.
"This here is Megan." Said Frank, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. "She hasn't really spoken in the two weeks we've been here."
"They didn't do anything to her, did they?" Asked Danny, all of a sudden becoming very protective of the little girl.
"No, nothing like that." Ellie stated bluntly, before sighing sadly at Megan as Frank comforted her. "She got separated from her family when the ship went down."
"How did that happen?" Asked Mr Lancer.
"Probably best we all sit down and talk." Said Frank. Dash, wanting to forget the conversation about his bowling humiliation, offered to help move the table out of the way with Kwan, Eric and Craig so that they could have more room. Sitting in a circle, Danny found himself sat between Sam and Megan, who was still wary of the newcomers. Frank, who was on the other side of Megan, was the first to speak.
"I'm going to assume that our experiences of the sinking were different as it was chaotic and manic, so I'll skip to when we were adrift." Seeing that everyone nodded their approval, he started.
"There were thirty five of us in that lifeboat to begin with," he said. "We must have been drifting for what felt like days, but was probably only a few hours, when we were found by a rescue boat who had already rescued two other vessels. The only problem was that they only had enough room for twenty five people, leaving ten of us still in the boat. Before we could complain about still having children on-board, the guy in charge threw a small signal beacon into the boat and told us they would be back in no more than a few hours. They never came back and we ended up here." At this point, Megan began to cry, causing Frank to stop talking and comfort her instead. Ellie looked sadly at the two.
"She's only seven." She said softly, before picking up the story where Frank left off. "Anyway, we ended up here and were shortly found by these guys. At first we thought they were going to help us. They brought us here and they fed us. That's when problems started."
"Would that have something to do with why there are only five of you in here, when you said there were ten of you in the boat?" Asked Star. When neither of the adults made a move to speak, the twins spoke up.
"The other five were all family. Two sisters and their husbands, one of which had a child of about ten. I think his name was Rory." Said Max.
"Yeah," confirmed James. "They began asking when these guys were going to start helping us to get out of here. They kept blowing us off saying that a storm was coming and there would be no point in doing anything just yet. And us five believed them."
"But one of the husbands was a cop from New York; he knew when someone was lying to him, and confronted them about it." Said Max, before becoming quiet. "They chopped off his little finger as a response." This caused the class and Mr Lancer to gasp in horror at the cruelty their captors had displayed.
"They warned him that if he questioned them again, they would cut something else off." Frank started again, once Megan had calmed down. "Thanks boys. Anyway, even though he just had his finger removed, he wasn't put off and decided that he would try again with a different guy. Unbeknownst to him, the leader was listening in on the conversation, and action was taken."
"What? Did he lose his other little finger?" Dash asked jokingly, only to receive death glares from the other occupants of the cell. Ellie hung her head.
"He didn't lose his other finger." She said. "The leader said that something else would be chopped off if he questioned them again, but he didn't specify who would be the one to get chopped." Sick realisation dawned on Danny.
"Rory." He said softly, his hands beginning to shake. He stared down the two adults, defying them to correct him, even though he knew he was right. They nodded, causing everyone to gasp sharply once again.
"They took his hand." Whispered Megan, speaking for the first time, before breaking down into tears. This time it was Danny who put his arm around her to comfort her, causing Megan to clutch at his ruined shirt, dampening the useless bandages as she cried into him.
"Skilled fighters they may be, skilled surgeons they are not. He didn't survive. He bled out overnight." Said Frank. Those who weren't traumatised by the story already, most certainly were now; no one knew what to say as the information sunk in.
"What happened to the parents and the other couple?" Valerie finally asked.
"For a few days, nothing. They practically died themselves and never let go of Rory's body. They just kept begging for him to wake up." Said James.
"It was when they came to get Rory's body that problems started." Said Ellie. "Mark, the dad, started fighting them off and even knocked one out, but the others attacked him until he was black and blue. In a sick way, we were glad they took Rory away. He began to smell and Megan couldn't stop staring at him. We still see his lifeless body when we close our eyes." At the mention of her name, Megan twitched before hugging Danny even tighter.
"Then the family completely shut down for several days, but we had an inkling that they were planning something." Frank started again. "They put forward to these guys that as Rory's family, they deserved to have a small funeral for him. Using up the only shred of humanity these people had left in their entire bodies, and much to our surprise, they agreed."
"Seriously?" Asked Chelsea, not believing what he was hearing.
"We thought the same thing." Said James. "But, the day before yesterday, those bast-."
"James!" Ellie cut in.
"Sorry," he said. "Those people came and took them to put Rory to rest."
"Next thing we know, we're hearing gunshots and shouting. We haven't heard from them since." Finished Max. The group again were at a loss for words, realisation crashing upon them that their captors are more than willing to hurt and kill them.
