.
The story Jay told me started when he was around fifteen and his sister, seven.
It was a blazing hot summer in El Salvador. Every year they would go there for vacation, and this year was no exception. It was sort of a tradition they held, besides, most of their family members lived here.
The siblings had been riding bicycles around the neighborhood and stumbled upon a place they had never seen before. It was for a good reason; the place seemed old and run down. The houses were long abandoned, and the road was littered with rocks and overgrown plants. Their parents always advised them not to go beyond the neighborhood, but curiosity had gotten the better of them.
As they continued on riding and went further through the abandoned labyrinth racked with mysteries, a sense of uncomfortableness festered within, worry overtaking their minds. Which path had they just taken? Where were they now? Could they even remember the way back?
Lilianne was still a mere child, and the thought of getting lost scared her. She told him she wanted to go back.
When Jay told me the next sentence, I could clearly see the shame on his face. It didn't exactly seem like a 'normal talk' as he had mentioned.
Since he was still a growing teen, ignorant of his entourage, he had gotten irritated at her and called her coward. Notably angered by his words, she refuted his comment, and the two started up a bickering match which had lasted quite the while. Their dispute had lasted until evening, when the sun had already set.
"What are we gonna do now? It's all your fault!"complained Lilianne.
"No it's not!"
"Yuh-huh."
"Nuh-uh."
This is when things started going downhill.
As the sky darkened to a black ink and the night went ghost-quiet, the kids finally realized the gravity of the situation. Their dumb actions had gotten them lost and they didn't have any way to find help or know which way it was to head home. At least, that was what they had originally thought before coming across a group of individuals that seemed awfully shady.
When the group of thugs saw the two children, they gave a nasty sneer and lunged towards their direction.
Jay didn't tell me the details, but I could guess what happened. The following day, Jay and Lilianne were announced missing.
A week later, they were found in an abandoned house in the scruffed up neighborhood, starving and frightened. Lilianne had a few bruises on her, and Jay was severely injured on his head.
He couldn't tell the investigators what happened. He lacked the words to speak, overwhelmed by the feeling of fright.
Even today, despite being 21, it was still difficult for him to express the situation completely. He fell silent, unable to go into further details, but it was more than enough for me. I could imagine pretty clearly what had happened.
Although I could tell he felt guilty for the incident, I could never understand just how burdensome it must be for him to hold onto such memories.
After he finished telling his story, he made me vow to never reveal what was now our secret, and continue on as if the discussion had never been spoken of in the first place.
.
.
.
For hours, we walked in silence. It had been a while since we saw a Brillante and the fog was showing signs of lightening up. Finally, some good news. It meant that the area around here was most likely a safe place to stay.
We traversed through an industrial complex and arrived next to a massive mall.
It has been around a month since the 'apocalypse' started, and the building was in ruins. The walls were cluttered with cracks and glass was splattered all over the floors. The scenery resembled a horror movie.
It was possible people were already monopolizing this place, looting it of all its resources. Regardless, we still entered to scout it out and confirm that it was a safe place from the Brillante that wandered the streets.
From the inside, darkness shrouded our vision. Even our flashlights weren't enough to keep us from tripping over a multitude of things. …It was strange. There wasn't a single person in sight and the entire place was eerily quiet. Was there still anyone who was alive? Humans, preferably. Uneasiness filled the air, making us cautious over every little thing. I wasn't sure if it was just me, but I swore something was whispering. It was clear and quiet in my ears, lurking from the dark.
Suddenly, Jay made a subtle lift of his hand, causing me to halt in my steps.
"Wait. I just heard something."
"Are you sure it's not just an animal?"
The tall man glanced over and shook his head.
"I doubt it. A place this quiet is too suspicious. It's got to be a trap."
I thought about it too. He was right, it was too quiet for comfort. Now, I was sure that the whispers I heard were not my imagination or any sort of paranoia.
"Do you think we should leave?" I quietly asked.
He gave a nod. How frustrating. A mall would've been a nice place to stay in, despite the risks. In this type of world, people fueled with greed would do anything. People could break in and attack us..
On one hand, we couldn't afford dying here. On the other hand, we had already been gone for a long time, and if we were to turn up empty-handed to the others, it would have been for nothing. What a pain to be stuck in this tricky situation.
We stood there quiet and immobile for a few minutes, trying to think of a solution. Perhaps, there was no trap. Maybe it really was an animal, and the whispers were simply a figment of my imagination.. This place had the resources we needed, and we were running out of time to be dilly-dallying. But if we were truly in danger…
I let out an agitated sigh, unable to come to a decision.
