Heiya, thanks again for the emails - it's good to know that there are people who enjoyed this story. I'll tell you something else about myself - I'm a University undergraduate in Melbourne. No, I'm not studying literature (I think that's obvious enough), but an 'Engineering and Science' combined degree. However, I have considerable interest in English Literature and Music, though am not talented in those.
It'll be nice if you drop me a message at mask4truth@yahoo.com.au
Merry Lil' Christmas everybody!
Disclaimer: This story eventually leads to homosexual relationships - possibly graphic. Underaged should beware of the unintentional conditioning and should only return when aged adequately and is able to resist the mild conditioning.
The Unveiling Chapter 6
With a cloth in my hand, I gave 'Reliever' a last polishing swipe. I had just got hold of a book with a silly title: 'Maintain Your Gun or Your Life'. It stressed on the importance of cleaning and maintaining our modern day weapons, and instructed in detail on how to do so. Usually I wouldn't care, but Simon had went out to look for fresh batteries nearly three hours ago - our radio recently died while we were trying to contact our friends - and I had nothing else to do. We need the radio to find our friends.
I looked around the apartment again. After we got separated, Simon insisted we stay clear of 'Point Zero' in case those armies had decided to search every building in that area. Apparently it was his 'instincts' that warned him. And I thought only women had that.
The apartment was low-cost, but the particular unit we were in was surprisingly well furnished. It had a computer with a broadband Internet connection and a piano against a wall. But unlike Dean, I was not a hacker and was unable to use the Internet without the risk of revealing our position. I couldn't play the piano either because the city was so damned quiet; playing the piano would have the equivalent effect of setting off firecrackers to the open sky.
I had nothing to do. I had already showered, napped for twenty minutes twice and cleaned my gun five times. Most of my time was spent pacing around the front door, wondering if Simon was coming back soon. Was it really that difficult to find the right batteries? And if he does find the batteries, will our friends answer us this time? Why hadn't they answered us today and yesterday when we called? We even had our radio on since last night - they didn't even contact us once. A hundred and twelve point two was the decided frequency; had Lil' Lily got it wrong?
Maybe I should shower again - a hot shower this time - to take my mind off matters. I had been in the cycle of worrying unhelpfully and trying to distract myself from worrying ever since Simon left three hours ago. It was funny that three hours could feel so long.
Just as I was about to enter the bathroom, I heard the long awaited secret door-knock code. I quickly returned to the living room.
"I'm back," said Simon as he closed the door behind him.
I crossed my arms. "Took your time. I was beginning to think that you went all the way to Myers."
He took out a pack of batteries from his pocket and sat on the sofa. "I did."
I looked up in surprise. "You're not kidding," I said and slowly sat opposite him. "On foot?"
He snorted. "What do you think?"
"Well, it's been three hours - guess you did walk."
"I trust my feet more than any car or bike. Vehicles make too much noise."
I raised my eyebrow at him. That statement seemed strange. "You sounded like you've been doing this for years."
He hesitated and put his head down. "I had."
I was bewildered. "You what?"
"I didn't tell you guys - I was in juvenile rehabilitation before I joined church." There was shame in his voice.
I only sat there still, watching him. I had no idea what to say or do.
"I had committed every kind of thievery - burglary, robbing, pickpocketting, con, shoplifting, car-theft... you name it," he told me, his voice weary. Without looking up, he continued, "I'd done it for all my life, until they caught me four years ago."
"Si," I spoke up. "We don't care about your past. I mean we do, but it won't change how we feel about you."
He looked up at me. His eyes was hard instead of teary or shameful. "Even if you knew that I used to hate you guys?"
I wasn't expecting that. "What- Why?"
"I never wanted to join your church, but the rehab guys put me there - said that I had to join a stable community. I always thought you guys were hypocrites - all of you were always so cheerful and confident," he answered and took a deep breath. "But then I realized I was the hypocrite. I acted like your friend when I wasn't."
