Tourniquet

[Ravynlee]

One thing that really struck me as odd in this update was Sarah's disorganisation. She seemed to have a huge character flaw for having been previously built up as an all-seeing, all-knowing kind of omnipotent powerful ruler of sorts. Don't know whether it was deliberate but she seemed... scatterbrained. I thought it was a tad uncharacteristic. No matter. I would have thought also that in order for Sarah's little scheme to work she might have 'planted' some kind of story to help Joanna better integrate with the rebels. In fact if I didn't know better I would think that Spyro's mississippi virus has somehow effected Sarah, like she's part mechanical or something, because her sudden change is akin to what happened to her beloved computer program/blue lady 'person'

Like the tension at the end - very 'cloak and dagger' lurking in the dark there. And very good to see you didnt go crazy explaining the ins-and-outs of the technology they used when teleporting, even if for the most part you've touched on that already. Flowed MUCH better this way. Well done.

 

[FireHawk]

For some reason I could see a lot of the last part of chapter happening in New York City in like an alleyway. I liked your descriptions Joanna and Sarah walking I feel that really set the mood when you said the glow from the neon billboards.

 

[woodyloveslinkin]

Okay two things. This took up 13 pages in MS Word, so I'm gonna split it into two posts, and sorry mods if this is a bit too gory for LPF. Man, this chapter reminds me of Kill Bill now that I think of it.

Chapter 21 - Until Death Do Us Part

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The jails of Spyro, as Joanna had previously found out wasn’t exactly paradise and Mel was soon finding what Joanna had previously experienced was what some people would describe as, a living nightmare. Mel wasn’t sure that it was the jail itself or the thought that was lingering in the back of her head that was lingering in the back of her head that she going to be left here to rot to death in this jail cell or be killed another way. She didn’t want to think about but because there was a guard sitting on a white chair asleep with a happy look on his face while he dreamed away, she wasn’t sure that she would live to see the end of the week. He had been previously trying to get her to walk through the empty space that was in front of her. She knew about the bars and the psychological effect on people. Mel had more brain cells then to walk through something that was going to give her a nasty three thousand volt shocker which would be like frying eggs for breakfast. She wasn’t stupid and she wasn’t an egg, anyway, she smugly thought to herself at one stage of the failed attempts of the guard’s, she didn’t like eggs.

She looked down at the maroon prisoner’s suit she didn’t remember putting on, but she didn’t remember a lot of things. The last time she had actually could remember something that was precise recollection of a memory was when she was surrounded in the junkyard by a bunch of guards that had been improved so that they could resist metallic atoms and they could even interact. She knew not all guards in the Spyral headquarters weren’t just mechanically or digitally created, she knew there were humans as well. A fine example was the human one taking a nap with an old newspaper from three weeks ago from Spyral’s headquarters which was the Spyral Daily. Like Joanna, she sat against the wall hoping to find a way to escape. But unlike Joanna, who had moved around from different sides of the cell, Mel hadn’t moved much, because her backside had fallen asleep that many times she gave up trying to keep it awake.

“Oi, guard, wake up lazy ***!” Mel managed to yell, but it came out croaky. The guard jumped and woke up, as he moved his head forward and the newspaper fell off his face and onto the floor.

“What?” snapped the guard who was annoyed that the person that had to wake him up was unimportant and was a traitor to the New World. “Keep your mouth shut. Prisoners don’t talk when not being spoken to.”

“Not what it says in the world that I was brought up in, you think of why I am here; I had the guts to break a New World statute,” retorted Mel, as she knew the guard was getting angry about the fact that she wouldn’t cut her smart attitude. Mel knew he was from the New World generation and she could see the bumblebee pendant that he proudly showed off that hung nicely in front of his red and black Spyral guard uniform. Mel smiled at her own thought as she saw the gleaming bumblebee pendant hanging off its silver chain. “Isn’t it ironic that at birth you are guaranteed a stupid New World pendant, but not guaranteed freedom and the feeling that you’re protected by a constitutional law?” The guard got off his seat that he had been sleeping and walked over to Mel, trampling his old Spyral newspaper in the process. She looked at him standing on the other end of the invisible bars and smiled at him like as though she was an Ivna addict, or in Old World terms, a heroine addict. “It’s ironic, don’t you think at all? Not even for one second, isn’t it just hysterically ironic that you have to laugh about a thought?”

“You Old Worlders, you are all the same,” smirked the guard. “You don’t appreciate this perfect world that Jonathon created for us; you don’t appreciate anything that Sarah does for you. You know, if it wasn’t for the failure of Project Narcissi Extraction, you wouldn’t even remember what the smell of reality would smell like. You should be grateful, *****.”

“No you’ve got me all wrong, the only ungrateful person is that girl who rules over us, that goddess who acts as though she’s Hera and Athena in one, that Sarah, and she’s the only ungrateful ***** around here,” Mel retorted, still smiling like an Old World heroine addict and a New World Ivna addict in one. “You may as well just shove the Magna Carta up my *** while you’re at it because it’s already been shoved up this world’s ***.” The guard looked lost a little bit, but he tried to hide it but Mel could detect confusion. Mel knew that bringing up an Old World document that was stolen in the Third World War (and the usual suspects were of course the Japanese, as their pro-Old World society concluded such a theory) do this to a person from the New World generation that produced idiots and sheep that followed the shepherd off the cliff. She stopped smiling. She never smiled when she was fed up with someone’s stupidness.

“The what-a-cart?” asked the guard, showing his confusion eventually.

“The Magna Carta, for my sake I’m just going to call it The Great Charter, so I don’t get stupid questions to give you stupid answers to from now on,” Mel rolled her eyes at the guard. “You New Worlders are as dumb as Chaz when he’s hitting the bottle.” The guard shook his head, ridding his head of the confusion Mel had placed within the walls of.

“You better readjust that attitude soon or you’re going to have your *** whooped, no one speaks to Sarah that way,” the guard told Mel, as Mel shrugged it off. “You better be polite. Ladies shouldn’t speak like that, even not to someone who could easily come in there and hurt you very badly.”

“You know what? I am so scared right now I’m just ******** myself,” Mel replied back sarcastically, putting her resentment for the New World out on clear display for the guard. “I really am scared.”

“She doesn’t speak like that and if she does, she has every right when it comes to pain in the ***** with mouths that were programmed to keep shut,” the guard was obviously on the end of his tether with Mel and Mel could see this easily by his fed up look on his New World face. Mel decided to push it even further, to make him come into her prison cell and try to hurt her. Mel shook her head, and laughed at her own thought, which consisted of him taking her own. Maybe it was because Mel always won against the boys back in her teenage days that tried to attack her both on and off the playgrounds of the various schools that she was subjected to attend. “You should pity yourself for the tongue you let loose. In fact, in another decade your species will be gone. You Old Wolders, think you’re so special don’t you? Always strutting around the streets of Los Angeles acting like you own the place, don’t you?”

“They call us Old Worlders for a reason, we were here before you, I don’t envy you guys, I despise you with passion,” Melissa retorted bluntly and honestly. “We were around long before you were born boy. And trust me; I’m not that old as well. There is not a single person who is older than me and is from the New World, so don’t say you’re older than me, little boy.”

“You’re just asking to have the daylights beaten out of you, aren’t you?” asked the guard, smirking. “You think you can take me and my technology on, don’t you?” Mel didn’t say anything but all she did was get to her feet and faced the guard, careful not to get too close to the invisible bars. “Look at you, you’re a weak Old World woman that thinks that can take on a New World man…that’s the ironic thing I’m laughing at, you should be as well.” Mel frowned and looked to the floor, crossing her arms. “You don’t even attempt to get electrocuted just because I tell the truth about your species.” Mel looked up at him.

“So, because I’m the opposite *** and from the opposite and the best generation of people, does that make me automatically weaker?” asked Mel, still frowning a bit about the anti-feminine comment that the guard had previously said. “We, the Old World women, at least have the ***** to take on retards like you.”

“So is that an offer? You want to fight me?” asked the guard, as he laughed at Mel’s responding nod. “Fine. Bring it on *****, there’s no way you’re going to beat me.” The smiled as he pressed a remote on the wall near him. He entered a clearance code and the bars disappeared. He looked back to Mel, and nodded. “No bars *****. Bring it on; let’s see this Old World power you speak of.” Mel wasn’t sure if he had really gotten rid of the bars and bent down to grab a small snowy-white pebble off the ground. She stood back up right and threw the small pebble through the bars. The pebble flew with precise accuracy through the air and it didn’t get fried like eggs. “Typical Old Worlders, curiosity isn’t just enough, is it?”

“Curiosity killed the cat,” Mel replied smoothly, as the guard started to walk towards her with his fists in a ball. Mel stood her ground, waiting for the guard to make the first move. The guard made the first move alright, he swung at her head with his left hand, but missed as Mel ducked his attempted blow as she stood back up again quickly, grabbed him by the shoulders with both hands and knee-butted him in the stomach. He grabbed her hair that had been tied back and made her swing around so that he placed his arm under her throat, attempting to choke her to death. He let go of her hair, as Mel held his arms in both hands, trying to pull him off her. So in that case, Mel resorted to the childish way of fighting; she dug her nails into his arm, and dragged her dug nails into skin, so that she lifted up a layer of thin skin. It like a carpet burn intensified ten times over, as he withdrew his arm, and replaced it with a knife. He laughed as Mel froze, knowing she had never been in any brawls with knives or any other weapons involved.

“You think I wouldn’t use this, right?” asked the guard, as Mel smiled as she thought of the most obvious thing to do, which, knowing the guard, he would believe anything. She turned her head towards the door and faked a smile.

“Oh hi your Highness, Sarah, is it? Can I call you that?” asked Mel, as the guard did what Mel was expecting to do. The guard dropped his knife so it fell to the floor and looked to the door. Mel detached herself from pretending that someone was at the door and turned around. She gave a punch to the face and another to the upper jaw. He stumbled back in pain, so that he was clenching his face in agony. Mel swept the knife with her feet aside, so it was out of reach for the guard and her, as she wasn’t on planning on killing this guard. The guard looked up and ran at her, grabbed her prison uniform’s collar, swung her around and pinned her against the back wall.

“Now you listen here little *****, you’ve done something wrong you are going to die for it, basic principles of society, learn to like it once you’re dead and begging to be taken back into this great society,” the guard told, as dark red blood poured out of the corners of his pale pink lips.

“Too bad, I’m going to die either way,” retorted Mel, as she smiled and head butted him, sending him backwards, so that meant Mel was now free of his grip. Mel walked up to him and looked at the guard who was in pain. “Did that hurt?” The guard looked up at Mel, grabbed her by both her shoulders, and kicked her in the stomach, sending Mel back against the wall in pain, as she clenched her stomach.

“Yes it did,” retorted the guard as he walked over to his desk that had various time-wasting ornaments and instruments on it, and picked up the chair. He threw it against the wall so it split into fragments. The pieces of the chair flew across the room and landed in various places. He walked over to the metal pieces that were once the leg of the chair picked it off the ground and started to walk over to Mel with it.

She looked up from clenching her stomach in agony as she realised what he had just done. It was a makeshift crowbar he had in his hands. But she was slow to react to the image of him carrying the makeshift crowbar as he swung the crowbar and got her fair smack in the stomach. She fell to the floor, still in pure pain, as he dropped the makeshift crowbar and resorted to other painful methods of fighting people. He dragged her across the room by her ponytail and threw her onto the floor, conveniently right next to the knife that had been swept aside by her own feet just moments ago. She coughed and splattered as she tried to get back up again, but she was pinned down by his heavy Spyral boots. She coughed up blood, making it spill into a puddle next to her, as she tried hard not to choke on it or to swallow the blood.

Once she had finished coughing up the blood that could resemble almost a red wine colour, she laid down as blood dripped down her mouth like as she was a vampire that had just had its daily intake of blood. The guard removed his foot, and ripped open the back of her prisoner’s uniform, by grabbing the gap between the collar and her neck. He ripped it off to reveal her back. He pulled out a metal ruler that he had been playing with from out of his pants and started to slap her with it violently, while she cried as heavy rouge red marks were being made and eventually blood started appearing. She tried to get up but she was only pinned down, and then she saw the knife. She smiled a little bit, as she thought to herself that she had no choice, he was going to kill her before her actual punishment date. She started to reach for the knife, while he was too busy smiling at inflicting pain on the Old Worlder that chose to defy New World order. Her fingers crept along the floor, as she had her arm stretched out as she cringed again, trying to ignore that pain, and trying to put happy thoughts into her head.

She was going to get out of this alive, she wasn’t going to die. She closed her eyes and felt the sharp blade of the knife dig into her closed palm, as she felt a trickle of blood pour out of her hand. She retrieved her hand quickly not wanting to the guard to know that she had a defence weapon. He stopped as he wiped the sweat off his forehead and unknowingly removed his foot from pinning Mel down. Now was the time. Mel rolled over, as the guard noticed and tried to pin Mel down by treading on her throat. Mel didn’t know what happened. Her hand moved towards the foot that was about to start choking her to eventual death, as she felt blood from her mouth trickle down the side of her face. The end of the already ****** blade of the knife touched the boot and eventually made it through the boot and into his foot. But before he had time to react to the stabbing, Mel retrieved the knife from inside his foot.

He pulled away quickly, hopping furiously on leg, as Mel got up to stand upright. She could picture herself to be a star in an action movie that she had seen back in her Old World days, but she decided not to because this fight had to end and she needed to go and kill someone else who was higher in the ranking of Spyral’s sons of a *******. She walked towards him, closer, and closer; she came to him, as he started to walk backwards, just so that he was a metre or two in front of the desk that he had been sitting at when his shift had started. He stopped and smiled, knowing that he could take her on, she came closer, but he then started to run up to her. Grabbed her arms up so that they were both in the air and forcefully applied bone crushing pressure to the wrist that held the knife. He tried to sway her from side to side to throw her off balance but it didn’t work. She started resisting him trying to push her up against the back wall and started pushing him towards his desk. She was slowly getting there, as her shirt was starting to fall off as well and she just couldn’t afford to take a moment to try and fix it right now.

Almost there….

Almost there…

She accidentally dropped the knife so it fell onto the floor, so the first thing she did was to react to it quickly and trip him over so he landed the opposite side to the knife so that she could get to the knife quickly. He did indeed trip. He tripped backwards though because he had lost his balance and he smacked his head on the corner of the desk.

Mel stood there as she saw the guard fall to the ground, as though it was a slow motion replay of events. His head hit the floor and spilled out a pool of blood. She fixed her shirt up quickly as he was expecting him to start moving soon, pulling the uniform loosely over her back, knowing that it wouldn’t stay there but it would do. She didn’t look at the guard she automatically dived to the floor and picked up the knife, ready for an attack of any heinous nature. She stood back up again, as she looked to the body still lying in the expanding pool of blood. Then she realised it, the blow to the corner of the desk was what killed him.

She stood there in a moment of shock as she realised what she had just done, she had just killed her first person ever, let alone the first person she had stabbed, along with the first time that she had ever used a knife in self defence. She shook her head as she realised that she couldn’t stay here for the guard who was on the next shift was starting soon. She bent down to the corpse and ripped off his shirt and pants, as she realised she would need something to wear.

It only took her a moment or two to put his clothes on that were too big for her, but she fixed the pants problem up with his belt and rolled his sleeves up on his shirt. She had also taken everything that he had owned, money, keys, maps and all sorts of things. Mind her she didn’t leave the guy completely naked, he still had his underwear on and a white singlet underneath. She chucked her now ripped uniform over the top of the corpse and made sure she had everything. She nodded a couple of seconds later and stepped over his body. She opened the door after taking a deep breath in and a deep breath out, telling herself to stay cool.

No one was outside in the chamber hallway that she had just entered, as she closed the door behind her. She took a small step and then realised she had no idea where she was going or where that little ***** would be. She was going to do everyone back home a favour; she was going to take on Sarah herself.

 

[woodyloveslinkin]

She continued her walking down the brilliantly lighted room as she noticed the antique archways and furniture that the long chamber hallway had been decorated with. She gazed at the various paintings that Mel herself had been lost forever since the starting of the Third World War, according to a couple of sources that she had been speaking to about. One painting that she had remembered seeing in her lifetime on the internet and in various other places like art galleries and museums caught her eye particularly. This painting, she realised, had been an Old World favourite. It was framed nicely with diamonds embedded into the wood of the frame and underneath it read – Sunflowers, Vincent Von Gough.

Since its disappearance the Japanese were blamed for the theft of the painting and that’s one of the reasons, she remembered once as she was viewing an article of Spyral Daily, why Jonathon wanted Japan to be brought down so badly.

“Son of a *****,” Mel whispered to herself. “What a little liar…” She looked around to see if anyone was around to hear her and even see her. She looked back to the painting as she came closer to it. She placed both hands on either side of the frame, lifted it up off its hook, and placed it in front of her on the ground. She picked it up; it wasn’t the lightest thing in the world but she knew she had to somehow get this out of here to prove how much deceit and how many lies Spyral produces. She walked down the hallway, in a hurry to get out of this place with what she had in her eyes intact. She approached another door and she opened it. It only led to another hallway but there were no paintings or any exquisite furniture or lighting, it was just ordinary and it was bare as a desert. She closed the door behind her, putting the painting down on the floor and picking it up each time she had opened and closed the door. Then she froze as she heard voices coming her way along with footsteps. She didn’t want to be caught was her first reaction and the second one was look for an escape route. She saw a door right next to her where she had frozen still with marble fills on it and it said something in Latin but she didn’t want to stand around trying to figure out what it meant in English. She placed the painting carefully on the floor, opened the door, picked up the painting, walked in, closed the door with one foot gently.

What she didn’t know was the English translation to the Latin that was carved in with marble fillings in the door. It read in English – Here lays Jonathon and Felicity let them rest in peace. Despite the English in the names, all of it was in Latin.

She turned around and looked at the expensive marble and all the jewels that had been sitting around, and the bronze statues of the cats just near her, sitting up right with their ears up right. They reminded Mel of the ancient terracotta warriors in China and how they were meant to protect…Mel didn’t know, he was just someone who was a major historical Chinese figure to her. Underneath it read on a brass panel with engravings of – The Protectors. She placed the painting against a nearby wall, making sure it wasn’t going to slide sideways.

She turned her attention back to the bronze cats and the engravings on them. The because she hadn’t seen anything that implied it was a room where Sarah mourned and where Sarah had asked the tombs of marble questions about what she should she do because Spyro was being a ***** to her. Mel looked around at the various bowls and goblets that had been encrusted with jewels of emerald, amethyst, moonstones, rubies, and diamonds. She thought they must be playing with gold here, not thinking for a moment that these were gifts for the dead to help them in their journey to achieve a safe return back to life.

She picked up a goblet as she ran her finger around it, she felt that bumps and she felt the various patterns tickle her skin on her fingertips. She couldn’t help but to be a bit curious about these things, despite the fact that she felt like Spyral was using emeralds and other expensive gems for toilet paper. She placed the goblet down back on its marble shelf, and as soon as she had placed it back down, she heard breathing, not hers, but someone else’s.

“How dare you corrupt these sacred tombs!” yelled a male voice from behind her, as she spun around with her fists in a ball preparing to fight. His eyes flared up as he realised who she was. “It’s you! You traitor!” He looked like he had just been offended by something Mel failed to do or what she did do.

“Hi I’m Melissa, I’m about to kick your ***,” Mel introduced sarcastically, smiling. She knew she was going to get done for the painting and everything else under the sun, so she didn’t even bother trying to explain herself.

“In that case then,” replied the man, rolling up his blue shirt’s sleeves. He looked at Mel with a nasty look on his face and like Mel, had both his fists curled up right to fight. “Hi, I’m Brad, I’m about to teach you the definition of not breaking the law with some *** kicking ways of convincing you.” Brad didn’t have any weapons near him this time unlike the previous fight with the guard.

