Lawless

by Jai Williams

  “I haven’t really played any card games,” replied Hank as he slowly walked over to Bruce.

  “Sit down and I’ll show you how to play,” replied Bruce.

  Stan got up off the bed so that Hank could sit down on it. Bruce grabbed all the cards on the bed and started shuffling them, then he started handing out cards to Hank and himself. “One-two-three-four-five-six-seven,” he said underneath his breath. Hank and Bruce both had seven cards each and Bruce placed the rest of the cards on the bed so that they were face-down. “Okay, the rules are simple. If you have a pair of cards like, for example, you have two kings, then you put them together and place them beside you,” said Bruce as he picked up his seven cards in front of him. Hank looked at his cards and saw that he had a pair of twos and a pair of queens so he put them beside him. Bruce put his one pair he had, beside himself as well. “Okay, what you have to do now is whatever cards you have in your hand you have to get pairs of them, so we’ll take turns. I’ll start so you can understand. Do you have any threes?” he asked kindly.

  So, Hank looked through his cards. “No,” he replied.

  “Okay, so now you have to tell me to go fish, which means I have to pick up a card from the deck of cards, but if you did have a three you would have to give it to me and when all the cards are gone from the deck, whoever has the most pairs wins. So, you understand how to play now?” asked Bruce, explaining the rules in the simplest way he could.

  “Yeah, the rules sound simple,” replied Hank. Hank and Bruce kept playing for a couple of minutes until the game ended.

  “Okay, count how many pairs you have,” said Bruce, so Hank counted sixteen pairs and Bruce counted ten, which meant Hank won.

  “Ah, ya won. Ya beat me,” said Bruce, trying to act sad, like he purposely lost.

  “Oh, I did,” replied Hank with a smile.

  “I want to play next,” said all the other boys at the same time.

  “Can only two people play this game?” asked Hank.

  “Oh no, heaps of people can play at the same time; it’s just we play the game different all the time. Sometimes we play together, other times we play separate games and sometimes, like we’re doing now, we see who’s the champion,” replied Bruce.

  Dean walked over to Hank. “Sorry guys, but he’ll play later. Right now I’ve got to show him around so he knows where everything is,” he said, so Hank stood up and followed Dean. All the boys waved at Hank.

  “Bye,” they said.

  Hank followed Dean over to a bed at the back left of the tent. “This is where you’ll be sleeping. You can put your bag on the bed if you’d like,” said Dean but Hank held on to his bag straps tightly, like he didn’t want to let it go. “You don’t have to put it down if you don’t want to,” said Dean. They headed out the front of the tent and walked down the side of two of the tents to the back of the tents. Hank saw a long brick building that said men on the front entrance. “Okay, this is the men’s bathroom,” said Dean. Dean pointed to his right. “And farther down the building is the entrance to the women’s bathroom, so don’t enter there,” he said with a smile. They headed left and turned left again and they walked around a large tent until they reached the entrance and they entered. “This is the dining tent where we come to eat and drink,” said Dean as he smelt the air. They left the tent and headed to the basketball court, which was on the left side of the dining tent. Hank saw some men and woman playing on the court. “This is our basketball court. Have you played basketball before?” asked Dean.

  “No, I haven’t,” replied Hank.

  “Well, later I’ll have to show you how to play then,” replied Dean.

  They walked by the court and Hank looked over and saw an area of grass, the area of grass that was soon going to be a graveyard. “What’s the grass for?” asked Hank.

  “Some people play football on it; others just lie down on it and enjoy the sunshine. There’s not really a major purpose for it,” replied Dean. They headed to the far back of the base which was behind the grassy area, dining tent and bathrooms and there, covering a large area, were three training courses and an outdoor gun firing range. “These are our training courses and gun range,” said Dean.

  “Wow, so this is what an army base looks like. Tents and training courses,” replied Hank as he looked around.

  “Yeah, well, army bases don’t all look the same. This base is one of the smaller ones,” said Dean. They headed back to where the vehicles were and headed into a large square tent. Inside, there were eight men and Captain Miles. “And this is the planning and briefing room and the soldiers and Captain Miles do all kinds of stuff in here,” said Dean.

