Stories little piece by little piece

[Isabella7Storm5]

Spoiler: 15

“I don't usually let people tell me what to do” Markus sighed as he strolled around the room, “even if they are rather tall or strong,” he trailed the tip of his finger along the feathers on Arne’s wings as he walked by, “or freakishly weird….like you.”
Arne clenched his fists ever so slightly. His anger began to grow.
“So no,” Markus finished “I won't keep my end of the deal because, little bird man, you have already given me all that I want.”
“Do you deem this a wise choice?” Arne questioned.
“Oh, I deem all my choices wise.” Markus laughed, “And now I have you too.”
Arne shut his eyes. What had he done? Suddenly, with a powerful thrust, he had Markus pinned to the far wall. He stared into Markus’s eyes and tightened his grip slowly around his neck. A scared look came over Markus’s face for a split second and then was replaced by a look of malice. He reached up and took hold of Arne with his metal arm and with inhuman strength, began to pry his attacker away.
Arne resisted but was flung to the floor and slid back. He was up again in a flash, his eyes burning.
“I am a very busy man, Arne,” Markus sighed, “This has been fun but I have other things to do.”
Mist started to seep through the base of the walls and filled the room. Markus pulled a mask over his face.
Arne felt his legs go weak and he started to black out. He fought for breath but it was all in vain. He collapsed to the floor.

 

[Isabella7Storm5]

Spoiler: 16 (tiny piece)

I sat in the back corner of our cell. A cold night wind had picked up and was conveniently blowing straight into the exposed side of our containment. I shivered and brought my arms up and wrapped them around my knees.
Everything was quiet, so quiet I could hear everyone breathing softly around me.
“Connor, you awake?” John whispered
“Well, now I am” I answered.
He moved closer.
“We have to get out and find Katoka. Then we leave.”
“Well if you haven't noticed,” I sighed, “We are stuck in a heavily guarded city and even if we’re close to the exit, we have no idea where Katoka would be. I can't even begin to imagine where or even why they have her.”
“Why do they have us?” he asked.
“Why would I have the answer to that?” I huffed.
“You wouldn't but Arne would ” John Scowled.
“Yes, he would” I agreed.
Suddenly, we heard running. It was the quiet running of a lone person.
A dark shadow slipped in front of the bars and pressed against them.
“Hey,” It whispered, “I can help you. You’re not safe here.”

 

[Isabella7Storm5]

Spoiler: 17

John lept up and grabbed the collar of its cloak.
“How,” He hissed, “Are we supposed to trust the likes of you?”
The shadow sputtered and coughed “I…I’m not…..one of them!”
“John for heaven's sake put him down!” I commanded.
He opened his fist and let the man collapse to the floor. He gasped for breath and rubbed his neck to ease the pain. He stood up and looked back through the bars.
“My name is Cyrus and I can help you find your friends-”
“Friend,” John interrupted, “There’s only one.”
“You don't know Arne? He said you did.”
“We did but he’s the one who got us into this mess.”
“He was doing it because he had to but if you don't hurry it will be too late for him.”
“Can you truly help us find Katoka?” I asked.
“Yes, they took her under the city. They’re running tests.”
“Tests?! Why?!” John was very angry.
“You and your group, you are all far from ordinary, yes?” Cyrus nodded toward the back of the cell. “Some want to find something to save us all but they won't, there is nothing we can do.”
“How can you get us out?” John cut in.
Cyrus shrank back at the harsh tone. “Well,” he answered cautiously, “I obviously brought help.”

 

[Isabella7Storm5]

Spoiler: 18 (im back! sorry for the wait)

“Y-”
“Please just trust me” Cyrus interrupted “It won't take long unless. Of course, you alert the guards with all this yammering” He shot a look at John. “Now please stand in the corners of your cell, this’ll only be a moment.”
I ran back and roused the others.
“Quickly,” I whispered, “into the corners.”
The three girls obeyed without question.
Cyrus nodded and then stepped back. He gestured with his hands and then—
BOOM! The ceiling fell through in the middle. Through the dust and rubble, I could see several rope ladders whip over the wall and a couple of people in black cloaks and masks covering the bottom half of their faces drop down into the cell. They began helping Grace, Pailia, and Averi over the wall. One beckoned to John and I to follow.
Before thinking twice, I grabbed the nearest ladder, scaled the wall, and dropped to the ground on the other side. John landed beside me. The group was already disappearing around a building. Before following, I glanced down and saw the reason we were not being followed. They had knocked several guards out and piled them on top of each other behind the cell.
I chuckled and ran after the others.



