Chapter 31

Ven wiped the sweat on his brow and shifted uncomfortably in his new armor. Frank had set the air conditioning to maximum, but it wasn’t helping, as Ven shifted and took a glance at the back of the van he noticed he wasn’t the only one who was sweating.

“Don’t worry, Sir, we are almost there,” said Frank.

“How do you know?” asked Ven.

“We’re off the highway,” said Frank.

As it turned out, Frank was correct. Barbra’s van stopped at a checkpoint to a fenced off building with thick black smoke coming from the chimneys. From where they were parked behind the bus other than a single guard in the small room next to the checkpoint Ven couldn’t make out anyone else in the premises.

Just what was this place?

“This is one of the factories these debtors are assigned to. Judging from the smoke, I would wager they are a production facility of sorts,” said Frank.

“What?” asked Ven.

“Ah I see, you accidentally used the link,” said Frank as he started the engine and started to drive again.

“Seems I did,” said Ven as he wiped away from sweat from his forehead.

“Glad we’re finally here! My legs were falling asleep from all this sitting!” said Brutus from the back.

“Aren’t we supposed to practice using the link?” asked Agni.

“Oops, I forgot,” said Brutus.

“Typical mentality for a person who thinks with their muscles,” said Nikita.

“I hope you remember those words when I am the one patching you up,” retorted Brutus.

“Wait, you’re our medic?” said Nikita as she turned around in her seat to face Brutus.

“Didn’t I tell you guys to get to know each other?” asked Ven, “On the way back we’re going to have introductions again, since it seems like I can’t trust you lot to follow simple instructions in my absence.”

“Sorry Sir, it won’t happen again,” said Brutus as he saluted in his seat.

“Let’s get out there and get this job done,” said Ven as he got out of the van.

“Form up in front of the bus!” shouted Natalie as she led everyone.

The two vans and bus had stopped in an empty parking lot in front of the large facility. As Ven’s team formed up under Natalie’s instructions, he made his way towards Barbra, who was watching her first in command do the same. She stood without a care in the world as she slowly tidied her hair as she turned towards Ven.

“I think you forgot your gun and helmet,” commented Ven as he got closer.

“Giving orders to your senior?” asked Barbra.

“Just pointing out what I see,” said Ven.

“Relax, this is a routine mission. We drop them off and leave, I’ve done it a million times,” said Barbra with a shrug.

“Off the bus and form a line! If anyone makes a run for it, I will personally shoot them in the legs and leave them to bleed out!” shouted the tall Nari man as he opened the bus’s door.

“You let him talk that to people like that,” remarked Ven.

“It’s easier to scare them than to shoot them,” said Barbra.

Unsatisfied with the reasoning Ven turned towards Barbra to confront her about this horrible treatment of their fellow citizens, but he never got a chance to get the words out of his mouth. Barbra was on the ground, blood gushing out of her forehead.

“We’re under attack!” shouted Ven as he jumped behind the bus, but the warning was too late, as several other soldiers from Barbra’s team fell to the ground motionless.

“Where are they?” shouted Natalie from the other corner of the bus.

“Sniper on the roof!” shouted the tall Nari as he fired a hail of bullets to give the others a chance to get to cover.

“Is anyone hurt?” shouted Brutus.

“Use the link, don’t shout!” said Agni.

“She’s right! Use the link! Is anyone hurt?” asked Brutus again.

Noone got a chance to reply as a group of armed soldiers burst out of the main entrance of the facility and shot down the tall Nari before he could get to cover. As Ven popped out to return fire he immediately fell back as a bullet hit the bus mere inches above his head.

“Return fire!” shouted one of Barbra’s soldiers.

Reflexively responding to the command Ven’s team opened fire as they tried to use their numbers to overwhelm the enemy combatants. The air was filled with the sound of bullets making contact and ricocheting but none of the enemies flinched as they kept running towards them.

“They’ve got gifted!” someone shouted from behind Barbra’s van.

