《Paladin: Underworld (Reboot)》Origins: First Blood Part 2
Advertisement
I wake to the burning smell of ammonia. Combined with my still aching head, it took me a minute to gain control of my senses. Eventually, the blurry spots cleared to reveal I had gotten dragged back to camp, utterly surrounded. At least six masked men, all dressed in desert camo and armed with bolt-action rifles. The patches on their right shoulder were striking, featuring a simplified light yellow feline-face emblem with long ears. Through growing awareness, I scanned the camp for anything, weapons, exits, and allies. Only to end up seeing a haunting site.
"No," I say softly underneath my breath.
I was no stranger to death. I've had the unfortunate circumstance of seeing a dead body once or twice. Adding to that, death was something I tried bracing for, whether it was on the battlefield or for the people I treated. But unfortunately, it's only now that I realized the impact of how it's administered.
Because right in front of me laid one of my brothers in arm, motionless. I tried darting my eyes away, but it was too late. A glance was all I needed to see what happened. The gears started to turn, seeing how he got ambushed from behind, the combat knife slipping between the fifth and sixth lungs with almost inuman precision.—thrown down in the sand choking on his blood.
The dreadful image made me reflexively turn away. Only to find I was zip-tied towards the chair I'm in. My useless rustling got the attention of the men, leading them to signal their leader. But, unlike before, the figure didn't bother to hide, instead making their footsteps known. Each crunch of sand made every hair of mine stand up. My head started to ache again, too, realizing he was the man to knock me out.
After what felt like forever, the curtain revealed my captor. He was a physically intimidating middle-aged Arabic man with a black butch cut, shaggy beard and the same uniform as the others. His most defining feature though was the three large claw-like scars that ran down the left side of his face towards his dark brown eyes.
His first look set our entire relationship better than any words we could share. If eyes were the window into the soul, his was pitch black. Like there was nothing there except a void to be filled. I just so happened to be the next meal. With his burly frame he pieced together his words carefully, until he finally let them fly in a gravelly voice.
Advertisement
" I hope you can excuse the rough translation. English isn't my first language."
I kept silent, knowing that there was a mental game at play. Yet the stillness only seemed to heighten the man's interest.
"Ah, the how you say, silent treatment, right? I've got everything I need to know, Sarah," he said.
An alarm the size of the Liberty Bell rang off. I tried to stuff down my panic, but it still peered through. The drop of sweat was more than enough to have the man press on.
"Word of advice, don't use fingerprint lock," he said while pulling out my phone.
He immediately tossed it into the air, only to unfurl in one fluid motion from his back, a long, metal chain whip, striking it with such precision and power that he rended it to pieces without hurting a single person. A twitch of surprised rage escaped my brow as the man continued.
"I already know everything I need to. But any additional info is appreciated," he said inquisitively.
I remained quiet, hardening my expression while my heart was practically trembling from fear.
"Fine, if you don't want to talk, I'll just get her to," she said.
Two of his men responded with the wave of his hand, leaving the camp only to return with a hostage. A beaten Jasmine got dragged inside the camp, her mouth, arms, and legs bound. Like a cornered animal, she tried struggling back until she saw me. Her eyes said everything they need to, a form of regret, shock and compassion all flickered in seconds.
Only to end in a look of steely resolve as the leader approached her with the chain whip still in hand. He then positioned himself behind Jasmine, taking his sweet time to wrap the weapon around her throat, all while keeping his vision locked towards me. Once he got done, he quickly ramped things up, tightening the whip hard enough to start strangling Jasmine. Every muscle in my body wanted me to scream out, but I kept going, not flinching, not wanting to give him what he wanted.
"I don't know what it's like in America, but my brothers and I grew up in the slums. Every challenge was a battle of will as much as a fist, so I can tell when someone still has some fight left. So tell me what you know and surrender now before this woman dies," he said coldly.
Advertisement
Jasmine tried for a strong front amidst her gagging. I tried to keep strong to convince myself, but the minute that I saw her eyes roll into the back of her head was the minute I couldn't bare it anymore. Because in all the changes I've gone through, all the pain I've dealt or received, I couldn't bear having someone die for me. So I let loose my tidal of emotion in one desperate-.
"No! I'll talk, okay? Just don't hurt her," I said as tears welled up in my eyes.
Uncontrollably I poured down tears, sobbing and spasming. Then, through watery pupils, I watched the leader effectively lick it all up, retrieving his dreaded weapon and walking over to me instead. Then, with the mind game finally over, all I could do was answer the question that kept hammering at me since this situation started.
"Who the hell are you?"
The leader smiled venomously, waiting for this the minute I woke up.
"We are scavengers. A brotherhood of outcasts who pounce on anything or anyone left behind in this desert. We are the Caracals, and I'm their leader: Asad. From this day forward, though, Sarah, you and your friend are just prey," he said definitively.
The next few hours after that was more painful than any wound, as I spilled our operation. I tried stopping myself, hoping to gain some lie or leverage, but the words kept spilling until nothing was left. Once he was satisfied, Asad had bag over both our heads, leaving me with nothing better to do than the worst part of the experience.
Wait for whatever fresh new hell our new captors had for us. The only distractions from my weakness and self-pity come from the occasional bump on the road. The bumping stopped after nearly an hour, leaving us to get violently shuffled through aimless hallways. Finally, we go thrown into what we didn't know would be our temporary home until the bags were eventually pulled off.
A dark, wet, barely kept together prison. Complete with comparable moldy mattresses, rag-like covers, and a toilet that smelled worse than a sewer. Our new abode didn't matter; I was too wrapped up in my weakness and shame to even let it register. For several minutes we lay still in prison, the only sound being our slowed breathing and the dripping water from above. Eventually, I pushed past the emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion and struggled to find the words.
