SHE felt the sting of icy water on her skin. Her heart rate sped up, she jolted and rattled the steel chains holding her wrists above her head. Her feet barely touched the damp floor and her head felt three times its weight.
At first, she couldn't remember the moments leading up to her loss of consciousness. Then slowly,....... images unfolded from her mind like figures from a mist: She remembered Brohollo being blown to bits, she remembered Micheal screaming, she remembered the chilly night air, guns being pointed at her and the prick of a needle against her skin.
The dimly lit room smelled of piss, blood and sweat. There was a single light bulb dangling above her---right next to where her wrists were bound. She could feel the water dripping fron her body. Stupid, she thought. Getting caught was stupid.
Sound of footsteps.
The faint glow of the bulb didn't spread very far. The rest of the room was dark-- which wouldn't have been a problem for her if her vision wasn't so hazy from whatever shit they'd dosed her with.
"You have a beautiful body," a male voice said.
He was behind her. She felt his touch on her lower back. "toned, athletic....." He slowly walked into her field of vision. He was clean shaven and was actually quite attractive with eyes as empty as starless space.
"You'll die today" Zikha said simply.
He smiled. "...God is the ultimate artist, did you know that?"
More details of the room became clearer. To her right was a table with several shiny objects.
In seconds, she realised they were knives.
"...the human form is truly a work of art......a body like yours is a masterpiece," his hand cupped her breast. Zikha stilled herself.
He moved away from her into the darker regions of the room. "Why are you here,what is your mission? Answer me truthfully and your death will be quick and painless."
She could see better now. There were extra layers of glazing on the walls that were tightly sealed around the edges.
"I know you're well-trained." His breath said at the back of her neck again "Probably skilled in the all the ways of torture.....how long do you think it will take for this perfect body to breakdown,.... and become a bloody,screaming mass of flesh?"
"If you're going to torture me, fucking get it over with."
He chuckled."Impatience is unattractive."
"Where's Micheal?"
"The screaming man you were with?"
Zikha held her breath. She hoped Micheal was still alive. She was fucked if he wasn't.
"He's alive.....for now."The Man's voice said.
She strained to hear sounds just beyond the room they were in....there was nothing. She tried again.
Nothing.
He was pacing again.
"Sound proof room?"
He paused."How did you know that?"
"Lucky guess."
Long silence.
"People in agony tend to scream," he said.
Soundproof rooms are....necessary,don't you think?....I am truly sorry for the discomfort you are about to experience."
"No you're not." The drug was fast leaving her system. " I've known men like you all my life.
Pain is the only currency you deal in."
He came into the light again. "Perceptive, beautiful....and not stupid. You are quite a trifecta." He moved towards the table, his hand touching the blades in a manner that was almost sexual.
Long pause.
"As a professional courtesy," he began. "I will say this. You will face extreme pain if you do not answer my questions correctly."
"If this place is sound-proof," she whispered. "Does that mean the guards just outside the door can't hear us?"
"That would defeat the purpose of a soundproof room wouldn't it?"
"That means YOU'RE fucked."
"Do you think this is a game, soldier?" He said picking up one of the knives. "I assure you, No one is coming for you and you WILL die here today"
"No," Zikha said exerting pressure on the Chains. "YOU'RE the one who's gonna die today."
The chains snapped.
"What the---?"
Zikha lunged at him, grabbing his knife-hand, she twisted and snapped his arm in one swift motion. He screamed. She forced his face into the floor, crashing her knee into his spine.
"As a professional courtesy," she said picking up the knife and inserting an inche of the blade into his ear. He whimpered and struggled, but it was pointless. "You will face extreme pain if you do not answer my questions correctly."
SOUND of Chains rattling.
He felt the coldness around his wrists. He tried to move, but felt the agony of metal against his flesh.
"Long time no see, Micheal." A male voice said.
He was seated and his hands were bound behind him. The room was cold and the air smelled of rotten meat. He tried to open his eyes, but a bright glare from overhead caused him to shut them again.
"How long has it been? Ten? Eleven years?" The voice said.
"Where....where am I?"Micheal forced his eyes open. There was a single flourescent bulb above him. He couldn't make out the rest of the room. His head was pounding. He stared at the damp floor.
A hand with a strange smell raised his head.
The face above him was badly scarred and bruised. One eye was concealed under an eye patch, the other was blood red.
"What?" The face said. "You don't think I'm pretty?... I've killed for less."
"Who... are you?" The pain in his head spiked.
"You want to insult me and tell me you don't know?"
