17

"I’ll start," Levi said. It was a brisk tone that almost hinted at hesitance, but he took in a deep breath and took to scratching at the nape of his neck. "I’m...going to try to stay as on topic as possible, but if I stray please don’t hesitate to let me know...I’ve not really got a lot of experience with this kind of thing."

Sophie said nothing. Luke simply looked him up and down. He hadn’t fully taken him in, but Levi had a reasonable bulk to his stature that seemed to be easily hidden by his general fright. He’s not surprised that one punch was enough to send Simon to the floor.

"I run a daycare out in the real world...my wife and I built it from the ground up. We had a lot of pride and joy come from the daycare as much as blood and sorrow. We live in a small village—not many people would be able to point it out on a map, but it’s on the far edge of Germany."

"Huh, and Aria seemed to be from France...very Euro-centric gathering of people," Sophie said.

"Are you from Europe?" Luke asked.

"Nope, it’s just interesting to see..." she said, "My apologies, do continue," she nodded her head.

"We took care of children who had busy parents and even those who had no parents. We were open almost every hour of the day. My wife, Ophelia, she would always joke that we were the lifeblood of the village. Things were fine. They weren’t perfect, our village was pretty poor overall and it wasn’t a large life of luxury, but everyone found a reason to smile." Levi continued to scratch at his neck, now almost digging in with his nails. "Now, things got shaky when the drugs started pouring in."

"Drugs?" Sophie asked.

He sighed, "My village is small, everyone knew everyone and that was the way we liked it. Things were quiet by themselves, so it wasn’t like one of the neighbors started cooking up marijuana in his backyard or anything like that...we were hit with some serious stuff. There was a chapter of a global cartel that had one of their farms set out in the countryside not too far from my village. It wasn’t long until they set sights on it. Not wanting to be invaded and killed—because that was a big problem in the past—we tried to stay as out of the way as possible."

"Why couldn’t you just have moved?" Luke asked.

"It wouldn’t be so easy. We have a lot of elderly in our village and it’s pretty backwater—so much that we avert from any unnecessary technology."

"A very old fashioned place, huh? Can’t say I’d be a fan," Sophie said. "But I’m sure it looks lovely."

Levi nodded. "It’s as natural as could be, the elders aren’t one for moving from their places—to them the land is extremely sacred or whatnot. So not only would they probably not make the journey, I doubt they’d even want to leave."

"Sacred land, huh? Sort of like the Indian burial ground kind of sacred?" Sophie asked.

Levi looked up toward the ceiling, searching for any sign of the bird above. "No, not quite. I think they spoke of things on their level," he nodded up. "I never was one for the stories—my mother was devoted to telling them every night, but it seemed like harmless folklore. Just stuff about guardian spirits and the like that inhabit the soil."

"So this cartel..." Luke said, "What was their deal?"

"They have many different names based on where they’re operating. I’m not too sure on much besides that the chapter by us went by the name of the Blood Roses. They dealt in local low-level deals...almost like their existence was to funnel funds into a larger sect wherever they mainly were from. Didn’t mean they weren’t armed or any less dangerous than any sort of cartel, though."

"Like a...cartel lite?" Sophie asked.

"Yeah, sort of like that. Live in an area so long you hear the talk of the land—the few travelers we get relay any information on them most certainly. Things were always a bit tense when they started and settled near us, like an unspoken fear that we’d be wiped out in an instant and the land would be cropped up into a meth field. Even if I wasn’t big on the folklore, others were."

"That sounds scary...almost makes this seem tame by comparison..." Luke looked over toward the roulette in the center of the room. "...almost."

"The first day that they entered our village it was...calm. Two guys dressed in business suits and slicked hair walked in with briefcases at their sides. I was playing with some of the children outside—showing some of them their first snow. I remember it clearly. They walked through the center of the village and demanded to speak with one of the elders. I brought the children inside and my wife watched them as I stepped out and volunteered to speak for them. Damien Wise, our mayor so to speak was actually down with an illness at the time, but I’m sure I would’ve gone to speak with them anyway, much less than desirable to have those thugs near."

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

"You don’t seem to have any bullet holes in you," Sophie said.

