The Dark Path : The Start of Darkness, The Beginning of True Struggles

Chapter Five

- Chapter Five –

“Archer! Hey, wake up!”

A voice woke me up from my sleep. A voice which I recognized as my old friend, Miles Alexander Vance.

I sat up quickly when I remembered what happened to me before I lost consciousness. When I did so however, my head began to spin. I quickly placed a hand over my mouth and tried my best not to throw up.

“Whoa, easy there. When I was planning to wake you up, I didn’t expect you to sit up that fast. You don’t look too good though. You might want to lie back down and get up when you’re ready,” Miles said to me.

I did as told and felt the headache subside.

“They shot you with a tranquiliser shot because you were in beast mode. They told me that you would be out for a couple of hours. The effects should have worn off by now. That’s why I knew when to wake you up,” Miles uttered to me as he leaned against the wall.

That’s when I realised that we weren’t in the SMART base anymore. We were in some sort of room with six bunker beds and a small shower room in the corner and a sink in the other corner.

“Where are we?” I asked.

“The guys that picked us up haven’t given us the full details yet. I’m not too sure what’s their deal but at least it’s better than being in that creepy place.” Miles’ face paled for a while. “I’ve never seen so many bodies. I’m trying to convince myself that those were fakes even though I know deep down that I was lying to myself.”

“You sneaked into the base?”

Miles placed both his hands behind his head. “Yeah. Sierra disappeared from Enzo’s place. Her good-for-nothing phoenix made a mess of a trashcan and showed me the way. I wasn’t expecting to see you however. I thought you were too busy trying to be a hero.”

I sighed and hung my head. “What happened at Stonehenge was beyond my control, Miles. You know I would never attempt to bruise those around me like that under normal circumstances!”

Miles lifted a hand. “Don’t worry. I know you enough to know that you’re not that type of person. What I want to know now is what made you think that it was a great idea for you to go off on your own.”

“Well, for one thing, most of the problems are revolving around me. Mother Nature despises me and Alessandro wants to kill me. If you stepped out of this and continued on with your life peacefully, you’d probably not be affected by any of this.”

“And what? You expect me to just sit on the side and watch my friend get kicked into the corner by a couple of scumbags? Hell no I won’t! Anyway, I’m already knee-deep in this bullshit. I might as well just finish what has been started.”

I started to feel better and sat up on the bunker bed. “Wait, didn’t you say Sierra is missing?”

“Sure did.”

“Then, why aren’t we doing anything? You don’t look at all worried about her.”

“Of course I’m worried about Sierra, Archer, but I’m not the type of guy who would walk quickly in circles and moan about how hopeless the situation is. Waste of energy, I say. The people who picked us up looked like they’ve got some fancy high-tech stuff. I figured if we cooperate with them, they’ll help us find Sierra. The only problem now is that I’m in some sort of trouble because I punched their first lieutenant several metres into the air.”

I lunged forward and grabbed Miles by the collar. “You what?! What makes you think they’ll cooperate after they’ve known you did that?”

“Relax, I’ll sweet talk them. It’s what I do best.”