"J-Jasmine, I'm so sor-," I said before getting interrupted by an unexpected act.
Like a spring Jasmine gave me the most needed hug in my life, one for a second that made me forget where we were.
"Don't you dare apologize for this Sarah. There's nothing you should feel sorry for. They did this to us."
"I know but maybe if I hadn't abandoned camp. If I did something then-"
"Don't go there, Sarah. All we have to do is focus on the here and now. It'll drive you crazy otherwise. Because we are going to get out of here, Sarah, we have to," she said in desperation and fear.
I tried to absorb Jasmine's optimism, but the storm of doubt in my mind still had a pressing question.
"How? We can't fight these guys, and who will be crazy enough to come here? Army? Marines?" I said in a panicked tone.
Again, Jasmine's demeanor changed, growing a little more uncharacteristically serious by saying.
"I may know some people who are willing. Even higher than the Army or Marines. All we have to do is contact them, but I can't go into the details, so you have to trust me, right? Can you please follow my lead just more one time?" Jasmine said while pleading.
Realizing we were both on the brink, I stopped talking. Instead, nodding mindlessly as we started to crawl into our makeshift beds. However, I could tell it would be many more hours before we could fall asleep. And for me, it would be the first of many years of restless slumber as my mistake still clawed away at my mind.
Advertisement
Renewal and Rebirth
[participant in the Royal Road Writathon challenge] Interstellar travel. Life extension medicines. Advanced AI's All of these meant nothing to Jayden, she had been born too soon, her body unable to process the new technology. She was approaching the end of her life and had a choice to make. Deep Dive VR had progressed and real digitization and uploading was now an option for those unable to use life-extension treatments. For all the science the Human race had developed, Jayden was forced to take a different path. She would be digitized and explore a new world. One where cultivation and dinosaurs blended together. [Participant in the Royal Road Writathon challenge] This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. For those unfamiliar with my writing style, Second Chances was my first attempt at writing. I'm not sure how much I learned in the process, except that readers get angry when you mess with characters they like! Warnings - I tend to info dump. I know I do this, I like slice of life novels that take time to unfold. So don't expect action, murder, and battles in every chapter, it isn't going to happen I prefer the first-person narrative. I will do an occasional POV shift, but it will never be done mid-chapter. I hope you enjoy the story, comments, ratings, and favorites are greatly appreciated!
8 283Is Lucas Destined to Die in the New World?
Lucas imagined himself doing grander things in life; after all, he put in his own blood, sweat, and tears, and got himself a master's degree in English. Maybe he'd be the next best-selling author, or maybe the most popular late night TV show host. However, life didn't give him anything more than a management position at the local burger joint. Day in and day out, he flipped burgers, swept floors, and made weekly schedules that his employees ignored. All he had known for the past five years of his life was pure misery. Then after one night of drunken revelry, he found himself in an unfamiliar world, but he knew all the gimmicks. He knew these stories had quirks he could manipulate- he could put all his stats into magic and become the best wizard in the world, or he could dump all his stats into strength and become a veritable warrior. But once again, just like Earth, this new world seemed to have different plans for him. Instead, he was given a luck stat of 0 and a skill that forced him into danger where there should have been none. Why is this nerdy, magical paradise trying to kill him? Content warnings are there to give me some creative legroom later. There's not an excess of any gruesome content in the story, and what is there is tastefully sprinkled in. This is a LitRPG. Updates are twice a week on Mon/Fri plus some extras here and there.
8 103The Dog with a Chair
As of now, this story is dropped. It was an excellent learning experience, but the quality suffered too much from me trying new things for me to continue in good concience. Thanks to anyone that read it. I'm leaving this story up as a record of my first ever attempt at publishing something I've wrote. To any new writers out there, remember that even if the stuff you write is trash, you can still learn a lot from writing it. - November 17th 2020 Guy gets involved in advocacy for civil engineering projects, then gets pulled into an interdimensional war. Third person with a focus on one main character (Stanley) with the occasional point of view from another character important to story progression. Writing style tends to shift early on as I figure out how to write (this is my first book). Still learning, hoping to improve. Current style choice is to have a focus on character dialogue/actions with interspersed internal monologue in italics. No current end is set for the story, with the primary goal of this project being to learn to express myself in a written format. Storyline is kept as consistent as practical while covering things I find interesting. Governmental systems are mentioned, but not explained in extreme detail. Sci fi elements are used to reinforce and guide plot progression as I'm able. Personal goals belonging to each character are in the process of being developed, with the hope that they will support or oppose each other in interesting ways later on. Hope you enjoy :)
8 160My Roleplay Server
Given the chance to reincarnate in a world with two wishes, who would say no? Especially when you could live a life you've always wanted. This is supposed to be a relaxed story about a man fulfilling the dreams he couldn't in his first life. There will still be drama and more adult things, but overall it will be pretty chill. The action of the story will come in when he finishes making the server. As of right now, 4/6/2022, it's looking like this is going to be a slower-paced novel. Hopefully, in the future, I can get the pacing downright. This is my first released story, so feel free to give me all your constructive criticism. I do plan on finishing this story. Please point out any mistakes you see. This novel is also on Webnovel and Scribble Hub.
8 223A Cultivation Journey
A story of reincarnator...maybe a transmigrator?... with the strongest cultivation manual which is somehow underpowered given it's standard. This is his story in a land of cultivation filled with unknown possibilities.
8 172Hacker || L.H
When a Gang that needs help to ruin someone they turn to a 16 year old hacker.Does a gang member and a hacker mix?
8 204