As we keep on walking, a comfortable whispered conversation flows between us, we talk about where and when should we rest, where is most likely to find food, how long should we wait before we start moving again, soldier stuff. Of course she tries to sneak one question or two for her angel Intel collection, not taking it too far since we both are on full alert because of the carnage we saw earlier. Our synchronization though is surprising, she might not be noticing it but I am. The shared silences are used to scan one more time our surroundings and sometimes both she and I have answered an unasked question from the other, this is what I shared with my brothers in arms and finding it again even if it's on a tiny daughter of man is somewhat pleasant.
By mid-afternoon we reach Skyline Blvd. where we agreed to stop, a road dividing mountain and ocean, then we notice the cars.
They are spaced in a way that from the air, would suggest nothing. But on foot it becomes clear that is a barricade. The community that build it is near because I hear the soft rumble of the branches behind which they must be hiding.
"They are over there watching us" , I whisper.
"How can you tell?"
"I hear them".
"How far?"
I shot her a look that I hope says: it's not a good time for your clumsy spy job and shrug too.
To my utter surprise she shuts up and keeps quiet for quite a while, but just when I'm about to ask her about her unusual quietness she whisper in a somewhat embarrassed voice:
"What did you hear?" Well in that tone it seem that she's asking something infinitely more intimate, what the hell was she thinking about?... Focus!
I turn around and whisper back "Two people whispering" That's not entirely true but her breathy embarrassed tone made confused, and being confused made me resentful towards the source of said confusion aka the most annoying daughter of men in the planet earth.
For now she remains silent as she follows me, just fine if you ask me.
The environment works our way as the fallen leaves silence our footsteps and we slide through the forest, I begin to assess our chances if we were to find the source of the voices I heard, on one hand Penryn proved herself a skilled fighter, and I don't need to even think about my chances of beating some humans, but on the other hand… from the look of things we are facing an ordered, set to survive community which may contain armed men and against guns, well we are screwed.
Then I hear it, dogs. I start to jog so that Penryn can keep up but the following moment we break into a sprint, now both of us hearing the dogs approaching.
I hear the voices near too so the dogs must be trained by the community we found, guess we landed into the worst case scenario. Just my luck.
As we run I look for the salvation in a tree-form, but none seem to be climbable. Once again the place in my back where my wings used to be starts to itch from the want of flying, thinking what an easy scape it would have been, the frustration hits me hard. Very hard; But I just can't let it stop me, want her along or nor I feel that I need to guide Penryn to safety, I know I can handle the humans and the dogs, after all I can act dead after they shoot me and then get up again, but for her there's no waking up again and something stirs in me thinking of her getting killed on my watch.
Scanning the forest I find a branch low enough that I might reach it, but as I jump below it I find out that I can't and the same frustration floods me again making me hit the tree trunk with all the strength of it. We need to act fast though, and I still want Penryn safe, then I'll manage.
"Get on my shoulders" I say.
Too impatient to wait for her to unfreeze and do as she's told I lift her up till she's standing on my shoulders, with a bit of struggle she manages to get a hold on a branch and push off me, I know the dogs are getting too close and the people whom they belong too are nearer than I would like, but I just can't leave without knowing she's safe, she's just so little… But she is safe in the tree now, so I run away, fast.
It doesn't take longer to accept I'm being cornered, I start to think about my options, first option I could kill the dogs and the humans, but looking at their lair there will sure be more looking for these, I reluctantly discard this option as I slow down, I know that the other option is the best one but it requires spending the night at the god-damned lair these humans came from and my patience is wearing thin already from all this sloooooooow traveling on foot.
With a sigh, I let the dogs catch up with me and hit one of them so it screams leading the men to me, once they arrive I take in their military attire, the weapons they're carrying and the way they hold themselves, it's clear they're trained, and organized.
This is fantastic! just my luck running into the only human army that is left in what? The whole continent? I want to laugh at my misfortune but instead I focus on what's happening around me.
They aim at me and I just stand there, keeping my cool, one of them takes a step towards me, and asks me the regular stuff, who am I, have I any companions blah blah blah …
I remain silent and they start going through my backpack, as they see the stuff I'm carrying I know their chief has figured out I'm not traveling alone, but I see that they don't know what to do with that fact just as clear.
I know I can scape any human binding so I don't waste energy on arguing with my capture or even answering the questions that they keep making, the only time I get kind of nervous is when we walk past Penryn's tree, I can still her breathing up there so she must be fine, I just pray she will go somewhere safe, take my wings with her and hole up till I find her, it would be even better if she just stayed in that damned tree and slept there so I would be able to find her when I escaped, but I know that's extremely unlikely; after all she's just a daughter of man not a trained soldier like myself, so I shouldn't expect her to act like one.
