KOLLUPIA S2 E04

He sat in the corner, hugging his knees against his chest. The floor was icy cold and his butt cheeks felt numb.  The chill  was coming from air vents in the ceiling. There was no bed in this four by four cell. All he had for company was a metallic sink and a toilet seat ( which had come in handy in the past two days...or so).


The smell of bacon and eggs  filled the room.


 He stared at the untouched food for a long time.  His stomach rumbled, Father had taught him  to ignore  pain and visualise a 12 inch thick steel wall.

"You are a steel wall," father would say. "




"Nothing can hurt you". Lucious felt tears in his eyes. Were his parents still alive? What did these people want  from him?  Where was he?


 The faint sounds of gunshots and explosions told him he was far far away from home. A shudder ran through him. " Tears are a sign of weakness" father would say. " Don't let your enemy see them". He wiped his face and tried to focus.  " Your mind is the most powerful weapon....use it" He heard father's voice in his head. He stretched his limbs and studied his surroundings. The room was bare. It had a steel door he knew he could never break. The air vents were too narrow to crawl through.


Each time the door opened, he'd catch a glimpse of the outside. Grasses, trees, and soldiers walking by. They were somewhere in a forest. Where ever he was being kept, was clearly a small part of a larger camp. He had no idea how many guards watched his prison, but he had a feeling it was well guarded.

Lucious sighed and stared at the top left corner of his....cell. There was a small black object with a red light there. He knew he was being watched.     Then he had a thought.


 Whatever they wanted him for, they needed him alive. Which was good and bad. Good because he had time to figure out an escape plan. Bad because he had an expiry date.....which could be any time.

He heard a familiar metallic sound. The door was being opened. The lean man with the funny accent stepped in. He was followed by the hard faced man.

"The young wolf does not eat?" Sokah smiled.

Lucious said nothing. The hard faced man looked like he ATE twelve year olds in his spare time.

"Perhaps accommodations are not to his liking" Sokah said.

"Where are my parents???" Lucious said struggling to hide the tremor in his voice.
Sokah seemed thoughtful for a few seconds.

"Mother and father are fine" he smiled. "The Young Wolf will join them soon, but the young wolf must eat food is....."

Lucious suddenly dashed towards the door, but he barely made it past Sokah before Hard face grabbed him. He fought and scratched at the man with all his might, but  was flung back to the ground. His head painfully caught the side of the wall.

"Little p**ck!!" Hardface spat as he made for the boy. Sokah's hand stopped him.

"Perhaps he needs  lesson" Sokah smiled at Hard Face.

Lucious rolled over, the pain in his head was intense.

"Then let me teach him, sir" Hard Face snarled.

"Sokah wasn't speaking about the boy"

"Me?" Hard face stared at Sokah in confusion.

Long pause.

"Return the dagger, young wolf" Sokah sighed.

"I don't have....."

"Return dagger" Sokah cut Lucious off, " or Sokah will take it,....and gouge out  your eyes....slowly"

Long silence.

Lucious slowly reached into the back of his shirt and produced the dagger.

Hard face stared at his empty dagger holster in shock.

"How the f**k did he......?" 

"The Young wolf is resourceful" Sokah said, taking the blade from Lucious. " His hands are quick."

"Sir, .....I..." But Hard Face never got to finish the sentence, or any other sentence for that matter Sokah's hand moved like a Cobra strike. He slashed at the man's  throat in mid-sentence. Hard Face stood  with a horrified expression on his face. Then the dark crimson fluid flowed  from  his neck oozing freely across his skin.

Lucious watched in terror  as the hard faced man fell to his knees with  blood gushing generously from his throat. Then the man crashed into the cold floor.

Long silence.

 "Sokah must apologise for his behaviour." He wiped the blade against his pants. "Sokah dislikes incompetence. Incompetence must dealt with swiftly, no?"

Lucious was silent. His eyes followed the dark crimson slowly oozing from the lifeless body.

"If the boy does not eat, Sokah is unhappy....if Sokah is unhappy....." He let his words trail off.

Lucious was trembling.

Sokah remained silent for a long time.

Sound of approaching footsteps.

"Sir......?" Came a male voice.

Lucious couldn't tear his eyes away from the dead body.

"The....General wants to see you" the voice said.

Long pause.

"The young wolf is hungry" Sokah said.  "He can not eat in such a messy place...clean up and bring him food"

"....Yes sir..." The male voice said hesitantly.

In some distant region of his mind, Lucious heard Sokah exit the room. But he was yet to avert his gaze from the slow spreading blood on the floor.







Two sentries stood silently inside the General's office. The armed figures so still, one would've confused them for statutes.


The General stared at his reflection in the mirror. For his age, his slightly bulky physique wasn't so bad. He was easily 6'5. His uniform fit him perfectly, he thought as he touched his thick grey beard.

He heard the door to his immense office open.


 He didn't bother turning around.

"The sentries have orders to shoot you if you cross the red line" The General said calmly.

Sokah paused a few inches from a red line that stretched across the marble floor.

He smiled. This was his first face to face with the great General. He'd heard stories about his paranoia.

"Sokah apologises if he seemed presumptuous" he kept his tone respectful.


Paranoid and old, the General was once the finest killer in the world.

"The wife's execution was unnecessary" The General said still with his back to him"

"The Old Wolf needed convincing, Sokah felt....."

"Do not take your position for granted, Sokah" The General turned to face him. "Were you not one of my best, I would've had your lungs torn out of your chest"

Long silence.

"Apologies, Sir" Sokah said softly.

"Micheal is the finest assassin I've  ever trained. Were it not for the serum running through your veins,...."

"Sokah does not need  serum to kill  the old wolf" Sokah spat a little bit more defiantly than he intended. He quickly realised that he'd interrupted the General. He humbly looked away. Men had been killed for less.

"I need  not remind you that only Micheal knows the location of the Drive containing the  other half of the formula" General continued.


"That Drive he stole when he left the agency years ago, is a Dossier of all the activities and people involved with Project Black Storm....we need him to co-operate."

Long silence.

 "Once you've  acquired the Drive....Kill him"


"And the boy....?"

The General stared at him for a few seconds.
"I am aware of your sexual....perversions" the General stepped away from the mirror towards him immense gold plated table. "The boy is to be kept alive, unharmed.....and unmolested....is that clear?"

Sokah nodded.

"And the effects of the Serum?"  The General enquired.

"Sokah can feel the effects waring off" he said, flexing his fingers.

"Once we have the other half," The General said. " The effects will be permanent. "Get to the lab and have the doctors up the dosage for you and the other specimens"

"Yes sir" Sokah bowed and turned to leave.

"Do not disobey another order, Sokah" The General added.

Sokah paused at the door.

"You may be superhuman,... But you're not bullet-proof.....understood?"

"....Sokah understands..." He replied softly, then he left the office.








LIFE IS A CHOICE MY FRIENDS
SO CHOOSE WISELY
ENOUGH SAID








I and Opus are torn as to what genre of story to post tomorrow, being Valentine's and all. So I thought it would be fun to put it to vote.
Romance
Comedy
Horror

Voting would end by 3pm and we would post the genre with the highest votes. Only the first five anonymous votes would count.

Ivy Brown