Of Cages and Misery

[Cat]

Of Cages and Misery

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This story is the continuation of "Get Me out of Here", but was written to remain somewhat self-sufficient. If you haven't read "Get Me out of Here" yet, you may run across some spoilers below this preface. You have been warned.

An Outcast who goes by the name Kyle Cross disappears while searching for Kiara Garlow, his girlfriend who was captured by a Gallic Brigand. Apparently, Kiara's friends from the Forlorn Hope had their own plan to rescue the hostage. But one day Elena Voigt, the one who told Kyle about Kiara's predicament, receives Kyle's message from Gallia.

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Chapter 1: Nowhere to Go

Kyle 'Outcast' Cross
Unknown location

"Rise and shine!", a Brigand slightly kicked a prisoner who was sleeping in an embryo's pose on the floor. "It's your lucky day. The boss decided we don't need your sorry rear around here anymore." On hearing that, Kyle opened his eyes and found himself in the same place where he spent the last week: the same dim light, 4 metallic walls, a slab, a toilet bowl, and a sliding door with a window with bars. It took him a while to return to the real world from dream he just had.

In that dream Kyle almost rescued his girlfriend Kiara from Remy Moreau, a Gallic Brigand who had kidnapped her. In reality, however, things were much more complicated: Kiara was apparently staying with Remy of her free will, even calling herself Aurora Moreau, his wife. Kyle couldn't figure out if it had actually been the case, or if Kiara had just been manipulated into all of this: Remy had him knocked out and locked up before Kyle could do anything. And why would the Brigand let him go all of a sudden? Unless the rumors Kyle heard from the guards were true, and Remy had actually disappeared in the Taus... Another kick stopped Kyle's train of thought.

"Hurry up, junkie, I don't have all day!" The kick made Kyle turn on his back, but he couldn't yet stand up, so he crawled towards the nearby wall and leaned against it, still sitting on the floor. The last week had an effect on the prisoner's looks: he had no chance to wash or shave, and his face looked pale, with cold sweat on his forehead. His black leather jacket, dark jeans, and orange T-shirt looked more worn off than before.

Kyle had to be grateful that the Brigands at least fed him and gave him token amounts of expensive Cardamine: enough to keep him alive, but not enough to prevent the nasty side effects of withdrawal, like cold sweat and hoarse breathing. Looking at the prisoner, the Brigand took something out of his pocket and threw it to Kyle. "Here's your Cardi, but don't expect to get any more. We're done spending money on you."

As the prisoner caught his precious inhaler with a greedy motion, the Brigand just looked at him with contempt. "Right now the boss doesn't care about you, but if you get any funny ideas, next time you'll be walking out the airlock, and not out of your cell." By that time Kyle had already hidden the inhaler in his pocket, and his breathing and looks were slowly returning to normal. "I got it," the prisoner croaked.

He attempted to stand up, and he managed it this time, although it was still hard. With a stoop, he walked out of the cell into the corridor outside, taking one more glance at his jailer, as if wondering if it all had been a joke. But the Brigand didn't care, he only followed Kyle and closed the cell door.

Kyle walked down the corridor towards the exit, finding himself in a large hall, that could be considered a "square" or the "great hall" of the station. There were people walking around, indifferent to an apparent hobo who had just walked out of detention area. Kyle turned around to his jailor: "Mind telling me where we are, and where I can make a call?" The Brigand smirked: "You're on Boulogne base in Picardy system. I bet you can find a terminal somewhere on the station. And take a shower while you're at it, you stink like a pig!" With that the Brigand closed the door, leaving Kyle on the "square".

As a newly-released prisoner looked around, he wondered what he should do now. His PDA had been taken from him, and asking the jailer where it was would be asking for trouble or even murder. Kyle didn't have money to get back to the Monte Carlo Freeport and his ship. And there was only one person going around Gallia and Brigand bases freely, who could help him: his former girlfriend Kiara Garlow, or Aurora Moreau, as she was known here. Intent on finding a way to contact her, Kyle started limping around the unknown base, looking for a terminal...