Flickering Light [Part 18]

The routine at the compound was meticulous and boring. Cody was scared at first, but there wasn't anything to be afraid of. Line up for rollcall at 8am. Lunch at noon. Dinner at 6:30pm. In the rooms at 8:30pm, lights out an hour after. The rest was free time, minus whenever the men and women in lab coats would take someone away. They never told him their names or who they were working for. The first few weeks, Cody was pulled away from everyone daily, right after breakfast. They drilled him with questions, like where he came from, who he was, what his plans were in the country, and about his necklace.

Once a labcoat-wearing woman had tried taking it from Cody, but he squeezed it in his hand and wouldn't let go. She tried coaxing it out of him, but he refused. She eventually got angry with him, and began forcing his hand open. So Cody bit her. He had a faint taste of her blood while she screamed at him, slapping him in the face before Cody let go. From then on, Cody kept his hand grasped tightly around his necklace when any adult was nearby.

The interviews slowed down after a few months. Cody had been giving the same answers to the same questions, and couldn't answer anything about his necklace other than that he know he had to protect it. His dad never said why it was so special, other than that it was more important than either of their lives. Cody didn't have any answers, even if he wanted to tell them. He tried asking about his father, but he soon found out that getting any information out of them was impossible.

The rest of his time was spent in the gameroom. Most of the kids spent their time playing one of the three video games given to them or one of the four different board games which were all missing some pieces. The smaller kids usually played with the dozen or so stuffed animals and toy cars. There was a couple decks of cards that lived on the table, and some dice laying around the room.

Ellie showed him how to play cards, since Cody never had time to learn games while on the run. Ian tagged along as Cody picked them up quickly, finding ways to win when it looked like he was certain to lose. Ian was always cheering on his adopted older brother despite never winning a game himself. One of the other kids, a boy a year older than Cody named Jeremy, got angry at always losing and was determined to beat Cody. Ellie had to step in once from Jeremy making it too personal.

"He's just lucky, give him a break," she had said when Jeremy threw down the cards in frustration.

"Nobody's that lucky, he's got to be cheating!" Jeremy accused, pointing a finger at the hapless Cody, who was at a loss for words.

"I'm the one shuffling and dealing, not him, settle down," Ellie responded, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, and you've been hanging out with him a lot since he got here, too." Jeremy crossed his arms. He sat with a scowl on his face, staring at the cards he tossed at the table. It was true, Ellie was the only person, other than Ian, that Cody would actually talk to. Cody told Ellie all the same stories he told Ian, about his own family and trying to survive in his war torn country. Ellie listened patiently, asking questions here and there, but never pried. Ian was always right by Cody's side, listening intently with wonder in his eyes.

Cody managed to find her alone one day, two months after he had been brought to the compound. "There was also, um, a friend of mine that I travelled with when I got split from my family," Cody had said to her, trying not to make eye contact. He had wanted to tell someone about it, but never found the courage. He had always been resolute that he wouldn't tell Ian, so one of the few days that Ian went to play with some of the other younger kids, Cody tried to push away his nerves.

The last time he had mentioned it to anybody was back at his school, with the art teacher. The memories flashed through his head and he found himself unable to pull himself out of them. Since being captured by this strange group of people, Cody decided to try to work out what happened without losing his mind. Every so often before bed, he would sit down, close his eyes, and try to recall a little bit more of that traumatic evening. If he felt himself slipping, Cody would open his eyes, take a few deep breaths, and shake his head, as if to shake the memories away.

It didn't always work. On those nights he relived the evening over and over until the armed security guards making their nightly rounds would hear crying coming from inside his room.

"A friend?" Ellie asked him. Cody was visibly nervous, so she didn't want push him for much more. Some of the stories he had already told her were frightening, at best. Hospitals where they did disturbing experiments. Eating bugs to stay alive. Sleeping outside curled up without blankets, pillows, or anything covering them. Holding his breath and remaining completely still after being shot at, while hearing soldiers laughing from afar.

"Yeah. He was actually with me for most of the time after I got split up from my family. His name was Tyler, but I called him Ty." Cody swallowed. He took a deep breath, shook his head once, and looked down at the ground.

"We were at-" was all that Cody managed to say before Ian came jogging over.

"Ellieeeeeee," he said, frowning. "Jeremy's been on the Xbox all day and he won't let anybody else play."

