Published: 16 May 2019

(Present time. Sam’s POV.)

Ryan was sitting there on a chair with a chain and leg iron around his ankle. It was attached at the other end to the chair, so I figured the chair must be bolted to the floor. I tried to get his attention by waving but he just stared at the floor. I didn’t dare call to him. I could hear Phy-Tong-Ki talking to and at times yelling at Jared. Occasionally I could hear Jared’s voice but couldn’t understand what he was saying. I had to take the chance and go get Ryan.

“Open the door, then stay here and keep watch for me.” I whispered.

I crept, cat like, across the room, watching the doorway into the next room. At one point, I saw Phy-Tong whirl around and look towards me. His face was almost purple with rage and he was sputtering and panting. I froze behind a small cabinet, hoping he had not seen me. I stood there trembling for what seemed like forever.

After only a few seconds though I heard him talking to Jared again, so I chanced a peek. His back was to me again . I hurried on across the rest of the space. When I reached Ryan I softly said his name but he didn’t respond. I gently lifted his head and saw his eyes were glazed and his pupils dilated. As his eyes met mine, a confused look appeared on his face.

“Shhammm?” he mumbled groggily.

“Be quiet now kiddo. I’ll have you free in a minute.”

“Howww are yoooo heeeere? Noooo, not Shammy. Jusht a dream.”

Luckily he nodded out again. I used a pick to release the shackle from his ankle, then dragged him to his feet. I had to put his arm around my shoulders just to keep him standing.As I started back for the door, something smashed against the wall in the next room. I froze again, worried that Phy-Tong would catch us. Just then, the kid who brought me here appeared on the other side of Ryan. He pulled Ryan’s other arm over his own shoulders.

“Let’s go, quick! we ain’t got no more time.” he whispered.

We almost ran to the back door and out into the stairwell. I reached back and quietly closed the door. We climbed the stairs as fast as we could, almost dragging Ryan along with us.When we reached the utility room and the hidden door we let Ryan sit on the floor so we could catch our breath.

“What if he follow us?” the kid asked. “He know where we went. It’s the only way out!”

He was right. We couldn’t have Phy-Tong following us, even if it did make things tough for Jared at the other door. I only had two grenades left. I knew it wouldn’t be enough. I stood there with them in my hand wondering what to do.

“Lady, Look here. You use this stuff, yes?”

I turned to see he had broken open a cabinet in the corner. Inside were all kinds of cleaning products. I was no chemist but I know a few of those items were at least flammable. A big enough fire would block the stairs.

We took all we could, back down the stairs about half way. Then I popped the pins on the grenades and set them in the middle of the cans and bottles. Letting go of the levers, we both ran back up the stairs, scooped up Ryan and ran down the hall towards the back of the building.We were into the big storage room when it blew. i don’t know which chemicals did it but apparently I got lucky and chose right. The explosion was bigger than I had even hoped for. It knocked us all to the floor and filled the air with dust and flying pieces of stone, wood and metal.When things stopped shaking and flying around, I checked all three of us and found only minor cuts and scrapes. The closest we came I saw, was yet another long rip down one side of my cat suit. There was a small thin scratch in my skin underneath.

I slumped to the floor and just sat there shaking. Suddenly tears filled my eyes and I started to cry. It felt like everything was totally coming apart at the seams, including my clothes. I was really worried about Jared and the others. “Had that explosion been big enough to bring down the tunnel where he was?” Ryan was there beside me, snoring softly, his eyes eerily wide open. The other boy sat on the other side of Ryan. He kept glancing at me but said nothing. “He must think I’m nuts.” I thought.

It took a few minutes to get myself under control. When I did we picked up Ryan and made our way out into the streets and back towards the bar. When we finally got there, I saw another transport sitting out front. The two guards we had let run, were grabbing slaves and kids as they came out. Obviously some of them hadn’t listened when we told them to use the tunnels and sewers.

We snuck inside while their backs were turned and took Ryan into the suite where Jared and I had first met Phy-Tong-Ki. “Put him on the bed.” I told the other kid. “Will you please stay here and watch him till I come back?”

“Yeah okay lady. No more guards now, huh!”

