Against The Odds

Chapter 3 - Brutality

I don't realize that I'm holding my breath as they approach. The two guards don't hesitate for a second. I barely have time to remember to breathe before one of them extends a gloved hand to me and seizes me by the back of my shirt collar. I am forced in front of them, sandwiched in the middle. Each of them grasps one of my arms, their hands so big that they can wrap around the full circumference of my thin biceps.

"Where are we going?" I ask, even though I'm sure I don't want to know the answer.

The guard on the right presses something into my back, sending an electric shock through my body. I can't help jumping a little. "Don't speak," he growls. I never knew someone's voice could go that low. I'm not sure which was worse, the sharp burn of the voltage, or the cold chill of the guard's words. After that, I decide not to ask any more questions.

They march me through the gray pathways until we reach the border of trees. The forest is so thick here that no one would risk escaping. In most places, the trunks are too close together, blocking any entry. The guards show no sign of stopping, but I have no idea how they're going to get through. Completely unphased, one guard eases a thinner tree to the side and shoves me through the gap. My foot catches on the roots and I totally eat it. I'm prepared to slam my head into the rock solid concrete, but instead, I get a face full of something slightly softer. The fall still hurts, but the ground below me has some give to it. Looking down, I see it looks like our physical training area, but darker. The heat radiating from my new cuts mixes into the cool air from the shaded land. It almost feels wet. What is this stuff?

I wish I could have more time to inspect it, but by now, the guards have also stepped through the hole, and they peel me off of the ground. I notice that some clumps of the soft stuff cling to my clothes. Before I can wipe it off, the guards rip my arms to my sides again. They're practically carrying me.

Under the cover of the tall trees, it's a different world: the entire scene is so dark, it looks like it's night time even though I know it was nearly noon when we exited the camp. If I strain my sight, I can still make out the shapes of branches high above us, and the higher I look, the smaller the branches get. At the ends of the branches are little green leaves. Similar shapes dot the ground in clusters, but unlike the ones attatched to the trees, these leaves are brown and yellow. I don't remember learning anything about leaves growing out of the ground, and I'm sure we never learned about leaves that weren't green.

"Head down," the rude right guard orders, painfully pushing my head towards my chest.

I can't take any more, I snap, much like how the guard snapped my neck. "Can you chill? I get I disgraced you, the city, whatever! Why do you have to be so rude about art? At this rate, you're going to kill me before you even have the chance to enslave me. Look," I tear my arm free from the right guard's startled and loosened grip. "I'm bleeding. I'm bruised. And you almost broke my neck. I just don't see what you're trying to accomplish like this!" The guard's expression goes from surprised to infuriated and I immediately wish I hadn't spoken.

Any pain I had been in before amounts to nothing compared to what he puts me through next. His knuckles find their way around my throat, hoisting me off the ground. I feel a tough tree trunk hit hard against my back. I can't see much, but I'm not sure if that's from the lack of light here or from pain blurring my vision. The guard gets right up in my face, his mask only inches from the tip of my nose. The minimal light that does leak through the canopy glints off of the guard's brown eyes that now look scarily red.

"Holy shit..." I sputter.

"Listen up, punk," somehow, there is even more menace behind his voice, "You're lucky to be alive right now, but I guarantee, if you keep whining like that, you're going to wish you were dead. We don't take breaking the rules lightly, especially not with what you did. So watch your mouth." He holds me there, never breaking eye contact. "Understood?" It's like my lips have been glued shut; I can't speak. "Fine, have it your way," says the guard, cracking the knuckles of his other hand against his chin. He leans back and collides his brick of a hand with my left temple. Needless to say, I'm out cold.

***

When I come to, I'm in a room almost as dark as the woods. The only source of light is a fire torch that is mounted to the wall. The room must be fairly tall, because the torch is unquestionably out of reach. Since I can hardly see, I try to get a feel for my surroundings with my hands. Something grinds against the smooth finished floor when I move, and my wrists feel weighed down. I feel incredibly groggy, but I'm aware enough to see that I have been chained to the floor. The only structural beings that I can see are the floor and the torch wall; the room is too long in all other directions to see the ends of it.

I'm debating a nap; I can't remember what happened before I came here, and just sitting here isn't doing me any good. Maybe if I sleep it off, my mind will clear up and I'll be able to figure out what to do next. I manage to lay down on the floor, though that turns out to be quite the challenge since my ankles are tethered as well. Finally, when I position myself on my back, arms and legs splayed out diagonally from my body, I try to dose off. As I do so, something else registers in my senses. I can hear something!

Chains that sound just like mine rattle against the stone, but my body is still. Someone else is in here with me. "Hello?" I call. I'm terrified of what I might hear in response, or maybe not hear since there's no telling what could happen to prisoner-like people, but I figure that I have nothing to lose at this point.

"Hi!" A weak and gravelly, yet extremely excited voice returns to me. "Talk some more. I swear I've heard your voice before."

"Okay?" I say, unsure if this is a good or bad situation. "Do you know where we are?"

"Welcome to the capitol city itself, you've found Virtutis Terra Oasis. For real though, this isn't fake Virtutis Terra like at the training camp. This is the real deal. It probably doesn't look like what you had in mind because we're in the prison. I think I heard a guard say we're in the main government building, but I've never seen it for myself. I fought the guards on the way here, and they sedated me before we even got out of the camp premises. My name's Gavin, by the way."

I'm wide awake now. My voice cracks, but I'm too astounded to care, "Gavin? You're alive!"