The Two Men Who Kill To Be Carbon

1. Time Travel-3

Taking advantage of the situation, Bray moved close to Sabienn, reached into his friend’s pocket and retrieved his knife. Deftly he cut the tie binding Sabienn’s wrists and watched the tie fall to the ground, kicking it away as best he could to prevent discovery. He then placed the knife into Sabienn’s hand. Sabienn moved swiftly behind Deep and Stork and removed their binds to free their hands. A brief look among the friends ensured they kept the understanding and still simulate capture. The brothers were all head down and wrists crossed when Till turned back to address them all.

“This way,” said Till, offering Pila a helping hand. “There’s an access up here. An ancient stormwater drain. It goes right under the wall. That’s how you get in.” She turned back to address Sabienn, “You still want to come?”

Sabienn looked around at his brothers in bewilderment. Do I stay or do I run? He felt his hands free and he and his brothers could easily overpower the officer and make a run for the trees. Or should he stay within the ruse and get taken to where they wanted to go? Something’s not right. “We’re with you,” called Sabienn with uncertainty.

They moved further into the cover of trees and Till found an old wall sheeting laying on the ground. She pulled it back and it revealed a large round hole of ancient construction. Pleasantly she turned back to the captives and spoke, “The boys and I often go across the border. There’s a drinking hole called Old Road. You should try it.”

Much to the bemusement of Sabienn and his brothers, Till placed the rifle by the hole rim, jumped in the hole and disappeared from view. Sabienn and the five other captives were stunned and just looked at one another. He took this chance to do what he believed to be the decent thing and slip his knife out to cut the binds holding the hands of Binn and Pila. They relished the chance to rub their wrists but Pila stated to Sabienn, “We’re still going down.”

“So are we,” replied Sabienn.

“I smell death down there,” said Stork ominously.

“What are our choices?” said Sabienn.

“We run,” said Stork.

At that moment, Till’s head popped up through the hole. “Come on. Let’s go,” she said grabbing her rifle from the side of the hole. “Take it easy on the way down. Grip the ladder as best you can.” With that her head disappeared below the surface once again.

Swiftly Sabienn volunteered himself to be the first to go down the hole. He still had to present the illusion that his hands were bound so he struggled with entering the hole and even used his chin on the rim to gain purchase with accessing the ladder.

With difficulty, Sabienn descended the five metres of the ladder and jumped to the gravel of the stormwater drain. The stench that hit his nostrils was overpowering. In the small light coming through the hole above, he looked around and saw dead bodies stacked against the side. There were cloaked bodies decapitated still fresh with death, being tugged at by hungry rats moving ceaselessly. There were also bodies that still had heads but had their eye sockets seething with maggots. It was the smell of death that Stork had exactly warned him of.

When he had the chance to look around, Sabienn noted that all his companions had descended the ladder and were with him. Pila reacted to the stench immediately, turned away and went to her knees to offload a clear liquid emission from her mouth to add to the foul atmosphere.

In the dim light, Sabienn looked towards Till, still with the rifle on her shoulder. There was a glint in Till’s eye now that Sabienn could have sworn was a switch to a dark place within the character. No. We walked right into it.

Just as swiftly, Till responded with a sunny welcome, “Come on. Quickly. The air’s bad here.” She turned and began to walk away from them. “This way.” A torch appeared from Till’s pocket and lit the way into the unknown of the passage ahead.

Following Till, Sabienn and the others moved at pace along the old unused water channel. Grates had been already opened before them to allow a quick passage.

Stork shouted ahead to Till at the lead, “We’ve got about a minute at the most. This air’s toxic. Anything more and we’ll all pass out.”

“Follow me,” said Till without looking back. “And hold your breath.”

At that moment, Till found the base of a ladder similar to the one they had entered with. She began to climb it to the ceiling. Sabienn, who was right behind, looked to his companions before grabbing the ladder. He saw that Till wasn’t looking downwards and so took a risk to climb the rungs with both hands free as he felt his head swimming and sweat form on his brow.

Up above him, Sabienn looked to see Till push up a makeshift round access cover which appeared to be made of a sturdy wood. Daylight appeared around the edges as Till spied the world outside. The cover was then flung upward and to the side. “Move,” shouted Till without looking down.

Till clambered out and freed herself without looking back. It left Sabienn to view the round hole above him. With renewed strength, Sabienn pushed on upwards towards the light and better air. He looked down and saw his brothers and the two strangers still struggling up the ladder but making progress. As Sabienn poked his head out of the hole, he saw that there were floorboards above him allowing the vertical space of about a metre to get out of. Till was nowhere to be seen. To the side was an access door open to daylight which, by the sound of a distant siren coming through, led to a street. Till’s head suddenly appeared in this little doorway and she called, “Move.” The manner was more direct and urgent. Sabienn’s senses tingled. This is not right.

As Till’s face disappeared, Sabienn helped everyone out in turn from the access hole. They then assumed the position of bound prisoners and crawled towards the light with Sabienn at the lead.

