Chapter 6 - Order of Vengeance

Tyra, Krynn, and Relik also fled the region that was once the camp headed by Survivor. Their lives destroyed, the fled northward on the island, in hopes that the primarily unexplored northlands held civilized peoples.

The days had been good weather and sunny, but today, the sun rose red, and even these survivors of the invasion knew what that foretold: storms were coming. And indeed, the wind was picking up, and from the west, storm clouds were gathering.

Still, the trio did not relent on their journey in the ruined city. Stopping only for food, they made their way through the labyrinth of streets, glass, and bodies. Occasionally they would dart behind a fallen building, or a broken vehicle after seeing movement, but they could never identify the movement.

Tyra was the first one to notice any movement. Yesterday, when the sun was high, she said the first thing anyone had said since the flight from the village.

“Look.”

She pointed into an alleyway, and sure enough, a brief flicker of darkness went into the alleyway. Pointing his rifle into the alleyway and turning up the power, Relik pulled the trigger. An explosion of light, noise, and fire came out from the alleyway, and bricks from the nearby buildings collapsed into the alleyway.

When the dust cleared, Krynn ran over to investigate. Despite the fact that there was no way out from the alleyway, there was no one there.

And so the trio continued traveling, and thought little of it as they journeyed, although they did take sudden sights of movement more seriously.

As the sun set, the trio stopped in the bed of a truck to sleep. They ate canned food they had raided from a restaurant, and soon they were asleep.

That night the storm picked up, and ran began to fall. Lightning flash and thunder roared, and in the middle of the intense storm, the doors to the truck opened.

Startled, all three woke up simultaneously. They were already soaking wet from the water that had been falling, and were blasted with gale-force winds.

And suddenly, a shot was fired. The truck was knocked on its side as a small explosion rocked the bed. All three people were preparing their weapons when another shot was fired. And in just a few seconds, they were not alone in the truck.

Entering the truck was an extraordinarily tall man, about 6’6”, and with bulging muscles on his shirtless abdomen and arms. He brandished a full-sized kryon destruction ray, and spoke in a deep, baritone voice.

“Come!” he called. It was not a request, but a demand. Wind wrapped around him. “Come now or meet your doom!”

The three had no choose but to follow him. They knew that a ray of that power could easily kill them in one shot.

Outside the truck, amidst the rain and lightning, were four or five other powerfully built men. One held three pairs of handcuffs in his hands.

The one who had entered the truck spoke again. “My name is Torture. Question anything I say, and you will see exactly why I have this name. These cuffs that Mute are holding are for you. Put them on, lock them, and follow us. Or die. The choice is yours.”

Tyra stepped forward first to be handcuffed, though Krynn and Relik were just seconds behind. Another of the captors brandished a whip, and handed it to Torture, who spoke again.

“You will follow us. You will not say a word. If you do, you’ll become like this fine fellow here. Mute? Show ‘em your tongue.”

Mute, doing as he was told, walked forward to the three people in turn. He opened his mouth, and where there should have been a tongue, was now a stump.

“Would you like to know how he became like this? I did it. He didn’t want to cooperate, so I attached a poisoned metal spike to the tip of his tongue. If he closed his mouth, he would be poisoned and die a slow and painful death. I told him he could easily escape it. He just had to bite off his own tongue.”

Krynn felt he was going to be sick, and Tyra turned away from the face of their captor. The men began to leave, and so the three were forced to follow them.

They marched for several hours, only continuing moving at the tip of Torture’s cruel whip. Finally, they reached their destination.

“Enter,” commanded Torture, pointing his weapon down a staircase.

Going first, the three walked down the staircase into what was once the subway system of the city. They had never gone there, because Survivor had warned about there being bands of savages underneath. It appeared he was correct.

All three could not help but notice the shackled skeleton attached to the wall, and written there, likely in its blood, were four words. Four words that they knew they would come to loathe.

The Order of Vengeance.