Zero Dark Thirty
The boys had fallen asleep easily, perhaps too easily. Now, they were wide awake. They had fallen asleep at roughly five o’clock, so something like this was to be expected. It was now a few minutes past eleven. Ryan thought about it briefly; this was, perhaps, the better way to go. He took inventory of everything one last time. He had his knife, his two guns, three magazines for the M1911 and eight rounds left for the P22. Around his neck dangled his Shen. On his back were the syringes of Morphine. He had opted to remove the bandages from his body, as they wouldn’t likely be needed any more. When he looked at himself, he saw somewhat healed scars, but no residual bleeding or wounding. Afterwards, he redonned his vest.
Harris followed a similar routine, and once he finished, he turned to Ryan. “So, this is it.” Ryan looked out the window toward the water.
“Yeah.” He turned back and moved towards the door. “Let’s end this.” Harris followed him out.
Discord watched the two boys silently make their way out of the hut. He floated quietly above. “Well, I guess this is the start of it.” He made his way down to them. “I hope they’re ready.” Once down with them, he waited for one of the boys to initiate communication with him. When neither did, he took the initiative. “Are you boys ready for this?” he asked. Ryan nodded as he walked. Harris nodded, but less assuredly. Discord got next to him. “Don’t worry. I won’t let you get killed.” Harris visibly relaxed at this, but was still pretty tense. Discord floated up next to Ryan. “How are you going to cross the lake?” he asked. Ryan pointed forward at the docks.
“We’ll take a boat.” Discord didn’t answer. He really didn’t care if they had to steal a boat.
“Good plan. I’ll give you guys directions from above.” Ryan nodded and they all went over to the boats.
There were dozens of boats to choose from. Some were large fishing boats, and other were tiny dinghies. There were a ton to choose from. “Which boat are we taking?” Harris asked from behind. Ryan thought about what they were about what actions they were about to undertake.
“We need to get there relatively fast, but silently once we’re there. We’ll need a motor and oars.” Harris nodded behind Ryan and looked around. Once he saw what he was looking for, two oars, he ran over and grabbed them. Upon returning, he heard Ryan say, “Good.” He held the oars over his shoulder. “Now, which boat will be the best for this task...” He looked around. Toward the middle of the dock, there was a small boat with what looked like a big motor. “Bingo.” he said. He speed-walked his way over, Harris having trouble keeping up with the oars. Once there, Ryan looked over the boat. The motor was, indeed, big, and the boat would be easy to push with oars, if they ditched the motor. They wouldn’t need it at that point anyway. “Let’s take it.” The boys got into the boat and sat down. “You drive, Harris.” Harris got up and turned on the engine, and the boys sped off into the night.
After over an hour of driving, the boys reached the end of the lake that they were looking for; the mouth of a river. From up above, Discord had directed them to the correct river. It would be hard not to, since it was the only one that went into the lake. Harris cut the engine. “Let’s do this quietly. No need to alert anyone that we’re coming.” The boys picked up their oars and began to row their way down the river. It was flowing the other way, though, so they were really going upriver, not the easiest thing to do. Especially when you’ve been running nonstop on adrenaline for so long.
“This, sucks, balls!” Harris whispered loudly. Ryan grunted in response. They had to row for another hour before they were able to head to shore. It was a little after one.
“Alright. We’ll stop here for now. If we take too long, we camp here. Can’t go in there in the middle of the day. That would be suicide.” He honestly had no idea where they were in relation to this compound. Discord, however, should have the answer to that. “Discord!” Ryan mentally shouted. Discord poofed next to the boys.
“Yeah?” he asked.
“How much farther?” Discord blinked twice.
“It’s not one mile up the river from here. I figured that you guys knew, since you stopped here.” Wasn’t that convenient.
“Well, then, I guess we’ll just start trekking there now.” Harris groaned to himself and stretched his legs.
“I guess that it’s almost time.” he commented. Ryan nodded silently. Discord looked over both boys.
“I hope you guys are ready.” he thought. The boys, with no words, got up and made their way upriver.
After only around twenty minutes, it was half past one, the boys laid their eyes on a large, concrete building. It was probably three stories high in some parts, two toward the balconies. One looked over the river, with a straight drop into it. Below were several boats, some big, others very small. On the side of the compound, there were many decorations and thick vines running down the wall. From their spot in the densely forested area, they could see armed guards roaming the front area, but not the sides. They were clearly more concerned about frontal assaults.