"Ian," she said, ready to shoo him away for a moment, but Cody had slammed his hands into the bean bag chair. With a frustrated movement, he stood and stormed out of the gameroom. "Cody?" Ian said innocently, watching his brother leave. Ellie told him to wait there for a moment while she hurried after him

[Part 17][Part 19]

---------------------------

reliving traumatic experiences is my personal favorite pastime, what's yours?


For real, at least you can't accuse me of being nice to my characters. Another few chapters should already be written, just a matter of gathering my thoughts and being willing enough to follow through.

and with that, I leave you with this

Flickering Light [Part 17]

The light flashed on and Cody groaned, hiding his head underneath the pillow. It had felt like he had just fallen asleep only a moment prior. An unfamiliar voice carried across the room, unclear from other side of the pillow. The cold air bit at Cody’s arms and he shifted in his bed to get his entire body below the sheet. A few seconds later, both the sheet and the pillow were torn out of his hands. Cody panicked, and squinted as he looked up. He quickly propped himself up, one hand clutched around his necklace, as he heard a quiet voice calming him down.

“Hey, don’t worry, I’m here to help you out. First few days are gonna be tough, but you’ll learn to like it here. They do roll call every morning bright and early at eight. We heard you come in last night, but they kept us all in our rooms until this morning so we never got a chance to meet. Sorry about the sort of rude awakening, but if we don’t hurry then we’ll be late. Nobody’s happy when someone’s late. Now, c’mon, I’ll explain more afterward.”

The girl was only a few years older than Cody and just as thin, with a small mole on her cheek and brown hair down to her shoulders. She was already out the door by the time Cody scooted his legs around the side of the bed, wincing at his sore legs from the running he did the day prior. He gasped at the cold as his bare feet found the floor. With a yawn and a chill, Cody stood up and left behind his new room and followed the older girl.

“New kid! Down here!”

Cody looked down the end of the hallway, towards the way he remembered trying to escape. The door at the end was wide open with several others near Cody’s age standing beyond it. He hesitantly walked towards it, still chilly from his cooled room. Several of the doors he saw from the previous night were wide open. Peeking into them as he passed, those rooms looked more colorful, or at least warmer, than Cody’s. When he reached the end of the hall, there were a handful of kids there to greet him. It opened up into a carpeted room that looked like a playroom. There was a small TV up against the wall with wires and boxes that looked like the ones he and Ian played with at their house with the Reinhardts. At the other side was a table with decks of cards on top and a few board games.

“Cody! You’re here!”

Next thing he knew, Cody was wrapped up chest high in a hug from his ‘little brother’ Ian. The ten year old squeezed hard, face buried into Cody’s chest. The other ten or eleven kids in the room looked at him with a mix of confusion and interest. Hesitantly, Cody hugged back, trying to take in his surroundings still. Most of the others in the room were around his age of 14, but mostly younger. Some of them, Ian included, were in the same thin white clothes that Cody wore, but others had jeans or different colored shirts. The girl who woke Cody up had a black hoodie and was trying to get the younger ones to stop looking and line up.

“Alright you two, you gotta split for now so they can make sure you’re here. It’s a daily routine we have to go through, just bear with it. Hold still while he counts us, okay?”

Ian let go, and looked up into Cody’s eyes and smiled for a moment before standing next to him in a lineup that the older boy had arranged. There was a chiming sound above the door, and Cody looked up to see a clock softly announcing 8am. A moment later, Dr. Julian strode in with a clipboard stuffed full of papers. He ran his eyes down the line of kids, counting them all quietly to himself. He began checking off a list on his board, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

“Okay kids, nothing big happening today for most of you. We’ll need to see you this afternoon, but the rest of you all are free to go to breakfast.”

Dr. Julian had pointed at Cody while addressing them, but left without giving him a chance to ask him anything. The others relaxed and Ian immediately attacked Cody with another tight hug. His foster brother had moved so fast Cody barely had any time to brace himself, nearly toppling over.

“It’s good to see you too,” Cody said, half laughing. Even his actual little brother wasn’t so clingy. Or was he? It felt like an eternity since Cody had seen him. Cody grasped his necklace through his shirts with one hand while wrapping his other hand around Ian’s back.

“I was so scared. They hurt Mommy, and I haven’t seen Daddy. I’m really happy to see you, Cody! I’m still scared, but I’m really happy.”

Before Cody realized it, Ian was crying into his chest. Cody rubbed his foster brother’s back, trying to soothe him as the others left the room. The older girl in the black hoodie stayed back and let Ian get it out of his system.

