Chapter Four - Part One
Walking on the Lonely Road
(originally Chapter Three)
I woke a ditch, and my head was thumping like a bass drum; I still wasn’t used to the technique for a smooth teleportation, along with my mind not being focused due to Twilight’s last words. I grumbled as I assumed what she had done, I took out my phone and looked at my Maps app to confirm my thoughts.
“God, fucking, dammit…” I muttered as I kicked the ground in frustration.
She had sent me to the other side of the country.
As I thought about it, it made a lot more sense that Twilight would have used this teleportation as an advantage to get rid of me. After all this time I still couldn’t figure out why she hated my guts; I didn’t really give two shits after all we’ve been through now, it’s just something I learned to live with, until now.
This really crossed a line, and I promised myself that when I eventually find the group again, I would be having some serious fucking words with her, I was going to get to the bottom of this once and for all.
Until then, there was only one thing I could do.
And so I began to walk.
And walk.
And walk.
And walk.
Days and nights passed and I just kept walking, and as the days went by I grew weaker and weaker as hunger and exhaustion slowly sapped away at me, and soon enough I was walking at a snail's pace.
I’d been walking nonstop for almost a week when my legs finally gave out; I fell to my knees before rolling over onto my side and hitting the dirt with a thump. My vision was blurry and I couldn’t think straight, my thoughts were just a jumbled mix of “food, mission, water, orb, sleep, Twilight”…
I shook my head and waited for the dizziness to fade, and I was able to clear my head slightly. I wasn’t a fool, I knew full-well I’d never get to the orb shard like this, I needed to keep myself fit and healthy, even if it meant delaying my journey; I needed to survive…
{Survive… Survive…} My brain kept playing over and over again.
I spotted a car on a nearby road and had a feeling there would be a village or something further ahead; I gradually picked myself up, took a deep breath, and kept walking…
“I hate purple…” I spat.
I watched from a distance as the same car from earlier parked next to an old isolated cottage in the middle of nowhere; no town, village, or city in sight. An elderly woman got out the car and waddled to her home and went inside, closing the door behind her.
At this point I was beyond desperate, I could safely say without exaggeration that I was actually dying at this point; I was starving and dehydrated, and hadn’t slept properly in weeks. So after making sure my phone and Krocsbane were well-hidden, I tiredly shambled over to the cottage and knocked on the door. While I waited for an answer, I looked at the sign above the door, bearing the name 'Pereira'.
I hummed, for the sign meant nothing significant to me, and I continued to wait.
A little while later, the door opened the same old lady appeared, she looked at me and frowned.
“Do you… Do you have any food?” I asked hoarsely, my throat dryer than the Sahara Desert.
She tilted her head aside, not knowing what I said; before I remembered I was in Portugal, I used my hands to imitate eating food, and made a few munching sounds.
“Food?” I said again.
She opened her mouth and nodded with understanding, and went back inside; a moment later she came back with a small basket containing some bread, gammon, and a glass bottle of milk.
“Thank you, thank you so much…” I wheezed looked up at her with a look of pure joy.
She smiled, and I dipped my head with respect as I backed away and she closed the door. I sat on her doorstep and began to quickly consume the food, I was so foolish to leave the six ponies without any supplies; what was I thinking!?
After washing down my meal with the milk, I put the lady’s basket down on the doorstep and headed off until the cottage was out of sight.
I smiled to myself, and had a lovely warm feeling inside; that charitable act of kindness had saved my life. I’d been through so much, with Inigo in Brazil and the horrors of Chernobyl in Ukraine; it was wonderful to experience something nice on my journey for once; that old woman’s act of kindness wouldn’t be forgotten.
I’d been walking for another week, when I wondered how far I’d actually walked. I pulled my phone out, luckily the thing was still intact; thanks to my modifications it was borderline Nokia strength, which is saying something, as those things could stop a bullet. I turned on the screen and looked at the map; the next orb shard was still a long way off, but I was just over halfway now.
It was then when the rain began to fall, at first it spat slightly, and I could only feel minuscule droplets of water tickling my arms, but within seconds it began to rain properly. I felt large drops of water hitting the back of my neck, making me shiver.
A single bottle of milk was just enough to keep me alive, so this rain was a godsend, I desperately looked to the sky and opened my mouth, sticking my tongue out as far as possible, trying to catch as much rain as I could. It was so refreshing, even in such a small quantity. With each drop, I felt life flowing back into my body. I took off my shirt and held it to my mouth, bunching it up and sucking more water out, my shirt was incredibly dusty at this point and provided me with an unclean drink, but at this point, my hydration was more important than a few mouthfuls of dirt.
I’d been hydrating myself for at least ten minutes, when the cold kicked in, and I started to shiver. This supposed godsend, transformed into a threat, as hypothermia could become a possibility if I didn’t find shelter.
I ignored the rain and the cold to the best of my ability, and began to trek down the muddy road.
I had walked for some time, and the rain hadn’t stopped, I was now soaked to the skin. I kept walking without looking back, I needed to find shelter. The sound of the rain was quite therapeutic though. Over the sound of the rain I heard a sound behind me, the deep rumble of an engine. I turned to see a rusty old car coming along the road towards me; I ignored it and kept walking. As it approached me it honked its horn, making me jump slightly. I turned around to see a man inside yelling at me, gesturing for me to get out of his way.
{I could always beat the fucker up, and use the car to get to the shard…} I thought for a second.
But I was not that sort of person, regardless of the fucked up events back in Brazil and Ukraine. Despite my experiences, I was still a man of righteousness, and wouldn’t condemn someone else to freeze to death in this rain.
I walked off the road, and the car whizzed past me.
“Garotoestúpido!” The driver shouted at me as he went by.
“Yeah, well fuck you too.” I said dryly.
I was tired, soaking wet, and hungry, and didn’t have the energy to shout back.
After another few minutes of walking, I saw a town up ahead in the distance. It looked like an old shanty town; the majority of the buildings had lights on, meaning it was getting pretty late. I began to speed walk towards the town, I needed to get out of this rain. Suddenly I tripped on a rock and hit the hard path beneath me, I felt a sharp pain shoot across my wrist; I grunted with pain and wheezed.
I picked myself up to find I was now coated in mud, I groaned and wiped as much off me as I could, upon wiping my left arm I was met with a stinging sensation. I looked down to find a nasty scrape all the way from my wrist to my elbow, small streams of blood trickled in-between the coat of mud.
“Could today get any worse?”
I jumped as a loud ‘BOOM’ sounded off in the clouds and a flash of white light appeared in the sky as the thunder began to start.
“Sorry I asked…” I mumbled.
I finally reached the shanty town and saw the road was empty, the houses mostly had red brick walls, no painting. The road was scattered with litter and plastic bags, and above most porches lay large sheets of corrugated iron as a form of shelter. This place was pretty slummy, but it would make do as shelter for now. I went to one of the porches and slumped myself against a wall, dry at last. I held myself tightly and closed my eyes, in attempt to get some rest.
