Claustrum Chap. 1 (2) Anthony was one of the last to leave the room, but before he walked out he turned and threw his pistol towards John. “Its programmed!” he cried out as he turned and walked out the room. John held the pistol aimed towards the two men, but could not get a clear shot. Then it occurred to him that he and Peter had discussed this situation before, and what they would do if it ever happened to them. “Shoot him John!” cried out Peter, as he looked at John and winked. John got the signal, he fired the pistol, the lacer went through the right shoulder of Peter, hitting Jim. At the same time he ran towards them, looking for a opportunity to fire a second time. As both man fell back, Jim glanced towards John and with an evil grin, shot Peter through the head. “Nooo!” John cried out, as he shot once more, this time hitting Jim on the head killing him instantly. John ran to the side of his friend’s body. At this Vanessa came into the room and seeing Peter on the ground, also ran to him. They both kneeled next to Peter, John took his head and placed it on top of his own knees and hugged him. Peter looked up both of them then smiled at Vanessa. “I love you, babe” with that, he closed his eyes one last time. “Peter!” Vanessa, she pulled his head from Johns lap and hugged it, he was gone, there was nothing they could do now; he was dead. John sat on the ground with his head in his hands and his back against the wall, his body covered with his best friends blood. He had lost his wife and also his best friend. He cried for someone to call Judge Oslim. And also sent some officers to his home to check on Sandra. Fifteen minutes later a call came, and it was confirmed that his wife also had been murdered. John stood and walked over to Jim’s corpse and angrily kicked it as he cried out in rage. Then he place his back against the wall and dropped to the floor in tears. A couple days later, two coffins laid side by side. John stood looking at the coffins of his wife and best friend. Jim had taken everything he had, his wife, he could live without, he had lost love for her, specially after what had happened between her and Jim, their relationship had pretty much ended, but she did not deserved this. Now, Peter, he was going to miss, the man that many times had saved his life, and had stuck with him throughout thick and thin, he was laying there instead of him, gave his life for him, he was surely going to miss. A 21 gun salute broke Johns thoughts, then a short speech was given by the priest as the bodies were lowered into the ground. After the funeral Judge Oslim walked over towards John “Hello, old friend,” He paused a second “We need to meet, and discuss what happened here John”, he said. John nodded and said “I know the routine old man, but give me a couple of weeks, then we can do the trial”. “Very well, you have a month to mourn the loss of your wife and friend, then you know where to go”, said the Judge. “Thank you, Frank” As the Judge walked off, John watched him for a bit, Vanessa stepped by his side and asked “How long did he give you?” “A month”, he replied; a month of solitude, of quietness and with out the pranks and jokes of his best friend. She grabbed his arm, gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. “Bye John, I am going to stay with my parents for a while also, at least until things are better.” John returned the kiss and gave her a smile. Vanessa walked away and got in a car. John turned and began to walk down the sidewalk. Good bye Keara took the lead and ask them to follow her, she stepped out into the a street and had walked around a corner, then quickly turned back and leaned up against the wall, signaling to be quiet. “Whats the matter?” John asked in a low voice. Keara looked at him once more and signaled him to be silent. She then looked out to take a peak and seeing a chance she took it, she leaped out and ran to the other side of the street. After a few minutes she returned and whispered. “Follow me, and quickly” Both John and Straffor followed closely. They walked across the dirt street and behind a small building and entered through a back door. Keara waited for them to come in and quickly locked the door, and turned to find John and Straffor looking at her questionably. “Well, I think is best if we wait till it’s dark to leave the city” “Whats the matter?” John asked once more, feeling a bit irritated, he was not some sort of macho man, but since he had been here, he felt a bit underpowered by the beautiful woman that stood before him, he did not like to feel out of control. She was not only beatiful, but she could kill any man, and therefore she was dangerous, John was not scared, but he felt in like as if an a world not his own, and he was, he would have to get used to it. “Well you have people looking for you, and not only the thugs” she explained. John looked at her puzzled, the comment had broken the chain of thought “What do you mean not only the thugs?” “What I mean is that guards are also looking for you, they must also know about the platinum that you carry” She explained. Straffor walked about the room “that’s what I feared, it doesnt take long for people here to spread rumors, especially when