Torment

Gilliam

A sound, sort of like a musical box, startled us, causing me to pull my hand away from Curtis. "Children, it's the new year eggs from Mr Wilford!" The teacher exclaimed. I looked past Curtis, watching as a bald man pushed in a cart full of eggs. I looked on, puzzled. The man was dressed in what almost looked like hospital scrubs. The teacher and children rushed forward, placing their hands upon the eggs. There must have been hundreds of them. The cart was filled to the top. "Touch them, they're still warm! These eggs are boiled using water heated by the sacred engine itself." The teacher said. I rolled my eyes. "Her and that fucking engine," I grumbled, causing Grey to smirk.

"As a special treat, we have playing for us the world-renowned first chair violinist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Mr Gerald McInster." The teacher announced grabbing her own basket of eggs as she began to clap. The children all cheered as a well-dressed, elderly man walked in. "Is that really Gerald? He looks damn great." Tanya said as we all looked at the man. I couldn't believe my eyes, he looked so clean, almost well looked after. But I still remembered what the soldiers did to his wife, Doris, how the front section actually got Gerald to perform for them. Gerald began to play the violin as the bald man made his way towards us, in between the classroom desks. He offered Andrew and Tanya some of the eggs. Tanya took handfuls, stuffing them in her pocket. The poor woman had starved for so long. Mason was also offered one but declined. The man made his way past Nam and Yona before handing Curtis and me our own egg. The egg was so white and pure in between our grubby fingers.

I didn't want mine,  I couldn't be bothered to support Wilford's New Year celebrations, so I placed the egg down on the desk beside me. "Let's go, Curtis," Tanya said, cracking an egg on a child's head. But Curtis didn't answer. He was looking at his egg. I peered over his shoulder and saw that his had a hole in the bottom of it. I peered over Curtis's shoulder as Gerald continued to play, the children sitting cross-legged in front of him as their teacher continued to hand out more eggs from her basket. Curtis dug his fingers into the shell and pulled the egg apart, revealing a small silver capsule, just like the one I'd seen in the protein block. Curtis looked at me worriedly as he pulled the capsule apart. Inside was a rolled-up red piece of paper. As Curtis unrolled it the word 'blood' became readable. Before I could question the note, Gerald's violin string broke, pinging him in the neck. I looked up; my eyes wide with fear. "Curtis..." I spoke slowly, looking around the room.

All of a sudden, the teacher pulled a machine gun from her basket of eggs. Before I could even comprehend what was happening Andrew was shot directly in the forehead. Tanya and the children screamed as we all took cover. The teacher continued to fire at us as we hid behind the desks and chairs. I peeped round the corner to see her standing proudly, hand over bump as she aimed the weapon. Mason was gingerly crawling along the floor, making her way to the teachers' side. "Fuck!" I seethed looking at Andrews body on the floor. I looked for Curtis, making sure he too was undercover. He was holding onto Tanya as she cried beside Andrews body. Curtis looked past me and to Grey who was crouched behind me. Curtis nodded motioning for Grey to take the woman out. He stood to his feet unsheathing his blade and launching it through the air. Incredibly the knife struck the woman in the throat, sticking in her neck as she dropped the gun and fell to the floor, dead.

I jumped up, scanning the carriage for any other threats as Curtis rushed forward. Mason had made her way to the dropped gun and aimed it at Curtis, but he was too quick. He kicked the gun from her hands as a shot fired out. Curtis gripped the woman harshly. "It wasn't me; it wasn't me." She begged looking between the two of us as I made it to Curtis's side. Before she could speak anymore an announcement rung from the television above. Curtis and I watched the screen as black and white CCTV footage played. It was of the tail section, and the man in the suit we had kept prisoner, the man whose partner had been killed. He pulled Gilliam into the middle of the floor. "No..." I breathed looking at the gun in his hand. Curtis was breathing heavily beside me as Grey made his way to our side. Gilliam was kneeling on the floor, bodies lying around him. The man cocked his gun, before holding it to Gilliam's head and pulling the trigger ending the old mans life. Tanya screamed and Grey looked away, laying his head on my shoulder. I was shocked, Gilliam was dead, this was a statement from Wilford, this was war. I took a deep breath as I confronted Grey, shushing the tears he shed for his friend. I looked to Curtis, he still had his eyes on the screen, looking at Gilliam's lifeless body. 

As the CCTV footage continued to play, we watched as the suited man loaded his gun and left the room followed by armed soldiers, they were coming for us. "Curtis, Grey, we have to move, they're coming!" I panicked pulling Grey away from me to check he was okay before I grabbed Curtis's arm. He looked to me, still in shock. "Curtis, you have to lead us!" I said, tears brimming my eyes as I cupped his face in my hands. Curtis took a deep breath, nodding at me whilst trying to hold his tears back. Curtis walked away from me silently, over to the discarded gun on the floor. Without hesitation, he picked it up and began walking back towards Mason. "Curtis my friend, we understand each other. Listen to my words it wasn't me." Mason begged as he stopped before her. But he didn't care, he lifted the gun and shot her in the face. I nodded sternly at Curtis's action before looking at Andrews dead body, there was nothing I could do for him now. Curtis had Mason's blood splattered across his face. He was a man on a mission and no one, no one would get in his way. He picked up the ammo magazine on the table nearby him, reloading the gun. "We go forward," Curtis commanded still walking towards the next carriage. Grey and I looked to one another before checking on Tanya, Nam, and Yano. We then followed his lead, just like we always did.