“I wasn’t expecting this...” Harris said, awestruck. They had been expecting to find some decent sized, run-down shack, not a big, professional looking building. They couldn’t even tell how far it went from them to the other end.
“No kidding.” Ryan replied. He snapped himself out of his daze and put his hand on Harris’ left shoulder. “Alright, I think I know what we’ll do.” He pulled Harris down. Harris grunted as his butt hit the ground. “We’ll climb up those vines over there. From there, we split up and look for Narendra in the compound. If you find him,” He pulled out a morphine syringe. “And you have an opportunity to inject him, do it. Then you kill him.” Harris took the syringe genially. He looked directly at Ryan’s eyes.
“Sure.” They nodded to each other and turned their heads back to the large compound.
The guards didn’t seem to be looking anywhere but toward what may have been a road, so Ryan wasn’t too concerned about being seen on approach. He slowly and quietly stood, masked by the black of the night shadows, and made his way to the wall. Once there, he grabbed a vine and tugged on it. When it held strong, he waved Harris over. Harris’ approach was less graceful, but much faster. Once he was there, Ryan pointed up the vine and started to climb. Harris followed close behind. As he approached the top of the wall, Discord came up behind him.
“What should I do?!” he asked excitedly. Ryan tapped his head with the hand he went to pull his pistol out with.
“I need you to translate anything you hear for us. No need for surprises.” Discord “sqee’d” and floated up to the top of the wall. Before he gave an “all clear”, Ryan came up, pistol drawn, quickly scanning his surroundings. When he saw that no one was there, he pulled himself over the wall. He took a kneeling stance next to the wall as Harris came over. Once Harris was over, Ryan observed the area. There were multiple entrances to the building in front of them in the form of doors. Ryan tapped Harris’ shoulder and pointed at the doors. They quickly, but quietly, made their way over. Ryan jiggled the knob of one of the doors; it was unlocked. It opened with a mild squeak, causing both boys to freeze. They stood there silently, waiting for someone to come by. When no one did, they entered through the door, shutting it behind them.
Now, they were in the belly of the beast, out of the frying pan. If they were found in here, they would either fight or die. They were in a hallway that went three ways; forward, left, and right. No one was in any of the halls.
“Harris, you go left. I’ll go forward.” Ryan figured that going right would take him back outside soon, so he ignored that direction.
“Alright.” Harris turned. Ryan grabbed his shirt.
“Try not to die.” he said. Harris chuckled grimly.
“I won’t.” Ryan smiled as his friend slowly made his way down the hall. Discord opted to go with Harris.
“If you need me to translate, contact me.” Ryan nodded slowly.
“Got it.” he whispered. Discord went down the hall with Harris.
Now, Ryan was on his own. If he was to stay alive, he was to remain hidden. He put his gun away and pulled out his knife. He looked at it.
“Silent, but leaves so much evidence.” he thought. It wasn’t how he wanted to do it, but if he had to, he would.
He began to make his way down his hall. After twenty feet, he began to encounter doors. Curiosity got the better of him on the very first one. Knife raised for a stab or block, he slowly opened the door. It didn’t make a sound. Inside, Ryan determined that there was a bunk with a person in it, a couple of boxes, and maybe a dresser. Ryan stealthily entered the room and closed the door. It made a small click as it closed, causing Ryan’s heart to jump. The man in the bed did not move.
“Sorry, bro. Time to die.” The fewer guards there were, the better. He gingerly stepped over and just plunged the knife into the man’s throat. It went all the way through, cutting the brain stem. The man never even knew that he was killed. Ryan put the sheets over his bloody neck and face. “Evil shall know no rest.” he said.
He looked around the room. The dresser was, indeed, a dresser, but on top, there was an assault rifle, an AK-74, chambered for 5.45x39mm. Ryan left it where it was, not interested in lugging around some big weapon. His eyes landed on a pistol that was next to the rifle. It was a Walther P88, similar to Ryan’s P22. He lifted up the gun and took out the magazine; it was chambered for 9x19mm Parabellum. In it were eleven rounds. Ryan looked at his P22 and tossed it onto the body of the man. The P88 would serve him much better. He searched the dresser, but found little of consequence. There were some clothes, pictures of family, but nothing particularly interesting. Ryan searched the rest of the room, but came up empty. With his new pistol holstered, he left the room and began to make his way back down the hall. With each door he passed, he found nothing, not even more people. He began to grow nervous; where were all the people? He continued down the hall until he reached one last door. He cracked it open just a tad. Through it, he saw one guard in a chair.