I was able to sleep for about half an hour, before I was woken by another thunderclap, I jolted slightly and looked around, not a person in sight. I then heard the door next to me open, and a woman walked out. She was rather pale for a Portuguese woman, and she had a lot of wrinkles around her eyes.
“Ruimmenino! Sair! Sair! Váembora!” She shouted.
“English?” I asked.
“Váembora! Ruimmenino!” She repeated.
“I don’t speak your goddamn language.” I said back.
“Váembora!” She screamed.
“Alright! Alright! I’m going! Jesus…” I growled as I got up and walked off the porch and back into the rain.
I walked through the town, seeing a few dirty faces here and there looking at me. A man in a dark blue puffer jacket and a beanie hat slithered out of an alleyway and walked next to me, the man was old and scruffy, he had a front tooth missing and pretty much resembled a rat. He eyed up my pockets like a vulture would a dying animal; I ignored him and kept walking.
After a good few minutes he still hadn’t left my side.
“Fuck. Off.” I barked deeply, turning to look at him.
He jumped back, looked me in the eyes, and his lips twitched slightly. Then he quickly scampered away back towards the alley again.
“Nob jockey…” I grunted as I kept walking.
The rain didn’t stop, instead it chose to rain harder, to the point where the drops became painful, each one of them stung my cold, shivering face; I looked around frantically for a shelter. Ahead of me the road split into two different smaller roads, and at the centre cross point was a public building with some stairs, a school perhaps? I jogged to the building and climbed up the stairs to find it was locked, and there was no rain shelter either. I sighed in disappointment and climbed back down the stairs. I then looked around the small stairwell to find it was hollow, and underneath the porch was a small space, enough to fit a person or two. I shrugged and squeezed under the steps, getting myself covered in more mud, which really didn’t matter to me, as I was filthy enough.
I lay there shivering under the stairs for a good hour, the temperature had dropped as night began to fall, and I needed some warmth before hypothermia truly set in. I searched around the small space and found a torn bin bag. I had no choice but to take it and cover myself with it, at this point in time, anything and everything was a useful item, no matter how filthy or disgusting it was.
“What I’d give right now for a hot bath…” I mumbled, gagging slightly at the smell of the bin bag.
It stunk of rotten food, I opened it up to find some blackened mouldy bread and some wrappers, I shook the bottom slightly and the smell only got worse, and I almost threw up. As the wrappers moved, a dead seagull came into sight, it was stiff and cold, looking like it had been dead for quite a few days.
“Well, I guess I could be worse off.” I shrugged.
I crawled to the exit and dumped the contents of the bag outside, before curling up under the bag. I closed my eyes, blocked out the smell and the cold, and just let the sound of the rain carry me off to sleep.
About an hour or two later, I was awoken by the sound of yet another thunderclap. I jolted as the unexpected booming caught me off guard. I looked outside to see the weather hadn’t changed, it was raining more than ever now, looking up at the clouds told me the storm wasn’t going to end for quite some time, the clouds were almost as black as the night itself. Very faintly over the sound of the rain I could hear another car. Judging by the sound of things, it was getting closer, it got louder and louder, until the volume came to a standstill, telling me that the car had come to a halt; I heard the door open and then slam shut, and then a second door being opened.
“Você pode morrer para todos I cuidado! Você estúpido menina!” A man shouted.
I then heard a young girl scream in pain. I quickly crawled to the exit of my shelter and stuck my head out to see what was going on. The car was white, and the bonnet had a strange black symbol painted on it, it almost looked like a hand or something.
The man was on the other side of the car, and I could just about see him, he was struggling. He walked away from the car, and I saw a horrible sight before me. He was holding a young girl by her hair, dragging her back; she was kicking and screaming in pain.
“Ser silenciosa criança! Parar de gritar ou I irá cortar o seu língua de fora!” He growled.
The girl kept struggling and yelping, and the man then smacked her in the jaw, she spluttered and kept sobbing loudly. The man growled and grabbed her arm, before throwing her to the ground.
“Por favor pai! Por favor!” The girl wailed.
She attempted to get up and cling to the man’s leg, in response he hit the girl in the face a second time, harder than before; he kicked her back to the ground and spat on her. He then got in the car and drove off.
The girl lay there in the rain, sobbing loudly; the poor thing simply curled up into a little ball in the road and wept. She was already soaking wet from the pouring rain and needed some shelter. I had just spent about an hour walking in the storm, so I felt a ton of sympathy for her.
“Hey, over here.” I weakly called out.
I didn’t have the energy to shout properly and my words did not reach her; I tried to shout to her again, but to no avail, my tired voice was drowned out by the sound of the torrential rain. After a moment’s though, I took my phone out and switched to the LED light button, and shone the bright light at her for a second before turning off the phone. She looked up and saw my face. I gestured for her to come closer, nodding slightly. She looked scared, very scared, but the rain eventually drove her to get up and come to me. I shuffled back and gave her some room to come into the small space, she was hesitant at first, but eventually crouched down and squeezed in with me.
She was very thin, so she didn’t take up much room; she stayed at the entrance for a few seconds, not sure what to do, if she should trust me and join me, or stay by herself. I put my hand in my pocket and she quickly flinched and lent back, I looked at her, nodded slowly to show it was safe, and I carried on rummaging in my pockets. I found the handkerchief Rarity had made me, and passed it to her.
“Obrigada...” She mumbled, wiping her face and arms.
I simply smiled and looked back to my phone again, my battery was on ninety eight percent. The girl looked at the phone curiously, and then to me; I turned the phone off and put it inside my pocket.
I decided I needed to break the ice with this poor girl so I could check her over, to see if she was alright. By the sounds of her cries earlier, she had been hit pretty hard. I edged closer to her, and she instantly moved away.
“Por favor…” I said gently.
She shook her head and stayed put, so I tried a new tactic; I pointed at myself.
“Callum.” I said.
She frowned in confusion.
{I’m telling you my name you silly tit…} I thought to myself.
I pulled out my phone again, and pointed to it.
“Phone.”
Then I pointed to myself.
“Callum.”
I then hummed with curiosity as I pointed to her; which was when she finally understood what I was getting at.
“B... Bu… B-Bunnie…” She stuttered.
I extended my arm to shake her hand gently, I nodded slightly as I said her name with a smile.
“Bunnie.”
I was finally able to crack a smile out of her, which I could only just see with the little light provided. Unfortunately the smile didn’t last long, as she whimpered in pain as she put a hand to her forehead, and then she began to cry; I shuffled closer and put my hand on her arm, and she flinched once again, but did not move, as she simply continued to cry, louder now.
“Sshh… Sshhshshsshh…” I hushed.
