Novels2Search

Act 2 - Chapter 12 - Welcome

By the time that Chloe and Y/n had arrived at their destination, escorted by the trio, the sun had already began to set. The shadows of buildings covered their path as they slowly trudged through the dark and grimy alleyways which led to their new base of operations.

Occasionally along the way, the duo would see a homeless person or two, barely surviving due to the harsh weather of the beginning of winter. Chloe admired their will to live, no matter how hard their circumstances became whilst Y/n seemed quite disgruntled about being near them.

The reactions of the homeless, although, were quite eerie. The vast majority would quickly scramble to distance themselves from the group; as if they were attempting to escape rats which bore the black death.

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After what seemed to be a few hours of walking, they arrived in front of a worn stone staircase, various dark stains and cracks plagued the entrance that led downwards, revealing an old oak door and a small metal rectangular slit. The tall brunet, who had been leading the way, stepped forward, nocking the door in strange intervals.

A grinding sound erupted from the door as the slit screeched open, a pair of eyes appeared, bouncing around the figures until they finally rested on their tall guide, who mouthed a certain word.

The pair beady eyes widened for a second before quickly closing the slit a smallClink erupting from the opening.

The heavy metal door slowly creaked open, revealing a large bar and a small man who had a pedestal in his hands walking away from the door. The walls, similar to the stairs that had led them there, were made of black stone, somehow making the dimly lit room even darker than it should have been.

Walking into the gloomy room, the bespectacled man started to speak.

“Boss said dat we’s “ought to treat you with servility” and ta “Give you a place to rest for the night”. One of you’ll meet da boss tomorrow, so get sum rest for now.” He frankly spoke, his tone and pronunciation attempting to become exceedingly posh as he recited what Epsilon had ordered them to do.

Y/n giggled slightly, seemingly entertained by the tall man’s attempt to mimic Epsilon, as they walked past the bar area and towards a long hallway, to which several doors called home. The small man disappeared for a few seconds, re-joining the group with a few things in his hands.

“Since this is ya first time in this place, I’ll let you have a drink on the house. My treat.” the small man offered, two iced bottles of water appeared in his hands.

Both teens had been quite thirsty due to their extended stroll around the back alleyways of the city and thus both accepted the water bottles gratefully. Y/n immediately opened the bottle and drank the whole thing in one go, whilst Chloe suspiciously eyed the water, proposing to drink it later.

The doors were made out of a thick, and seemingly strong, metal. As If they were used to imprison something, or rather someone, inside. There were ten or so black doors, each scarred with scratches and dents. Just the sight of them made both of the teens quite unsettled as they pondered over what may have caused the damage.

At the end of the corridor lied a large polished wooden door, similar to the entrance door, which had no number on it. Only a few golden acrylic words written in a language unfamiliar to the duo. The door was unlike the others as it had was in pristine condition, something important clearly lying behind it.

Stopping in front of one of the doors, a gold number ‘9’ imprinted upon the door, the smallest of the trio opened it, explaining what their accommodations would be for the night; “Alright, here’s the plan.” he said in a low tone, pausing momentarily in order to ensure that he did indeed have both of the teen’s attentions.

“You two are going to be split up into two different rooms, as each of these rooms can only hold a single soul.” the small man used his palm to shove open the door, a loud clang erupting from the wall as they collided together, providing an example as to why each room could only fit one person.

Chloe, in response to this new information, frowned and looked over to Y/n. “No. We’ll stay together in one room. I’ll sleep on the floor.” she distrustfully refuted.

There was simply no way that she’d part from her... very good friend... after what had happened last time. Hell, she’d promised herself not to go to sleep at all as to guard the boy from whatever dangers may pounce upon nightfall. Epsilon seemed like a strange and particular man who had no reason to help them this much, there was definitely a catch.

Inside the chamber was a single bed, with a black duvet and pillows. No windows in sight, presumably since they were currently located below solid ground. A small table occupied most of the space to the right of the room, a few random books about martial arts and guns laid bare atop the wooden object.

The only two other things that furnished the room were an obsidian wardrobe and chair. It had seemed as though whoever had decided to furnish the room really liked the colour black.

“How spacious.” Chloe sarcastically commented, before giving Y/n a soft glance and walking into the room. Walking into the middle of the chamber, located a few meters away from the door, a whining noise erupted from the heavy door that slowly was being closed shut.

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Y/n stood close to the door, looking behind him to see that the door had completely closed. “If we need to go the the toilet, should we bang on the door to let you know?” he worriedly asked.

“Nah, Ya little lasses can use those bottles that we gave ya!” The voice of the tall gangster sounded out, jovially laughing. Both teen’s countenances flushed red as they looked towards the bottles in their hands... They could manage... Right?

Walking over to the bed, Y/n sighed as he jumped on it, groaning at the hard mattress which greeted him. Feeling quite drowsy, Y/n lied atop of the bed and thought over about what had happened that day.

On top of the intense walking session they were put through, the sight of bloody corpses, lifelessly lying on the ground, had once again entered his sight. He had wished that he’d never have to see such a horrid scene again, but alas such was the uncontrollable nature of life itself.

Mentally exhausted, he slowly spoke to the girl, “Bloody hell Chloe. It’s all now finally setting in... Wanted by the Police? How is that Just? After all you and I went through, sure both of their deaths were quite gruesome, but it’s not like they both didn’t deserve it! They were fucking psycho’s.” he fumed.