Jump her, thought Sabienn. Keep eyes on the rifle. Take the chance then get the hell out.

As he stood to full height out on the street pavement, Sabienn made sure his hands were suitably placed in front of him. He looked around and saw their location to be some back alley. The building that they had crawled out from under had a sign up high, “Station 9 Morgue”. The area appeared empty of people. Till stood before them still with her rifle on the shoulder.

“Sorry to be shouting,” she said to Sabienn. “This building spooks me. Let’s get away. I need to give you some money.” She patted her uniform with the envelope in the inner pocket that Zee had delivered.

“We have money,” said Pila, less than impressed. “We’ll go now.”

“You have the Deerland Prime,” said Till. “Not R-M.”

“The currency of R-M,” said Bray. “I’ve heard of this. You can’t use anything else.”

“Look up ahead,” called Till, pointing up an alley. Just visible was the sign on a building “Old Road”, blinking with a missing ‘a’. “Let’s find a table. My shout.”

Sabienn looked to his group. There appeared a resignation that this meeting would be useful. Reluctantly, he followed Till who had just turned and started walking up the alley without waiting for the group’s yes or no.

The alley they walked upon was surprisingly clean and washed. Water from a good hosing still lay in the gutter. Sabienn looked around him at bins that had been placed out for collection without the usual overflow of rubbish he had normally been accustomed to back home. He looked at the back of Till walking up ahead and gripped the knife in his pocket. Just jump her now, he thought. Grab the money and go.

At that moment, they passed by an offshoot alley behind Old Road where they were walking to. “You’re late,” came a male voice from the shadows of a doorway.

When Sabienn looked around, there were about six armed men and women moving out into the main alley corralling their group and bringing them into the confines of the smaller passage.

“I have a room booked,” called Till. Her voice had suddenly changed from jovially absentminded to grimly efficient.

“We’ll do business here,” said the tall dark-haired male human. He was like his group, tailored in expensive cloaks and holding a top of the line military machine gun.

“I wasn’t expecting to see you, Mr Skayde,” said Till with a tremor in the voice.

“What have we, please?” said Skayde pleasantly.

“Six,” said Till, pointing to the prisoners. “You have to understand, it’s been difficult. I’ve got a corporal who’s a psychopath. He cuts heads off and lobs them over the wall. And I’ve got two privates who’re too weak and stupid to stand up to him. I’m lucky I have these.”

“And which one would you recommend?” asked Skayde.

“The female is ill,” replied Till. “She’ll hold you back.”

With efficient purpose, Skayde tapped the side of his head with an ear-piece. One of his charges momentarily placed down her weapon and held a camera up to video Pila’s movements. “Are you getting this vision? As you can see,” said Skayde to an unseen person on the line, “For a single person, less is more.” Without further hesitation he lifted the weapon in his hands and fired three rounds into Pila’s chest, splitting her centre into a mess of red. “Three orders and we’ll look at ten percent,” he continued. “Plus throw in some grenades.”

Totally aghast to the side of her, Binn managed to grab Pila’s falling body and cradle her as her eyes closed. Sabienn watched Binn’s face hit by the shock, looking at the woman expire in his arms. The man stroked the woman’s hair and held her head close to his.

“Would you like to see another single before we kill a group?” said Skayde to the unknown party.

“Is it wise to kill them here?” said Till. “A patrol’s due.”

“Your prisoners aren’t bound,” said Skayde, pointing to the man comforting the dead woman with open hands. “And we need to talk, Captain. Our city channel’s gone. We need to open up yours.”

“I can’t do that,” said Till with genuine fear. “That’s not what was agreed. I only do disposable prisoners. No guns, no access. That was the deal.”

Sabienn watched on at the exchange and his senses heightened. I’m dead either way, he thought. “Gun runners?” said Sabienn. “That’s not what you told us, Captain. All those dead bodies in the drain were gun runners. And what you said to us. People will need gun runners the way civilization will always need sewerage. It’s in the nature of the beast. They were your words. Mind you, if it was me, I think all gun runners are scum.”

“What’s this?” asked Skayde of Till suspiciously. “You’re working some other business?”

“Don’t listen to him,” called Till nervously. “He’s lying.”

“Just don’t shoot the packet of money in her pocket,” said Sabienn. “We’ll just take it and be on our way.”

The woman with the camera was given a nod from Skayde and she moved forward to remove the packet from the inner pocket of Till. Holding her rifle limply, Till allowed the theft without much protest. The envelope was exposed and opened showing some crisp bills.

As the camera woman moved back into line, she assumed her filming work still with the envelope in hand.

Skayde tapped the side of his head and spoke again to the unknown party, “Another single just to give you the gist.” With that he raised his weapon and placed three bullets into the chest of Till, forcing the body backwards. She landed flat on her back with her chest open and bleeding. “Now for a group,” continued Skayde.

