None Left Behind
Luna returned to her body, still trembling from the events of just moments ago. Tears once again streamed down her face. She looked away from the pool; that was the last thing she wanted to think about right now.
She tried to get up and stand, but had trouble. Her knees were too weak at the moment to let her stand. She kept her eyes off the pool. “Why?” she asked. “Why?" She felt sick, and knowing that the world of terror was before her on the ground, she managed to stand up and wobble over to the stairs. At the base, she stumbled, and fell to her knees. She looked up. Before her was the massive staircase that led to her private library. Pulling together her remaining strength, she forced her body up the stairs, tears flowing freely all the way.
At the top of the stairs, she looked back. The bookcase had appeared quickly, obstructing the view of the downward tunnel. Deciding not to dwell, she went into her bedroom. Once there, she flopped onto her bed and cried into her pillow.
Starstep, just outside the door, heard her come up. He had heard her walk into her room, her steps heavier than normal, and heard her drop heavily onto her bed. t sounded like he dropped a bowling ball on it.
When he heard the crying, he poked the door open. “Your highness?” he said. She was on her bed, her face buried into her pillow. “Umm, your highness?” he said. She still didn’t hear him. He heard muffled sobbing from the pillow. His heart felt like it was being yanked out of his chest. Walking over, he thought, “What happened?” Once he was next to the bed, he slowed his pace. He didn’t want to startle her. Slowly, he climbed onto Luna’s bed and crawled over to her. When he was close enough, he slowly put his foreleg around her. She didn’t react. “Luna?” he said.
She looked up at him. Her eyes were red and glassy. Her nose was running, and her lips quivered. “S-Starstep?” she said. Before he could respond, she put her forelegs around his chest and hugged him tight. She cried into his shoulder.
Starstep patted her back gently. “Shh.” he said. “What happened?” he asked. Luna just continued to sob into his shoulder. He allowed her to do this for some time; she needed to just let it out for a while. After almost ten minutes, she recovered a little.
“Starstep...” she said. He looked down at her. “I need help.” He continued to look at her.
“Anything.” he responded. She sniffled.
She gave Starstep a brief summary of everything that had happened regarding Ryan. She told him about his society and some of the things that Ryan told her. She slowed down when she reached the point where Ryan was taken. Without much detail, she described Jackson’s fate, and the fates of Ryan, Catherine, and Harris. She told him about how she had seen some of the humans died, and the reason why. She described the men who had taken Ryan and his friends, and wat they did to their prisoners. When she was about to describe Ryan’s escape, she stopped.
Starstep could tell that it wasn’t the end of the story. “Luna, what happened next?” he asked. She bit her lip. “Come on, you can tell me.” She pressed herself into Starstep’s chest.
“He... he killed two of his own kind... and acted like it was nothing.” Starstep blinked. “Hmm.” he said. “He told me that in his world, there... there isn’t always a choice!” She pushed herself into his shoulder and continued crying. Starstep lightly stroked her mane.
He had to think hard about this one. He had never encountered this kind of problem. “What can I tell her?” he wondered. “If I say the wrong thing, she’ll lose it.” He continued to think with the princess wetting his shoulder with her tears. Eventually, he came to a conclusion.
“Luna,” he said, pulling her away slightly. She looked up at him. Her blue eyes shimmered from the tears. “This world, it’s not like anything you or I have ever encountered.” he said. Luna nodded. “We don’t know about it, so we aren’t able to make judgement calls on it.” Luna began to speak, but Starstep cut her off. “We don’t know how their world works.” Luna spoke up.
“But the colt... how could someone so nice do such a terrible thing?” she asked. Starstep thought hard and fast.
“Just because he did something bad doesn’t necessarily make him a bad guy. This Narendra character? He does... what he does, for money, and as zero regard for his fellow man. Ryan? He is doing what he does because he wants to rescue his friend. His actions, while they may be evil, are meant for a good purpose.” Luna frowned a little.
“So the ends justify the means?” she asked. Starstep shook his head.
“No.” he responded. “I’m saying that his cause is just, even if his actions were not, and that his actions, while they may seem evil, are to better the world by reducing the amount of evil. This doesn’t make him a bad person.” Luna had stopped crying.
