Ben woke up in a cold sweat and breathing heavily. He had no idea where he was. Everything was black. He was lying on a small cot, in what felt to be a small cement room without windows. He stood shakily and felt around the walls searching for a door. There was none. His breathing became more rapid. He closed his eyes and worked his way back over to the cot and sat down with his head in his hands.
'Okay,' he thought. 'I need to calm down. Now, where am I?' He wracked his brain as hard as he could, and then sat back, startled. He couldn't remember anything. He had no idea where he was, what he was doing here, and why. Even worse, he couldn't even remember what he was wearing. "What the heck...who am I?!" He asked the darkness. Thankfully, the darkness did not respond.
At least, it didn't at first. A few seconds later, there was a mutter and a loud knock. "What?" Ben responded reflexively. Silence. Ben shifted uncomfortably, then there was a loud CLANK, followed by a series of clicks and scratching sounds. Then, with aloud BOOM a door opened, flooding the room in bright light. Ben threw his arms up and squeezed his eyes shut to ward off the light.
"Get up."
The voice was deep and coarse, the tone harsh and commanding. Slowly Ben blinked his eyes open. A large shadow fell over him as a huge man stood over him. "I said, get up." He growled. Ben was pretty sure he was the biggest man he'd ever seen. The man's had hugely muscled arms, and the white t-shirt he wore was stretched tightly across his muscular chest. He towered over Ben, and Ben guessed his height to be at least 6 ft. He had dark skin, the color of dark chocolate.
The man grabbed Ben tightly by the arm and jerked him to his feet. "When I tells ya to do somethin' I expects ya to do it." He snarled. Ben gagged. The man's breath smelled like tuna and onions. Ben gasped, then gagged when he breathed in the aweful smell again. He remembered something! Er, well, sort of. He recognized the stench. That was better than nothing. He smiled a little.
The man didn't like that. He slapped Ben upside the head and shoved him into a brightly lit hallway. The hallway did not match the room Ben had just come from. The hall was bright and pleasant looking. It looked like the kind of soft carpeted hall you'd find in a nice, four star hotel. The carpet was a reddish maroon color with intricate gold designs along the edges. The bottom half of the walls were a light brown, and the top half a sunny yellow. Ben glanced back at the room he'd just been in and felt a jolt of fear. It had been smaller than he'd thought. Totally cement, top to bottom, with only the cot inside. Ben began to worry.
"Where...where am I?" He asked the man, trying unsuccessfully to keep his voice from shaking. The big man laughed. "Hey Marty! You hear this kid? He wants to know where 'e is!"
A sharp cackling of laughter came from around the corner to their right. Another man poked his head around it. "Haha! Stupid ain't 'e? You won't be rememberin' nuttin' no more!"
This new man was short and very pale looking. He was painfully thin and his wooly clothes appeared to almost drip to the floor like a slow goo. He had a massive chin and long, crooked teeth that gave his sneer a dorky look. His ears stuck out like sails on the sides of his head, the floppy cap he was wearing to hide them was really only making them more obvious. The man, Marty, was about to snicker again, when a massive hand closed around the back of his neck.
The man that had dragged Ben out of the cement room had been big, but this new man was even bigger. He towered over Marty, his skin a dark tan. Dark hair hung in his eyes, which looked to be as black as coal. The man was seriously ripped, with huge biceps that were impossible to miss. He flashed Ben and the other man a white smile full of perfect teeth.
"Gentleman, let's not be rude to our new and important guest." His voice was a deep purr, and he emphasized the word important by squeezing the smaller man's neck. Marty gave a choked squeal and failed his arms wildly. "Now," the man continued. "Larz, let go of the boy please." The man holding Ben's arm dropped it immediately and stepped a few feet away for good measure. Ben noticed the fear in the man, Larz's, eyes.
"Excellent. Now, Larz, Marty, leave us be. Your needed in the yard." Larz scowled at the man, but quickly hid his anger and turned to leave. As Larz disappeared behind the large man, Marty squeaked once more before tearing free and scampering after his friend.
"Wonderful. Now boy, it's just you and me." He grinned and popped his knuckles, and Ben realized with rising panic that there was no where to run.
YOU ARE READING
The Resistance
Aksi(In Progress) Eighteen years ago, twelve powerful warlords rose up against governments world wide in the hopes of obtaining more power and ruling the world. After nine years of war and endless violence, they succeeded. Once in power, many of the twe...
