by Jai Williams
Captain Harris nodded his head, giving Stan and Roger the signal to head for the truck, so they started to run and at the same time Captain Harris, Bruce, Alan and Jackson opened fire at the men standing near their truck. One of the men near the truck got shot and fell to the ground, and the others headed for cover.
“Fuck, they’re shooting. Take cover,” said one of the men. Two men took cover at the front of the truck and the four other men headed to the entrance of the school. Roger jumped in the back of the truck while Stan ran to the passenger door. Stan shot one of the men at the front of the truck and he pulled the door open and slammed it behind him. He jumped over to the driver’s seat while staying low so that none of the men could shoot him. Stan put the truck into reverse and reversed it close to the others but all of a sudden Stan saw ten men run up behind Captain Harris, Bruce, Alan and Jackson, and the men knocked them to the ground.
Captain Harris looked up at Stan, “GO. JUST LEAVE US!” he yelled. Stan froze for a second because he didn’t want to leave them behind. The men from the entrance of the school started shooting at the truck, so Stan panicked and put the truck into forward and did a sharp U-turn and headed out of town.
Stan saw a large abandoned truck with its trailer still attached to it so he parked behind it and jumped out of the truck. Stan headed to the back where Roger was and Roger jumped out.
“W-where are the others?” asked Roger with a worried look upon his face. Stan punched the side of the truck.
“SHIT!” he yelled angrily.
“What happened?” asked Roger.
“Men came up behind them and knocked them to the ground. That’s when the Captain told me to go and leave them behind,” replied Stan in anger.
“Shit,” replied Roger. Stan walked back to the front of the truck. “We have to go back and get ‘em,” he said.
Roger ran up and grabbed Stan’s shoulder to turn him around. “Wait-wait, if they’re knocked to their feet then we’re outnumbered,” he said, trying to keep calm.
Stan climbed up to the driver’s seat and shut the door. “You can stay here if you want, but I’m heading back,” he said, so Roger ran over to the passenger side and hopped in.
“There’s no way you’re doing this by yourself,” he said.
They headed back into the town and when they got to the school, Captain Harris and the other soldiers were nowhere in sight. Stan and Roger got out of the truck.
“AHHHH! Where the fuck are they?” said Stan in anger.
“They took ‘em. SHIT!” said Roger. Stan had a furious look on his face.
“THOSE MOTHERFUCKIN’ CUNTS!” he yelled.
“We need to head back to the base,” replied Roger.
“Don’t you mean we need to find them?” said Stan.
“And what if we do, huh? What then? There’re two of us and there’s a ton of them. We’ll be dead before we even get a shot at them. So, we go back to the base, gather up some soldiers and head back here to open that secret door and find the Captain and our soldiers. We do this smart, not dumb and reckless. ok?” replied Roger, trying to calm down Stan.
Stan calmed down and turned to Roger. “You’re right, you’re absolutely right. If the Captain was here he would say the same thing,” he replied. So, Stan and Roger got back into the truck and headed back to the base to tell everyone the bad news but hopefully they were going to fix the problem and get Captain Harris, Bruce, Alan and Jackson back.
Chapter Eighteen: The Long Drive
Stan power walked with anger towards the Captain’s tent. Roger looked at Ronnie and Dave. “He was about to do something stupid and reckless back in the town but luckily I talked him down,” he said.
Ronnie started walking towards the tent but stopped and turned around. “So, I guess we gather up all the soldiers and tell them the situation,” he said. Ronnie headed into the tent following Stan; meanwhile, Roger turned to Dave, who was still standing with him.
“Okay Dave, me and you will gather up all the soldiers,” he said.
“We won’t take all the soldiers with us, will we?” asked Dave.
“No, of course not. We need some to stay here to keep this place protected,” replied Roger, so they headed off around the base to each tent to gather the soldiers.
Ted was still tied to the chair knocked out, or so it looked like. The two men guarding Ted saw Stan enter the tent.