  Captain Miles walked over to Dean and Hank. “Have you finished showing him around, Dean?” he asked.

  “Yes, I have, Captain,” replied Dean as he stood in a polite stance.

  Captain Miles looked down at Hank. “What do you think about the place?” he asked.

  “I think there’s a lot of tents but I like it; it’s safe,” replied Hank.

  “That’s an army base for ya. So, Hank, are you hungry?” asked Captain Miles.

  “Yeah,” replied Hank as he licked his lips.

  Captain Miles looked at Dean.

  “Dean, do you mind taking Hank to get some food? We wouldn’t want him to starve, now would we?” he said.

  “No, we wouldn’t. I’ll take him now,” replied Dean. Hank and Dean headed out of the tent and to the dining tent so that Hank could get something to eat.

  They entered the dining tent and headed to the back of the tent where there was a long counter with some men and women behind it. “How can I help you, Dean?” said one of the women behind the counter.

  “Well, you can get my new friend here some food, please,” replied Dean, so the woman looked down at Hank.

  “What type of food do you like?” she asked with a smile.

  “I like all kinds of meat; I like chips and some vegetables. I’m not that fussy with food,” replied Hank.

  “Well, that’s nice to hear. How about I give you some sausages with a side of mashed potatoes?” she asked.

  “Yeah, that would be great, thanks,” replied Hank happily. The woman put two sausages and a side of mashed potatoes with a fork and knife on a plate and handed it to Dean, and Dean handed it to Hank.

  “Thank you, miss,” said Hank politely.

  “No worries. Would you like some sauce?” she asked with a smile.

  “No thanks,” replied Hank.

  Hank followed Dean over to a table, where Hank started digging into his food. “Looks like you’re really hungry,” said Dean.

  Hank waited till his mouth was empty. “Well, I sort of eat fast when I’m worried,” replied Hank.

  “What are you worried about?” asked Dean.

  “My brother is somewhere out there, probably by himself, and it’s my entire fault,” replied Hank.

  “Why is it your fault?” asked Dean.

  “It’s my job to look after him. I started looking after him after my mother died,” replied Hank.

  “I’m sorry. What about your father, though? Shouldn’t he have done that?” asked Dean.

  “He was always busy with work and well my father is…he’s with my mother now,” replied Hank with sadness in his eyes.

  “Oh, I’m sorry. I know what it’s like to lose someone; it’s not easy,” replied Dean with sorrow.

  “I only went outside the ice cream shop for a second, then I went back in and my brother was gone. I thought he went to our tree house but he wasn’t there so I thought maybe our house but he wasn’t there either, so the last place I thought he could have gone was our father’s work but instead of seeing my brother there I saw a man shoot my dad in his head,” said Hank with tears running down his face.

  “Listen, I’m sorry about your father but your brother – what’s his name?” asked Dean.

  “Jamie,” replied Hank.

  “But Jamie, we will find him’ you will get to see your br
other again, I promise. Now eat; you’ll need your strength for tomorrow; it will be a new day,” said Dean, trying to lift up Hank’s spirits.

  Hank finished up his meal and they headed out back to their bunk beds where they played more games of go fish and they eventually went to sleep. The next morning, Hank headed to the men’s showers to clean himself, and he got some new clothes and headed back to his tent. When Hank got back to his bunk bed a young soldier who looked like he was in his early twenties was sitting down on Hank’s bed. “Excuse me, that’s my bed,” said Hank politely. The guy got up and turned around to face Hank. He looked like a younger version of Captain Harris.

  “Hi Hank, my name is Grant Harris and I was told to wait till you came back so that I could take you somewhere,” said Grant.

  “Where are we going?” asked Hank curiously.

  “Just put your stuff away and I’ll show you,” replied Grant. So Hank put his clothes and towel on his bed and followed Grant out of the tent.

  They headed to the back of the base where the training course and gun range were. There he could see a bunch of men, women and children running the training courses, “Why are there children doing the course?” asked Hank as they were walking.