“No, no more guards.” I smiled at him the best I could and left out the back door. “I’ve got to do something about those two taking the slaves and kids. But what?” The thought kept running through my head as I descended the stairs, looking for Jared.

Just then, there was another explosion down in the base somewhere. It vibrated through the stone for several seconds. I broke into a run, afraid I had just lost Jared. At the bottom of the stairs I turned left and ran blindly down the hall in a panic. I flew past the prison access on the right, then both halls on the left.

I don’t know why but for some reason I found myself headed for the tunnel and sewer entrance but never got there. Just as I came to the hall going down to the treasury an idea popped into my head. I veered left but went crashing straight into the wall, my feet slipping on the stone floor.

I jumped up and continued running down the hall. When I reached the treasury, I ignored everything else and went right to the clothing. As I sorted through what was there, I was surprised to find most of my own outfit there, the one I had worn that first day, when all this started.

Quickly, I stripped off my dirty, torn cat suit. When I did, I noticed fresh blood down the front of my shirt. I found the source was my nose. I hadn’t even noticed it but I must have done it when I hit the wall. I used my shirt to stop the blood with one hand and grabbed up the clothes I wanted in the other. Across the hall, I remembered seeing a bathroom inside the Quartermasters room. I used it to clean up some and change into my outfit.

“There. That looks okay. Not perfect but it’ll do. Damn, the only thing missing is my slave pin.” I was talking to myself. “Humm. I wonder? Would the Q.M. have those here?”

I started looking around. It didn’t take long to find several in a desk drawer. There weren’t any high level pins but there was one for a trusted messenger. I took it and hurried out, headed for the bar and front door. I took a shortcut through the armory, tucking two small needle knives into my hair and a five shot pistol into the wrap at my waist.

“Now, if I can get back before they leave.” I said, as I ran back along the halls and stairs and through the upstairs rooms.

“Hey lady?” Where you go now lady?”

“No time to explain kid, got to run. Take care of Ryan till help comes!”

Stopping short of the front door, I prepared for my performance. Stepping out the blasted doorway, I saw they were still there. One of them spotted me right away.

“Over here little one. We’ll take good care of you.”

“W… Wha… What hap… happened? Where… Where is everyone?”

“Hey Si, look here! We got us a trusted one!” the guy said, spotting my pin.

“Really? Nice! Where’s Phy-Tong little one?” Si asked.

“He… He’s not here?”

“You weren’t with him then?” the other guy asked.

“No. He took some boy, I don’t know who. He… he went to his… um, safe area… I think.”

“That’s fine! Get in and we’ll go someplace safe.”

“Wh… where are… you taking me?”

“Don’t worry about it. We’ll take care of you now. Just get in.” he said, grabbing my arm and pushing me into the transport.

John and I ran all the way to the tunnel and sewer entrance. We met Laurant as we came around on bend.

“Laurant! Where’s Sam and Ryan?”

“I don’t know. One of the slave boys said he knew where Ryan was and she ran off with him.”

“I heard from her already. She got Ryan out. They’re safe.” John said.

“Good. Is everyone else out?” I asked.

“Yeah, we’re the only ones left down here.” Laurant said.

“Let’s get out and get gone then!” John interjected.

“I’ve got one more thing to do.” Laurant complained. “Give me another five minutes.”

“Okay, John, take the tunnels and sewers. Make sure everyone’s clear. I’ll take the bar and double check it. Laurant, you’ve got five minutes. I’ll wait for you out front.”

We all ran different directions. When I reached Phy-Tong’s personal lounge, I found Ryan and another boy. “Ryan! I said, running to him.

“Hey there Jarreeed. Wass up?”

“What’s wrong with him and who are you?”

“I Cearil. I think he drug maybe.”

“How’d you two get here? Where’s Sam?”

“Shhhammmy, Shhhammy, Shhhammy…” Ryan started laughing.

“Hush my little one. Everything will be okay now.” I said running my hand over his head. “Sam bring us, then go down below.”

“Down below?! Crap, I’ll have to go back down and find her.”

“No, no, no. She not down. She come back. Go out front. Get in transport.”

“A transport? Huh?”

“Yeah. She dress new too.”

“What do you mean, ‘dressed new’?”