“Hey, breakfast is at the other end of the hall. I figured you two should know. If you have any questions, you can talk to me. The name’s Ellie."

"I'm Cody. Where are we?" He started to guide his brother towards the hall, who quietly followed.

“Where? None of us know. They won’t tell us anything we want to know.”

“They?”

“The guys in doctors coats and sometimes there are people in suits.”

Ellie led the way through the hall, stretching. Cody found his arm wrapped up in Ian’s hands, smiling at his younger brother. If nothing else, he was thankful for the warmth. The hallway was otherwise just as chilly as Cody’s room, and air vents blew down on them from above.

Breakfast was in a room labeled Mess Hall, with a small number of gray tables and benches to sit at. The food was similar to what Cody had been given at his short lived foster home, but with less color to it. He managed to find a seat close to Ellie while the rest of the kids crowded in on either side of him. Ian squished next to Cody, starting to ask the others their names and where they were from, while Cody listened quietly. He said 'Hello' when prompted, but kept glancing away, hoping to catch Ellie's eye.

There was no doubt that she was their leader, cracking jokes and always with a grin on her face. Those at the far end of the table were leaning in, hoping to hear the conversation. Cody leaned in a little too, until the boy next to him nudged an elbow into the ribs.

"What are you looking at, new guy?" the boy said with a devious grin. Cody blushed.

"Nothing, she just...she reminds me of someone," he answered quickly. The other boy nodded, raising his eyebrows, not believing a word Cody said. Scowling, Cody looked away.

She does seem like Chloe, and kind of looks like her too. Cody sighed. All three of his siblings were back home somewhere, and Cody was never able to figure out how he could find them. Just seeing his father again was enough to spark his hopes back up, but they were separated before Cody ever got to ask how anybody was or how they were able to meet again. And then mother...

SNAP

Cody blinked twice, and the kids around him laughed. Ellie gave him a look, bringing her hand back across the table. "Already lost focus, new guy?" she asked, ready to crack a joke but with a hint of caring behind it. Some giggles came out nearby.

Smiling, Cody rubbed his eyes and gave a little laugh. "Yeah, sorry, I guess I'm still tired. Zoned out, you know?"

"So is it true? All the stuff Ian says?" one of the younger girls asked. Cody glanced down at Ian, who smiled.

"I was telling them all the stories you told me. About the different world and the war and you fighting and all the stuff you told me."

"Oh. Yeah, I mean, nobody here ever believed me but Ian, but all that stuff happened."

"What was it like?"

"Um, have you ever been in a war? Like, in your own country?" Cody looked around and the kids all shook their heads. "Oh. I don't know how really to describe it. I thought I was gonna die every day. I went to bed to the sounds of guns so much that I got used to it. I had to run away with my family, and every town we went to had been bombed or destroyed somehow. We got separated and I was running with my best friend for awhile until...until..."

Cody hugged himself, trying not to lose control like he did at school. He squeezed his eyes shut, and took in a deep breath. Letting it out, he felt a hand on his shoulder and opened his eyes. Turning, Ellie had moved from her chair and had pushed off one of the other kids to sit next to him.

"It's okay. The first few days are tough, and it sounds like you've been through a lot. Finished with your food? We can talk or chill or whatever back in the game room."

Cody nodded thankfully. He didn't look around at the others as they got up. Ellie threw back a quick request for someone to clean up their abandoned plates before leading Cody back into the hallway.

"There's not much to explore around here, unfortunately," Ellie told him. "We have our rooms, the Mess Hall, our game room, and two bathrooms that have toothpaste and shampoo or whatever you need. Oh, and if you get caught in the girls' bathroom, we're gonna lock you in your room. I did that to one kid, and he finally started crying and begging to be let out. It's not easy dealing with a hall full of teenage boys sometimes."

Cody gave a nervous chuckle as they walked back to the game room, getting a better look. With blue paint, it was the only room in the place that had walls any color other than white. Saggy bean bag chairs and a faded red couch were the only places to sit, with toy cars and trains spread across the floor as little caltrops. Ellie dropped onto the largest bean bag and stretched. Cody found one nearby, having never sat in one before, and carefully lowered himself down.

"Whoa, cool," he said quietly to himself as he sunk down into it.

Ellie yawned. "So you're from a different world, huh?"

"Yeah. Wait, you believe me?"

"Of course. It's not the strangest thing I've heard from the kids here."

------------------

[Part 16][Part 18]

"As for now, I'm probably going to stop releasing this story here online until it's fully complete."

