Abducted!
As usual, I dragged my feet out of bed and went to school. As I approached the crosswalk, I could see new guards wearing armor that looked a lot more weathered and worn. They looked tougher, older, and more powerful than any of the guards who were usually there. Those were usually the kinds of guards that were there when Captain Titan (The Inspection Captain) was there. But wait...that couldn't be happening today, though. Inspection was only three weeks from now, on Tuesday the 4th... right?
The guards glared at me as if I had committed crimes and were eyeing me as if trying to figure out my next move. All I wanted to do was get to school on time so my grandpa wouldn't get called and beat me up. When I got to campus, I saw a hovercraft in the parking lot that had an o at the center, a capital R at the bottom, and a Ç with a dot in the middle, and it was printed on in gold and black, which meant that it was the logo of the OCR. It looked like Captain Titan couldn't wait to see us again and decided to come back a bit earlier this time. As I walked through campus, places looked destroyed, all the doors and windows of the classrooms were broken in, and it was pretty spooky. Only around ten lights remained on all of campus. Even the office was broken down, and the wire phone was just hanging off its cord (Our school was way too poor to upgrade to better technology).
The OCR had not been very happy with our campus for some reason, which was probably why they came early. Every house around our school was fine, but some of our classrooms got swiss-cheesed and oddly enough, all of them were missing doors. Walking through the corridors of this dark and dingy area was probably the scariest thing that I could've done in my life. Our classroom seemed to be mostly untouched. Seems that they hadn't gotten to us yet. Nothing that I could do but wait. So I continued on my way.
I decided not to concern myself with this. I was dozing off and barely listening to one of the lectures by our "brilliant" professor, Dr. Tenson Gildan, when we heard heavy footsteps outside our classroom. Thump! Thump!
The metal door whined and then flew off its hinges, crushing the TA, who was opposite the door. Ah, so that's why the doors were missing. Several armed men stepped into the classroom. Dr. Gildan, for the first time, had sweat beading down his now pale forehead, and his fingers, shaking.
A man angrily walked through the center. He was at least 6 feet 5 and was bald with the exception of a small brown ponytail that was at the back of his head. He had a great cinnamon colored mustache and beard. He wore no armor on his arms, probably because it couldn't fit. As his veins bulged out of his arms, his arms looked strong enough to destroy a watermelon just by squeezing it. He had an axe strapped to his back. His armor wasn't standard; it had animal furs lining the inside, and he had a big, dark, and silver colored helmet. One that was probably made out of a human or animal skull. It was Captain Titan.
Captain Titan lifted the professor by the collar and demanded, "What's your excuse for not sending us these students?"
"How come you came so early? And without notice?" stammered the professor, "The school year is almost done. If you could just be a little patient-"
Captain Titan slapped the professor's face. "Don't tell me what to do! If they aren't ready, that's your fault!"
Ahh, so that was the case. They were short on men. Sure, it was our turn once we graduated, but they could potentially force us in early if they were having a bit of a rough time. At least I got to see Professor feeling the end of the ruler this time. On the other hand, looking at what even the bare minimum the Captain could do to us was scary, so naturally, I snuck out.
"Hey! Where do you think you are going?!" said a man who didn't look nearly as tough as the Captain.
That was my cue to pretend I heard nothing and continue on my way. I bolted up the stairs of our building, and the innocent-looking man came after me.
I remembered that they used the hovercraft to get here, so I jumped over the railings of the balcony and pulled myself onto the roof so I could use that to escape. It was especially advantageous as Newbie was sinking into the roof a bit, so he was slowing down. Most of the skilled soldiers were out in the city while they took the recruits who had just joined for this. They hadn't gotten real battlefield practice, which put them on my level. I didn't know why there was only one guy following me, though; perhaps it was a test, and for both of us. Well, it didn't matter what it was; I had to escape.
I jumped onto a smaller roof, slid down a water pipe, and then ran over to the parking lot, and by the man's slightly worried expression, I could tell that I was getting closer. I took a detour through the kindergarten playground. It was bad enough for me to go through, but for him, his arm couldn't even fit.
