/ Adrian
The same dream kept reoccurring. Seeing how that soldier stuffed grenades into a child, how that child exploded. How another one would be walked out through the door, as if a conveyor belt of endless torture. The faces of those in power abusing the power… The smile on that old face, as she would eat the child, digging in like a forest pig, absolutely no remorse, no emotions behind that - pure evil. The people in their containers, hooked to so many wires and tubes, living like a sausage in a canned foods section. The people, or rather what's left of them in the waste system, just floating to be pulverised and "cleansed", so that all could be reused. The eyes that were in that muck, the half of the head of some kid, a ripped apart infant with that small frame of what was left…
Each one of those made me wake up with sweat covering my body, sheets sticking to me, as I try to catch my breath, but it feels like I still am breathing the air in those slums, that putrid thing, like it won't just leave my lungs no matter what I do.
Shower. A cool water that seems to flush all the sweat off of me, but not the whole lot of what I saw. It would not let me be. Like tar, sticking to me, no matter how hard I dare to scrub myself. Permeating with the foulness of how those basters were, their absolute lack of humanity, their full selves as the darkness which I only read about. But this… this… This I can't seem to get rid of.
It's been four days of me "locked up" in my room. Feng has not come about. The maid brings in the food a few times a day, and as she does - I sometimes hear screams, sometimes it's highly loud laughter. Each time I asked the maid what or who it was - I was met with a serious look. That dead serious, stern face, and the slow shake of the head which meant "no". No words were spoken to me. Have I done something to be left like this? In such an isolation? I don't really think I have done anything. But it almost feels like they plot to make me go mad. As I feel it creeping inside of me - the sprouts of insanity which whisper to me to just kill myself off, so that I'd never remember the faces, the atrocities, the blood on the table, the hung by the hook boy strapped to the ceiling… I'm just…
Laying in bed, hunched up, with a blanket wrapped around me, I try to keep it together. As much as I do, I feel like I'm slowly but surely ripping open and apart at the seams. Is this what it means to be human? Though I was human, was I not? How was I in the system in the first place? Mother… There was my mother, the house, the…
"Ack!" - I wince, as my head seems to burst open from the pain. I breathe. I try to even out the breathing, as it spikes. Heart going at it like I'm about to be eaten, just like those others in those horrid rooms. Tears slowly start pouring down my face. Ah, is that what she called a panic attack? Niko, that bastard…
I grabbed hold of the pillow, burying my face in it as I screamed my lungs out into it. Afraid. Somehow I was afraid.
The body was trembling. Crying would not stop, as I now sobbed hysterically, pillow in hands, shouting into it, to muffle the pain that somehow came through and out of my body. What is this gnawing feeling? It's ridiculous… It's scary.
Eventually I felt meek. With my whole body, as if the whole power was sucked out dry. With nothing left in me, I curled in bed once more and fell asleep. There were no dreams then. Absolute darkness.
"Oh, you finally decided to come back to us, huh?" - Feng's voice sounded rather calm, though as if he sneered at me.
My body felt heavy. Eyes were not agreeing with me, as I started to open them up. The light seemed blinding. I winced, as I slowly squinted, trying to look where I was.
"You sure decided to give me a scare. Luckily we found you by dinner time, so the whole operation was…" - Feng sat near me, as he read through the… Eh… Whatever he had on that tablet screen. - "You were out for a few days. Good you managed to come back today. It would've been a pain to carry you down and out, like a sack with a dead rat inside."
"Huh?" - I let out, now hearing my sore voice, throat itchy from making a sound. Fuck… I turn to the other side - seems like I'm in his lab. There's an IV drip connected to me. What fun.
"I felt like it might be fine, but I guess I overestimated you and your guts. Seeing how you managed to get in such a condition." - Feng kept going.
I tried to sit up, but felt no strength in me. Feng walked over, helping me to sit up.
"Becoming a handful now, are we?" - He smiled at me. This cheeky bastard. - "Here, have some water." - Feng handed me a glass with water, which I downed in an instant.
"It's ready." - Sheng showed up out of nowhere, walking towards us. He stopped next to Feng.