We were in a cave. It wasn't a dirty wet cave full of bats and darkness. It was a well-lit, warm cave full of men who were planning an escape. We sat in a corner as a few of them stood around a table, some holding candles as they looked at the map. I was told it was a map of the underground city.
One of the men limped closer to where we sat.
“Which of you is the leader of your team?” He asked.
I stood up “I am.” I addressed him with respect not knowing how strict these people were with formalities. I couldn't see his face but he seemed surprised.
“You done over there!?” one of the men shouted.
“Yes,” the first one called back. He turned to me, “You’re wanted.”
I followed him and we stood on the outer edges of the group around the map.
“Sam, get over here!” one of the men leaning over the map called, “We need you. And bring the boy too.”
I did a double-take. This was Sam? How was he here?
Sam pulled his hood back and pushed his way through the small crowd. I had no choice but to follow. I elbowed my way through and found a spot, much to my disliking, across from Sam who was the only person I knew here even if it was only for a few minutes that I had known him. I did not like standing by all these strange people.
He was deep in conversation with one man as they peered at the map, pointing to various lines and waypoints.
I took this opportunity to look at him. He was pale and one side of his face was lightly covered in little brown veins. A larger one had passed through his eye which was now a cloudy white color.
How long was that thing in him? I thought, not more than a day would make sense but—
“Hey there!”
I jumped. It was Cyrus.
“Ok, let's get into this, first, i was gonna start with a bit of history”
“Histo—”
“Sh, listen, stop talking, a long while ago, there were many people who thought the infestation would die out eventually if only we stayed underground and away from them long enough and that’s true, without hosts to continue the breeding cycle, the would die out, so people went underground but the Crushers dug through and the underground city was abandoned, bricked up, forgotten, well, that’s what everyone thought. A little while ago rumors started going around that they had cleaned it out but nobody knew and nobody wanted to try and find out only to be wrong, but we did. We sent one man in, one of our best. He was able to report back for a while, we got a map drawn out and lots of other information until one day, he went silent and we never heard from him again.”
“What was down there?” I almost whispered.
“They turned it into a laboratory, their one goal? It's not to find a cure, it's not to wipe them out, it's to control them and in turn control the world.”
A chill ran down my spine
Cyrus seemed out of breath at the end of his speech.
“And they have Katoka down there?” I asked. “And Arne?”
“Yes,” Cyrus nodded. “They do not care about the well-being of anyone.”
“Hang on, who’s they? You keep saying they.”
“The leaders of Gar and the leaders of the leaders. It’s complicated.” Cyrus shrugged.
“Right,” I sighed “So what do we do?”
“Are you willing to die for your friends?”
“Of course, I think, yeah.”
“Okay then,” Cyrus smiled, “Follow me!”
He led me down a short passage and out into a large room lit by torches. There were weapons on the walls and different outfits and combat gear on racks in the middle. Cyrus wove in and out of these until he stopped and pulled something off a shelf.
“Here, wear this”
I took it and lifted it up to the light. It was black and smooth. It absorbed light like a shadow and had loops and pockets to hold various things and doodads for sneaking around with.
“This is amazing, what's it made of?” I breathed.
“Feathers.” Cyrus answered, “From the birds in the dead lands.”
“Woah..”
“Let's hurry,” Cyrus urged, “We have much to do tonight.”
Cyrus led me farther into the cave and through a blackout curtain into a small sleeping area. My group was already there. They were all sleeping except John who was sitting up on a cot watching the others.
I dropped the suit on an empty cot and without a word, sat next to him.
“You’re going with them aren't you?” John said.
“Yes, we’re leaving in a couple of minutes.”
“Please,” he sighed “let me come with you”
“John, you need to stay here with the others” I looked over at him, his head was down and he had his hands clasped in front of him.
“It just feels wrong that you should go and I am staying here doing nothing.”
“Hey,” I bumped his arm with my elbow, “We’ll be back with Katoka and Arne and then we can go to wherever it was that he was taking us.”
John’s eyes darkened, “be careful, Connor, he can't be trusted”
“I think he can, John. he seemed to know what he was talking about”
“None of this,” He waved his hand through the air as if he were gesturing to everything that had happened in the past couple of days, “was supposed to happen. We were supposed to go to the keep, we were supposed to get Averi home and now we can't do that.“
“We can still-”
“Can we?!” His voice rose, “Look Connor, every day she is not in the sky, her light gets less and less, she is fading.”
I looked over at Averi sleeping, her face was peaceful and serene. What John said was true