44. Organ Farm
The TAXI stooped at what appeared to be the end of civilization, the ground ceased to be pavemented, not allowing vehicles to continue, but the diver got them as close as he could to their destination. Link paid the ride and Zelda just looked as they were left behind in a cloud of dust, in the middle of what felt like a desert. Link approaches her to tell her something, she begins to complain a little but just drops to sit on the ground puffing as she sees the boys running off together.
ZELDA POV
And he left me again… THEY left me, I really hope it won't take them long, its hot in here. Where am I by the way? this look like a prairie, a very dry and unkept prairie. Who builds a store in the middle of this? Link said a store was not far from here, that they would visit and be back soon… why couldn't I go with them?
VVVRRRROOOOOOOOMMM! Zelda immediately stands and turns scared, as two guys close in on her mounting a very slim vehicle that uses only 2 tires to move. One of them extends a hand at her. The Princess hesitates
Why would I take his hand? Who is he? Any decent man won't hide his face like that.
Link angels his head in wonder and then realizes what the problem is, he lifts the helmet visor. Zelda immediately recognizes those gray eyes and takes his hand; Link pulls her to mount the dirt bike behind him.
"Hold on tight, and close your eyes and mouth" Link says as he starts driving away, followed by Lee.
Close my eyes? But how would I look at the sena- OH FREAKING
Zelda rubs her eyes on Link's back
A freaking piece of something got in my eye, this vehicle can ride in all this dirt, but it spits pieces of it right at the driver, the helmet makes sense I suppose. I GOT IT NOW; I WON'T OPEN MY EYES. And i have to say, a GENIOUS businessman builds a store in the prairie to sell a vehicle that can move around in the terrain.
Zelda thought as they started to slow down, Link was making hand sings for Lee to stop too. They exchanged a few words and left the dirt bike on the floor next to a tall prickly pear cactus. Zelda began to look around, the excessive light would not really allow her to see much, but she slowly started to see a building ahead of her. it was tall, but not too tall, 2 stories high maybe... but it still looked ominous to her somehow. Link and Lee slowly approach her.
"The kids are in there aren't they?" Zelda asks referring to the kids
"If they still are, yes" Link answers somberly, the Princess stares back in shock.
OH DIN, they could be death? Why? I really don't see what could they gain from killing those kids.
"If we don't get killed first" Lee adds cheerfully
"Speaking about safety… let me take look around the entrance, both of you stay right here, just wait for my signal. I MEAN IT ROBERT, DON'T ENGAGE" Link warns
Lee rolls his eyes and nods; Link starts heading to the building crouching and trying to use the few patches of tall grass and cacti to cover his advance. Zelda was finding it difficult to focus her sight, the sun was not helping at all.
"Is it normal to find it so difficult to focus my sight right now?" Zelda asks
Robert answers laughing "Yes, it's the brightness, most people use shades to see properly at this hour" Robert informs her.
Shades? What is even that? I don't think he means using you own shadow; how would that work? … is that bright dot twinkling the signal?
Zelda points it at Lee, he smiles and nods grabbing her hand and crouching to approach the building. Once they got there, Zelda noticed a small bus parked by the entrance.
"What did you do?" Lee asks referring to a guy currently laying on the ground, his head bent on a weird unnatural angle.
"What I had to do… here" Link throws him a handgun.
"it's the death man's weapon, isn't it?" Robert asks lifting an eyebrow
"It is, do you have a problem with that?" Link challenges
Lee starts to nod but immediately shakes his head, he then proceeds to open the magazine to check how many bullets it still had. Link was cleaning and storing a dagger, surely the death's property too. Zelda was getting anxious watching them prepare for who knows what.
"Princess, I need you to stay out here. Lee, you stay by the entrance, I go in first, this is the only exit available, use the gun to kill anyone who tries to leave" he said that and just kicked open the door running inside.
Lee started to yell curses at Link for rushing like that and tries to follow, but a bullet rain starts and he end up leaning against the wall to protect himself, once he had an opening he peaked inside and started shooting, after a while he also barged in. Zelda drooped to the ground and curled in a ball covering her ears, she was shaking in fear.
This is not happening, this is NOT happening, Link did not run into the bullet rain, and Lee did NOT just follow him in there shooting and cursing. I HOPE I am exaggerating; I hope Link is fine and not bleeding to death, and I hope Lee ran inside because is safe to do so, and not to avenge Link.
LINK POV
After kicking the door open, Link ran straight ahead and slashed the first neck that appeared in his visual field. He rolled away to take cover behind a set of boxes present, and he waited for them to empty their guns before engaging again. His next victim almost made him feel sorry for what he had to do, it was an obese rookie, completely unfamiliar with the situation he kept making mistakes and tripping. Link slowly got close and when the bullets started again, he grabbed on the man's ankles and pulled to drag him, the man begged but Link just hushed him as he slowly pierced his lungs… after all, a man can't scream if he has no air.
All right, I managed to avoid being shot while making a big entrance… I hope it's enough for them to pay attention to ME and ignore Robert pecking in and shooting back at them. I would have loved if he had just stayed safe at school with my Princess, but he is using this to soothe his own pain, I can't deny him that, but still… I just found him; I am not allowing anyone to hurt him.