Micheal forced himself to remember, but his mind had one too many black holes.
A vicious blow hit the side of his face. His head crashed into the the cold floor. He tasted something salty and slimey.
"Get him up!"
Strong hands picked him from the floor and put him backup again. The pain was still there, but the black holes were slowly filling up again.
He recognized the face now.
"Captain Ibim," Micheal winced. A fist like a sledgehammer bashed into his nose. Pain exploded in his head. His chair tipped but someone from behind stopped it from falling.
"That's Overlord," the scarred face said softly. There was raw rage in its eyes. "You will address me properly."
Micheal stared at him for a long time. There was nothing in the face that remotely resembled the man he used. To know. The skin around the scars was nearly pitchblack. The eye that stared back at him was like a rabid dog's.
" You're either wearing make up," Micheal said softly. "Or you did something new with your hair"
Long silence.
A smile slowly materialized on the Overlord's face. Laughter exploded in the room. He could hear chuckles from where the light didn't reach.
"That's the guy I remember," Ibim giving him a friendly tap.
"You have to let me go Ib...Overlord," Micheal said ignoring the pain in his head. "The General is-----."
"Trying to improve his 'experiment'?"
Micheal froze.
The Overlord brought his face within kissing distance. Micheal could almost taste the sweat on the man. "Yes...Mikey, I know all about the General's experiments......I helped him create the first one." He pulled away and stepped into the darkness again.
"Cut him loose." Overlord said. "I have something to show you."
THE bag smelled like piss and the rope was tight. His hands were tied by ropes behind his back. He could sense others in the room. But no one spoke. He could hear one of the men whimpering in the corner of what he assumed was a cell.
Amatuer, Sokha thought. Soldiers weren't what they used to be. He let out a heavy sigh.
Getting caught was could be useful. He'd learned long ago not to let setbacks get to him. The boy was here. He could feel it. The young wolf was his salvation---his destiny. He would get the formula from the boy, if it meant draining every drop of his blood.
He heard the metalic clang of the door. He smiled inside the stinking bag. He knew what was coming.
Sokha counted three sets of footsteps. They stopped a few feet from him.
"And the others?"a male voice whispered.
"Dead weight," another said.
There was the sound of a hand gun being cocked. Then five loud explosions in the room.
Each bang accompanied by a thud. The smell of gun powder filled his lungs.
Then the room was silent again.
"Bring him," The second male voice ordered.
Sokha was pulled from the ground. He never stopped smiling inside the bag. He'd already loosened the binds around his wrists.
EVERY inch of his body ached. His insides felt dry---as if all his fluids had been sucked out.
His breathing was shallow, his eyes refused to stare at his bloody hands. He barely noticed the tears dripping from his eyes. The blood trail leading out of the room was a reminder of what he had done. He closed his eyes and looked away. Three times now he had gone, 'dark' and three times he had woken up to find himself alone with a broken body.The lights went out again, Lucious started sobbing, it was happening again.
"The years have been good to you Micheal," Ibim gave him a friendly tap."See you've kept in shape." They were in a semi dark room. He knew the guards behind him had their hands on their guns.
There was a large mirror in front of them. The warm room smelled of stale ciggarretes and sweat. He knew they were staring at a one way mirror. The mirror lit up.
The room on the other side was larger. It was a grotesque series of bloodsplatters and sprays across the floor and walls. On the far end of the room was a figure covered in blood. It was small, holding itself together in fetal position.
It was trembling.
"What is this?" Micheal heard his own voice ask.
The Overlord's face was blank but something in his one good eye seemed.....happy somehow. "You're about to witness a miracle."
The figure in the room raised its head. Though covered in dark crimson smears, Micheal recognized the frightened face instantly.
Lucious!
He froze. He fought the urge to scream, to charge in there and hold his son. But he remained perfectly still. He had a feeling the Overlord didn't know who the boy was.
"My men found him in the forest," Overlord's voice said. " interestingly enough....he killed a boy twice his size in the most amazing way......"
Lucious staggered towards the glass, his expression scared and confused. He looked smaller than Micheal remembered. His clothes were dirty and torn up.
Micheal clenched his fist and forced himself to remain still.
"Magnificient isn't he?" He said. "He's strong and fast enough to kill ten highly trained soldiers with his bare hands."
Lucious was touching the glass. He was only a few feet away from them.
"Can...he see us?" Micheal whispered.
"You've forgotten how One Way mirrors are designed?"
Lucious eyes had something else in them....something Micheal recognized instantly. It was a look he'd seen on his son's face during training sessions.