When we get to the human's camp it's fully dark, clouds numbing the brightness of the stars. The camp is made up of different warehouses which I guess are meant for different purposes, as we make our way towards one of them I take in what I see, it seems to me from the look of things that the infrastructure is way beyond what the rest of them have managed to pull off. We finally arrive to our destination and I start evaluating the best way to get out the second I set my foot on the almost empty warehouse, the windows are way up so I'll be forced to use the door, tearing it off shouldn't be a problem but I'll have to wait until the noise won't be noticed which actually is a drawback, I start picturing different scenarios on my head but just then they open a door.
"Sit in that chair" . Says the one who seems to be in command.
He is tall dark haired and muscular, with kind of an air of authority and pride surrounding him.
As I oblige another one starts tying me up.
"You are being very obedient, why is that?" Asks the "leader"
"Well, let me see, I'm outnumbered and outgunned, yeah seems like a battle I could easily win"
"He speaks!" Leader exclaims with a grin. " excuse me for being so rough, but a man has to be distrustful these days. Anyhow, you have already seen the camp so you must be wondering what this is all about, and I'm not going to tell you"
They start surrounding me eyeing me like sharks, and asking questions, again. I'm not any more collaborative this time around and one of the "soldiers" decides to beat answers out of me, I take the blows without uttering a whisper which seems to be making them really unhappy, I smile my most dangerous smile.
"It's becoming quite obvious I'm not telling you anything so you can either stop or kill me" well, try to kill me but you know…
"You're right" says leader, " we'll leave you for now, but we will back in the morning and we won't be as patient as we have just been"
That was patient? I arch my brows in disbelief "I'll think about it" I say, I just want them to leave, their hits are just a few scratches to me, but they were getting ridiculously annoying, like little bees stinging, my urge to crush them was great.
"you do that, you'll have time" he smiles at his own joke and then leaves me there.
In the dark I start plotting, I'm in a small room inhabited by only the chair that I'm sitting on and a couch, the bad thing is the room it's not really secluded so that's an inconvenience. I'll have to wait till I can work out the pattern of the guards, other than that it shouldn't be difficult to get out.
Then I hear footsteps, light ones, It shouldn't be her but I have a hunch, it's Penryn that just got too impatient and now wants to try to bust me out or something, her mistrust in my abilities is rather hurtful.
"Raffe?"
There it is, the confirmation of my suspicions Penryn is here, I curse under my breath as I hear men approaching, they are getting nearer and from their whispers it seems like they think someone will try to bust me out. I have to try to warn her…
"Run Penryn"
But of course she doesn't listen, stubborn little thing, a soft click echoes through the room and her slender form appears in the doorstep.
"Why don't you ever listen to me" I ask utterly frustrated, now there is no way we are both escaping tonight
"You're welcome for rescuing you"
Annoying little …. "You're not rescuing me, you're getting yourself caught" idiot.
"They're asleep" Penryn says coming to cut my restraints "No they're not" as a matter of fact they're about to open the door.
Two men enter the room blinding me with their flashlights the leader one trails behind them, stopping at the entrance, he is leaning against the doorway casually, ugh what a showoff, what was that I heard the rest of them call him? Omi? Something monosyllabic for sure… what kind of name is that? Humph it does sound good for a dog though.
"I'm afraid I can't let you cut that" Oli says "We have a limited supply of rope"
And then they grab Penryn's knife and shove her into a chair, next thing she knows she is tied up next to me, damn that was easy! I need to teach her some what-to-do-if-you-get-yourself-caught tactics, well well well … she may know some already because she is tensing her arms up so the rope will be as loose as possible, useless effort seeing that the one binding her is trying to break her wrists apparently, son of a jackal.
"You'll have to excuse the lack of light" says leader "We're trying to avoid unwanted visitors"
"Am I really that clumsy?" Penryn asks
"Actually, no. Our guards didn't see you and they were under orders to be on the lookout for you. Not bad, overall" He's complimenting her for being stupid, great, an exasperated sound escapes my throat.
"You knew I was here?"
Leader-y-leader stands straight before answering looking oh so patriotic.
"We didn't know for sure, but the gear in his bag looked like half the supplies that a pair might carry. He has a camping stove but no matches, no pots or pans. He has two bowls, two spoons. Stuff like that. We figured someone else was carrying the matching half of the supplies. Although, frankly, I wasn't expecting a rescue attempt. And certainly not from a girl. No offense meant. I've always been a modern guy." He shrugs. "But times have changed. And we are a camp full of men." He shrugs again. "That takes guts. Or desperation."
Heavens…. Again he is complimenting her, like she needs a reward for being reckless
"You forgot lack of brains" I say, stating the obvious I think, but apparently somebody needed to do it, and even if she was stupid I didn't like the hint of interest in the leader's voice so I add "I'm your target here, not her"
"How do you figure?"