I may be overprotecting him though… it's been only a few minutes and he has already lost the little reservation he had on killing people. He has shot down 4 guys already, one of them wasn't even posing a threat, yet he killed him because he was screaming too much. He is getting a like for this… hehe, that is bad. Or maybe not, it may be perfect. The General is not going to like this, but if Robert asks me to help him join SWORD I will gladly do so.
"Are you ok?" Lee asks approaching
"I am"
"Good" Lee appears to point his hand gun at Link and shoots
Link close his eyes to avoid moving when he noticed Lee aiming, he somehow KNEW it was not directed at him, of course he could not be completely sure of that, but he felt he could trust Lee with his life. After the shot he heard a body fall behind him. Link opens his eyes and turns to approach the fallen guy who tried to attack him, he notices Lee shot him right between the eyes.
OH, MY FUCKING GOD, I AM SO GOING TO VOUCH FOR HIM TO JOIN SWORD IF HE WANTS. THEY ARE GOING TO ADORE HIM.
"That was a very nice shot Mr. Mafia" Link tries to compliment while mocking him.
Lee scowls at the mafia reference, Link whistles to signal Zelda to join them.
"Are you sure she is not a dog?" Robert asks
"If she were, she would be obedient" Link plainly answers
Link starts to laugh at the idea of an obedient Princess, Lee's mouth hangs open once he notices Zelda coming in tears, and pretty angry. The princess approaches Link and gives him a hard slap. Link growls back and was about to grab her but Lee gets in between them.
"Nice slap my lady, what did he do to earn that?" Lee asks trying to appease them through dialog.
"Risking himself like he just did, who the fuck enters kicking the door like that? He knew they were armed; does he have a death wish or something? If he does, I will gladly kill him myself" Zelda answers
"I think you are being too harsh on him, yeah… it was reckless, but he did it for us, to draw attention to himself so we would not be noticed, he kept you safe and cloaked me" Lee tries to reason
"But at the expense of getting hurt, he should NOT have done it like that, he still has promises to keep, Link claims to be a man of his word, but how can he keep his word if he dies? dying is not an option"
Lee lifts both his hands in surrender and turns to look at Link mouthing ¨I am out¨
Link breaths in deeply and just yanks a thick power cable hanging on his left side. The background sound stops in the whole building.
"Good, that noise was driving me crazy" Link looks directly at Zelda "willingness to put yourself in danger and dying are two very different things. Knowing you could get hurt and doing it anyway IS what my job demands of me, getting hurt is always a possibility, hence the importance of donors on my field. I assessed the situation and opted to do what would keep ME relatively safe, and cloak BOTH of you from the bullets. Dying was NEVER an option"
Zelda's anger was slowly receding, she already knew his job was dangerous, that he may have already seen and done worse, but seeing him and hearing him do it was a whole different experience. She gave him a slap in anger, but she was actually angry at herself, at her inability to do something, and the lack of capability to deal with her emotions, she should not have cowered in fear, and she should have trusted Link… it's easy to say, but to keep your fear and doubt demons at bay WAS VERY HARD.
"I haven't really thought… I understand now, I am sorry." Zelda tells him genuinely
"Glad we are pass that because I have to lift you"
Link grabs Zelda's hand and drags her with him to a wall in the building that seemed to have a second floor, but with no stairs to reach it. Link crouches in front of her tapping on his shoulders
"Both feet on my shoulders, use the wall to lean on for stability as I lift you, once you are up there, find something we could use to reach you"
Zelda nods and climbs on his shoulders as instructed; Link slowly starts to rise her up. She manages to grab on the ledge and hoist herself up.
"If that is no obedient, I don't know what it is" Lee comments laughing a little
"That is being hormonal yet reasonably smart, kind of dangerous for her"
"For now, but she is going to be the danger in a few years, and you pampering her by calling cute nicknames is not helping." Lee says smiling and negating with his head
"You mean Princess? That is… not a nickname, it's her title"
Lee adopts a rigid stance and looks a Link puzzled
I think I should tell him, because WHY THE FUCK NOT, he is a version of me, and he has shown me I can trust him already.
"Have you heard of the kingdom of Hyrule?" Link says faking a cheerful tone
"You mean that old fairytale?" Lee asks in doubt
"it's real… she is the princess there. If you want to know more about it, ask her directly, I don't want to keep talking now… I feel uneasy for some reason" Link states
Lee was shocked by the news, but not at all surprised, it had been hectic since he met Link, and kind of unbelievable, yet everything Link has said so far has turned out to be true, if he says Zelda is a princess, he will believe it.
Then they suddenly saw an extension ladder lowering, Robert smiled and begun climbing it. Link still felt like something was fucking wrong, but followed his duplicate.
Once they were up, Link saw a monitor on the wall, with a section beeping in red, below it was a small table with an odd keyboard, Link kept looking and reading the post-it notes trying to understand what the monitor displayed. Lee was trying to open a trapdoor he found in the middle of the floor. Zelda was looking around and moving boxes, trying to find something that could help them locate the kids. So far, she had found a folder with pictures of kids. She was about to show Link when the sound of metal snapping was heard.
"THERE, well… I was hoping to find some kind of loot or something incriminating, not a flooded basement" Lee dips his hand on the water and retreats it "DAMN, that is fucking cold"
Link's eyes darken finally understanding, angst reflected on his face, he ran to the trap door yelling
"IT'S A FUCKING ORGAN FARM, THEY ARE DOWN THERE. FIND A WAY TO DRAIN IT" Link orders pointing at Robert and he jumped into the freezing water.