Both of them ran at each other, meeting each other half way across the room. Mel was the first person to receive the first blow, as Brad had gotten her in the stomach. He grabbed Mel by the pressure point just around the neck and attempted breaking her neck with one hand, by twisting her neck but he failed. He threw that idea off his shoulders, and threw to her to the ground. He sat on top of her, as Mel had covered her face with her arms. Brad wasn’t going for face, but instead of the face he started pounding into her stomach. Mel cringed at several things, one of them being the pain and the thoughts, why hadn’t she bought the knife with her and why hadn’t she brought the crowbar as well? She knew she could win this fight though, with or without either tools.

She removed her arms from her face, and pulled Brad’s goatee. He cringed in pain as Mel was starting to pull the brown hairs out from the roots, and already there were several broken hairs in her hand. She kneed him in the part where it hurts for most human men, as he cringed again and got off her, only able to stand up just.

“You fight good,” commented Mel, getting to her feet and walking towards Brad who hadn’t moved very much because he was trying to see if he could quickly recover from the pain that was drilling at him like there was no tomorrow. “But not good enough.”

Brad stood up straight and walked toward Mel, as they drew closer and closer. Brad was the first person to get to the other one, as Mel’s mouth was flowing out blood like water in a strong current. He threw her to the wall and pinned her against the wall. He looked into her deep eyes and smiled.

“It’s such a shame, the beautiful ones are always the traitors,” Brad commented, as he head butted Mel, and blood started to seep out from her cracks in her skin.

She didn’t go limp or fall down and cry in pain, but she was crying by this stage, but she stood tall as Brad repetitively punched her in the stomach. She couldn’t do anything because her arms were pinned behind her back and against the wall and she couldn’t move them. She raised her leg and pushed him back with a kick. He maintained his balance as Mel came running back at him. He was too slow to react, as Mel smacked him fair smack in the bridge of his nose. They heard a crack and then Mel heard a thump.

Brad fell down onto his knees, as Mel quickly moved back out of her way to see what was happening. His expression was blank and he fell face first into the ground.

What Mel didn’t know what she had just done was that she had hit him that hard that it the broken bridge of his nose had sent cracks up into his skull and split his skull open. Instant noodles in other words. But another thing that Mel didn’t know what she had just done she had just attracted another person to the ****** scene.

“Brad?” asked the girl with the dark purple corset fitting and French hairstyle who had just walked in to see the end of her friend. The girl looked around to see the limp body that had now started gushing out pools of blood around him. “Oh my! Brad!” Her yelling couldn’t bring him back, as she rushing over to him, not seeing Mel in the near distance. She rolled Brad over to see a blank face and a face that was smothered in his own blood. “Brad, can you hear me? Do you know who I am? It’s Sarah, you know, Sarah, you’re friend, you’re loyal friend, greatest ruler of all.” She stopped for a second. “Who did this to you?” Sarah had started to cry as soon as she realised that he couldn’t be saved.

“Oh you ******* *****,” said Mel, as soon as she processed the name Sarah through her head. She looked up from the corpse and stood up as soon as she the girl with the blood dripping down her face. “You’re a ******* ***** and I hate you! I’ve had to live through **** and back because of you! You’re ******* ***** and you’re going to die you *****!”

Sarah smiled as she realised she was going to be attacked by this crazy lunatic and that this was the person that must’ve killed her beloved friend. She stood her ground as she drew out a knife from the top of her corset top, as knives could easily fit down there. It was only a small knife but it was mighty. It had Spyral’s symbol on the end of it and Mel distinctively knew this girl was a New Worlder, her being probably the only Sarah that she could think of right now and that she was proudly showing off her Celtic cross that many said that the ruler of the lands had. Mel wasn’t afraid that Sarah had a knife in her hands. Mel was dead set on killing this brat, as she had put it many a time to Rob and the gang.

Mel approached her and tried to punch her with her fists but Sarah dodged it by blocking it with both arms. Sarah raised her foot that had her heavy dark blue boots that nothing could pierce through, and pushed Mel back forcefully against the opposite wall.

“That is not nice to call someone a *****, Melissa,” Sarah said as she walked towards Mel who was getting back up to defend herself while at the same time attack and kill Sarah. “Oh yes, I do know you. So do not act surprised.” Mel came at Sarah again, but Sarah dodged her kick by moving out of the way and stepping backwards so that Mel only kicked thin air. Mel knew she was getting sloppy in her attacks because of her energy levels had been drastically reduced since being attacked twice. But while Mel was kicking thin air, Sarah stabbed Mel’s foot with her knife, spun it around quickly while still in her foot and retrieved it, pulling it back out of her foot. Blood splattered the floor and her knife. “Try again.”

“I may a bit out of…focus, but I am going to come out of this fight alive,” replied Mel, stepping backwards away from Sarah, as Sarah stood her ground. “This is going to be the end of Spyral, there will be no such thing by the time I’m done with you.” She fiddled around with the keys that she had taken from the guard. She slid one off its key ring and stood fiercely with it. It was small but she knew keys were mighty as defence weapons. She stepped forward again cringing in pain, and again, attempted to gauge Sarah’s eyes out, but Sarah was too quick for her once again.

She grabbed hold of the key, dropping her knife to the floor, and started to struggle with her opponent, trying to force it back towards Mel’s way, with both hands on it. The key wasn’t just an ordinary key, it was a long rusty key and whatever skin it pierced into, it would end up with blood poisoning most likely. Both of the sides were strong, but one side was failing to keep her energy levels up, and Mel knew she was that side. It was a grid lock while both sides protected their way of living, one was fighting for the Old World generation and every Old World ethic that she had been brought up with, while the other one was fighting to protect every New World order and ethic from shattering into a million pieces, and of course, to revenge her associates death.

Finally one side almost gave up, and Mel shifted the weight of the struggle to the side. Sarah’s palm was getting sweaty and she was losing grip. Sarah lost her grip, just as Mel tossed the key onto the floor. Sarah’s initial reaction was to pick up the knife, but then she remembered the Wakizashi that was placed by her father’s side as it was said that it was the sword that had killed him. It was only to be used in New World tradition to avenge a beloved one’s death.

Despite the Japanese origins of the sword, it was still tradition and it was to be fallen under the category of a banned item, every single sword except this one. Sarah turned away and ran to the other side of the room to get it, as she knew her little Spyral knife wasn’t going to inflict death. Mel ran after her, leaving behind ****** footprints, as both of them passed memorials for her parents and flowers that had been watered daily.

Sarah stopped as she past the two black marble tombs at the very end of the room, she picked up the sword detaching itself from the white clothed table in which it was barely placed on. She opened it from its jade scabbard, revealing a silver short sword, Mel stopped in her tracks for a second.

“You oppose the Japanese and yet you use their weapons?” asked Mel. “I know Spyral was full of **** but I didn’t know that you were all full of ****.”

“We take their weapons for a reason, if you give me a couple of minutes I can go get another one so I can kill you quicker,” answered Sarah, sarcastically, as she stepped down from the memorial that she had stepped up to retrieve the weapon. Mel laughed at the hypocrisy as she continued to spread blood around the memorial site. Sarah continued to walk with Japanese sword in one hand, looking dangerous and angry as ****. “Prepare to die.”

“Prepare to kiss my *** in ****,” retorted Mel, as she showed Sarah what she had picked up before she started running after her. Mel was going to attack Sarah with her own knife.

“If you are so smart, did you know that these were used in ritual killing against foreigners, much like your kind in the Old World?” asked Sarah, smiling, as Mel stood her ground and Sarah came closer. “Do not mistake me for not only knowing New World information. I know much more than you will ever know about your own world.”

“I am going to enjoy you kissing my Old World ***,” commented Mel, as Sarah drew nearer and nearer.

Sarah took a swipe at Mel with her Japanese sword, but Mel dodged it by stepping backwards. Sarah by this stage was furious that Mel hadn’t bled to death or ended up dead another way. Again, another swipe but this time, Sarah had got part of her target, as Sarah dug the sword into Mel’s left arm that was holding the knife. Mel cringed with pain, as she grabbed the blade of the sword and pulled it out, after Sarah let go of the sword, as she had deeply dug it further. Mel dropped the sword to the ground and stumbled backwards, holding the fresh wound with the spare hand that had pulled the blade out. Sarah picked the sword up again, as blood rushed out of her arm.

“You are weak!” Sarah laughed and mocked Mel in one. “And disorganised! I have not been wounded! You do not know how to fight! That is hilarious! You come in here to take Spyral on and you have not had the proper training, both physically and mentally. That is actually quite funny!” Mel looked back up through teary eyes as her hand was now stained with more of her own blood. Mel held the knife in her hand firmly, raised it within a blink of an eye, and threw it at Sarah. Mel knew she hadn’t aimed for her heart or even aimed at all, but it still got Sarah.

Sarah held the knife in her hand that had been thrown into her bare shoulder. Sarah cringed with pain, as blood poured out of the deep wound. She held the knife with her spare hand and pulled it out, still cringing with pain.

“**** I missed your heart,” commented Mel. “Oh wait, you don’t have a heart. Sorry, my mistake, and just when I was thinking you are the tin man from Wizard from Oz, who ended up having a heart.” Sarah looked at Mel with the same expression that she had always been giving Mel as she clutched her wound. “You have no heart to do this to your people. You sadistic son of a *****!” Sarah gripped the knife tightly and threw it back at Mel, but she missed, it narrowly scrapped past Mel’s right ear and it stuck into the wall right next to the exit of the room. “And why are you so perfect? You just missed me! Perfectionists do not miss *****!” Mel tried to put on a brave face but both parties knew she was getting weak. Sarah started to walk towards her with her bloodied blade as she removed her hand from her new wound that Mel had just made. “You walk proud but you’re going to lose Sarah! Bye bye beautiful! I’m coming out of this one alive!”

“I am not the one that is losing blood so quickly, remember this fact Melissa,” replied Sarah smoothly, as she took another swipe at Mel again, aiming for her stomach, but Melissa bent her stomach back narrowly missing the blade’s impact and the tip of the sword only just missed touching her stomach. Sarah withdrew her sword to her side and smiled.

“You think you’re so proud and strong,” Mel retorted. “I’ve got news for you *****, you’re not! You hide behind these walls all day and toy with us as though we are puppets!”

“You speak as though you are going to win, you speak as though you are a leader, you are not Melissa!” yelled Sarah, strongly. “You are small and insignificant! We are all players in this game of life and I am winning above everybody else!” Mel dropped to her knees suddenly as she felt like she was going to collapse. Mel tried to stand up properly but she couldn’t, she could only limp like because her foot was still bleeding. Mel felt dizzy and she couldn’t focus properly. Sarah smiled, as both of them knew Mel was starting to lose too much blood from the wounds that she received from all of the battles that she attempted to win but only had succeeded at two so far. For the second that Mel closed her eyes, trying to gain control of her balance and her coordination, Sarah slipped behind Mel grabbed Mel by the throat and held the Wakazashi’s blade under her throat. Mel opened her eyes and looked down at the knife. “Any last requests before you ****** my corset with your filthy blood?”

“**** you, you stole my favourite painting,” answered Mel, remembering that the painting was still leaning against the wall near the door that she had previously entered through. She couldn’t fight back, she was weak right now, and she needed much rest. She attempted to get up and fight Sarah again, but Sarah pinned her down by putting pressure on her shoulders forcing her back down to kneel in front of Sarah.

“**** you, you dirty my parent’s tombs, this is now war against your generation,” retorted Sarah, as she slit Mel’s throat with the traditional blade in her hands. The blood spurted out from Mel’s throat onto the floor below her and Sarah even caught some on her other hand that held her throat in place. She fell to the floor with the blood still spurting out of her throat and she fell to the floor, as her dead eyes stared at the doorway at ground level. Those dead eyes stared at the crying and mourning Sarah walk through the door, slamming it behind her, and into the hallway that Mel had heard those footsteps and had to hide in here.

Project Tourniquet just had its first funeral on its hands.

****

​

 

[Ravynlee]

AWESOME!!

I loved it! I loved the gore (heaven help me), loved the description, and I ADORED the sarcasm.

I'm sorry but Mel made this update for me. 'I'm Mel, and I'll be the one kicking your ***' was a brilliant line! Loved her parting words about Spyral stealing her favourite painting, and the hypocrisy she drew attention too with Spyral's hate for all things Japanese. Poor Mel. I was so wanting her to win. I sort of guessed she was doomed but she did put up one **** of a fight. I laughed at Brad tacking a run at her all Kill Bill style - almost heard the theme music in my head at that point too, sort of had that feel.

Sounds mean but I sort of wanted Sarah to suffer. She didn't suffer enough. But at least we know if nothing else Project Tourniquet will be inspired now like never before, shame it had to come at such a hefty cost.

She's fuelled the fire now on both sides with her death - hope Mel's death will not have been in vain. Have to wait and see. Thanks for that, quite an extraordinary update really. Very well done! :thumbsup:

 

[woodyloveslinkin]

Again, my apologies for the longness of this chapter, so two posts.

Chapter 22 - War of the Worlds

****

​

Rob and Chaz sat at the coffee table with various microchips, with Chaz’s old laptop beside them. Again, another thing that Chaz had possession of and that was considered illegal and therefore was placed on the banned item lists. Laptops and computers were to be useless nowadays and they were from the Old World, a world that failed in the eyes of Spyral because of such technology like laptops. The last thing that Spyral wanted was to possess or have its citizens possess pieces of technology that was bound to cause the collapse of the whole world.

Chaz was typing away with gadgets sticking out of the laptop, blinking different colour lights from a green one to a fluorescent pink light. Rob was trying to find something in the micro chips that would help to spread the virus that Chaz had completed halfway. Give him another fifteen minutes with the thing that Rob was looking for and the virus would be complete.

Rob frowned through his glasses as a looked at the micro chip that he had in his palm, as he picked up a screwdriver that was on his left. He started to unscrew the micro chip’s main processor unit.

“Where’s your army of nerds today?” asked Rob, breaking the silence in between the two friends, as he stopped unscrewing the main processer unit of the micro chip, putting the screwdriver back where he had picked it up from. He dug his fingernail under it and lifted it up. He flipped over the microchip so that the now removed main processer unit was now bare and on the table.

“Doing what they do best, being nerds,” answered Chaz, looking up from his laptop quickly as Rob held the detached processing unit in his hands so that Chaz could hear it. “Oh. Let’s see if this works.” Chaz picked up the chip from his friend’s hands and inserted it into the side of the laptop. “Let us see what this baby can do.” It made a couple of noises for a couple of seconds. A notice popped up on the screen, as Rob wanted to see whatever results Chaz had received. He tried leaning over the coffee table to see what had appeared on Chaz’s screen, but Chaz just closed the screen of the laptop. “Ah, wait your turn Mr Impatient.” Rob raised his hands innocently, as he went back to leaning against the couch on his side of the coffee table. He lowered them and placed them on his lap. Chaz lifted the screen of the laptop back up again, as he smiled as he saw the notice on his screen. “Thank you! Someone in heaven or something like that. The virus is almost complete.” Chaz lent back against nothing and fell backwards.

“Idiot,” Rob smiled, as Chaz had ever opportunity to get back up but he remained laying down on the carpet. The front door was pushed open so much that it nearly came off its hinges as he didn’t see Chaz get up from lying on the floor and reattached himself to the screen in front of him. “Dammit, you guys.” As he saw Fox, a hooded figure which was either Mike or Viking, make that two hooded figures that had be one of them, as the first hooded figure was wearing blue and the second one was wearing red. All of them were carrying various boxes of things, as they placed it on the table a couple of metres away from where Rob was leaning against the couch. “Can you not hurt the door like that? It does have feelings and I sure have them when I have to fix the hinges on that thing.” No one apologised. Each of them placed each of their cardboard boxes on the table, as both hooded figures revealed themselves to be Viking was the one hiding underneath the red hood and Mike was the one that was hiding underneath the blue hood.

“Hey,” greeted Mike and Viking, almost simultaneously, like as though it was a criminal choir.

“What do you have there?” asked Rob, looking to the boxes that Fox had started to unpack, various Old World ornaments, maps and lists of people.

“Stuff,” answered Viking, blankly. “Is Bella or Ravyn here, or what about the other one, that New Worlder, Joanna?” Rob shook his head. “****, in that case then. They must be at the markets.”

“What do you want off them?” asked Chaz, as he detached himself from the laptop’s computer screen and onto Viking’s hooded appearance. “Anything that either one woman can give you, I can give you.” Chaz smiled at his sexual comment, as he went back to fixing his eyes back on the computer screen.

“Keep those thoughts to yourself, I beg you,” Viking replied, looking mentally wounded as well did everyone else who just happened to be in the room. Viking turned around and started to help Fox unload the objects out of the various boxes.

Mike ignored both Fox and Viking unpacking the Old World items on the table, as he went and sat next to his dear old friend. Rob looked at Mike as though Mike was expecting something of him or that Mike knew something Rob didn’t. Mike leant against the couch as well. He looked to the floor and whistled.

“What?” asked Rob, a bit confused by Mike’s actions. “What did I do?”

“Oh I heard about a little kiss someone from the project gave him the other day,” answered Mike, as Chaz looked up for a second from his laptop and rolled his eyes as he looked back to the screen in front of him. Fox actually stopped and listen but Viking just told her to ignore Mike as he just wanted attention. Fox shrugged as she went back to unpacking the Old World objects. “Tell me about it this blossoming love you’ve got happening, boy.”

“As if!” laughed Rob. “So you think that a friendly peck on the cheek means something?” Mike shrugged as Mike looked at his friend, detaching himself from looking at the floor. “We’re just friends.” Mike shot him an unconvinced look. “Look, Ravyn said it plain and clear it meant nothing than just a thank you.”

“Oh people do bend stuff around, don’t they?” asked Mike, hypothetically, as his expression changed on his face from an unconvinced look to a surprise look. “I got told it was Bella, who gave you the kiss. Oh, so does that mean you and her are on together?”

“Mike stop it, he’s said it once that Ravyn and him are only just friends, just your gob, and accept that,” Chaz lectured Mike, as Mike was quite surprised that Chaz was giving him a lecture lot alone being sober enough to retain such information. “And while you’re at it, grow up a bit. I’m trying to get something done.”

“Someone has learnt to grow up,” Viking commented, as he turned around and applauded at Chaz’s maturity. Fox shot him a glare that told him to stop him to stop it, but Viking ignored her. Viking stopped applauding and smiled at Chaz. “When was the last time you hit the bottle?” Chaz looked up from the laptop and smiled sarcastically, fixing his eyes on Viking.

“When was the last time your momma –”

“Rob!” a voice came from downstairs interrupted Chaz’s insult which in all truth Chaz found annoying and rude, because it was such a good comeback. Rob frowned and he stood up as Chaz also stood up to see what the matter was. Rob and Chaz met at the window as both of them stuck their heads out the window and looked down. “Rob!” Joanna couldn’t help but to freak out and both of the upstairs Old Worlders knew why she was freaking out. There were Spyral guards swarming the streets of Los Angeles like ants in a colony. “There’s a new order out and it’s chaos!” There was a woman that came up to Joanna suddenly and started to beg for help. Joanna looked to the woman. “I’m sorry I can’t help you. But please, just let go of me.” The woman wouldn’t let go of her. “Let go of me!”

“Let go of her!” barked Rob. “It’s the last thing you want to be said in your eulogy that you were harassing a stranger!” The woman looked up at Rob and scampered back off.

“What kind of order?” asked Fox, who had also run up to the window next the one that Rob and Chaz were looking out of order. Rob looked to Fox for a second, as well did Chaz, but both of them looked back to Joanna.

“Well, I don’t know if it’s a war or a New World order, but they’re taking Old Worlders off the streets and they’ve got my sister and Bella!” Joanna yelled back, as she was looking worried as ever. “You have to get them back!”