"You used five men and a pack of dogs to catch one guy, at that rate you're going to need three armies to get done whatever it is you're trying to do here."
He nods, " You obviously have prior military experience" I almost smile, you betcha puppy. "you didn't bat an eye when we pointed the guns at you".
"So maybe he's not as good he thinks he is if he's been captured before," says the one guarding me, uh-uh someone's pride is hurt! I bet he would not last for a second if captured.
"Or maybe he's special ops, trained for the worst situations," says the leader. He pauses as if waiting for my answer, well he can keep on waiting. In the pale moonlight his gaze finds me and the stare-down begins. My expression does not shift a bit and in his I find determination at first but it starts shifting to tiredness.
Then he turns to Penryn. "You hungry?"
Her stomach growls like a bear coming out of its winter slumber, the three men take that as a yes and they leave as the leader says " Let's get these folks some dinner"
Dinner? As soon as I was going to open my mouth to tell Penryn not to eat anything they gave her, just in case, she says
"Tall, dark and friendly, What more could a girl as for?"
Has she hit her head? Snorting in disbelief I answer.
"They got a lot friendlier once you showed up. They haven't offeres me food all day".
"Are they just skittish, or are they really bad guys?"
"Anybody who ties you to a chair at gunpoint is a bad guy. Do I really need to explain this?"
My response comes out harsher than expected; still she needed to hear that. Was that all that was? A tiny voice, like a whisper inside of my mind keeps saying... maybe you know she should be changing her allegiances and you don't want her to… In desperate need to shut the annoying whisper I turn to Penryn to ask
"So what are you doing here? I risk getting chewed to pieces by a pack of dogs so you can escape, and then you run back here? Your sense of judgment could use a dash of common sense"
To my surprise, she says "Sorry, I'll be sure and never do it again" with just a hint of sarcasm
"That's the sanest thing I hear you say"
"So who are these guys?"
"Why? You planning on enlisting"
"I'm not much of a joiner"
We stare at each other in silence for a few seconds, her face tense and tired, I guess I'm not being fair to her, she did attempt to rescue me and even if even attempting to rescue someone far superior is stupid it was also loyal and brave, terms I now associate to this tiny human girl. Attempting to make peace, I say:
" You alright?" using my gentle tone.
She looks shocked for a moment, and then she answers, "I'm fine. You know we need to get out of here by morning, right? They'll be able to tell by then,"
I know what she is thinking but our captors are approaching and I have it all figured out by the way. The door opens and the smell of stew fills the room, looking at Penryn and see her mouth water. Literally.
The american hero takes a chair and sits next to her, lifting the bowl under her nose. Slowly, he moves a spoonful closer to her mouth but stops halfway, another soldier does the same thing to me.
But I don't care, because I'm looking at Penryn as she regard the spoon with a look of utter desire and a dangerous thought crosses my mind, a question, has she ever regarded someone with that look? Damn my astray thoughts.
The leader's voice breaks my internal flagellation.
"What's your name?" I don't like his soft tone, Idon't like it one bit.
"My friends call me Wrath, my enemies call me Please Have Mercy. What's your name soldier boy?" I detect Penryn's face heating at my answer and I don't like it , I don't like it one bit.
"Obadiah West. You can call me Obi"
"Obadiah. How biblical. Obadiah hid the prophets from persecution."
He looks done with me and our conversation as he absentmindedly says " A Biblie expert. Too bad we already have one"
Looking at Penryn, he asks her "What's your name?"
"Penryn, Penryn Young"
"Penryn" He whispers her name, savoring it. What a bastard.
"When was the last time you had a real meal, Penryn?" He asks lifting the spoon just before she can reach it.
"It's been a while" She smiles at him, obviously begging him to finally let her eat.
But instead he eats it and her stomach grumbles audibly as if protesting for being taunted so cruelly.
Fed up with the whole interaction I speak,
"Tell me, Obi, just what kind of meat is this?You'd have to catch a lot of animals to feed this many people,"
"I was just about to ask you what kind of animals you've been hunting," says Obi. "A guy your size must need a lot of protein to maintain your muscle mass."
"What are you implying?" Penryn asks. "We're not the ones attacking people, if that's what you're getting at."
Obi looks pointedly at her. "How do you know about that? I didn't say anything about attacking people."
"Oh, don't give me that look."
"You couldn't possibly imagine that I'd want to eat a person, could you? That's totally disgusting."
"We saw a family,Half-eaten on the road."
"Where?" asks Obi. He seems surprised.
"Not too far from here. You're sure it wasn't you or one of your men?"
I don't really think they did it, my gut tells me they didn't but humans are desperate now, and maybe survival of the fittest is the principle of this group.