Without warning the girl lunged forward and latched onto me, and sobbed into my chest, she tightly gripped my arm and pressed her cheek into my shoulder, and just didn’t stop crying.
{Oh you poor thing… What the fuck has that man done to you…?} I thought.
I didn’t even think about what I did next, it was on natural impulse. I put both my arms around her and cuddled her; with my right hand I began to pat her back gently to the rhythm of a human heartbeat.
“Ssshh…” I hushed again, still patting the rhythm.
“Não é justo.” She coughed.
I said nothing, and just continued hugging her and shushing her for the next few minutes until she finally calmed down and sat back.
“Obrigada senhor…” She sniffed, rubbing her eyes.
I merely nodded and smiled, I wanted to tell her it was okay, but I knew about as much Portuguese as a faithful nun knew about sex; basically, fuck all. Pardon the pun.
“Quem é você?” Bunnie asked.
“I’m sorry; I don’t speak Portuguese, I’m English.” I said slowly.
The girl looked at me blankly, and then swallowed; she blinked at me a few times, as if she were trying to process my words.
“English.” I repeated, pointing to myself.
Her eye widened with shock, as if I had just told her that I was God himself or something.
“You… You… You’re English?” She said with difficulty.
This was my turn to be confused; she just spoke English, and her accent sounded English.
“Yes, I’m English.” I answered.
Without warning she latched onto me again.
“Oh my god! Oh my fucking god! You’re English!” She shouted.
“Wait, so, you are as well?” I asked.
“Yes! Yes! Oh my fucking god you’re English!” She shouted a second time.
My mind was now boggled, this girl was British. I looked around in all directions, trying to process this.
{What the actual fuck is going on here!?} I thought to myself.
I looked back to Bunnie to see her crying, but not like before; she was crying with joy. Tears were streaming down her cheeks but she had a great big grin on her face, the sort of grin you can’t control, when you simply cannot hold in your happiness any longer.
“What are you doing here? Who are you? How did you find me?” She asked, firing the questions like bullets.
“Not so fast.” I said, I had some questions of my own.
She tilted her head.
“What the heck is going on? I heard you talking fluent Portuguese a second ago, and now you’re English? Who was that man?” I paused, “Who are you?”
The girl couldn’t sit still, she was shaking all over, and it wasn’t because of the cold.
“M-My name’s Bunnie; I was born in England. That man… He’s… He’s my father…” She sighed.
“Ok… Wait, what?” I said in shock and disbelief.
“Yeah, he’s my dad. I lived here in Portugal a long time ago, he’s violent and horrible and runs a gang. My mum and I ran away from him when I was still a little girl, when he couldn’t find us he eventually formed a large drug cartel, they’re ruthless and will kill anyone who stands up to them, even the Portuguese police are afraid of them!” She told me.
That fucker was this poor girl’s father? Jesus…
However, this story still made no sense to me, I needed more information.
“I don’t understand Bunnie, what are you doing here if you live in England? Why did you come back here? Why are you with that guy?” I asked, firing my own range of questions.
Bunnie took a deep breath, and calmed herself down, so she could tell me her story.
“Right… My mum was forced to marry him, she was a slave. He abused her, hit her, raped her. Then one day, they had me; things got no better, if anything I made things worse, my dad started to take more drugs, and then started to trade slaves to other cartels. I overheard him on the phone, saying that I was going to be a sex slave when I grow up.”
{What… The… Fuck…?} I thought, already starting to feel sick inside.
“Fucking hell…” I mumbled.
“After that, mum packed some bags, and we ran away to our grandparents, from there they set us up with a place to stay in England. We tried to let that part of our life go; we changed our family name so we couldn’t be traced, and from there we’ve lived our lives as normally as we could.” She explained.
“Wow… That’s one heck of a life story… But, that doesn’t explain why you’re here now...” I asked.
Bunnie paused, and rubbed the back of her neck, and then she took a long sigh.
“About two months ago, he found us. He still had contacts in England; they came for us… They… They kicked the door down and started shooting everything and trashed the house…” She said, then stopped to take another deep breath.
In the little light given, I was just able to spot a tear running down her right cheek. The poor girl has gone through so much trauma; she began shaking more than ever and her words were choked.
“They took me and mum, they put a bag on my head, and they poisoned me or something because I blacked out. It felt like I was asleep for days on end…
When I woke up, mum was gone, I was in a room, all on my own…” She continued, shivering even more.
I put my hand on her arm again to find she was practically vibrating! She could give Michael J Fox a run for his money in a shaking contest... I rubbed up and down her arm to keep her calm.
“Then… Then he, he was there… He walked into the room… I didn’t even recognise him… Then he squatted in front of me and told me ‘Daddy’s got you’, and I’ve been imprisoned here since.” She concluded.
“Jesus fucking Christ…” I breathed.
“I can’t leave, I tried to run away, and his gang found me, they took me back to him, he hit me, and he didn’t stop hitting! I was screaming but nobody came and he just didn’t stop hitting me! He didn’t stop! HE DIDN'-”
“Hey, hey, calm down, it’s ok…” I soothed.
But to no avail, she burst into tears and planted her face into my chest and began to wail. For some reason I felt inclined to look after her. I barely knew her, and I had a mission to fulfil; yet I felt like I needed to do something about this.
“Do you know where your mum is?” I asked.
“Ufmffummphu!Mfumphu-”
“Bunnie, I can’t hear you…” I interrupted.
She pulled back from my chest, her eyes still streaming with tears.
“I… I don’t know… I haven’t b-been allowed out of m-my room since I came here… All my meals are brought to me, I can only leave to go to the toilet, and even then, I’m followed by a guard…” She said, taking a deep breath.
“Well, she might have made it out; you should run away, he might come back.” I advised.
“That’s the point…” Bunnie said dully, “This has happened once before. He locked me out as punishment, but he came back the next day.”
“So, basically this is an extreme version of ‘the naughty step’.” I joked.
With that comment, I was able to squeeze a smile out of her, which was always good.
“Pretty much…” She agreed.
“So, why not run away?”
“I can’t…”
“Why not?”
“Do you honestly think he’d give me the chance? He’s got his gang all around this town, if they see me leave, they’ll get me… And if they see you with me, they’ll kill you.” She said.
“Many have tried…” I said.
“They’re armed Conor-”
“Callum.” I corrected.
“Sorry… But Callum, they have guns, don’t even think about helping me, they’ll kill you, I’ve seen them kill people; they have no remorse.” She warned.
“I repeat. Many have tried.” I told her.
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“Ever had a gun pointed at your head?”
“Yes.”
She paused and blinked at me.
“I don’t believe you.”
I had no evidence besides the large scar on my chest and the marks on my arm from Brazil, but those were from a knife, not exactly a gun.
“I can’t exactly prove it to you right now, can I?” I asked rhetorically.
“So you’re trying to tell me you’ve been at gunpoint?” She questioned.