“Where are they now?” asked Rob, taking his glasses off so they wouldn’t fall down onto the ground below and putting them on the window sill, careful not to knock them over.

“They are at the marketplace still, but a whole heap of guards won’t let them leave the area, there’s talk of like a concentration camp or something for the Old Worlders, I don’t know! I don’t know what’s happening!” Joanna replied back almost in tears because she was that confused. In all truth, she knew that the pendant was working its magic and it had brought back memories she didn’t she had, like the one where it said Ravyn was her sister, that memories shocked her a bit. “You have to do something about it, Rob!”

“We’ll be down in a second, hold on!” replied Rob, as he spun around and both Fox and Chaz pulled their heads out of the windows. Rob summoned everyone in the room with his hands gestures. Everyone followed his order and met in the middle of the room. Rob stood next to Mike. “Okay, this is my plan, get makeshift weapons and we’re going to start telling these guards who’s boss. But beware I have no idea that these are either human guards or those stupid robotic ones. Chaz.” Rob looked to Chaz. “If by any chance we all get captured, one of us needs to get that virus. Stay back until it is complete and then give it to me. And then I’ll pass it onto anyone who gets captured.” Rob looked back to his fellow friends. “I don’t know how we are going to plant the virus, but we are going to do it.”

“I know how to plant the virus,” Chaz volunteered to share his information, as everyone’s eyes were on him now. “Get into the mainframe system and insert it into a hub drive. It’s like a USB almost, its effect is automatic, but there are no USBs no more that have up to a hundred gigabytes worth of space on it like this one does. Last time I checked it had completed at eighty-nine percent. Give it another five and I’ll be done.”

“Okay, you hear him everyone?” asked Rob, as he looked back to everyone else. Everyone nodded in agreement. “You know the drill? Get a weapon and attack!” Everyone nodded their head and disappeared out of sight within a couple of seconds of Rob finishing his sentence. Rob followed the last person to leave his sight which was Mike and followed him into his room, as Chaz went back to his laptop and stared at it anxiously, waiting for the transferring of the files to be complete.

Mike walked back out from the room, remembering what he had packed from the shelter that they had just arrived back from. While Fox found just a plain old wooden baseball bat, in one of the various boxes of junk Rob had lying around the place. Viking grinned at her and held up a metal baseball bat.

“I win,” smiled Viking holding the bat up in the air with one end. “Let’s make a game up. Most guards down wins. The winner gets as many drinks bought by the loser. Do we have an agreement young lady?”

“You’re on,” answered Fox, as Viking and her shook hands on the deal. “But I’m telling you now; I am going to kick your ***.”

While outside Mike had found a crowbar that he had found stashed away in the old tin shelter a couple of blocks away, Mike smiled, as he thought he would be the only one with a crow bar. Rob came out of the room that Mike had left him in, with the brother crowbar of the one that Mike had in his hands. Mike saw Rob standing in the archway with the crowbar and his jaw dropped.

“Dammit, I thought I was going to be the only one with a crowbar,” Mike complained, as Fox and Viking came out with one wooden bat and one metal bar. Mike saw them and pointed at Fox’s weapon. “Just a warning, that isn’t going last against the guards if they are the retarded robot kind.”

“It’s better than being defenceless, I suppose,” Fox replied, with a slight smile on her face as she shrugged. “I mean by that, by saying they aren’t going to not attack me because I lack a weapon. By the sounds of it, they’re going to attack me because I am from the Old World and I don’t have a New World pendant. It sounds more like the case than anything, really.” Rob wasn’t paying attention to what Fox was saying but he merely focused his attention back on Chaz who was still glued to the notice on his laptop that was counting down to the minutes that the virus that would eventually bring Spyral to a standstill long enough to fight their way into their gates. Rob was now convinced that the tables had turned and there was going to be another plan, one that he hadn’t thought of until now. There was no plan anymore, just get into Spyral and take that brat down, he told himself, as he gripped his weapon firmly.

“Get that virus to me as soon as possible and that’s a direct order Chaz,” ordered Rob as Viking and Mike were both going to put there hoods on, but decided not to because there was no point. They were either going to be killed or something done to them just because they didn’t have a New World pendant. “Okay, we’re off to the market place.”

“See you in ten,” Chaz farewelled, as everyone walked behind Rob who was now feeling like a strong historical leader ready for battle. They walked out the door, as Fox was the last person to leave the apartment, slamming the door behind her. Rob barked at her for slamming the door. “I hope.”

It was only a matter of time that Rob and his army of the Old World generation reached Joanna who was almost at the point of tears by that stage. She stood there with her black hair tied back in a tight plait with loose bits hanging out the sides. She had rolled her pink shirt’s sleeves up so that she could ran back and tell the rest of the crew about what had just happened.

A couple of guards that were passing by had corpses of Old Worlders hanging over their backs while red blood stained their red and black uniform. It wasn’t noticeable, aside from the dampness the clothes shown under the neon billboards. One of them stopped a couple of metres down the road, and put the corpse of the Old Worlder on the ground. He had just spotted a Japanese traitor, Mike. The guard ran back to Mike.

“Surrender yourself you Japanese traitor, immediately!” yelled the guard, as various guards walked past and repeated the same thing as their work colleague just did.

“Stand aside everyone,” ordered Mike, firmly gripping the crowbar posing it as a baseball bat with both hands and holding it as though he was about to hit a ball as everyone stood back as they watched Mike take on a guard. “This one’s going to be homer.”

“Better make it two homers,” added Viking, standing next to his friend with his baseball raised. “Come on New York Yankees.”

The guard came into close range as Viking and Mike worked as a team to start bashing the guard up with the two makeshift weapons that they had found a couple of minutes ago. While they were busy with that Rob and Fox watched in horror as more guards came to the other guard’s rescue. They weren’t going to let that happened to Mike so they did what friends did best, stand up for their friend and gang up on the guards. But the only problem between Fox and Rob as they ran up to the guards and starting pounding their faces in, was that there were getting outnumbered quickly. These guards were human and they were putting up a good fight.

Fox squealed as she got pulled by the hair from behind, dropping her weapon onto the floor, as they had now been encircled with Mike and Viking beside them.

“Fox!” yelled Viking and Rob together at the same precise time. They turned to the guard that was dragging Fox away by her red ponytail. Mike was too busy bashing in heads because he was the one that was getting attacked mostly.

“Help me!” cried Fox, as she tried to reach for any of the Old Worlders in the distance as she was being pulled away from the circle of guards surrounding her friends. Viking tried to bash his way through the guards, as did Rob, but it was hopeless the guards kept on piling up, and Mike, well, he was too busy being the victim of historical racism. “Rob!” They were out of sight by now, as she was dragged through a stall and started to cry tears of fear. “Mike! Someone! Please, just someone help me!”

“This day started out grand! Dammit!” yelled Rob, as he withdrew from fighting the guards as he had another idea. Rob held his weapon firmly in one hand and instead of trying to fight one guard at the time; he had decided to just attack the guards as a whole. He hit one guard in the stomach and the other in the back of his neck. He realised the quicker he did it, the more room there would be to get out of being circled because he realised that guards had stop coming to this spot. Mike and Viking were quick to pick up Rob’s new technique of fighting the opponent.

The guard continued to drag the young adult Old Worlder girl through the various stalls of the marketplace. They passed all sorts of things, like now broken glass vases, dead monkeys that had been skinned and hung up from the ceiling of the stall. She also saw through the blindness of the tears that guards were trashing all the stalls of the marketplace because a variety of Old Worlders were the ones that provided the variety. She cried some more, as she knew that resisting would result up in more pain. She found that walking backwards was proving to be nauseating and the lanterns that lit the marketplace were getting nauseating as well.

“Please, stop, whoever you are!” yelled Fox, in pain, as the guard stopped and Fox felt a bit relieved that he had let go. Fox turned around so that they faced one another. The guard wore a smile on his dirty human face revealing his broken teeth. The guard raised his left hand and slapped Fox so hard across the face that she fell to the ground. She found herself almost swallowing dirt at one stage. She tried to get up, but by this stage the guard had pulled out a long black whip. He held it his hands until she decided to lever herself up using her arms that was now covered in dirt. He hadn’t stopped grinning, as the tail of the whip went backwards and whipped her several times on the back. She fell to the dirt covered ground crying, as blood started to appear through the rips that the guard had just made through his whipping. Blood had also started to stain her light green shirt as well, because it also seeped through the shirt itself, not only just the rips. “Please, don’t…” She could hardly speak because she was in that much pain and anguish. But her cries went unnoticed and ignored as the guard raised his whip. She could hear him raising it, she couldn’t move because she was now pinned down by his heavy guard boots. There was a sudden thump and then Fox felt him fall to the ground. She rolled over to show the person that had just saved her some more pain her dirtied face that had a ****** gash on it, where the guard had sliced her skin open with that one slap.

 

[woodyloveslinkin]

“It’s alright,” said Bella, holding a crowbar quite similar to what Mike and Rob had in their hands when Fox last saw them, in one hand. Bella smiled as her silver hair blew in the wind that was starting to pick up. “Get up, come on, we’ve got to find the rest of the crew.” Bella offered a hand which Fox accepted and Bella helped Fox up. Bella hadn’t come out unscathed as well. She had several wounds on her bare arms, as she was wearing her normal Hawaiian flower print dress. “Where are the rest?”

“Back there somewhere, I don’t know,” answered Fox. “Where’s Ravyn?”

“Like what you just said, back there somewhere, I don’t know,” answered Bella, using Fox’s same answer as an example of what Bella did and didn’t know. “Come we’ve got to get out of here.” She noticed that when she had started to walk, Fox was having difficulty keeping up with the slowest of paces. She stopped and frowned. “What happened to you?”

“Just got hammered by a whip,” answered Fox, still crying in pain.

“Okay, well, you have to move, we have to move, there more guards on their way down here and rumour has it, the ***** from upstairs is coming down to fight as well, something real bad went down today,” Bella explained. “And trust me from what Benji’s been telling everyone, she’s ******.” Bella looked away to see Ravyn, walking towards them hurriedly with something in her hands. She had been attacked as well; many a times but the generosity of the Old World spirit always gave her a helping hand. “You’re here!” Bella and Ravyn had been since separated a couple of seconds after Joanna had left to get help.

Now that Bella remembered that Joanna was a New Worlder, Bella started to question, where did that New Worlder get to?

“Yeah, now I am, after almost being killed a dozen times,” replied Ravyn, as she showed Fox and Bella in her hands. She held a couple of unlit fireworks in her hands. “Picked these up on the way, thought they might be of use somewhere down along this war track.” There was a sudden explosion as fire ***** went into the dark sky and streaked the full moon with smoke. There were screams and everyone’s initial reaction was to duck and protect their heads. A couple of seconds passed and everything went back to being normal. The normal being that there was chaos along the streets, corpses of both Old Worlders, stupid New Worlders that decided to be heroes to their New World blood but greatly failed and of course, the human guards as well. “We have to get out of here. I need to find Joanna.”

“No you don’t!” objected Bella, as Fox’s and Ravyn’s eyes lit up as she saw someone come up behind Bella with a shiny blade. “This is Old World territory right now. The only New Worlders I’m speaking to are the ones I’m going to kill.”

“Move!” yelled Ravyn as her and Fox moved Bella out of the way just in time. The New Worlder only stabbed the air and met the wrong end of Ravyn’s foot in the middle of his face. The New Worlder man collapsed to the ground automatically.

“Thanks, you saved my life, I owe you one,” thanked Bella, smiling as the three women got to the ground and started to rummage through the New Worlder’s things. Bella managed to take some money while Ravyn and Fox found nothing worth taking. Bella put some of the money inside her dress’s pocket and gave some to Ravyn and Fox. They smiled as a thank you to Bella for sharing the stolen money, while Ravyn still held the fireworks in one hand. “We’ve got to find the rest of them before it is too late.”

They couldn’t run because Fox needed something to lean on to. So Fox hung one arm around Ravyn’s neck, as she placed her arm around Fox’s waist and Fox hung the other arm around Bella’s neck, as she placed her arm around Fox’s waist. They were always on the lookout for anyone that might attack them. They were almost attacked several times by crazy lunatics who were running after people with all sorts of weapons, clubs, crowbars, and baseball bats. Bella saw a tall man up ahead and automatically assumed it was Rob. She opened her mouth to yell out to him, as stalls had now started to be on fire. But Fox stopped her.

“It’s not Rob,” Fox cut off Bella before Bella had a chance to speak. Neither Bella nor Ravyn said anything in response to Fox’s correctness and continued to walk as fast as Fox’s body would let her. “There he is!” Fox looked forward at a man who was helping a woman to her knees, as she looked like she had been beaten up pretty badly.

“Rob!” yelled Bella at the top of her voice. Rob looked up to see who was calling his name. He smiled when he saw the trio. He looked back down at the woman, as she got to her feet, said something, smiled again, and waved goodbye to her. He ran over to the trio and looked at Fox, who was still in tears and looked crippled. “Don’t ask, she’s been beaten up badly. So has everyone else here.” Rob hadn’t come out unscathed he was pretty beaten up as well. Blood oozed out of wounds on his chest as his shirt had been ripped various times and blood seeped out of his mouth, as he had been punched in the mouth several times.

“Lucky I didn’t wear my glasses in this case,” commented Rob. Rob’s expression suddenly changed. “Where is Mike? Have you seen Mike? Has anyone seen Mike at all? What about Viking? Has anyone seen Viking at all?” Both Viking, Mike and him were all separated not so long ago and Rob was trying to find everyone so they could work together as a team, as always planned. Not one of the women nodded. “Holy **** this isn’t my day!”

“Rob!” yelled another voice, coming closer to him. Rob looked around to see who was calling his name, as he saw Chaz running with a pink coated USB stick in his hands. He held it up high so that no one could ****** it off him and he was running quick, dodging various spot fights between generations and the guards of Spyral. “I have it!”

“Good boy!” Rob found himself gleefully yelling at Chaz, after realising what he had just said, as though he Chaz was his dog. Chaz ran up to Rob and placed it neatly in Rob’s open palm. “Thank you so much!” Rob through his arms around Chaz and hugged him in a bone breaking hug. Chaz faintly smiled as Chaz was a bit underprepared for such a reaction. Rob let go of Chaz and put the virus into his pocket. He sealed the pocket firmly with closing the zip. He looked back to the ladies. “I need to find Viking and…Mike!”

“My man!” yelled Mike, who ran up to Rob and embraced him in a hug. Mike had been beaten up the worst out of the crew so far. He had sprained his wrist, had multiple concussions, and was bleeding furiously all over Rob. As with Rob, Mike and everyone else there except for Bella who had her crowbar still in her hands and Ravyn, if fireworks is considered a weapon, than she had her weapon, was defenceless with no weapon.

“We need to get you to a safer place, we really do,” advised Chaz, walking over to Mike on his other side and holding him as Mike had just collapsed over Rob and he caught his friend. “We have to get him out of here. He’s going to die!”

“No, not Mikey! Don’t die!” yelled Fox, seeing the limp but awake body barely standing as blood trickled down Mike’s face.

“I’ll try not to, little lady,” replied Mike, through heavy breaths. “I’ll not to…” Mike collapsed again, as this time he didn’t open his eyes. Fox started to cry heavier and there were some tears forming in everybody else’s eyes.

“He’s still breathing!” yelled Chaz, as he felt Mike’s pulse. “He’s alive! He’s just fainted, that’s all.” Chaz looked to a bunch of guards attacking a group of Old Worlders. Chaz frowned. “Hey! Ugly breaths! That’s my army of nerds you’re beating up! Leave them the **** alone! I need them for purposes your tiny flea brains won’t comprehend!”

“Great the last thing we wanted was being attacked by more guards!” yelled Rob, furiously, as his energy levels were deprived and he couldn’t fight properly. The guards drew their attention on Chaz who looked as though he had just wet his pants by now. Rob laid Mike down on the ground on his back, and the two women who were holding Fox up had let go of her. Everyone was back in defence mode, one that not many of them were used to. Bella and Ravyn had to let go of Fox as Fox struggled to stand up on her own, because the two women knew that even though women were good at multitasking, it was going to be like asking the impossible trying to defend themselves and try to hold Fox up at the same time.

But what the three women didn’t know was that two guards were sneaking up behind Ravyn, Bella, and Fox, and neither of the two standing men could tell that there was a pair of guards behind their friends as well.

The guards came up to them, quickly snatched the crowbar out of Bella’s hand, while another snatched Ravyn's fireworks out of her hands, tossing both items onto the ground and muffling their screams for help by smothering their mouths with their hands. They had also been threatened with tips of knives against their backs. Rob and Chaz quickly turned around to react to the muffled cries for help, but as much as both of them wanted to help the trio of women they couldn’t. They were having too busy dodging bricks that were being thrown at them by a bunch of New World teenagers and trying to fight off guards with sharp swords.

“Ravyn…Bella…Fox…no, no, and ******* no!” Rob managed to say, as he saw the trio of women being dragged away. But he could also see that they were struggling to get away but their attempts were hopeless. Rob then saw a brick come his way and dodged it by moving out of its path. “Ravyn….not my ******* woman *******!”

“Did you just call Ravyn your woman?” asked Chaz, as he picked up on the last sentence as he ducked a blow from one of the guards.

“It was just a slip of the tongue, that’s all,” answered Rob, shaking his head, still in the middle of a battle between him and a couple of guards using his bare hands that Chaz manage to instigate. “You need to get the special gift we’ve got for Spyral to them. There’s no way that they can fight off those guards with Fox being weak.” As Rob failed to miss a blow to the face and got punched in the face, he stumbled back holding his nose as it started to gush out with blood and the blood fell into his hand. He reached into pocket with the other hand that wasn’t catching the falling blood, unzipping it firstly of course, and held the USB in his hand. Chaz pretended to stumble back in pain, as he reached out for the USB and Rob quickly gave it back to Chaz to catch up to the trio of women for either one of them to plant it into the mainstream operating switch board of their system. “Go hurry up! I’ll take these guys down myself. Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine!”

Chaz wasn’t sure that he liked leaving his friend to defend for himself, but he had to do it. He started to run and jumped over Mike’s body that hadn’t woken up from his fainting episode. He stopped and ran back to Mike. He knelt down beside him and started to talk to him as though he was awake.

“We are not going to let you, and you are not going to let us down, right?” asked Chaz to the fainted corpse of Mike’s. He talked softly because he didn’t want to give the New Worlders more causes to kill him. “I’m just going to put my shirt over your face, so no one comes up and stabs you, just because you’ve got some good old Japanese in you. You’re of the good Japanese, not the bad. Enough of the ranting, I have to go now.” Chaz took his shirt off to reveal all of his tattoos across his abdomen and his arms and placed it over Mike’s face, so that everyone who walked past him thought he was a dead Japanese man. Chaz got to his feet, wiped some dirt off his pants, and then ran down in between the flaming stalls. The light that came off the flames highlighted the sweat that Chaz had built up and was currently sweating.

He ran in and out of stalls as fast as possible as someone came up to him, running like **** as well.

“Good evening Chaz, going for a good run-for-your-life run?” asked Viking, who was topless as well, but instead of baring perfect skin and bulky muscles like Chaz had expected of him, he bore his scars from the Third Great War and various cuts. “I have always enjoyed a bit of good exercise.”

“Trying to find the girls,” answered Chaz. “Got this for them.” He raised his fist and opened his fist, to show him the USB which had the virus installed on it. “The present is all done. Just got to express post it but I’m out of money. So I’m taking a raincheck and resorting to send it via normal mail.” Chaz closed his sweaty fist, as both of them turned a sharp corner as Chaz was looking around furiously for any signs of the girls. Viking stopped in his tracks, sliding as he stopped. Chaz looked ahead and stopped, as he slid as he stopped. Chaz smiled as he saw Ravyn down on her knees with her hands bound and looking sadly to the ground, but he couldn’t see Fox or Bella anywhere. There were guards everywhere and neither of them knew how they would get through. Chaz smirked at his own plan. Run in and run out while running for your life.

