For hours, we were forced to carry the cargoes and push the speedcycles according to their path. The only thing I am able to deduce from is the fact that we are walking away from the rising sun, I can only tell that we are walking somewhere west. With a set of cold steel of gun barrel pressed against mine and Kath's back, the 4 of us were forced to comply with every demand of these white-masked bandits.
Being hours away from our camp, we were out of the field of tall grass and stumbled into the familiar open plains of gold grass. The bandits, a soulless presence in their concealed identities, herded us like helpless hostages through the desolate landscape. Our speedcycle was now reduced to a cumbersome load that we were forced to push, each step accompanied by the ominous clatter of the bandits' pieces of equipment.
"Move." They would command bluntly, no anger, no aggression. Kath must have slowed down slightly to prompt them to speak up.
"Where are you taking us?" Ash asked with a tone of demand for information, a familiar coldness to her voice. She was clearly upset about what was being done, as anyone would, but she doesn't seem to be one who would just take it without retaliation. However, her question goes unanswered as the bandits ignore her.
Amidst the tension of the situation we found ourselves in, I kept calm as I was trained for these types of hostage situations, as there was not much we could do at the moment anyway. Despite being aware of the cause of my own calmness, it didn't feel like I was facing the threat of death at all, which was strange even if it was trained calmness. There was a sense of an ability to do anything, and I would be fine, sense of unreality, as though I were a spectator in my own life, observing the scene from a vantage point beyond the reach of consequence.
"Stop." One of the men ordered flat-out, giving us no choice but to follow if we wished not to be shot. The white-masked group began to surround us as we stayed perfectly still, not even turning our heads the slightest. They forcibly turned us around, with the man who had been keeping track of me pulling me by the shoulder. He warns me while scrutinizing my cargo that was strapped on the speedcycle, "Don't be the cause of your own funeral."
After hours of walking in a single direction without any liberty of anything, being turned around finally allowed me to see what had been behind us this whole time. While they were surrounding us, I was able to count how many had passed through my peripheral. From what I count, there were only the 5 of them detaining the 4 of us. 2 of them being armed with some rifles, and one of the armed man was handling me.
Right behind us this entire time was a small and modest carriage-type vehicle which was silent enough for me to not hear it this entire time. On the back of it were supplies and containers from what I can assume are the spoils of other unfortunate carriers. Carefully, I scanned the landscapes, realising why they had made us walk all the way here. This is one of the patches between trails, a place no one would ever walk through as it is one of the slowest directions to take to go anywhere. Which meant there was no chance at all for anyone to stumble upon this operation. For these bandits to take such a drastic precaution, do they know we're carrying important information, or are they really just doing this for the cargoes?
The pondering for their intention had to wait for another time, as the man who was handling me turned me to face him this time. I noticed how they were doing this together as a group, synchronised like a trained system. Like the rest, the man was wearing a plain white mask and a hood that covered their heads attached to a white coverall. The man began frisking me, despite already making sure I had nothing on me when they found us at the camp. He checked everything from the pocket of my coat to feeling my shoes.
"Wait, I recognise that crest-" Josh spoke out loud, clearly to get our attention on what he had just picked up on, but it was quickly interrupted by a gunshot followed by his guttural outburst scream of pain.
"Shut the fuck up." The man said without any sense of empathy right after shooting Josh in the arm. Despite the severe injury, he kept himself up, pressing his hand onto the wound to keep the blood in.
As I looked back at the man who was inspecting me, I noticed that he had a crest on the right side of the coverall chest as well. It was some sort of aggressive spinning circle surrounded by a serpent consuming its own tail, accompanied by 2 sets of numerals.
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In spite of the gunshot followed by the scream, the man continued to systematically check for any items that were on me. Out of the blue, there was a loud impact that could be heard behind me from the right side. Ash had unhooked the cargo off her speedcycle and directly onto the foot of one of the bandits. The sudden impact caught him off guard, eliciting a pained yelp as the weight of the cargo crushed his foot. In the chaos that ensued, the bandit who had been frisking me redirected his attention to Ash
"Hey!" Growled the white-masked bandit, showing emotion for once. As the bandit raised his gun, levelling it at Ash, time slowed down as I realised that this would be the only way and chance for us to survive this situation. With a forceful motion, I seized the opening and pushed the barrel of the gun away.