“Yes. I’m not exactly your average British kid am I? I’m here in Portugal for crying out loud.” I answered.
Bunnie stopped and sighed, and then came to me with a whole new mind frame.
“So… Why are you here? Who are you?” She asked.
I took a sigh, a very long sigh. I recalled back to the time in the aeroplane cargo hold, when I told Fluttershy my whole life story. I decided I’d tell Bunnie the same, and went on to explain my life story to her. I doubt she would have believed me if I told her I was travelling with six technicolour talking ponies, so I decided to leave that part out, I altered the tale to make it seem like I went to Brazil alone after faking my death, and unfortunately got captured by Inigo and his men.
As for Chernobyl, I skipped that part, as I didn’t want my adventure to seem too impossible for her to believe.
It took a long time to tell her everything, and we certainly became comfortable with each other’s company as I revelled on about my story, from Inigo’s torture, to attending my own funeral in disguise...
“Wow…” She breathed.
“So yeah, that’s my life.” I finished.
“That’s pretty interesting; I guess we’ve both been through a little trouble…” She said.
At that, I gave a slightly amused huff.
“So, how come you’re here now?” She asked.
“Well, I wanted to travel the world, Portugal happened to be the next on the list.” I answered.
She hummed, before looking down and clenching her fists, trying to warm up her fingers, which were pale as cream from the icy cold that surrounded us.
“So, what part of England are you from?” I asked, trying to make some more small talk.
“Southeast, in West Sussex.” She answered.
“Really?” I asked in shock.
“Yeah, in a place called Burgess Hill.”
My heart skipped a beat or two as I took a blast from the past.
“You are joking…?” I said in complete and utter disbelief.
“No, why?” She asked.
“I lived really close to Burgess Hill! In Crawley!” I exclaimed.
“What!?” She squealed in surprise.
{She’s from Burgess Hill! This is awesome!} I thought merrily.
“Oh… My… Gosh… You’re him aren’t you…?” Bunnie breathed.
I hummed in confusion.
“You’re Callum Horncastle aren’t you? That boy in Crawley, that was stabbed in his house last year in June? The whole place was trashed, in Ifield right? The killer was never caught, there was no evidence to trace him! It was all over the news for weeks! Oh my gosh! You’re HIM aren’t you?” She squealed in excitement.
I began to smile, which gave her my answer.
“You’re Callum fucking Horncastle! Oh my god I’m talking to Callum Horncastle!” She continued to squeal.
“Alright, calm down, I’m not a celebrity, I’m just a walking dead man.” I joked.
She didn’t laugh, as she was in shock, she just looked at me, her mouth agape.
“You look different, from the pictures they showed.” She mumbled.
“Well, it’s been just over a year, a lot’s changed.” I replied, running my fingers through my hair.
“Yeah… It has…” She agreed, looking down.
“Hey, it’s going to be okay.” I hushed, nudging her arm.
“How can you say that? I’ve been kidnapped and I’m being held hostage!” She blurted out, before she began to sniff.
“I’m going to help.” I said, lowering my head in attempt to make eye contact.
“How can you do anything?” She choked.
“I’ve already said, I’m not just some average kid. I’m dangerous when I need to be.” I replied.
“Have you ever killed a man?”
I looked at the ground and sighed, I had killed, more than I’d like to admit.
“Yeah, I have… Quite a few actually...”
“Oh…” She said, taken aback slightly.
I looked back to the first time I ever killed, the clone of myself. It was one of the most traumatic experiences I’ve ever had, meaning that killing other men wasn’t as difficult. They say that once you have drawn your first blood, it is easy to kill again; it takes away your initial fear of ending life.
“I have seen things Bunnie. I’ve done things that not many people in the world have done, or ever will do. I’ve had to kill men. I’ve had to beat someone to death with my bare hands just to save my own skin. Since I left my home and faked my death, my life has been based on survival, I’m not given much choice now.” I explained reluctantly.
Bunnie looked down, before taking one of hands.
“Callum I really want you to help me, but I don’t think you can, my father’s gang is dangerous, one of the most feared gangs in all of Portugal.” She told me.
“I destroyed the most feared gang in Brazil, and killed its leader, Inigo Montenegro. Try me.” I retorted.
“How can you prove that?” She questioned.
“I have a picture of Brazil if that’s worth anything; I also have a scar on my chest which he left me.” I replied.
“Can I see?” She asked.
“Which one?”
“The picture.”
I took my phone out of my jacket and went to my gallery. The many pictures I had taken came into view and I had to quickly scroll past all the ones with the ponies in them in order to hide them. I went to my early pictures and found one of my first pictures, a picture of me sitting on a dead crocodile in the jungles of Brazil.
“Wow…” Bunnie breathed.
“Why would I lie Bunnie?” I said.
Bunnie said nothing, and just stared at the picture, and then eventually to me.
“Now let me help you.” I offered, holding out my hand.
She hesitated at first, but soon lent forward and shook it gently.
“Okay… Thank you…” She murmured.
“Tomorrow in the morning, I’m getting you out of here, I promise.” I reassured her.
“I don’t believe in promises anymore.” She huffed.
“Then that’s something we’re going to fall out on.” I joked, chuckling slightly.
“Why’s that?” She asked curiously.
“Because I’m a Horncastle, I hold a vow by blood. A Horncastle never breaks his promise.” I told her.
She stopped and took a small breath, slightly star struck by my words.
“I’ve never broken my promises Bunnie, I mean it; I am true to my word...”
“Okay…” She replied as she smiled.
I lay down on my side and tried to rest on the hard ground below, and found it very difficult. I closed my eyes nonetheless. Without warning, I felt Bunnie lie down right next to me, her back touching mine.
“I’m cold…” She said.
I don’t really know why I did what I did next, perhaps it was driven by a instinct. I rolled over and put an arm around her and held her tightly, giving her my body warmth, and feeling hers in return.
“Thank you…” She whispered.
I only just heard her over the pounding rain outside; I closed my eyes and held Bunnie close, protecting her like a wolf protects its pup. For reasons beyond me, Bunnie was somewhat important to me now. She’d appeared out of nowhere and needed my help, and I was going to do just that; for no other reason than that it was the right thing to do.
Within a few minutes she was asleep, she didn’t snore, she just quietly breathed in a slow, calm, relaxed state, and not long after that, I fell asleep too…
I awoke the next morning to find I hadn’t moved an inch; Bunnie was still in my arms. I tried to wiggle my fingers to find I couldn’t feel them, sleeping so still for so long had given me a dead arm.
The rain outside had stopped, and a warm orange-yellow light shone into our little hidey hole. I yawned and stretched my legs slightly, before tensing up my torso, as I did so my upper back crunched, causing me to sigh in relief.
“Bunnie…” I said quietly.
She did not respond, she didn’t move in the slightest.
“Bunnie.” I repeated, louder than before.