“Where’s the Captain?” one of them asked.
“Good question,” replied Stan with a furious look on his face.
Stan pushed the men out of the way and punched Ted across the face with fury. “I know you’re awake, you son of a bitch. Where did they take them?” he asked angrily. Ted had a little smile on his face but his eyes were still shut and he wasn’t moving so Stan knew that he was awake. “I know you’re awake, you motherfucker. Tell me!” he said as he had his fist close to Ted’s face. The soldiers that Stan pushed out of the way grabbed Stan and pulled him back before he could throw another punch. “What are you doing? Let me go,” said Stan, trying to free himself from the soldiers.
Ronnie entered the tent. “What are you guys doing? Let him go,” he said.
Ronnie walked up to the men and tried to pull them off Stan.
“Just let him go; you don’t know what going on,” he said.
“Well, why don’t you explain it to us?” replied one of the soldiers.
“Captain Harris and the other men have been captured; only Stan and Roger escaped,” replied Ronnie.
The two men let Stan go. “What? How?” asked one of the soldiers.
“Ask Stan – he was there,” replied Ronnie
“What happened Stan?” asked one the soldiers.
Stan walked up to Ted, who was still pretending to sleep. “This motherfucker sent us into a trap. He knew I would figure out the clue when he said Satan. So, when we got there we turned the lights on in the torture room and there were spikes all around the room and I thought that there had to be a secret room and Bruce found it, but before any of us could help him open it, some motherfuckers dressed in gladiator outfits showed up,” he said in frustration.
“Gladiator outfits?” said one of the soldiers.
"Yeah, gladiator outfits. Anyway, we killed them and headed outside and the Captain told me and Roger to run for the truck while he and the rest covered us by shooting at the other men who were in front of our truck. So, Roger got in the back and I got in the front and I reversed back to them but a lot of men came up behind them and knocked them to the ground and Captain Harris told me to just go, so I did. But I couldn’t leave them, so I stopped the truck behind something so the truck was hidden and told Roger we were going back. But by the time we got back to where we left them they were gone,” said Stan. Stan looked at Ted. “And this motherfucker knew that they were coming.” He punched Ted across the face. “Tell us who these men are and where they took Captain Harris and the soldiers,” he said furiously. Ted made more of a smile, so Stan punched him again and started to choke him so that he would reply. “TELL US WHERE THEY ARE?” he yelled aggressively.
“AWK-AWKKK!” Ted responded, trying to gasp for air.
“TELL US!” yelled Stan.
“ARGH. OK-OK!” replied Ted. Stan let go off Ted’s throat so he could talk. Ted was huffing, trying to catch his breath.
“He-he…you-ah…you had me there, nearly choking me to death, but then you realized if you did then you wouldn’t know where to find your Captain and soldiers,” he replied.
Stan stood there with wide unblinking eyes and his teeth showing. “Tell me now, or else you’re going to wish you never came across us,” he said with hatred in his eyes.
“Wasn’t it the other way around? You showed up at my doorstep, not I showed up at yours,” replied Ted with a smile, thinking it was all a joke. Stan ploughed his fist into Ted’s chest. “Ahhhh…you-you’re angry. It seems like you need to take it down a notch,” replied Ted in pain. Stan thrust his fist into Ted’s chest again. “Woo
o…ok looks like I hit a nerve. All right, I’ll tell you what. You find the certain place that I hid something important away and maybe you’ll find your friends again but if I was you, I better hurry. Who knows how long your friends have got?” said Ted.
Stan had a big smile on his face. Ted looked at him with a weird look on his face. “What are you smiling about?” he asked.
“Oh, we know where your secret room is; after all, you did give us a clue to where it is. I just told you that in case you already forgot,” replied Stan.
“Oh, did I? Did I give you a clue?” replied Ted, trying to recall what he said, before he was knocked out.