"None of mine would do it. They don't need to. We have sufficient supplies and firepower to support everyone here. Besides, they got two of our men last week. Trained men with rifles. Why do you think we hunted you? We don't normally go after strangers. We'd like to know who did it."
"It wasn't us," Penryn says.
"No, I don't suppose it was you."
"He didn't do it either, Obi,"
"How do I know that?"
"We have to prove our innocence now?"
"It's a new world."
"What are you, the sheriff of the New Order? Arrest first, then ask questions later?"
"What would you do if you caught them?" I intervene.
"We could use people who are, shall we say, a little less civilized than the rest of us? Precautions would have to be taken, of course." Obi sighs. It's clear he doesn't like the idea but seems resigned to do what needs to be done.
"I don't get it," she says. "What would you do with a bunch of cannibals?"
"Sic them on the angels, of course."
"That's crazy,"
"In case you hadn't noticed. The whole world has gone crazy. It's time to adapt or die."
"By throwing crazy at crazy?"
"By throwing whatever we have that might confuse or distract, or maybe even repulse them, if that's even possible. Anything to keep their attention from the rest of us while we organize," says Obi.
"Organize into what?" I ask.
"Into an army strong enough to launch them off our world."
What? I control the urge to laugh, it's like an army of bees triying to defeat bears, yes they may sting some of them, maybe even kill one, but there is no chance of defeating all of them.
However the irony of it all is not lost on me, I'm in the heart of a newborn resistance against my own kind, of all the places I could have ended up, here I am.
"You're gathering a resistance army?" Penryn asks breathlessly.
"We prefer to think of ourselves as simply a human army, but yes, I suppose we are considered the resistance since we are the underdog by a long shot. Right now, we're gathering forces, recruiting and organizing. But we have something big planned. Something the angels won't soon forget."
"You're striking back?"
"We're striking back."
"How much damage can you do?" I feel like I have to ask, maybe they have some weapon that could really hurt us.
"Enough damage to make a point," says the resistance leader. "Not to the angels. We don't care what they think. But to the people. Let them know that we are here, that we exist, and together, we will not be pushed aside."
"You're attacking the angels as a recruiting campaign?"
"They think they've won already. More importantly, our own people feel like that too. We need to let them know the war has just begun. This is our home. Our land. Nobody gets to waltz in and take over."
Wow, I guess they aren't able to do really a lot of damage, but hope is a dangerous weapon, much more so to desperate people.
I regard Penryn who is staring at the floor not wanting to look at either of us, and I know I won't say anything about this nor will I do anything else about it because come to think of it, what has done my kind for me? Punish my brothers, good men, for a crime that proved to be made up but this little human has not only saved my life, she's here in the presence of people that are the only hope for humanity, the only chance they may get of not losing themselves and turning into animals, of being united even if they all burn in the pursue of their goal; And she's choosing not to give me up. No, I will not betray her.
"My head hurts," Penryn whimpers
"We'll talk more in the morning," says Obi. He guides her up and over a couple of steps to a cot in the shadows and my guard does the same across the room.
As she's lying down on her side with her wrists tied up behind her back, Obadiah sits next to her and ties her ankles together, He gently puts a pillow under her head, no pillows for me, obviously. Then, slowly he's brushing her hair out of her face and tucking it behind her ear,
"You'll be all right," he says. "The men will have strict orders to be gentlemanly toward you."
Funny thing to say while caressing a tied up woman, if you ask me.
"Thank you," she answers.
Obi and his man collect the bowls of stew and leave. The lock clicks behind them.
"Thank you?" yeah leave me here all defenseless in the midst of a group of unruly men! And you told them to behave? OMG Thank you! I want to slap her.
"Shut up. I'm exhausted. I really need to get some sleep."
"What you need is to decide who's on your side and who's not."
AKA I'm on your side, blind midget.
"Will you tell them?" Right now I want to, I don't know why that thank you has gotten under my skin, but it has. And even if I have decided against it I want to tell her that I will crush this feeble excuse of an army, instead of that I remain quiet, calming myself.
There's a long pause.
There is one thing I'm curious about though,
"Why did you come here?" I ask, "Why didn't you run away like we both know you should have?"
"Stupid, huh?"
"Very."
"I just…couldn't."
There it is, this is why I can't betray the midget. I think about what would have happened it the situation was the opposite, would I have left her here? Or would I have continued my way, and I know my answer in this exact moment would have been the same, I don't want to explore the bond that is emerging between us, but nah what am I saying? No bond no friendship no nothing, it's just a truce between enemies with a common goal. Just that.
We lie in silence, listening to the crickets.
I wonder what she's thinking.
Soooo there is a mean virus that encrypts all your files and it is superrr fun triying to get rid of it as you loose more and more of your stuff hehe, but well, that's it for now! Hope you like it :)lemme know what you think!
XXX