"Come on 136, it's been days, how much more of this can you take?" The master said.
"My name is Reuben not 136" I said with difficultly.
"Your friends left you, they're not coming back… not for you, not for anyone. Why are you still protecting them" he said.
It hurt too much to hold up my head, so I didn't even try. It hung there as the master went on and on. He never could see what was right in front of his nose. One of his body guards handed him a flat ended hammer as the other guard walked over to me, running his fingers through my hair before grabbing it and yanking my head up.
"I don't care how long it takes; you will tell me what I want to know" the master said.
My vision started to blur and the lids of my eyes grew harder to keep open. The pain was just too much. He took a step closer, holding out a flat hand and swinging it at my head. Slapping me across the face. His efforts in keeping me awake were poor and ineffective. The guard released my hair and my head dropped. I couldn't stop or slow it from falling. Allowing my eyes to close, I blacked out.
Hours later.
Time has become in relevant. It is unclear what day it is or how long I have been in this chair. The chair itself was covered in blood and sweat. I don't know how long I've been out, but something wasn't right when I woke. There was no one in the room with me when my eyes opened. Pain pulsed through my body as I lifted my head, trying to see something. A red light flashed under the door on and off. For once there was no noise, no sound, no people in the hall or near the door. Just the faint noise of a familiar sound. The alarm, but not the escapee alarm. A different alarm, one that had only been activated once since the place had been built. We were under attack. I rested my head on the back of the chair. My face felt crusty, swollen and it hurt to move. It was difficult to breathe and it felt like my arms were going to break off if I tried to move them. Taking beep breaths, I tried to relax my muscles.
"Boss! We found the basement and the safe!" A man yelled.
"Good! Get it open! I'll be right there!" A woman yelled back.
I brought my head forward slightly to see the shadows and loud footprints of more then one person marching past the door. It took only a few seconds for one other person to walk past as well. They were going straight to the safe on the other side of the hall.
"We need the code" A man said.
She walked past the door again before coming back and standing in front of it for a few seconds. She tried to open the door, but it was looked. I closed my eyes, thinking that they would give up on trying to open it and leave. My last hope of survival was on the other side of that door and I couldn't move… I couldn't make a sound. The faint sound of a radio turning on was a far to familiar for me.
"Hey, Walker, are you still with the man in charge around here?" she said into the radio.
"Yeah" a man's voice said coming through the radio.
"Bring him down to me" she said.
They have the master? And their keeping him alive? This is something I never thought could happen. The master loosing control of his building. He has never loved anything like he loves his building… his operation anyway. He hired professionals to protect it. Installed heavy guns that could destroy any ship with one shot. I kept listening as a set of two people were dragging a third down the stairs and hallway.
"You, open this door" she said.
"Why? There's nothing in there" the master said, angerly.
"Open it or we'll cut of your thumbs and open it ourselves" she said.
There was a sound of a someone putting in a pin code and some short of scan. With a click of the lock, the door swung open. A woman only a few years older than me marched inside with her head held high. Her long dark blue hair danced with each step. She wore tight pants, shirt, boots with a thick jacket and a gun holstered to her right leg. A light shined on her face as if she was some type of angle. She didn't carry a smile, but a grin with curious look in her brown eyes.
"Well, well, what do we have here?" she said.
"That woman is a trader" the master said before getting punched in the stomach by one of the men.
"Now, what could you have possibly done to end up down here and like this?" she asked.
I tried to speak, but the pain was overbearing and only a muted screech came out. She unhooked the restraints on my arms, hands and legs. She knelt down in front of me, looking me in the eyes.
"I can tell that it hurts too much for you to talk right now and I want to help you, but here's the thing we don't take strangers with us. Not if we can't tell if they can be trusted, so if you can prove to us that you are trust worthy, then you can come with us. Okay? Do we have a deal?" she said.
"Ho… How?" I said with extreme pain and tiredness in my voice.
"That's the spirit" she said.
One of the men in her crew walked over to me. He gentle grabbed my left arm placing it around the back of his neck, he gentle placed his hand on my waist and helped me up off the chair. I could barely hold myself up. He kept me on my feet and help me walk to the door. The woman was standing beside the master and the other man.
"First things first, do you know the code to the safe?" she asked.
"13369" I said.
"Why thank you" she said.
The man beside her left the room and jogged down to the two others. The woman then reached over to her holster. She pulled out her gun and smacked the master in the side of the face with it. I smiled at the sight.
"One last thing, trust isn't given, it's earned. This man enslaved you and countless others not to mention he tortured you for who knows how long. Would you kill him to earn our trust and your freedom?" she asked, holding out the gun.
I held out my hand to take the gun from her. No one hated or dreamed of this moment as much as I have. I am no saint. Holding the gun in my hand I slowly lifted it up and pressed the barely against the masters' head. He opened the mouth to talk, but I didn't give him a chance to speak. Not anymore. I pressed my finger on the trigger and the gun went off. Splatting the masters' head all over the wall. The woman looked at me surprised that I was able to kill with such ease.
"Captain, the continents of the safe is on the ship, we are ready to go" A man said, jogging into the room.
"Alright. Walker bring her, she is coming with us" the woman said.
The man helped me walk as we followed the woman back to her ship. Her ship had landed on the loading dock. It wasn't as big as I thought it was. How ever it was incredible. The wings, outer shell, front window, even the door in the back. It all looked brand new. In all my years of being a scavenger I have never seen a ship like this. It wasn't just any ship. It had components from fighter ships, cargo ships and even command ships. The guns were even a module I've never seen before. It's beautiful… A real work of art. Her crew was waiting by the door as we approached. Four man in total and one woman. She walked on first then me and the man hold me followed, the rest of the men entered after us.