“Yeah, when you referred to how even Satan himself would be scared of Dwayne. So, I put two and two together and remembered that you called your torture room Hell’s cage,” replied Stan.
“Oh, so you were listening to me. Thank you,” replied Ted.
“No, thank you, because I will open that room, find out where Dwayne is located and save my people – and I won’t kill you. No, I’ll do something far worse: I’ll tie you up back in your torture room and you can wait for Dwayne to show up-and he will – and I don’t know the guy, but I think if his location was given up, he would be quite furious,” replied Stan with a joyful smile.
Stan turned away and started heading out of the tent. “Ok-ok, wait. Listen, I’ll tell you where he is, but do not go into that secret room. I beg you,” said Ted loudly before Stan left the tent.
Stan walked back over to Ted. “And why would you do that?” he asked curiously.
“Because in that secret room there is no map showing you where Dwayne is located,” replied Ted.
“So, what’s in there, then?” asked Stan.
“I can’t say. Dwayne wouldn’t even tell me; in fact, he’s the one who built that room but he never locked the secret door because he wanted to see how trustworthy I was,” replied Ted.
“You say trust, but you’re willing to give up his location,” replied Stan.
“Yeah, but if you go to his location and he finds out from you guys how you found the place and you tell him it was me, then the punishment would be far less severe than the one I’d get if anyone entered that secret room,” replied Ted with a worried look on his face.
Ronnie walked over to Stan. “I think this is a good idea. We should let Ted tell us where Dwayne’s located,” whispered Ronnie.
“But I want to know what’s in the secret room,” whispered Stan.
“I do too, but we need to get the Captain and soldiers back. That’s our first priority,” replied Ronnie.
“Yeah, you’re right,” replied Stan. They both turned to Ted, who had a smile on his face.
“So, we have a deal?” asked Ted.
“Oh yeah, we have a deal,” replied Stan.
“Good, one more thing,” said Ted.
“What’s that?” asked Stan.
“Let me free,” replied Ted.
“Now why the fuck would we do that?” replied Stan with a serious look.
“Because, then I will run away far from this place. Far from Dwayne and his men, and not harm a soul again,” replied Ted.
Ronnie laughed. “Ha-ha. You think we believe that? How stupid do you think we are?” he said.
“Ok, can I level with you? The thing is, I didn’t start torturing people because I wanted to; it was because I was forced to,” replied Ted.
“What, by Dwayne? He forced you to do it?” said Ronnie, as he was having trouble believing what Ted was saying.
“You don’t know Dwayne, like I do. He’s the true devil. He forces people to do anything he says or else he kills them, and I didn’t want to die, so I chose to do what he forced me to do,” replied Ted with fear.
“What about all the stories you told us?” asked Stan.
“They’re just stories. I’m telling you the truth, and while I’m opening up to you, I might as well tell you that before all of this, I was in prison so I was a criminal. But I only murdered someone for revenge. I wanted the person to suffer the same thing my girlfriend suffered, so I killed him and when all this crazy shit started happening I thought to myself that I should get away from all this madness and try to find somewhere to hide or find people who are good and not evil. But one day when I was out with some of my people I was living with, something went terribly wrong and some men showed up wearing gladiator outfits like the men you saw. I was only thirty at the time, when the people I was with, and I were captured. We were brought to Dwayne’s location and he talked to us about his area and how he runs his place. So, my people and I were given a choice to fight in the arena or to join his cause. There were three of my people who chose to fight in the pits and I and someone else chose to join him. However, we didn’t know that this man would force us to do stuff we couldn’t come back from. We thought he would just put us on guard duty or something. So, the other guy and I were split up. I was to be a leader to some men and to torture people, but me and my men all worked for Dwayne. So, it’s like he’s the big boss and he’s got all these other small bosses that work for him,” said Ted, trembling with fear.
Stan had a curious look on his face. “Okay, if this is all true then why didn’t you tell us in the first place?” he asked.