“But what can I do?” she asked. “I’m afraid he will follow a road that cannot be justified.” Starstep shrugged and held Luna tight.
“Than all we can do is try to point him in the right direction.
Luna snuggled into Starstep’s chest and thought. “He is getting close to a point where he cannot turn back.” she thought. “How can I keep him on the right path? Keep him from becoming like... Them?” She tried to get up, but had become weak-kneed again. Sensing her attempt to get up, Starstep said,
“Maybe you should just stay here for awhile.” Luna looked down and sighed.
“Okay.” she said. Starstep stood up to leave.
“Starstep,” Luna called. He looked back down at her. “Stay?” she asked. Starstep laid back down next to his princess and held her close, and she soon drifted into sleep from such an exhausting day.
*******************************************************************************
Ryan was now at the river that would lead him to the compound where Harris was. He struggled a bit to get through the brush. He wasn’t carrying anything to cut it away with, but he was carrying an FN FAL Assault Rifle. He had picked it up from the driver he shot up in the van while Luna was talking. Ryan looked around. “I wonder where she ran off to?” Deciding it wasn’t important, he continued down the river.
He continued on for another twenty minutes before stopping. He had to stop to relieve himself, but also to check a couple of other things. His necklace was still around his neck; the leather was tough, and could withstand being used as a garrote. His watch was still where he left it on his wrist. It was nearing sundown. He looked at the FAL. It seemed to be in good condition. He removed the magazine and pulled the chamber mechanism, ejecting the round. Before it hit the ground, Ryan grabbed it and put it back into the magazine. Now, there were no rounds chambered, and no chance of accidental discharge.
Now that he was ready, he continued down the river. After a few minutes, he heard the sound of a generator. He got low, and kept moving forward. After another minute, he found exactly what he was looking for. The compound before him was one story, had a generator for power, and had several guards patrolling the perimeter. Ryan dropped as one came close to him. He stayed absolutely silent while he passed. “Okay.” he thought. “Let’s figure this out.”
Over the next couple of hours, into the night, Ryan scoped out the area. Moving very slowly, he got a good look at the building and the surrounding area. There were lots of bushes to hide behind outside the walls. The compound was small, and had two doors, one in front and one in back. Ryan would have to use one of them to get inside.There were four guards outside, two on the ground, two on the roof. They were never looking in the same areas at the same time. They had no flashlights or any such device, so they could hardly see at night.
It was about half past ten now. Ryan decided to make his move.
He looked up from his hiding spot. One of the guys on the roof was looking in his direction. Not wanting to make a fatal mistake, Ryan held off. “Come on, guy, look somewhere else!” he thought, frustrated. Eventually, the roof guy left and was replaced by a ground guy. “Thank you.” Ryan thought. The ground guy was walking from Ryan’s right to his left. He was also taking his time. Ryan held his necklace. “Actually,” he thought, dropping it back to his chest. “That’ll take too long.” He kept waiting. When the ground guy was halfway across the wall, Ryan saw his chance. Setting down the rifle, he silently stood up and went over the bushes using a branch above him. Stealthily, he crouch-walked over to the guard. He was right behind him. “Now.” Ryan thought. He kicked out the guards right knee and put one and on the guards chin, the other on the back of his head. With one quick twist of his body, the guards neck snapped like a twig, and he fell to the ground.
Ryan moved the body fast. He couldn’t let another guard see it, or he would be screwed. Going back to the spot he was in before, he dragged the body halfway into the bush, then left it. No one could see it, not in this dark. He picked up his rifle and looked back.
A roof guy was looking over the edge. He must have heard something, because he was looking around at the ground. Eventually, he must have figured it was nothing, because he just went back to circling the perimeter of the roof.
Seeing that he was safe, for now, Ryan took the opportunity to get back over to the wall, rifle slung on his back. He had observed the guards earlier; the next ground guy would be coming around the corner, the same way as the first. They never intersected paths. He sat there waiting. Footsteps could be heard from the other side of the corner. Setting the rifle back down, Ryan stood and cocked his hand straight back. When the guard came around the corner, Ryan shot his palm forward into the man’s larynx, in the form of a Haito. Dropping the rifle, he clutched his neck and fell back, onto the ground. He stopped moving soon after. This was all done without any noise.