Turns out, that little quip from my last post was a lie. I'm still rolling, even if it's been over a year. I've actually gotten through Part 20 complete at this point. No telling what's coming after (or when it's coming).

And with that, I leave you with this.

Flickering Light [Part 16]

The colonel had a firm grasp on Cody’s pendant, keeping the kid rooted in place for fear of breaking the chain that held it around his neck. Their faces were uncomfortably close for Cody, who tried to turn his head away in disgust.

“About time I got this necklace!” growled the colonel. “I’m gonna take you, your family, and make you all wish you had died with your miserable mother!”

With those last words, Cody jolted awake. Even with opened eyes, everything around him was pitch black minus the soft blue glow from his necklace. His head was resting on a firm pillow and a thin blanket covered him on top of the mattress he lay on. After catching his breath (and his composure), he stayed quiet and listened. Muffled voices carried over from his left, but he couldn’t make out any of the words that were being said.

Feeling around with his hands, his right was blocked by a rough wall while a stiff carpet lined the floor. Cody sat up and cautiously placed his bare feet on the ground. The dim blue of his necklace lit up underneath his shirt, but didn’t reveal much else other than empty air. A coldness started to spread through his body as he realized that he wasn’t wearing the clothes he escaped in. The sound of talking had disappeared as he stood up. He froze in place, listening. Whatever he was now wearing felt paper thin. Soon, Cody wrapped his arms around himself and tried keeping himself warm.

A thin strip of light appeared in front of him and grew to show a doorway leading to an outer hallway. A figure flipped on a switch and a light bulb flicked on above. Cody whined and covered his strained eyes, unaccustomed to the brightness.

“Good to see you’re awake. Sit down, Cody, and we can talk.”

When his sight finally adjusted, Cody looked around the room. The walls were a dull, blank gray. The only furniture was the bed, a pair of chairs, and a small dresser. The look of the room went hand in hand with the cold temperature. Cody’s eyes landed on a man probably in his mid twenties, clad in a white lab coat. His glasses slid down his nose just enough where he had to tilt his head back to talk. The man scratched his head with a pencil as he sat down in one of the chairs, preparing to write on the clipboard in his other hand. Cody stayed standing.

“What happened? Where am I?” he asked defiantly.

“Please, take a seat. I’ll explain everything to you, but only as long as you answer my questions too. Since I already know your name, it’s only fair I tell you mine. My name is Julian Storm, but you can call me Dr. Julian. Now, I just w-”

Cody promptly bolted towards the door. Julian watched him exit, sighing. The man pulled out a small voice transmitter from one of his coat pockets and spoke into it, annoyed.

“Guards, double check that the control zone is locked. The new kid’s already trying to get out of here.”

***

Unaware that he wasn’t being chased, Cody took a turn out of the room and bolted down a hallway. The place was as dull as the bedroom, with white concrete walls and fluorescent lights greeting him from all around. There were several other doors, but they remained closed and Cody paid no thought in opening them. A glance behind him confirmed that he was alone. He slowed to a walk to catch his breath.

At the end of the corridor was a steel, windowed door. Thin metal bars were embedded with the glass, showing another plain hallway turning immediately. Cody grabbed the door handle and tried to open it. When it wouldn’t turn, he yanked harder, trying to shake the door open. It didn’t budge.

“Sorry kid, better luck next time. Though with the security systems in place, you’ll need all the luck you can get,” Julian said from behind him. “So how about we head back to your room and have a little chat? I’m sure you’re wondering what this is all about, and if you answer my questions then I’ll answer yours. It’s that simple.”

Cody tried feebly to open the door again, then turned around to face the doctor with a vacant look. He blankly stared ahead, slowly becoming aware of the aches from his earlier injuries, as Julian led the way back to the room. The hallway was shorter than Cody remembered it, but it remained just as boring. A light flickered on and off behind him, causing him to twitch in surprise. Dr. Julian chuckled.

“Don’t be so scared, kid, it’s not going to be that bad here, not as bad at it looks. We don't put much money into this area since the guys over at accounting are stingy. So we kept the color of concrete. This side of the...well, this side is mostly for people that can’t be in the general public. But at least you’re not in the T-Block.”

They returned to the bleak, windowless room. Julian closed the door behind them, considering calling the guard to lock it but decided against it. Cody sat on the bed, bouncing slightly on the firm mattress. He tried rubbing his shoulder to make it feel better without any luck.

