Lawless

by Jai Williams

  They ran through and turned right and ran straight ahead down many buildings until to the right, down an exit into the streets Stan could just see a large stadium. He pointed to it. “Hey guys, there it is. The stadium,” he said.

  “Thank fuck we’re close,” replied Ronnie. They headed up just to the end of the alleyway to get a better view of the stadium. There were cars everywhere so it seemed like it was going to be easy to sneak up to the building unnoticed. Stan looked back at all the men.

  “Who has binoculars I can borrow?” he asked politely.

  “I’ve got some,” replied one of the soldiers far down from Stan, so the soldier headed up to Stan and handed them to him. Stan looked through the binoculars to see the stadium more clearly. He saw two men armed with snipers on a walkway high above the ground. There was a door behind the two men so what Ted said was right; there was a way into the building without alerting anyone. Stan looked to the ground area of the stadium and saw the ladder that would help them climb up to the walkway. Stan looked around the area to see if there were other guards around that area and unfortunately, it wasn’t going to be a cakewalk, because there was a door near the ladder with two armed men in front of it. Stan pulled the binoculars away from his face and turned back to the others.

  “Okay guys, the good news is Ted wasn’t lying about the walkway and door we can enter, to get into the building,” he said and he paused for a second.

  “And the bad news is?” asked Ronnie.

  “Why would you think that there would be bad news?” asked Stan.

  “There’s always bad news,” replied Ronnie.

  “Not always,” replied Stan. He paused for a second. “Fine, the bad news–well, it’s not a huge deal, obviously, because there’s ten of us and only four of them guarding the way we want to go,” he said.

  Ronnie stared at Stan with a bizarre look. “You’re holding something back. Come on, tell us, what is it?” he asked.

  “Okay, there’re four of them outside but how many more are inside just waiting for us to enter?” replied Stan.

  “I think most of Dwayne’s men carry a map of the stadium,” said Ted, butting in.

  “How is that helpful?” asked Stan.

  “Dwayne’s men can’t go in certain places so we can go through those places to get to your people. So, we won’t be spotted,” replied Ted.

  “How the hell would you know something like that?” asked Stan.

  “Everyone who joins him gets a map of the place. I’ve got one and it shows restricted areas on the map,” replied Ted.

  “Hand the map over,” said Stan demandingly.

  “Sorry, but I don’t have it with me. So, what we do is kill those men and see if one of them is carrying one,” replied Ted.

  Stan looked back at the stadium and looked back at the men again. “Okay, we’re doing this now, so if anyone needs to take a piss then go ahead because there are no toilet breaks after this,” he said. None of the men walked away to take a leak; they were too eager to get their Captain and soldiers back. Stan handed the binoculars back to the soldier that gave the binoculars to him. Without anyone speaking a word, they followed Stan as he continued to lead them. They crouched so that none of the snipers could see them. They went from car to car, taking cover behind them. A couple of minutes later, they finally came to the last car. Stan poked his head up for a second to look through the car window at the men guarding the door.

  “Okay, just like before in the subway, I’ll shoot the one on the left and you’ll shoot the one on the right. Straight in their head, got it?” he whispered. Ronnie replied with a nod. They got closer to the front side of the car and as quickly as they could, Stan and Ronnie aimed their guns and shot the men without them making a noise. “Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about, Ronnie. Okay men, head to the wall and stay against it because there’s still two men up above,” whispered Stan. All the men quietly leaned against the wall.

  Ronnie looked at the men they killed.

  “I think we should hide these bodies. We don’t want anyone seeing them and alerting Dwayne or else this plan is done for,” he whispered.

  “Okay, you drag one guy behind that car quietly and Dean can grab the other,” replied Stan, so Ronnie and Dean grabbed the dead men’s arms and dragged them slowly behind the car that they were just hiding behind. They got back to Stan, who was at the ladder.

  “Okay Dean and I hid them. Now how are we going to kill the two guys up top?” asked Ronnie.