it comes to coin. Well I guess it’s best if we wait till dark then” “Did you overhear the guards?” John asked Keara. “No” She replied. “Then how do you know, that the guards are also looking for me?” “Well I got that information out of him” she pointed at a guard that laid on a dark corner of the room. John turned and looked back amazed at Keara “Is he dead?” “No” She responded calmly, “He’s just knocked out” “Humph” Was the only sound that came out of Straffors throat, then he walked over to the man, and looked down at him. “But how did you get information out of him so quickly?” John asked. “Like this” She said as she walked over to John and graving him by the hand twisted it inwards and around, John dropped to his knees, the pain shocked his whole body and he could not move a muscle. “Ok, Ok” he managed to cry out. She let go of his hand with a satisfied smile. “What the hell was that?” He asked. “That is a secret technique I learned from and old friend” she explained. “But I don't see how you could have gotten information out of him that way” “Well, I tapped into his mind as I asked questions, this technique is almost one hundred percent effective” she exclaimed. “Most pass out in the end too” Johnathan walked over next to straffor to look at the man. “Do you know him?” Keara asked the old man. Straffor knelled down and locked about the mans pockets and hidden places and said “Nope, but I seen him around, and I know that hes part of some guild” John looked over the man “guild?” “Yes a guild my dear ole Winnslow, a clan, a gang, a group of people that work together to help each other, for good or bad” Straffor explained. “I know what a guild is, but how do you figure that he is in a guild?” John asked. John herd Keara let out a small laugh, “You ask more questions than a toddler” She said as she walked over to the man and untied a small red cloth out of a buttons hole on the mans tunic. “This here means that he belongs to some sort of group, its small enough to be missed by most people, but if you are looking for it you will know where to find it.” she explained. “thats just thread, that could have been there by accident” John muttered. “Winnslow” Straffor cried out “You have a lot to learn about Claustrom, most of the stuff that you will see, will not make sense to you, people here have to be careful about everything that they do, they have to protect their way of life, and this is the way they do it” John knew that he was out of place and felt a little embarrassed by the whole situation, he was mostly mad at him self for making conclusions before thinking about them, he thought him self a fool for this. “I wish I knew who is behind all of this” said Straffor. “Well can’t you go back in there and get it out of him?” John asked as he looked at Keara. “Nope, if I go in there again there is a high chance that he may die from the mental exhaustion” “How-” John was interrupted. “Before you ask, he wont literally die, he will just become like a vegetable” Keara explained. “Geez” John cried out as scratched his head, he was more then frustrated by it all. for him, this fantasy world, once playground for those who could afford it, now was his prison. A place where everything seemed so real, yet everyone knew that it was not. He then wondered about the lack of knowledge about this place and the things one should know to survive, and the lack of guidance about it all. “Look Winnslow, I know this world seems a bit hard to understand, and I tell you that no matter how hard you try to understand everything, you will always be ignorant, For one they keep changing many things on a daily basis, this is done to make the prison better or for some worse, it is pretty much all about control, I know that you will get a hang of it soon enough” John nodded at her comments and turned to see the man laying on the ground once more, “how did you subdue him so fast?” John asked. “Its not only about hitting a person, you have to know where to hit and with how much force before you have total control” She replied. “Well you could’t have picked a better place for us to hide in Keara” Straffor said as he looked about the empty room, not a chair in sight, or anything to sit on at that, he then walked over to the opposite side of the room and sat down on the wooden floor. “Well might as well rest as much as we can, we have a long journey ahead of us and for the looks of it a dangerous one too” Keara walked over, and sat next to the old man. John stood for a minutee glancing towards them and then sat near the man that laid on the floor, he needed to be left alone to think. He glanced once more over towards the man and could see the mans chest rise and fall with the breathing movements of his body. Again his mind wondered about the whole place, His mind was always in awe at the design of the whole place, the likeness of items such as buildings and even the floors. His hand rand across the material that resembled wood, it did not only resembled wood it felt like it, he thought. For a virtual place, it seemed almost to real. A few hours passed quietly and John began to feel a little weary, the man still lied on the floor where Keara had interrogated him. He stood and walked over