Spy school, paradise city.

Chapter 24

On the way, I couldn't help myself. Curiosity got the better of me and I searched up the yellow mountains. They looked awesome, I couldn't wait to see them.

Sucks that I never got the chance.

You know, I was really getting excited too. I mean, yeah, we're on a mission and all that, but, I was really ichin' to sightsee. 

We didn't even make it to the city. On one of the stops along the way, cops - no soldiers - came rushing in and pulled us out of our seats, dragged us through the train station, and chucked us into their car. It wasn't a car, though, it was more like an armored truck. I know that I should feel pissed and all but I felt strangely honored. I wasn't just an insane dude mugging people on the street with a knife, I was such a crackbrained lunatic that they were afraid I'd find some way to break out of a cop car and massacre their ranks.

Felt good. Even though I didn't know why they thought that.

Know what felt better? Getting gagged, chained, and forced to sit in between two guards whos definition of hygiene was... A bit loose, to say the least.

I was totally not wishing they'd just get it over with and shoot me.

It doesn't matter though, after sitting through traffic in that horrid position for hours, I was just about ready to face anything they gave me. At least until I saw the pristine prison cell they planned to put me in.

These guys would make great classic car owners, those guys are all into everything being original. The toilet was a relic from the last century that belonged in a museum. The walls looked as if they'd been chiseled straight from the sewers themselves. And the lighting? Let's just say that if I ignored the sweet aromas and the cold, hard floor, I'd have no trouble falling asleep.

Perfect originality. It really is inspiring to see that passion not only is on their minds at home, but it seeps into their jobs and I think that it gives them happiness. Meaning to their lives. Beautiful thing, really.

Almost makes me shed a tear.

Despite the wonderful accommodations, I was immediately trying to figure out a way to escape the second they gracefully tossed me into there. I'm not Erica, but if I found a hairpin or something along the lines of that, I'd be able to pick the lock. I thought. I'd never managed to do it but I'd seen plenty of videos and heard Erica lecture about it enough times that I thought I could figure it out.

Because of the darkness, I had to feel around the cell with my hands. That lasted all of about three seconds before my hand was plunged into something mushy, with the texture of somewhat damp mud. It was not mud. 

So I gave up, even if I did manage to escape, where would I go? I didn't know the language, I didn't know any real survival skills, hell, I didn't even know what city I was in. I decided that I would let whatever happen, happen. I thought that Erica would find some way to break me out. She always does, and I knew she would this time too. 

I think you can tell from the way I'm sayin' this that my wonderful dreamland scenario of a cold, cunning, and beautiful chick would come into my cell and save me because I am me, and that's all that really mattered in the world, did not come true.  I thought that I was special, integral to the mission. In reality, I never really did anything that others couldn't do, I'd always just managed to say it first. I thought that me 'saving the day' would earn me some points with Erica, that she would start to prioritize me over the mission. That we could run away together and be free or some other hippy thing. 

But I woke up the next morning to find out that she escaped without me. I was completely on my own. 

That stung, but I decided to keep my head up, go along with the flow, follow through the motions, and figure out what the hell to do. They put me on another truck, with more guards this time, and sent me off to... Somewhere, I don't really know. All throughout the ride, my mind was whirring like a computer, but it was still drawing a - Crash! The truck started to spin around me, slamming me into its doors, almost teasing me saying, "You can't get out, this is how, but you can't." I instinctively curled up into a ball. I bounced off flesh and metal for quite a long time before the truck tumbled to a stop. I tentatively looked up. The guards were all knocked out, I guess they didn't do what I did. I took the pistol, id card, and keys off one of them, and got out of the truck. The driver was either unconscious or dead. It didn't matter, upon the top of a cliff - the one I presumed we'd just rolled off - guards were running to the side and shooting at me. A few bullets barely missed me. I didn't wait, I just ran into the surrounding jungle. After running for miles, I noticed that none of the guards came after me.

I had just escaped. 

I cheered for a bit and danced around until I realized what my actual situation was looking like. I was out in god knows where, with no supplies, running from the police forces of... Well, China. 

I trekked around in the forest for a bit but then had to stop because it was getting dark. I climbed on top of a small boulder and slept.

The next morning was much the same, walking over and over again, one foot in front of another, only to stop to find some halfway edible berries. It didn't matter, though. I had no other choice. I had one simple plan, find a river or any sense of civilization. I soon stumbled across an old village.

I had made it. I ran down to that sucker like no man had ever done before. I burst into the first house that I could only to realize... It was empty. Because of course it was. I check all of the other houses, empty. At first, I figured that well, yes, it was strange, it could have been abandoned. But the houses looked clean and taken care of. The gardens were well nursed. 

Something had gone horribly wrong in this village.

Absolutely wonderful.