  “You let me handle them,” replied Stan with a grin.

  Stan pulled out a hand gun that had a silencer on it and he silently climbed up the ladder. Stan got up to the top but he was hidden from the men. He took a deep breath in and out. “You got this, Stan. Let’s show them how it’s done,” he whispered to himself. Stan pulled himself up so that his head and a bit of his chest were showing. He had one of his hands on the ladder still so he wouldn’t fall and the other he took off the ladder and pulled the gun up and quickly aimed it at the first and closest man he saw and pulled the trigger. The bullet went flying into the man’s skull. Stan quickly turned to the other man on the roof and shot him the same way. Without any of the men saying anything, they fell to the ground. Stan looked down to Ronnie and the others. “It’s clear,” he said, so the rest of them one by one climbed up the ladder.

  Stan kneeled down to one of the dead men and searched his body for the map. Ronnie did the same to the other guy. “Aha, I found it,” said Ronnie. Ronnie pulled out a map and unfolded it on the ground. Ted walked over to Ronnie after climbing up the ladder and pointed on the map to a large room on the bottom floor. “That’s it. That’s where they will be keeping your men,” he said. Stan had a close look at the map.

  “Okay, so we enter through this door. Head down the stairs and from the bottom floor we head straight down this long hallway and enter this room where our people will be,” he said.

  “Yes, that’s how we get there,” said Ted with a smile.

  Stan without question folded the map up and put it in his pocket. “Okay men, follow me; it’s time to save the Captain and our soldiers,” he said confidently. Stan walked over to the door, opened it and poked his head inside to see if the coast was clear. “Looks like no one’s here. Come on men,” he whispered, so they headed inside in a one line formation. They quietly went down stairs and reached the long hallway that they would find their people in. They got closer and closer to the end of the hallway and to Stan and some others it seemed too easy for them to get this far, but they didn’t stop to discuss that; they just kept walking until they reached the end and there in front of Stan’s face was a door, the door that would lead them to Captain Harris, Bruce, Alan and Jackson. So, Stan turned the knob and pushed the door wide open. It was a dark room. Stan could barely see anything. Everyone followed Stan through the door. “Guys, find a switch or something,” said Stan as he slowly walked around the room.

  The door behind them slammed shut, leaving nothing but complete darkness. Stan pulled his torch out and turned it on and shined it forward where he could see someone chained up. “Who’s that? Is that you, Stan?” asked the figure in the distance. Stan recognized the male’s voice; it was Bruce.

  Stan walked up closer to Bruce. “Bruce, is that you? We got to get you out of here. Are the others here too?” he asked.

  Ronnie shined his torch at Captain Harris. “Captain, is that you?” he asked.

  “What are you doing here? You shouldn’t be here,” replied Captain Harris with a really worried look on his face.

  “W-what? Don’t you mean yay, you’re here to save us?” replied Ronnie with a confused look on his face.

  “No, I mean you guys need to get out of here now,” replied Captain Harris, demandingly.

  The door that they came from opened up and they could hear an evil chuckle. The person stepped forward and the lights of the room came on, blinding Ronnie, Stan and the others for a second.

  “It’s almost funny that you
guys think that you were going to rescue your people,” said the man who just chuckled. A bunch of men came running through the door, all armed, and they pointed their guns at Ronnie, Stan, Dean, Ted, Roger, Jay and the other four soldiers, outnumbering them. Ronnie and the others pointed their guns too but it was no match; they were surrounded. The man who chuckled stepped forward and had a beatific smile on his face. “Hi, I’m Dwayne,” he said...

  Chapter Twenty: Captured

  Many hours ago

  Captain Harris, Bruce, Alan and Jackson started shooting at the men near their truck as Stan and Roger ran to get in it. “DIE, MOTHERFUCKERS,” yelled Captain Harris, as they were still shooting the men near their truck. A lot of men came walking up quietly behind them and as soon as Stan reversed up to them, the men knocked Captain Harris and the others to the ground. Captain Harris demanded Stan to drive away so he did. As Stan was driving away, one of the men that knocked Captain Harris and the soldiers to the ground demanded that they drop their guns and put their hands behind their back, so they did exactly what they were told; they didn’t try to fight back because they were outnumbered.