“How it works around here,” Dr. Julian began, “is that the more you talk, the more privileges we give you. If this goes well, we’ll give you an extra couple sets of clothes. You could get a warmer blanket, a nicer bed, even some toys or games. Sounds good, right?”

“So you’re saying that I’m like your little puppy that you’re trying to train?” Cody rotated his left foot as it protested against him. The gash down his leg looked worse than it felt, having scabbed over since he jumped out of the car.

“You’re pretty smart for your age. I heard you gave our field agents a tough time, too. Not the job I’d want, and for good reason. You people aren’t the only things they have to deal with, but that’s besides the point that-”

“You people? Who else is here?”

“In due time, Cody. We’ve got a few, more important things to talk about. Like that necklace, it’s very interesting, and it looks good on you. Where did you get it?”

Getting right to the point, thought Cody, shivering once again. He pulled the blanket around him trying to keep warm, but it did little to help. The words of his father passed through his mind, along with the promise he made first getting the necklace. Cody was only 11, but he remembered it as one of the few times his father’s usually amiable expression turned into stern seriousness.

“You have to keep this safe, and always around your neck, no matter what. If you’re not wearing it, you’ll get very sick. There are some very bad people who will ask about it and maybe even try to take it. They’ll be nice and they’ll be mean just to get it from you. You have to do whatever it takes to keep it safe. Whatever it takes.”

Cody waited for his father to laugh, to say it was just a game, but his father’s face showed no change in emotion. With a silent nod, Cody laid his eyes on the token in his father’s outstretched hand. Cody’s small hand reached out to touch it, but it was interrupted.

“Promise me, son. You have to promise me that you will do whatever it takes so that nobody ever takes it from you.”

Cody swallowed once. “I promise.”

“Good.” His father unraveled the chain on which held the necklace. He leaned forward and wrapped the chain around his son, clicking it into place. “I’ll give you a few spare chains in case that one breaks. If someone starts asking a lot of suspicious questions about it, just don’t answer them. If the pendant shatters...” Cody’s father faltered, but only for a second. “If it breaks, let me know right away.”

“What happens then? Does the necklace do anything special other than make me sick?”

“It does, but I can’t tell you, not right now. When you’re old enough, I’ll tell you everything. That’s my promise to you. But for now, you need to keep it safe.”

A few years later, in the excessively clean, white room, Cody wrapped his shirt collar around the necklace, twisting it in his fingers. He bit his lip, not sure what to say. Instead of speaking, Cody stared at the man, hoping he would just do all the talking. It had generally worked for most of the officials that tried to get any information. The doctor sat with one leg across the other for several moments, observing Cody from behind his glasses. Understanding that he wasn’t getting a response, he sighed and wrote a short note on his clipboard.

“Alright, this is how things are going to work here, Cody. You’re not buying any of this, and I respect that, but respect isn’t going to get me anywhere. What I need to know is everything that’s in your little head, where you came from, what you’re doing here, how you got here, what that thing is, the works. If you don’t, then every day for the rest of your life you’ll be living in this small, cold hell of a cell doing who knows what. It’s gonna suck, unless you start talking. Then we’ll give you some real clothes, maybe give you control over room temperature, snag a few things for you to do while you’re in here. Say anything that gets me noticed from higher levels, and you might even get to see your dad.”

Cody’s eyes lit up, and he bit into his lip a little too hard. He winced,and the doctor gave another little chuckle. Shivering, underneath the thin blanket, Cody struggled. There was no way out without breaking his father’s promise. There wasn’t a way to run this time.

***

Conrad held an ice pack up against his head and leaned his chair back on the hind legs. He squinted at the pain on his forehead as cold drops fell down past his face and onto his ripped shirt. The man he sat in front of had to be close in age, nearly mid forties, though time wasn’t nearly as cruel to Conrad as it was to his interrogator. A small number of gray hairs lined the man’s balding head where Conrad’s was full of brown hair. Lighting a cigarette, the man took a drag and set it down in a dirty ashtray off to the side, away from the few papers he had brought in with him. He breathed out smoke all over the sheets, reading them with every intention of making Conrad sit and wait for as long as possible.

Uninterested in the papers, Conrad glanced around the room for the thousandth time. A small trashcan sat in the corner next to gray walls. Two large panes of dark glass, probably one-way-mirrors, covered a majority of the side walls. The man sat in the way of the only exit, a heavy, solid metal door. With a gruff cough, the interrogator cleared his throat and began talking.

