BEEP, BEEP, BEEP
"THIS IS AN ANNOUNCEMENT, ALL DENIZENS OF THE MOTHERLAND, MILITIA HUNTERS ARE BACK, YOU ARE ADVISED TO STAY INSIDE UNLESS YOU ARE A CORE SOLDIER WITH THE GRADE GOLD AND ABOVE. I WILL SAY IT AGAIN, STAY INSIDE FOR YOUR SAFETY" A man announces with every corner of the motherland hearing it.
"What the hell, why are they acting like we are a fucking plague about to take their life, even when there are only two of us coming in this time." Nero whispers to himself. As they walk off the bridge labeled, 'The bridge of life', Nero and Mr. Black begin to notice individuals yelling out from their unshut doors to children, "Go to your parents and get inside now!". Sprinting ahead of Nero, Mr. Black begins to speak with one of the soldiers leading them around, "Look man, I don't know about Nero, but I am not here to cause any trouble, all I want is to get paid that's it, can you do that for me?" he asks as he taps on the soldiers shoulder. Without even glancing over, the soldier swipes Mr. Black's hand off his shoulder, which reveals 'NO.3' stitched on the shoulder pad of his armor. Meanwhile, Nero slows down and takes a look behind, "What is that child doing, isn't everyone supposed to be cowering in their comfortable homes? Maybe he admires the soldiers" he thinks to himself. With every step Mr. Black, Nero, and the soldiers took, a little figure was following them, using the buildings as cover.
"Stop here, wait until I am back." the front soldier says as he turns around to reveal on his shoulder 'NO.1'. "Make sure they don't go anywhere, I need to talk to Shinra and Kira to make sure all core troops, Gold grade and above are prepared to head out if need be" soldier NO.1 says to the other two, as he walks past the label on the tower of babel, which reads out 'CORE TROOPS GRADE BRONZE AND ABOVE: WARNING – LOWER GRADES WHO TRESPASS SHALL BE PUNISHED ACCORDINGLY'.
"Jonathan, Jonathan…wake up, the hand soldiers just walked past." Truth whispers but with a tinge of desperation whilst looking through the peep hole of a rusted steel door. "Truth, can you relax, I haven't had any damn sleep in the past few days…please" Jonathan says cuddling up to a creamy puffed-up pillow. "But you don't understand Jo, the freaking hand soldiers are in our building, when do they ever come out?" Truth continues to whisper, as he shakes Jonathan on the bed. "You will pay for this; I let you sleep when we made it back from the forest and this is how you treat me?" Jonathan sneers as he jolts off the bed whilst scratching his messy black curly hair, the length of his collar bone. "Yeah, the hand hasn't been out in ages, I think the last time was when those two Khan followers somehow broke into the motherland and caused a rampage" he says. "Right, Right, that's when we were in training, something bad must be going down then if they have been let out again" Truth says. "Jacob, where are you when I need you?" Jonathan thinks to himself whilst smearing toothpaste onto his toothbrush.
Truth with a devious look, walks up behind Jonathan and taps him on the shoulders, "Jo, are you thinking what I am thinking?" he asks. "No…nope, we are not sneaking around. I will be honest Truth…I have been thinking really hard after what happened to Jacob. We didn't even get to see his body…they treated all the soldiers who died…like…like toys or something and handed Alana and that that Dion guy—whatever his name was—over like it's nothing."
SWISH, SWISH, Jonathan washes his mouth as he spits out the remainder of toothpaste residue in his mouth.
Jonathan places his toothbrush in its case, turns around, walks over to his bed, bends down, and grabs something from underneath his bed. "He…he gave this necklace to me so that Alana wouldn't find it in his room. Now I don't even know what to do with it haha." Jonathan whispers, backed with cynical giggles. "What are you trying to say Jo…what are you trying to say? You are not going to leave me like Jacob has, will you?" Truth asks as he scratches his skin; the dark nature of it leaving white marks. "Stop doing that, you will hurt yourself. I can't anymore, what is the point of all this, what are we fighting for? Why is this nation always fighting like its life and peace depends on it? It's like…something is hunting us all the time." Jonathan blurts out. "I think after our next appointment, that's it for me, I will be done with the core for good. I will lodge a request to be transferred to the sightseers' team. I want to see what we are fighting for Truth, I really do" he states out. "I am not going to force you to join me but do what you feel is right for yourself" the room is engulfed in absolute silence after he says this. Truth drops onto his knees and raises his head up to stare at Jonathan.
