The Walls

Chapter 1

Echo woke up in a cluster of debris, coughing and wheezing from the smoke. Echo couldn't see anything so he just started running. When he started running, he heard his friend's running a little further behind him. Sprinting with his eyes closed away from the sound of big heavy boots clapping towards him. Echo was about 200 yards away from the blown up wall when he was able to open his eyes. But as soon as Echo opened his eyes 'WHAM' he had hit a tree full speed. He fell to the ground, his head searing in pain and smashing his back against the ground. Echo's vision began to fade in and out until it had completely gone black.

Echo woke up to the sound of twigs snapping off to the left. He opened his eyes, his head still in pain. Echo looked to the left where the sound was coming from and he saw a man. Echo started panicking. The guy walked up and grabbed him. Echo started shaking for this man to let him go, but he had realized he was tied up and couldn't move. The strange man looked at him and laughed as he swung Echo to the mans right and smashed his head off of the tree.

Echo started to pass out again, but managed to keep his head and eyes open just long enough to realize something. He could only see his back due to the way this man was carrying him, but the thing he noticed was this man wasn't wearing any guards armour. Echo could no longer keep his eyes open and passed back out into the darkness.

When Echo woke up he was still tied up, but this time he was in a cage. The smell of musty concrete and decaying wood flew up his nose like a gust of wind. It was hot, really hot but it wasn't Echo's skin, it was actually the air. Echo looked around, dust filled the air like little fairies were floating around the room. The cage was metal but rusty. Echo wiggled his hands but the ropes wouldn't budge. The room was quiet, very quiet as if someone was watching.

As soon as that thought crossed his mind there was some sound of laughter coming from the left of the room. Echo's head whipped towards the sound. The light right above Echo turned on and started flickering. Echo saw a shadow straight across the room and jumped. The light turned off and then back on and Echo's heart started racing. The laughter started again but it was on the right side of the room now. A cold dark chuckle filled Echo's body. It made him feel something he had never felt before... Dead.

The door about 15 feet in front of Echo flew open. An extremely tall man around 6'7 was standing in the door way. The man started laughing.

"Alright, quit fucking with the boy." The man had said as he flicked a switch that turned all of the lights on.

Echo looked around and saw 3 men around the room dressed in the same wrapped black and red uniforms. Then the guy Echo saw carrying him through the woods had a different uniform. There was a piece of cloth that covered his neck like Rozs scarfs but had also covered half of his face, over his mouth and nose almost like a mask. The man snickered through his mask and took three steps forward crossing the room. He let Echo out of the cage and bent down close to Echo and said,

"How's it going Johnny boy?" Echo gave him a frown in a confused look and the man shot up and stood over Echo.

"What's the matter, your name not Johnny?" The man asked Echo sounding calm. Echo shook his head and kept his mouth shut.

"Then what is your name kid?" The man asked Echo. Echo stayed silent not daring to say a word.

"WHATS YOUR NAME!" The man screeched.

"It's Echo." Echo replied in a tiny mouse voice.

"What?" The man asked loudly sounding frustrated with Echo.

"It's Echo." Echo told him louder.

"No no no. Echo what?" The man asked.

"I don't know what you mean." Echo told the man truthfully.

"Oh you don't huh." The man said sounding slightly irritated. "You know, a last name." He told Echo, sounding slightly interested but also annoyed.

"What's a last name?" Echo asked in a confused tone.

"Ay boys you hear that! This guy doesn't have a last name?" The man yells to his friends. Hoots and laughter came from the men around the room. The man bent down again, his knee almost touching echoes face.

"That means you escaped from the wall, didn't you?" He asked in a low, creepy voice.

"How did you know?" Echo asked him.

"Because people in the wall don't have last names. Every name is different, it's how they keep track of you." The man replied. Echo decided to look at the ground. The man stared at Echo with cold dark eyes.

"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't introduce myself."  The man said as he stood up and looked around at the men in the room. "Where are my manners. I'm Ivan what's yours?" He said while he removed his mask.

"He already told you boss." Some man said cutting in. Ivan slowly turned to the man.

"oh really." Ivan said. 'BANG' a gunshot went off. Echo looked and saw the man drop to the ground, his head bleeding out of his forehead, his eyes still wide open with a petrified look on his face. Ivan thruster his gun and looked at Echo.

"So Johnny boy, what's your name?" Ivan asked Echo.

"It's Echo remember?" Echo replied sounding unsure. Ivan just stared at him.

"Oh yea whoops sorry I forgot." He said laughing after while the 2 other men carried the body out of the door. Ivan stopped laughing and looked at Echo "You and I are going to have some fun." He smiled, stood up and walked to the door.

Right before Ivan had reached the door Echo yelled "WAIT!" Ivan looked at him. "Where am I?" Echo asked.

Ivan still had that cartoon smile on his face, "You're in hell." He replied and broke out into laughter one last time before slamming the door shut.