Ven looked down to his shaking hands and then the sword in his scabbard. He was a swordsman not someone who used a gun, but could he pull it off? Did he stand a chance against these gifted? Could he save those around him? He dropped the gun and took a deep breath as he pulled the sword out of its scabbard with practiced fluidity. If he failed, that was ok, death would be a welcome change to the life he was living. He pulled down his visor as he visualized what he was about to do.

“Cover me!” shouted Ven as he sprinted out of the corner of the bus.

There was a moment’s pause as everyone stopped firing and merely looked at Ven as he dashed towards the enemy with nothing but a sword in his hands, but then it passed and was replaced with gunfire and flashes of light.

Not pausing to try and see what the light was Ven continued his sprint. He fumbled and almost lost his balance as a bullet hit him squarely in the head but forced himself to take each step to get closer.

“Face me cowards!” shouted Ven as he jumped into the middle of the enemy.

“Interesting armor you’re wearing!” shouted an enemy soldier as he raised his fist in the air.

Ven immediately turned and swung as hard as he could towards the soldier who had spoken, but something was off, he could feel resistance, he could feel his swing getting slower!

“Get him!” shouted the same man as he grabbed Ven’s right arm.

Ven tried to push the man off but realized his body would not listen to him, he couldn’t move! He screamed in anger as he tried to force his body to move, but it was too late. The enemy was an organized unit, the moment the man had grabbed Ven’s arm they had surrounded him.

“Do we kill him?”

“No, I have a better idea. Hold him,” said the soldier who had taken Ven’s sword, “Cease fire and step away from the bus or your friend dies!”

“Right, and you won’t kill us the moment we’re out of cover!” shouted one of Barbra’s soldiers.

“I hope you don’t mind the screams of your comrade then!” shouted a soldier as he took off Ven’s helmet and punched him.

“Next time, I will be using the sword,” shouted the man with Ven’s sword.

“Fine, you win! Now let him go!” shouted Natalie as she came out of cover, followed closely behind by the others.

“I knew working with that giftless Knight was a mistake! I tried to tell Barbra and look at where we are!” shouted one of Barbra’s soldiers.

“Shut up Brian! We surrender!” said another man as he came moved out of cover with his arms raised.

“Good, now slowly throw away your guns!” shouted the man with Ven’s sword, “Just like that, slowly move away from the bus!”

“Isn’t it about time you let our friend go?” asked Natalie.

“We decide when we let him go. Everyone out now! It’s time to go!” shouted the man with Ven’s sword.

“Never should have surrendered!” said Brian loudly enough for everyone to hear.

“Shut up Brian!” said the man next to him.

Loud cheers filled the air as a large crowd of men and women in bright blue uniforms was led out of the facility by the sniper on the roof. As they got closer to the enemy soldiers, the leader directed them to join the others on the bus.

“Boss, I don’t think all of them will fit,” said the sniper.

“Put them in the vans, we’re not leaving anyone behind,” said the man with Ven’s sword, “Those of you who know how to use a gun, pick those up!”

“Traitors!” shouted Brian.

“Traitors? Do you even know what they do to us here?” shouted a young woman as she stopped on her way to get on the bus, “Look!”

As she pulled off her white blouse, a look of confusion could be seen on Brian’s face. Protruding from the woman’s stomach was a small white bag.

“Do you know what this is?” taunted the woman, “This is an artificial anus, every single one of us have had this thing put on us. You wanna know why? I’ll tell you why! To improve our efficiency! I am constantly pooping into this shit bag! Not just this, everyone gets a new catheter every single morning, so we won’t take any bathroom breaks during work! We aren’t betraying our country! OUR COUNTRY BETRAYED US!”

“Don’t waste your time on these indoctrinated fools and keep moving!” said one of the enemy soldiers as he nervously looked around as if expecting a counterattack at any moment.

“Boss, we got one more of them over here!” shouted the sniper as she pulled out her pistol.

“Easy there, I am not armed!” shouted Frank as he slowly got out of the van.

“Keep your hands where I can see them, old man!” shouted the sniper.

“Of course,” said Frank as he pulled out the gun he was hiding behind his back and shot the sniper.