I almost felt sorry for him. Almost. I slid down, just narrowly missing the metal pole, and crashed right into the hovercraft. Luckily, the key was still in the shaft, so I twisted it hard and it started to rise.
But then Newbie recovered from the playground. He seemed to have twisted parts of the metal to make way for himself. Poor kindergartners. The man grabbed one of the legs, and it faltered. I finally got a good look at him. He was around 17 or 18, just 2 years older than me. His face was clean, or rather, it was scarless. All the tough veterans had battle scars all over their faces. Even if it was just a small scar, it showed their years. Lucky for him, he had the honor of getting his first scar from me.
I plucked up all the bits of my courage, and then I kicked him in the face a good lot of times. Now he was mad, missing a few teeth and a bit sore, but he didn't let go. I looked around for something to deal with this, and just as he put one hand inside, I found an emergency lever. It was shaped like a crowbar and was as heavy as one. As I swung the lever, I could see genuine terror in the man's eyes. I clumsily brought it down with a surprising amount of force, and the man finally let go. I smirked as my actions had left a nice and ugly scar in the middle of his face. When he woke up from his slumber, he'd probably never hear the end of it. Still. I was lucky to even get away.
The craft flew up, up, up into the air as I pushed the lever down, and the school looked like a distant speck. Where would I go now? Good question. I decided to take a pit stop at my house to pick up my grandfather.
Now, you may ask, "What's with the nonchalant reaction?" And the reason for that is once you reach the 9th grade, Captain Titan would show up for an inspection, and you'd get taken away to become a soldier. The inspections were usually this bad. When it first happened when I was in the first grade, I was terrified out of my skin as 10% of the school was abducted. Then, a day later, all the kids would refill, and our school would also miraculously be in perfect condition. Our school was like some cursed vending machine that destroyed and remade itself. It's just that this time, I wasn't going to just let myself be taken away. Well, it was mostly just an impulse.
When I got home, part of it was blown up. I parked my newfound device and stepped inside the wreckage. My room was mostly gone. How did they even find out where I lived? And better yet, where were they now? I saw some houses farther down. It seemed like they hadn't just gotten to my house. This entire block was just rubble. Maybe they wanted to make sure I would return?
I looked around. Some of my stuff was still intact, but just scattered on the floor. I ensured everything was safe before moving on to each room. It took a while to check every place because my house was a mansion. My Great-Grandfather earned a lot of money from the science experiment and built this place, so this became the ancestral house. I then checked the secret basement. Bang! I was immediately shot at by a hunched old man with steel-rimmed glasses, who was none other than my dear old grandfather.
"Grandpa, it's me!"
"Huh, it's you, boy? Oh sorry. I thought the scoundrels had come back."
"It's fine. Probably. You owe me ice cream now."
"Eeeh? What did you say?"
"Nothing"
"Anyways, why are you back home?"
"We have to escape! Uh, question, why is half the house missing?"
"I GUESS THAT THE STUPID LEADER DECIDED THAT HE'D BLOW UP OUR HOUSE! I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT I DID! I PAID MY TAXES ON TIME!"
He screamed so loud that the birds in the trees flew away, distressed.
"So I take it that it's not because I knocked a guard out with a crowbar", I asked.
"You what?" His eyes widened. "YOU FOOL! YOU'VE DOOMED US ALL!"
"So you wanted me to get captured?"
"What? No! You should've escaped earlier!" he exclaimed angrily.
"Aren't you even worried about me?!"
My grandfather looked dumbfounded. "What's the matter with this generation? They can't think straight! IF YOU THOUGHT THAT SOMETHING WAS WRONG EARLIER, WHY DIDN'T YOU ESCAPE?! NOW THE LEADER IS GOING TO KILL THE BOTH OF US!!!"
I replied, "I escaped now. Anyways, if we leave now-"
"YOU IDIOT! YOU THINK HE'LL LET US LEAVE NOW?!"