Lucious was going dark.
"He's been at it for six hours," Overlord continued. "We release an odorless gas into the room that activates 'the phase' everytime a stimuli is added to his environment."
"Stimuli? ....phase.....what are you talking about?" Micheal said trying to keep the rage from his voice.
"A live subject. How else do you test the perfect soldier?"
"...you've been... Sending people in for him to....kill?"
The Overlord smiled. It was a demon's face mimicking a human expression."The General isn't the only one with experiments, Micheal.
We've been searching for the perfect host of our own for years."
Micheal slowly turned away from the glass and stared into the Overlord's face. "What does one little boy have to do with the General's experiments?"
" All the General's subjects have died because his formula was incomplete. We haven't had that much success either. As you can see our facilities aren't exactly state of the art."
From the corner of his eye, he could see Lucious tracing his hand on the surface of the glass. What have they done to my son?
"The other half of the formula was stolen by you," Overlord went on. "...when you left the agency years ago."
Micheal felt cold inside.
"...I don't know what you're talking about?" Micheal said, doing his best not to look in his son's direction.
"The General took my eye for letting you go....," The Overlord's smile had vanished.
"....soon after that,... my wife.....my son."
"I'm....I'm ...so sorry," Micheal whispered. "I----."
"You should be," Ibim said softly. "It was because of you ....... I lost everything thing. My boy wasn't much older than the child on the otherside of this glass."
Long silence.
Lucious' face was pressed against the glass. He was crying.
Micheal swallowed the lump in his throat. He had to play it cool.
"What...what are you going to do with him?"
The Overlord was silent for a long time.
Lucious had moved away from the glass to the far side of the room again.
Micheal looked around. The guards were poised as if anticipating any sudden movements from him. Even if he could somehow kill the Overlord, he wasn't certain he could make it out before they caught him down.
"I've sent my best soldiers in there." Overlord sighed. "The results have always been the same. Lets see how the boy fares against a more formidable opponent......Throw him in and release the gas!"
Strong arms grabbed Micheal and hoisted him towards the door leading to Lucious.
"...Wait...Ibim...this isn't you---"
"Only one of you will survive. My money's on Lucious."
The door opened and Micheal was shoved in.
THE guard didnt know what hit him. One second he was on his feet, the next his neck was snapped. His body started to fall just as Zikha heard approaching footsteps from the adjoining hallway. With one hand she caught the guard's body in mid-air before it hit the ground. So far, her escape had gone undetected. She wanted to keep it that way.
She watched the two guards stroll by oblivious to her presence. Assuming any of them decided to turn left, they might've noticed her holding the soldier's corpse just inches from the floor.
She held her breath.
The soldiers went by.
She had to find Micheal quickly. She decided as she eased the body to the ground. If any of the bodies of the men she'd killed were found---.
She spun around faster than a blink--knife ready for a strike.
"Apologies.." Sokah whispered with his hands in the air.
"What the hell are you doing here?"
"Sokah felt Zikah needed company."
"How ..... why are you here, Sokah?" Her voice was scarcely above a whisper but there was rage in her eyes.
"Sokha came through front door like Zikha."
She pushed the blade against his throat.
"Brohollo's dead, I've been stripped and drugged. I'm really not in the mood for your shit-talk...what are you doing here Sokha? Has the mission objective changed?"
With a finger, he moved the blade away from his neck. "The young wolf has escaped....he has the formula."
"Bullshit! We would've found it on him."
"Not if formula were INSIDE the little wolf."
She froze.
"...how do you this Sokha?"
Sound of soldiers approaching. She counted two sets of footfalls.
"Where's the Old wolf?" Sokha asked quickly.
"He was captured...probably held somewhere nearby."
"Then we find him, kill him, kill the Overlord then we escape and go find the young Wolf."
The footfalls were getting closer.
"We wont have to leave," She said."The boy is here."
Long pause.
"Then we kill our way till we find all three of them," he said brandishing a bloody blade.
"We're not bullet proof,Sokha. The place is crawling with armed soldiers."
"HALT!" Came a Soldier's voice.
"Then we kill them before they can shoot us!"
"Who goes---?"
Sokha's blade sang threw the air, cutting off the man's words and throat just as Zikha's knife impaled another guard's hand to his chest. His scream lasted a fraction of a second before the blur named Zikha closed the gap between them and crushed his windpipe.
I'M A WRITER,
MY MIND IS MY WORKSTATION
#opustjkwrites
ENOUGH SAID
#courtvacation
#wasagreatnbaconference
