by Sourav Deka
“Thanks, doc,” I said.
He nodded.
I looked among the people. “Where is Nia?”
“Jonas’s men took her inside Tanner’s house when you were unconscious,” Michael said.
My eyes widened. “What?” I walked towards the door in a rush. “I have to see her.”
“Wait!” Michael stopped me. “You can’t. She is with Jonas, you can’t do anything. He will kill you if you go against him.”
I clenched my jaw. “I don’t care.”
“Wait!” Michael grabbed my arm. “Jonas won’t kill her, I know,” he looked at Aaron and mom. “Why don’t you two say anything?”
“Michael is right, Ross,” mom wiped her tears. “You can’t go. He killed your father. He will kill you too if you go against him.”
“He is going to hurt her,” I said in a heavy voice. “I am the one who brought her here. I have to save her.”
“No, Ross,” Aaron stood up from his bed. “We can’t. We lost. Jonas has the watch,” a tear ran down his cheek. “We are back to being his slave again.”
My every inch of body told me to not listen to them, but deep down I knew they were right. I tightened my cheeks and sat on the chair near me. “We have worked so hard to build this camp and he just took it.”
“We will come up with something,” Tanner said.
“Come up with what?” I raised my voice. “He has the watch, Tanner. How can you be so stupid? The watch was on your hand and they took it. You were sleeping or dying?”
“They were planning this for a long time. Some of his men were among us.”
I rubbed my temples. “I don’t understand how his men were ready to die for him?”
“His men are loyal to him, Ross.”
“We have to steal the watch back,” I said tonelessly.
“What??” Tanner said, bewildered.
“Yes, that’s the only way. He is too powerful with that watch. If we get it back, we can easily defeat him.”
“We can’t,” Michael said. “He will kill us. He killed your dad, Ross. I can’t risk my family’s lives. I am going to stay here and continue with our lives.”
“My dad died because of him,” I stood up and clenched my fists. “He is a psychopath. He will make us slaves, Michael. You don’t know. We were with him before.”
“We don’t have any choice. We have to live even if we have to live like slaves,” Michael turned around and left the room.
Everyone was powerless against Jonas. He took over our camp and made us work like he did in his old camp. He provided us less food just enough to survive. He even forced Ambrose to make a lot of reanimation drinks. Every day he sends some of his men to reanimate dead people. He wanted to increase the population and make a big army who follows his orders. Some people from the camp tried to run away, but Jonas’s men shot them. No one dared to go against him. Everyone knew what he could do. The watch made him a lot powerful.
We buried dad and arranged a funeral. This time I lost him forever. All our memories together flooded my mind and made my eyes wet. I was not ready to accept that it was the end. I vowed that one day I am going to avenge him. Jonas will die, he has to. There must be a way to defeat him. He can’t win no matter what. I knew what he was trying to do. He wanted to become the king of the world, making all the people his slaves, but I won’t let him succeed. There is always a way, and I will find it.
I was worried about Nia. I knew she was inside Jonas’s house. I had to know what happened to her. She was in trouble because of me. I should have never brought her to the camp. I had to fix my mistake and save her. God knows what Jonas did to her. I couldn’t just sit back and let Jonas make her his slave. I had to know what really happened to her. So I observed the guards’ daily routine for days and one night I sneaked inside Jonas’s house. I distracted the guards and got past them. I accurately knew where they go and which position they take at what time. I slowly sneaked to Jonas’s room and put my ear on the door. I heard him and a girl moaning. I tried to look through the keyhole but it wasn’t clear, so I entered the next room and climbed out through the window. There was a pipe outside which led to Jonas’s room. I stood on it, grabbed the window and moved slowly towards the next window to look. The next room was Jonas’s. I reached the window and looked through the window’s glass. He was having sex with Nia. He tied her hands with the ropes, she was protesting but he was forcing her, slapping her. She was helpless. My face reddened and a shiver ran through me. Oh god! What have I done? I promised her a normal life in the camp and now she is getting raped by this psychopath. I have to do something. This has been going for days. Jonas has been keeping her inside, he was using her. She was just a puppet to fulfill his lust. No, I will not let him rape her every day. I clenched my fists. I am going to save her. I climbed back inside into the next room and waited. After a couple of minutes they stopped.
