At the bottom of the basement stairs sat a huge trash can. It was large enough to fit several sixty gallon trash bags and still have some room left. Relet looked for any sign of a trash bag large enough to fit a body or two, but there was nothing around. Shrugging, he motioned for Helona and Kauss to dump the bodies in it. They did so and began walking down the basement hallway.
"You think anyone's going to see the bodies?" Helona asked.
"We got nothing else so we can only hope." Relet said
The basement spanned the entire width of the mansion's ground floor. It was a maze of hallways and rooms that would confuse anyone not accustomed to being down in it for long periods of time. Relet knew the place well enough since he'd been down in it from time to time as he was on business. Helona only came down once years ago when she celebrated her first kill with the Owerneckers. Although it was supposed to be a celebration, she didn't do much during the party except for looking at her hands that still had specks of blood on them.
The basement was lined with wooden walls that showed their age. Mold and rot covered the wooden panels and the wood was chipped in several places. The Owerneckers did mandatory repairs every month, but all it did was slow down the inevitable collapse of the place. It wasn't helped by the fact that very few of them had any actual repairing and carpentry experiance. They would rather force others to do the work for them.
The only exception of making other people do their work was the basement. It held not only an armory, but also multiple prison rooms that they kept to torture people. If any normal person stumbled upon anything down there and broke, or god forbid steal anything, then there would be hell to pay.
Some rooms were already too dangerous too use since boards were broken so bad that dirt and debris leaked through. Anytime a room hit such a state of disrepair, they would place a red sign over the door. Out of all the rooms the basement held, less than half was usable. They would constantly move the armory from room to room if the one they were using showed any signs of excessive breakdown.
"The prison should be near the top right corner of the place." Relet said entering his mental map. "Unless they changed it without me knowing we can get there easily."
Relet stopped suddenly and held out his hand. Helona and Kauss froze as their senses piled on overdrive. They could hear voices coming down a hallway from the right of them. Relet carefully stepped near the edge and peeked down the hallway. Two Owerneckers were leaning against the wall talking about a party.
"You think Ulyss is going to give out some dances?"
"She'd stab you in the hand before you say a single word to her. Lets just head back and finish the beer."
The Owerneckers left their spot and began heading the opposite direction from them. Relet knew that the current party room was in the direction they had to go to, but he didn't realize they'd begin using it so quickly. They had to make their way slowly, or spend an extra amount of time going around. Either option wasn't great, but time was of the essence. If they stayed down there too long, then someone might head to the cell before them.
"We got to be careful." Relet warned. "Stay as quiet as possible, and if you see or hear someone approach, don't shoot. Only fire if we're already caught."
They began slowly inching their way down the hallway the Owerneckers left. The floor didn't have a single tile on it exposing the dirt floor, so their footsteps didn't carry much sound. Relet picked up his pace since he wasn't too worried of being heard, but he was slow enough so his brain could process everything he was seeing.
The party room was nearby and they began to hear the voices of drunken idiots through the walls. From where they were they needed to pass the party room and take a right. Once they did that they'd be at the prison in no time. Then there came the problem of trying to find out which cell they were being kept in. They could either be kept together, or more likely they were split up.
The voices of the party goers grew louder as they approached the room. There was a four way intersection and the party room was to the left. They'd need to hope that there was no one in the hallway when they came through. Relet slowed down as he peeked down the left hallway.
Relet didn't have time to respond. An Owernecker stood in front of him with a cup of beer in his hands. He was visibly drunk as he stared down at Relet, who was stunned silent. Relet launched up and cupped his hand over the Owernecker's mouth before he could call out. He made a ruckus, but Relet kept him in a headlock making it impossible for him to leave.
Kauss took the pocket knife out of his pocket and stabbed the Owernecker's throat. He continued to struggle as Kauss slit the knife across his neck. He struggled less and less and Relet refused to let go until he was absolutely sure he was unconscious. Once he was out for good, Relet quietly laid the Owernecker down in a position to hide the wound. That way if someone found him they could assume he was passed out from drinking too much. The blood wouldn't be as much of a problem since it didn't spread on dirt as quickly as it was on a smooth surface. It was still noticeable, but a drunk person would probably take a while to figure out the man was dead on first glance.
"What was that noise?" A woman said from inside the room.
Relet froze and held a finger to his mouth. Kauss put away his bloody knife as he grabbed a hold of his gun. Helona and Relet did the same as they feared that someone would exit the party to investigate. If it came to that, they were in a decent position to fight back. There was only one entrance to the party room, and if they took turns firing they could hopefully clean out everyone that came out. That was the best case scenario, and it was the least likely to happen.
"Don't worry about it sweetheart." A man said too drunk to care about anything. "Probably some dumbass causing a ruckus. Now if you don't mind-"
The man was cut off as he started screaming obscenities. He most likely did something he wasn't supposed to do and karma went back on him instantly afterward. The mind of a drunk man was one of misguided instincts.
They moved forward since no one else was in the hallways. They moved quickly since most of the people should be at the party, and they already wasted too much time. It wouldn't take long to get there anyways, so as long as they were reasonably quiet they should make it with no more issues.
