“What must be too far away?” The prisoner to the left arose from his unconscious state.
Karrel turned to him and took the time to get a better look at who he was. Not to his surprise, the man next to him was the other victim of the bandits’ attack. He was still wearing his hoody, among his other dark clothing, and was chained to his respective wall. He had his hood on over his head, which blocked Karrel from seeing his dark hair. However, Karrel could now see how pale this person was. His skin was almost as white as the walls around him. He had a very skinny build, not as though his bones were showing, but as if he did not get enough to eat. His muscles were well-defined but only showed slightly. What truly stood out though, was the young prisoner’s eyes. Karrel had never seen eyes colored this dark before. If pupils were considered black, then his irises were an almost-as-dark shade of gray. If it wasn’t for the slight discrepancy between the two colors, Karrel would have sworn the guy had holes in the center of his eyes. He wanted to ask about them but did not want to come off as rude or childish. He may need this person’s help to escape his current predicament.
The room shook a little bit, but it was small enough that neither of the two took much notice of it. Karrel cleared his throat. He figured it best not to answer his cellmate’s question at this point. “Don’t worry about it. How’re you feeling?”
The man slowly propped himself up against his wall, so he could sit in a more comfortable position. Just as Karrel had done, he quickly scanned the room and found that his hands were chained. “Well… this isn’t normally how I like to be tied up.” His voice sounded as though it was a mixture between a loud whisper and a grunt. It was probably due to the migraine. “My head feels fantastic though!”
Karrel let out a brief laugh, “Feels like a cracked egg?”
“Like someone took a sledgehammer to it… and my pride isn’t doing too well either.”
The room shook once more, this time enough that Karrel became aware of it. The room was slightly vibrating as an aftereffect of the shake, which wasn’t helping his headache. He tried to ignore the slight shaking. He wished that he had his bag. He could use a couple of painkillers right about now. The sad fact was that they were gone. The bandits took everything except for the clothes on his body. Even if Karrel were to break out of here, he doubted that he could get his supplies back on the way out. He had to get his book back though, there was no question about that. This was turning out to be one hell of a day.
The dark-clothed individual sitting next to Karrel spoke up once more, “The name’s Angel, by the way.”
Karrel returned the favor, “My name’s Karrel”
“You mean like Carl?”
People always made that mistake around him, so Karrel was used to it. “No, like kuh-rell,” he corrected.
“Oh, okay.” Angel didn’t seem to care much about the correction. “Hey, not that I’m thirsty or anything, but have they brought in water at some point?” Karrel could detect just a hint of sarcasm in his voice. “I just want to splash around a bit, is all.”
“I was only awake for a few minutes before you,” Karrel said, “so I don’t know. It doesn’t seem like anyone is guarding us, but you could try calling for one.”
Angel thought about it for a moment, then replied, “Nah! I wouldn’t want to trouble the poor guy. Probably has a lot of work to do.”
Karrel couldn’t help but smile. The fact that this guy was cracking jokes, given the situation, meant that he may be useful in an escape attempt. Nothing was worse than a civilian who was too scared to move.
Angel continued, “You know? I always found it funny, how these bandits work. You would figure humans already had enough trouble on their hands, nowadays. Trying to avoid getting killed by those creatures outside is normally number one on everyone’s priority list. If worse comes to worst though, the most unfavorable thing that can happen to you, is you get eaten. But these idiots…well, they’re worse than the demons sometimes.”
Karrel had not heard the word demon in months. It had been a while since he had had the chance to talk to another person. Even then, most people tried to avoid the topic as it was an understandably terrifying subject. When someone was discussing them, the conversation usually consisted of the death of a loved one or some town getting destroyed.
Demons were what people called the horrors that now occupied Earth. They were monsters that cared for nothing but consuming human life and destroying anything in their way. Karrel had come across countless cities in his past travels that had been attacked by demons. The majority of them were raised to rubble or burnt down to the last building. Only the government supercities had the capability to withstand an onslaught from these new leaders of the food chain.