She moaned slightly and moved one of her arms.
“Come on, time to wake up.”
“No sir…” She mumbled in sleep talk.
“Oi, come on, wakey wakey.” I said gruffly as I moved my left arm, which she was lying on.
At last, the Sleeping Beauty awoke.
“Huh, what?” She mumbled, confused.
“My arm is numb, care to move?” I asked.
“Sorry.” She groaned as she took a stretch, nearly crushing my arm.
“Oouuch.” I growled as she stretched.
“Sorry!” She said again and rolled the other way.
I raised my numb arm and gave it a small shake, and was greeted with the ‘pins and needles’ feeling from my hand to my shoulder, before it went back to feeling normal.
“Wow, I wasn’t dreaming, you really are still alive…” Bunnie said.
“Yup, call me Harry Potter, for I am the boy who lived.” I chuckled.
Bunnie giggled, and bloody hell was it adorable; cuter than Fluttershy’s by far!
“Let’s get out of this shithole…” I yawned as I got on my hands and knees to exit the little pit.
“No argument here.” She replied, crawling out with me.
The sun was bright and warm; it was as though it hadn’t been raining at all. The ground was slightly damp from the rain, but had mostly evaporated already. Bunnie stood next to me and stretched, I turned around to face her, and this was when I finally got a proper look at her.
She looked about my age, perhaps a little younger; she had chest length, dark brown hair. Her nose was round and button-like, just like mine. Her lips were evenly shaped and ruby red. Her skin was a little paler than mine, and looked smooth as silk. She looked a little bit like me to be honest; as in, she had some similar facial features, such as a perfectly rounded chin and a large, smooth forehead. Not to mention the cute baby cheeks.
And then I noticed her eyes…
Her iris was dark brown on the outside edges, but as the colour came closer to her pupils, they became a beautiful light hazel with a small tint of green. Her pupils were still wide with fear, but within those pupils I saw a cloudless night of twinkling stars, northern lights glistened and shone a whole array of colours.
I could only describe what I saw with three simple words...
She was beautiful…
Chapter Four - Part Two
Damsel in Distress
(originally Chapter Four)
I shook my head to clear the thoughts racing through my mind; I needed to focus on helping Bunnie, not falling in love with her.
“Right, first off, I need more information on this gang.” I said to her.
“Well for starters, they have no name, the gang is known by a symbol.” She replied.
{I bet it was the mark on her father’s car…} I thought to myself.
“It’s a black mark, shaped a little bit like a spider.” She explained.
{Bingo.} I thought.
“All the gang members have the mark tattooed on their right hand, you can’t miss it.” Bunnie continued.
“Right, so if they have the black mark on their hands, they die, got it.” I ordered to myself.
“Or the other way around…” Bunnie mumbled back.
“Hey…” I said softly, holding Bunnie’s arms. “I’m going to get you out of this…”
“I don’t think you can; I’m scared Callum…” She replied, taking a deep breath.
“Good, you have every right to be scared. I’d be worried if you weren’t scared.” I told her.
“So why aren’t you?”
“Because I don’t fear a bunch of Portuguese arseholes with guns and knives, weapons don’t scare me.” I answered.
“Then what does scare you?” She asked.
I took a deep breath and held it for a few seconds, before I looked Bunnie in the eyes.
“Breaking my promises…”
I opened my jacket and pulled out my phone, and Bunnie looked to me.
“Put that away, the gang take all luxuries from ordinary townsfolk.” She told me.
“I’m counting on it.” I replied.
“What?”
“You’ll see.” I said.
I kept my phone switched off, but I figured I could use it as a lure for this so-called gang.
“Where would I find your little gang mates?” I asked Bunnie.
“Gang mates? Callum it’s not a small group, there are hundreds and hundreds of them.” She replied.
“So it seems your dad is a big figure around then…” I mumbled.
“Only because he’s the gang leader.” Bunnie snorted.
“Tell me, how did he even become leader?” I quizzed.
“Basically, he joined the gang and worked his way up, killing people and bringing their children as slaves. He soon became second in charge, then the leader was shot by the police, so he was automatically promoted to the gang’s ruler, he has over half of Portugal in fear.” She explained.
“Standard…” I said quietly.
It appeared Bunnie’s twat-fart of a father was Portugal’s very own personal Inigo Montenegro, complete with cartel and enjoyment for human suffering; a world away and I’d come full circle. I cleared my throat and went back to the topic at hand.
“So where would I find members of your dad’s little fan club anyway?” I asked a second time.
“All around, I wouldn’t be surprised if one showed up now; they’re always around, patrolling the place like a concentration camp…” She answered, wrinkling her nose.
“Then I advise you hide somewhere, and let me work my magic.” I told her.
Bunnie nodded and ran back to the staircase and hid inside our little hidey hole. I leant on the wall opposite the hiding place so that Bunnie could see me, and I could just about see her, the road between us wasn’t too big, it could only just fit a car.
I held my phone and waited patiently, occasionally poking my phone to look like I was actually using it. After about five minutes, I found what I was looking for; a man in a black beanie, navy blue trousers and a black puffer jacket came into sight, and on his right hand was a black mark.
Just to make myself more obvious, I coughed, and much to my delight, he started walking towards me.
“Oi! Você! Onde você encontrou que? Dar ele para mim!” He shouted.
I ignored him, and he stormed right up to me, out of the corner of my eye I could see Bunnie’s face struck with terror.
“Can I help you?” I asked dryly.
“Dar ele para mim!” He shouted again, trying to snatch my phone from me.
“Get your own, prick.” I replied.
The man lost his temper instantly and attempted to punch me in the face, to which I dodged.
“Too slow!” I jeered.
The man then made his next wrong move, putting his hand into his puffer jacket in attempt to grab a weapon. The second his hand was inside the jacket, I lunged forward, punched him in the face and twisted his free arm around his back before forcing him to the ground.
“AH-” He tried to shout, but was silenced as I forced his face into the dirt.
I punched him in the back of the head twice to daze him, and then rolled him over; as soon as he was on his back he pulled his other arm out of the jacket and tried to lunge at me with a knife. I grabbed his wrist and twisted his hand around until he cried out in pain and dropped the blade. I punched him in the face again before grabbing the weapon, with his other hand he tried to hit me and ended up smacking me in the back, which caused me neither pain, nor damage, I elbowed his bicep nonetheless to stop him.
He attempted to grab my left wrist where I was holding the knife, but I pulled back so he couldn’t get a grip, with my right hand I seized his arm and crossed it over his chest so he had no defence, and before he could blink, I had thrust the knife into the side of his neck.
I held him still as he desperately clawed at me, gurgling and spitting dark foaming blood from his lips; each strike became weaker and weaker, and in seconds he went limp and the life left his eyes. I let go of him, and pulled the knife out.
“Better luck next time Snowflake…” I said gruffly, wiping the blood onto the man’s jacket.