They took a right and saw the prison room doors. They were lined up along a single hallway down to a dead-end. There were twenty rooms in total, and ten on each side of the hallway. Three of them had collapsed a long time ago leaving only seventeen in working condition. Kauss and Helona made their way down the hallway hoping to find Klauss, break him out, then go on their way.
They opened the first door and the room was completely empty. Rusted iron bars ran across the room splitting it in half. A single iron door with a key lock was the only way to put people in or out of the bars. Every prison room had the same layout as this one.
Relet opened the door opposite of theirs and it turned out to be one of the caved in rooms. Dirt and rocks tumbled out of the ceiling filling in half the cell. He closed the door and shook his head at Kauss. They had to keep on looking.
They had opened five more doors before coming to the right one. Relet opened the sixth room and saw eleven of the twelve main men and the boss in the jail cell. One of the main men bared his teeth trying to act tough despite the shitty situation. What made it worse was that he had filed his teeth turning them all into canines so it made it harder for him to eat anything.
"Let us go you fucking prick and we'll let you live." The man with fangs offered.
"Hey I found them." Relet called out.
Kauss and Helona rushed over to the room and saw what was going on. When they came into the room, Killian, who was leaning against the wall, straightened himself and approached the bars. He never had any real feelings of gratitude until the moment his friends walked into his cell, so he was experiencing something new for the first time.
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"How did you two get here?" Killian asked.
"Killed a few people and we don't have much time until they find out we broke in." Kauss said quickly. "You know who has the key?"
The only woman of the twelve main men shrugged. "Tellish had the key when we were locked in here, but we don't know if he still does."
Tellish was a member of the Owerneckers that had joined less than a year ago. He wasn't the most confident in his abilities, but he had the balls to actually fight against the Owerneckers when the time came. Helona didn't know wether to be proud or pissed off.
"If he's anywhere it's the party room." Relet reasoned out. "We can't just enter there. Our gloves will only do so much since almost everyone knows whos with them and who isn't. We also can't just shoot up the place. We'd be dead long before we could take our first shot."
"You three listen up." Killian shook the bars getting their attention. "The armory most likely has the guns necessary to blow off the lock. Get as many guns as you can carry, haul it all here, blow of the lock, and we can go to town."
"I don't know if it'll work like that boss." Fellipe spoke up for the first time since they arrived. "There's a lot of them and only fifteen of us. Even if we have high powered guns, they could easily shoot back. In the world of weaponry, it's not about who has the better gun, but who can land the first shot."
Kauss had already made up his mind as soon as Killian made the suggestion. He headed out the door and waited for the others to follow. Fellipe was trying his best to think every single possibility out, and every single one would end up with them losing at least more than half of the people here.
Even if they managed to stop the rebellion and kill Galler, there was no way to rebuild. Every Owernecker they knew of was either dead or a traitor, and everyone in town had a weapon of their own. They could easily fight back against them with their numbers and fury. If there would be a way to keep the Owerneckers running like normal, while getting their revenge, they couldn't just rely on fire tactics.
"Sorry Fellipe, but it's either we do this, or you're going to die. We already made a promise with Killian, right?" Helona said.
Everyone looked at Killian for confirmation on the promise he made. The twelve main men and Fellipe had no idea what the promise was and were curious about the development. Killian stood at the bars looking down and dejected. The smile that Helona had slowly disappeared as he didn't even look at them in the eye.
"I'm sorry you two." Killian said. "After all this, I've realized i have a duty here. I want to do it, don't get me wrong, but I've got my position to uphold to."
The entire day changed Killian's mind drastically on his sense of duty. He thought that if he left then the Owerneckers would still live on, even in his absence. The structure they had carried seemed nearly impossible to break, so he thought he could leave and it would still hold strong.
He didn't want to lead anything, but he also didn't want to see his famiilies legacy disappear. What if he left and all of this happened again? What would his father think? He no longer saw it fit to leave with his people on the edge of breaking. He needed to stay and put everything in place again, no matter how easily it could crumble.
"Fine." Kauss said.
Kauss walked away breaking eyesight from everyone. Helona and Relet chased after him since he obviously had no clue where he was going. Relet shut the door behind him leaving Killian staring at the wooden door, wishing for everything to fix itself so he could go with his friends.
The twelve main men looked toward their boss as he stared blankly at the door. They were curious as to what had transpired between them and was waiting for someone to ask. Fellipe decided it was his duty to gauge their bosses mental state as his duty of being the first main man.
"What was the promise you made between them?" Fellipe asked as calmly as possible.
Killian didn't say anything as if he hadn't heard him. Fellipe was about to ask again louder, but he was interrupted by Killian's answer.
"I said I'd go up the tower with them after this was all over." Killian said.
A few gasped, some grunted as if they their suspiscions were confirmed, and some remained silent. Fellipe was one of the few who gasped out loud since he didn't have any clue that Killian had any desire to climb. He knew he wasn't the best judge of character, as was apparent recently, but he thought he knew their boss better than anyone.
"Why in the world would you want to go up the tower?" Fellipe demanded for an answer.