“I think you’ve just found one of Charlie’s Angels, don’t you think?” asked Viking, smirking at his own remark. Chaz turned around and faced Viking.

“Correction, we’ve just found one of Chaz’s Angels,” corrected Chaz, as he turned around again. He took a deep breath in and exhaled in heavily. He closed his eyes, as he started to run towards Ravyn still staring at the ground with her hands bound by rope. He opened his eyes and slid to a halt when he arrived in front of Ravyn.

“What?” asked Ravyn, as the guards started to swarm on Chaz. Chaz held his palm out to display the USB that had the virus on it. “What? What do I do with this, Chaz?”

“Take it, download the file into the main motherboard basically,” Chaz said, as she picked the USB out of his hands and hid it in her hands. The guards grabbed Chaz by the scruff of the neck and tossed him aside. Chaz landed on the grand a few metres away

“Give me it!” ordered the guard, looking to Ravyn who looked up at him innocently. “What did he give you?”

“My freedom,” answered Ravyn, innocently. “Other than that, nothing much really.” The guard scowled her at her and ordered a minority of the guards present to get Chaz.

The guards were now after Chaz as he broke into a heavy run. He came up to Viking.

“Tag, you’re it,” Chaz tipped Viking on the back, as Chaz ran past him. Viking saw the guards and joined Chaz in his running away. Viking was quick to catch up to Chaz, as both men were now sweating like pigs and the light off the flames that feeding on the stalls illuminated both men’s sweaty chests. Viking slapped Chaz on the back, as Chaz cringed because of how badly it stung.

“Now you’re it,” replied Viking, as he picked up his pace a bit and had Chaz basically chase after him. Viking laughed at the fact that they were now playing the running game in between three parties and how fun it was. Viking went around the corner sharply as Chaz followed him. Viking jumped over a barrel that once had wine in it, and Chaz did as well. “You’re good, aren’t you?” The guards stumbled over the barrel of wine.

“Where are we off to?” asked Chaz, as he was starting to wear down. “I’m losing energy. Reminds me, how can you fight and yet have so much energy?”

“It’s called fighting in a war,” answered Viking. “We need to grab Mike and Rob. There are more coming and we need to hide as well. Somewhere that’s not in Rob’s apartment building.”

Chaz tried picking up his pace but he couldn’t, Viking was just too **** fast for him. Viking turned another corner as Chaz followed. He looked behind him to see where the guards were and they were a couple of yards behind him. Chaz told his body to pick up the pace or to be faced with death.

In a couple of minutes Viking had found Rob, trying to pick up Mike’s limp body.

“Is he alright?” asked Viking, running up to Mike and looking at him to see if there was any manage damage. “Is he alive?” Chaz stopped and slid as he finally came to a standstill. Rob swallowed hard and nodded.

“Only just,” answered Rob, looking like he wanted to cry almost.

“We need to get out of here, and quick, I don’t think I’ve lost the guards,” Chaz explained, looking back behind him. There was nothing just a flaming marketplace and dead corpses scattered everywhere. “I’ll grab this side.” Chaz walked over to the other side of Mike, and swung his arm around Chaz’s neck and Chaz placed his arm around Mike’s waist. Rob followed.

“There are reinforcements coming,” Viking explained to Rob, as they started to quickly move away with Mike’s feet dragging behind him leaving drag marks in the dirt. Viking walked along a battered version of Rob, who looked by this stage he was going to collapse and that he was only just pushing his luck by walking “We have to get out of here before they come and we need to find a place to hide quickly.”

“What’s happened to the girls, Chaz?” asked Rob, not wanting to be rude and interrupt Viking, but instead Rob chose to ignore Viking for the time being. As Chaz wondered where his shirt was, but shrugged it off thinking it was already no good before it entered this war.

“I’m sorry man, I only saw Ravyn, I gave her the present, but I didn’t see Fox or Bella,” answered Chaz, recalling what he said. “I’m sorry but I think both Bella and Fox are dead.” Rob tried to control himself, but he couldn’t. He just started to cry, while walking. “Man, I told you, but I told you that I think they are dead, I don’t know for sure.” Chaz wanted to continue his explanation but Viking told him to cut it short, as they walked to find a good hiding spot where they could hide and also let Mike recover.

Sarah stood in a white blood stained Chinese dress, on top of a building, as she looked down with her beloved tachi (which was part of her father’s huge Japanese swords collection that he had taken off the Japanese at the beginning of the New World) in one hand with people’s blood shining off its ancient blade. She stood, while the wind swept her black long hair across her face and the full moon with its black craters glowed brightly in the night sky behind her. She had come out of that ****** battle unscathed and she congratulated herself for being perfect once again.

“Welcome to paradise, soldier,” she muttered to herself, as she saw the friends walk off with two of them carrying their Japanese blooded friend from the building that she was standing on.

****

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[Ravynlee]

You know, if I didn't know better I would assume that whole confrontation was a set up! Something about the last sentence with Sarah overlooking the procedings.. that was a wow moment. Loved that!

And I'm sorry I know it was serious but I HAD to laugh at Chas and Viking playing tag with the guards on their escape and all. That was fast paced and really got the heart racing. Rob's faux pas made me balk a moment. His woman? Chas's reaction mirrored my own in real life I can tell you, I was like 'what did he just say?' but then it was an 'awww' moment. Except the '*******' bit, darling Rob doesn't curse! XD Well... he's not a warmonger neither, but for the sake of the story and all...

That was a sweet sentimental moment in all the... um... manic mental chaos around them. Gotta love the big guy. No matter what we're paired as I still love him. Aww. I love him MORE when he takes control like this! *excited*

FINALLY we saw some conflict, it wasn't all talk on the unsettled streets under Spyral. Their tyrannical grip is weakening. Maybe. Awesome... but maybe... not so awesome. Like any batttle there's a heavy cost. Poor Fox and Bella (and Mike and me and so on) - where the **** are they?

Love it, overall love the pace of the chase scene, THAT was great.

And ended chapter on a very visual and expectant note.

AWESOME!

 

[Jeezy]

wow..i really had to catch up on some stuff....

I still love the story

 

[Greyfoxx]

OHHHH MYYYY GAWDDDD

love the update sis....i had to print it out to read it but omg it's soooo good

Yeah, like mum said, where am i!?

 

[woodyloveslinkin]

Okay please take NOTE before reading Chapter 23 - The Nolocaust.

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NOTE - I do not intend to offend The Holocaust survivors/the lives that it claimed or any of the events in the actual event, so relatives please take warning in the following chapters concerning The Nolocaust and its camps. And I do not intend to directly or indirectly oppose the Jewish faith as this is a faction story (fiction with a mixture of non-fiction events mixed in between there somewhere). I apologise to mods/readers if they find this chapter and the ideals held in within the content offensive in anyway as it touches on a couple of sensitive historic and personal nerves (including Hitler's **** regime which I do not personally attribute any praise to). You have been warned and the reason why I warned you all is that this is a public forum I will not have trouble with this chapter hopefully later on the track.

Chapter 23 - The Nolocaust

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Joanna walked the bare streets of Los Angeles, as she took in the destruction that had been created. The marketplace looked as though an atomic bomb had just hit. There was smoke present, creating a smoky haze around where she stood. She looked back on the previous evening’s events, as she thought how the events of the night penned out like a mental patient set loose. She had disappeared completely for the night and hid in someone’s basement, also sleeping there for the night until the violence had died completely.

It must’ve been the first time that she had seen the streets so empty. She couldn’t see anybody in sight. The only sound that she heard was the crackling of the fire in the distance, burning away at most probably the farmer’s hay supply. She was lucky, she told herself, for not only being part of the good generation of people in this world’s generation. She had to find Sarah and get to her immediately, for she was Joanna’s tourniquet almost, Joanna’s saviour who would protect her against being attacked from any Old Worlders, for she wore her rose pendant out in plain sight today. She was still in her pink shirt and her black hair’s curls had been twisted into knots, for her hair hadn’t been brushed.

She stopped and turned around, as she heard someone running her way. She was very wary today of who she was near her. She didn’t want to end up fighting for her life against an angry and rebellious Old Worlder.

“Meow,” Romeo meowed in front of Joanna, sitting down on its hind legs and started to lick its paws as Joanna went through the roof and felt like she had just been given a heart attack. Joanna turned around and picked up the cat, after of course thinking to herself that Romeo got around a lot for just a cat.

The footprints where getting closer, as she spun back around to see just a kid running gleefully through such destruction. Joanna now felt at ease, as she felt a bit safer. She stroked the cat that had now started to purr in her arms.

“What are you doing here?” Joanna asked the cat, not sure about where his owner would be. She wanted to find his owner for different reasons. “You seem to disappear than reappear a lot, don’t you little man?” The cat continued to purr, as she started to walk again, looking for any sign that would tell her that Sarah was close. She stepped over a number of dead corpses, thankfully, none that she recognised. A majority of them were Old Worlders who had fought for their lives in trying to defend their ways and their beliefs, as many rumours were around of what Sarah was going to do to them. A concentration camp had been set up and Old Worlders were going to be tortured was the primary rumour that inflicted much fear amongst that particular generation. Joanna didn’t care; she found no reason to care. She wasn’t really sisters with Ravyn, it was just Ravyn being delusional of course, or else Sarah would’ve told Joanna, right? She continued to walk as she saw someone up ahead in a white bloodied outfit throw logs on a massive bonfire. As she drew nearer and nearer she realised that it was Sarah, and they weren’t logs that she was throwing onto the fire.

Sarah stopped and noticed Joanna’s presence as a couple of guards rushed past her, almost knocking Joanna to the ground but Joanna stood her ground. Sarah had been injured, and had her outfit torn in several places around the collar. Sarah frowned as she wiped the sweat and dirt off her face. The inside of her palm was lined with cuts and grazes and decorated with dried blood. Her white Chinese dress had been soaked with various patches of blood. Her collar had been torn to the extent that it revealed a nasty shoulder wound that Melissa had inflicted moments just before Sarah sliced open all the main arteries in her throat, letting the blood spurt out from those broken arteries.

“Why are you still here, Joanna?” asked Sarah, crossing her arms as the smoke made her image hazy and distorted. Joanna was having trouble seeing her through the smoke that the bon fire that was fuelled by the burning of human corpses. “Why aren’t you with the rest of the traitors?”

“I’m not one of them so I felt no need to stick by them,” answered Joanna. “And if I did fight on your side, wouldn’t that be obvious that I am not part of their little group?”

“You could have stuck around to see some slaughtering of the worse kind of humans to walk this lonely planet,” retorted Sarah. “I am not labelling you a traitor, Joanna, I know that you are better than to do that to me.” A couple of more guards pushed past Joanna clipping her on the shoulder and most likely to cause a big bruise in a couple or more days. Joanna nursed her shoulder as the guards threw the corpses that they were carrying over their shoulder onto the bon fire in the distance, metres away from where Sarah was frowning.

“Why are you burning the bodies?” asked Joanna, not sure if she should ask that question in the first place. “I mean, are you just burning the bodies of the New Worlders that perished last night or what?”

“We are burning every body we can find so they do not reek of death and carry the distasteful scent of a half-complete victory over the Old World generation,” answered Sarah, as she started to walk towards Joanna. Joanna’s eyes were getting teary now and her eyes were highlighted by the glow of the fire. Los Angeles, when said it was never the same old place it used to be, it was highly emphasised that the days were night and the night was just the night. “Why do you have my cat, Joanna?”

“I found him just then,” answered Joanna, as Romeo jumped out of her grip and onto the ground. It walked along the bloodied ground with its tail up in the air, looking proud and strong as its owner stopped and knelt down to scratch, it under its chin. “What do you mean by half-complete victory?” Sarah stopped scratching her cat under his chin and stood up properly as she faced Joanna. “I don’t understand.”

“It is time for history to repeat itself I am afraid, that I have been given no choice but to do what all other Spyral projects have not done, to exterminate the Old World generation,” answered Sarah, as she knew that she would be faced with more questions from Joanna’s curiosity so she cut to the chase. “Before you ask me silly questions about what I meant about history repeating itself, is that…have you ever heard of The Holocaust?”

“Isn’t that a burger at McSpyral?” asked Joanna, as Sarah slapped her forehead. “I take it that as a no; am I right?” Sarah nodded as she looked back from cringing with pain because Joanna had no idea what Sarah would be talking about as Sarah realised that this was also a good thing, Joanna did not know of any Old World history. The pendant had been programmed to remember Old World terminology and some artificial memories, but not the history of the Old World generation.

“In a long story cut short, The Holocaust was the event in the Second Great War history that really brought out the definition of the term genocide,” Sarah explained, as she didn’t want to go into much detail. “Joanna, my faithful servant, my protégé, my dear New World friend, welcome to The Nolocaust.”

“Sounds interesting,” Joanna couldn’t help but to comment. “What does it consist of?”

“Hitler put the people who followed the Jewish faith –”

“Who?” asked Joanna, frowning in confused. “What a stupid name to give someone.”

“Do not interrupt me what I am speaking,” Sarah firmly ordered.

“My apology,” Joanna shortly apologised. Sarah ignored her pathetic idea of an apology and shrugged it off as she continued to explain to Joanna.

“Well that stupid name was the inspiration of my father’s Utopia ideal, and now, look around you! Destruction! This is bullshit, Joanna! This is not the world I was raised to perfect! Because there is always room for perfecta in this perfect world!” yelled Sarah, spinning around with her arms around and smiling sarcastically. She stopped spinning around and withdrew her hands to her side, as she looked to Joanna who was still confused by Sarah’s words and actions. Sarah didn’t know if she should tell Joanna this, it all being Old World knowledge and all, but then Sarah realised that if Joanna was told, Joanna could be Sarah’s heir as Sarah had no next of kin. She nodded at her own thoughts inside of her own head. “That man brought the world to his country’s doorstep. He made his country one of the most affluent and greatest of powers of the twentieth century. But he had to make sacrifices Joanna…I am not going to let anyone get in my way of my sacrifice making, because there’s no one to stop. That one man brought this world to you. Don’t you love it Joanna, this world? Do not you just love this world so much that you just want to hold it in your arms and never let go of it?” Joanna nodded, as she smiled along with Sarah. “I fought all night for this world and still, I cannot see why the Old Worlders choose to still defy me. Why, Joanna? Why do they choose to defy me continually? I am still curious to know why people cannot be more like you and I.”

“Because they don’t appreciate the world that you have sacrificed many things for, let alone what your father sacrificed for us,” answered Joanna, nodding at her own answer. Sarah walked over to Joanna, placed one hand on her shoulder, and nodded slowly agreeing with her. “What are you thinking?”

“I should only answer to you about my thoughts when they are suitable to be released,” answered Sarah, who was thinking deeply about an issue that Spyro had nagged at her many times. “Joanna, you are faithful and you are dedicated to Spyral and its orders, right?” Joanna nodded eagerly, not knowing where this would lead to. “I am afraid that this war may claim me as its victim. I cannot choose Brad for this role that I am about to give you.”

“What happened to Brad? Is he alright?” asked Joanna, a bit worried by Sarah’s tone when she had mentioned Brad’s name. Sarah held some tears back and shook her head. “Is…he…dead…?” Sarah nodded slowly. “I didn’t hear of it in the streets and trust me, a lot of things that are awful about Spyral gets around a lot I’ve been noticing. That Bella person tells everyone everything about everything that’s going on in Spyral, but I didn’t hear of Brad’s death, or else, I would’ve come back sooner. I’m sorry I didn’t know.”

“What kind of things go around?” asked Sarah as she looked back into Joanna’s eyes. “You speak of them as being awful, what are they?”

“They say how horrible Spyral is to everyone in general and a lot of nasty rumours about how Spyral is going to bring on Doomsday and that everyone is doomed because of Spyral,” Joanna recalled someone telling her once. That person nearly made her cry telling her such awful things, as she remembered the moment where Ravyn told her to calm down about everything and that she was just overreacting. “They are all lies, right? All lies…?” Sarah nodded. “I knew they were all lies, anyway, just making sure.” Then Joanna remembered what Sarah was talking about before about Brad’s shocking and sudden death. “Have you avenged Brad’s death?”

“Yes, and she is now hanging up on a cross nailed to it and all, to let the Old Worlders catch a glimpse of what happens when you cross me too many times,” answered Sarah, remembering what Sarah had ordered to do with Mel’s dead corpse. She nodded her head slowly. “It was not a normal death; he was stained with the blood of murder.” There was a small silence in between the two women, as Sarah sighed. “Good friends then and now we are still, friends beyond the grave.” Joanna couldn’t help but to admire Sarah’s loyalty to her now deceased friend. “That is why, I am choosing you to be my heir if I die in this war or die from the result of fighting for this brave New World.” Joanna gleamed with excitement and appreciation in that smile she wore on her face that looked like it was going to fall off her face soon. “Do not say thank you, I have heard it enough times from you. And as much as it is in your New World nature to thank me for everything that I have given you and sacrificed for you Joanna, I strongly request and advise not to do it today. Do it another day when I have washed the blood off my hands. You have no choice or any say it in The Nolocaust, understand me now that you have chosen to accept the role of my heir. You will be by my side on a consistent basis. I have already set up a designated area where the camps are. The prisoners of this war that we have managed to obtain are on their way.”

“What’s going to happen to the Comet’s Eye?” asked Joanna, remembering at one stage that Sarah was going to do something with it, or so Brad had said to her. “You can’t leave it there in its compression chamber forever.”

“Who said I was going to leave it lying around forever?” asked Sarah. “I do not remember saying that. Did I say that, Joanna?” Joanna shook her head in disagreement. Sarah turned around and stood beside Joanna, as she looked at the bodies burning away on the bon fire and as the guards kept on piling them up in amongst the other burning bodies and the flames that engulfed them and turned them to ash. She looked around in other places of the burning part of Los Angeles, not looking at Joanna at all. “This perfect world has a perfect ruler who is a perfect woman who has a perfect weapon along with a perfect usage for the perfect weapon. Remember not only how faultless that last sentence was, but think of the impact it will have on everybody around the perfectness in this world of ours.” Sarah even amazed herself about how many times she had just said the word perfect in that last part of her speech to Joanna and was amazed that she didn’t get tongue-tied in the process. Sarah knew only flawless people could say such a thing without ******** it up. Sarah looked at Joanna directly in the eyes, as she stood proud and strong next to her new proclaimed heir. “I have learnt from the mistakes of the past as my father would’ve wanted me to do as he did so. I will make sure there will be no Old Worlders left at the end of this chapter of history.” Joanna was going to say something about something called Project Tourniquet but she didn’t know what it was to begin with, she had only heard other members speak of it then get hounded for speaking about it in front of Joanna. Joanna shrugged the thought of thinking it couldn’t have been that important.

However, despite Sarah’s belief and impression that Adolf Hitler actually committed complete genocide of the Jewish community of Europe in the Second Great War in the twentieth century and the years leading up to it, Sarah didn’t know or had read the chapter that lied buried underneath Spyral’s bunkers, which clearly explained that Hitler didn’t succeed in such an attempt to change history books. Her father had thrown that chapter of history into a pit while Spyral was being built because he didn’t believe such a thing, that Hitler actually failed at something so clever and well planned out. He didn’t want his successor to know of such an atrocity, in this case, it was his daughter which lacked the information of Hitler’s failed, not succeeded, attempts to rid the continent of the Judaism faith and other insignificant figures that Hitler didn’t approve of.

