The Bro Code

Mold, Human Waste, And Blood

21: James: Mold, Human Waste, And Blood

"You know, I'm very glad you are working for us, Mr. Crowley." Said Yolanda Mendez with superiority and hidden menace.

I would have been struggling against the bonds that tied me to the chair, but it's happened too often already, and I knew it was no use.

The tall and beautiful woman looked across the narrow room and beckoned for her Third in Command to come over. The heavy-looking man stepped out of the gloom.

"A21, unburden Mr. Crowley's mouth." Said Yolanda with fake sweetness.

A21 marched over to where I was sitting, and in one swift motion he ripped off the duct tape that was covering my mouth. It stung, but I was used to it by now. I glared at the smirking Yolanda.

She strode over to me, and I braced myself for what was to come. She placed her hands on the arms of the chair and leaned in so her face was centimetres away from mine. Her beauty was remarkable, but I didn't let that fool me. She may be stunning and sweet on the outside, but on the inside she was cruel and merciless. The ideal example of one of the three Illuminati leaders.

I cringed away from her.

"I'm going to ask you one more time, and maybe you will come to your senses. Who is this strange group of foolish teenage boys and how did they find out about us?" She held up a picture that was taken secretly of a few of my gamer friends, Hannibal, Gabe, and Yoshi, entering an Illusions store with a light snow falling outside. A phrase on the bottom of the photo read Bergen, Norway.

She held up two more photos, all taken secretly. One was of Amir, Christopher, and Yoshi, I think, though I have never seen them in real life, sitting at a table at some Oriental buffet. The other was of Gabe, Bram, and another dude who looked like someone fresh out of a Skittles commercial whom I didn't know, and they were sitting across a table in what looked to be a hotel room.

I glared into her eyes coldly. "I don't know." I lied.

She slapped me.

"Liar," she spat, "you will regret ever not being truthful with Yolanda Mendez, Crowley, for Yolanda Mendez has ways of making the truth come out - ways you couldn't even imagine in your tiny little boy brain."

Oh, great, now the bitch was referring to herself in the third person.

She leaned away from me and crossed her arms, her angry expression melting into one of smugness.

"One of these days, we will break you so bad that you'd wish you'd told me to begin with."

A shiver ran up my spine. Yolanda began walking towards the shadows, towards the heavily guarded door.

"No matter, though," she said, still walking, "we'll have the nine pests off the face of this Earth in no time. Isn't that right, A21?"

The big man nodded briskly, then followed in Yolanda's wake, out the door.

I sat there, my hands and arms bound to the back of the grainy chair, wondering what was to happen next. The stinging sensation left on my cheek didn't bother me anymore, and neither did the welts and bruises on my torso where I was beaten earlier in the week. Now, it was all second-nature.

A small girl stepped out of the shadows surrounding the narrow room. I've seen her before, and I didn't like her. She was the daughter of the one and only Yolanda Mendez, and almost as terrible.

Mar Mendez skipped over to me, her dress fluttering around her legs. The thought of one so young and pure being so full of evil and destruction sickened me.