Retribution

[Leo]

This is a complete re-write of the first part of The Retribution Chronicles. The original posts are here and at the end of each thread there is a link to the next chapter. However, the posts will all exist in this same post.

The reason for this re-write is the first version was spratic and chaotic because of where it was written: The desert. Also, this gives those who missed the chance to read Part one the first time another chance to catch up on the story of Leo.

The Retribution Chronicles
Part One of Three
Link to Feedback

Chapter One
Through the Keyhole

My vision swam, faded in and out. Shifted...changed. I couldn't see much when I sat up. My eyes were too far out of focus to see anything. I couldn't even see my hand in front of my face. I groaned in pain when I tried to stand up. My entire body felt like it had been beaten to a pulp and my head felt like I'd been being punched in the face continuously.

As my vision cleared, I got the first real look at my surroundings. The room was a clean yet boring room, surrounded by steel walls and a large force field guarding the entrance. Turrets faced my room along with a couple of armed guards that looked like they were prepared to take on an entire army. Two people walked towards my cell.

One was a large bald man who looked like he was having a bad day, and looked like he was having a bad life. The other was a smaller woman with blonde hair, she looked the same, like she was having a bad life. She dismissed the guard and entered in a code on the force field. She stepped into the cell and her arms were crossed while staring at me.

"Are you ready to talk now, Leo?" she asked. I remained silent while looking at her. I snorted a little bit for some reason, starting a laugh but stopping. She sighed and walked around the cell, her bodyguard stayed still. "I'm getting tired of these games, Leo. Just tell us what we want to know, and you will be free to go."

"You think I believe that?" I asked, stalling for time until maybe I could remember something. I stood up slowly, using my back against the wall for support. When I rose to my full height, the body guard came up and socked me in the face, sending me sprawling back to my bed. I clambered back to my feet quickly after being knocked down. The guard pulled his fist back again shortly after I stood back up.

"Worthless piece of sh*t." said the gruff voice as I was hit again. I fell to the floor, blood spattering on the floor, its crimson color a striking contrast to the pale grey of the steel. When I tried rising to my feet for a third time I fell back down after his boot dug into my back.

"Let him up." said a woman's voice. "I think he gets the hint. Maybe he'll finally talk." I stared at her laughing like a maniac. I only stared at her, laughing. Her cold eyes dug into my head, searching for whatever secret she so desperately wanted. I stopped laughing and only stared at her.

"You going to talk boy?" she asked, advancing towards me. I started laughing again, exposing my blood stained teeth. She grabbed my hair and slammed my face into the ground again, I kept laughing through it all. "You going to talk?" she asked again. I turned towards her slowly and spit a large wad of saliva and blood which splattered on her face. She took out a handkerchief and wiped it off shortly before tucking it back in her pocket.

"You'll get answers from my cold dead body, bitch." I replied. "There, I talked." I started laughing again, the walls echoing the sound. Disgusted they turned around and left for the night. I chuckled to myself as I curled up on the floor, morning came early and more torture came with it. I didn't remember the day they brought me here, only bits and pieces, I was sure there was some kind of brain damage tied into the fact that I couldn't remember much. Every day they came in and beat me to a pulp, after the fourth or fifth day, the nerves in my face and body had given up. I couldn't feel anything anymore.

For a second, I dozed off, and then I awoke to a loud noise: an explosion. Fighting and yelling too. I tried to rise to my feet but realized that I was weaker than I had originally thought. I grabbed the ledge on the wall and hoisted myself up to my feet and walked slowly over to the force field, using the wall as support. I couldn't believe what I saw.

There were dead bodies amassing all over the hallways. Fighting was occurring at almost every post, there was a gaping hole in the wall, exposing a mass of wires and electronics. Around the wires I could make out another hallway on the other side, with a window to the outside showing space.

"...even if."

I shook my head.

"Hang on, we'll get you out of here." someone said at the other side of the force field.

I stood away from the field and two loud pops echoed around the hallway and field instantly dropped without so much as a push. The man looked me up and down quickly, sizing me up. He nodded and smiled. "Come on, follow me."

"I'm in no shape to walk. I've been in here for God knows how long, all I've been eating is rats that wonder into my cell, and there isn't even much meat on them."

He made a grunt noise and looked around. "Ok, come with me then. Put your arm around my shoulder and we'll get you out of here." I did as he said and he started walking down the hall, firing at enemies as he went. A stray bullet clipped his other shoulder and he grunted in pain, but kept moving. He handed me a gun from his other belt. "Help me take these suckers out as we go." I nodded silently and helped him take out the enemies that we happened to see off hand. Another bullet grazed his leg and he fell to the ground, me along with him. "Damnit!" he screamed.

A grenade rolled off his belt loop and immediately something took over. I reached for the grenade, pulled the pin and threw it over the top of an overturned table. Screams echoed followed by a resonating explosion and silence. I grappled with the wall and stood back up with the wall as my support.

"Go!" he was screaming, holding off the enemies coming down the other hall, blasting them with his assault rifle.

"Leo's making a run for it! Get him!"

I ran down the hallway, towards the airlock at the end of the hall, bullets bouncing off the metal flooring. My legs were in no shape to be running, but the adrenaline was allowing me to ignore that for the time being. As I dove through the door, I looked back at the man who had saved my life, and sacrificing his own to do so...

"Thank you..." I said, and passed out in the airlock.

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You fear oblivion. Yet you forget. The universe remembers every atom of your being. Even dust hums your name in the dark.

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