“So if Hitler can get rid of the Jewish faith, whatever that was full of,… do you think you can exterminate the whole Old World population of the world, let alone Los Angeles?” asked Joanna, a bit curious and treading on fine sand with Sarah because Joanna was starting to imply that she didn’t believe that Sarah could pull off such a thing. Sarah didn’t care she was too busy in her own little world.

“Little pebbles Joanna, cause big ripples,” answered Sarah, slowly smiling like an evil dictator and not looking to Joanna, but back into the glow of the fire, as it illuminated her smile. “Little pebbles cause big ripples…”

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[Jeezy]

Keep writing girl

do you still plan to put it all in a book?

 

[woodyloveslinkin]

Sure am, I think that's what has been keeping me motivated to write more and more (and the thing that drives me to write those long chapters)

Oh yeah, thankies to all for your lovely comments and reviews.

 

[woodyloveslinkin]

Chapter 24 - Starzky and Hutch

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It was the usual morning meeting for Sarah as she strode down the hallway that had been decorated with the New World mourning colour of light lilac purple decked the halls in memory of their dead that they had lost on the battlegrounds. But Sarah wasn’t paying any attention to the other ones that she had lost, she was only thinking of Brad and the sword that sliced is killer’s throat which was now laying down on the coffin of Brad’s, still bloodied, as it was tradition not to let the blood be washed off one’s hands until the fight was over for good.

The fight for the New World had just begun.


Joanna, her heir, her protégé, and her beloved friend that she had come attached to so quickly, walked beside her with various pieces of paper in her grasp, as she kept looking down to see what the time was on her watch that Sarah had been given her to secure herself a place as her heir. She walked along with her black long curls bouncing along with the movements of her head and wore a red shirt, showing off her beloved rose pendant, with a pair of black pants. While her current leader was dressed in a yellow and light blue corset top with the light blue being the laces that were tied behind the Celtic cross that she proudly displayed on her chest. Along with the yellow and the light blue she wore a yellow skirt with light blue trimming at the edge, almost hiding her yellow boots. But it highlighted the artificial yellow streaks that had been dyed into her hair that morning by some nifty hands, as it coherently matched with the straightness of her black hair being fully out today.

Her associates lingered behind her in their black suits and matching black ties over their white shirts, as they displayed their shiny and newly polished black shoes that Sarah rolled her eyes at and refused to dress like the rest of her associates ever since gaining her status that was now in threat because of this clash of the worlds. She stopped suddenly, as Joanna stopped a metre or two, as she had only just realised that Sarah had stopped and now had turned around. Her associates came to a halt as well as soon as they saw Sarah standing still, looking their way with a frown on her face, and crossed arms.

“Now, tell me, is this meeting going to be another eventful waste of my time?” asked Sarah. “I have an attack on the Old World generation to plan and the last thing I want to do is listen to a bunch of rambling coming from an old hag about how he does not know how to fix a stupid virus. Talking of the virus, why is it still within these walls?”

“Has Spyro not told you?” asked the first associate, looking a bit suppressed and scared of Sarah. “We can’t exterminate it. It’s too powerful.”

“Okay in that case, are we one step closer to finding out who or what planted that virus in our walls?” asked Sarah. No one spoke up as no one had any answers and didn’t want to have their heads ripped off from Sarah. “I will take that as a no. Gentlemen, if this virus is the cause of us losing the war against the Old Worlders, I will have everyone in Spyral terminated for failing to terminate such a virus, understand?” She paused for a second and turned around to face Joanna, who was also looking a bit scared. “You are not included, as you have not done anything wrong concerning the virus. I do not punish people who have not sinned against me.” She turned back to face her associates. “I do not wish to continue the journey to our meeting room if I cannot get an answer around here. I do have better things to do. I wish to pay Spyro a visit before I continue my journey down to the camps.”

“Why do you want to be near a bunch of Old Worlders?” asked another associate, looking a bit confused by Sarah’s actions. “I mean, why would you want to be contaminated from them? They might have Old World diseases that we refuse to get rid of because of what generation they belong to.”

“We are New Worlders not farmyard animals Draven; we are immune to Old World diseases,” replied Sarah, smoothly. “The only thing we are prone to, especially me, is people’s bullshit about what other people can and cannot do. Now get rid of that virus, it is even starting to corrupt me and soon my corruption may end up with your expulsion off the planet. Do you comprehend or not?” Draven, the man with the sleek blonde hair gelled back nodded in his business attire. Sarah looked around angrily. “That was not only pointed at not only him but it was pointed at everyone, gentlemen!” Everyone immediately nodded and agreed with Sarah. Draven crossed his arms and frowned as Sarah bid her farewell to the gentlemen, as Joanna scattered along beside her. Draven didn’t stay behind but he chased after Sarah wanting to know what she wanted out of Spyro so badly that she had to depart the meeting when it hadn’t even started. Sarah frowned as she walked beside both Draven and Joanna now. “Am I leaving behind me a trial of gingerbread or dog biscuits this time, Draven?”

“Neither,” answered Draven, still walking alongside Sarah. “I’ve come to say that I’m sorry for your loss, concerning Brad.”

“No you are not, Draven,” retorted Sarah, brutally, still walking proud and strong, as Joanna started to shuffle through the papers in her hands. Sarah was too busy looking ahead of her to see what or who was coming her way to even notice Joanna shuffling through the papers. “You have not come here to pay your sympathies to my father and I for our eternal loss, so what is it, I ask you?”

“Why are you going to the base of Winter Station?” asked Draven, starting to annoy Sarah. “Think of the camps as breeding grounds for all sorts of things, including micro-organisms.” Sarah stopped, as Joanna stopped as well, but she was too busy rummaging through the pieces of paper. Sarah gave Draven a deadly stare. “I’m sorry, but am I telling you how to do your job?”

“Well no, you are only trying to be my father, that is all,” answered Sarah, sarcastically. “I hope you just picked up the sarcasm in my answer because if not, I would start saying goodbye to everyone else around you. A piece of advice Draven, do not, and I thoroughly promote this point since my time of reign had begun, do not tell me how to do my job and do not, and I repeat, do not act like my deceased father. You are nowhere near as a greater person or man as my father once was.”

One point that has to be mentioned about Sarah’s associate who went by the name of Draven, he was not of the New World generation as Brad was not either, as both had worked by Jonathon’s side. Draven was the defiant version of Brad and was only working at Spyral to save his backside from the reigns of New World order. Both Brad and Draven had be Old Worlders considering that they both worked with Jonathon to help establish and maintain Spyral.

Draven kept walking beside Sarah without a word.

“You need to sign these papers to get some statutes working considering the camps,” Joanna said to Sarah, showing her the pieces of paper that she had to sign. Sarah just pushed the papers out of sight not wanting to do anything about it just yet. Joanna looked at Draven and smiled at him. He smiled back in pure courtesy. Joanna refixed her eyes back on the papers that she was holding.

As much as Draven was dedicated to Spyral and had devoted his life to the corporation, he was about to snap it with Sarah. Her attitude was like a little brat’s attitude and although Draven was Jonathon’s best man at his wedding ceremony to Felicity, and had admired Sarah in her younger years (where she had not learnt to be so bratty), Draven was at snapping point with the insolent child that held the ultimate reign over every breathing, walking, and talking thing on the planet. Let alone controlling how people thought and manipulating nature to suit herself the most. But what really ticked Draven off was Sarah’s snide remarks about everyone who did the tiniest thing wrong. And also the fact that if Sarah wasn’t born, he would’ve been heir to Spyral’s glamorous throne and had things his way, he thought of these things as he walked along with Sarah not saying a word. Nor did Joanna say a word; she was immersed in other things.

They turned a corner and into the Mirror Board room where Spyro’s normal mathematic and scientific formulas were busy scrolling down the screen and the voice of Spyro’s humming away to a song that no one else could recognise. But there was no image of the digital woman to be seen.

“We can hear you, so do not pretend you are not here,” Sarah said, entering the room and started to make her way over to the chair that never seemed to move from in front of the scrolling screen. The digital blue woman’s face appeared and greeted the trio with a digital smile that seemed too life like to be anything like what Spyro really was, a program initiated by Spyral. Sarah sat down on the chair which hadn’t been moved for a long while, in front of the Mirror Board. She crossed her legs to reveal her yellow boots with the light blue shoe laces that laced their way up to her knees.

“What can I help you with?” asked Spyro.

“How many down from last night on our side?” asked Sarah, wanting to know the figures so Spyral can genetically copy guards to take the places of the fallen guards, both machine and human speaking.

“A lot,” answered Spyro, bluntly.

“Is that all you can tell me?” asked Sarah, a bit confused and a bit angry at the same time as well. The blue digital woman nodded. Sarah sighed as she closed her eyes, trying to maintain her patience with the program that was being difficult already.

“I have heard about your plans to copy Adolf Hitler’s in the Second Great War, only rumours though, Spytrax and Spytrical were the gossiping programs that told me,” the blue woman said.

Spytrax and Spytrical were twin programs in the programming world, in the real world; they would be described as being a pair of kids that would not shut up even if someone held a knife under their throat and blackmailed them. They had more ears than Spyro had, but Spyro was the one that hacked into their motherboards and disconnected their voice recognition controls when she had enough of them. They weren’t as sophisticated as Spyro because Spyro was the mother of all programs while Spytrax and Spytrical were attempted copies of Spyro, therefore, Spyro adopted them as her own two programmable children, but taught them nothing. Spyro feared that if she were the one to teach to them, they would hack into her motherboard and become more sophisticated and noisier than a bunch of monkeys placed with bananas in their hands.

Joanna stood there confused about who or what Spytrax and Spytrical were. She wasn’t sure what significance they were meant to be to her right now. Draven rolled his eyes, as he found Spytrax and Spytrical typical serial killer material. They were the evil twins from **** that no mother would want, unless of course the mother wanted two children come at her with knives in their hands. Spyro was the wise one that knew much more than her fellow programs and she knew what was best for not only herself, but for the corporation, and of course, Sarah.

“You hear correct, Spyro,” replied Sarah, firmly, placing her hands in her lap and waiting eagerly for Spyro’s response. Spyro shook her digital blue head, in disapproval of such a plan. “Do not shake your head at me. I do not need to seek counsel with every brilliant plan that I create.” Spyro stopped shaking her head and looked at Sarah as though she was a mother looking upset at her child to make the child feel guilty for doing something wrong. “Do not look at me like you are my mother. You are not my mother, Spyro. You have never been.”

“Your father was a great man for stubbornness, I have to say that,” the woman on the blue screen tried to explain, as Sarah was already at the point of shaking her head in disbelief.

“Do not make me permanently uninstall you, Spyro,” threatened Sarah, as she stopped shaking her head and started to frown instead.

“Why, because I am right?” asked Spyro, as she knew she was stepping on fine sand with Sarah. “You’ve got to hear me out before you uninstall me. After all, we’re friends, right?” Sarah didn’t answer her question, but continued her frown that she was giving the screen in front of her. “What you have read about Adolf Hitler’s regime out of the books that your father past onto you, isn’t true. He was defeated and he didn’t succeed in getting what he wanted, which was the complete genocide of the Jewish faith in Old World.” Sarah shook her head in disbelief. “Your father was the one that programmed me to be too smart for my own good and what he put into me about the **** regime wasn’t accurate when I compared that file to another one I found in Spytrax’s hard drive. Remember, your father did not create Spytrical or Spytrax, the teams who were trying to replicate my intelligence did. You are going to fall like Hitler, if you continue on with this plan. I don’t wish to see the end of Spyral, never do I want to see such an atrocity.”

“I think the virus has disrupted more than your ability than you think,” Sarah commented, shaking her head, and not believing what Spyro had to say for herself. “I think also Spytrical and Spytrax have been putting ideas in your head.”

“They have not been able to access my motherboard for quite a while now, and I am thankful of that,” replied Spyro. “What I tell is the truth and none other but the truth, as I know the journal does as well.” Spyro shot Sarah a nasty I-know-you-did-it look. Sarah rolled her eyes at Spyro. “You can’t fool me, I know you read the journal.”

“I have to go now, to talk to Spytrical and Spytrax and then uninstall their intelligence or whatever they have left of it, in fact, not today, tomorrow, got better things to do rather than those two programs play ping pong all day,” retorted Sarah, angry at the fact that Spyro was starting to change the subject and Sarah just had enough of Spyro’s lies today. If she was capable of detecting sorrow in someone’s voice she was capable of telling the truth. Sarah got to her feet, but didn’t turn around as she wanted to see Spyro’s reaction.

“What like this?” asked Spyro as the screen switched to a black screen with a white ball being hit by two white bars on either side of the screen. The bars moved in coordination to where the white ball was moving.

“Are you spying on the pair?” asked Draven softly, as he felt like speaking up for once; instead of letting the little brat do all the talking. Sarah turned around shot Draven an evil look. Draven was used to this by now and ignored her glare. The digital woman nodded her head faintly in the background.

“Get back to work Spytrical and Spytrax!” barked Sarah as the ping pong game came to a stop and the screen was wiped blank as two smiley faces, both black and yellow, appeared. Sarah’s and Draven’s eyes were wide open by this stage of seeing what someone had done to the twins of the programming world. “Oh, someone help me quick, what did they do to you two guys?”

“I dunno,” answered the one on the right which was Spytrax, as Spyro could be heard in the background giggling. The one that had just spoken turned around so disappeared out of sight and came back again and now was an unhappy face. “Spyro’s been spying on us again.”

Unlike Spyro who could change facial expressions almost automatically, these two had to disappear to refresh their emotional input database.

“Good, you’ve been slacking off by the looks of things,” Joanna spoke her turn. “I mean, I would love to sit around all day and play ping pong, but we’ve got a war to win.” Sarah stopped frowning, giving people nasty looks and thinking about giving an exile order to Draven’s name as she stopped and smiled at Joanna’s enthusiasm. “Do you know what the statistics for the battle loss is?”

“Depends,” answered Spytrical, the one still smiling like an animated Ivna addict, as Spytrax disappeared off the screen for a second. “Can you give me a second?” The animation didn’t even wait for an answer from anyone in the room that was human as it disappeared off the screen.

“Sure thing…where did it just go?” asked Joanna, smiling in confusion, as Spytrax came back onto the screen with a happy face.

“It’s been over a second, tell us, now,” ordered Draven, getting at the end of his tether with just everyone and everything today. “Or be prepared to be uninstalled immediately.”

“I’m back,” smiled Spytrax, with the happy smiley face on this time, as his twin program come back onto the screen. “Well, we have the statistics. Oh wait, hold on, sad face is needed.”

“Stay,” growled Sarah, before the animation had a chance to go away. It stopped and obeyed Sarah’s orders. Sarah felt like she was treading on thin ice because it was getting painful and discomforting trying to get the simplest thing out of anyone today. “Tell us with your happy face, I really could not care what face you break the news to me with. After all, you are only just a program I am going to end up uninstalling by the end of the day if you really knock all my marbles over.”

“A quarter of our army went down in that little clash you had on the streets,” answered Spytrax sensibly, as Sarah shrugged and told herself that was hardly anything. “Oh I heard about your little camp idea.”

“Good, shut up about it, because I am out of here,” retorted Sarah, as she expected Joanna to follow her outside to the hallway, but Joanna didn’t, only Draven did and that was because he wanted to get at her about something. Sarah stopped at the doorway to see Joanna waiting for Spyro to come back onto the screen while the other two programs were having fun. “Joanna, I am leaving and that basically says you are supposed to come with me as well.”

“I have to stay here to get some codes off Spyro to put some forms through,” explained Joanna, looking apologetic. Sarah rolled her eyes and walked her off. Draven followed her and walked with her on her right side. “She’s already proving to be more pathetic than you.”

“Then you have to question why are you giving you the reign after you?” asked Draven, as Sarah suddenly stopped and so did he. They looked dangerously into each others eyes. “Come on Sarah, exile me for being a smart *** like you’ve done with the rest of the associates that worked with your father. Come on, I dare you.”

“I’ve already been tempted to many a time, do not make me sign the actual papers,” retorted Sarah, giving him the same old nasty look as before. “The only reason I am keeping Joanna here with me, is because she’s a very valuable tool to me and this corporation and if I had a choice to blow the greatest asset we have right now, I would not blow it even if my life depended on it. The only reason why I am keeping you in this corporation is that I have promised myself that I will not exile any of my associates while the New World bleeds in this new war, especially of those who worked with my father. However, push me anymore further than you already have by defying and mocking my authority over you and this society, and I will be the one glorified for pushing you off the edge for that you are worth. Now, I believe you have another dog biscuit trail to sniff out. Good day to you Draven, and improve on those manner skills in our next meeting.” Sarah walked away just like that, as her skirt followed her swiftly in the breeze that was created by her walking at the fast and rushed pace that she usually liked to walk along these corridors and hallways with.

“I will have my revenge on you sooner or later,” Draven muttered under his breath, making sure that no one was around to see or hear him mutter such words that would’ve placed up under the treason statute of the New World. Hardly anyone walked these corridors anymore, compared to what it was like before the war had been declared on the Old World generation that still called Los Angeles home. Draven muttered something else under his breath, something along the lines of you spastic ***** and the usual cussing words that he had grown used to calling Sarah. Draven had been tempted to kill Sarah and put an early end to her life, but now, he had never felt so pushed to end that little brat’s life. And now that he was just that small distance away from the edge, he may as well just push himself over the edge, because she was going to do it for him sooner or later.

****

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[Ravynlee]

“Little pebbles Joanna, cause big ripples,” answered Sarah, slowly smiling like an evil dictator and not looking to Joanna, but back into the glow of the fire, as it illuminated her smile. “Little pebbles cause big ripples…”

Brilliantly put! That one ending statement really made that chapter. And Draven huh? Interesting inclusion. I had almost anticipated him to be Chester the town drunk's long lost son but since you put his age somewhat older having worked with/for/alongside Jonathan I guess that's unlikely. But that was a name I hadn't been expecting. Just what Sarah needed, yet another enemy trawling through the ropes to get at her. It's true though; bigger the fame, bigger the target; with Brad's demise I am thinking that Sarah has few close friends she can trully rely on now - and an interesting twist to see her embrace Joanna as the heir - didn't see that one coming! Way to pit sister against sister, and just when I thought this chick couldn't get any eviler!

(eviler? Well you get what I mean )

As for the Nolocaust, I can't see the offence in its inclusion in this chapter. I think it corelates well to the theme of one superpower doing everything in its power to dominate another if not all. Hilter tried to make the 'perfect' Arian race in much the same way Spyral has tried thus far to create a perfect society, so yeah, makes sense. The very notion of concentration camps makes me sick to the pit of my stomach having done my own research on it for my own benefit over the years, so it's likely to be something that will twist a few people's stomach - but I will say this, IF you choose to write about something that is a little taboo or risque or even borderline acceptable, if you want it to pack the full emotive punch you can't shy away from the reality of it. The Holocaust was gut-wrenching for all too many reasons, and not to 'cash in' or 'glorify' the atrocities of it but if you bring it up you have to give it due credit. No point glossing over it. That's why, as I sit here anticipating something truly horrifying (given your gore fixation as of late) I know it's not so much art for art's sake but it does serve a purpose. And in the context of THIS particular story it DOES tie in well - depending of course on the Jewish faith and who still retains it in the rebel faction. (Did we touch on this before, Rob's Jewish in this too, right?) Anyway if he IS then this new chapter drawing on an old past will certainly draw a lot of heat from Rob and Mike, given their ancestors were no stranger to these horrors. Mel's body on a cross - smacks in the face of Christianity/Catholocism. Really, short of bastardising the Hindu or Budhist or such faiths I think she (Sarah / Spyral) has pretty much given the proverbial finger to the ways, beliefs, and atrocities of the past. Cant see how something like mass slaughter will make a lick of difference to that evil *****'s way of thinking.