I stood up and rolled my head side to side, letting out the tension with a few satisfying crunches. I heard small footsteps behind me and turned around to see Bunnie standing there, looking from me to the body.
“You… You killed him…” She said, full of shock.
“I did.” I agreed.
“You really weren’t lying…” She mumbled, still staring at the body.
I hummed in response before bending over the body to pick him up; I put my hands under his arms and dragged his corpse to a nearby alleyway, and dumped him there.
“Don’t want his buddies finding that, eh?” I asked rhetorically.
“How…?” Bunnie said, shaking her head slightly.
“Well, the other gang members have eyes, they might find the body.”
“Not that.” Bunnie interrupted.
I put my head on one side.
“How can you kill? How can you end life like that and not be affected by it?”
I took a sigh; Bunnie didn’t quite understand the true concept of killing.
“Bunnie, I was affected; very affected. The first time I killed, I almost passed out, I felt sick, to my very core; I almost broke under the trauma.” I told her.
“Then how come you’re not now?” She asked.
“Because I’ve done it before; when you’ve killed for the first time, your true human instincts come out, you feel the need to survive, and will do anything in order to do so. Killing somebody is just as normal as picking fruit from a tree, hostile humans become simple entities in my life, rather than people…” I explained.
“Oh… Okay...” Bunnie said quietly, more to herself than to me.
“You’re ok with me, right? After killing someone?” I questioned cautiously.
“I’m fine, really; I’ve seen people kill, and I’ve seen people die; the fact you kill people isn’t scary to me. Nearly every day here someone’s threatening to kill me; if anything, I trust you more now, seeing as you just killed one of my father’s men.” She told me.
{Well, that’s a reassuring result. Kill bad guys to earn trust; sorted!} My conscience said gleefully.
“Well, without sounding like a total psycho, let’s go kill some more.” I said, zipping up my jacket.
Much to my surprise, Bunnie actually giggled at that comment; I sensed a tomboy…
I continued up the road from where the man had come, to find two more men from the gang side by side. They saw me and shrugged, before laughing something to one another; it was then when they noticed Bunnie.
“Ele está com a menina.” One of them said.
“Então ele morrerá.” The other replied.
They both started walking to me; Bunnie slowed down and whimpered slightly.
“Calm it Bunnie, two guys, probably armed with knives; piece of piss.” I said to her.
I flexed my wrist and felt the handle of Krocsbane rub against it; I’d hidden it inside my jacket sleeve so I could get close and personal without them knowing I was armed.
“Você! Obtenha longe a menina!” One of the men shouted.
I cleared my throat before I spoke.
“Mentlegen, please; I have a gift for you both…” I said heartily in a French accent.
The second man stormed up to me and pushed me in the chest with one of his hands, I was sent back a few steps before I walked back up to him.
“Oooh... Você vai morrer agora...” He growled as he reached into his pocket for his knife.
In a flash I had drawn my own knife and put it to his throat; he froze completely and gulped.
“Twat.” I said flatly.
He stood completely still, he just stared at me in fear, and he knew that he was going to die. He closed his eyes and accepted his fate as I sliced his throat open and his blood sprayed out of him like a garden hose, luckily not much of it sprayed onto me. Before the other man could move a muscle I charged into him and stabbed him repeatedly in the stomach, I pinned him to the ground and continued to thrust the knife in and out of him until he stopped struggling completely.
“Holy fuck Callum… You’re an animal…” Bunnie gasped.
“Nah, animals don’t use blades.” I replied, standing up and wiping the knife clean.
I found another alleyway and hid the bodies, three bad guys down, I was sure that killing about twenty of them would raise an alarm or two, so I decided to count down.
“I’m thinking at least seventeen more should do the trick.” I thought aloud.
“You make it sound so simple…” Bunnie sighed.
“It is. Knife goes in, blood comes out, human expires.” I replied.
“Is that really how easy you find killing?” She asked.
“After everything I've been put through, I'm afraid so...” I answered.
Bunnie simply shrugged, unsure of what to say.
“Good night princess…” I growled as I took my thirteenth guard.
At first, I was extremely cautious at taking out these guards, but it seemed they were all thick as pig shit, they moved around the place like clockwork, without a shred of awareness to their surroundings.
Or so I thought...
There was the bang of a gunshot and a loud crack as a bullet hit the brick beside me.
“Bollocks!” I yelped as I was almost killed right there and then.
I dived to my right and turned to see four gang members down the road with SMGs.
“Be careful!” Bunnie squeaked from inside the nearby alleyway.
I ran to the other side of the road and hid behind a car; the gang members kept firing and the bullets smacked into the metal, the sound was almost deafening.
{Think Callum! Think!} I thought to myself desperately.
I looked to my right to see another alleyway, with a drainpipe that led all the way to the roof.
“Bingo.” I mumbled.
I dived into the alleyway just as another SMG spray hit the car; a bullet whizzed past and skimmed my arm. I got up and quickly looked at the wound, thankfully the bullet had only grazed me; it was nothing serious.
I scrambled up the drainpipe and clambered onto the roof, I then crept to the edge of the roof and looked down to see the gang members approaching the car, not realising I was directly above them.
I watched quietly as the four men gathered around the alley, they growled at one another in Portuguese before they slowly approached the narrow opening. As the first man entered the alley, I pulled out Krocsbane and aimed for the man at the back of the group. I let myself fall off the edge, I hurtled downwards and my knife impaled into the man’s head and his body broke my fall, we both crumpled to the ground and I swiftly picked up his SMG and rolled to my left before opening fire on the three men in front of me; they barely had the time to turn around before they were on the ground with blood pouring out of them, in seconds they were all dead. I looked on the gun’s body to see ‘HK UMP Forty Five’ written on it.
“I always did like the UMP...” I sighed happily.
I collected the magazines from the other bodies and put them in my belt loops; Bunnie ran to me and hugged me.
“I thought they’d killed you!” She squeaked.
“Did you see my lifeless body?” I asked.
“Uhm, no...”
“Then I wasn't dead.”
Bunnie then noticed the small bullet graze on my arm and gasped.
“You’re bleeding!”
“It’s not deep, it’ll scab over in minutes.” I said, assuring her I wasn’t in much pain.
To be perfectly honest, after Inigo’s torture back in Brazil, a wound like this barely bothered me, it was nothing more to me than the mere bite of a fly.
“I’m a tough cookie, me.” I added with a grin.
“Plain or chocolate?” She giggled.
“Jumbo choccy.” I replied merrily, sticking my tongue out.
We laughed for a small moment, before waltzing down the street together. Even though we’d only just met, we’d really hit it off, and we already seemed like rather close friends...
“Pop! Goes the weasel!” I shouted loudly at the next gang member in sight.
He turned around and I fired a single round into his head, dead between the eyes; blood and brain matter burst out the back of his head and he dropped to the ground like a sack of spuds.