to a small window and glanced out. The Sky was turning a darker blue before his eyes, and starts slowly began to appear and glitter. Keara walked up next to him and looked up towards the sky also. John looked over towards her and noticed her smile a bit, then he looked up also and in wonder. “I think that the night sky is about the only thing that I love about this world” She muttered in a low voice. “Yea, I have never seen anything like it.” John replied. “Think about it, all those start and moons and planets, yet you know that they were created by humans and its all a big lie” She paused for a few seconds, then continued “It makes you wonder huh Winnslow?” she asked. John looked over at her then back at the sky “and what exactly do you mean?” he asked. “What I mean is that with such beauty, is it possible that there was a creator and not just and accident or that took many years to be?” “For me is easier to believe that we have evolved into what we are, and all that is around us has also” John explained. Keara looked over to John and curled her lips upwards and shook her head and walked over to Straffor and said “We must be getting ready to leave soon” The room they were in was dark now, John could barely see in front of him by then. He walked over to what he thought was the place were he once sat, and stumbled on the unconscious man on the floor. “Carefull there Winnslow, we dont wanna have to carry you the whole way to Albanova” Straffor cried out mockingly and holding back laughter. John did not say a word, he felt like a man drunk, but the drunkenness was not real, it was more like brainless, the harder he tried the more he failed, he quickly patted the floor with his hand looking for his sack, once he felt it he picked it up “total darkness” he said as he passed his hand in front of his face. “You will get used to it” Said the old man. “It’s just a matter of time” “not only that, but it will help us escape the fort” Keara said. “Humph” was all that John could say, He knew that he would get used to it but he hated the thought of learning to do things all over again, it seemed that he had to learn everything that he once knew how to do, and this was frustrating. Keara opened the door and looked out, she then signaled for them to follow her once more. John walked out of the structure and looked around the place, the darkness shielded them well, here and there were some torches, but not enough light was emitted out of them to bother their hiding places, they stealthily walked towards the north end of the fort. Night man patrolling the city in groups of three would walk about and occasionally squinted their eyes in their direction, but other than that they made it to the front entrance of the fort with out any mishaps. However the entrance was well lit, besides the torches, there was a large bowl like lamp near the center of the entrance, the flame on this bowl was large enough light up most of the entrance. The gate was up and eight guards stood on either side of the entrance. Very few people were coming and going, and with each one of them, the guards would stop and call out for their name and purpose for coming or going to the city. “Can’t we just climb the wall over?” John asked. “We could if we could climb the wall, but the way its designed we cant climb it, and besides, the only places you can really go up are those were the guards use to go up in case of a battle.” She explained. “So how are we going to do this?”, the old man asked. Keara looked over towards the guards pondering. “I know how” John exclaimed. “Some of the people that I’ve arrested have used this technique to try and get away from us” he explained. “What do you want to do?” Keara asked. “We need to find someone to help us” he exlplained. This was done quickly, the first person they asked, voluntered for the job, a few minutes later a man was seen running down the middle of the street directly towards the forts entrance, the guards saw him and signaled for the man to stop running, he did not, he then, ran right passed the guards and out into the woods, the guards quickly follow the man, two of the guards stopped about a hundred feet from the entrance and stood, they would not risk leaving the entrance to the fort unguarded, while the rest of the man searched for the fugitive, when people left the city in such way, it usually meant that he was a fugitive of the law. Keara sprinted towards the entrance, John and Straffor followed in her footsteps, once they passed under the city gate, she jumped to one side of the bridge diving into the water, both man did likewise. Both guards turned at the first splash they had herd and saw John taking his last bounce before jumping into the watery moat that surrounded the fort. “You there, stop!” One of the guards demanded, as he rushed to the place where they jumped from. The other guards were way to far to hear anything. As he reached the place he looked down on the dark waters but could not see anything “Go after him” the other guard cried out. “I am not going down there, I can’t swim” he replied. The guard that suggested it in the first place looked down and then quickly jumped over the edge of the bridge.
Copyright © 2009 Mathew Hamm |