"There's something you're not telling us, isn't there?" Asked Tucker.
"I don't know what you mean." Said Frank, but his shifty eyes were a dead giveaway.
"What have you neglected to tell us?" Asked Mr Lancer, voicing what the class were thinking, but Danny had a suspicion he knew what it was.
"Do you think we won't believe you?" Asked Danny, causing Frank, Ellie and the twins to look at each other furtively.
"Wait, are we talking about the energy-field thing that fried all of our tech?" Asked Nathan.
"You know it?" Frank asked, incredulously.
"Know it? It killed Cheryl." Cried Tucker. Before anyone could overreact, Valerie stepped in.
"He means his PDA." She said, much to the groups' relief. "He's a self-proclaimed Techno-Geek, and his PDA, aka Cheryl, got fried to bits when we passed through the energy-field, as well as our phones and signal beacon."
"The same thing happened to us." Said Ellie. "As soon as we passed through it, the mini-signal beacon we were given instantly short-circuited and starting giving off smoke."
"That is exactly what it was designed to do." The occupants of the room whipped their heads towards the door to see three of their captors standing in the doorway, still armed. Talking ceased immediately as everyone couldn't take their eyes off of the guns the men were wielding.
"It's time we had a little chat with our latest guests. However, as it's been a long and highly informative day, we don't want to have to deal with all seventeen of you. So we're going to ask for five volunteers from your group." The man in the middle said. When no one stepped up, he sighed and fired several rounds into the floor in front of them.
"If no one volunteers in the next five seconds, the next round of bullets will enter your heads. Starting with the little one." He said, aiming the gun at Megan's terrified face. Danny instinctively stood in front of her, staring down the man with the gun. The man with the gun faltered under the teenager's glare; it was more than enough to make him inwardly flinch. Danny, seeing this, mentally congratulated himself over this first, small win.
"Congrats kid," started the man on the left, oblivious to what had just happened. "You just volunteered. Who else?" With only slight trepidation, Sam, Tucker, Valerie and Mr Lancer stepped forward.
"Now we're learning," said the man on the right. "Now follow us. We've got some questions we'd like to ask you."
The armed men led them deeper into the complex, through a maze of corridors which all looked the same. Finally, they came to a door, similar to their one, and entered without knocking. Inside was a typical prison's office; a rectangular table in the centre, blank concrete walls and no sight of any personal possessions. The room was occupied by the other three men who had found them at the beach; the man who had spoken to them there was sat in the chair immediately behind the desk, with the other two standing at his side. Danny took the opportunity to get a really good look at his captors. Despite all being the same height and build, there were varying differences between the six of them. The one behind the desk had dirty blonde hair, a stubbly beard and steely eyes; his fatigues were ripped and Danny saw small blood stains on them. Danny also noticed that he was tapping his fingers on the table as he assessed the group of five in front of him; also taking the occasional glance over Danny's shoulder. The two either side of him could have passed as twins; both were bald and had emotionless faces. The only difference was that the one on the left had a jagged scar going down his right cheek. Once again, their clothes were ripped and worn out. Danny slowly turned his head around to look at the three behind him; what was out of place was that the one to the right of the door was clean shaven, had a relaxed stance and had eyes only for the guy in the chair.
"Allow me to make the introductions," he started, giving the group an award-winning smile, still tapping away. "My name is Striker, and I am the leader of this merry gang." Striker then gestured to those behind him.
"The one on the left with the unfortunate scar is Tracer, with the other being his brother Raider. The gentleman with the machete behind you is known as Brawler, the one in front of the door is Invader and last, but not least, the other one is Hunter. Our names derive from our abilities and which skills we excel at." With a final glance over Danny's shoulder, Striker leant back in his chair and took in the group, waiting for them to make the first move. He gave a small smile when he saw Mr Lancer perform typical hostage-like behaviour: nervous glances around the room, sweating profusely, shifting stances and shaking hands. The smile, however, was wiped from his face when he noticed the four teenagers staring ahead intensely at him. The raven-haired teen, in particular, was making Striker feel uncomfortable. To get past this, he realised he would have to make the first move.
"Care to divulge your names to us?" Striker asked. "It is only fair as we have introduced ourselves." Mr Lancer was about to speak, when Danny cut him off by raising his hand.
"Fairness would imply a sense of truth." He said clearly, his eyes never leaving Striker's. "How can we be fair when you are blatantly lying to us?"
"I don't know what you mean." Said Striker, a nervous flicker in his eye. Leaning in close, Danny spoke again.
"You're not the leader." He said calmly, then gestured behind him. "Hunter is." There was a moment of silence before the sound of clapping was heard. Turning, the group saw Hunter smiling and clapping.