Going around the corner, and staying close to the wall, Ryan made his way to the back door. With the large rifle in his right hand, he pointed it into the door as he opened it. “Shit.” he thought. Before him sat two guards, backs to him, facing the other door. “If I had used that door...” he thought. He quickly dismissed it; he had a goal to accomplish. He looked left and right for a weapon; to his left, there were a couple of beds. There was nothing there. To his right, though, was a kitchen. There was a knife and a fork there. Quietly, and making sure the rifle didn’t bounce off anything, he went over and took the fork and knife. It was a steak knife and a carving fork. Still nice and quiet, Ryan got behind the two guards.
Wasting no time, he plunged the knife into the back of the right one’s neck. It made a combination of schluk’s and crack’s as it severed the brain stem of the man. Blood sprayed out from the wound. Before the other man realized that his friend was dying, Ryan grabbed his neck the same way he did the earlier guard and twisted. He fell to the ground. “That’s that.” Ryan said in a whispered voice. He looked around; this room was nearly empty. There were no people, and there was almost no stuff. He grew angry; had he gone to the wrong place?
No. These men had weapons, so they must be them. Who else around here would have such items? This was how he reasoned he would continue.
Before looking around the room, Ryan thought it would be better to deal with the guards on the roof. With the carving fork now in his pocket, Ryan ditched his FAL for a pistol he saw in the belt of the man he stabbed. He lay on the ground on his front. As Ryan took the pistol, he observed the wound he caused. Blood still poured out of it, but beside that, no one would ever guess how serious it was. Ignoring the man he killed, he took the pistol from his belt and turned to go outside.
He had taken a Browning Hi-Power from the dead guard. 9x19mm parabellum, ten round magazine. It would be sufficient for his task. Outside, he looked for some way up to the roof. In the room, there had been no ladder or latch to get up to the roof. There had to be a way outside.
And there was. Off on the other side, there was a ladder that went up to the roof. Ryan climbed up the ten foot ladder, pistol in hand. Before reaching the top, he chambered a round. There had already been one in the chamber; a round ejected and fell to the ground. “Dammit.” Ryan thought. No matter. One round won’t make a difference. He kept going up very slowly. Toward the top, one of the roof guards started walking down Ryan’s section of wall. He froze; unless he had an absolutely clear shot, he couldn’t move. Otherwise, he was dead.
Ryan didn’t move an inch while the guard slowly approached the ladder, completely oblivious to Ryan’ presence. When he was close, Ryan whispered loud enough for him to hear. “Hey.” He looked down and was surprised by the kid pointing a pistol at him from the ladder. Before he could even speak, Ryan fired off three rounds. The first struck his chest, the second slammed into the man’s face, right through the nose. The third shot missed entirely. The man fell back, blood and bone falling in globs and shards from the front of his face. Some of the spray from the back of his head hit the second roof guard.
Ryan got up over the ladder and pointed his pistol toward the other guard, but he was already jumping off the roof, firing randomly with his AKM. Not wanting to eat a bullet, Ryan took cover behind the wall. After just a moment, Ryan climbed over and ran to the edge of the building. He looked down; the man was still recovering from his ten foot fall. His foot was facing the wrong way. Not intent on letting him get away, Ryan fired off five rounds. Three of them hit their mark, and the man went down. From the roof, Ryan could see the entry wounds. All three were on the man’s back. Blood seeped into his clothes.
Ryan hopped down, careful not to hurt himself the way the guard had. “Let’s see what you have.” he said. As he searched the guard for another pistol, he felt the guard gasp for air. He was still alive.
Not finding any other weapons on the man, Ryan turned and walked away. He looked back. “How sad.” he said. He walked back into the room.
In the room, there was little of interest. On his right was the kitchen area, left was the beds. He walked around. There had to be more to this room than meets the eye. There was no way that these guys weren’t the people he was looking for. If they weren’t... he didn’t think about it. He kept looking. He moved aside the beds, moved the table, threw around the chairs, nothing. Eventually, he grew and fell to his butt. When he landed, though, the ground made a strange noise. He looked down; he was sitting on a small rug. “How did I not..?” he wondered. He ripped away the rug, and, sure enough, there was a trap door. “Bingo.” he said. He put his hands on the handle and yanked it open.