Was that why Simon was always so reserved? And that would explain Simon's inhuman skill in stealth. Plus he had the steadiest hands I'd seen, surpassing even Lil' Lily, our church's 'friendship-token designer' and 'gift- card artist'.
"I wanted to leave and never go back, but they wanted to see me serve in the church. I was desperate to be free from them, so I did whatever they wanted me to. Except I would never join the hospitality or teaching team, so I joined the band instead."
I remembered that. Two years ago, Simon joined us as a keyboarder. He knew so little of the instrument that Lil' Lily had to spend extra hours after band practices just to teach him. But he picked up very quickly.
"And then the most unexpected thing happened - I became fond of my band mates-" he looked right into my eyes - "you guys." Then for the first time, I saw his eyes soften. "I owe a lot to you guys. And one to the rehab guys," he smiled weakly. I had never seen this side of Simon in the two years I knew him..
"Hey, Si, you weren't wrong about us being hypocrites you know," I told him. "I don't think there is anyone in this world who's completely honest."
He gave me an appraising look. "Even you?"
I smiled. "Especially me."
He nodded. "So.. what is it that you are not honest with?"
"That.. is a secret."
He only smiled. Then without saying anything else, he put the batteries into the radio and switched it on. After checking that the frequency was correct, he called into the radio. We waited for a minute. When we did not get an answer, he called into the radio again. I sighed loudly. So it was still the same - they were still not answering.
"Why do you call it Reliever?" Simon asked me suddenly, eyeing my over- polished pistol on the table.
I wasn't sure what he meant. "Because... if I had to find a new name every time I changed pistols, I would run out of ideas?" My first 'Reliever' was taken when I was captive.
"I mean, 'why Reliever', not 'why the same name'," he replied coyly.
"Oh, that," I felt my face flushing. I gave the question some thought. "Because it puts people to rest."
He nodded. "I've killed people before."
At first I thought he meant those soldiers, but then I realized he was talking about his past. I quickly left my chair and sat beside him. As usual, I couldn't say anything comforting like Jase, so I put an arm around his shoulders instead.
"I hated my gun. I never even thought about giving it a name," he smiled grimly.
"Si... Hey, I don't know the why's and how's, but when we were younger we are hardly at fault. Please don't take this on yourself," I said softly. I felt my heart aching with Simon's pain.
"So you think what I did was forgivable?" he turned to me. I was startled to see his eyes reddening.
"Everything is forgivable. It depends on whether the person wants to forgive or not," I squeezed his shoulders. "In your case, I'm sure you are already forgiven by many. You only have to forgive yourself."
He quickly turned away from me and stood up. "Sorry," he said and took the radio. "Can I be alone?" he said, not really a question, and walked towards the bedroom.
"Si, I'll do the radio," I said quickly to him.
He stopped at the bedroom door. "It's alright, I can do it. You go to sleep Tony. You haven't had real sleep since 'Point Zero'," he said and went into the bedroom.
What Simon said was true, I only had short naps ever since we were separated. But I couldn't stop worrying about them. How can I sleep? I looked at the door Simon was behind. Did I say something wrong? He was very sudden and insistent of being alone.
Sighing softly, I returned to my own bedroom and laid on my bed. I had already done everything there was to do in this apartment - maybe it was time to get some real sleep, just as Simon had said. I trusted that Simon would wake me up if he had found anything on the radio. After stretching my limbs, I closed my eyes and prayed that everyone was alright.
The world had turned dark purple before my eyes. Looking down, I realized that I was floating in midair, with the ground hundreds of feet beneath me. Strangely, I was not trembling - I was usually afraid of heights. I looked around, but I couldn't see my familiar city anywhere. Instead, I saw a beautiful beach and a magnificent purple ocean. My eyes was transfixed at the purple beauty as I let out a silent sigh.
