Rebels

Ch. 26

"What happened to you?"

Still, no response came. It had been a day since Jack had rescued Arin, but he was beginning to regret it. Even after Arin regained feelings in his legs, he didn't move from the couch. Lyla had tried to sweet-talk him and Luca prompted him with food, but Arin didn't give in to any of that. Now, it had been Jack's turn. Nearly an hour had gone by since Jack was questioning Arin, and he couldn't get a word out of him. The three of them hadn't slept since Arin had come to, and by now all of them were mentally exhausted.

"Jack, just get some sleep. We can try again tomorrow or something." Lyla said, yawning in the chair in which she sat.

Jack shook his head no. He glanced back up at Arin, who still sat staring straight ahead. "Do you remember me?" Jack asked. "Why did you attack me?"

Still no response.

"Do you know where you are? Who you are?" Jack asked once again, becoming more exhausted by the minute. Then, a small and horrible idea came into his head. He looked around the room, his eyes landing on the black bag Luca had brought that sat on the ground.

Lyla noticed this and straightened. "What are you doing?"

Her voice brought Luca to full alert, who had been drifting on and off of sleep on the ground. "What are you doing in my bag?"

Jack had found multiple unnecessary bottles of rum hidden in the bag, but he didn't think much of it. What Jack really was searching for was a knife. Sure enough, hidden in a side pocket of the bag, was a knife. Jack pulled it out.

Luca and Lyla both stood to their feet. "What are you doing?" Lyla hissed.

Jack didn't respond. Instead, he turned back to Arin, who began to eye the knife in Jack's hand. Arin's breathing became ragged, and he backed away as far from Jack as he could. Jack saw this as an advantage. "Listen to me. I will not hurt you, as long as you answer my questions." He said slowly, making sure Arin understood.

Arin's eyes darted from Jack to the knife, and to Jack again. He swallowed down a metallic taste in the back of his throat, and shakily nodded.

It made Jack nervous seeing Arin suddenly act so afraid of the knife, but Jack still held onto it with a strong grasp. "Do you know who you are?"

"Arin." He replied, though it came out as a whisper.

"What's the last thing you remember?" Jack asked. Luca and Lyla both stepped closer to Arin so they could catch what he would say next.

There was a momentary pause before Arin spoke, not once looking at any of them. "I was in a hallway. T-There were three people around me, a-and they were asking me questions..." His voice trailed off as he recollected that moment.

Jack changed the topic. "Do you remember any of us?" Jack asked, referring to Luca, Lyla and him.

Arin turned his head and examined them thoroughly, before once again turning away. He shook his head no.

"What did they do to you?" Jack asked abruptly without thinking.

Arin blinked a few times. "They tied my hands up and hit me on the head." He began to laugh ironically. "Then, they took a knife, and carved into the side of my head."

Luca tensed beside of Jack. "Why are you laughing?"

Arin stopped laughing, but his smile persevered. "Because it hurt."

Jack tried to comprehend this, but his mind would not let him do so. Still, Jack changed the subject. "You were a soldier. You were caught and became a slave. Do you remember that?"

Arin shook his head no.

"You told me yourself. What was it, that if you keep on retaliating, then you haven't lost the fight? You were branded with that scar on your right hand, forming a capital X."

Arin looked down at his hand, rubbing his thumb over the mark.

Jack continued, "You also were crippled from having been whipped on your back. And you say we're the bad guys? I'd beg to differ."

Arin stood so quickly Jack had to step back out of shock. "You are the bad guys. You're a criminal. What was it, a thief?" He turned to Luca. "You're a hacker and a drunk." Then, he turned to Lyla, and Luca stiffened. "You're a crook."

Luca ripped the knife from Jack's grasp and stepped towards Arin. "You're going to wish you hadn't said that."

Jack and Lyla both stepped in front of Luca, trying to calm him down.

Arin turned and walked past Jack, brushing his shoulder. As Lyla continued to talk to her brother, Jack focused back on Arin, who was digging in Luca's bag. He had grabbed three bottles of alcohol, and he lifted one above his head. Before Jack could protest, Arin slammed it down on the ground. He did the same with the second, and raised the third.

Jack ran at Arin without thinking, tackling him to the ground. He wrapped his fingers around Arin's neck, beginning to choke the man.

Arin pulled at Jack's fingers and tried to pry them off of his neck, but it was no use. Arin then wrapped his fingers around Jack's neck, catching him off guard. Still, Jack pressed down only more firmly against his neck. Arin's eyes began to close, yet Jack's neck was throbbing. Then, when Arin's eyes closed, his arms fell limp. Jack still continued to hold his neck for another minute, before releasing his hands, revealing bright red marks around Arin's neck that would later become bruises.

Jack rubbed his own neck, which was raw. He stood and turned around, to find Lyla still talking to Luca.

A sudden migraine came upon Jack, and as soon as he blinked he began to see spots which matched the pounding pain in his head. He slugged past Luca and Lyla and plopped down on the couch, even that simple action making the pain in his head worse. He closed his eyes, as if that would make the pain go away.

"What's wrong?" Lyla asked, now focusing on Jack.

"Just a migraine." He muttered.

Luca walked over to Arin, who still lie unconscious on the ground. Luca spat on him before turning away.

"Luca." Lyla hissed.

"Lyla, the man is a lunatic. He deserved that. He beat up Jack, ruined two perfectly good bottles of rum, and completely humiliated all of us."

"I'll agree, for once, with you on that." Lyla admitted. "But, clearly the king did something we can't even imagine to Arin. It's not his fault he's doing these things. The man said it himself. They hurt him."

Luca only shrugged, dismissing the conversation. He sat down in the chair and stretched out his legs. "I'm going to get some sleep. If I don't wake up in the morning, it's because of him." He said, referring to Arin.