Pandemonium erupted as the sniper fell to the ground. One enemy soldier fired shots at Frank while Brian ran towards his gun. Nikita threw her knives at the closest soldiers as Brutus and Brian’s friend charged towards the enemy soldiers.

“STOP!” shouted the man with Ven’s sword.

As the man’s voice reverberated through the air Nikita’s knives grew slower in speed until they came to a standstill, while Brutus, Brian and his friend stood frozen and unable to move.

“Clearly this man’s life isn’t worth a lot! You there! Civilian! You’re our new hostage!” shouted the man with Ven’s sword, “Lock all of them up in their beloved facility! We’re leaving!”

“Ven, I can give you a second,” said Natalie.

Ven felt life back in his body, instinctively he twisted around to free his arms and pushed the surprised soldier behind him away. He saw the eyes of the man with his sword open wide in shock as he realized Ven had broken out of his power. He swung Ven’s sword in a wild swing, but Ven dodged and grabbed his opponent’s arm as he forced him to release the sword.

“Stop right now or I’ll break his neck!” shouted Ven as he forced the man in a headlock.

“Remember the mission!” shouted the man.

“Let him go! We’ve got you outnumbered!” shouted a man.

“You’ve seen what they do to us here! Please I am begging you, let us go! I can’t go back in there! I can’t!” shouted the woman who had taken her blouse off earlier.

Ven looked at the woman properly and the other debtors properly for the first time, they were thin and haggard looking. Bags under their eyes, sickly complexion, and hollow cheeks. He had seen people like them before, he had looked like them once. These were people living a horrible life under horrible masters. He knew what he had to do; it wasn’t different from what he had done a long time ago.

“My team goes into the facility and then I’ll let your boss go!” shouted Ven as he looked squarely at the man who had shouted at him, “Do we have a deal?”

“They’ll just call the UTF on us the moment they are out of sight!” shouted the enemy soldier.

“They won’t and even if they do it doesn’t matter! You can have me as a hostage!” shouted Ven.

“What are you doing?” asked Agni.

“Saving everyone’s life! Make sure Barbra’s men don’t raise the alarm,” said Ven.

“Boss, what do we do?” asked the enemy soldier.

“I’d prefer to not be killed if possible, let them go into the facility. After which you have 10 seconds to let me go or my men will shoot you down, deal?” said the leader of the enemy soldiers.

“Deal! Guys get out of here! NOW! THAT’S AN ORDER!” shouted Ven as he urged everyone to hurry up.

“Lock the doors as soon as you get inside!” said Ven.

“We’ve let them go, now it’s your turn,” said the enemy leader.

“Shut up, they haven’t even entered the facility yet,” said Ven.

“You can’t blame me for not having a good view of how far they’ve gotten with how you’re twisting my neck,” said the enemy leader.

“I am going to start letting him go now!” shouted Ven as he saw Frank close the front doors of the facility behind them.

“You’re smarter than you look,” said the enemy leader as he massaged his neck while increasing the distance between himself and Ven.

“Boss, we should go now! We can’t trust what he said!” said an enemy soldier.

“If he wanted to betray us, he would’ve broken my neck after his men were safe. You don’t seem like a bad guy, you sure you don’t want to switch sides and join us? You’ve seen some of the things they do to the less fortunate now,” said the enemy leader.

“In another life I probably would’ve been fighting alongside you,” said Ven ruefully, “I’ve got something I need to see through on this side of the battle lines.”

“I see, I hope you are successful,” said the enemy leader as he gave a solemn nod.

“Boss, we don’t have time!” repeated the same soldier.

“Yes yes, let’s go. Sorry, I must do this to you, but it’s for your own good,” said the enemy leader as he signaled to one of his men.

Reflexively Ven went into a defensive stance waiting for an attack from the soldier. He was ready for him.

“Goodnight,” said the enemy soldier and Ven crumpled to the ground as a wave of drowsiness washed over him.

Sorry everyone, had a lot on my plate the last few months, I should have been posting it weekly as I promised but I kept giving priority to other tasks. But, no more! Weekly updates are back! And with a bang, I might add. Quite an action packed chapter to start the uploading again, if I do say so myself.

As always, take care and stay safe out there.

Anderoth