I wanted to close my eyes and relax, but then I realized that I could not close my eyes. Confused, I raised my hands to cover my eyes, and I realized that I had no hands! I took a quick look down and found out that I had no body. I calmed down at that - was I a spirit? Maybe I was dead. It wasn't too bad was it? This purple world was magnificent and beautiful. I wouldn't mind staying here forever.
Jase.
My eyes snapped open. Color filled my eyes again and I shut them quickly to adjust to the bright light.
"He.. he's awake," said Simon's voice.
I looked over and saw him holding the radio to his mouth. Could it be...
"Tony? Thank God!" said Lil' Lily's voice from the radio. "Simon had me so worried - I told you he was only asleep!"
"You weren't here - I practically threw him off the bed and poured iced water on him, and he was still asleep!" Simon said defensively.
That was when I noticed that I was beside the bed instead of on it, wet from face to shoulders. But I was too happy to care. I took the radio from Simon. "Lil' Lily? Where on Earth are you guys?"
"We're in an apartment in Portsea - not sure what it's called," she chirped happily. "It's good to hear from you, Tony."
"And you too, Lil' Lily. What happened to you guys? We tried contacting you for the past two days!"
"Sorry 'bout that. We were under pursuit for quite a while. Actually we shook them off quickly the first time, but our battery died."
"Yours too?" Simon cut in. "Did you go to Myers for your batteries?"
"No, we found a sound-hardware store in Portsea, and took our batteries from there."
I laughed. "Poor Simon walked all the way to Myers."
"You don't mean 'city' Myers?" she laughed as well. "Well, actually that may be better - the alarm system went off when we broke in. The armies were on our backs right away. We got the batteries, but it took us much longer to shake them off this time."
"No wonder you guys took so long," I laughed. "It's a good thing you guys got away. I can't believe Jean let you guys break in a shop like that though - I thought she always had everything figured out."
Lil' Lily hesitated a little. "Uh, Tony, actually there's something you should know," she breathed deeply. "We only managed to escape because of Jean - she provided the distraction for the armies when we found out they were checking the warehouses."
"Wait - you mean?"
"Jean used herself as the distraction, Tony. She was captured. We tried to stop her, but she'll hear nothing of it."
Damn. I looked at Simon and realized that he was studying my face before he turned away. "Is everyone okay?" I said into the radio.
"Yes, thanks to Jean we were."
"That's good to hear. Hey, pass me to Jase - we've got a rescue mission to plan."
There was only silence in the radio - no affirmation or anything. At first I thought Lil' Lily had forgotten to affirm, and immediately passed the radio to Jase. But as the silence dragged on, I began to wonder what was going on.
"Lil' Lily?" I asked again.
"Hey Tony," said a man's voice. It wasn't Jase's.
"Kevin? What's going on?"
"Tony," he said cautiously. "We thought Jase was with you."
"You sure it's alright, Si?"
"Of course - this isn't my first time, remember?" he replied quickly.
Kevin stepped forward and gave Simon a quick hug. "Bro, you better take care. Don't take up on heroics like him, okay?" he said, indicating me.
"No promises on that," Simon said. We raised our eyebrows at him. "But I'll try my best," he added quickly.
This seemed to satisfy Kevin - he nodded at Simon. I watched Simon as he walked out of the door without hesitation. This wouldn't need to happen if the Internet was still working. Dean told us that they had stopped all Internet services a day before Jean was captured, and because of that, we had no idea where Jean was held captive. We didn't even know what happened to Jase. If he was captured, we could only hope he was with Jean.
So, how can we find out where they had placed Jean, I had asked them yesterday, when we rejoined. Kevin immediately suggested that we interrogate the enemy. That was what he would do in the army, he had said. We didn't have any other option, so Simon volunteered to capture one of the soldiers. We all had protested at once, but he had insisted that he was going with or without our support. Not seeing a way out of that, we began to plan the kidnap. If Simon was to do it, we had to make sure he does it right, at the right place, time and circumstance.