He cracked it open a little bit more, trying to get a sense of what the room was. From the look of it, it was a kitchen of sorts. There was a gas stove, an oven, and even a large pantry. This place was set. Other than that, Ryan saw one other guard cleaning dished. The two guards were talking.
“Discord, translate.” Discord, somewhere else, began to speak.
“‘What’re you gonna do with your pay this month? Blow it on more prostitutes?’” The guard laughed.
“‘No, no. Not this time. This time, I intend to be productive with my money.’” Ryan shook his head with relief; they had no idea.
“That’s enough, Discord.” Discord ceased his translation and went dark again.
Ryan pushed the door open just enough to slip inside. Once in, he walked almost casually, except that one couldn’t hear him, and readied his knife. He was just behind the man in the chair. Without a moment’s hesitation, he pulled back, then rammed the knife at an upward angle into the sitting man’s head. It went in with a tense schluck. Immediately, Ryan moved toward the cleaning man. Right as Ryan approached, the cleaning man turned to see what the noise was. Before he could let out a scream, Ryan punched his across the face, making him face the stove. He followed it up by kicking out the man’s knee and forcing his head down and forward. Unfortunately, it went too far, and his face just hit the searing stove. Right as he began to scream, Ryan reached up and grabbed whatever he could. Once he had a handle on something, he swung it down on the man’s head, ceasing his noise. The body crumpled to the floor with a mild dent in the back of its head.
Ryan took a look at his weapon; it was the classic frying pan.
“Sorry Daffy, but I guess it’s duck season.” he said coldly.
He dropped the pan onto the body, making less noise than if it had hit the floor. He went over the the man, still in the chair, and looked at his knife. “There’s no way I’m getting that out.” He left the knife in his head where it was, blood pouring down the handle and creating a large puddle on the floor. No time for cleanup, though, so Ryan just kept on going. He saw another door, and pulled out his P88. As he approached, he heard voices on the other side. He stopped in his tracks and pointed the gun at the door.
“Discord, translate!” he thought. No answer. “Discord!” Nothing. Ryan swallowed hard as he approached the door, gun raised. The voices got closer to the door. Ryan stepped back again. The voices were still getting closer. “I hope to God that there’s another passage outside this door.” he whispered. The voices were right outside the door; one laughed. Ryan tensed hard. If he fired his gun, he would have to bolt back the way he came. “Don’t open, don’t open, don’t open..!” Alas, Murphy was not his friend today. The doorknob turned quickly and the door started to open. Ryan half pulled the trigger; it took all his discipline not to go the whole way.
The door opened. About a quarter of the way to the end, the person stopped. His friend was talking about something in a warning tone, it seemed. Ryan stared at the door, jaw clenched. His whole body was like a taut string, ready to snap at any moment. Sweat covered Ryan’s hands and head, and his knees shook. He could see half of the body of whoever was in front of him. The guy had a huge gun strapped to his side, a light machine gun, by the looks of it. It was fed by a belt, and had terrifying looking 7.62mm rounds in the belt chain. Ryan continued to stare. The man who was holding the door moved a bit, opening the door a bit more. He was about to come in. Suddenly, the other guy grabbed him and pulled him away. Their voices faded away from the other side of the door.
Ryan fell to the floor like a brick. That was the scariest moment of his life. “I almost got made, there.” he thought. “And I haven’t killed that guy yet.” The last thought gave him much needed resolve, and he stood back up. He shakily made his way to the door, opening it only a bit from the floor. Outside, there was no one. “Perfect.” he thought. Holstering his pistol, he stood back up and opened the door all the way.
He walked through and turned right; it had sounded like those two guys went left. He paused.
Directly in front of him, there was a man with a sandwich. It was a turkey sandwich, with lettuce and tomato. The turkey sandwich with lettuce and tomato fell to the ground as the man tried to comprehend what he was seeing. Ryan, though, already knew what he saw; someone was about to die. He lunged forward, spinning at the same time to deliver a powerful roundhouse kick. It connected with the man’s arm, only making a big thud. The man yelped a little at the sudden attack on his person and jumped back. He had no weapon to use. Ryan saw this and went for his gun. Before he realized it, the man was back on top of him. Ryan pulled his hand from his weapon as he saw a fist come barreling toward his face. He threw up a block and caught the strike in the air, deflecting it to the left. With the man’s side exposed, Ryan went to punch the man’s kidneys. The man jumped back, just out of range of Ryan’s strike. He put up a boxer guard.