Loved it, as always. And it STILL reads well/holds together for a sci-fi kind of story. This little world you've created has now come into its own. You've given it stability now. The sign of a good writer Keep it up.

 

[woodyloveslinkin]

Chapter 25 - The Islander

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“Get up! Now!” yelled the guard standing at the doorway with a weapon in one hand, hitting it against the door, as his shadow against the bright lights from outside gave an eerie touch to the room, where a bunch of women had just been randomly shoved in with a bunch of mattresses on the floor. The guard walked away to leave the women to get up in the dark room, as there was no lighting but the only lights they had to survive by was the lights from outside that artificially grew the farmyard vegetables and fruits for the New Worlders and Spyral.

Bella was the first one out of the now reunited trio of the three women to sit up. Her once perfect long straight silvery hair was now in tatters, as she tied it back with an elastic that was wrapped around her small wrists during their sleeping time, or whatever little sleep that they managed to have. The women had been here for almost twenty four hours and they hated it.


Fox was the second woman to sit up straight, but didn’t do anything except for looking at the floor blankly. Like her friend, her red hair was ragged and not brushed. Her bare feet were cold and the white clothes that all the women in the various rooms had been given wasn’t very thick and kept little of the cold out when the actual night settled down on them.

They had to start work on the fields on an empty stomach that growled for the most of the day, and were only fed little, like a piece of bread or a cup of energy drink for the day.

Ravyn groaned as she rolled over and tried to think of her happy place that she would think of in times of need. She couldn’t remember much of the conflict that had been fought and most probably lost to Spyral. She remembered being dragged away from Rob and how she couldn’t yell out to him for help and how Rob was kept too busy with the guards to chase after her.

Wait, she stopped and thought to herself, why is it out of the few memories from that night was Rob always in them? She opened her eyes, as she looked around to see where she was. She hadn’t been dreaming, everything that she had dreamt about being put into a camp had been real and that she was living that nightmare that she had dreamt last night. Where every woman or anyone from the Old World, was to force to heavy labour out on the dank fields to try and grow a crop that was going to die anyway. She pulled the white sleeves of her top that she had been given over her cold hands and sniffled, as she just wanted to escape from this place, but she knew what had happened to the last bunch of people that tried to escape. They were beaten to death with all sorts of killing instruments. This couldn’t be real; she tried to tell herself on more than one occasion. It’s the Khmer Rouge all over again and it’s not even the Old World that she was living in.

“It’s time to get up,” Fox croaked, as she was the mattress with a single thin cover on the worn mattress that was in between Bella and Ravyn, almost like the piggy in the middle. “You saw what they did to the last woman that didn’t get up when she was told.”

“I don’t want to remember,” replied Ravyn, as she tried to block out the screaming and the cries for help that escaped the woman’s mouth that had chosen to go back to sleep and defy New World order. No one knew what happened to her after she left the building that everyone last saw her leave out of. There were rumours of cruel torture and intense descriptive rumours about how they sliced her throat and fed her organs to the dogs at the watch towers that overlooked the bordering lands of wherever they were. No one had any idea that Spyral could do anything like this, almost like as though they were planning the next generation of the Holocaust victims. But with every genocide attempt, there were always survivors, Ravyn told herself.

Ravyn sighed as she sat up, looking at her pale bare feet that looked like a combination of purple and blue. She swung her feet over and stood up on the ground, as she rolled her sleeves up from hiding her hands. Bella followed Ravyn, as Ravyn put her knotty hair back. Fox just sat there staring at the ground, not knowing what this day might bring for her, death, or survival.

“We need to start going if we want to be fed,” Bella urged Fox, as Bella walked around the end of her mattress, ignoring the rest of the women that had been shoved in the large room, and walked over to Fox. She knelt down beside Fox and looked her in the eyes, while Fox avoided direct eye contact with Bella. “What are you worrying about? If we do what is told of us, we’ll be set free. Don’t you think so?” Fox shook her head. “Why do you disagree with me?”

“Rob’s read to me about the sort of stuff we are all in now,” Fox answered looking at Bella, worried. “They are trying to get rid of us, just because we are not of the New World. Prisoner of War camps, it’s like the Holocaust almost. But have they not thought of that we are not intellectually smarter than them? I can’t even read.”

“Don’t think that way, we are going to get out of here alive, somehow or another, but don’t think for one second we’re going to die a miserable death, just do what you’re told and put up with it,” Bella told Fox, as Fox didn’t say or do anything. “You have to agree with me Fox.” She looked to Ravyn for support. “Don’t you think I’m right, Ravyn?”

“I can see where you are getting at,” answered Ravyn, crossing her arms but then uncrossing it as she saw a broken lantern on the floor nearby. As she crossed the room, different colours streaked across her face as the windows had changed and basically with every different window there was a different light trying to keep the crops alive by artificial light. She bent down and scattered the broken pieces of the shattered glass with her fingertips as various women around started to get up from their mattresses on the floor, not taking notice of what Ravyn was doing. “You can look at that way or you can just choose to end your life right now. Go up to the watch tower now and then act like a lunatic. And then be tortured, while they rip your intestines out and hang them around the place as though they are decorations to a forbidden religious event like C-h-r-i-s-t-m-a-s.” She picked up some shattered pieces of glass and placed them carefully in her other palm. She closed the hand that carried the pieces of glass and walked back to Bella and Fox who were now standing up fully, ready for another day of hard labour on the fields. “I wouldn’t be surprised if Spyral is coming out with a beta version of another world that they are planning to create. What are they trying to achieve really, and New World stylised race of Aryans or to create a world where Pol Pot failed to achieve?”

“We better keep our voices down about this,” Bella warned, as a couple of women were staring at Ravyn for what she just said. “The last thing we want to end up is part of a dog’s breakfast. I don’t know about you, but I would like to have my bile inside of me not on a mutt’s food plate.” A guard’s shadow firstly appeared at the door, as the women looked around to see not only was there a strong and fearful shadow standing at the door, but there was a guard decked out in his Spyral red and black uniform.

“This is the day for you, firstly, the great ruler of this world is coming down to have a word to you, choose to misbehave or cause offence to Spyral or the throne, and you’ll be seeking instant death!” barked the guard, looking around at the standing women who was had their entire attention on the guard. “You will not be working immediately as the last thing that she needs to see is, dirty peasants being near her. You are not to leave this room until I come back and then you will follow me to prepare to meet the ruler, the heir to the throne, and Jonathon’s closest friend who still is working with Spyral. Am I understood?” Every woman in the room mumbled in agreement and nodded their head. “Good. I don’t want to see any trouble.” The guard walked away as every woman in the room that had been crammed inside it felt a relief inside her body, but at also at the same time, a strange tinge of fear also ran down their spines as the thought of not being fed was now obviously present in the worried looks around the room. If they didn’t work for a day, they weren’t going to get fed. Which would mean that would have to starve themselves, until the evening where they got the only food that wasn’t even classified as a decent meal.

Fox turned to Bella quickly.

“Does this mean we’re not getting fed, Bella?” asked Fox, wanting answers, as she was confused. Bella didn’t know so she shrugged as she sat back down on the end of her mattress. Fox started to cry as Ravyn was quick to notice the watery eyes of hers and came to her aid. Fox sat on her mattress and hid her face in her arms. Ravyn came and sat down next to Fox on her mattress as Ravyn tried to give her a comforting hug, but even Ravyn knew it within herself, less work would mean less food. Ravyn knew what would be on the menu for tonight by the sounds of the announcement that was just made, breadcrumbs. Ravyn stopped hugging Fox as she looked to the cried and listened to Fox sniffling. “I don’t want to be here.”

“No one does,” replied Ravyn. “Take a look around this place and I will be gobsmacked if there is an individual that actually loves being here.” Then it hit Ravyn, the glass that she was still holding and the universal serial bus that Chaz had given her was still underneath her pillow that felt like a ton of bricks when slept on. “The virus…”

“What about it?” asked Fox, removing her face from her arms and looking to her friend. “It’s most probably back with Chaz, wherever he might be.”

“No, he gave it to me,” answered Ravyn, softly as Bella got up and started to walk over to join her fellow friends in another scheme which was being formulated. “It’s under my pillow…I think.”

“What do you mean…you think?” asked Fox, frowning a bit. “How did you get it anyway and not have it taken off you when you were searched for items?”

“I have my ways,” answered Ravyn, as Bella arrived at sat down next to Fox. Ravyn smiled as she got up and detached herself from her other two friends. She walked over to her flat mattress and lifted up the pillow. There was the USB that Chaz had given her, and surprisingly not stolen. “But one problem….” She trailed off in her sentence as she realised that she had to put it into the actual motherboard which she assumed was inside Spyral’s walls. “Dammit.”

“What?” asked Bella, turning around to see what Ravyn was doing, as Fox followed Bella in turning around. Ravyn frowned as she opened her palm which was still holding the shattered glass (Ravyn was surprised that she hadn’t cut herself while holding those shattered pieces of the broken lantern) and quickly placed the USB in it. She frowned as she realised that she was lucky enough to get pants with pockets in it. She quickly shoved all of the items that she held in that one hand into that pocket as the guard came back.

“Okay you miserable Old Worlders come on!” barked the guard, as Ravyn spun around. Bella and Fox got up and waited for Ravyn to arrive beside them. They walked of in their trio of friendships bound together by the hope of a better society and a better world.

Bella and Fox had an angel on their shoulder telling them Ravyn was up to no good now, and given their circumstances in this camp, Second World War style, they weren’t as patriotic and as eager to escape compared to what they were like when they were still together with the rest of Project Tourniquet’s members. Ravyn had that look on her face, as they walked outside into the darkness of the day, as their faces were illuminated by the various coloured lights and as they treaded carefully along the ground with their bare feet.

“Why do I have the feeling you’re going to end up dead at the end of the day?” asked Bella, as she kept her voice down, next to Ravyn. It was Bella’s turn to play piggy in the middle.

“I have to get into Spyral’s headquarters and I need to plant this virus, for Chaz’s sake, for the sake of our freedom,” answered Ravyn, quickly digging out the memory stick out of her pocket, showing it to Bella quickly and then hiding it away, so no one else could see it. “Chaz gave me the virus the other night and told me to put into the main system.” Then Ravyn almost froze in her path, but Bella dragged her along, trying to keep up with the rest of the crowd, as she remembered that she could now remember events that didn’t concern Rob’s presence.

“How are you going to do that?” asked Bella, trying to keep her voice down without yelling at her friend and calling her senile. “You don’t have a get out of jail free card and you certainly don’t have a choice but to do what you’re told around here. It’s bad enough they are going to starve us like dogs eventually and then there will be no Old Worlders left to try and bring Spyral down.”

“I want to see this heir of Spyral’s they’ve got now to precede this tyrant,” Ravyn commented softly. “If I provoke the heir I don’t get done for treason because I am not directly doing it to that two-faced brat.”

“What are you talking about, two-faced brat?” Bella pouted. “She never had two faces, just the bratty one face of a tyrant’s that one day I am going to punch and distort that pretty face of hers.” Suddenly everyone stopped, as Fox found herself being crammed between two women. She pushed her way free as she realised she had lost herself and detached herself from both Bella and Ravyn. “Where the **** is Fox?”

“Bella!” yelled Fox, as she put her hands up in the air. Both women could see it, but there were just too many people in the way and the last thing Ravyn wanted was to be trampled over.

“Just stay put, okay? We’ll see each other at the farms!” Bella yelled back, as Fox nodded to herself, but because neither Bella nor Ravyn were near her to see Fox nod to herself. She looked to Ravyn. “This better be worth my short attention span when it comes to people and things I hate.”

“Everyone in a line!” ordered the guard who was at the front of the bunch of women that looked like they were ready to just smack someone’s face in with a weapon of some sort. “Now!” There was a hustle and some noises made to try and get everyone into a straight line, as Ravyn moved next to a random woman that she had no idea who she was, but knew she was an Old Worlder because she wouldn’t be here and she also lacked a New World and moved to Bella’s left.

“Should I be worried that you’re going to make a run for the watch towers that line this place and try to do something stupid?” asked Bella, whispering it into Ravyn’s ear. Ravyn shook her head. “Good. Only the heir right and not to the actual brat’s face?” Ravyn nodded. “Again, what is it going to achieve? I got lost in that part.”

“Wait and see,” replied Ravyn, with a small smirk on her face.

“Shut up!” yelled the guard as he stood in front of the now straight line of prisoners that looked like an army drill with the soldiers listening to their commanding officer and awaiting instructions. “There is to be no speaking from no one. Those who oppose will be extradited to the jail cells of Spyral and awaiting exile.” Ravyn was about to be a smart *** and question why they weren’t going to get immediate death on the spot or torture, like previous cases got the privilege of being killed or have their internal organs be fed upon by ravenous beasts of all kinds. Then she decided not to as her mouth drop as she saw Joanna walking through the large and spiky gates of the camp with a young adult woman and an elder man.

Ravyn had completely forgotten about Joanna and now started to wonder what she had been up to since they left each other in the market place. She opened her mouth to say something but she closed it as Bella shook her head.

“The brat hasn’t changed since our last encounter, still in her imported corset outfits,” Ravyn heard Bella mutter under her breath. “And looks like Draven’s gone back to kissing some *** even more, first it was Jonathon’s and now looks like he’s kissing both the heir’s and the –” Bella stopped and yelled at the top of her lungs but still in a low mutter “Holy ****! Joanna’s the heir?! What the **** is wrong here, I wonder! Not only did she double cross us and disappear when we were fighting, she’s actually backstabbed us, what a surprise!” Bella laughed at the last comment, as she realised she should’ve seen this coming as Joanna was a New Worlder after all.

“Keep it down!” yelled the guard, giving Bella an evil look. “Keep it down or lose the tongue, now which one do you want?” Bella bowed her head down as her response. “That’s more like it. Now everyone, be quiet.”

Bella raised her head again and looked to Joanna’s sister on the side of her.

“Am I just seeing things but what the ****?” asked Bella, as Ravyn then realised that everything made sense; the heir was coming down along with one of Jonathon’s friends and the ruler. “Are you still sure that you want to provoke the heir still?” Ravyn nodded as she remembered the things that really annoyed Joanna, like stupid little pet names.

“If it gets me in,” answered Ravyn softly as she couldn’t turn away from the feeling of being deceived by her own blood. She couldn’t even trust her own family, that’s how hurt she felt. Joanna had now been pronounced as the next ruler, and the last thing Ravyn wanted was a beta version of a more horrible world. “I am after all her sister; I know how to get to her.” The trio walked down together, as the ruler, or so it seemed wore her imported corset attire that Bella spoke of.

“Good day to you, filthy Old Worlders,” introduced Joanna, as the ruler and Draven stood behind Joanna, as Joanna held her hands behind her back and paced backwards and forwards, up and down the line. “As witnessed from the previous evening’s events it is now war against your generation of people who dirty the streets of Los Angeles with your daft ideals and dim-witted antics. But fear not, Spyral is here to help you. Do as we say and you will be set free.” The ruler smiled at the last sentence, as Bella and Ravyn both knew they all were going to starve to death before they had a chance to be set free. “We at Spyral are good in a way; we are only trying to do what is best for society. Don’t be fooled by us though, we are not babies and we look at everyone, even the New Worlders, with sharp eyes.” Joanna stopped in her tracks. “I explicity say this, you aren’t powerful you are all weaklings compared to Spyral and the generation of New Worlders that purify the streets of the City of the Angels.”

“Don’t be fooled by us Jo, we’re more powerful than you think we are,” said Ravyn, smirking at the Joanna’s nickname that she had always hated to be called by. Joanna frowned as the guard huffed and started to walk over to Ravyn. He grabbed her arm, as Joanna walked back and ordered the guard to let go of the Old Worlder that chose to speak up. The guard huffed again and retreated back to his original position as Joanna looked at Ravyn with curiosity. “What? And while you’re at it, you may want to correct yourself; it’s now the City of Fallen Angels.”

“What did you just call me, prisoner?” asked Joanna, full knowing who Ravyn was, but decided to act dumb anyway, because there was no point trying to explain herself to an Old Worlder.

“By the name you’ve always loved to be called by, Jo,” answered Ravyn with a smile on her face. “Isn’t that right, Jojo?”

“Don’t mock me, and certainly don’t call me by that name,” retorted Joanna, crossing her arms and looking at her deprogrammed Old World sister. “In fact, don’t speak of any addresses to me, I don’t want your filthy mouth saying my perfect and clean name.”

“You were always one for being up yourself, Jo, always the child that was the bees knees of society,” continued Ravyn, as Fox was down the line, praying secretly to herself that Ravyn would just shut her mouth. “Always wanting the attention off the folks.” Some people gasped as they realised that Ravyn and Joanna were relatives of some sort.

“Quiet!” ordered the guard, hushing the gasping.

“Are you asking for immediate death or am I just being daft?” asked Joanna. “Oh wait, reality check, I cannot be daft because I am one step behind the ruler of being perfect. I’m closer to perfectness than you will ever be, Old Worlder.”

“Go flaming nuts, you can shake me, but you can’t break me, ******,” retorted Ravyn, knowing that would certainly rock Joanna’s boat on several levels. Bella pleaded with herself secretly to not let loose as well, as she was very much tempted to join Ravyn’s parade of contaminating Spyral’s authority over the New World. Bella then thought of Fox, and where she was and how she was going to survive by not having anybody read the seedling instructions for her. Bella shrugged at her thoughts thinking she better keep her mouth shut for Fox’s sake.

“Guards, take her to our cells!” ordered Joanna, as two guards came out of the darkness behind the line of women and grabbed hold of Ravyn’s arms. Joanna smiled evilly as Ravyn smiled back sarcastically. “You’re not going to be seeing too much of that attitude of yours for quite some while now.”

“Tootles, send me a postcard while you’re away,” whispered Bella, as Ravyn gave her a smile and she was dragged by both arms into darkness. Ravyn knew within herself that Joanna, just in general, was easy to provoke given that Ravyn screwed around with the right chords that held her together. Even though now Joanna was now the heir to the throne and had changed dramatically compared to a few days ago when they last saw each other, her chords that made her angry hadn’t changed, her being a New Worlder and all, wasn’t really hard to figure out.

“See that guy?” whispered the woman that once stood next to Ravyn but now had merged in with connecting the line of prisoners and now next to Bella. Bella nodded. “They call him The Islander, because apparently after the blast he was swept off his boat and forced to live on an island.” Joanna was still talking about life and death in the camp and trying to prove to Sarah that she was authoritative and could implement every word that was said. “That’s where Jonathon found him, on an island off Mexico.”

“You know what?” asked Bella, whispering as well. “I know him, his name is Draven and we were high school sweet hearts back in the Old World. He’s the biggest *** to walk the planet. Don’t ever go out with him, especially now that he works for Spyral. Unless you want your husband to backstab you of course, by all means, go nuts.”

“The name’s Mary,” answered the woman, still whispering, as she was careful not to move her lips too much. “Yours is dear?”

“No it’s not dear, it’s Bella,” answered Bella, as she smiled slightly at her own joke. “Better stop talking hey, Mary? Unless you want to be a ****** Mary by the time that rat bag is through talking to us.” Both women smiled at Bella’s Old World allusion to the cocktail that was once served in bars and restaurants.

“You are Old Worlders! You are not loved by society and we cannot have you dirtying our streets!” ordered Joanna, continuing her pacing backwards and forwards in the line of prisoners. “Thus, we have proposition for you to change your ways and be accepted into society. We’ll do you a favour, we’ll rip you of those awful memories you have of the Old World so you don’t have to think about the politicians and the democratic bullshit back then. Choose to accept and Spyral will love you with all of its loving arms. Choose to deny such love from Spyral, and you will ultimately be killed from New Worlders.”

“I think she means that Spyral’s going to kill us all eventually, because we all hate New Worlders,” Bella corrected, whispering it Mary. Mary nodded in agreement with her ginger red hair also in knots in it and was starting to flutter in the breeze that was slowly picking up. “Spyral’s full of ****, period. No debate.”