"Tell Wei that he'll have to help this one out. Make sure Liang remembers not to kill him." - Feng lets out and leaves the room.
I try to get off the damn metallic slab, to walk on my own two feet, but Sheng pushes me down by the shoulder to sit.
"Let me get the needles out of you first. Stay still." - Sheng coldly remarks.
"Where am I off to?" - I hoarsely ask. Sheng eyes me, as he takes out all the needles, putting damn bandaid looking things over the spots he took needles from.
"Where Master Feng decided." - Sheng coldly replied. - "Don't do stupid shit and you'll live."
And that was pretty much all that came out of him. He then walked out of the room.
I got up, slowly, still holding on to the surface of this metallic thing of a bed with my hands. My head was still a bit spinning. Being out for a few days he said, huh? Fuck…
As I managed to get slowly to the couch and sit, the doors opened and Liang walked in with some blond-looking man. Built as a damn security guard on steroids. Either that, or some fancy army vehicle. Too damn tired to even think straight.
Liang threw clothes at me.
"Put that on." - Liang commanded. - "We ain't got much time. Move it."
Fuck… I push myself to get dressed, while these two watch me, like a pony show. What the hell is up with them two? Liang was pretty… Ah… Right. I stopped for a second once the recollection of how I wanked one off about him hit me.
"Ugh…" - I let out.
"Move it." - The blond thing commanded with such a cold voice it made me hurry the fuck up. Once done, Liang got in my face like a damn sergeant at the army drill.
"Once we leave this room, keep your mouth shut. Eyes on the floor. You better remember that. Or there won't be a single thing which will save you." - This voice, void of any familiarity we built, void of any warmth, anything in particular, really. Just ice cold.
Then he put a damn chain collar around my neck, with a leash in his hands. He handed the leash to the blond guy.
"Eyes on the floor at all times. No sounds, no questions. Make a peep and you're dead, got me?" - This blond guy threatened me, by the feel of it, but at the same time as if stated the "obvious". I gave him a nod.
"Good. Eyes down." - He said coldly. I did as told. The damn dress-up into some sex slave, with close to no decent things to cover up, the damn chained leash… Well, fuck do I know by this point now? Feng would not sell me off, would he? That would be hindering his plans. Or would it?
With thoughts racing through my head, I was guided on the leash. In front of me was the blond guy, behind me was Liang. We walked out into the main streets of this damn top floor. I sensed people walking around, but surely, as told, looked down onto the floor. We kept going and going. There were laughter on the sides here and there, somewhere it was crying, some other places it was even pleas of being beaten up. What fuck-up happened up here? The moment I had a notion of looking aside, the leash was yanked downwards, so I'd look down. Nothing was said. We kept on going.
From the feel of it - we reached some shop, the lights shimmered differently on the floor. WE kept walking. Then the back of the shop, for what it felt like. As we went through some door into a passage. Then it was an elevator. We walked in, it closed. I kept my eyes on the floor. With all my curiosity to see, or ask - nah, these two made sure to let me know that such "outburst" would be reprimanded by quite harsh measures.
The elevator stopped. We walked out. Once more - roads and roads, the damn similarity in pavements… Wait, this smells like… It does… It's the floor with the tech people, is it not? The whirring by the robot gave me the internal "yes" that I needed. But what are we doing here?
Off and off we went. Until we got into the room. I understood that it's a damn room, because we walked in and suddenly it was like all the outer noises of the whirring of the system, robots and military - was cut off. Completely. I still remained silent. Standing as asked of me.
The side of the room opened. Some military personnel came out, as the sound of their outfits was pretty prominent in itself.
"What are you doing here?" - Military man asked. "What are you..? Gah!"
Then it's a thud of two? Three bodies onto the floor.
The leash was yanked in silence and I followed. There were not three but four, dead on the floor. We walked over them to get into that place they came out of. Ah, it was another elevator. More silence and whirr of the tech, as we descended. Once the elevator opened and we got out, I smelled a hint of what I found similar - the damn sewage system.