  “Why don’t you just let us go or kill us?” said Captain Harris with anger as he was trying to resist as his hands were being cuffed.

  “Let you go? No, can’t do that. Kill you? Nope, can’t do that either; that’s not my call to make,” replied the guy cuffing Captain Harris’s hands.

  “Whose call is it to make, then?” asked Captain Harris with hate in his eyes.

  “Well that’s the boss’s call to make, of course,” replied the same guy.

  “Get these guys up,” said the guy standing in front of Captain Harris. The men forcefully pulled Captain Harris, Bruce, Alan and Jackson.

  “Let me guess – you’re the boss of these men here?” asked Captain Harris.

  “Nah, I’m not,” replied the guy with sarcasm.

  “Okay guys, this is the last you’re going to see me and well, anything really, because it’s lights out for you,” said the men standing in front of Captain Harris.

  The men behind Captain Harris, Bruce, Alan and Jackson blindfolded them so they couldn’t see. They pushed them forward and all they could hear was a truck like theirs pull up and they were forced to get in the back of the truck. When they all got in, four men holding guns sat them down and stayed with them so they couldn’t attempt to escape by jumping out of the truck while it was moving. Captain Harris, Bruce, Alan and Jackson were on one side of the truck and the four armed men were on the other side of the truck. There were three trucks, all with men in them. They drove off one by one, heading south to the city where Dwayne would be awaiting them. They drove off just in time so that when Stan and Roger got back they couldn’t see where they were heading. The sound of bumps and the noise the truck made were all that Captain Harris and the soldiers could hear; they had no idea where they were heading, no idea how long the drive was, no clue what to expect – maybe death or torture, maybe they would get the choice that Ted got which they didn’t know about. The choices were to join Dwayne and work for him or fight to the death in the arena.

  A few minutes down the road, Captain Harris couldn’t stand it anymore. “Okay, where are we going? Can you just tell us that?” he asked with frustration and anger.

  “Why do you want to know that? Wasn’t the whole blindfold thing supposed to tell you that it was a surprise?” replied one of the men.

  “Ahh, just say it. I don’t give a fuck about a surprise,” replied Captain Harris, feeling irritated

  “Who said I was going to tell you?” asked the same guy.

  “Well, then take these blindfolds off and uncuff us and let’s see who gets out of this alive,” replied Captain Harris, feeling self-assured. Another guy responded with a fake guffaw.

  “HA-HA. That was so funny – no, I mean it. Do you do stand-up often because oh my God, that was the funniest thing anyone has ever said to us and you know why that is?” he said sarcastically. The guy waited for Captain Harris to answer but he didn’t. “It’s because no one has ever bet us. Right now, you’re thinking…” the guy said in his own impression of Captain Harris’ voice “…oh my soldiers and all my people are going to be looking for me and they will finally find out the location from Ted which Ted will willingly give to them. Then they will head to us trying to rescue us but…” he stopped his impression “…oh no, they won’t save you; they themselves will think they will save you but instead they will fail badly and end up in the same boat you guys will be in,” he said with a smile. Even though no one could see it, Captain Harris had a mixture of a worried and confused look on his face.

  “What do you mean Ted will willingly give up the location where we’re heading?” he asked.

  “It will all be explained soon; you know, it’s like when you watched your favourite show back in the day and a huge cliff-hanger happened in the season finale and you had to wait months to see what happened. It’s kind of like that, except you’ll find out what happens in a couple of hours. The whole mystery about Ted – that’s your clue,” replied the guy with a smile.

