Torment

Axe

As the gates opened, I whipped my head back around towards them. Behind them were hundreds of men holding axes, dressed in black masks, balaclavas and frightful trench coats. I stared with wide eyes, my mouth becoming dry from fear. Curtis had also turned around and instinctively held his hand out in front of Yona and me, pushing us behind him. The young girl was right, we shouldn't have opened the gates, but it was too late. I gulped, unsheathing my knife and clenching it in my hand. It was clear that the men lined up in rows in the next carriage had been sent to kill us. The carriage was empty, and windows allowed natural light to emphasise the axe men's frightful threats. They were all moving their axes in an intimidating manner, you couldn't see their eye's through their disguises and their whole persona was clearly designed to create fear. The carriage had chains hanging from the ceiling and with all the men queued up in front of us it was hard to tell what it was previously used for.

The men wearing balaclavas only had their mouths visible, they were all tall, all broad and all hateful. They had their orders and I'm pretty sure it was just to kill. As I looked further into the carriage it became apparent that some of Wilford's men also had spears. I had no idea what was about to happen, but I knew it was going to be a blood bath. Curtis turned around and pushed Yona away, back towards her father, he looked at me, contemplating the same thing, fear etched across his face. He knew, just like me, that many of us were about to die. I was still petrified, but it didn't matter if I was at the back of the group with Yona or by his side, I was still going to be in the firing line either way. I swallowed hard, this was it, all I could do was defend and attack. My knife was nothing against an axe but it's all I had, and I was prepared to fight to the death for our freedom, and it would be an honour to do it beside Curtis.

Curtis seemed like he had had the same thought process as me. I nodded at him sternly, gripping my the handle of my blade harder and pulling the rucksack tighter on my back. Curtis looked back towards the axemen, I stood close behind him, letting him know I was with him, soon Edgar, Tanya and other fighting fit tail end passengers made their way behind us, all following Curtis's lead. We were with him. I looked to Edgar, he had visibly paled and looked as petrified as I felt. Edgar came to my side as Painter handed Curtis a fire axe of his own, one that was obviously been in the carriage for emergencies, all of us still looking forward. We all stayed silent as an axeman appeared with a fish and handed it to another henchman opposite Curtis. The man took the fish and held it in the air. We all looked on confused, the motion of the train swaying us from side to side. The man took his axe and sliced the fish's throat, letting its blood soak his axe's blade and drip on to the floor by his feet. It was almost like the axeman was threatening us with a primitive type fight, like an ancient tribe ritual where fighters put blood on their face.

Regardless of whatever it was, the fear I was feeling only intensified. The fish was passed along the axemen and they all dipped their axe's blades into the creature's blood. I looked to Curtis, my stomach twisting from panic and anxiety. "Be careful," Curtis said sternly, turning slightly to Edgar, "Yeah, you too." The young boy breathed, fear evident in his tone. I took Curtis's freehand with my own as he turned back to the axemen. I squeezed it gently before letting go again. Curtis turned to me, "Stay safe, I love you." He said suddenly looking me in the eye before giving his attention back to the axemen. I let out a jagged breath, not trusting my voice to reply as the men began to lunge at us, their axe's ready. This was it.