“Didn’t want to come quietly, did you? Your son must take after you.” His voice sounded like a bear had learned how to speak English.

Conrad laughed. “Good to know. He and I haven’t exactly had good experiences with people trying to chase us, capture us, kill us, you know the drill. You haven’t had to kill too many people, have you? I really don’t like leaving that kind of trail behind me.”

“That’s not much of your business, really, mister...?”

“Just call me Conrad.”

The man pulled a pen out of his pocket. “We need your full name, Conrad.”

“Conrad Farr. F-A-R-R.”

“Thank you. So why do you think you’re here right now?”

“Because I can’t fight off several men with guns no matter how much I think I can.”

The interrogator gave an appreciative smile and shifted through a few of his papers. He took another pull on his cigarette, scooting in his seat closer to Conrad. “You said you’ve had some bad experiences with people wanting to murder you. Would you care to explain?”

“I’d love to, but I simply can’t. The more I say...well, the worse my position gets. I’ve already got several people willing to kill me, and I don’t want to add you or your organization to that list.”

“Then tell me why your necklace glows, or why you have to wear it.”

“I can’t do that.”

“You have to give us something.”

Conrad sat forward in his chair and removed the dripping ice, revealing a large red bruise where one of the men pistol whipped him. Letting it drop to the table, Conrad rubbed the spot on his forehead. The interrogator gave a mildly annoyed look and shifted his papers away from the puddle of water that was growing on the table.

“I can give you anything that won’t make you kill my son or myself. For example, I really enjoy homemade ice cream, I can carry a pitch when I whistle, I once set an entire forest on fire on complete accident-”

“I don’t want to hear that shit,” the man growled back. “We need important things, like where you’re from.”

“Well let’s just say there’s a 100% chance we weren’t born in the same city or country or even continent.”

“100% chance, huh? So you’re saying you weren’t born here on Earth?”

“Oh, I was for sure. I was born in New York, actually, but not the same New York in this America.”

The interrogator gave Conrad a puzzled look. Conrad’s face only showed a mild amusement. After a quiet moment passed, the door opened and a conservatively dressed lady in glasses walked in. The interrogator turned and listened intently as she softly whispered something into his ear. The previous puzzled look the interrogator had turned into a curled smile as he took a few papers out of her hands. As she left, the man read through the papers and kept the smile on his face.

It was Conrad’s turn to be confused. He tried to catch sight of what was on the papers this time, but the interrogator held them upright and unreadable. As he rubbed the spot on his forehead, the man put the papers on the table face down and spoke.

“Well, Mr. Farr, it seems as though your son has started talking to us. Got anything you’d want to say to give us reason for us to keep you around?”

Conrad swallowed, unable to read the amused expression the man was showing.

==============

[Part 15][Part 17]

i mean, i see the interrogator as having a really nice smile for being so aged

Oh holy crud, I've posted the next part in this story! I, uh, don't know how long this will last, though. I lost all my free time when winter break was over, and I took down the FB page since I wasn't posting for so long. Now I'm a month into summer and thought I'd at least show where these guys ended up.

As for now, I'm probably going to stop releasing this story here online until it's fully complete. I'll be working on it when I can. I've finished editing my NaNoWriMo story, about to look for people to look over it. I've got a document of 14 characters for one story that I'm looking forward to starting. Then there's all my real life responsibilities, which can get pretty annoying. Sitting here at Chick-Fil-A has been great on my writing efforts on the days that I'm not working for my brother, though. And it gets nice and quiet around here after the lunch rush.

For the last announcement, I'm opening up a new blog just before heading off to Hong Kong as a travel blog! I don't know what to expect to put there, so you probably have even less of an idea! My best guess right now involves pictures and stupid jokes. Maybe even something funny every now and again. Stay tuned, all two of you who read this!

And with that, I leave you with this.

Flickering Light [Part 15]

“Hey! Is everything alright down there?” called Captain, waving at the two.

“Yeah, everything’s fine, we’re just about to be going now!” Reinhart shouted back. He tried to get Cody to move, but the kid was rooted in place. Reinhart looked down, concerned.

“Come on, Cody, it’s fine,” he whispered. “We’ll just head out of here and everything will be alright. I, uh, have a gun on me right now if it comes to that, so don’t you worry.”

“Start firing now,” Cody whispered back, trying to move backward towards the trees.