Crack! With the cracking sound coming out of the blue, it jolted me from my thoughts and in a sudden motion, I tripped on a rock. As I fell onto the ground, I heard Jay swiftly speeding towards its direction and a faint scream sounded, followed by a heavy thud of an object falling.
"Are you okay?" Jay questioned as he hurried to tie up my attacker with a rope he snatched from his bag.
"I-I think so.."
I was still processing what had happened. I didn't notice the presence behind me and if it wasn't for the noise, I would've probably been dead. I looked at the person behind me. It was an ordinary woman. She held a metal bar and glared daggers at me. Jay was right, coming in here was a bad idea, this was clearly an ambush of some sorts.
I got up and spoke to Jay.
"Thanks for saving me. I'll pay you back for sure."
"Don't mention it."
I continued, but my focus was on the woman this time.
"Who are you? What do you want? Why were you trying to kill me??"
Of course, she was unhelpful. She refused to answer my questions.. Both Jay and I didn't want to go through an interrogation with all the threatening and such. It was too much of a hassle, so we decided to spark a deal instead. If she told us the truth, we'd protect her from anyone posing a threat to her within the mall. After taking a considerable amount of time thinking, she agreed and started to speak.
"I didn't try to kill you. Well, it wasn't my intention anyway. I just wanted knock you out and keep you restrained.''
"What, why? Besides, who knocks a person out with a METAL bar? A wooden bat would cause less damage."
"Yeah, because the apocalypse lets you pick and choose whatever weapon to use," she muttered sarcastically. "It's the order I received. But as you can see, it clearly didn't work out because you're still yapping your mouth off."
I decided to ignore her rudeness.
"Who gave you the orders?"
This time, it was Jay who asked the question. However, the answer she gave us was disappointing.
"That… I can't tell you, even if I wanted to. I only came here a week ago and was attacked like you guys. I was then forced to follow orders and it's been like that for a while now. Only a few people know the boss' identity."
This was a typical situation you'd usually expect to read about in a fictional novel or something. It wasn't a shocker that people in an apocalyptic world would quickly realize that the government was now useless, and begin to strive for their own power.
You could do whatever you wanted. There were no laws. You could be the law. Rally up a bunch of people, bring back the monarchy or start up an organization in which you're in charge.
Most of the power hungry people that exploit the weak were delusional old men drunk on the fantasy of bringing back the olden times where honor and pride was everything. In all fairness, those types of 'rulers' were usually easy to deal with. Taking them down eased my stress, as it would usually be simple.
As time passed, the woman slipped us a few more pieces of important information. For example, she told us the names of the people who worked closely with the boss. Now, we had a few targets in mind– to talk to, of course. There were currently a total of 54 citizens who were trapped in this place. Tied down by fear, they lacked the courage to go against the higher ups.
They were restricted in a hidden chamber to prevent them from escaping, and were guarded with strict rules. The prisoners could only consume what was provided to them, unallowed to take food for themselves, and had a specific time in which they slept. No one was allowed to leave. Their pitiful lives were like this as soon as the world ended, and it had been ages since they'd felt the sun's warmth, not a single glimmer of hope. The imprisoned were weary, sick and exhausted of such life that they no longer felt human.
I muttered to myself, and pinched the bridge of my nose. Hearing this gave me a headache. In the corner of my eye I could see Jay clenching his fists. I could understand why. The event that had impacted him so much since that day was similar to the situation at hand. Powerless and helpless, they were at the mercy of the leader. How were they expected to fight back? A surge of aggravation flowed in my veins, and a newfound determination found itself home. I let out a sigh.
We were going to take action.
I quickly hatched a plan while Jay kept watch over the black-haired woman. First, we were going to meet with someone who knew the boss, they'll get us closer to the kingpin. Then, we'll negotiate a deal with the boss –peacefully. In doing so, the outcome may free the trapped citizens and we'd have an alliance along with a place to stay. It'd be knocking out two birds with one stone.
Even though I knew the plan was a bit far-fetched, I couldn't really think of anything else. We had to make a move soon, or we'd be stuck here leaving Sasha and Lilianne alone, sad, and rotting in this crappy ruined world. I glanced over to my companion and whispered my plan in his ear. He gave me a weird expression but still agreed. We didn't have much choice other than to go with my plan.
With a determined expression, I mustered all the courage I had in me and asked to meet with the higher-ups.