“I always did like Buck.” Bunnie muttered as I went over to loot the body.
“Ha! You’ve seen Ice Age Three as well!” I cheered.
“C’mon Callum, who hasn’t seen the Ice Age movies…?” She replied, rolling her eyes.
“Touché…” I hummed.
I opened up the gang member’s puffer jacket to find nothing useful.
“Pfft, boring…” I snorted.
I turned to look at Bunnie who was holding Krocsbane.
“Hey, give that back!” I ordered.
“It’s so cool though, look at the shape!” She pointed out, admiring my knife.
I went over and took the blade from her and put it back into its sheath, I looked up to see her now holding my phone.
“And this, now this is a cool phone.” She giggled.
My mouth fell agape, how did she get into my pockets so easily?
“How did you get that?” I asked, frowning.
“You may be good at killing people, but I also have a few talents; pick-pocketing is one of them.”
She beamed at me innocently, to which I raised an eyebrow.
{Nifty hands…} I thought.
{Soft, smooth hands…} My conscience teased.
{HEY! No sexy stuff!} I thought back.
{Not yet anyway laddie…}
“Are you okay?” Bunnie quizzed.
I shook my head and realised I’d completely zoned out to argue with my conscience.
“Yeah, fine, sorry.” I replied, blushing slightly.
I smiled at Bunnie, and she looked me in the eye, smiling back; she had such a cute smile; her teeth were white and sparkly, and the corners of her lips looked to be sweeter than an American Twinkie. She was simply beautiful, and the longer I looked into her eyes, the more beautiful she became. I realised that she was also looking at me with the same look that I was giving her, she was picking up on my facial features and analysing me, I wonder… No, I was just being stupid, I’d only just met her; this wasn’t a Disney film where you fall in love on the day you’ve just met, I couldn’t just let myself fall for the first female I come across.
But there was just something about her… I couldn’t describe it…
{Tits.} My brain answered.
“Piss off, it’s not that.” I retorted.
“Sorry?” Bunnie squeaked, taken aback.
Holy shit, I’d just said that out loud.
“I am SO sorry, I speak my thoughts sometimes…” I apologised.
Bunnie began to giggle, and I chuckled with her; next thing we know, we were both laughing our asses off; only to be interrupted by the shouting of men. I looked to my right to see three gang members running towards me with baseball bats; I raised an eyebrow, unimpressed with their choice of weaponry. I picked up my UMP and looked back at them, who stopped in their tracks and began running in the opposite direction.
“Didn’t see that coming, now did you!?” I roared, before pulling the trigger and mowing them down.
They hit the dirt like a sack of spuds, and I looked back to Bunnie, who was now in tears of laughter. It seemed Bunnie and I had a very similar sense of humour; her experiences had most likely left her with a darker mind-set and found jokes about death funny; having depression I too had a dark sense of humour and was on Bunnie’s wavelength.
“Bunnie, you just watched people die, should you be laughing?” I asked jokily.
“Ah fuck ‘em, it’s only sad when good people die; and even then it’s funny after a while.” She replied.
I raised an eyebrow.
“Sorry… I’m quite a dark person.” She chuckled nervously.
I smirked, and strapped my UMP across my shoulder with its sling.
“Darling, 'dark' works just fine for me.” I told her, giving her a cheeky grin.
“Oh good, because I have to admit, I'm a little bit fucked up.” chuckled awkwardly.
“Aren't we all?” I retorted.
At that, I she broke into laughter, and the both of us continued to walk around the old shanty town, all whilst telling one another crude jokes that were so dark, they basically greenlighted our first class ticket to hell upon our deaths.
“What’s the sexiest thing about twenty-one-year-olds?” I began my last joke.
“I don’t know…” Bunnie replied with uncertainty, wiping away the tears of laughter from my last joke.
“There are twenty of them.”
“OH MY GOD” she shrieked, bellowing with laughter.
I took a bow and waited for her to recover from yet another uncontrollable laughing fit; Bunnie and I were indeed terrible people.
Our moment of joy and jokes eventually came to an end as I noticed a group of eleven gang members on the road ahead, they were armed with assault rifles and they were searching around the place.
“Off the road, now.” I ordered.
We slipped to the right and into an alleyway, after a few twists and turns we ended up on the edge of the road on the other side of the block; where yet another group of armed men were spread out and looking around.
“Looks like they found the bodies…” I muttered.
“What do we do?” She asked.
“I’m not sure, I don’t know if your dad’s here or not, it looks like he’s just sent in a shed load of his goons.” I replied, biting my bottom lip with frustration.
I wasn’t that much of a fool, I knew full-well that I wouldn’t be able to take on all of the gang in this little town; I had to locate and assassinate Bunnie’s dad, rescue her mother, and be on my way to the orb shard. Unlike with Inigo’s cartel, I didn’t think I’d be able to rally the residents of the shanty town into starting an uprising like I did in the Stock Heap.
{Aye, but that was by far the coolest thing you’ve ever done.} My conscience sighed.
“Yeah, it was…” I agreed.
“You’re talking to yourself again.” Bunnie mentioned, poking my arm.
“Sorry.”
That’s when I had an idea. I took Bunnie back into the alleyway and squatted next to her.
“I’ve got an idea, you’re not going to like it.” I told her.
“What is it?”
“I dress up as one of the guards, and pretend I’ve caught you. We go back to your dad’s place, and I stick a blade so far up his ass that his men will need to perform brain surgery to remove it.” I explained.
“That idea is so crazy it might just work…” She mumbled in agreement.
“Then it’s settled, I’ll play fancy dress.” I grinned.
“Wait, what about the gang’s symbol? You’d need that mark on your hand.” Bunnie pointed out.
“I’ll wear gloves.” I answered, sticking my tongue out.
After settling on our plan, I needed an outfit; a few of the men I’d killed were wearing balaclavas so I needed one of them to hide my face; my current black jacket from Rarity looked adequate, but I’d need some of their black chino trousers, as my torn, bloodstained blue jeans made me stand out a bit more.
I headed back out of the alley to see most of the men had gone further along the road, but there was one who stood alone and was conveniently nearby; I picked up a stone and threw it at him before darting quickly into the alley again, the stone made contact with his arm and he jumped in shock before turning around frantically to see where it had come from, he spotted me just as I disappeared into the narrow passage and began to give chase, yelling angrily in Portuguese.
I ran past Bunnie, whom was hiding behind a bin; as the man came along she stuck her leg out and tripped him up, he hurtled forward and hit the ground with a hard thud, as he attempted to get up I gave him an uppercut to the jaw, knocking him out cold; looks like my old boxing skills hadn’t been forgotten.
“Good job.” I said, nodding to Bunnie.