There were several theories on how the demons came to be. A fairly large portion of humanity saw this as the biblical apocalypse. In fact, the current world-government was using that to their advantage, calling people to band together under their rule for much needed protection. Karrel didn’t buy that biblical philosophy though. There were no people getting saved. No one ascending to eternal paradise. Everyone was left behind in this hell, and everyone was getting killed by the creatures that now walked the earth.
While Angel was fiddling around with his chains, Karrel thought back to when he had his suspicions about the demons confirmed. It was a few years ago; Karrel had the chance to talk to a man brave enough to try to study the creatures. He had told Karrel about his nightly adventures. He would track and stakeout areas that had a high population of demons. People usually called them “hotspots”. He was able to observe a consistent occurrence. An “orange streak of light, tearing apart out of thin air” would appear, and out of it, a new demon would be produced. The orange light would form, as though a lightning bolt was being held in place, and as it opened, reality would seem to behind and twist apart before one of the hellish creatures would emerge.
This had happened to Karrel on a few unlucky occasions. He would pick a spot to camp for the night, when out of the air, and following the loud booming noise of the orange streak, a demon would materialize in front of him. The man had confirmed for Karrel what many other scientists were theorizing. The demons were from another world, and they were coming to Earth through those orange tears in reality.
Karrel thought about what Angel had said, about the bandits being worse than the demons. The bandits were indeed monsters in a way. As far as Karrel knew, the demons considered humans a tasty treat. That was why they attacked people. There wasn’t any coordination or higher plan. They just wanted food. These bandits, on the other hand, knew what they were doing. They tormented innocents and killed indiscriminately, just so they could survive in an easier fashion. In that respect, they really were the real monsters. Then again, bandits had never killed more than a few people a day. The demons had been known to slaughter thousands in one sitting. No. The demons were the true horrors.
Angel and Karrel passed the time making small talk and surveying the barren room. It was kind of nice. Karrel hadn’t the time to sit down and talk with people very often. Even though he knew the true meaning of this small talk, it was good to have a social experience once in a while. Angel was trying to get a feel for the type of man that Karrel was. Karrel knew it too. He knew it because he was doing the same thing to Angel. It was idle small talk to pass the time and to find out if, during the escape, the person sitting next to you was going to be an asset or a liability. They chatted for what seemed like an hour, and then fell silent. They had finished sizing each other up. Both Karrel and Angel knew that they would make a good team.
“So…” Angel said, “We gonna try to leave?”
“Oh, hell yea,” Karrel replied, “we’re getting out of here.” A grin appeared on the face of Angel. Karrel started to break down some of the details of the escape. “I have been nabbed by a couple of these bandit-types before. As long as we get a fair distance away from them, they won’t waste the effort to chase after us. I suggest once we get out of this room, we grab
what supplies we can find, and make a break for it. The initial problem though, are these chains. They took away my one method to break them. You have any ideas?”
“I can get us out of the chains, no problem,” Angel remarked, “But…” The surroundings shook once more. “There is something else I’m a little concerned about. I don’t think that we’re in a regular room right now.”
Karrel was confused, “Where do you think we are then?”
“Well, judging by the little tremors we keep experiencing, I think that we’ve been tied up in the back of a truck.”
The room shaking and vibrating suddenly made sense to Karrel. They weren’t in a building right now. They were in the back of a semi-truck. The bandits were known for using large trucks to transport their cargo. Karrel had just never seen what was being held inside the trailers. This was another snag… Even if Angel and Karrel were to escape the truck, how many other vehicles were with the convoy? He was fast on foot, but he couldn’t outrun wheels. It could be possible that this was the only vehicle. If that was the case, all Angel and Karrel needed to do was take out whoever was remaining in the trailer with them. If they were lucky, the hooligans didn’t think to post guards. If they were even luckier, the truck they were in would be traveling alone. Whether or not it was right to play the odds in this situation, only time would tell.