“And no argument either,” Mary added, as Joanna stopped talking. They stopped talking because the last thing that they wanted to do, is end up like Ravyn because they were talking. They were even surprised that none of the guards had heard them whispering, let alone seeing their lips moves. Joanna started talking again as though she was the one that was ruling the world right now, not as the heir that was bound to make everyone’s life a living planet **** multiplied by ten. “They must think we’re lip syncing or something. Are they really that stupid?”

“You have no idea,” answered Bella, as she was about to roll her eyes, but stopped, because she realised that the guards would conclude that she was either talking while Joanna was giving her speech that was supposed to scare everyone out of their socks (metaphorically speaking as no one who was a victim in this scenario of a society gone wrong was wearing socks or even shoes) or she was rolling her eyes at Joanna, in all actual truth, Bella was tempted so badly to roll her eyes at Joanna. “I’m picking out a postcard for Ravyn, what should it be of?”

“You should wait until this society is destroyed before picking out postcards,” answered Mary. “It should be of Welcome back to the Old World with a dolphin jumping out of the sparkling blue ocean on it.”

“That should be soon in that case,” Bella faintly smiled, as the thought of Project Tourniquet’s perfect but yet broken ideal coming into play. She knew that Rob and the group were too dead set on getting back the Old World and its values that it had to be ignored due to the conflict in the marketplace between the two generations. She knew that Ravyn was going to somehow bring Spyral to a standstill with the virus that Chaz had obviously completed. But what concerned Bella the most, was, when was she and the rest of the Old Worlders were going to get out of this camp alive, let alone thinking about how they were going to do it as well.

“What are you smiling at, prisoner?” asked Joanna, noticing Bella’s faint smirk, as Joanna came back from her position at the end and looked at Bella directly in the eyes. “Is there something funny about what I just said?”

“No, I am only jealous of your beauty and your gracefulness,” Bella sucked up to Joanna, big time.

“You smile when you’re jealous of something or in my case, of me?” asked Joanna, a bit confused by Bella’s answer.

“Yes, I work in weird ways,” answered Bella, trying not to laugh in Joanna’s face about the amount of lies that Bella had just spoken to the heir. Not to mention how funny she thought Joanna was trying to act like she was already the ruler of the entire planet. “I apologise for my Old World ways, I’ll change them just for you.”

“That’s very nice to hear from you,” smiled Joanna, as Bella was trying so hard not to slightly show any indication of laughter. Joanna continued on with her speech. “More people should be like that prisoner, I just spoke to!” Joanna turned around and looked at Bella. “What is your name?”

“Ravyn,” answered Bella, knowing that the name would ring a couple of bells. In fact, she was so surprised that Ravyn hadn’t been taken away sooner but from Sarah’s order as Bella knew too well who Ravyn was and what she had done in the past concerning Project Narcissi Extraction. Bella was there, young she was, but she remembered the blow to the heart Ravyn did with a syringe to Sarah’s mother.

“You aren’t her,” debated Joanna. “The guards just left with her.” Bella thought to herself that it was pretty so **** stupid of Sarah, that the killer of her mother was standing here just minutes ago and jack all was done about her until she spoke and did something that was against the rules set down to the prisoners. “You lie!” Joanna looked back to Sarah for answers, in which Sarah in all truth was failing at the perfectionist image about knowing everything.

“I don’t lie to anyone, not even to myself,” replied Bella. “The woman you just took was Bella.” She looked to Sarah to see a confused ruler standing next to Draven. “And yes, little ******, I am the one that killed your mother. She screamed like a little girl.”

“Imprison her immediately in our cells!” yelled Sarah, who was still standing next to Draven still with a furious look on her face which was a drastic change from a confused look that she had originally had when Joanna looked to her for answers. “Death awaits, Ravyn.”

“You want a postcard?” asked Mary, whispering to Bella, as Mary was a bit confused as well, given that they had only just met. Bella was grabbed by a pair of guards. Bella managed to nod and smile as she was dragged off, the same way that the real Ravyn had been dragged off to.

Bella had completely forgotten about Fox as Fox stood there alone and confused as ever. Fox didn’t know what to do or say, in fact, she felt like grabbing Bella and trying to free her from the grasps of the guards. But the only thing that was stopping her was the gut wrenching feeling that hibernated in the back of her head that told her that it was time to stay still and to not to grab Bella and try to run.

“**** that thought,” Fox told herself, as Bella was dragged past her. Fox turned around quickly and made a dash to free Bella. She grabbed the both of the guards’ hands and tried to bite them. Two at a time, she tried to bite, two hands at a time, which belonged to either guard. One of them shrieked in pain as Bella tried to free herself, but their one hand grip on either one of her arms was too strong.

Reinforcements were called in, and Fox found herself shortly holding out to Bella, as she was dragged in the opposite way. Fox knew she wasn’t going to the Spyral headquarters with the real Ravyn and the fake version of her, she knew she was going somewhere else. Fox wailed and screamed out for Bella, but not mentioning her real name, but more so screamed out the name Ravyn, but nonetheless Fox screamed out for Bella to help her, while Bella couldn’t do anything as she was immobilised by fear and now was blinded by tears that Fox was now a goner, or so she assumed.

Bella was now out of sight for Fox, as Bella thought the worst was going to happen to Fox, as there were rumours of the women being raped by the male guards and all sorts of stuff being flown around the rumour mill around the camp. They taped Bella’s mouth and blindfolded her, as Fox’s screams and cries for help became distant. The last thing that Bella remembered was the smirk on the guard’s toothless face.

****

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Another moment

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[Ravynlee]

Am a bit speechless at the end there - what the **** was Fox thinking?! I understand her motives but seriously... hope they'll be okay. For that matter what the **** was Bella / Ravyn thinking too? I understand about having to plant the virus but they could have just as easily been shot (or at least Bella could, Ravyn has some ties with Joanna there to barter with, Bella has none) but still that's a fine line they all tread knowing regardless what Joanna wants Sarah is still the boss and Sarah wants Ravyn's head on a platter for what happened to her mother. Risque indeed.

What surprises me is despite the horrendous conditions the Old Worlders still have it relatively easy. In the context of the story, knowing of course its not historical fact but still, the old worlders still have too much fighting spirit and still speak with too much sarcasm for my likings, or would, if I were a supreme ruler. Their spirits haven't been broken enough, that's the idea of the camps? What about FORCED mind control? Forced experiments? The Narcissi Extraction program or w/e would be a great place to start, utilizing the failures of the past to improve it now on living subjects - now THAT would be evil. Sarah is losing her lustre here and slipping back when she should be out there ruling with an utter iron fist. You don't stand along side her anymore, you bow or you die, period. Having Joanna exert 'control' in such an arena to me was a really dumb move on Sarah's part. True she has to groom her protege but not at the risk of losing control herself. People without fear are impossible to control. If she needed to groom Joanna in the ways of New World Order (haha awesome) then surely she should generally take Jonnna aside to the experimentation chambers or torture chambers to be more specific (lets face it, Hitler and Gehring and Mengler etc were well reknown for it - Mengler or however it was written is the expert in wartime torture historically, maybe Sarah should be looking him up in Spyro's database) and literally force Joanna's hand away from the sceptical eyes of the mob. Just my two cents anyway.

As for just how Ravyn got the chip in I shudder to think. When I read the bit about the glass I almost expected someone to start hacking into themselves with it. Thank heavens I was wrong. But again somewhat surprised. Am not telling you how to write it by any means, but again, to be true to the real horrors of war and genocide, especially when drawing reference from the past, it can't be shied away from.

My advice - Sarah needs to find her back bone. She just lost her dearest friend. The people she needs to control are rising up against her. She's got people snapping at her heels (the likes of Draven) to take her place. She also has her father's lofty reputation to live up to. The world is looking to her to lead, at the moment she's not giving them rage or power or tyranny that she's supposedly famous for, instead she's giving them... Joanna. See my point?

Again just thinking aloud is all.

Aside from that am loving the description. Especially the squallid conditions inside the 'barracks'. My heart went out to Fox especially in this update. Poor kid has been shoved around by everyone and everything her entire life. If anyone's going to show their true potential in this war I reckon it's going to be her

Very good. As always. And considering you were ill when you penned it, not bad at all. Keep it up.

 

[woodyloveslinkin]

Chapter 26

(2 posts)

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Chapter 26 - Cartoon Heroes

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Mike laid there on a makeshift bed that was someone’s couch in their dank basement that was highlighted by a lantern that the rest of his friends had scavenged. He laid there with his eyes closed, twitching at the memories of the night’s battle that he had been injured in, his hands where placed neatly on his chest, and a blanket that was pulled up to his waist. Mike looked like a corpse almost, without the twitching eyes. Chaz sat down next to him with his head down and with his eyes closed, praying to himself secretly that Mike will wake up, as Rob and Viking were sitting in the corner, with their head on an angle against the wall, trying to get some shuteye.

Mike was too busy in the state that was classified as R.E.M; Rapid Eye Movement, to be even remotely aware of what was happening around him.

A dagger came at Mike but missed him, scraping just past his waist as a delusional New Worlder took another swing at him with the weapon that Mike’s opponent held. The New Worlder had been through many fights that night and the blood that smothered across his face, was not of his own blood, but of the Old Worlders that he had helped to slaughter. Mike grabbed the man’s wrist, trying to force him to drop the knife to the ground. Mike frowned as the physical strain was getting too much for him.

“You dirty ***, you don’t belong here! You don’t deserve to be alive for defying New World order!” yelled the New Worlder, as Mike was still trying to make his opponent drop the weapon in his grip. Mike tightened his grip on the New Worlder’s wrist as the he shrieked with pain.

“What were you saying before?” asked Mike, as another New Worlder ganged up on him and stood next to their fellow New Worlder and pulled out another knife. “This isn’t fair, two against one. Hold for a sec while I even this score out and get my other friends.” The second one went at Mike with the blade pointing towards directly Mike’s heart. “This isn’t playing very nice.” Mike let go of the knife, took a couple of steps back, as the second New Worlder raised the weapon, getting ready to throw it at Mike, while the other one stabbed thin air in front of Mike. Mike started to walk backwards picking up a piece of wood and held it against his chest as the flames behind him glowed furiously and illuminated his sweat and his frustration. The second New Worlder that held the knife in his hands threw the knife at Mike but the only thing it penetrated was the wooden barrier between Mike and society. Mike smiled as he thought he was safe and lowered the piece of wood that hadn’t been set alight by the Spyral guards, as he pulled out the knife. The instant that he looked up at the pair of New Worlders, the first one of that generation that had originally attacked him threw his knife at Mike as Mike was still walking backwards, and they were walking forwards. Mike dropped the knife that he had just pulled out of the piece of wood and raised the piece of wood again. Mike heard the knife penetrate the timber. He looked over to see where it would’ve gone if he didn’t have any form of protection, it was stuck in the place where the timber protected his heart. “Thanks for that death wish.”

“You don’t deserve to live, your kind, you should be dead already!” yelled the second Old Worlder, as Mike dropped the piece of wood, not caring about the second knife that was thrown at him and picked up the first knife off the ground. “You think you’re the best, you think you are better than us all, don’t you, ***?”

“Catch me if you can, that’s all I’ve got to say to you,” smirked Mike, as he turned around and started to run. He looked back at the pair of New Worlders that had given chase to the half-Japanese blooded man. Mike smirked as he held the knife firmly in one hand.

He looked forward to see where he was going and suddenly, out of nowhere, there was this massive bulky human guard that looked like Marvel Comic’s The Incredible Hulk almost. Mike skidded to a stop as the guard had his eyes fixed on the traitor, with his massive boulder like fists raised ready to strike. Mike decided that this might be the last stupid thing that he’s going to remember before the guard decapitated him, but he was going to do it for all the Old Worlders who had now found themselves fighting for their lives suddenly all around him. Mike started to run at the guard with the knife raised in the air over his shoulder as he ran at the guard.

“Come and get me, ***!” yelled the guard, as the guard cried a war cry, as Mike approached the guard not thinking about the pair of New Worlders that were barely on his tail because he knew originally that they couldn’t keep up with him. Mike knew he couldn’t spend too much time on this guard if he wanted to try and find the rest of the group.

Mike came out him, running up a plank of wood that made a ramp of itself as it had been placed over a burning log. The ends of the plank were alight and that was the point were Mike jumped off, his boots kicking the air as Mike dug the knife into the guard’s forehead. Mike landed not so softly on the ground, as he had to roll to land not so properly, several times in the dirt and the shattered glass from the surrounding stalls that had their glass products smashed all over the ground. The guard cried in agony as he tried to remove the knife from his forehead as blood started to spurt out from the wound. Mike got up and crouched with his hands on the ground, as he tried to catch his breath at the same time. The guard stumbled around for a couple of seconds as dark red blood ran down the guard’s face like Niagara Falls used to over those cliffs everyone saw on those cheesy tourist postcards. The guard knocked over several things as he tried yet again, to remove the weapon that was obviously doing a lot of damage to the guard. He fell suddenly to his knees, and fell face first into the glass covered ground.

Mike rushed over to the guard, turned him over (that took several attempts to do) and started to take all the weapons that the guard had an option to use against Mike in the first place, but didn’t. There was a grenade and there was another knife, but it was more of a dagger with serrated edges. Mike got up, shoved the grenade in his pocket, careful not to move or touch the pin on it, and held the jagged edge knife in his hand firmly. He started to continue running like there was no tomorrow, for he feared that there would be tomorrow for him, right now.

He kept running around sharp corners and jumping over things, trying to avoid any more injury to himself as he had been badly hurt with the list of injuries starting with the sprained wrist that he kept cringing in pain because of it. He came to a standstill as he saw her. It was Sarah, and he knew it, the one that had continued this world into what it was. She stood there in front of him, looking directly at him, and looking very angry by his presence, holding what Mike realised what it was, a Japanese tachi sword.

Blood had been spilt in its gallons so far that night and yet, she hardly had any on her white Chinese dress that she wore.

“Why do you dare to come to this world and not expect to be killed, Japanese traitor?” she asked.

“Because, I want to make your day and surprise you,” answered Mike. “Have I made your day?”

“You will be making my day soon, with your blood on my hands and your death on my most recently killed list,” she answered. Right now, all that it mattered to Mike is that she was a New Worlder, because of the New World pendant that was illuminated and was shining brightly in the reflection of the fire that filled the sky of the night and leaked its smoke all over the black velvet sky as the snow white full moon glowed brightly with its black craters on its surface, over buildings.

Mike smirked as he ran towards Sarah with the serrated edged dagger. Sarah raised her sword and met Mike in the middle. Metal was heard hitting one another, as Mike realised that he should’ve just thrown the grenade to conclude this drama. Sarah cut Mike’s hand, as Mike wasn’t so quick to retreat his hand from another blow from the ancient blade. Blood seeped out of the wounds. He retreated away from Sarah, a couple of steps backward, cringing in pain, dropping the knife in his hands.

“You know that blade you’ve got there, isn’t really that good,” commented Mike, holding his wound in his hand as he thought the comment he was about to come out with was a bit too bold for someone who was weapon deprived. “You should’ve proved yourself more of a hypocrite and doubled up with a katana. I know now that you aren’t that smart and that you don’t know everything.”

“I have more backbone then you Japanese will ever have in your lifetime,” retorted Sarah, swinging at Mike again, but Mike dodged, getting on all fours as he swung his leg around and brought Sarah to the ground by tripping her over. Mike rushed to get Sarah’s weapon, as both of them was fighting against time to see who would reach the weapon in time to use it against their opponent.

Both of them knew how to use this weapon to their advantage and both of them were liable to inflict death on their opponent. Despite how fast Sarah’s hands were crawling along the ground to reach the weapon, Mike had gotten to it first. He picked it up, stood over Sarah, and smiled.

“And you thought you were coming out of this one alive, I hate it when people tell lies,” remarked Mike, as he held the blade horizontally underneath her throat. Sarah didn’t look down at the blade in fear but looked at her opponent with no fear but with strength.

Mike tried to rearrange the blade so the tip of it would eventually pierce her throat, but as much as Mike wanted to see the blood spurt out of her throat like a water fountain, Sarah was too quick for him. She grabbled hold of the blade with both hands and started to push it away from her, as blood seeped our of her hands and started to drip onto her dress below the sword. She pushed it away from hers so that she slid along the dirt, and tried to get to her feet, but Mike stopped her, by kneeing her in the stomach. She cringed in pain, as she rolled over quickly, taking the sword with her (creating more of a ****** mess of her palms) and tossing Mike onto the ground next to her, as it was the only moment that Mike was off his guard. Mike rolled over a couple of times, as Sarah got to her feet, held the sword properly in her hands, looked down at her dress and frowned at the bloodstains on it. She diverted her attention back to Mike, who was trying to get up. She ran over to him and started to try and stab him with the sword pointing downwards. But every stab meant another miss, as Mike kept rolling over as he saw the blade come down to try and kill him.

He caught one attempted stab with his hands, in which the blade was inches away from his stomach, and tried to pull it away. Sarah’s hands were getting sweaty and they were starting to lose grip as she struggled to continue the sword’s passage into Mike’s stomach, but Mike was resisting as blood bled out some more onto the blade and out of the wounds that were made by it in his palms.

Sarah lost grip and then Mike eventually tossed it aside, getting to his feet suddenly, as Sarah almost lost her balance, as she stumbled backwards as she, wiped her ****** hand on her dress. Mike went for the throat, as Sarah was futile and a bit out of co ordination to resist, as previous Old Worlders would’ve been dead by now, but this was no ordinary Old Worlder, this was a stubborn one. Sarah gasped for air, as Mike pinned her against a board of wood that had its edges alight with piping hot flames. Sarah kicked Mike in the crouch and head butted him as he stumbled back in pain.

“You’re not so tough now, are you?” asked Sarah, smiling a little bit. She soon stopped talking, picked a piece of thin metal sheet, and started to cut the back of his neck with it.

Mike stood up, as he snatched the metal sheet out of her hands, tossed it aside and started to pound her stomach with his fists, as he re-pinned her against the same wooden board as before.

“You’re not so tough, now that I think of it,” retorted Mike, as he was still in a lot of agony from being kicked in the place where it hurt for men. Sarah started to repetitively head butted him again, until blood was oozing out of both of the opponent’s foreheads. “That’s it.” Mike pulled out the grenade from out of his pocked. Just one problem, there was no pin on it. Mike noticed this very quickly, as Sarah started to take steps back away from Mike. Mike smirked as he threw the grenade into a nearby stall, as he didn’t want to go down killing Sarah and himself as well, he wanted to live through this ordeal.

It exploded as everyone ducked for cover, sending corpses of both generations of people left, right and centre. However, Sarah just simply disappeared from the site, as smoke and dust started to smother the small area of the marketplace. Mike was about to give chase to Sarah who had obviously disappeared because of the lack of the presence of a white dress that was now stained with its wearer’s own blood. Mike cussed underneath his breath as he realised that she wasn't going to come back.

 

[woodyloveslinkin]

Mike started to stir as Chaz detached himself from closing his eyes and looking down at the floor from in between his legs, where the latest Spyral Daily newsletter was wide open on an article that Chaz never thought would happen to this society. Chaz opened his eyes and looked at the stirring Mike who had been injured the most out of all the people in the group that he knew of and had befriended. Next to Chaz, was the normal alcoholic beverage, which it was a half empty bottle of pure blend whiskey. Chaz wasn’t the only one who had drunken it, Viking had some too, and they had startled to nurse Mike’s wounds with it. But Chaz was the one that was the most intoxicated.