He had a point there. The Leader tended to be overly obsessed with minor things. It seems like this time, I was that minor thing.
It was strange, though; I never thought he'd get so angry about something he'd agreed to. He didn't like the Leader either, and he'd been wishing for revenge almost since the time I was born. Suddenly, he fell forward onto me. Granting me one last sad smile. A small bulge appeared on his forehead. Then a hole. Then... blood dripped down his glasses and nose. Who did this?
I realized his attitude then was to protect me as the shadowed assailant stepped out and over my grandfather. It was Captain Titan.
Captain Titan had shot my grandfather, who then collapsed in front of me and stepped forth. It was clear that he meant business.
Captain Titan smiled cruelly. "Nice last words...gramps"
I fell backwards. I walked backward with my hands, trying to get away. Tears welled up in my eyes, sweat flooding my pale face, "Wh-why?"
"Let's just say it's a favor to the Leader. To be honest, I came here for him... but you... You're an unexpected piece of gold. Well... now that I've answered you, how about you come with me, Mr. Renegade?"
I didn't answer. I just turned away, pulled myself up, and started to run.
"Guards, seize him!" Two guards in gold uniforms with electro-spears came closer. I kicked debris in their faces and ran. I heard a grunt and a whoosh. I kept running, but the second time I heard it, the world went black.
I felt myself floating, and I looked around, and I was in a dry plain. The sky was red, and calamity had befallen us. I could see a faint black shape, but I couldn't tell what it was. The sky turned purple periodically, so I wondered if there was some reason for this. Then I felt the earthquakes. What even was happening? Was there a war going on? But then why weren't there any soldiers? It felt like I was witnessing absolute chaos.
Wait... I recognized some of this. This was the kingdom. But... It looked completely different. There was a huge castle on the city's outskirts. It was truly magnificent, an engineering marvel.
I wondered why it wasn't even in the city. But it doesn't matter. I heard an explosion in the city. It was near the castle. It was on the ground. Suddenly, my vision shot forward, and I could see what was happening.
Although I couldn't make out their shape, I could see someone climbing out of the ground and making a break for it. There were several others, and I saw a whole grand escape plan unfolding. Before I could witness anything more, I was suddenly spooked, and a man was now staring down at my ghostly form.
He immediately sliced my head off, and I was swallowed up in the darkness, only to be swept into another place. I could see my grandfather. He was young and handsome, but he had a smile on his face that didn't quite make him look very flattering. I wondered why. He was standing in the doorway of some worn-down room. I looked around and I saw a machine. A red beam shot out of it, and the sky just continued to flash. It was pretty strange. I had never seen that side of my grandfather before. Even so, the Leader had taken my only family away from me, and I was going to get revenge. One must pay back their dues tenfold. Be it revenge or a reward.
Since I was just in emptiness, I decided to think about what I had seen so far. It was weird. I felt emotionless. Could it be because I was in a dream? Or did I just lack emotion? And what was the chaos? Why did it happen? I was determined to find answers, and if I managed to get away from here alive, I might just be able to. As I was thinking about this, I heard a familiar voice.
I jumped right out of my ghostly skin. I mean, I was not expecting that. It was Michael of all people. Last I checked, he was in class with me, but I guess they took all of my classmates hostage, or prisoner, or something. They were probably going to do some form of punishment because I tried to escape. He took a seat and motioned for me to take a ghostly seat too. Apparently, that's a thing.
He said, "Hey man, can you hear me?"
"Yeah."
"Ok, cool. Do you want to know about some things that just happened while you were gone?"
"Yeah. Do tell"
"When you escaped, there were a few others who tried to do the same thing. But everyone else was caught and rounded up."
"Really?" I asked.
"Yeah! Lieutenant Finn, who came with the Captain, was so mad his face turned a shade of magenta, and it was awesome. He was soo embarrassed. Professor Meek was dropped on the floor just to look for you, and he took his whole staff and everything. However, Captain Titan just stood there with a smirk and didn't let us go. He just stuffed us in cages and put us in hovercopters. It seems like he was interested in you."