********************************************************************************
Discord had been watching everything from high above. He had been thinking about the two boys he had decided to follow. It was obvious that Ryan was the one who had gone through much worse lately, but he preferred Harris to Ryan. Ryan seemed like he had the skills he might need for the job Discord planned to force him to take, but Harris was different. Ryan seemed like the kind of guy who could kill. Never in cold blood, mind, but nonetheless, he was entirely capable of this heinous act. The fact that the killings were justified didn’t change his opinion. Ryan should have displayed at least some care about the fact that he killed those two guys in the basement in Jakarta.
Discord watched only half-caring as Harris was forced into one of the cars, being separated from Ryan. He would follow Harris. He would clearly need more help.
As Harrs’ car drove away, Discord closed the distance between him and the car. He got right above it. “Harris!” he thought. Harris must have been startled.
“Jeeze, dude. You freaked me out there.” Harris replied. Discord rolled his eyes.
“SO sorry.” he said sarcastically. “I came here to help you out.” he said. He sensed excitement from Harris.
“Great! If you could-” he was cut off.
“Now, hold on, kiddo.” Discord said. Harris stopped. “I’m gonna help you how I think I should. It needs to be fun for me, or what’s the point?” He could sense Harris’ displeasement.
“What? You think this is fun for me?” Discord shook his head and went through the roof of the van to be face-to-face with Harris
“No. I just think that SOMEONE should be able to enjoy himself when he’s giving up his time to help.” Harris ceased arguing.
“So. What’s happening?” he asked. Harris huffed.
“We’re going to the next compound where they’ll be holding us. Not much else to say.”
Discord floated before Harris. “There have to be other things you can tell me.” he thought. Harris shook his head.
They spent the majority of the car ride in relative silence, Discord going up to sit on the roof of the car. While the car rode along, Discord took in his surroundings. The vests and pistols still dangled from his body. “Maybe I should ditch these devices.” he thought. “They cause too much chaos, even for me. And they’re heavy.” He removed the vests, ready to throw them into the forest. No one would ever find them out here. Then he stopped. “If Ryan is going to kill Narendra,” he reasoned. “then he may need some weapons.” He shook his head. “Was that logical?” he wondered, shaking his head. “This world is messing with me.” He put the vests back where they were and just rode along on the roof of the van.
After a time, they reached the compound where they would all be held. It was small; one story, no windows. It had a ladder to the roof, which had a guy on it. The surrounding area was heavily vegetated. There were lots of bushes and trees around, almost covering the path that they took to get in. The cars parked off to the side, where one couldn’t see them. Everyone got out, and Discord floated above.
They were all lined up in front of one of the two entrances to the small building. Narendra came out. “You will get inside this building and do what my men say.” he explained. “Try anything, and you will be shot.” After finishing, Narendra had his prisoners manhandled into the building.
Upon entering, Harris looked around. To his left on the other side was a kitchen, to the right of that, some beds. Besides a couple of lawn chairs, the room was pretty barren. On the two lawn chairs sat a couple of nasty smelling, hairy guys. When they heard people enter, they snapped to attention. “Menempatkan mereka di ruang bawah tanah.” someone ordered. The two men saluted and opened some hatch on the ground. One held it open while the other ushered in the prisoners.
Harris was the first one to go down. The basement was shockingly large; bigger than the building itself. The basement had some cupboards filled with food, bottled water, and a little area where they had put seemingly random items. There was a pile of porno mags, newspapers, and other documents. Before he could keep looking, Harris was forced over to the other side of the room. There were cages here. Not private little rooms like in the first compound. These were actual cages, like from a zoo.
As Harris was locked into his cage, he was greeted by the semi-comforting and reassuring sound of the voice of the spirit of discord. “Well, this is certainly unpleasant, isn’t it?” he asked with a hint of amusement.
“It would seem that you have been caged.” He even laughed a bit.
“Stuff it.” Harris responded. Discord’s laughing lessened. “You’re not exactly about to be sold like a pig, so just shut up.”
Discord saw this as his chance. “These men are something else, aren’t they?” he asked. Harris detected a bit of malice in Discord’s voice.