“He’s trained.” Ryan thought. He put up a Hindiandi guard for close in fighting. “So am I.” The two fighters remained still for a moment.
In a flash of movement, the man advanced on Ryan, being careful not to lean in to be struck in the face. The man threw a punch at Ryan’s face, who blocked it to the side with a swift turn of his hips, sending his hand to intercept the attack. In response, Ryan threw up his knee, which struck his opponent in the thigh. The man brought his arm back in the form of an attempted elbow to Ryan’s head.
Ryan dropped himself a little, causing the strike to miss, and took the opportunity to strike the man’s throat with a tiger claw. The man stumbled back, unable to breath through his collapsed larynx. With so much room, Ryan couldn’t help but go for a complete takedown. He moved in, elbowing the man in the solar plexus, further hindering his breathing. With the man leaning down, Ryan brought up his knee into the man’s face, generating a loud snap as he struck the nose. The man’s head flew back, blood coming from the nose in large quantities. Ryan followed up with a powerful punch to the jaw, dislocating it, then ended with a following elbow with the same arm and one last punch with his left hand. The man’s head went straight into the wall, and a trail of blood followed it as it slid down.
Ryan stopped. He could kill him definitively now, but why? He would probably drown from the bleeding in his nose or asphyxiate from his collapsed larynx. He walked past the likely already dead man and went down the hall.
Ryan went all the way down the hall, only to find it go into another one at the end. When he turned the corner, he was surprised by what he saw; it wasn’t that long of a hallway. Happy to see something else, he slowly made his way down the hall. At the end, there was a staircase that led downstairs. He went down, pistol raised, and found himself in yet another hall.
“Damn this place.” he thought. As he entered the hallway, he looked to his left, then his right. To the left, there was actually only one door, and it went into an open closet. The other way led to a lighted room. From it, there was speaking. Ryan crept toward the light. Once there, he looked into the room. It was a big room, filled with people. There seemed to be something like a stage. Ryan began to enter the room.
He was in a little foyer. Just before him was a small wall with tinted glass allowing for him to see through to the lighted side. Someone put their hand on his shoulder.
“You know you don’t have to do this.” a woman’s voice came. “You can still walk away.” Ryan shook his head.
“You know I can’t do that. Not now.” The woman stood behind him.
“It wasn’t your fault. None of it. Doing this won’t bring anyone back.” Tears began to fall down Ryan’s face.
“I know.” The woman sighed sadly.
“Then why? Why are you doing this?” Ryan shook his head.
“I don’t know.” he said. The woman kneeled next to Ryan, who also kneeled.
“You can’t blame yourself for Joey’s death. Or Catherine’s. Or anyone’s. Those choices weren’t yours...” Ryan shook the hand off his shoulder.
“They were all my choices!” he said, angrily raising his voice. “And you! How can you forgive me?” He pointed at the woman. “I shot your son in the fucking head!” The woman sighed.
“He forgives you. I forgive you.” She stood. “But only if you forgive yourself.” Ryan’s breathing was fast and deep.
“I... I... can’t... not after everything. Not now.” He looked to the room. Now, on the stage, there stood a man. “Narendra.” Ryan said loathfully. The woman shook her head.
“Goodbye, Ryan. I’d say it was a pleasure...” She was gone.
Ryan was alone again. “However much you have tried, Nadine,” he pulled his P88. “it won’t change the past.”
Steps could be heard from the stairs that Ryan came down. He whipped around, heart racing at the sudden noise intrusion. Quick on his feet, Ryan got into the closet and waited. From the stairs, there came the man with his machine gun and his friend. As soon as they were facing the other way, Ryan stepped out from the closet and walked up behind both men. He shot them both in the head. Stealth was no longer necessary. After dispatching the two men, Ryan picked up the machine gun; it was an old M60. He lugged it on his side as he approached the entrance to the larger room. At the door, he stood. His breathing sped up, deep and rapid fire. He bared his teeth and stared angrily at Narendra.