With his heart in his mouth, Sabienn watched the group in front of him lift their weapons and point them at him and his brothers. Then suddenly, running footsteps could be heard from the direction of the alley. The gun runners in front of Sabienn heard the noise and paused to redirect their weapons to await the new arrivals.

“Steady now,” said Skayde to his party.

Spilling around the corner of the building to be in full view were Zee, Range and Filo all with their guns at the ready.

“Stop,” called Zee to his companions. “Get cover.”

Sabienn looked on as the fire fight ensued. He watched Filo who was too slow to react receive two rounds, one of which must have hit his chest and he was flung backwards. Zee and Range went to ground in the cover of some door fronts behind some bins and grease drums.

Within their own group, Deep took the lead and ran to gather the dead body of Pila and fling it across his back and broad shoulders. He then made his way up the alley and kicked in a side door which broke open under his strength. With the escape open, he pushed his way in. Bray and Stork gathered Binn and kept looking behind for Sabienn to follow. They shouted something that got lost in the gunfire noise.

One of Skayde’s men kicked in a door on the other side of the alley, allowing some of them to make a fighting retreat.

Before Sabienn’s eyes was the dead body of Captain Till, still where she had been shot. To the side of the dead body was her standard issue rifle and a metre away was the packet of money that had been flung by Skayde’s back-up. Without thinking, Sabienn rushed out into the field of fire and grabbed the packet and the rifle and pulled the dead body to the cover of a grease drum.

Swiftly Sabienn’s fingers entered Till’s pockets and he retrieved some documents, more money, a border pass, her photo ID, some receipts and a photo. A quick look at the picture saw a smiling group shot of the Captain, centre stage flanked by her loyal and hardworking Zee, Range and Filo. Sabienn looked at the happy group and then stashed all of the items into his cloak pocket.

“Move!” called Stork desperately to Sabienn. Sabienn then left the body liked a picked carcass, grabbed the rifle and followed his brothers. Once he had entered the door behind Stork, he found himself in a darkened room suddenly faced with all their faces.

“We’re stuck,” called Deep. “Door’s bolted.”

Looking at them, Sabienn digested what he had just heard. “Sit tight,” he said. They all went quiet as the noise outside subsided. Sabienn took up position in the shadow of the doorway making sure he could see out but not be seen. The rifle stayed ready in his hand. The last of Skayde’s men had made their retreat and the alley was empty but for the two living border officers. They moved in quickly to view their Captain.

“The bastard,” called Range, touching the chest of the dead Till and searching the pockets. “He picked her clean. He even took the photo.”

As Sabienn watched on, Zee pulled Range up from where he was kneeling and then pushed him in the chest till Range nearly toppled over. “This is your fault!” called Zee. “It’s all on you. If you let me do the thinking, his head would be on the catapult and the Captain would be breathing.” He gave Range another shove. “You’re not built for thinking, Range. I’m smarter than you. I’ll always be smarter than you. Now look what you’ve done. Go on, pick her up, I’ll get Filo. He’s still got a pulse. Or are you hoping to kill another one of us?”

A distant siren was getting closer to indicate that the law would be here soon. From his vantage, Sabienn viewed the face of Range as he stood there momentarily and believed he could see the humiliation sear itself into Range’s face like a branding iron. Sabienn saw himself lucky he was nowhere near this man at this moment as he would have been torn limb from limb.

Looking at his beloved Captain, Range said, “This is not over.” He said it audibly enough for Sabienn to catch.

Without further prompting, Zee gathered up the prone Filo onto his shoulder and Range flung Till up for the journey back. In a few more seconds they were gone and the sirens were getting louder.

“Let’s go,” said Sabienn quietly. He, his brothers and Binn made their way to the alley and made tracks to the passage made possible by Skayde and his group. As they entered this door, Sabienn held his breath that he didn’t run into the gun runners. They cleared through the back passage by a clothing store and found their way to a street.

As chance would have it, across the street was a Red Sun Temple. Deep saw it first and took Pila’s lifeless body to it, up the stairs and into the foyer. There a monk was tending to candles and saw the group arrive. He moved to them and said blankly, “Take the body to the pit at the back. The blessing is at sunset, the burning’s at dawn. There’ll be no audience allowed. Remove all valuables and upon disposal, please leave.” With that, he left to move within the building. Deep placed the body down momentarily to allow Binn to cradle the woman and stroke the hair on her lifeless forehead.

Watching the monk go, Stork piped up, “Everyone’s so warm here. I’m sure we couldn’t afford the package tour.” They walked to the door they arrived through and looked out on the warm sunshine and the sign on the building up the street. “Segregated Zone. Happy Family Restaurant. No Minorans. By Order of Council of Flee, Rotnadge-Minora.” Some people walked swiftly along the pavement, fully hooded and nervously glancing side to side.

Casually Stork looked to the clock in the temple. “We’ve gained an hour.” He added sardonically, “Welcome to the future.”

Sabienn looked upon the sign and spoke to his brothers, “Looks like we’re in.” He looked at their exhausted faces and added, “Who said that was going to be hard?”