After some time contemplating, Karrel conveyed his decision to Angel, “It doesn’t matter if this is a mobile cell or a stationary one. If we don’t escape from here, we’re both dead. I say that we roll the dice. It’s possible that this truck is unaccompanied. It’s also possible they didn’t place anyone back here to guard us, seeing as how the only way out would be to break these shackles and jump off this thing— You don’t have a problem with that, do you?” Angel shook his head. “Alright, then let’s get out of these chains and head for the door.”
As if just to spite Karrel, he finished his sentence only to have the pearly white door at the other end of the room slammed opened. Two men walked through. They were both wearing heavy rags around their bodies. It was the same outfit worn by the two men that had attacked Karrel and Angel, though the weather outside had obviously reduced their clothing to a darkish-brown color. This sort of attire was a great way to defend yourself from the chaotic weather, especially when you lived outside of the cities like most bandits. The ragged clothing provided protection from all of the dust, dirt, and ash that got thrown around in the violent winds. It also provided a fair amount of protection from knives, teeth, or anything else sharp headed in your direction.
One of the men had an old rifle slung across his back. That confirmed it. These were the two that snuck up behind, and knocked out, Angel and Karrel. The other man was wearing a holster around his waist. A small pistol was resting inside of it. Karrel could see a smile on the faces of the two men, even through the rags that were wrapped snuggly around their heads. This wasn’t good. This wasn’t good at all. They needed more time, or they were not going to be able to get out of this cell alive. Karrel glanced at Angel to see if he had anything to offer in this time of need. If they were going to act, they needed to act now.
Angel however, had a smile, matching that of the two approaching men, stretching across his face. He whispered to Karrel, “Leave everything to me. I got this.”
The whisper was barely out of earshot of the bandits, when one of the two rag-wearing men decided they were close enough to mock their prisoners. His voice was rugged, and he elongated his words. He snarled at Angel and Karrel, “Look who finally woke up.” He spat on the ground next to Angel, who was still smiling at his captors.
The other bandit elbowed his partner. “Don’t do that ye’ idiot. We conduct ar’ business in ‘ere.” The man spoke in an extremely high-pitched voice. He unslung his rifle and pointed it at Karrel. “Now looky here ya’ dopes. You two are already dead men. We just got a call sayin’ we have to pick up a bigger cargo. We could just add you two to that list, but then we’d be wastin’ a perfectly good opportunity to test out ar’ new presents.” The bandit tapped his rifle and his partner patted his holster. The length of the barrel was pointed directly between Karrel’s eyes. He needed to think of something fast, otherwise he was going to have to try to dodge a bullet. It was not a feat he was confident he could complete. The rifled-bandit gestured to his partner and commanded “Bag ‘em up!” He looked back to Karrel. “You just die nice and quiet now. We don’t wanna see no funny business, yuh hear?”
Angel broke his silence, “The only funny business I see is tubby over here.” Angel pointed toward the bandit with the pistol.
The bandit wasn’t particularly fat, but he was definitely larger than a man was supposed to be at that height. It must have been a sensitive subject because he unbuckled the holster for his pistol. “What dijoo’ say?”
Angel continued to push, “I said, compared to your screeching buddy over there, you look a little round about the edges, don’t you think? I thought you’re supposed to steal the loot as an outlaw, not eat it.”
Angel had apparently hit the right mark when it came to insulting the man’s weight because the pistol was no longer holstered. It was in the bandit’s hand, and its barrel was being rammed into Angel’s forehead. It was an incredibly compact pistol. It looked as though it could only fire off .22 short rounds. Those were incredibly small bullets, but just as deadly as any other.
The pistol-wielding bandit let loose another snarl, “Hey, you better shut up before I blow your friggin’ head off first.”
Karrel shot a glance at Angel. What the hell is he doing, he thought. He’s going to get us both killed.
Angel, however, had no intention of stopping. He was giggling uncontrollably. “Jesus Christ, man!” Angel laughed, “What even is that?” He attempted to make a gesture towards the small gun being held in the bandit’s hand, but once again found himself restrained. “Is that a pea-shooter? How are you supposed to shoot me if you can’t even fit your finger around the trigger?”