“What? I’m not going to start firing at four guys that-”

“You sure?” Captain called out. “You don’t just jump out of a car and come out with just a scratch and dirty clothes.” They had made it down the hill and were getting close. Captain stayed in front and kept his eyes on Cody. The three men behind kept making small glances up and down the road for more cars.

“Yeah, we’re pretty sure. Now if you’ll excuse us, we need to go pick up my other son-”

“Ian? I assure you that he is alright, as is your wife, Mr. Reinhart. We just want to talk for a bit.”

Reinhart had been holding Cody back with him, trying to get back to his car. He had made a little progress, but the man’s words caught his attention. “How do you know who I am? Where are they?” he asked cautiously.

“Don’t worry about it. They’ll be fine as long as you cooperate. It makes things go a lot more smoothly if you do.”

“They’re probably dead already,” Cody said, loud enough for the agents to hear. Captain smirked.

“Alright, you caught me. You only get hurt if you fight back. We tried talking to your wife, but she found a knife and that didn’t end very well for her. She was pretty hysterical, but I’m sure you heard that from the background of that phone call. And your other son, Ian, came a little bit more quietly like a good boy.”

“You BASTARDS!” Reinhart shouted. He released his grip from around Cody and reached for the gun stuffed under his shirt. Cody took the chance and bolted away from the scene and deeper into the forest. He winced a moment later as shots echoed all around him.

“You two, catch him, don’t kill him!” Captain shouted once the bullets stopped flying. Cody pumped his arms hard as he ran, but nearly stumbled as more pain spread from his shoulder. Gasping, he clutched at the ache as he ran forward, trying to get lost in the trees. The sun was nearly set, but there was still too much light to easily hide.

Footsteps raced behind him. Cody took one quick glance back to see two of the men close to overcoming him. He looked forward again, cursing at his protesting foot. Every stride was a challenge to ignore how it had been shot months ago.

I’m really hating all these stupid forests, Cody thought, slowing down and out of breath. Warm from running, Cody tried changing directions. The agents were clearly in better shape, having gained much ground. It wasn’t much longer before one of them tackled him to the ground. Cody landed face first in a small patch of wet moss. He started spitting out the dirt as they pulled his arms behind him and zip-tied his arms together. As they forced his right hand to his back, Cody screamed in pain.

“You idiot, he’s still hurting from getting shot. Didn’t you read his file? No, don’t do that, tie his hands to the front. Do you want him complaining all the way back?.”

“Look, dickwad, this is the first time I’ve done this, give me a break.”

The agents argued while one of them turned Cody over onto his backside and refastened the cheap handcuffs. Cody was still whimpering in pain when one of the agents picked him up in his arms and began the trek back to the van.

They returned fifteen minutes later after almost losing their way in the dark. A smearing of dirt ran across Cody’s face that he wiped off on the man’s shirt in a miniature revenge. He heard an annoyed sigh above him and smiled. The darkness and the cold were making Cody feel miserable, and the more misery he could pass on, the better. They caught sight of the clearing where Captain and the other man were waiting. From a distance they could tell Captain was fine, but the other man was sitting down on the ground, apparently hurt. Another body, Reinhart’s lay further away, and didn’t move an inch. A slight wind blew through trees.

As soon as Captain’s head turned to welcome them back, Cody threw his hands upward into the chin of the man carrying him. Out of surprise, the agent dropped the kid and clutched at his jaw. While he was busy spitting out blood, Cody forced himself up and began his second sprint back into the trees.

Running like he was being chased by the devil, Cody tried pulling apart the zip tie around his hands. He yanked once or twice before the pain in his shoulder caused him to stop. The shouting behind him made Cody take a short glance behind. There weren’t any figures chasing after him. Cody slowed slightly in confusion, trying to make out why they were standing there and not-

shhhp

There was a small prick in Cody’s lower back. He slowed down further, still not understanding. Turning forward, what little of the dark forest he could see was turning blurry. Cody tried pushing himself ahead but all the energy he had was draining away. He began to stumble ahead before tripping and landing face first on an exposed tree root. It wasn’t long before he closed his eyes and lost consciousness.

==================

[Part 14][Part 16]

who put that tree root there, that is not a good place to put a tree root, where someone might fall on it

These posts just keep getting longer and longer, I swear. There probably was a good place to stop in the middle of this, but I just kept going and going. Oh woe is me.

School's gonna start up again. I can't guarantee that I'll have time for this again. Then again, do I ever?

And with that, I leave you with this.

Flickering Light [Part 14]

“Whoa, the hell was that?”