Nia was crying. Jonas slapped her. “Stop bitch! You are mine now!” he yelled.
My throat clenched as I heard her cry. I couldn’t take it anymore. I wanted to kill him right there in his room, but I controlled my feelings. He had the watch. I can’t just go inside and stop him. He will kill me and my family, he already killed dad. I can’t risk Aaron and mom’s lives for this. I waited and waited. After some minutes I heard Jonas walking outside. I sneaked through the door to look. He locked the door and went downstairs. This was the time. I can go in and rescue Nia. I climbed out through the window and went to the next window. Nia was crying in the bed wrapping her arms around her legs. She was wearing her shorts and a black top. I knocked on the window. She was startled and saw me standing behind the window.
“Ross!!” she ran towards the window and opened it.
“I am so sorry, Nia,” a tear ran down my cheek.
“What are you doing here? Go, he will kill you,” she whispered.
“I am here to help you.”
“Help?? You can’t help me,” she looked down and wiped her tears.
“I am sorry I put you in this mess. I……………..”
“No, it’s not your fault, Ross,” she placed her hand over mine. “You were telling me the truth. There is a camp.”
“I thought he was dead,” I gulped. “I didn’t know that he was going to come back and take over our camp. You don’t have to be like this anymore, Nia. I will help you escape.”
“Escape?” her eyes widened and she shook her head. “We can’t. Yesterday he killed two of your guys from the camp when they tried to run away. He will kill us, Ross.”
“I know,” I said softly. “But you can’t stay like this.”
She lowered her head. “I even thought of killing myself, but didn’t have the guts to do it.”
“No,” I grabbed her cheeks. “Don’t do that. Never do that,” I gazed into her eyes. “You will be free. I know the movements of the guards. I have been watching them for days. I can help you escape.”
“No, Ross,” she shook her head. “We will get killed.”
“We won’t. I can’t………..leave you here like this.”
“But…………”
“It’s okay. Trust me. We can do this. We will escape,” I forwarded both of my hands. “Grab my hands and climb out of the window.”
She gulped and got lost in thoughts.
“Don’t think, Nia. Come, you have to take the chance,” I said. “You can’t live like this getting raped every day.”
She grabbed my hand and climbed out of the window.
“Good,” I smiled.
We moved onto the next window and climbed into it.
“Follow me and don’t make any noise, okay,” I whispered, putting a finger on my lips.
She nodded.
I looked through the door’s keyhole. I knew when the guards were going to move. I observed them and sneaked outside the house. We went towards a farm nearby. It was dark so no one noticed us entering the farm. We hid in the crops and kept moving until we reached the back of the camp. There
were very few guards patrolling. The crops kept us hidden.
“Go,” I said.
“You?” she asked.
“I can’t, Nia. I have my family here.”
“Hey, stop!!!!” someone from the crops shouted. I saw some torch lights pointing at us.
I patted her shoulder. “Nia, run!!!”
Nia made a run for it. She ran as fast she could, but before she could go far away a shot was fired. It hit her back and she fell on the ground.
“Niaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!” I screamed and ran towards her.
Nia was lying on the ground groaning and panting. The bullet hit her back and punctured her lung. She was gasping for breath.
“No, no, please, no,” I wrapped my arms around her head. “Please, this can’t happen. Please, no,” I shivered.
Stan came running towards us with his gun. “You people never learn, don’t you?” he said, pointing his gun at us.
