natcat

This Means War

A guard opened up one of the many empty cells, the heavy door creaking as the hinges spun in place. The men on my arms led me in and shoved me down to the ground, with my hands still tied behind my back I had no way to stop the fall and groaned in pain when I hit the hard cold ground.
I heard the cracking of knuckles as I turned myself onto my back, knowing what was coming I tried to push myself backwards, but there was nowhere to go. I shouted out in pain as the first blow came, a kick in the stomach to start off and then suddenly I was being held in place as various punches and kicks came flying in my direction.
I could hear them laughing, they were enjoying themselves as I coughed and shouted in pain each time they moved.

This Means War

After another ten minutes of walking through more forest, the trees and plants started to disappear, leaving a massive opening to what was obviously a Jaxlor camp.
“You like?” The guy in front spun around, walking backwards with his arms out, as if he was revealing it to me.
“Look’s depressing.” I said with a tilt of my head.
He smirked. “Ah, don’t worry, you’ll get used to it. You won’t be here for long so don’t let it bother you too much.” He turned back around and we followed him to the very center of the camp.
We stopped walking and he turned to face us outside of the only actual building in the camp that I’d seen so far. “Lock him up, and make sure he doesn’t get any ideas about trying to escapes.” He said to the three soldiers around me, my heart leapt as I caught the subtle meaning in his words. He winked at me as they tugged me into the concrete building with bars covering all the windows.

This Means War

Glancing over my shoulder I looked back to where we’d come from, the lake was long gone and so was Daisy. Hopefully she’d been smart enough to realise I’d been gone for much too long.
It’d had been almost a full half hour of walking before I could hear the sounds of people talking and we came upon a large fence that stretched off into the forest. We waked up to the high fence and stopped at some sort of gate where the leader went ahead to talk to some of the guards, nodding his head back in my direction. Now that we were standing still beside the fence I noticed a dull buzzing, as if there were a lot of flies around but I couldn’t see anything. The guard at the gate pulled a lever and seemed to switch the buzzing off and I suddenly realised that the fence was electrical.
The gate opened up and we were moving again, walking through the entryway to what looked like nothing, just more trees and bushes.

This Means War

“So, how many Tilerian folk are here in our lovely tropical forest?” The leader of this small group asked me a while later as he led the way through the forest, glancing over his shoulder to send me a smile.
I kept quiet, keeping my head down to watch where I was walking.
“Oi, he asked you a question.” One of the brutes on my arms said shoving me roughly.
“Oh don’t worry, he’s just upset with us because we took his gun.” He spoke from ahead, pushing a branch out of his way, not bothering to hold it back as it flew back and slapped us all in the face.

This Means War

I stood up slowly as the voice I didn’t recognise spoke again. “That’s right, nice and slowly. You’ll want to put your arms in the air as well.” I closed my eyes in frustration as I raised my arms into the air. Looking up, I quickly saw four men standing in a circle around me, their guns pointed at me. One stepped forwards, letting his arms drop and smiled at me, showing he was the one who had spoken.
“Tie him up.” He nodded to one of his comrades and my arms were pulled tightly behind my back to be tied together. “When Dave never called in we figured something had happened, turns out we were right, and you weren’t very good at covering your tracks. “ He narrowed his eyes at me and stepped right up close, his face inches from mine. “Are there any more with you?”
I stared right into his eyes, hoping to god he would believe me. “We split up a while back, I’m alone here.” I said knowing he wouldn’t believe me if I said I was all alone.
After a moment or two he stepped back and nodded to the soldiers. “Let’s get moving. Pullman will want to hear of this.”
On his orders, his men grabbed an arm of mine each and I winced as one gripped my wound tightly. The third man shoved me in the back as the others began to walk, leaving behind the small lake and muddy footprints.

This Means War

Once I had rid myself if of all the mud, I peeled the bandage off of my arm giving that a clean as well. I winced as I looked at my arm. It was still slightly bloody and mud had gotten inside of it, leaving it a bit swollen. Wrapping the bandage back on my arm, I lay back and floated in the water, looking up through the overhanging trees to the sky. The last time I went swimming for leisure felt like years ago. We’d done our training for swimming and that had been it, I hadn’t spent time in water like this since.
A crack sounded from somewhere in the bushes and I stood up, spinning around, looking for what may have caused it. Afraid it might be something I didn’t want to mess with, I slowly moved to the edge of the lake and walked back to where I’d hung my clothes, glancing around every few seconds as I pulled my drenched clothes back on.
I stared at the tree line as I reached down for my gun and knife, my hand patting the damp ground instead. Looking down in confusion, I realised I couldn’t see them anywhere and froze.
“Looking for these?”

This Means War

"Thanks." I said and left the cave, walking in the direction Georgie had pointed in. Running my hands through my hair, I thought of the stories we were just told, well, they weren’t just stories. These people were real, what they have done is very real and has impacted this whole war. Maybe these guys knew why the war was actually happening.
After about five minutes, I reached what Georgie had said was a pond. To me it looked more like a miniature lake; it was definitely big enough to swim in. I glanced around to make sure I wasn’t being watched before I pulled out my gun and knife, dropping them on the lake bank. Unbuckling the belt across my midsection, I let it fall to the ground before unbuttoning my shirt and taking it off along with my trousers. Kneeling down, I dumped my clothes into the water, swishing them around and rubbing the mud off of them, turning the clear water in a cloudy brown.
Once I was satisfied, I pulled them out and hung them on the nearest tree before pulling off my socks and shoes, and walking into the water. It wasn’t as cold as I expected it to be but that didn’t make it warm. Running my hands through my hair, I sunk my body underwater, scrubbing every inch of it, cleaning it with every movement.

This Means War

I closed my eyes and dropped my head down, "That is not something that you joke about." I murmured.
"That doesn't mean what I said wasn't true!" Georgie threw in with a nod. "They're definitely inspirational."
I rolled my eyes and stood up. "Okay, haha, very funny." I said with a smile clear on my face. "Where's the closest shower? I need to get rid of this mud, it's literally in every crack and crevice."

This Means War

I clenched my jaw. “I’m sorry about your friend. I know it doesn’t change much but sorry.” I said looking Lyric in the eyes and she nodded her thanks.
“They sparked a hope in all of us. I was there when they received an award for their work. Jonathan, he said it wasn’t about medals, it was about all of us. Our present, our future, that it was about fighting for something that we all believed in, for peace.” Georgie spoke up from opposite me, making eye contact with me. “They were inspirational. Still are.”

This Means War

I rose my eyebrows and looked at Daisy. To think someone had already done all the things we had spoken about back at camp. Getting out and making a difference on our own. “I suppose that does warrant a reason for fame.” I said and looked back to the newspaper. “What’d they do that time?” I asked nodding towards their image, which I now looked at differently.