A tear ran down Chaz’s cheek as he thought the worse was going to happen to Mike. He was going to die from disease or something and the last thing that Chaz wanted to do was to attend a funeral of his friend’s. Chaz sniffled as his hand reached for another sip of the whiskey. Chaz felt so relieved when the taste of the whiskey reached his dry and dehydrated lips. He wiped the tear away with the other hand that wasn’t busy pouring the whiskey down his throat.

Viking opened one eye, and looked at Chaz from the corner of this random basement of a stranger’s house that no one had any idea who owned the place or where they had gone to. The whole house upstairs was silent and empty, like a shoebox. Like Chaz, Viking had been topless all evening and was starting to get a bit cold. He looked at his friend now staring back down at the newspaper that Rob had smashed into a newspaper box to get. Viking was still had that James Dean look about him, despite the fact that he was covered in scratches and scars from the Third World War all over him.

“He’s going to be alright,” Viking croaked, as Rob slept through Viking’s speech, who was right next to him. Rob was buggered to the point where he was going to sleep through anything. He just wanted to find a good hiding place and sleep; he would worry about the food and the rest later. Good for them as they had found a place where the owners had stacked the back cupboards and the freezers that were now dead with food. Chaz turned around on his seat and looked to Viking. “Don’t worry about him.” Chaz was a little bit too drunk to take Viking seriously. Viking could plain well see the whiskey bottle in Chaz’s hand. “You better have not been drinking that whiskey, because that would’ve just screwed up your sobering up plan completely. No need to go back and hit the bottle, really, there’s no need for it. Learn to devour your emotions another way. Just don’t resort to that Ivna stuff, anything but that.”

Chaz ignored Viking as Chaz turned back around and put the alcoholic bottle down back on the ground where it had been originally stationed. He sighed as he picked up the newspaper that glorified the mass offensive on the Old Worlders.

“Half of Project Tourniquet is either dead or missing,” Chaz managed to say, thinking about Bella and the rest that had disappeared. “My army of nerds vamoose! What a brilliant plan we had going there for a while, and now look at this, it’s decayed into something so not worth trying for anymore.” Viking frowned at Chaz’s attitude as Viking tried to tell himself that Chaz didn’t mean anything because he was too drunk to mean anything that he was saying. “You know what the newspaper is saying?”

“Why are you believing anything that that newspaper has to say for itself?” asked Viking, as he lifted himself with his arms to his feet and started to walk over to the food supply in the back of the room.

“Because…I don’t know, it sounds too awful to be true what they are saying in this today,” answered Chaz, skimming the headline of the newspaper article that glorified the deaths of a couple of hundred Old Worlders, and that was just in Los Angeles. “Listen to this.” Viking came to a standstill as Chaz cleared his throat and began to read. “Los Angele’s Spyral headquarters have successfully exterminated roughly about three hundred or so Old Worlders in that singular attack that took place in the central marketplace. While Los Angeles still remains in tracking down the survivors and punishing them with brutal and merciless force, Moscow and Paris headquarters are happy to announce that between there two headquarters they have freed the world of over two hundred Old Worlders. So that’s a hundred between the two countries, right?” Chaz turned around and looked at Viking as he replied with a nod. “Hear more of this but before you judge, it gets worse. Even though Los Angeles is having great difficulty tracking down all of the supposed three hundred Old Worlders still on the run, two out of the assumed five hundred or so Old World inhabitants have been captured and now they are going to work until exhaustion and ultimately death, as New World farmers have been majorly affected by the civil unrest. If you know of an Old Worlder that has not got a bullet wound in it and is still walking, please report to Spyral immediately. As we seek not to punish the good but only punish the bad. What the ****?”

“Work until exhaustion and then death?” repeated Viking, trying to comprehend what he had just heard, as he turned around and started to raid the cupboards for a quick snack. “Sounds like Hitler’s stupid idea to get rid of the Slavs and Jews in the Second Great World War.” Chaz shrugged not knowing what to say or do, for the first time ever. “This doesn’t sound right.” Viking picked out a small can of tinned peaches in syrup and started to hack into the tin of the can with a small pocket knife, making a large amount of noise that woke Rob up. “If I recall my Old World history right, the Germans had some retarded ideas about Aryans and the perfect world….” Viking stopped as he realised something, as he started to ask himself questions. Why were they trying to kill every Old Worlder the previous evening and why were the New Worlders also involved? “Oh holy of mother of something I don’t want to say, they’re doing what Hitler never managed to achieve. Complete genocide.”

“Way to bring up good conversation topics when I just woke up,” Rob grumbled, as Chaz and Viking looked back to the waking figure in the corner. “I take you don’t know what religion I belonged to before it got banned and all religions were considered to be the work of the devil or some absolute garbage like that?” Viking and Chaz shook their heads simultaneously, looking clueless, well, in Chaz’s case, looking brainless, dazed, and confused. “The one religion Hitler wanted to send to **** and off the face of this planet.”

“You were, Jewish?” asked Viking, as Rob smiled faintly with wiriness and nodded softly. “**** man, I didn’t know. You should’ve said something before.”

“Don’t treat me like I am a child or an alien, been there done that, it’s in the blood, hated it, I wasn’t in The Holocaust though, but got grandparents who were once alive to tell me the stories of the regime and how they managed to get away from Old World Europe,” replied Rob, softly, as he wiped his sleep deprived eyes clean of the water that was building up. Then he realised. “Oh no, I couldn’t have…. I left my glasses on the window sill of my place before we came down to help everyone else.” It wasn’t anything major it was just those glasses had been **** expensive and the thought of arriving back in his old apartment to only see the first thing that he had to see was the pair of glasses that he needed, laying smashed on the floor with large chunks of glass missing from the frames. Rob shrugged as he tried to stretch his arms. “Oh well, got better things to think about.” Rob yawned, as Viking and Chaz nodded.

“But didn’t The Holocaust do all sorts of things to its victims, like experiments and crazy **** like that?” asked Viking, a bit confused about historical facts. “I heard there were some crazy doctors and professors working for the regime. Better call the mental asylum, if we ever had one in the first place if Spyral is thinking about reinventing The Holocaust.”

“That’s a generalisation,” retorted Rob. Chaz and Viking were at the point of feeling uncomfortable about talking to Rob, who had now proclaimed that had belonged to the victimised religion of the historical event that they were talking about. Rob felt their awkwardness. “They didn’t immediately start torturing them and doing all that crazy stuff to them. They started off with the ideal that they were going to work camps and that The Final Solution would start with labour until exhaustion and then eventually death. Then it got into the scary and vomit material, Doctor Who meets Doctor Zoidberg stuff.”

“So…is that why you’re so dead on getting back the Old World, is because you were once Jewish?” asked Viking, looking still uncomfortable about the topic but the subject had gotten the better of him.

“No, this might sound harsh, but that isn’t the reason,” answered Rob, remembering the day that he picked up Fox from the rubble that was once her home. He also remembered what he had told Fox at one of the meetings of Project Tourniquet’s. He was doing to for solely her and now that she was now separated from Rob that gave him more of a reason to carry on to try and find her. “I’m doing it for other reasons. I’ve learnt to live without religion, that’s how much the New World has affected me that I’ve turned into this crazy anti-religious person, like an android almost. I lost my faith long ago and the only thing I can really try is to be try and gain it back through other mediums, somehow and someday.” There was a slight pause as Rob was trying to maintain his focus on the actual topic. “I can’t believe what the Germans put my ancestors through; they are going to do it our people. Is this what we have come down to, as a human race? We’re repeating mistakes of the past, and we are improving on them, as though the atrocities meant utter **** to anyone who experienced such torment?” Viking looked at Chaz in an awkward manner, as Chaz didn’t catch onto Viking’s drift so quickly. Rob was quick to pick up Viking’s glare. Rob looked back to Chaz, who was still looking at him. “I think Viking wants you Chaz.” Rob tried to remain calm but was too horrified by the thought of another version of The Holocaust happening.

“Oh,” said Chaz, as he looked to Viking’s painful glare. “What do you want this time?”

“The newspaper, didn’t it just say precisely that?” asked Viking. Chaz shrugged. Viking dropped the tin of peaches in syrup and ran over to Chaz who was still holding the newspaper in his hands. Viking snatched the newspaper out of his hands and started to look for the lines that Chaz had read out to him minutes before Rob work up. Chaz had been drinking too much and the whiskey smell around him surrounded him like alcoholic air. “Blah blah blah, here it is.” Viking found the line. “They are going to work until exhaustion and ultimately death…” Viking looked up at Rob whose facial expression had now changed dramatically from sleepy to fearful and angry. “They’re going to repeat history, Spyral are, they are going to bring the Holocaust to every country they are stationed in, and it has only just begun here and in France and Russia, so there are going to be no Old Worlders to threaten the stability of the New World society.”

“This cannot be, but how are they going to do it?” asked Rob, getting to his feet. “There aren’t many places they are going to hide the camps just like that. And there are going to be experiments as well…I think…”

“What do you mean, you think?” asked Chaz, laughing as he picked up the whiskey bottle and started to drink more of the alcoholic beverage. “That’s what The Holocaust was about silly, perverted experiments and humiliation. Of course there are going to be experiments, and now that I think of it, since the Dark Hills aren’t real, they’ve got to be hiding the camps somewhere near one of the stations, well, I would think Winter Station because that’s the only station that it really out of reach from the Dark Hills, but yet, it draws a question, why would you want to build a concentration camp so close to Spyral’s actual building?”

“You know what Chaz, you should just shut your drunken *** trap from now one,” Viking reprimanded, trying to consider that Rob was once Jewish and that it would indeed be a touchy subject for him. “Don’t speak unless you’ve got something constructive to say from now on okay?”

“Ignore Viking right now,” ordered Rob, as an objection flew straight out of Viking’s mouth. But Rob ignored him for a second. Rob looked at Chaz with stern eyes as he tried to piece together what Chaz had turned a laughing face to, not feeling like Rob had been insulted one bit. He knew what Chaz was like when he was drunk. “You’re right on some levels.” Another objection flew straight out of Viking’s mouth, but like before, Rob ignored him and his objections. “That’s the only place that they could hide such a camp. But a question arises, why did they particularly take the women of the Old Worlders and not so many of the men? I mean, I saw a shitload of Old World men when I was fighting and at the end of the night, compared to what I saw at the starting of the night, there were hardly any women left at all.”

“Because women are historically and stereotypically weaker and easier to control,” replied Chaz, as Viking couldn’t believe it, the drunk was actually right about something. “That’s why all of my angels are most probably there right now. They are going to be experiments… twisted and sick experiments of Spyral’s.”

“Did we really need the exaggeration, Chaz?” asked Viking, folding the newspaper in his hands back up and placing it on the floor just in front of his feet. “We know what The Holocaust was and reading it up as part of my high school project on the internet and presenting it, was gruelling enough without being told the fine details of how twins were sewed up and mutilated.”

“But we can’t do anything with Mike being the way he is right now,” said Rob, looking to the figure on the couch that was still twitching his eyes and sweating in the process of reliving memories. “It’s more than a one man job.”

“We are not, well I’m not about to start playing Spiderman and Batman in this case,” ordered Chaz, shaking his head. “It’s bad enough I know how to get past those stations and not be caught. The last time I did it, my virus didn’t work properly.”

“Wait!?” yelled Viking and Rob, in a choir together. “You’re the one that planted that virus Spyral’s been ******** on about for how many days now?”

Chaz nodded, a bit confused.

“Why is that a bad thing?” asked Chaz, innocently.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” asked Viking, as the questions came rolling in. “How did you do it?” Rob shook his head, not in disbelief but more in something else.

“Stop with the questions, it’s not a one man job and now that we both know that Chaz is the one responsible for the virus and its outbreak, he’s sure **** well coming with us, to get us both past the Dark Hills, Dark Knight Station and then eventually to Winter Station,” Rob said to Viking, as Chaz was still a little confused about what was so big about him bringing half of Spyral down several times so far. “We need to get going now. Enough talk and we need some action happening.” Rob faced the pair that were listening to him eagerly. “I will wake Mike up; you two pack whatever food we’ll need. I don’t know how long it will take us to get past the obstacles but we need to start facing them soon. Understand?”

“I think so,” answered Chaz, as Viking nodded. “What am I doing again?”

“The same thing we do every night, Pinky, we’re taking over the world,” answered Viking, make an allusion to an Old World cartoon that he used to adore. Chaz missed it while Rob smirked at his comment, as he walked over to Mike and past both parties as Chaz nodded with confusion. “We’re packing food in other words, that is not alcoholic.”

“Oh okay,” replied Chaz as he moved out of the way for Rob to wake Mike up.

“Just grab anything,” ordered Viking, as they started to pull the cupboards apart together as Chaz was a tiny bit confused about the Pinky comment still.

Rob started to shake Mike, as Mike started to stir even more. Rob whispered a couple of words that would strike him as waking up material. Rob felt bad doing this, Mike was still injured and yet, Rob couldn’t leave him behind. He was a vital asset to the crew with his survival tactics and the things that Mel had taught him in their short meetings.

“What? Huh?” asked Mike, as he sat straight up, almost knocking Rob’s head. But Rob moved away quickly enough not to suffer from more damage then already he had encountered from the battles with the New World generation. “What’s happening?” Mike looked to Rob for answers as sweat beads glistened in the brilliance of the lantern.

“We have to go and find the girls, before horrible stuff is done to them, and I mean inhumane stuff,” answered Rob, shortly, not wanting to go into the whole Holocaust business that had been previously discussed. “I can’t leave you behind.”

“I fought her, the other night,” Mike rambled on, as he remembered his dream. “I fought the ruler, Sarah.”

“I’m sure you did,” Rob replied in disbelief. “In other words, keep on dreaming. You’ve heard the rumours hardly anyone who battles her directly doesn’t live to tell the tale.” He knew Mike had suffered a lot from the fight and he knew there were going to be mental delusions. “We need to get up and go.”

“Give me a second,” replied Mike, as he tried to control the dizziness around him.

“Have you gotten enough food for at least three days?” asked Rob, as he turned and faced Chaz and Viking who now were holding three bags worth of random food that they had just quickly shoved into some dull green bags that they had found laying around the cupboards. Viking nodded as did Chaz. “That’s good.”

“Alright, I’m up, but mind me, I’m a but out of it though, you couldn’t blame me,” said Mike, as he got to his feet, as Rob offered to aid him up the steps and walking in general but Mike refused as he looked to his bandaged wrist. “I wonder why that had stopped hurting.”

“Because we’re good friends,” replied Viking, with a smile, as Chaz and him threw the bags of food over their shoulders and carried them from now on. Mike put his hood over his face not wanting to have more pain inflicted on him just because he was Japanese, like he had learnt during the first stage of the conflict.

“Oh no…” was the first thing that escaped Mike’s mouth when he was the first person to leave the outside steps of the house that they had randomly crashed in the basement of for the night.

“No…this can’t be happening…” Chaz muttered to himself as he saw the figure standing high on a mounted platform, which had a bunch of New Worlders giggling and laughing in front of it.

“Who would do this to…?” Viking trailed off in his sentence as the figure came into focus. He was that shocked and saddened by what he saw in front of him that he dropped the food bags that he was carrying onto the dirty sidewalk. He frowned as he realised who would do such a horrid and humiliating thing to a person, especially one from the Old World generation. “Spyral!”

Rob didn’t say anything, he was too stricken with grief and now anger, as he saw the naked corpse of Melissa’s body nailed to a wooden cross that was held up on a mounted platform in the middle of what was once a local park but now was a desert for death and destruction. The image replicated itself over his glazy eyes, as they all read aloud the large golden encryption above her sliced throated body – Here is the enemy of the state, Enemies of the state beware. The nails had held her up showed no sign of glistening blood from the surrounding glow of the neon billboards, as they realised that the slit across her neck was real and was the cause of her death and not the nails that penetrated both hands, feet and held her forehead up to the world, so she could show her face to the world. Her eyes were deathly blank; her skin was blue, and white enough to send shivers down someone’s spine like it did to Chaz.

They were all shocked, seeing that they were under the impression that Mel had been incarcerated and not killed just yet. They all bowed their head automatically, in silence as they took a minute to remember Mel and her brilliant and positive attitude that she had brought to Project Tourniquet.

For the first time since the project had started, everyone in the group had been stricken down with grief and sorrow where it hurt the most, right at the core of the heart. They knew what they had to die for now and they had another thing to fight for, to avenge Mel’s death. Even though Rob was not one for revenge, but enough was enough as proved by his dedication to the project and his push for a better society and there was only so much everybody else could put up with. Spyral had just crossed the line, on a personal level.

They thought of the times where Mel’s mouth had gotten her in trouble, and how she had helped Viking out about telling him about the guard’s allergy to metal. The people that her death had affected the most were Chaz and Viking, the two Tourniquets’ that had known Mel the longest. Chaz had known Mel for a long while as well, while Viking served her the noodles that she regularly and almost daily shoved in her mouth.

The last man who stood there in grief to last see her was Rob and that was when she had left the first meeting when the project had been given its name, while the last Old Worlder in the actual project to see Mel was Ravyn and that was right before she got caught.

The minute was suddenly up; Mike limped over to a surprisingly alive patch of purple rhododendrons that grew oddly in the middle of a now barren wasteland. The New Worlders that had been there laughing and giggling at Mel’s naked dead corpse had disappeared by now as they had their giggle and left.

Mike bent over and picked a flower for Mel as Mike remembered that Mel used to love the type of flowers coincidentally that he held in his hand now. Mike walked over to the corpse that had been nailed to the cross and been placed to in the middle of the town to humiliate Melissa herself, and to scare off the Old Worlders. He bent down as he placed the purple rhododendron at the bottom of the cross. He bowed his head again, closing his eyes.

“Rest in peace Melissa,” whispered Mike, as memories of Mel swarmed into his head like a pack of killer bees. He bit his lower lip, trying to withhold the tears. He told himself that he had to be strong, for her sake. “Rest in peace, my dear.”

****

​

 

[Ravynlee]

Poor Mel. Murdered and humiliated. And there's nothing her friends can do about it. Have to admit that would be hard to confront let alone just sort of 'deal with.' Given they, PT have so much to do they really have no time or faculties left to grieve as they should. That would be tough enough. I guess that's the idea, right? Surpress your emotions either with drugs or by force, that's the Spyral way. Sucks though, for the Old Worlders I mean.

Well... not much to say on this update. The historical references were good. This pause gives the rebels (the guys) a chance to focus now, not so much get back on track as it was to catch a breath. They cant afford to rest and in doing so in a kind of blind panic to save their friends they're going out at less than able-bodied. Something I bet Sarah is counting on.

All in all good. Rob's not so much renouncing his faith as he was using it in the past tense was amusing. Surprising. I thought his inner struggle was carrying the heart of the Old World. At the heart of that I would think would be his faith. Like the African American slaves were denied their heritage so they adapted it to fit into the mainstream. Rob and his Jewish bretheren would more than likely still be Jewish, just not open about it (closet Jews? 0_o Wow. Offensive without trying. I didn't mean it the way it sounded!) But you know what I mean. On a critical note as we discussed last night, if Rob is the heart and his vulnerabilites lay with keeping the Old Ways alive I would have expected more emotion from him. Even if it was obvious he was being macho and trying to suck it up. He still seems too rigid. But each to their own I suppose.

Mike's flashback was a bit hard to read. Again in a few sentences slightly repetative. Try and avoid repeating the same word over and over and try and eliminate where you can saying in three lines what you can say in one. For example things like 'Sarah swung out hard with the knife, and when the knife struck him in the arm, it lodged in hard.' Overly too much description when you've already stated she's swung hard, get the picture?

Not trying to pick for no good reason, you know I mean it in the most constructive of ways. I know you want to get published. I'm just throwing my opinion in. You don't have to take it, but if it helps *shrugs*

Anyway yes good as usual. And I still appreciate the fact that in all this turmoil Chas and Viking can still have their playful little banter back and forth. Sweet