My body locked up with rage. I placed Nia on the ground and punched Stan with every ounce of energy I had. Stan blocked my punch and kicked me in the stomach. I fell hard on the ground groaning. Nia was lying beside me, her eyes were close. She gave up as a tear rolled down from her cheek. My lips shivered in fear as I watched her, she was dead and I was the one to blame. Stan walked towards me and kicked me again. “Always trying to be the hero, huh?” I fell on the ground. He got over me and punched me again and again until my whole face was covered in blood. I couldn’t take it anymore and fainted at last.
CHAPTER 17
I woke up in a bed and touched my face, it was healed. I was inside one of Jonas's rooms which used to be Tanner’s house. There were two lamps at both sides of the bed providing light and a brown color closet at the front. The window towards my left was open and the curtains were blowing in the wind. Jonas was sitting in a chair beside me and his men were surrounding us.
“Nia!!” my breath quickened, I got up and looked around.
“She is fine,” Jonas said. “I brought her back.”
“Where is she?”
“As I said she is fine,” his jaw tightened. “I told you not to mess with me.”
“You were raping her,” I said in a heavy voice. “I brought her here. She doesn’t deserve it.”
“She is my bitch now,” Jonas patted his chest. “I own everyone here.”
I grimaced at him. He was glaring at me with his deep set of eyes. I wanted to rip out those eyeballs and feed him, but I controlled my anger and took a deep breath. “Look, you have captured the camp, I understand. But she wasn’t from here. I brought her here. I promised her a good normal life here and…………..”
“I don’t care from where she came,” he interrupted me. “She is mine now. You sneaked into my house and helped her escape. Now what should I do about it?”
“If you wanted me dead I would have been dead.”
He rubbed his chin. “You are no use to me if you are dead. But you messed with me. I guess killing your father didn’t teach you a lesson. What about I bring your mother here and make her join me and Nia.”
“JONAS!!!!” I yelled in anger and grabbed his collar.
Jonas’s men quickly pointed their guns at me. He signaled his men to lower their weapons. “Yeah, I should do that,” he chuckled. “That’s a great idea. We are going to have so much fun.”
“Aaaaarrgggh!” my blood boiled in anger. “You won’t.”
He gave a devilish smile. “Oh, I will.”
I punched him. He didn’t even move an inch. I punched him again and again in anger but couldn’t even move a single muscle on his body.
“When are you going to learn?” Jonas grabbed my neck and lifted me up from the bed. I gasped for breath. Just then a shot was fired. Jonas left my neck. Again a couple of shots were fired and some people screamed outside.
“Later,” Jonas turned around and left the room with his men to find out what was happening.
I looked through the window. It was Courgers. Nathan and Ethan were also with them. They were shooting at Jonas’s men.
Jonas looked at the Courgers. “Ah, new heroes?” he sprinted towards them in a flash and knocked them out one by one.
People from the Nancy hotel camp and the forest entered our camp and began shooting at Jonas. The bullets didn’t do anything to him. Every bullet reflected from his body and fell on the ground.
Jonas turned around. “Ah, more of them.”
They used grenades. Jonas caught the grenades and tossed them back in the air. Most of them blasted in the midair, but he wasn't able to catch all of them. One of them hit him and he was pushed away. He fell on the ground groaning. Unfortunately, he wasn’t knocked out. “Grenades, huh?” he adjusted his jaw and stood up.
All the people were scared. They ran out of grenades, so they kept shooting but it was useless. Bullets didn’t do him any harm.
“Come on! Give me your best shot!” Jonas shouted.
The firing finally stopped after a couple of seconds. Terror flickered in everyone’s eyes as their weapons were helpless against Jonas.
“What happened? Come on! Shoot me!” Jonas patted his chest.
They got scared and ran away. I went downstairs. Jonas’s men managed to capture some of them, but others ran away, they didn’t look back. They saw what Jonas could do, so they didn’t try again. The captured ones were taken inside Jonas’s house for interrogation. They tied their hands and kept in a room. Jonas walked in.
“So, who are you guys,” Jonas looked at Nathan.