"Very clever young man." Hunter said, gesturing for Striker to vacate the chair. Sitting down, he looked back at Danny. "You're a lot sharper than I gave you credit for. But tell me, how did you know?"
"Striker is good, but not good enough." Started Danny. "Someone in charge wouldn't be too keen on making themselves known before interrogating their hostages. Secondly, you are the only tidy person in this room, whereas the rest are wearing tattered clothes. Thirdly, a leader would have confidence oozing out of them. He wouldn't be tapping away and glancing every two seconds behind their captives, looking for affirmations."
"You mean like yourself?" Asked Hunter, catching Danny off guard. "I have been watching you young man. From the beach, where I saw you sizing us up, the way you placed yourself in front of the little girl and just now when talking to Striker. You have the characteristics of a leader. And a good one at that." Still smiling, he reached below the desk and pulled out a shotgun and machete, similar to Brawler's and placed them on the desk.
"Now, as Striker said, I think you owe us the courtesy of telling us your names." Hunter said, taking a more relaxed posture in the chair. Knowing that Hunter would follow through with any threat made against them, Danny acquiesced.
"I'm Danny." Said Danny, and then gestured to his friends.
"Sam."
"Tucker."
"Valerie."
"And I am their teacher, Mr Lancer."
"Excellent. Now that the niceties are over and done with, it's time for business and information." Said Hunter, turning to Tracer and Raider. "Bring in some chairs for our guests, then get yourselves back to the others and keep an eye on them." The two nodded and left, shortly returning with chairs and leaving once again.
"Now, knowing how sharp you are, I propose a trade. Information for information. Sound fair?" Asked Hunter whilst the group sat down. Danny looked at the other four and saw them nod; seeing no harm, Danny nodded.
"Now, some ground rules," started Hunter, picking up the machete, his voice taking a dangerous tone. "If any of you lie to me and my associates, I will use this extremely sharp knife and take great pleasure in carving you up like a turkey on Thanksgiving. Are we clear?" Once again, realising he wouldn't be able take down all of them without at least one shot going off, Danny was quick to nod.
"Wise choice." Said Hunter, clapping his hands. "As an extension of my hospitality, I will allow you the first question." Tucker was the first to ask a question.
"What is the energy-field surrounding this island?"
"Stolen technology from NASA." Hunter said simply. "We got word that they had finished making a prototype force-field generator to be used on the next moon landing. We decided to liberate it and make use of it. It has come in very handy when undesirables have traipsed too close for our liking." All but Mr Lancer knew Hunter was hiding something about the energy-field, but they couldn't say anything as it could jeopardise Danny.
"My turn." Said Hunter, leaning forwards. "How did you end up here? The other group couldn't be very specific with me."
"Our ship sank." Stated Danny. "We were adrift in our lifeboat, when we came across the energy-field and this island."
"Now who isn't telling the whole truth?" Smirked Hunter, an evil glint in his eye, his hand inching towards the machete.
"We don't know how we got here," started Sam, her eyes fixed on the knife. "We figured out that the current was sending us in the wrong direction. It was actually going to be my question for you." Hunter stared at them for a moment longer, but seemed to accept their answer.
"That was more information than the others could give us." He said, bringing his hand back to his lap. "We can't explain the current; that wasn't us. That was free. Ask your next question."
"Did you have anything to do with the sinking of our ship?" Asked Mr Lancer, causing Hunter to laugh and the others to snigger.
"I was wondering when someone would ask me that. The other lot were very quick to assume we had something to do with it. I'm going to tell you the same thing I told them. No." Knowing that they had no way of contradicting him, even if he was lying, the five of them had no choice but to accept his answer.
"My turn." Said Hunter staring at Danny, his eyes slowly making their way to Danny's exposed bandages. "How did you manage to kill my panthers?" This caused Danny to sigh.
"After being chased off by a Komodo dragon, I thought it would be a good idea for us to have weapons to protect ourselves." Danny said simply.
"Carry on." Said Hunter, genuinely interested as to how this teen managed to overcome four jungle cats.
"Some skill and a lot of luck." Shrugged Danny. "My mum is a ninth degree black belt who taught me some moves. I took it further and am currently a third degree black belt. I know how to handle myself in a fight."
"Far too modest. I would say a great deal of skill was needed in what you achieved. It's not every day you come face to face with ferocious predators and live to tell the tale. Even if you didn't come out of it lightly." Said Hunter, gesturing towards the bandages on Danny's chest. "Your turn."
"What happened to Rory's family?" Asked Valerie, her voice starting to quiver.
"Dead." Hunter stated simply. His tone took Danny aback; it was as if he was describing the weather. The ghosts Danny fought on a regular basis had more emotion than the people keeping them prisoner.