Narendra was speaking to the group of roughly ten men in front of him. To his left, a girl in chains stood crying.
"Unfortunately, because of an escape of others, the starting price is now raised to two hundred thousand rupees. Bidding is-" He stopped speaking, unable to believe his eyes. Before him stood one of the boys who had escaped, a machine gun in hand. The other men in the room noticed and turned, becoming equally as awestruck that the building was compromised. They had thought that an early morning auction would be the safest bet. Narendra took a step back.
"NARENDRA!!!!!"
Harris started his way down the hall. Behind him, he could hear Ryan shift on his feet and go another way. Discord floated above him, watching carefully for any enemies.
“I’ll need you to cover me, Discord.” Harris said. Discord nodded.
“I’ll keep my eyes out.” His eyes suddenly came right out of his head.
“Gah!” Harris almost yelled. Discord laughed for a moment.
“Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.” he apologized. Harris scowled.
“Don’t mess around, man. This is serious.” Harris continued along the hall. “I could die.” Discord nodded, a smirk evident on his face.
“I know, I know. I won’t let THAT happen.” Harris didn’t feel like asking why he emphasized “that”.
The hallway was bare for the vast majority of its length. The only room Harris encountered along the hall was a bedroom, from which he could hear snoring. He decided not to go into the room.
“No need to wake them up now.” Harris whispered to himself. Discord decided to enter though.
“There’s nothing particularly interesting in here.” he told Harris. Harris sighed in relief; he wasn’t really prepared to kill someone if he wasn’t in direct danger. He kept going down the hall.
“Alright. Tell me if something catches your eye.” Discord affirmed.
At the end of the hall, there was a staircase going up. “This must be the way to the top floor and roof.” Harris concluded. He looked up the stairs. “Alright, then-”
“Incoming from the stairs!” Discord warned. Harris went into panic mode and looked around frantically. The staircase also went down, so he went onto those stairs and stood, waiting. Two voices came from the upper steps. “Told you.” Discord said smugly. Harris ignored him and pulled his P99. Shakily, he pointed it forward, up the steps. The voices were now accompanied by footsteps, getting closer with each step. They were just above Harris.
“Oh God, no, no, no, no..!”
The two men came into view; one had a heavy looking machine gun, the other had no weapon to speak of. Harris didn’t move. The two men, heavily armed, were right in front of him. Were they to turn, they would be staring down the barrel of a 9mm. Though Harris wasn’t sure that the could pull the trigger once, let alone twice. The gun grew very heavy in his hand, like he was trying to hold up a ten pound weight. The two men were just standing in front of him, talking.
“Don’t turn, don’t turn, don’t turn, don’t turn!”
Someone loved him that night, as the two men just went through the open door and went down the hallway. Harris swallowed hard and lowered his weapon. “Holy crap...” he said quietly. Discord poofed up next to him.
“You alright?” he asked. Harris nodded. He turned to look at Discord, still shaking.
“Where were you?” he asked. Discord huffed.
“I had to put a translation spell in Ryan’s head. It only took a moment.” Discord looked to the door. “He’s probably still listening.” Harris stood up. He had to hold onto a rail next to the stairs not to fall.
“Let’s go.” he said. He made his way up the stairs.
At the top of the stairs, Harris paused. “Can you see if anyone is out there?” Harris requested. Discord obliged and looked around, poking his head outside the door.
“All clear.” he said. Harris went through the door. On the other side, there was a large greenhouse and big glass windows, giving a glorious view of the night sky.
“I never thought that I’d see a night sky like that.” he thought. He could see thousands of stars, and that big pinkish streak that you see sometimes in greeting cards. It was a sight to behold.
“Ahem, in case you forgot...” Discord didn’t need to finish. He snapped Harris out of his trance and got him moving again. Harris moved through the garden.
“Do you think this place is self-sustaining?” Harris asked. Discord scoffed.
“Umm, duh. It’s not like they can order a pizza, now can they?” Harris frowned and just kept moving. At the end of the room, there was another door. reached for the knob.
It suddenly began to jiggle. Not quite thinking, Harris dove to the side, out of the way and view of the door, behind a plant. It was a big bush, berries were covering it. The door swung open, and a man walked in. He was wearing a long robe, like one you would wear in a spa. It was red and had gold lining around the waist. The man himself looked caucasian, and a real hardball. His hair was cut short, and he had a phone to his ear.