STEP, STEP, STEP.
"Shh, don't say anything Truth, someone is walking past," Jonathan says as he quickly tiptoes to gander through the peep hole on the door. "Shit, shit, it's the 3 hand soldiers, they are with the 2 militia soldiers the announcement mentioned" he whispers with a worrisome tone. "You need to go back to your room T. If they see you in here, we are dead" he whispers again with a tinge of desperation as he turns his gaze from the peep hole, to find Truth on the ground, scratching and digging even deeper into his skin. "TRUTH!" Jonathan hisses, his voice, a sharp strangled version of the shout he wanted to get across. "I said, stop doing that, you're hurting yourself. Look, I am not going anywhere…I am not leaving you, I am still right here" he says, his voice continuing to buckle under the weight of the strain. "Get up T, lets get you to your room" Jonathan says as he puts Truth's right arm over his shoulders. As he balances Truth's weight, a constant shifting enemy, with every step towards the door, gravity pulls him hard to the left. "We are almost there, come on" he grunts.
As he stumbles a few steps towards the door to look through the peephole once again, he releases Truths arm, causing him to drop onto the floor. Jonathan, with no weight holding him back, places his two hands onto the door and attempts to look deeper into the peephole. "What the…what the hell is a kid doing in here!" he tensely mutters. Getting onto his feet, Truth hisses "No parent will let their kid run off into our building, don't lie to me just to kick me out of your room". Jonathan with desperation growing bigger on his face whispers in a harsh low undertone, "Why would I lie, come, look through yourself". Walking towards the peephole, Truth tightly squeezes his eye through the peephole, "I can't see anyone" he sneers. "I swear he was just there…he probably just ran past." Jonathan hisses, desperate for Truth to listen. "We need to find him and get him out of the building now! Or else…someone's child is going to die for breaking the rules, that can't happen T, he's just a clueless freaking kid." Jonathan says, keeping his volume as low as he can manage.
CREEK.
Jonathan steps out into the hallway, looks right, gazes left, looks back and tilts his head right two times. Truth steps into the hallway, his boots scuffing the oak floorboards. As they close the rusted metal capped door behind them, they gawk at the hallway, "Something is off, all the hallways in the tower of babel don't extend that far, what the hell is this" Truth murmurs in a panic as he gathers himself behind Jonathan. As Jonathan is about to speak, he freezes in place, the oak floorboards groan under their combined mass. Jonathan loses his balance and stammers, his eyes locking onto a small head peeking around the corner as he tries to balance himself with the cream painted hallway wall. "That's the kid!" Jonathan whispers with strain. "And those are the hand soldiers with the two militia hunters, is the kid following them?" Truth asks, his voice a ghost of a sound as he spots the three soldiers with the militia hunters ahead of them.
The kid bolts down the cream wall painted hallway, his suspenders bouncing against his white shirt. His black beret on his head slips, fluttering through the air before landing with a soft thud on the oak. One of the militia hunters twists their neck, his gaze snaring on the small boy. The gaze was a sharp calculating glint that turned the air cold instantly. Jonathan doesn't wait. Shifting all his weight onto his left leg as he lunges forward. His boots press hard into the oak, trying to move at pace without letting the floorboards scream. "JO!" Truth strains, as he whispers in panic whilst chasing after Jonathan's shadow and stumbling close behind him to keep the gap small between them.
END OF CHAPTER
THEORIES MERAKI – CHILLING AIR SEEPING THROUGH THE HALLWAY, THIS KID IS CREATING CHAOS WITHOUT KNOWING IT. WILL JONATHAN AND TRUTH GET HIM OUT IN TIME?
NEXT CHAPTER – TBD