The room we got in was rather small, I heard Liang grab something. The blond guy came over, after he turned to me. Having his face right next to my ear, as he said : "Close your eyes. Keep quiet." I did as told. He threw me over his shoulder, like a sack of potatoes. Though this time around I played a blind possum. Quiet, blind possum.
I heard some gunshots, then a bunch of thuds. This guy, he ran with me on his shoulder, as if I weighed nothing. He kept running for a while. Then I felt a fabric thrown over me, as someone grabbed me and threw me inside somewhere. By the touch - I somehow knew it was Liang.
Roar of engine, and the feeling one gets when you are inside of a car - that sense when physics pulls into the seat you get, at high speed.
By the feeling of it - we drove for an hour. Speeding like crazy through quite the shoddy terrain. The car was almost jumping, as it went on. Then we halted.
"You can open your eyes. There's a bag next to you. Come on, you got something else to change into, unless you want to freeze out here." - The voice of the blonde guy made me look at where we are, check that indeed - inside a car. And indeed, there was a bag next to me, on the floor. I took out clothes, seemed more decent than this getup.
"Let me get it off of you." - Liang turned to me, his hands swiftly undoing the lock on the collar, as he pulled it off along with a chain, throwing it beside me.
"Thanks." - I let out, as I put the shirt, pants and some other outwear things atop me.
"Are we at the right place?" - Liang asked.
The roar of the engine, the car went on again. Once more - bumpy ride. But then I saw it in the distance - light. As we approached - we saw the small campfire going on.
"That's the place." - Blond guy lets out.
We approached it. The car stopped ten metres from the fire. There was also another car. Two people stood by the fire. Both - looking like the people from the sewer region. Dregs and drags of what was left of clothes.
Liang walked out. Spoke to them. Then returned inside the car.
"Fuck." - Liang muttered.
"What?" - Blond asked.
"They said Wan did a number to claim it all. Though… Fuck." - Liang smacks the dash of the car.
"Uhum… He'll make a double. Don't you worry. That roach does not die that easily." - Blond dude replies.
"Wei Xian," - Liang looks at the blond guy. - "You seriously think that they'll let him, 'real' him, be after what happened? Bullshit."
"Feng will cover it up." - Wei replied.
"The others should be showing up here as well, right?" - Liang looked ahead.
"That's what they've sent us." - Wei Xian replied.
"Others?" - I asked. But Liang just gave me a glare, which enough said - felt like the whole 'shut the fuck up'.
It was pretty obvious that they were on edge. Things have happened and they had to do things that most likely meant death.
A glint of the headlights flashed us, as another car approached. Stopped nearby us. A total of four people came out. All white haired. Even though they were both men and women. Liang and Wei Xian got out of the car, walking over to them. The conversation took them around 20 minutes. Then the three white haired ones got into the car of the rebels and drove off in the direction of the Iron City.
Liang and Wei came back into the car, got the engine going and followed behind the car with white haired person in it.
The drive took us around an hour and a half. The mountain roads, hills, partially with scattered greenery that looked rather eerie. Eventually we came over to the "entrance".
A heavy metal door opened up and we drove in. A large parking lot is what opened to us, after a lengthy passage. The first car parked, we parked next to it. Wei turned off the car.
"Alright, it seems like we're here. Let's go." - He said, as he got out of the car. Liang followed. I followed them.
The white haired person stood there, awaiting us.
"Follow me." - He said calmly. His white hair and rather light complexion was pretty much 'in your face'. We followed the man into the elevator. We came out on an office looking floor. Then switched to another elevator and went all the way up. Out, down the hallway… Large office space with a couch, large windows, to the side - a bunch of monitors and a person who walked towards us. A woman, white hair, light complexion, like the others I've seen. What is that? Are they all related or something?
"Ah, so we've got our guests finally." - She spoke gently. - "David, thank you for driving them here. Did the others manage to get on well?"
"They did. Though, there's concern that um… They'll stand out." - David replied.