“No, no, bloke, listen here. I know what I want to spend my money on. And I want to buy some people.” A pause. “I don’t care how hard it is to get them back to South Africa! Just find a way!” The man was clearly British from the accent. Of course, South Africa had been a British colony. He could be South African, naturally born. He spun around and went back to the door, slamming it shut behind him as he went through.
“That was close.” Discord commented. Harris stood up. “Nice job hiding.” Harris dusted himself off.
“Thanks.” He realized that he had never put away his gun. He quickly holstered it, then went back to the door.
He opened it slowly, making sure that nobody was on the other side as he did so. When he confirmed that no one was there, he walked through the door and shut it behind him. He was on a balcony. To the front, there was a staircase going down. On his left, there was a rail overlooking some room. Harris went over and looked over the rail. There was a group of ten men on the floor beneath Harris. In front of them, there stood on a stage an Indian man and a girl in chains.
“Narendra.”
He wished that Ryan was there; he would figure out something to do. Harris looked around the small group of men. The man in the red robe was toward the back of the group. He was still on the phone, arguing with whoever was on the other end of the line in hushed tones.
"Unfortunately, because of the escape of our other items, the starting price is now raised to two hundred thousand rupees each.” Narendra said in a somewhat happy tone, which was soured probably by the reminder that so many of his “items” had escaped. “Bidding is-"
He stopped. On his face was a look of absolute terror. He was staring at some point behind the group, at the back of the room. Harris went to the right so he could get a better sight of what he was looking at. As he made his way there, all the other men in the room, including the red-robed man, turned and looked, more confused than scared. Harris got a view of what they were looking at; it was Ryan.
“Ryan?” Harris said, astonished. He looked closely at Ryan; he seemed to be breathing hard. He had a massive machine gun in his hands. Harris looked more closely at Ryan’s face. His eyes were totally red. He raised up the gun, and Narendra dove sideways.
“NARENDRA!!!!”
Ryan just opened fire on the group in front of him. The gun made a loud chop-chop every time a bullet left its muzzle. The men in the group were all being cut down by the hail of lead. All of them screamed loudly, the superheated metal searing and slicing through their bodies. Haris watched in shock and horror. Ryan didn’t stop shooting. All of the menin the group were on the ground, but Ryan kept up the fire. Harris looked to the stage; The chains on the girl had come off her body, along with her hands and part of her face. She was dead. All the men in the room were gone. Blood coated the stone floor, bits of bones and organs joining it. Harris saw the red-robed man. He had fallen on his back, and the over inch-and-a-half exit wounds of the bullets were quite visible. Harris fell back and landed on his hind end. He threw up.
Discord watched the entire thing unfold with his jaw completely slack. Ryan had just indiscriminately fired on and killed everyone in front of him. Well, everyone except his target. Narendra had dived to the side, getting out of the storm of bullets. Discord heard Harris vomit behind him. He turned. “Harris, we need to leave.” Harris didn’t react. “Harris!” He got right in front of Harris’ face.
“No, no. He couldn’t... there’s no way..” Discord released his ethereal spell for a moment so he could grab Harris’ shoulders.
“Harris! You need to move!” Harris looked around, jerked out of his state of shock by the sudden motion.
“What?” he managed.
Discord looked around; getting Harris to move may be harder than he thought. “You have to get out of here!” Harris shook his head and jumped up. Looking around, he decided to double back into the greenhouse. Once inside, he stopped for a moment. “Harris, what are you doing?” Discord asked fearfully.
People could be heard on the other side of the door on the opposite side of the room. Harris couldn’t go that way. He certainly couldn’t go back the other way. He was stuck.
“Dammit!” Harris yelled. The voices on the other side of the other door started to shout. Discord tried to think of a way out.
Three gunshots sang their songs from behind Discord. As he turned around to see what happened, he saw Harris stepping away from the glass. “Harris-” Harris wasn’t waiting. He ran forward and leapt through the glass of the greenhouse windows. Discord just watched, stunned. “Clever boy.” he said with a hint of pride. He flew out the window after Harris.
Down in the room by the stage, Ryan stepped out into the open. He dropped the large machine gun, having used up all the ammo for it. Ryan scanned the room. There were bodies everywhere, and the blood made squelching noises as he walked through it. After examining the bodies quickly, he determined that Narendra was not among them. Remembering that he had been on the stage, he went up there. As he approached, he noticed that there was only one body on the stage. It was the body of a girl, no more than Ryan’s own age. He grunted in frustration; Narendra had clearly escaped him.