“Yeah. They are. What of it?” he asked. Discord smiled to himself.
“Look at what they did to Ryan, your friend. They made him kill one of your other friends. They did unspeakable things to that woman and her child.” Discord had picked up a lot of that from Ryan’s mind. “What do you make of these men?” he asked. Harris shook his head.
“They’re monsters.” he replied.
Oh, this was too perfect. “They don’t even deserve the title of ‘human’, do they?” he asked.
Harris continued shaking his head. “No. I suppose not.” Harris looked up at the strange being above him. “What are you getting at?” he asked.
Discord threw his hands up and shrugged. “I’m just saying. What do you humans normally do with extremely dangerous wild animals, that kill people?” Harris wasted no time responding.
“We kill them.”
Discord’s mind-voice took on a dark tone. “So, wouldn’t that be the best way to deal with these animals? These animals who killed your fellow humans, are going to sell you to people just as bad as them?”
Harris went silent for a moment. “How would you propose I do that?” he asked. Too easy.
“I can help you. You and Ryan can put an end to these guys. All you have to do is kill Narendra.” It hadn’t taken long to get Harris into the idea of going after Narendra. He really hated this guy; who wouldn’t? “I’ll be alongside you, the whole way.” Discord told him. “You won’t have to worry about anything. Anything but finding and killing the bucker.” Harris got up and stood before Discord, putting their faces close together.
“Alright.” he said. “But we’ll need Ryan.” Discord smiled deviously and put his hand forward.
“This is the beginning of a beautiful journey.” he said. Harris took his hand and shook. There was no turning back.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After getting Harris to go along with his plan, Discord decided to head outside and wait for Ryan. It had been a couple of hours, but he didn’t come. Not concerned, Disord went back down to Harris.
On his way down, he counted four guards outside and two in the room above the basement. In the basement, there was one more. He sat in the center of the room, smoking a cigar, not really paying attention to what was happening around him. Discord made a face at him as he passed on his way to Harris. He stood outside the cage. “I’m not seeing Ryan.” he told Harris. Harris looked at him with a scowl.
“I can’t help but wonder if they killed him...” Discord wanted to make sure that Harris didn’t lose his desire to kill the bad guys. He clearly wasn’t about to lose it.
“They didn’t. Ryan won’t be killed by these sleazes.” Discord backed off, not wanting to make Harris yell at him.
By now, it was getting pretty dark outside. By now, Ryan absolutely should have been here. Something was distinctly wrong. “Ryan should be here by now, Harris.” Discord said. Harris ignored him. “Do you think he’s alright?” he asked. Harris turned. He looked terribly worried.
“He is. He has to be.” Just then, they heard a noise come from outside the hatch. The guard had fallen asleep, so he hadn’t noticed, but the sound was clearly loud, or they wouldn’t have heard it. It was followed by a cacophony of similar noises.
“What was that?” Discord wondered. Harris shook his head.
“I don’t know.” he responded. “Not sure I want to.”
Over the next few minutes, Harris tensely waited to find out what the noise was. Discord floated next to him, humming, not really worried. Harris stared at the hatch.
It opened. It made an incredibly painful screech as it opened, causing the guard to fall from his chair and his sleep. Once the hatch was open, someone jumped down. It was Ryan.
“Ryan!” Harris yelled.
Ryan turned to look at Harris, but was instead greeted by a guard with an automatic weapon. Ryan stepped toward the guard and swiped the weapon away to his left. The guard started firing, stray bullets flying around the basement. Pistol in his hand, Ryan brought his other hand around and pistol whipped the guard in his face. He fell back, holding his stinging face in his hands. Ryan ran up behind him to take him down, but was surprised by the guard quickly getting up and taking a swing at him. Ryan got his head out of the way, but his wrist was hit, sending the pistol flying. It landed in one of the prisoner’s cages. Ever resourceful, Ryan ripped out the fork from his pocket once he rolled away from the guard. Not to be outdone, the guard pulled out a KaBar Combat Knife. He clearly didn’t understand the finer points of knife fighting, though; he held it pointed forward next to his chest, leaving him exposed for a strike. If he went for a stab, it would be easy to block, as anyone could see it coming from a mile away. Seeing this, Ryan got into a Seisan fighting guard with his fork. The guard was intimidated; he knew he had picked the wrong fight.