I was flabbergasted. "You were stuffed in cages?!"
"I know! The Leader has a way of making people dislike him. I mean... Come on, at least have some decency for some leg room."
"So what's your plan?"
"I was hoping you could make one."
"I see, then maybe I can work the situation out in my favor. I'll see if I can get on good terms with the Leader. Getting into his army is already guaranteed."
"You do that. I'll try my best to survive the battlefield and get assigned to your unit."
"Also, how have you done this?"
"You mean the dream communication thing? That's easy, all you need is something from the person you want to communicate with, and then fall asleep. You lent me your jacket, remember? "
"Did you see me as soon as you did the magic, though??"
"I practiced a lot, so yeah," he said, "But what does that have to do with anything? Crap, we're here. Can you hurry up? I don't care how long it takes, but I won't forgive you if you die here!"
Then his expression turned dark. "Come on! Hurry, you fool!"
"GET UP YOU BUM! STOP WASTING MY TIME!!!!" his words slurred.
The voice was not Michael's anymore. It sounded deeper, crueler, and angrier. Michael faded away, and my vision blurred. Everything turned white, and then I woke up.
Things were bad. I woke up in a cell, I had a binding collar attached to my neck, and I was chained to a wall. At least things couldn't get that much worse. I probably should make a mental note not to say that next time because, like every story, when you say that things can't get any worse, they somehow manage to get even worse. Which is exactly what happened.
The guard outside beckoned me forth. He opened the door, and I carefully stepped outside the cell. He led me through long corridors with similar-looking cells. As we approached a much scarier-looking section, he slammed my face against a wall.
"This is where you'll end up if you aren't careful," he growled.
I was pretty disgusted at the state of these cells. The cells had broken windows and rats running through tiny gaps in the steel walls. I could see the marks of how many years the prisoners had stayed. Prisoners from some cells would glare at me.
The prisoners were mostly muscular, tattooed men who were usually missing a few teeth because of the Leader or just through fights. I didn't want to end up here, but I did have a general idea of my situation. As of the impression Michael gave me, it didn't seem like I was in big trouble, but in fact the opposite. I knew that Captain Titan was basically the right hand of the Leader. If he thought of me favorably, then I could probably negotiate some sort of deal between us.
It seems like my suspicions were also correct that they needed more soldiers. I could barely see any guards at all. That said, it didn't matter what that reason was. I didn't care. I told myself that I would take revenge on him no matter what. The guard pulled me along with his javelin, which he stuck in the hole in my neck shackles. We passed several blocks more of sorry cells, but not as bad as the one that the guard had threatened me with.
We soon exited the area and went outside onto the plaza. The place was beautiful. Even if he was my captor, the least I could say was that he had some taste. There were all kinds of plants, vines, and vicious experimental plants that were designed to eat trespassers. People sat down under the gazebo, eating and talking peacefully, and having fun. When they saw me, they stared a bit, but then went right back to what they were doing, pretending I didn't exist.
We soon went inside another building, where I could see lots of scientists in lab coats testing all kinds of things. Some were doing experiments on living things, doing genetic modifications to make them more aggressive. They didn't notice me as they were so busy, and some of them accidentally trampled my feet to get another specimen.
We walked past the kitchen and bar, and we got to a very busy room, papers flying, keys typing at amazing speeds. The hall was noisy, and he dragged me along to the elevator. My shackles felt uncomfortable, and I was tired. We had been walking for a while now. We soon stood in the elevator. It had 50 bright blue buttons, suggesting that we were in some sort of building complex. The huge area that I had been dragged through was the detention block. The guard pressed the button that said "L," and I could only guess what was going to happen.
I ran a hand through my hair, and it felt oddly fuzzy. It seemed like my hair still hadn't calmed down after being shocked. I felt around, and there were burns on parts of my body. Since my pride had been thoroughly degraded, it didn't matter how ready I was for the Leader; I wasn't the least bit nervous, but my neck brace made it hard to tilt my neck.
The door opened, and the Leader was waiting.