These people are psychopaths, Danny thought to himself.
"I think one more question each before I send you on your way. I'll start." Said Hunter, daring Danny to speak first. "During your stay here, will you behave cordially and follow our rules?"
"As long as you give us reason to, then yes." Was Danny's response, causing Hunter to chuckle.
"Oh I like you kid." He said, still smiling. "I think we're going to get on famously. Or infamously; take your pick. Now ask your final question."
"A typical and obvious question would be to ask who you are." Said Danny, looking at the leader.
"Yes it would." Replied Hunter, putting his elbows on the table and resting his chin on his hands.
"But I know you to be sharp and deceptive, just like you were earlier. So my question has to be more specific. Who exactly are you six?" Asked Danny, earning a chuckle from Hunter.
"A history lesson for the students. What a pleasure. I knew I was right about you Danny." Said Hunter, relaxing once again into his chair. "The others never thought to ask me that. They just kept asking stupid questions about this place."
"Ah, where to begin." Hunter said, getting up from his chair and beginning to pace around the room. "I suppose I should start thirty years ago when we first found this island. You see, we were what you would call 'problem' teenagers. As a punishment for our delinquency, we were sentenced to five years at sea. It was supposed to promote character building, but I digress. During the third year, we found this island, and eventually this place; it was abandoned after the Second World War, and it was perfect. Us, and along with some others who couldn't be here today, decided that we should make the permanent relocation to here; our parents couldn't care less about us so we knew it wouldn't be too much hassle. We took over the vessel and killed the captain. As the years went by, we realised a renovation was in order, so we decided to do something about it. We would hijack and steal ships and take what we could. We even ended up with a pretty good vessel of our own which we decided to keep. Those were the good years. We took on many names during those times; 'privateers', 'pirates' and 'scavengers'. But our favourite was 'hunters', hence my namesake. So we took it upon ourselves to start stealing wildlife and bring it here so we could take part in some sport whenever we got bored. But as time passed, our leader began to get reckless on our 'expeditions'. On more than one occasion, he brought various coastguards and international agencies to the island, which had to be killed of course, but that's beside the point. The time came when he had to be eliminated."
"You killed your own leader?" Asked Tucker, shocked.
"It was necessary." Hunter said simply. "When you have a rabid dog, you put it down. Simple as that. The same applied here. It was also around about the time we acquired the energy-field. A year or so later is when strange things started to occur. Men would go missing in the night; animals were skinned and their pelts taken. There was talk about our leader's ghost coming back to haunt us, but a lot of us brushed it off as mere superstition. Another year passed and the occurrences kept happening, and became more violent. That's how Tracer got his scar. By this point, we accepted that it was his ghost, so we hatched a plan. We received some information during one of our voyages about a trio of scientists at an American university, who were creating some sort of ghost portal prototype." If Hunter heard Danny, Sam, Tucker and Valerie gasp lightly, he didn't let on.
"By the time we got there, there had been an accident and one of the scientists was in the hospital." Hunter carried on. "We used this to our advantage. We took some of their plans and equipment and created an 'ecto-filter', which we installed into our generator. For a little over twenty years, we have been living peacefully with no disturbances."
"So it really was your ex-associate's spirit." Said Mr Lancer, more to himself than anyone else.
"It would appear so." Confirmed Hunter. "It was a real shame we had to kill him. He was fantastic in those early years. He trained us how to hunt, how to fight, how to set traps and how to clean wounds. He was an expert. He could track an animal from one side of the island to another, even if he gave it a day head start. Now, I think that's enough story time for one day. Brawler and Striker will take you back to the others." As Danny stood up, Hunter grabbed his arm, and whirled him around to face him.
"Before you get any bright ideas about escaping, just know this. You were sharp enough to see through my ruse, but you weren't sharp enough upon entering the compound. There are actually seven of us in this group. Posted up in one of the remaining watch towers is our seventh member. He is known as Sniper, and I don't think I need
to explain why he is called that, do I?" Danny shook his head, his eyes never leaving Hunter's. As he was being led out, Danny's nagging feeling returned with a vengeance about the leader's ghost. Trusting it, he turned back to Hunter.
"Can I ask you one more question?"
"That would depend on the question Danny." Hunter responded, picking up his own machete and sheathing it.
"What was the guy's name?" Danny asked. "Your leader whom you killed."
"A peculiar question." Said Hunter, giving Danny a strange look. "His name was Miles Richardson. But his codename was Skulker."
Just a quick Happy New Year for those currently in 2014, and a premature Happy New Year for those still in 2013. Once again, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and continue to read on. Until next time.
Lord Pugsy.