Not willing to back down, though, he ran forward, going for a stab. Ryan parried the knife and arm with his left hand and followed by burying the fork into the man’s head, up through his jaw. The fork stuck in, going right through the bottom of his head. He fell down. When Harris looked closely, he could see the fork going up through the man’s mouth, and possibly farther. He convulsed on the ground. Harris started to feel sick; he wanted to kill these guys now, but he hadn’t pictured it as so gruesome. Ryan picked up the KaBar and made short work of the guard on the ground.
Ryan walked away from the body and over to Harris, who looked at him in shock. Discord looked at him in shock as well, but it was a happy kind of shock. “This is better than I could have hoped for!” he thought. Ryan stood before the cage. “Harris.” he said. Harris didn’t respond at first. “Harris!” he yelled.
Harris came back into focus. “Ryan!” he responded. He put his hands on the cage door. “Am I glad to see you.” he said. Ryan nodded.
“Likewise.”
Ryan tried to fiddle with the lock, but to no avail. He went back over to the body of the guard and searched him for a key. He found one and walked back over to Harris’ cage. “Let’s get you outta there.” he said. Harris nodded as Ryan opened the door and emancipated him. He then walked over to the other cages and released the others. He got a plethora of “thank you!”s and “God bless you!”s and all kinds of gratitudes. One woman even gave him a kiss. He disregarded all of it.
He went back over to Harris and Discord. He was about to start speaking when Discord commented, “Well, you have your freedom now, kiddos. But what’re you gonna do now?” Ryan scowled and turned to Harris.
“Harris, only three cars came back to the docks where I was. That means that two are still here. We can use them to get outta here.” Harris grabbed his shoulder.
“Hang on.” he said. Ryan was confused. Harris pulled him aside, away from the other people.
“I don’t want to go home just yet.” he told Ryan.
Ryan’s jaw dropped. “The hell you saying?” he asked. Harris shushed him.
“These guys killed Jackson, and forced you to choose between me and Catherine. Now, she’s dead, alongside Joey and Nadine.” Ryan looked at Harris warily.
“I’m not sure I like where you’re going with this...” he said. Harris looked him dead in the eyes. Ryan’s held close to nothing; Harris’ held grim determination.
“I’m going after them, even if you’re not.”
Ryan held the stare. “That’s not a good idea.” he said. Harris grunted. “One or both us us will die, you know it.” Harris released Ryan’s shoulder, which he had been gripping hard the whole time. “We have families.”
Harris turned to Ryan. “And the others didn’t? What about their families? Where’s the justice?” Harris asked. By now, the other people were looking at them.
Ryan sighed. “If you’re so naive that you think there is such a thing as genuine justice in this world, you don’t have any understanding of how the world works.” Harris looked at him aghast. “How about the families of the eight men I’ve killed already?” Ryan asked, sorrow sewn into his voice. “Those men did horrible, unspeakable things. But the families did nothing. They have no one to support them now. I killed eight men. I could easily be ultimately responsible for the deaths of over twenty others. Do you understand what that’s like?” Harris was taken aback by the monologue. Discord was also surprised.
“He really takes this seriously.” he thought. “Getting him to kill this guy will be harder than I thought.”
Ryan continued. “Can you even begin to understand what it’s like to potentially be responsible for the deaths of over two dozen people?”
Harris stepped forward. “No. I can’t.” he said. “But I can say this; if we don’t stop these guys now, a HELL of alot more people than over two dozen are going to suffer and die. You’ve always been good at logical decisions when morality fails. Who’s going to be better for society? Any one of us,” he said, looking around and waving his hand. “or the people who kidnap, enslave, and murder other people and the families of those men?”
Ryan turned away. “That was before.” he said. “Now I know what it means to kill. I don’t like it, but I will do it if I have to.” He turned to face Harris again. “We’ll talk more later. Let’s just get out of this hellhole.” Harris nodded, and they turned to the group. “Listen!” Ryan announced. The miniscule amounts of conversation ceased. “There are still two cars out there. We can pile everyone into them and drive to the closest site of some civilization. From there, we’ll figure the rest out.”