A door behind the stage slammed shut. Ryan’s ears picked it up clearly and he jumped up onto the stage and ran to the back, stepping on the dead girl’s hand as he passed. It snapped under his weight.
Behind the stage, Ryan saw a door. It was the only one present, so he ran over to it, intent on catching Narendra. Seeing no handle, Ryan put his foot out and kicked the door open, drawing his P88.
“Where are you!?” he yelled. He was in another hallway. To his right, he heard someone panting. he started to run in that direction, and suddenly, Narendra burst out into the open from a depression in the wall. He sprinted down the hall. “Narendra!” Ryan bellowed. He raised his gun and fired as he ran. His shots all went horribly off course. After emptying the clip, Ryan dropped the gun and sprinted after Narendra. The hall took a sharp turn to the right. As Ryan was about to turn, several shots rang out from that hall. Ryan hung back, not wanting to be the first one to die. After the shooting stopped, he turned the corner and ran. Narendra had managed to gain some ground, but not enough to get away.
Ryan chased Narendra through the building. They passed through several hallways and rooms, Narendra trying to set up obstacles each time, Ryan getting past them either through quick maneuvering or ploughing through. Narendra looked back.
“How long is he going to keep this up?” he wondered. The boy was still coming after Narendra, and he was gaining ground quickly. Narendra found himself in a new hallway. A the end, he saw a door that he knew led outside. He doubled his speed, terrified of whatever fate awaited him, should the boy behind him catch up. At the door, he tried to push it open; it was a pull door. Narendra quickly pulled the door open and went through.
Ryan tackled Narendra to the ground, both of them tumbling about across the roof. They were on the second story of the building, toward the back, where Ryan and Harris first infiltrated the building. Narendra tried to stand up after the impact, but was kicked hard in the chest. He couldn’t breath; it was like someone had stuck a vacuum down his throat and sucked the air out of his chest. The asphyxiating feeling caused Narendra to flail about on the ground, trying to breath. Something stabbed him in the leg, but the pain quickly subsided.
Narendra finally got his breath back and looked at his attacker, who loomed over him like a black thunderhead, assailing everything below with its furious lightning. He knew who the boy was. “So, this is what you’ve been doing.” he said. Ryan didn’t respond. “You killed my men. You fought tooth and nail to escape. And yet here you are, before me once again.” He waited for Ryan to respond, but still got nothing. “Why?” Ryan just pulled out his remaining pistol. Narendra’s breathing became short and rapid. “Well?” Nothing. “Answer me!” Ryan kicked Narendra across his face.
“You took everything from me.” Narendra laughed; for some reason, the kick didn’t hurt.
“Is that what this is about? Revenge?” Ryan didn’t answer again. “Killing me won’t bring them back.” Ryan laughed spitefully.
“That’s what she told me right before I killed your cronies.” Narendra pushed himself backwards, right up against a wall. On the other side was the river. “Killing you won’t bring them back.” Ryan pulled back the hammer of his M1911. “But it’s sure as Hell gonna make me feel better.” Narendra felt tears come to his eyes.
“Please, don’t...” Ryan stepped forward. “Please! I’ll give you whatever you want!” Ryan’s foot landed on Narendra’s left shoulder, popping it out of place. The lack of pain was beginning to concern Narendra.
“I know what I want. I want you to know pain before you die.” Ryan stepped back. “But not the physical pain that I suffered. No, you’ll get another type of pain entirely.” Ryan pulled up the sleeves of his jacket. “THIS type of pain is nothing compared to what else you’ve done to me. So I want you to know that pain.” He put his sleeves back down. “I already put the morphine into you. You won’t feel physical pain; take comfort in that. However,” Ryan pointed the gun at Narendra’s gut. “I am going to shoot you. And you will watch, fully conscious and aware, as you bleed out and die. Your last moments will be spent knowing that you’re about to die and that you can’t do anything about it.” Ryan took note of Narendra’s face; it betrayed the confidence that he had displayed when he held Ryan in custody. “You will feel my pain.” His expression went dark, a sense of grim finality permeating his voice. “Goodbye, Agni Narendra.”
The boom of a single gunshot rang out through the jungle, followed by an eerie silence.