  “All will be explained in a couple of minutes,” replied Grant. Hank and Grant stood a couple of feet away from one of the training courses. The Captain saw them and started walking over to them.

  “Thank you, Grant,” he said with a smile.

  “You're welcome, sir,” replied Grant.

  Captain Miles looked down at Hank. “Hank, I know that you just got here yesterday but one of the things we do when we bring in people is give them a job so they can contribute, and some training to become soldiers. I’m sorry to tell you this, but the new world is scary and to survive in it, you need to be tough. You need to learn certain skills. So, I give you the choice: you can start training today or wait a couple of days until you’re ready, and if this doesn’t plan out, then that’s ok will find something else for you to do,” he said.

  “I’m ready; let’s do this,” replied Hank without any hesitation.

  “Are you sure?” asked Captain Miles.

  “The one thing I am sure about, is that I want to find my brother and to do that, I need to learn the skills that will allow me to do that. So, yes, I’m sure,” replied Hank with complete confidence.

  There was more than just the one training course; there were two others. There was a beginner’s course, which Hank would start in, there was an advanced training course and there was an expert training course which was for higher ranked soldiers.

  “Now Grant here is going to be your mentor. He will help you train, he’ll push you to get better and one day, you’ll be where he is and you’ll be training someone. So, follow Grant and he’ll show you what to do,” said Captain Miles. Hank followed Grant over to the smaller training course.

  “Okay now, Hank, this is the beginner’s course. This is where you’ll start and when I think you’re ready you’ll head over to the next training course. Training can take hours, weeks, months—hell, even years – but you’re not going to be training twenty-four–seven, so don’t stress,” said Grant.

  “When would I be ready to help search for my brother?” asked Hank.

  “It depends on how fast you learn. Dean, the guy who showed you around yesterday, took a week before his mentor said that he was ready to go out in the field. So, who knows when you’ll be ready?” replied Grant. Hank looked around the course and saw lots of mud, tires on the ground, monkey bars and a rope swing.

  “Okay, so here’s what you have to do. I want you to run through the mud, step through the tires, climb across the bars and swing across the rope from one side to the other and after you’ve finished doing that, I want you to run all the way back to the start of the course and do it again, and keep doing it until I tell you to stop. Got that?” said Grant.

  “Yes sir,” replied Hank with confidence that he could do it.

  “Okay, go,” said Grant, so Hank headed off to the start of the course. He ran through the mud, splashing it all over himself, stepped through the tires, he got to the monkey bars and started swinging from one bar to another, he reached the rope swing and in one go, he swung across to the other side without falling into the mud. Hank did this six times before Grant told him to stop, so Hank caught his breath and drank some water. Grant told Hank to do some pushups, followed by pull-ups, followed by more exercises. They took a lunch break and after that, they continued training all the way till dinner time which they would stop for the day and start fresh the next morning. Hank trained every day for about twelve hours. Every day, Hank was improving and he was getting faster and stronger.

  A week and a half later, Grant told Captain Miles that Hank was ready for his first field test, so Hank headed out for a supply run for his field test. For Hank’s first field test, he went with Captain Miles, Grant his mentor and three other soldiers. They headed to an area that had a bar, petrol station, small grocery store and a couple of houses in the middle of nowhere. They searched for some food and stuff that would be useful to them; however, they didn’t run into any trouble. The area seemed abandoned so it was quite an easy first field test for Hank. Weeks and months went by, and Hank got higher in ranking and when Hank was about fifteen years old, he finally became a full-on soldier. Hank was very proud of himself. The day would have been a huge celebration but unfortunately, Captain Miles had died that day.

  Captain Miles and some of his men went out on a search to find Hank’s brother; they never stopped looking. Every day since Hank had arrived at the base, Captain Miles would send out some of his men to look for Jamie and sometimes he would join his men but this time he wasn’t lucky and he died at the hands of rogues. Hank always felt responsible for Captain Miles’ death, but he was always told that it wasn’t his fault. So, on that day Grant Harris, who was Captain Miles’ second in charge, became the next Captain and still every day, Hank searched for his brother, he never gave up hope.

