Chevallier

Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Battle Royale

                It was nighttime, the table was packed with food, it was all delicious, it all smelled good, but we were not eating anything, an ominous presence hangs in the air as we all stared at each other, all ten of us. Every minute or so a large explosion resounds outside, the shockwave shaking the table and making the women jump a bit, I flinched slightly every now and then at those moments, imagining the sounds outside as a scurrying of a thousand monsters. A man stood up, forcefully, disturbing a glass filled with orange juice, we all stared, he didn’t mind.

                He was tall; maybe 7 foot 9 inches tall, he looked menacing but nobody was intimated or at least pretending not to be, we were all looking up at him, I did not feel fear in particular, just curiosity and surprise at his attitude, I was also disgusted at his insolence at having the guts to disturb dinner. He spoke out in an angry voice “Why the fuck are we all sitting here having dinner while ‘they’ continue to fuck the town outside!” as if to support his statement, another large explosion, closer than the others, maybe just a few feet away from us, the table jumped an inch off the ground. He looked at each of us then continued speaking “Is this really who we are, just a bunch of cowards holed up in some bunker, waiting for death himself to come for us, do we really want this?” he slammed his fist into the table and forced out a bellow “WE ARE NOT COWARDS! What we want is to fight, to go out there and face ‘them’ and make them fucking pay for making us look like cowar-!”

                We all turned our heads, the gun was still smoking in his hands, we turned back to the man who had spoken, he had fallen to the ground, clutching his arm where a ragged hole had appeared, blood gushing freely out “Rapier, heal him quick.” A woman with flaming red hair stood up, slightly tripped on the way to the injured man and rushed towards him, holding his wounded arm in her hands; a purple glow appeared in his wounds and I saw it slowly close, the wound healing, the blood ceasing to flow. The man who had spoken earlier spoke up again “That’s the tenth time you have done that Carbine, one more and I will see to myself that I will not ‘miss’ your head, understand?” the man named Carbine just nodded and took his seat, we all went back to staring at each other. The other man took his place in the head of the table, he glanced at each of us and then spoke, “Tonight, we shall have our last meal, our last rest, our last sleep, for tomorrow, we will do what each of us has secretly wanted to do and what Carbine here has been shouting about for these past two weeks. Now let’s eat.” He started eating and we all followed suit, everyone thinking the same but not voicing it out, not even loud mouthed Carbine, who also started eating.

                A few minutes later and we all finished eating, the others standing up and leaving while we are still seated, in time only four of us were left, still staring at our empty plates, I spoke up “Tomorrow, we go out tomorrow, what the fuck were you thinking Smith?” he stared at me, I saw him finger his gun nervously, saw the fear in his eyes flit for a second longer, then I understood, he opened his mouth to speak but I held up a hand to silence him “I understand now, don’t worry you have to explain yourself, to tell you the truth, I feel the same myself, ever since that Carbine started shooting his mouth off every dinner.” He nodded, we understood each other, “But don’t you think this is too sudden, I mean shouldn’t we wait for the signal?” a female voice spoke, gentle, soothing, but still hard, I turned to the red headed female from earlier “Don’t worry Rapier, I think we already got the signal, that or the bunker up north was already run over and they’re springing a trap for us, either way we will come out tomorrow.” She stared at me, and then turned to Smith “Sometimes you astound me Chevallier, I think you should have been leader with those analytical skills you hold inside your head.” I scoffed, “C’mon quit doing that, you’re the best fit for the leader, I told you the first time we formed this alliance, you have a way with words I can never duplicate, it’s you charisma holding this outfit together.” He grinned a bit “True, but I would still root for you if we ever get a reelection.” I laughed, I can’t help it, a cold thin voice spoke from my left and I stopped, “You guys seem pretty optimistic considering our chances of survival tomorrow are close to zero.” I turned my head to the person beside me “Oh come on Renegade, I know you’re supposed to be serious and all but won’t you show at least a bit of optimism?” he shook his head, his features curiously leaving a silvery shadow behind, like a bad quality recording of a movie “You know me Chevallier, I’m never the optimist, it’s not my job to be happy and confident.” I relented and sighed, turned my head back to Rapier and Smith “Well, I think that about sums up this meeting, should we retire for bed?” they all agreed and we walked outside, Smith catching up to me “I told you, you seem more like the leader.” I chuckled “And I told YOU, ah forget it.” He grinned and entered his bunk, I did too, changed my clothes and lied in bed, the door opened, I looked at it in surprise “Hey Rapier, you need something?” she stepped forward, her body silhouetted in the light coming from the hallway, she slipped into bed with me “Wait what?” I stammered “I was thinking, that since this might be the last night we are together, we should make a memory to remember each other by in case one of us dies in battle.” I shivered slightly, both from the cold way she spoke and from the sensation of her breath on my skin, she leaned towards me “Matt…” her lips touched mine…