Project: Black Ice

Prologue

Screaming, nonstop screaming. That's all there was to listen to. A young man's screams etching on for unimaginable amounts of time. The screams scratching against the throat as the continued to no end. The same words being shouted over and over again in between screams of agony. 

"I'M DONE KILLING! MAKE IT STOP! I DON'T WANT TO DO IT ANYMORE!" 

The same thing, going forever with screams to back it up. No matter how far away, the screams could still echo nearby. Sitting on the cold floor with knees pulled close to the chest, trying anything to blank out the horrible noise around. But the screaming never faded and nor did the lust for freedom from the captivity of the cage.

"I DON'T WANT TO DO IT ANYMORE!"

 The will to run away from the madness and screams was overpowering. Looking up as blurry images of a dark room lit up only by a small crack in the wall, a crack leading to the outside world. The cries of whoever was being held downstairs were starting to fade, a sign that the turn was almost up.

"LET ME STOP KILLING, PLEASE!"

 With the sound of footsteps closing it, grabbing a nearby rock that had been hidden in a wall, prepared to do what was needed to be free...

With a gasp, Maverick woke up in a cold sweat. Sitting up, looking around wildly, he kept his breathing slowly returned to normal once he realized his surroundings weren't a danger to him. He allowed himself to relax a bit, trembling a little from the shocking nightmare. It had only been a dream, yes, but to him, it had been worse than death. 

A movement of blankets shifted on the bed across from his and a head popped up with the familiar face of Eric. His golden blonde hair now messy from shifting around in his sleep. He blinked twice, his eyes adjusting to the darkness before resting on Maverick's. 

"Dude, it's not time to leave yet, is it? I thought you said this was a safe house," Eric mumbled, slowly sitting up. He hunched over, the blanket wrapped around him like a cacoon.

"It still is a safe house," Maverick said, reaching down at the bottom of his bedpost where his duffle bag was. Shuffling through the bag, he pulled out a flashlight and a map. Maverick started to look at the map, planning on where to go next. After two minutes of silence, he had finished planning out most of the plan but he could still feel Eric's eyes on him. "Got something to say, I'd say it now."

Eric sighed. "you're having them again, aren't you."

What Eric had said wasn't a question, it had been phrased as a statement and Maverick pretended not to know what he was talking about. "What do you mean?"

Eric huffed annoyed and crossed his arms over his chest. "Don't pretend it's not a reoccurring thing, Maverick. Those dreams are just nightmares from the past. The only reason they keep happening is that you keep thinking about them."

Maverick looked up at his friend. "Yeah, but what if I don't want them to keep happening? What if I want them to go away and haven't thought of them for weeks but just when they stop happening and I start to move on, they come back. It's a repeating process that never gets better."

"The past is what makes us who we are, you shouldn't try to forget about it like it never happened because what happened, happened for a reason whether you wanted it to or not. You can't push it away as you do to everyone else." Eric countered, doing his best not to get annoyed at his friend and his tone softened. "Maybe you should go somewhere peaceful for a while, stay off the radar somewhere that you could actually enjoy yourself."

"That's not possible and you know it. BlackIce is always going to be searching for me no matter how long it takes to get the asset back." Maverick muttered.

"Well," Eric said, walking over to his bag which was on a desk. "I happened to have this hawaii ticket that leaves tomorrow at ten in the morning which just so happens to be first class and has already been checked in so no need to go through baggage check or through detectors..." he said, holding out a plane ticket. 

Maverick looked up at Eric who was casually sitting back down, staring at the ticket and waving it like a fan.

"I'm just saying, it'd be a waste if I had to throw it away since my next assignment is due in three days," he said and gave a small smile. He glanced at his watch that read 3:21 a.m. "I should be leaving soon for my plane anyway," he said and picked up his things, taking the blanket with him. "Happy travels," he said and left the room five minutes later. 

Maverick sighed and walked over to Eric's bed and looked down. The plane ticket was still there and Maverick picked it up, looking at it carefully before pushing it in his pocket and headed into the bathroom.