“Holy- Someone just bailed out.”

“Should we make sure they’re okay?”

“Of course not, rookie, we’re on a mission. We can’t afford any distrac-”

“Captain, I think that was our mark.”

The middle aged man pulled the cigarette out of his mouth and craned his neck around. His name was Roger, but he everybody called him Captain. He sat behind the driver, hearing too many bad experiences and warning stories of riding shotgun while on a mission. Firefights and car wrecks put more than enough officers out of commission - permanently or otherwise - and a rookie crew like his didn’t need a disaster for their first mission. He scratched at a scruffy, two-day beard and commanded the driver to pull over. The three others in the car were all new recruits, but had performed well in training. They turned their heads with him as the car rolled to a stop.

“That car matches the make, model, and color of his foster father’s car, and looking at the picture here I would say that our boy just bailed out of it,” said the agent in the front passenger seat, flipping through a small file folder.

“Alright, let’s go check it out. Remember, the kid’s real father will shoot to kill while the foster father’s more protective than anything and probably isn’t armed. Be cautious but friendly, like they taught you at training. I’ll do the talking. If the kid tries to run then follow him, don’t use excessive force. He’s been shot already, we don’t want him whining all the way back to base.”

A round of affirmatives were given as they exited the pure black work van, lethal and nonlethal weapons concealed under their plain clothes appearance. Captain took another drag of the cigarette before stomping it out in the road, hoping the young guns he was working with didn’t screw up their first time in the field.

* * *

Gotta...get up...

Cody stayed down in the dirt, still shaking off the adrenalin that followed him out of the car. He had rolled a long distance down the road and away into a ditch to the side. Dirt and grass had stained his clothes and he rolled over onto his stomach. When he tried to push himself up, a sharp pain stung up and down his right side stemming from his shoulder. Surprised, Cody dropped back down with a yelp.

“Cody! Cody, what on earth were you thinking? Come back to the car this instant!”

Hearing his fake father calling his name gave Cody the resolve to try again. He pushed off with his good arm, stood, and began trotting away while clutching his aching shoulder. Reinhart closed in quickly as Cody tried to hurry into the thin forest to escape. He passed over the first roots of the closest trees when an arm on his shoulder turned him around. Cody grunted with the forced movement, tensing up and glaring at the man pretending to be his dad.

“Don’t ever do that, Cody, I’m already worried sick about you and Ian. Look, your leg is bleeding and it seems like you pinched a nerve in your arm. It’s a miracle you weren’t hurt any worse pulling that little stunt. Come back to the car and I’ll get you a bandaid, I know your mom keeps them in the glove department for that-”

“She’s not my mom. And you’re not my dad.”

Reinhart’s expression instantly changed from annoyance to hurt, and he spoke more slowly. “Cody, I know you’d rather be with them, but she and I are doing everything we can to take care of you and give you a loving home. Weren’t you happy with us, with your own warm room and home cooked food? We tried our best to love you and your brother as if you were our own children.”

“But...” Cody started to hate himself. He looked down in dejection, turning his left leg to see the wound. There was a gash down the side that was a slippery red color that bled down to stain his white socks. Every day since he was adopted was a thousand times more comfortable than when he was on the run, so much so that he was uncertain if he would choose to go back to his real world. How could he tell this man that seeing his father made him want to throw it all away? Even if he did go back home, would things be any better than how he left?

Will I still have to keep running away?

Cody shivered. The sun was close to saying goodbye, and the temperature had begun dropping.

“Hey, bud, let’s head back home and talk it out. What do you think? Mom probably still has some of that hot chocolate and marshmallows that you said you really liked.”

The kid looked up as he felt his foster father’s arm around his shoulders. Cody’s eyes locked onto five figures that had pulled out of a dark van up by the road. Reinhart began to move forward, but Cody stayed put. The situation felt wrong - five grown men in dark clothing exiting a windowless van. Nobody else was traveling down the road. All sorts of alarms were going off in Cody’s head that were telling him to run. The arm tightening around his shoulder told him that the man next to him felt the same way.

“Stay close,” Reinhart whispered.

That’s the last thing I’m gonna do, thought Cody, shivering once again in the fading light of the sunset.

[Part 13][Part 15]

the second to last thing he's going to do is the chicken dance

Whoo! Part 14! And with what I've got planned in my head, I'm looking forward for at least five or six more parts. It almost seems like I'm going really fast, but this is nothing compared to how much crap I wrote last month...

And with that, I leave you with this.