The bandit was furious now and started to shout at his friend, “Damn it, Jim! We need to learn this kid some manners. Let me kill him, first!”
The bandit, apparently named Jim, untrained the rifle. He paused for a moment, as if to consider whether killing Angel first actually meant anything. The silence was filled with Angel’s still uncontrollable giggling. Jim smiled and finally spoke up, “Alright! Just remember to bag ‘em first. Those official-types don’t like making purchases in a place that’s been splattered with blood.”
The pistol-wielding bandit smiled and pulled a paper bag out of a pocket. Karrel was searching for the point in all of this. Angel was still shaking with laughter, enjoying himself, cracking more and more jokes about how small the bandit’s gun was. He was still restrained to the wall though. Angel had said that he would deal with the chains, but all Karrel could see right now was a man placing a bag over Angel’s head.
“Oh, I get it. It’s too embarrassing, so you don’t want me to see,” Angel joked as his head was covered. “There is no way you are using that thing for practical reasons. It’s got to be something else, yeah?” The bandit was looking more and more furious by the second. His face was red, and he was shaking with anger. Angel continued, “It was a present, right? What? Did your wife give you that gun? Or was it your husband?” Angel let out a loud laugh.
The bandit’s blood-pressure had reached its peak, but the preparations for the upcoming execution was complete. He slowly, precisely trained the gun on Angel’s head and stated in a calm fury, “It was my husband…”
Angel stopped laughing. He stopped moving completely. Karrel knew that underneath the bag there was a completely dumbfounded Angel. Only one thought was in Karrel’s mind, what are the odds? Angel had realized his mistake. He had pressed the wrong button. “Oh…” was his only response.
The bandit pulled the trigger. A small .22 round scorched out of the pistol, through the bag, and into Angel’s skull. Karrel knew that he should have looked
away, but he didn’t. He watched the life drain away from the man he had been talking to for the past hour. The bag had done a fantastic job of preventing blood splatter, as Karrel could see none. The sight still made him sick. As Angel hunched over, motionless, all hope of escape went away. Angel had claimed that he had a plan to get out of the chains, and without that plan, Karrel had no way of unshackling himself. He could do nothing but wait for his respective bullet.
“Well, that sure shut ‘em up. And, it looks like my hubby’s gift works pretty damn well” The bandit holstered his pistol and looked toward Karrel. “Looks like it’s your turn.”
Once again, a rifle was aimed at Karrel. This was embarrassing… He was going to die, tied up in the back of a truck, to a bandit named Jim. No heroic end, fighting off monsters. No last stand protecting innocents or loved ones. Just Jim. Karrel had started to realize, in his final moments, how empty the past five years had been. He began to feel all of the loneliness he had shrugged off in the past. He had no one to care for, other than himself. His family was dead. The closest he had ever gotten to anyone was the occasional one-night stand when he stayed in a populated city. He had no impact on anyone’s life and no one had had an impact on his. Karrel had spent so much time focusing on his own survival, he had never thought about others. Maybe his life would have been more fulfilling had he not emotionally barred himself from everyone he met. It was easier to survive when you only had to worry about yourself. He had done whatever needed to be done to maintain being alive, but in the end, he felt dead. As dead as he was about to be when this bandit decided to pull the trigger. What a wasted life, Karrel thought.
“Now, don’t… you… move…” Jim was at point-blank range, with the rifle’s barrel placed almost directly on Karrel’s nose. It was impossible for this man to miss. Nothing short of a miracle was going to save him. Karrel accepted his mortality.
In that moment, a burst of energy shot through Karrel. He felt a familiar presence in the room through the white door. As clear as day, Karrel could feel—no, he could see his book in the next room over. Like a whisper in the back of his mind, Karrel felt his temperament shift, I will not die like this. Karrel reached outwards, palm facing the white door, and focused hard on his little green book.
Kin of Exile Page 2