"Feng said they've got ways to sort that out. So they'll blend in. Now…" - She eyed three of us. - "Liang, Wei Xian and Adrian. I welcome you to the bunker. My name is Ana. I am sort of a coordinator here. This is David. He's um… A good help. You'll acquaint yourself with others as you go. But first, how about some food? We've prepared your rooms. Might not be the level of great things that they serve in Iron City, but shall have to do for now."
I stood there, wondering what the heck did I got into. The long white haired guy approached me. She called him David, right? He got right in my face.
"Adrian, right?" - He asked.
"Yes." - I replied. The moment I did, he punched me in the face with all his might. I felt a distinct taste of iron in my mouth… Blood, huh.
"That's for Erick, you asshole. I hope you won't do these practices here, which you pulled off with the help of AIO. There's others here who might want to have a go at you. Bastard." - David seeped with anger towards me. At first I felt it was unfounded, then I recalled… Erick, David… Niko!
"Dear brother, keep your wits about you. Punching a scumbag in the face surely is nice, but he looks as traumatised as me in a damn Labyrinth after a few millenia. So I would not pick any more fights. Nor try to bite more than you can chew." - Another man with long white hair and exactly the same face came by, stretching his hand towards me. - "You might remember me as 'The Hare', from the Labyrinth. My name is Michael. Welcome to this twisted new world." - Michael said, somewhat gently. I took his hand and he shook it. Then went on to shake the hands of Liang and Wei Xian.
"Introductions out of the way… Go have some dinner." - Ana let out a sigh. - "I'll meet you tomorrow. I've still more to do, so…" - She walked over to Liang, leaning closer and whispering something to him. He gave her a nod.
"Sure. Dinner sounds fine. We can talk business tomorrow." - Liang lets out.
"Michael will show you to your accommodations. Feel free to pester him, me or anyone else for that matter, if there's anything of your concern. Though, use your own discernment." - Ana said, then gently placed her hand on Liang's shoulder, leaned in and whispered something again. This time - Liang whispered something back to her. She was the one to nod.
"Alright! Let's go!" - Michael sounded somewhat cheery about us. Or so it felt to me.
Michael led us towards the elevator, then down a few floors. What opened was the repurposed office floor that looked like a dining hall. Food was on the tables. Michael guided us to take a seat and enjoy the food.
I tried it, and for some reason - it felt like sand in my mouth. Though - I wonder if that's me. Others ate with gusto. Liang seemed to enjoy the food, so did Wei. The other two…
Encountering both David and Hare… How many others are there? Is Niko in here? Am I going to meet her? I felt a sense of buzzing coming up. Maybe my questions will be answered… Maybe…
They had a chat with Liang and Wei. Latter seemed to answer more, Liang somehow still was on edge. Just as we were finishing up with food - Ana came to us. She went straight to Liang, leaned in and whispered something to him. In that instant I saw Liang relax. As if a really heavy load was off his shoulders. Ana placed her hand on his shoulder.
"We've got this. You're not alone." - I overheard her say it to him. Ana to Liang. He turned to her and gently replied "Thank you". She gave a nod and left again.
"Hmmm, if you keep this up I might be getting jealous." - Michael let out jokingly, as he looked at Liang.
"I don't think that's within his tastes." - Wei shrugged.
"What would you know about my tastes?" - Liang eyed Wei.
"Well, I sure know 'Your Taste'." - Wei replied with a straight face.
"Whoah! That now seems like too much information!" - Michael laughs at this banter.
All the while - David side-eyes me.
After the mood lightened up, once more elevators, now one floor up - there were rooms. We each got a room to rest in.
"Just so you know, this whole floor was rebuilt within a week. Ana went to lengths to make it really nice. Even if she said that she did not care that much, she went the extra mile in her hospitality. If only you'd seen her worry about you. Well, she might just tell you herself tomorrow. So, good night gents. Have a restful sleep." - Michael said, right before we all got into our rooms.
Somewhat small, but it felt to me like a little apartment. Bedroom, bathroom… Like a small cozy studio. Though yes, pretty much close to no windows. Though, after the Iron City it seems like a way too 'calm' thing. Might be my imagination.
After a shower, I fell onto bed. Many questions. Endless questions. I just hope to get answers tomorrow. I hope to god, if there indeed is one.