“Like slave. Nice, gold, silver, skirt wrap. Like this.” he said, motioning with his hands around his waist. Just then, Laurant crashed through the back door.

“Oh, here you are. What the…? How’d he get here? Where’s Sam? Hey, that’s the kid she ran off with. What happened?”

“She’s gone. Let’s get out. I’ll try and explain later.”

“I scooped up Ryan and we hurried out. After crossing the parking lot we made our way towards Madame DuPree’s home. “John, come in please.” I said, using my comlink.

“John here. Go ahead.”

“Are you about done?”

“Yeah. I’m almost to the old sewers. I’ll be out to the exit in about two minutes.”

“Good. Run. Oh, and cover your ears.”

Stopping about three blocks from the bar I pulled out the detonator Ja’qu’ill had given me, thumbed open the cover and depressed the button underneath. Seconds later, the ground shook like an earthquake. Almost two city blocks lifted nearly three feet in the air, then dropped.The ground in many places gave way, filling in the tunnels and rooms below. Buildings toppled over, crashing into the empty holes. An entire section of the neighborhood seemed to simply suck downward as if a giant stopper had been pulled at the bottom of a pool.

Except for the crashing sounds, there was no real explosion to hear. We did feel the shock wave as it passed through. Alarms throughout the city began blaring, summoning every emergency worker and cop. I knew we couldn’t stay, so we ran on, headed for Madame DuPree’s home.

“I just hope Sam returns there when she’s done with whatever she’s doing.” I told Laurant.

“She’s a smart girl. She’ll be there, you’ll see.”

“I don’t know what she’s up to. It doesn’t make sense. What’s she doing dressing like a slave and going off alone in a transport?”

“I really couldn’t say.” was his only answer.

After several blocks we couldn’t run any longer. Cearil was having trouble keeping up and it was getting hard to run while carrying Ryan. We slowed to a walk and made our way back to Madame DuPree’s using back streets and alleys. She answered the door when we knocked.

“Finally! Is it done? Oh my, is this Ryan? Is he hurt? Come in, come in. Put him on the couch.”

“It’s okay Madame DuPree. He’s been drugged is all. It’ll wear off given time. Is John here yet?”

“No. No one but you two. Are the others coming?”

“John will be here soon, I’m sure. Sam’s gone off on another task. She’ll be here when she gets done.” I didn’t know how to tell her the other two wouldn’t be returning.

“You’ve lost Dean and Pierre haven’t you?” she said flatly.

“I’m very sorry. We tried to be safe, but…”

“I know you did.” she said putting a hand gently on my arm. Battle is never pretty and we all knew the risks. Tell me you at least put an end to that trash.”

“Yes, we absolutely did. He will never hurt anyone again.”

Not more than five minutes later, John arrived. He was covered in dirt, dust and debris.”Damn Jared, you cut that a little close. Couldn’t have given a guy a few seconds longer, huh?” he said shaking his head.

I could tell he was mostly joking from the huge grin on his face.

“We got him! That worthless piece of …!” he blushed. “Well, you know, now maybe this city can find some peace!” We all agreed.

Over the next hour we all cleaned up and looked ourselves over. Not one of us got out free of injury. Laurant had twisted an ankle, I had a deep trench in my left calf from the bullet that grazed me. My pant leg was dried into the blood and we had to re-open the wound to get it out.John was in the worst shape though. That round he took in his right shoulder was still in there. He had packed it and taped it but the bandage was soaked through. He’d lost a lot of blood. How he was still standing I couldn’t figure.

Madame DuPree dug the bullet out, then sewed him up and put on a clean dressing. She was a real surprise. It was as good a job as any field medic could do. It didn’t surprise me later when I found out she too had served, as a nurse in a field hospital but that had been many years ago.We were all exhausted and one by one, dropped off into sleep. I kept fighting it off for some time, worried about where Sam was and what she was doing. I felt like I should be out there looking for her but I knew it would do no good. I had no clue where to even start. Sleep did take me eventually even though I didn’t want it to. My rest was fitful, disturbed by nasty dreams.

Are you enjoying this story? You might want to let Jared know by emailing him at: Jared at CastleRoland dot Net