"No, but truth be told I almost wish I did considering the circumstances." He said. "They were very polite, but their message was clear and they weren’t going to take no for an answer. They said that our village was the perfect location to cultivate a strange new drug they were making based on some flowers that grew in our village. They would have their own building constructed and have two of their members working inside it, and in return the village could be assured it wouldn’t suffer any shortages with food or water."

"Were these common issues?" Sophie asks.

"Strange that they’d offer a deal," Luke said.

"Not common, inevitable," Levi said. "And I was shocked by it too, there was little enough of us there that pulling a run and gun could’ve been swept under a rug...there was only twenty-four of us. Whatever their reason, they asked for the deal...more told us what was going to be the deal, and I had no choice but to agree. Our police force is naught but we provide, and on that day one half of the force was currently talking to the two thugs."

"You’re a policeman, too?" Luke asked.

"I’m a man of many talents," he replied.

"Hm...interesting," Sophie said.

"Anyway, we couldn’t fend them off if we wanted to, and if we said no I’m sure that they would’ve reported to their superiors and that would’ve been the end of us. So, they said what they had to and left. I didn’t say much at all through the whole conversation, to be frank."

"So what happened after that, did the building get like...made?" Luke asked.

"It did, it took two months and was set up on the edge of town, it looked like any other of ours which was surprising as they must have studied our style. Our buildings are more out of stone with wood furnishings—very close to nature as the elders say. They must have been studying us for a while, because they mimicked it perfectly. Of course, they brought all their technology inside, filling the belly of their beast with their electronics and generators. I couldn’t tell you how it looks now—I never ventured inside, but they got a huge power station in there and started work immediately. I’d say within that month...probably late March was when they started their work. I don’t know what drugs they’re making, but the way they spoke about it suggested it wasn’t like anything that was currently on the market. And also based on the fact that they chose my little village that housed this unique flower seemed like they wanted as little as people as possible that didn’t need to know to know about its existence."

"That’s absolutely crazy," Luke said, imagining a sort of small-scale factory pumping out mystery drugs.

"Things almost returned to normal. I mean, we were all aware of the situation, but they never asked us to do any of the drugs, nor did they leave their little building unless they were shipping out product. That actually leads up to me getting kidnapped and brought here, sometime in...April I think it was? I’m having a hard time remembering what day it was, exactly. Things were as normal as they could be in our situation. I went to sleep one night and then woke up here, tied to that chair."

"So it’s a pretty safe assumption that the mastermind is in some portion related to that cartel?" Luke asked.

"It would seem that would make the most sense," Sophie says. "Are there any cases of kidnappings in your village?"

"No, none. People rarely travel out there unless their sole reason is traveling, and any who have passed by have all been well-meaning, or at the very least tolerable. I do agree that the timing of their arrival must have some factor into it."

"Maybe there’s a rival faction somewhere close you aren’t aware of that noticed your village? Try to kidnap you as some sort of leverage?" Sophie reasoned.

"I’d be poor leverage."

Luke rubbed his head and tried to think of anything in his mind that would relate to a cartel. Anything at all that mind jog some memories deep within him. Maybe he was the kid of the cartel’s leader who decided that he wanted a girl instead...maybe this was some sort of punishment for not doing well in school by a parent who seriously needed mental help. He scrolled through every possibility, but none sounded right. He sighed as he looked up toward the two of them.

"I kept trying to think if any of that sounded familiar to try and clear my amnesia...but I don’t think any of it helped. I think...I think I see fragments of a memory, though." The others look surprised at him, interest filling their faces. It was a mutual look that he’d seen for the first time simultaneously. "I...don’t think it’s mine, though, if that makes any sense."

"Not yours? I don’t see how you could differentiate," Sophie said.

"It’s strange. I know I don’t have any frame of reference on what is mine and what isn’t, and a memory should be mine, right? But this just feels...off. It feels like I watched a scene from a movie and am remembering those details, or am remembering the events of a friend. Something like that. There’s no personal connection I feel, but it doesn’t feel random."

"Well, what is it about, anything good?" Levi asked.

"Depends on what you consider good," Sophie said.

"I don’t know, maybe anything that would help us get out of here. Either that or maybe a scandalous sex scene to keep us entertained."

Sophie pegged him across the stomach with her elbow. "Not anywhere is that an appropriate context." She looked to Luke, "Please tell us so we can change subjects."

"R-Right..." Luke muttered, as he began to tell them of the memories he had seen.