Our Time Bomb

Chapter 50 ~ The Brink

Red's pov 

I never pictured myself trapped in the very guild of my enemies. What would Erika say if she knew where I was now? What will I tell her? I should be anywhere but here at the moment. With the war at hand, I am needed elsewhere. I suppose I overestimated myself. I thought I could take on the Captain. He is not one to mess with, I see why she married this guy. The way that he walks about just radiates respect to all who see him. He knows who he is, he is a valiant warrior and he knows his business well. 

Still though, the fact that she would go for a Gyardican knowingly is beyond me. I like to believe that she has got some love for me still somewhere in her heart but I know she doesn't. 

I'm in a holding room, not the dungeon thankfully, I've heard that place is pretty awful. It's small and bare in here, nothing but white walls and a security pod in the upper corner. It must be morning now. They kept me here for the night saying they'd be back in a few hours. 

Some time later... 

I must have drifted in and out of a light sleeping state the last couple of hours but now I am wide awake. I heard a noise. A shadow falls through the crack on the bottom of the door, someone is unlocking it. I stiffen and sit up straight.

Sure enough, the door opens and the Captain whom I now have come to despise enters. He makes no greeting facial expression as he comes in. I wait for him to say something. All he does is walk over and grab my arm roughly. I wince, there is a lot of pain in both of my legs. It is nearly crippling. They had a nurse fix my knife wounds last night but it still hurts like hell. I groan and stagger as the Captain forces me to walk. 

"W-where are we going..." I feel dizzy and my body is asking for me to collapse. 

"You cannot even make it to the door?" he asks coldly. 

I moan again, saying nothing. 

He drags me with him out of the door where some other Gyardicans are waiting. One of them sees that I can barely walk and he comes along the other side to support me. 

"Thanks Bennett." The Captain says, "let's go down and get this over with. As soon as we get the information we need, we'll head out for the compound."

I feel sick at what he just said. They are declaring war today... 

They are taking me down into what I'm guessing is the dungeon. 

"So we can do this the easy way or we can do it the hard way." The Captain says simply, "If you wish to avoid suffering and torture you can tell us right now where the compound is, but if you refuse to comply, I think you can guess what will happen."

I think carefully about this... If I don't tell them, they will get the answer from one of the other Shadow Nation captives and I will end up getting tortured almost to death. If I tell them the war will start and they will attack Shadow Nation today. But now that I think about it, will they win? probably not. I've helped organize our defenses and they are amazing. I think we can afford this battle. However, I can't let them know that I'm so confident, I have to endure a little torture and then give in and give them the location. 

"I can't tell you..." I say breathlessly. 

"As I thought." he says, "Well you can rest assured that you will want to tell us soon enough."

Meanwhile in the Monarch's estate... (An advisor's  pov)

"They are declaring war today, can this get any more delightful?" the king has got sheer pleasure written all over his pasty white face. That gleam in his eye is disturbing. I am trying to think of a logical reason why he would want to wipe out the majority of the population in a whole district. How can there be any benefit to him in thousands of deaths? I am beginning to doubt his sanity. I am not the only one who thinks he is mentally out of it, yet we can't do a thing about it, if we are disloyal, we are immediately exterminated. 

"Are the gas machines ready?" he asks me. 

I nod with a hard swallow, "yes sir."

A glee smile spreads across his face, he seems to be in an incredibly good mood. His wife is right next to him. Her face looks blank and spaced out. I would not doubt it for a  second that she too is downright insane. Neither of them can make a sane decision for the good of the district naturally. 

"Splendid!" the left side of his disgusting face twitches as he stares at me. "You know the drill, as soon as the fighting breaks out, release the gas in every inch of this district. Kill them all!"

I shiver and nod, "Of course, sir."

All over the district gas ducts strategically set up. No one knows about them except very few of the population, nobility,  and the favored ones of the monarchy. Within the course of perhaps a week, people will start dying from unknown causes and it will not stop until every single breathing organism is dead.

Back to the situation in the Guild... (Jefferson's pov)

 "Stop! please! I give up!" Red struggles in his shackles. His back is only a little torn and bleeding. I am rather surprised that he didn't have the endurance to bear any more of the lashing. I had my men beat him, the typical way we do this sort of thing. The strong willed don't give in to physical pain like this. My stubborn wife is an example. She was never physically weak, she couldn't be bent if you hurt like this. Her weak point was if you hurt someone she loved.  I admire her still and now I must lead a war against her. 

I nod and give my attention to Red, his face is exhausted. "Very well, you agree to take us to the Shadow nation compound?"

He nods.

"Good," I gesture to Kyle to free him from the shackles in which he is restrained. "We set off immediately then."

Well that was easier than I thought. I think to myself as I climb the several flights of stairs up to the main floor. I feel a bit sick with what I'm about to do in only a few hours. How will I do this? What will I do if I come across Erika? What if she dies? she cannot die, I won't let her. I must find her and take her somewhere safe. 

I slip on my light but strong armor and polish my sword, I simply cannot keep my mind off of her. I can almost see her sweet face smiling at me. I don't want to be a Gyardican any longer. I want to go home and rip my children away from that woman who is not their mother. I want to take them with me, find Erika, and run away someplace where we could live alone in peace for the rest of our lives. I don't care about everyone else in the district. They may as well all not exist.