Prehistorica

Chapter 6

Chapter 6
Purgatory

The feeling begins. The coldness on my right forearm starts giving me goosebumps. I slowly gain consciousness and I found myself on the floor. The sound of military trucks stirs around me. Stephen remains unconscious and speechless beside me. I rub my eyes to help make my vision better. I groaned from the sting pain from the impact.

"What happened? Jesus it's freezing," I said to myself.

I looked down to see that I am wearing the same clothes from the other day. A grey henley shirt, black jeans, and a pair of black running shoes. I noticed a small cut on the right sleeve of my shirt. I kneeled to Stephen's level and try my best to wake him up. Stephen has a little cut on the side of his head.

"Stephen. Stephen wake up. Stephen come on buddy get up." I whispered.

"Ah man, I'm never drinking again." Stephen mumbled in his sleep. "What happened?"

"I don't know." I replied.

"It must have been some kind of nightmare." Stephen guessed.

I notice the sound of the truck stopped and I jump to the sound of the door in front of us slammed shut. I hear the footsteps of the mysterious figure walking on the rocky ground. The footsteps stop for a moment before the I hear the creaking of the metal door. The loud sound of the handle unlocked the backdoor.

"Um Stephen, I don't think this is a nightmare." I told him while shaking in fear.

"Why's that?" Stephen looked up at me.

The backdoor opened to a bright light of the outside that it became hard to adjust at first. The light faded into the shape of the type of people I don't want to see. The Enigma mercenaries surround us and one of them managed to jump into the truck. We backed up to avoid them.

"Rise a shine, boys. It's your lucky day." The mercenary told us before grabbing both of us.

The rest of the Mercenaries jumped in and help pulls us out of the truck. I struggle to break their grip, but it was no use. The mercenaries grip was unbreakable. I try dragging my feet, even that is no good. They dragged us to a wall twice as high as the Berlin Wall. The entire wall is made out of a tough cement material. The wall looked old due to a large amount of vegetation covering parts of it.

The wall opens up like a gateway to another place. On the other side is an open field of grass and rainforests. The Mercenaries continue to drag both me and Stephen in to this unknown place. When we reached the center of the field, the mercenaries throw us both to the ground. The impact of the land hurt more than landing on sand. 

"Welcome to your new home." One of the mercenaries told us.

They retreat to the other side of the wall as it's massive doors start closing. The doors close with a loud thud and a storm of dust travel towards us. I started choking on the dust. I get up onto my knees and see wooden homes. The buildings architecture must be of Japanese origin. I took a closer look until I saw one of the doors open. People peeked their heads out of the houses and noticed us.

"What's other there?" One of them asked.

"Noobs." One of them called out.

"Where did they come from?" Another one with glasses asked.

"From a ship," said one with southern accent. "How do you think we all got here in the first place?" 

"Come on lads, let's go out there and give them a proper welcome." Said one of them with British accent.

Everyone from all four buildings came out and gathered around Stephen and I to greet us. I look around and there's more people coming out. The crowd is diverse with people from all walks of life. They are started to crowd around us.

"Stephen get up, I think we've got company." I told him nervously.

Stephen and I look around the crowd and everyone was anxious to learn about us. The crowd got noisy and started poking fun at us. Everyone was closing in on us until a young man got into the circle. The man looks like he's in his mid-twenties, dark skin, hazel eyes, long curly hair, and like most of the people here, their clothes are dirty from living here for a long time.

"Silence!!!!!" He called out and the crowd obeyed. "Ladies and gentlemen. Brothers and sisters. Today is another moment in our history. Not only did we wash up here onto these shores, we forged a new home from the very fruits nature provided for us. From these lands, we built it from our own sweat and blood. We didn't make the choice of giving up our lives, we forged new ways of living it like steel being forged on a wild fire. We encourage others through the day and remember the passed in the night. On this day, these two gentlemen have washed up to these shores. Let's show them our hospitality."

Everyone cheers for us while Stephen and I remain confused for a second. I had to improvise a way to show some respect. I kneeled before him like a prince kneeling to Queen Victoria. Stephen joined me in doing the same thing.

"I am Grant Safdar, leader of the band of remnants. One of the first humans from the modern world to thrive upon this land. At your service." He introduced.

Grant comes up close to us like an interviewer on a talk show. A table is set up for us from a wooden board with a piece of notebook paper. I hear small footsteps in the grass get louder coming from behind me.

"Wait, I got the pencil!" Said a boy running towards the table.

The kid has chubby build, olive skin, and brown hair with gold highlights. To admit it, the kid was bigger than most of the people in the circle. As soon as the kid reached the table, he tripped on a rock and landed face first. Mostly everyone laughed except for me and Grant. I help the kid up to his feet.

"Are you alright Ed?" Grant asked.

"I'm ok, I just hit my face." He replied.

Ed handed me an old, sharp pencil and leaned toward the paper. I see that other people have written down their name, age, and date of birth on it. I decided to follow the same format if that's how organized this place is. I handed Stephen the pencil and did the same thing as well. Grant grabs the board and reads it to the public.

"Welcome to Camp Purgatory, Brian Alwin and Stephen Higgins." Grant said in a welcoming voice.

Everyone cheered us on and all of the sudden we hear a gunshot coming from the other side of the wall.

"Shut it you obnoxious swine!" A Enigma mercenary shouts. "Don't make us come in there!"

"Okay guys, let's get back to work." Grant calls out to everyone.

Everyone in the camp goes back to their activities. Out of nowhere, I see a teenaged kid looking at me fiercely. Eyes as black as night, clothes that are flamboyant as the rich 20's,and his angry look expresses a dark side within him. Grant interrupts me with a hand on my shoulder.

"Come, let me show you two around this." Grant told me.

I obeyed and joined Stephen on Grant's little tour. Something tells me that whatever happens to me, I've put myself in a very dangerous scenario. What am I going to do now? I guess there is only one way to find out.