Nodding her head in agreement, the small orange haired teen once again surveyed the room. I mean, on the positive side of things, at least the room was in a better condition than her old abode had been, ‘Although for Y/n, this must be quite the downgrade.’ she sympathetically pondered.

Moving her eyes towards the boy’s body, she faced him and began to speak with a comforting tone, “Don’t worry. We’ll be fine. Anyways, go to sleep. I’ll stay up on guard to make sure nothing sketchy happens to us.“, a large prideful grin graced her bruised and battered countenance.

After her speech, Chloe seemed to be exuding confidence as she proudly looked over to the door, as if she was challenging anyone to burst it down and start a fight.

“As If I’d let you sleep on the ground. Come on, get on the bed. It’ll be a tight squeeze, but we both need sleep in order to survive in these uncertain times.” Y/n resolutely spoke. Chloe, surprised by his absurd suggestion, slowly walked over to the small black bed that could barely contain the tall male.

Looking at the black haired teen, who currently had his back turned towards her, attempting to make as much space as possible so that Chloe could also fit on the bed, she crawled into the sheets, hugging the male from behind causing him to stop freeze in place.

Digging her face into his back to hide her blush, Y/n fell silent, after all he doubted that without doing this that she could properly get enough space on the bed to get a good night’s rest.

Even though he felt slightly embarrassed over Chloe’s actions, he quickly drifted to sleep, slightly comforted by her warm presence. Unlike Y/n who had been hastily vanquished by a wave of tiredness, Chloe enjoyed their current situation a whilst longer, before finally giving in to her thirst and drinking the bottled water before carefully going back to bed in order to avoid waking the sleeping male.

That night was unlike any other for the small orange haired teen. No nightmares had graced her dreams, enabling the poor girl to finally be able to get some quality sleep for the first time in a very long time, a small smile equipped upon her face as she squeezed Y/n’s body.

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Waking up from her deep slumber, she groggily sat upwards on the bed and rubbed her eyes, regaining her vision. The lights in the room had never turned off, making it slightly uncomfortable to sleep and since there were no windows there was no way to tell the time without a mobile device, something that Chloe did not own.

A small matter. After all, she could just ask Y/n to check his phone. Looking to her left, expecting to find the sleeping teen, she found nothing. The only trace that the boy had in fact slept on the bed were the small imprints of his figure that he made on the bed.

Exploding into high alert, the once groggy teen had now regained most of her cognitive functions, her mind whirring away, coming up with reasons as to why the boy was no longer by her side.

The gangsters who had led them here had most likely taken him whilst they were both unconscious. The worst part about it was that Chloe was clearly on guard... It was Y/n’s offer that caused her to loosen up.

Deciding that the full night’s rest was not worth loosing the boy, she moved towards the door and started to hit her fists against the cold hard metal.

Adrenaline pumping through her body as her knuckles started to bleed, the girl felt as if she could literally bust down the thick piece of solid metal with just her small fists.

However, just because she could block out the pain, did not mean she could achieve superhuman feats of strength. Especially due to her small frame and poor constitution.

A few minutes of punching the metal door passed before Chloe started to loose control of her hands, blood marks imprinted upon the door. Concluding that she wouldn’t be busting out of her place of imprisonment anytime soon, she sat down next to the desk and started to look at the book close to her.

One read‘Basic hand to hand combat skills’, another’Firearms: Stop, Aim, Flick, Fire. It was clear that the person who had once lived in this cell was fond of martial arts and gunplay.

‘If I’m going to be trapped in here for god knows how long, I might as well put this time to good use. If I’m lucky I might be able to use what I learn here to break the bastards that stole my Y/n.’ she mused to herself.

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Three or so hours passed before the creaking sound of the door erupted, the door opening half way before meeting some resistance. Seven people stood outside of the door, welcoming expressions present on most of the people quickly turning into to confusion as no one was present inside the room.

The tallest of them all, a large blonde male with sandy eyes, cautiously walked forward into the room, as if he’d been in this situation before.

“Go get’em Freddy!” cheered a high pitched feminine voice, the owner of which had grey twin tails and was equipped with a sheathed knife on her waist.

As the male walked into the room, Chloe burst out from behind the door and forced the man into a choke hold, eliciting a rather violent reaction from the man, who grabbed onto the small girl’s hands, pulling apart the choke hold with pure strength and then slamming the girl onto the ground.

Making contact with the ground, the girl cried out in pain, winded and unable to move. Two people started to clap in response to the large man’s show of power.

The mountain of muscle stood in front of the small girl who was recovering from the man’s counter, looking up at him and the people behind him, giving them each a nasty glare. The group of people were made up of 3 females and four men, all physically strong with muscles visible.

Each person had a different response to what had just occurred, ranging from disgust to entertained, but they all seemed as if they expected what Chloe was planning, as if they had done the same themselves.

A deep voice sounded out from the man, “We’re the Stinger Squad. From today onwards you’re one of us. Follow us. The Boss wants to speak with you.”

Unable to respond, the girl’s vision started to spin to and fro as she quickly lost consciousness.

“Fred, You’ve done it again. How many times have I reminded you to control your strength when greeting the newbies!” sighed another bespectacled man.