"Simple." The fifth main man, a man with four fingers on each hand, spoke up. "Haven't you ever wondered why he spends most of his time with Kauss rather than doing his job." He pointed his middle finger, as he lacked a pointer finger, to Killian accusingly. "You don't want to be a leader, do you?"
"That's absurd." Fellipe disregarded the statement alltogether. "There is no way Killian would look down on his family's legacy like that."
"No, he's right." Killian said straight away.
Fellipe stared slack jawed at his bosses confirmation. He began to re-assess his opinions and thoughts of everyone he knew entirely.
"You got one thing wrong Fellipe." Killian said, defending himself. "The reason I turned them down just now was to protect my family's legacy. As much as I want to go with them, after the recent events I realized I can't. I thought everything would be okay if I was gone for a little while. Look's like I was wrong."
Three of the main men began to laugh. Everyone stared at them, confused as to what they were on about. When the main men realized they had an audience, they quieted down and entered the conversation.
"You think the Owernecker's are gonna survive after this?" The tweflth main man asked condescendingly. "It would be better to just climb up now and hopefully live. We don't know what's up there and no one's ever come back down, but at least you'd have a chance to survive."
The other two that was laughing alongside him nodded in agreement. They would climb up themselves if they were just a little braver. Despite saying that Killian could possibly survive, they couldn't bare to think of all the ways the tower could kill them. If they were going to die they wanted to at least die with a bullet to the brain.
"The reason I can't climb now is because the Owernecker's are nearly done for." Killian argued back. "If I can get out there and kill that fucker, then maybe I can rebuild."
"Like the civilians are going to let you." The eighth main man said. "Let's face it, we're all assholes that are facing our dues for giving these people shit for all these years. I knew it'd come eventually, but I prayed that it would be when I was dead."
As they were all going about their arguments, Fellipe was doing his best to think of the best possible situation. The end goal he wanted was for the most people to survive and somehow manage to keep the Owerneckers going. With each possibility he thought up of, however, it seemed it would all lead to death.
Then an idea formed in his mind. Fellipe clutched onto the thread of a plan and began working with it, putting it together piece by piece. It was like a puzzle that he needed to solve. With each piece that he couldn't fit in he would work with another, then another, until he could find one that could fit perfectly. After a few seconds of thinking, he finally had full plan in mind. If everything went like how he hoped it would, then everyone could get what they wanted.
"Everyone, shut up!" Fellipe yelled.
The arguments silenced as they stared at Fellipe. He smiled and explained the plan in full detail to everyone. Within moments everyone grinned back; even the three doubters had begun to carry hope. Everything mattered on one variable and it was the simplest to achieve, but it wasn't in their hands.
They needed out, and the only ones that could do it was Kauss, Helona, and Relet.
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An Owernecker climbed up the basement stairs drunk as drunk one man could get. He wanted some fresh air before heading to bed for the night. He remembered passing by another drunkard laying flat on their stomach passed out. He didn't want to end up like that on such a rough floor, so he decided to call it quits before that line was crossed.
He opened the basement door and closed it behind him. Yawning and stretching his back, he approached the side door that separated him and good old fashioned air. He staggered and nearly fell, but he managed to prop himself up on the door before falling. He really needed to get some sleep before he passed out in the hallway.
He opened the door to at least sniff the air, then he would quickly head back inside and rest. However, when he opened it and took a nice long sniff, he smelled something else along with the musty air. He didn't know if it was his senses acting up or if it was real, but he thought he smelled blood.
Now that he thought about it longer, there was supposed to be two guards at the basement door, but when he exited the basement he saw no one. He exited the mansion and the first thing he saw was two bodies on the front steps. He screamed and fell on his ass shocked from the sudden sight. Scrambling up, he hurried upstairs to tell Galler about what he had seen.
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Galler silently sat in the bosses chair as he had always dreamed of. For the first time in his life, he felt like he was on top of the world. He knew the day would come when he would be considered the best out of everyone. Now that the day had come, an elation spread through his body making him high off his own hype.
The sound of someone sprinting down the hallway took him out of his high for a split second. He thought it was an intruder at first, but from the unsteady nature of the steps he knew it was one of the Owerneckers from the party. He didn't want to be disturbed, but if it was urgent he wouldn't shoot him straight away.
The Owernecker in question threw the door open as he approached Galler with an unsteady, yet speedy wobble. Galler was already preparing his gun to shoot the dumbass for distrupting his high, but he gained enough self-control to hold back a bit.
"What is it?" Galler asked calmly, but he didn't hide his furious undertone.
"Body at the stairs." The Owernecker said. He voice was slurred, but Galler could still decipher what he had said.
"Body at the stairs?"
"Uh-hu. Someone broke in."
Galler shot up from his desk as he walked to the side of the room. A shotgun that the bosses always kept was laying against the wall. In case of intruders, the boss would casually sit in his chair with bodyguards and they would wait for them to enter the room. Once they did, they'd be turned into mince meat in less than a second.
"Go down into the basement and start a search." Galler ordered. He grabbed the shotgun and cocked it. "If you find them don't kill them. Capture them cause I'm going down their and blowing their fucking brains out."