She smirked, now full of self-satisfaction; I playfully rolled my eyes and went over to the unconscious gang member. He was quite broad but his legs were rather short in comparison to mine, I had a feeling his chinos would be a rather tight fit, but I’d have to make do. I pulled off his balaclava and looked at his face, he had a rather chiselled jaw and a pretty distinct nose, his face was all swollen, I opened his eyelids to find his eyes were almost completely red; by the looks of things this guy did a lot of drugs, most likely supplied by his boss.
“Not a bad set-up for a drug addict. Bully people around and terrorise folks, and get paid in narcotics.” I hummed.
I took off his gloves and looked at the mark on his right hand, it was such a strange symbol; and even stranger that I recognised it from somewhere, it reminded me of Brazil for some reason…
I took off my bloody trousers, along with the man’s chinos; he began to mumble and stir and I remembered that he was still alive, I pulled out Krocsbane and looked to Bunnie.
“Should I?” I asked.
“I'm pretty sure these men were planning on raping me before handing me back to my father.” She replied bluntly.
I didn’t even reply before gashing his throat open; if there was one thing on this world I hated more than anything, it was rape; in my eyes it should be punishable by death, and I would proudly be the executioner.
“Have they ever done it to you before…?” I asked nervously, not wanting to upset her.
“Thankfully no, I’m lucky enough to remain... untouched, for now.” She replied, gulping.
I shrugged and pursed my lips, not wanting to delve deeper into the conversation. I pulled on the chinos, they were a little tight on my thighs and revealed about an inch of my ankle; but other than that, they were a decent fit. After putting on and adjusting the balaclava, I put on the gloves and turned to Bunnie.
“How do I look?” I asked her, tilting my head slightly.
“Like an asshole.” She answered dully.
“Perfect.” I grinned.
She chuckled slightly and I looked down at the dead gang member, his gun appeared to be a slightly smaller version of the AK-Forty Seven, perhaps an AK-Seventy-Four-U. I decided not to take his assault rifle as it was heavier than my UMP, I preferred the feel of the sub-machine gun anyway.
“You ready?” I asked Bunnie.
“I don’t know…” She replied nervously.
I sighed, this wasn’t exactly going to be a breeze; if this went pear-shaped in any way, I’d end up dead, and Bunnie would most likely be tortured. I closed my eyes and took a breath in, and then out, before giving Bunnie a tight hug.
“We can do this BunBun… I promise…” I whispered into her ear.
“Okay… I trust you…” She whispered back.
She held me tighter and I cradled her side to side lightly for a moment, before leaning back and kissing her on the forehead; she looked into my eyes and I looked into hers. I didn’t know if it was love, but I definitely felt something for her; I was getting her home and safe… I had to…
“Let’s do this.” I sighed.
She nodded, and we headed out of the alleyway together.
As we reached the road, I took the back of Bunnie’s hair and pretended to be yanking her along; she instantly knew what I was doing, and pretended to struggle and be in pain.
“WHOOP WHOOP!” I yelled to the gang further down the road.
I headed towards them and forced Bunnie to join me.
“We can do this Bunnie…” I muttered under my breath, to which she gulped in fear.
The rest of the gang came jogging over to me, and once they recognised Bunnie, they started cheering and whooping at me to congratulate me on finding her; once they reached me they circled us and a few of them gave me a pat on the arm to say ‘well done’. One of them pulled out a walkie-talkie and spoke to someone else, most likely Bunnie’s father. After he put the device away, he gestured down the road and said something in Portuguese, and everyone began to walk in that direction; I grunted at Bunnie and pushed her forward and kept a grip on her hair just to make sure none of the other men touched her, I figured if kept physical contact with her, nobody would try to hurt her.
We soon ended up at the same road from yesterday, and stopped near the stairs where Bunnie and I slept; where there were two large pickup vans waiting in the road. As we approached the vans, the men started to get in and I knew I would have to as well; using one arm I turned Bunnie to face me, and gave her a sorrowful look.
Before hitting her in the stomach.
I didn’t hit her hard, but it had to look real; she gasped and she hunched over in pain, and as she did so, I squatted down and picked her up over my shoulder and clambered into the back of the van with the others. I took Bunnie off my shoulder and sat her down next to me at the back, before taking out Krocsbane and putting the blade to her throat, making sure she knew that if she resisted or struggled, I would kill her. I felt horrible, while I would be rescuing Bunnie in the long run, I didn’t want to take her back to her father; if I failed, the poor girl would be abused more than ever, not to mention the ponies would struggle to succeed in their mission without me; at this point is was very clear that if I failed, I would die.
Both of the vans began to rumble their engines and we were soon on the go, we drove out of the shanty town and headed off, coincidentally in the opposite direction I’d originally been walking in, so we were heading south; this would come in handy when I freed Bunnie and went on my way to the next orb shard.
Throughout the journey the other men often looked my way and gave me a respectful nod, to which I nodded back and smirked, whenever Bunnie looked at me I bared my teeth and snarled, but often gave her a wink when nobody was looking to ensure her I was still on her side.
We’d been on the road for a while when we finally came to a halt, the back doors opened and the afternoon’s sunlight shone upon all of us; the men hopped out the van and I took Bunnie’s hair again, before taking her out of the vehicle.
I was greeted by a large building, it looked more like a town hall; but it was evidently the compound due to the armed guards who stood watch on the main balcony, as Bunnie came into sight one of the guards aimed his rifle at her, I knew he wasn’t going to shoot, but it was still very unnerving.
We walked under the balcony as a group and entered the large double doors, where there were men everywhere talking amongst themselves and eating food, all of them armed; Bunnie was right, this wasn’t an ordinary gang, this was an organisation.
The group split off into a few segments, most of the men headed off to socialise with others, while a few remained to take Bunnie to her father; I made sure I was right behind her as we headed up a flight of stairs and a few halls before stopping at some large oak double doors. One of the men knocked lightly on the wood, and five seconds later a male voice replied from within.
“Entre.”
The doors were opened and we walked into a large room with a desk, on the other side of the desk was a man in an office chair facing away from us; I didn’t need any hints to know this was Bunnie’s father. After one of my ‘gang members’ cleared his throat and said something in Portuguese, the chair spun around and I was finally able to see what her dad looked like. He looked to be in his forties, and had oily black hair, slicked back. Upon his lip sat a thin, pencil moustache, in the style of a stereotypical Italian porn-star.
I’d see this man before…
{Didn’t you knock this guy out and steal one of his boats in Brazil?} my conscience pointed out.
My answer came in the form of a gulp, and I thanked my lucky stars that my balaclava hid my face. The man paid me no mind as he looked into his daughter’s eyes and giving her a sick, cold smile...
“Don’t look so sad Bunnie… It’s okay…” He spoke in a thick Portuguese accent.
He got up and walked around the desk, and slowly approached Bunnie, putting his hand down her face gently; I could see her shiver with fear and disgust. At this, he smiled even more and tilted his head on one side.
“Daddy’s got you now…”