“It took me that knockout and a day without seeing Dwayne to realize that I’m free from him and you know, who cares what happens to him?” replied Ted.
“So, where is this mean old Dwayne?” asked Stan.
“He ah lives in this city south from the town you grabbed me from. It’s about a couple of hours’ drive but if you find a very fast car you will get there quicker,” replied Ted.
“We are not going to let you go. We will find our people, bring them back here and will see what the Captain says,” replied Stan.
“I understand. I just hope I can come back from all the stuff I did,” replied Ted.
“In my opinion, I don’t think you will,” replied Stan.
All these soldiers came into the tent that Ronnie and Stan were in. Dean walked up to Stan with worry on his face. “So, I heard what happened. Are we going to get them back?” he asked.
“We know where they are. Ted told us,” replied Stan.
“But why? A couple of hours ago he was laughing and pretended that he had no idea where Dwayne was,” said Dean.
“He told us a story about how he was forced into doing everything he did because of Dwayne,” replied Stan.
“And we believe him?” asked Dean.
“I don’t know. We should check the map to see if there’s a city south from the town we grabbed Ted from, because that’s where Dwayne is, according to Ted,” replied Stan.
“Well, since the Captain is not here, that makes me in charge. Stan, you should go through the plan,” said Dean.
“Are you sure?” asked Stan.
“Positive,” replied Dean.
Ronnie, Stan, Dean, Roger and the other men circled around a table that had a map on it. Stan pointed to the town where they got Ted from and dragged his finger south on the map until he landed on a city. “Okay well, he was telling the truth; there is a city south from that town,” he said loudly.
Ronnie looked up at all the men. “Okay, I got a plan, guys,” he said confidently.
Stan turned to Ronnie. “Actually, I’ve got the plan,” he said.
“If your plan involves us going in guns blazing, think again. It’s a city; there’s going to be a shitload of armed men guarding and patrolling the streets,” replied Ronnie with a serious look.
“Well, what do you have in mind?” asked Stan.
“We go in stealthily. Take out as many men as we can without making noise, so we use silencers and knifes. Then we go to the building or house where Dwayne has the Captain and the others and we rescue them,” said Ronnie loudly, so everyone could hear.
“Okay, that’s good, but where would Dwayne be in this city?” asked Stan.
Ronnie walked over to Ted. “Where in the city would these men take our peo
ple?” he asked.
“Dwayne likes to see the new people his men have captured,” replied Ted with a smile.
“And that is?” asked Ronnie.
“Oh yeah, it’s-it’s hard to explain where it is that Dwayne stays,” replied Ted.
“Well, try to explain it,” replied Ronnie.
“It would be easier to take me with you so I can show you the way,” said Ted.
Stan walked over to Ronnie and Ted. “Are you kidding me? You think we would take you with us, just so that you can just escape”?” he said.
“There will be more of you than me, so how would I even get the chance to escape?” replied Ted. Stan looked at Ronnie, who looked like he was thinking of doing what Ted said.
“What? Don’t tell me you’re thinking of taking him with us,” he asked.
“Well, how else are we going to save them?” replied Ronnie.
“God, damn it, man. God damn it. Okay, fine, we take him but we keep his hands tied up at all times so he can’t try anything funny,” replied Stan.
“Absolutely,” replied Ronnie.
About four soldiers geared up and prepared two of the cars they had parked outside on the left side of the tent. Jay came walking into the tent and approached Ronnie, Stan, Roger and Dean. “Guys, I’m coming with you,” he said demandingly.
Stan walked up close to Jay. “Are you sure you’re fine to come with us?” he asked with concern.
“All that happened to me was that I was shocked, whipped and tough motherfucker was carved into my chest. So, what I’m saying is I’m fine,” replied Jay.
“Well, I hope you won’t be mad at what I say next,” replied Stan.
“Why? What is it?” asked Jay.
“Ted knows where Dwayne is and he’s only willing to tell us if he comes,” replied Stan.
