Savagery

4 - The Safe House

The safe house. Did that even exist?  Dylan's thoughts were anything but quiet, and his confusion was easy to read. He earned a sympathetic smile from the man as if he knew the dreadful things that were happening. Hopefully, for Dylan, that was the case. He didn't know what to say, so he just followed the man in silence into the bungalow. The exterior of the bungalow did no justice for the building, but the inside exceeded all expectations. As soon as he stepped through the door, Dylan was greeted by a large wooden staircase. It was a converted bungalow, and it was open planned. A large living room spanned the entire length of the interior on the right, with a large open kitchen on the left. The walls were of a light grey colour, with white wooden floors. The furniture matched with the colour scheme, grey and white. It felt homely, but not safe. Not yet anyway. 

"Make yourself comfortable, Dylan. You are safe here," the man spoke, not breaking eye contact. Dylan looked around the room, trying to take everything in. It was all happening too fast. The man spoke again, and this time he paid full attention. "I'm Brian. I'm a friend of your father's." Dylan never met any of his fathers friends, but he knew that a few existed. His father used to go out with them to play poker almost every night when he was asleep, and he was only aware of this because he woke up at 4am once when his father stumbled into the house drunk yelling about how he had lost. 

"Why am I here?" Dylan asked, bluntly. Brian sighed, then walked away. Instead of following him, Dylan stayed put. 30 seconds later and Brian returned with an envelope in his hand. Dylan stared at the envelope, then stared back at Brian, waiting for him to explain. 

"Your father left me this a few months ago, for you, in hope that you would make it here. And here you are, so." Brian explained, extending his arm out to give him the envelope. Dylan took the white envelope from him, which had his name written on the back. His fathers hand writing, neat, fancy and familiar. "I'll leave you to it," Brian spoke, breaking the silence. Dylan didn't look up, but he heard Brian walk away and then heard his footsteps heading up the stairs. Dylan felt the envelope in his hands, and there was a bump in the corner. There was something inside, and it wasn't just paper. 

He carefully opened the envelope, pulling out a folded piece of paper. He then checked the contents of the envelope and there was a USB flash drive inside. He took a seat on one of the padded chairs in the living room, unfolding the paper. The paper had writing all over it, and it was addressed to him. 

'Dear Dylan, 

I know this isn't the way you expected things to turn out. I don't even know if you will ever get this letter, but I have hope. If you are reading this, then I am most likely dead. And you could be soon if you don't follow the instructions I have left you on the flash drive. You see, not everything in the world is perfect. Some things are corrupt, and unfortunately we got mixed up in an evil, and very corrupt, operation. When you were young, you were marked. Not physically marked, but you have had a target on your head since you were born. Although, you were safe. Your mother and I were allowed to raise you, but only to the age of 18. Once 18, your fate was out of our hands. And we are both eternally sorry for this. 

We considered moving you out of the country, but they would find you eventually. They watched our every move, they monitored everything we purchased and they had eyes and ears everywhere. We couldn't trust anyone and we certainly couldn't risk your life, especially when you weren't ready. One thing I could do though, which they never would have seen coming, was train you. You may think you're just a boy, and yes, you are good, but you are also a very dangerous weapon on your own. I just ask of you to remember everything from training and use it. I didn't train you for nothing. I know you're now thinking, 'but who are they?' And I can tell you this. I don't exactly know everything.