Someone from the group spoke out. “I heard that there’s a town, Pekanbaru, somewhere not far. When the guards were talking, I could understand them.” Ryan looked over at the man, happy surprise painted on his face.
“I speak some Indonesian.” Ryan was very glad to hear this.
“How do you speak Indonesian?” he asked.
“I work here in Indonesia.” the man replied. “They took me from my company’s parking lot in Jakarta.”
Ryan clapped his hands together and rubbed them. “Alright, that’s where we’re heading! Everyone, let’s get out of this crappy basement.” Cheers rang out. Discord looked at the boy before him, deep in thought.
“He certainly seems capable of taking charge.” he thought. “Getting to him will definitely be a challenge.” He smiled. “I love challenges; I can approach them in so many different ways.” At that moment, a plan started to formulate in his head.
Everyone climbed out of the basement one by one, spitting on the dead guard as they passed. One of the prisoners held the pistol in his hand. As she passed, she fired the last round into the guard’s groin. “Fuck you.” she said. She was quickly ushered out of the basement.
Ryan and Harris were the last two in the basement. “You go ahead. I’ll be right there.” Harris frowned, but went anyway. When he was gone, it was just Ryan and Discord in the basement.
“He was a pretty nasty guy, Ryan.” Discord told him. Ryan ignored him and walked over to the body. He leaned down over it. “He deserved what he got.” Ryan closed the man’s eyelids and removed the fork from his head, tossing it aside.
“I know.” he said. He stood up and looked at Discord. “That doesn’t mean I enjoyed what I had to do.” Discord shook his head.
“Never should you enjoy it. That’s not what I’m saying. What I’m telling you is that if you had to, you shouldn’t dwell on it. Feel your guilt now, but move on. It’s okay as long as you don’t enjoy it, but still care.” Ryan laughed. “What’s so funny?” Discord asked.
Ryan looked up toward the sky. “A wise woman once told me that ‘there’s always a choice’. You, the old man, I suppose, are telling me the opposite. It’s an interesting contrast of two very strange beings.” Discord didn’t understand, but didn’t ask for elaboration. Ryan left the basement, and Discord floated through the ceiling/floor.
Upon leaving the small building, Ryan looked around. Everyone disappeared. “Well, that sucks, bro.” Discord said, suddenly right behind Ryan. He made Ryan jump.
“Don’t friggin' do that! I almost turned to take you down.” He hadn’t. Discord went,
“Pff. Right. Anyhow, it looks like you were-” He was cut off by the sound of a car coming around the treeline. Two vans stopped in front of the building and Ryan. Harris leaned out of the second one.
“Come on, get in. We’re leaving.” Ryan happily got into the back of the van with Harris and they drove off.
Discord got up above them as they drove for Pekanbaru. He couldn’t see the town, even from this high up. It was going to take them a long time to get there. It meant that Discord would have plenty of time to think of his plan.
He looked up at the night sky, unable to help himself from marvelling at the beautiful, starstruck sky. With no ground light, to block it, the cosmos struck him in all its glory. He could see Millions of stars, many different colors, and purple streaks across the sky. It was an astonishing work of natural beauty.
Not one to allow things to be normal, he started moving some of them around. He moved some of the brighter stars into the shape of a penis. “Much better!” he said. He was sure that somewhere, this night, someone would look up and see a big male genital plastered onto the sky. Satisfied with his work, he went over his plan.
The first thing he would have to do would be to take away Ryan’s reluctance to stop these men. He wasn’t as concerned for those families as he thought; if he was, he wouldn’t have killed the men. Discord had to make him realize that his friends meant more to him than those people he didn’t know. He also had to drive him to want to kill Narendra.
Still, he had to follow some ground rules. Unnecessary killing was not going to be okay. While yes, he was going to kill Narendra, that was for justice in Discord’s eyes. Cold-blooded killing was a no-no. He couldn’t drop to the level of the men he was to fight. He couldn’t hurt innocent people. This could potentially mean the families of the men. That one should be easy. Other than that, there weren’t really any rules. Flexibility is best, after all.
With a plan ready in his head, and two boys ready to be the main catalysts, Discord howled his satisfaction into the night, and flew off after the vans carrying the two who would serve the justice he had cooked up.