When Simon had told us that he knew how to knock any man unconscious from behind, Kevin had wanted to go with him, reasoning that Simon was not enough to carry an unconscious body. However, Simon had responded by saying in a 'not-so-tactful' way that anyone else who followed would end up alerting soldiers from three hundred feet away. Besides, he had only planned to hide the body and get someone else to carry the unconscious soldier when it was safe, he had said.
After a few hours, Simon was still not back. This worried us greatly, but there was nothing we could do but keep waiting. While I was pacing at the front door, I noticed Kevin was very pale.
"Kev, What's the matter?" I asked him.
He shook his head. "No... I just feel... guilty, and afraid, I guess."
It was very unlike Kevin. So I pushed on, "About?"
"I was the one who suggested the kidnap... what if Simon doesn't... you know, come back," he replied.
"Then we'll just have to try to capture another soldier and add Simon to the 'rescue list'."
He looked startled at that. Then he laughed softly, "You make me feel so silly for worrying. You're right - as long as we're alive, we can always make things better."
I grinned at him.
It was four hours since Simon had left when he finally returned. Kevin immediately stood up and hugged him. To our surprise, Simon dragged an unconscious man behind him.
"I thought your plan was to get one of us to carry him?" Kevin frowned at him.
Simon shrugged. "At that time I didn't see any problem carrying him myself. There wasn't anyone around."
"No wonder you took so long," I grinned at him. "Have some rest, Si. We'll take care of him."
Simon nodded and walked in, only to be stopped again by everyone else. I wondered how Simon had felt then - everyone was expressing their worry and relief to him. Kevin had thrown the blue-clad soldier over his soldier and hauled him to the bedroom. Jon and I followed him in.
The three of us tied the soldier down on the chair with ropes. We had found the ropes - that was used for boats - in the docks. When Kevin had double checked that every knot was tight enough, he took a glass of cold water and splashed it over the soldier's face. The soldier gave a jerk and opened his eyes. When he saw us and realized that he was tied, his face paled.
"You will tell us what we want to know," Kevin said and flipped open the blade of his Swiss Army Knife.
The soldier looked at the knife, but did not say anything. I couldn't tell whether he was afraid or defiant.
"You have two of our friends in captive - where are they?" Kevin continued.
Again, the soldier kept his silent. I didn't want to stay here any longer to watch this, but I thought it was unfair that the burden was on Kevin and Jon only. I watched as Jon walked up to the soldier and smacked the side of his face with his fist.
"You think we'll hesitate to hurt you? We'll cut the meat of you piece by piece until you talk," Jon hissed dangerously. That was a part I never knew existed in Jon.
Kevin moved forward and put his blade at the man's ears. "Shall we start with his ears?"
"No," I said, hoping I had sounded as cold as them. "He needs to hear us - we'll start with his toes, and work our way up."
Kevin complied by bending down and sticking the blade between the man's toes. The man jerked but did not say anything.
"Shall I start?" asked Kevin.
We had to do this. For Jean and Jase. "We'll start with a little flesh from his toe - we have the whole night before we're done with one foot."
Jon looked disappointed. "You mean we have to wait before I can cut off his dick? I want to hear him scream."
The man still kept quiet. Kevin must have sensed that there was no other way, because in one quick movement, he cut out a piece of flesh from the man's toe. That man moaned in pain.
"See this?" Kevin asked the soldier, flaunting the pink piece of flesh in front of his face. "Open your mouth."
I felt myself going sick. I tried to keep my face hard however. Where had Kevin got those ideas from? The man looked sick and clamped his mouth shut. But Jon had walked behind him forced his jaw open. The man struggled against the ropes as Kevin's hand hovered over his mouth.
"Woa-kay woakay, wai'll twalk!" that man tried to blurt out with Jon's hands on his jaws.
Having heard him, Kevin put the meat away and Jon released him. They looked at me and smiled when their backs were on the soldier. I wanted to smile too, but the soldier was looking at me. Giving the soldier my hardest glare, I asked, "So?".