Nathan didn’t say anything.
Jonas kicked him in his chest. “I asked who you are?” he raised his voice.
I heard him yelling at them and ran inside the room. “Let them go, they won’t come back again,” I said.
Jonas glared at me. “Who are they?”
“They are my friends.”
“Your friends?” he narrowed his eyes. “They are not from this camp. Where did they come from?”
“They are from somewhere else.”
“Where?” he yelled.
If I tell him he would capture those camps too. So I lied. “I don’t know.”
He smirked. “I know you know.”
I shook my head. “No, I don’t.”
Jonas sighed. “Nothing is easy for you, isn’t it? I have to always give you motivation,” he took out his gun and pointed it at Ethan.
“Wait! Stop!” Nathan said. “We are from a camp called Courgers.”
Jonas smiled. “That’s more like it. Where is it?”
“A few miles away.”
“Great. Take me there.”
Nathan’s throat clenched. Jonas walked up to the door but they stayed.
“Do you want me to motivate you again?” Jonas yelled and pointed his gun at Nathan.
“Stop! He will take you there,” I said. “You don’t need to kill anyone.”
Jonas took Nathan and Ethan outside. They got on his jeep and went to the Courgers camp with some of his men. He also took me with him. The courgers have made a mistake. They shouldn’t have come to help us. Now Jonas knows about them and was going to make them his slaves too. I exchanged looks with Nathan and Ethan, but we didn’t say anything. We just sat there silent. We were helpless. We were sitting at the back seats while Jonas was sitting at the front with his driver.
“You shouldn’t have come,” I said.
“It’s too late for that, isn’t it?” Nathan said.
I pressed my lips and nodded.
After a couple of minutes of drive we reached the camp. They stopped the jeep at a distance, far away from the gate. We could see the people gathered inside discussing what happened. I guess they were still trying to process what they have seen in the camp.
Jonas looked at his men. “You all wait here. They are going to attack me. I need to control them first. When I am done, I will signal you to show up.”
Jonas flew into the camp like a superhero and landed on the Courgers camp. All of the people there were startled. T
hey ran inside their homes and grabbed their guns.
“Come on! You know those bullets won’t work on me,” Jonas said.
They began to shoot him. The bullets hit Jonas, got reflected and fell on the ground.
Jonas chuckled and widened his hands. “Still want to waste any of your bullets?”
They stopped firing.
“I am not here to kill you. I am here to help you,” he snapped his fingers and signaled his men to enter the camp. His men gathered around him.
“I am your king now,” Jonas said. “Everything will go as usual. But from now you all will work for me. I will make the rules.”
“You are no king,” one of the people in the camp said. “I have seen what you did to Tanner’s camp. You made them your slaves. We won’t become like them.”
Jonas took out his gun and shot him in the head. He died instantly and fell on the ground leaving a hole in his brain. “Anyone else have anything to say?” Jonas said.
Everyone stayed silent and took a step back. No one dared to stand up against him.
“From now on I am your king,” Jonas patted his chest. “And you all work for me. If you try to go against me or escape the camp you will be killed,” he pointed his gun at the dead man. “Just like this guy.”
They didn’t have any choice. Everyone surrendered to Jonas. He got what he wanted, more slaves for him to do his work, more people to rule. He also went to other camps at the forest and at the Nancy hotel and captured them too. Everyone was now his slaves and we just sat back on his jeep being helpless. After he was done, he let Nathan, Ethan and the rest of the people go back to their camp.
Nathan and Ethan came to us to say goodbye.
“You shouldn’t have come for us,” I said.
Nathan pressed his lips. “Yeah, I know. We made a mistake.”
“We could have told you, but he didn’t let us leave.”
Nathan nodded. “We didn’t know that he was so strong. We scared him away the first time.”
“How is he so strong?” Ethan asked. “He is like invincible.”
“The watch on his hand,” I said. “It gives superpowers to the person wearing it.”