  They kept driving and they got near the road where Ronnie, Stan and the others were later going to be blocked from, so they were only an hour or so away from the city – not that time really mattered anymore in this world, but to some people, time is what made them feel less like the world is over. People still wanted to know what year, month, day and time it was for when the world ever got back to normal.

  “So, what stupid name did Dwayne call the city we’re going to?” asked Captain Harris.

  “Hey-hey, stupid no. More like genius. He calls the city – wait for it…” replied one of the guys, acting offended. The guy paused. “Wait for it? What kind of stupid name is that?” asked Captain Harris, as he really didn’t give a shit.

  “No, I mean wait for it as in wait, I’m going to tell you what it’s called. Man, you did not watch good shows back in the old days. Anyway, it’s called the city of blood,” replied the same guy. The guy had an impressed look on his face, hoping that the Captain would give good feedback on the name but that wasn’t the case.

  “The city of blood. Why the fuck call it that? He could have called it anything else like asshole land or a bunch of fuckin’ dead fucks live here city. But no, he called it that. Why? There’s got to be a reason,” replied Captain Harris.

  “No-no-no, you are the asshole and fucker and whatever else you said. No, the reason he called the place the city of blood is because of the blood that is spilled in the arena,” replied one of the men.

  “Of course, that’s why he called it that. Forcing people to fight other people to the death like they did years ago, it’s just wrong. Dwayne should be shot,” said Captain Harris as he had a disgusted look on his face.

  “I can’t wait to hear you say that to Dwayne’s face; he’s just going to…mmm, I can’t describe what he will do, but it won’t be pretty,” replied one of the guys with a joyful smile on his face. One of the guys laughed.

  “Ha-ha. You know why Ted had that crazy torture feel about him? Because of Dwayne. Dwayne taught Ted how to become a monster, just like himself and I can tell you have suffered the wrath of Ted’s – what does he call it? Oh that’s right, hell’s cage, his torture room. You’ve got bandages around your hands and cuts and bruises around your face, I don’t think you got them from falling over, so he has tortured you. And Ted compared to Dwayne – well, he is like a small cut: you may get infected and slowly die but Dwayne is like cancer; he’ll fuckin’ kill you,” said the guy with a great big grin on his face.

  It was silent for a second. “So, are you thinking about how you’ve fucked with the wrong man? Because that’s what’s happened. You’ve fucked with the wrong man and I don’t think you’ll get a choice that he usually gives people because of the whole killing his men thing. You know what I think you should have done? You should have stayed hidden, stayed under the radar and caused no chaos, but now you have to deal with the co
nsequences and they suuuck,” said one of the guys.

  “I don’t care what you thought I should’ve done. All I care about is my men and me. And my men will – well, let’s just leave that at a cliff-hanger, shall we? You’re going to want to see the season premiere, it’s going to be a good one,” said Captain Harris with a smile.

  The same guy responded with a laugh. “Ha-ha-ha. You think you’ll get out of this? No, you won’t; you’ll just have to survive somehow like the others who are prisoners there. But if you ask them their reason they survive, most of them would say they hope for freedom or a chance to kill Dwayne but they’re dreams that will never come true. The only way you get freedom is when Dwayne see’s that you have lost all your humanity and have fully accepted and joined this world and that’s when you get your freedom, but only a few people have done that. So, I don’t know; maybe you could do that but that means killing anyone, which includes your people. So, good luck, I think,” he said, smiling.

  “Were you one of those men?” asked Captain Harris curiously.

  “Was I one of those men? Ummm, let me think. No, I already had my humanity scraped away from me when I killed all the people who killed my parents and also I killed everyone in their group. See some people killed my parents because they were…” he did a quotation gesture with his fingers and continued “The so-called bad guys. Which was stupid, really. All my parents did was murder a bunch of people. So, after I killed all these people, I was young, like seventeen or so – it was during the time the world changed. Anyway, so after I killed them all, I was alone until Dwayne came by and I told him my story and years later, here I am. What a great story, huh? Blood, death and revenge – sounds like a movie I’d watch,” he said happily.