  Present day

  “And so that’s the story of Hank, a brave, kind and wise man who I wish was still here,” said Dean as he wiped a tear from his eye.

  “That is a great story. I don’t think anyone could top that. It seems Hank was an idol to people,” replied Ronnie.

  “Yeah, he was. I just wish I kept my promise and found his brother,” replied Dean as he felt guilty.

  “Hey, he never gave up hope, so we will do the same and I’ll train and become a soldier and we will find Hank’s brother because Hank’s brother deserves to know that Hank never gave up looking for him,” replied Ronnie as he was trying to cheer up Dean.

  “Well then, it looks like I’m your mentor,” replied Dean.

  Captain Harris walked into the dining tent and walked up to Ronnie and Dean. “Guys, the asshole has awoken. It’s time to find out where Dwayne is and kill that son of a bitch,” he said.

  Chapter Sixteen: Give It Up

  Ronnie and Dean followed Captain Harris into the tent near the vehicles. When they entered, they saw a bunch of soldiers, as well as Dave.

  Dave walked up to Ronnie. “Where were you?” he asked.

  “I was with Dean,” replied Ronnie.

  Ted was tied up to a chair with all the soldiers surrounding him. Captain Harris, Ronnie and Dean headed into the middle. Ted looked up at Ronnie. He still had all the blood on his face, as well as the swollen eye and cuts from when Ronnie repeatedly punched him. “Well, well, look who it is – the one and only asshole,” said Ted with an evil smile on his face. “I’m sorry, what’s your name again?” asked Ted.

  “My name is my fist in your face if you don’t tell us where Dwayne is,” replied Ronnie with an annoyed and angry look.

  “I’m sorry; that’s a long-ass weird name. Do you mind writing it down for me?” replied Ted sarcastically. Ronnie charged at Ted and swung his right fist across Ted’s face. The chair Ted was tied up in fell to the left, smacking Ted’s head o
n the ground. Dean pulled Ronnie away from Ted.

  “Look, he’s not going to tell us anything, if he’s dead,” he said.

  Dean and Captain Harris pulled Ted back up. “That was a really good right swing, man. Could you untie my hands so I can applaud it?” said Ted as he spat out blood.

  “You’re not going anywhere until you tell us where Dwayne is,” said Captain Harris, with a serious look on his face.

  “W-w-what, who? Dwayne?” replied Ted, faking a confused look.

  “Dwayne Duke, the man who runs his own gladiator arena, a sick fuck just like you, except instead of torturing his victims like you, he forces them to fight others to death,” said Captain Harris.

  Ted looked around at all the men he could see. “Yeah, ok, Dwayne – yeah, I know him. He’s about 1’5”, fat, got a bald head and is gay. Am I describing him, right?” he said with a smile.

  Captain Harris pulled out a photo from his pocket and put it in Ted’s face. “This guy. So don’t waste any more of our time; just tell us where he is,” he said, feeling really frustrated and annoyed. Captain Harris pulled away the photo of Dwayne.

  “Dwayne. I’ve met lots of Dwayne’s, so shoving a picture in my face isn’t going to refresh my memory,” replied Ted.

  Dean looked at Captain Harris. “Just beat the information out of him like the last guy,” he said.

  “Yeah, but the last guy didn’t tell us where Dwayne was,” replied Captain Harris as he looked at Dean.

  “Yeah, but he did tell us about Ted so we have gotten closer,” replied Dean.

  “Wait, someone told you where I was?” asked Ted as he butted in.

  “Shut up, we’re not talking to you,” replied Captain Harris. “Well, I feel betrayed. Who would do such a thing, fuckin’ fucks,” said Ted in a soft tone to himself.

  Captain Harris and Dean looked back at Ted. “Just tell us where he is. We won’t ask again,” said Captain Harris with an impatient look on his face.

  “So, if I say I don’t know, then you won’t ask again and you’ll let me go?” asked Ted.