Ryan spun left at the sudden noise; Harris was pointing his P99 up at the balcony above them. Ryan saw a rifle barrel sticking up from behind the wall. Several men suddenly appeared beside it, heavily armed. “DITCH!!!” Harris screamed. Ryan ran to the wall and leapt over it as the automatic AKM fire chased after him.
Ryan landed in the water heavily. He had gone at least fifteen feet through the air into the water, then another five once he hit. It was like landing in a ball pit from twenty feet up. He resurfaced, gasping for air, gun clenched in his hand. “Go, Ryan, go!” Harris yelled as he swam for the shore at the end of the wall. Ryan began to make his way back with Harris; he hadn’t shot Narendra.
The boys quickly climber out of the water and onto land once they reached the shore. Ryan holstered his gun.
“Up the vine!” he ordered. He bound over to the vine and scaled the wall as fast as he could manage. Harris followed soon after. At the top, Ryan looked over tentatively. Narendra was nowhere to be seen, and the guards had disappeared. “Dammit!” he yelled, vaulting over the wall. Without waiting for Harris, Ryan ran through the door. He looked down each hall, left, forward, then right. He saw no one. He was about to run left when he heard something off to the right, the way he had ignored earlier. “This is the night you die, Narendra.” Ryan uttered. He ran down the laconic hall, reaching the turn at the end in only seconds. He turned around and found himself face to face with the guards, who seemed to be carrying Narendra away down a flight of stairs. Before Ryan could draw, they pointed their guns up at him.
Ryan drew back behind the wall as 7.62mm bullets sliced through the air next to him. He could feel their heat radiating through the air as they passed. He didn’t risk pointing his gun around the corner, there were way too many bullets coming at him to expose any part of himself. Every time one let up, another shooter took his place. After a minute, the shooting stopped, and a door at the base of the stairs shut. Before he ran down, Harris came by, reloading his weapon.
“Ryan-” Ryan cut him off by grabbing the P99 from Harris and running down the stairs. At the bottom, Ryan fired five times into the doorway, toward the bottom. From the other side, someone screamed. Ryan burst through the door, Harris immediately behind him. They were outside, in a makeshift driveway. Ryan looked around; no Narendra. The man who had been screaming was gasping for air. Harris took his rifle from the ground.
An engine rumbled into life somewhere to the right. Ryan pulled up the P99 and pointed it in that direction, Harris pointing his new AKM in the same direction. Time froze. Nothing seemed to happen after the noise sounded. Ryan’s senses were all heightened; he could see every detail on the pistol in his hand, from the scratch marks it had gained from travel to the powder residue from being fired several times in confined areas. The veins on Ryan’s hand seemed to be popping out, much larger than any normal person’s would be. The moonlight glistened on his sweaty hand, the cool nighttime breeze chilling it down after so much usage. The area around him was much more illustrated than it was before. Each blade of grass and leaf seemed so much more alive, like they were waving for Ryan to move.
A car exploded out of a small wooden shack. Ryan dove to the side, taking the advice from the plants to heart. As he recovered, he heard Harris shooting at the car with his automatic rifle. Ryan fired all of the remaining bullets of the P99 at the car. Nothing succeeded.
Ryan lowered the weapon and dropped it. When it hit the ground, the slide clicked back forward. Harris and Ryan just stood where they were, enthralled by what had just occurred.
Discord floated down to them, equally as shocked at the events that had just unfolded. Ryan had actually had Narendra, on the ground, in front of him, but hadn’t killed him. Then Narendra led them on a merry chase and escaped. Discord landed next to Ryan.
“What just happened?” he asked, still stunned. Ryan shook his head.
“He’s gone.” he said, disappointment slathering his words. “He got away.” Discord looked at him, then Harris, then him again. Harris looked like he had lost all hope.
“What will you do now?” he asked. Ryan spun around, eyes landing on the injured man on the ground.
“I’m going to Vietnam. Narendra’s personal home is north of Buon Me Thuot. That’s where he’ll be.” Discord found himself staring at Ryan, slack-jawed. Even after that, he was still going for it? “But first,” Ryan walked over to the injured man, who looked back up at him. “I need to get an idea of what I’ll be dealing with.” The man looked up at Ryan, his fear keeping him totally silent. Ryan, with no warning, grabbed the man by his hair and started to drag him back into the building.