"Come on, we have to save them," Sakura urged me. "Immediately!" I then caught a wooden spike thrown at us. I looked to find the shadowy figures.
I stood up and stepped into the centre of the village, turning to face the shadowy figures. Their faces remained obscured, unable to see.
I looked at Sakura who was helping to get the village to safety.
"Who are you guys? Pirates?!" I questioned them.
I watched as their lips moved, but the sound was inaudible. Then, a pirate raised his hand, and the ground trembled as a wooden hand burst out of the ground. What?
In an instant, wooden spikes bolted towards me. BANG!
I opened my eyes and saw the warden in front of me. "Thought we're gonna have to postpone this one, but congratulations, you just played yourself." He said to me as he tightened the noose again.
Yeah, fuck that! I kick the warden, sending him sprawling across the floor. I took off the rope around my neck and began to run.
"STOP HIM!" The warden shouted as the prison security began running towards me with their rifles in hand. I run as bullets miss me barely, my luck giving me much-needed support. The gate was guarded by two soldiers. There was no way to escape without getting my hands dirty. I need a gun.
I quickly ran to the armoury, making sure that I was not taken out by the damn bullets being showered at me, and took out the unnoticing guard who was seemingly unhinged by the chaos. "Go on! Search for him!" The warden shouted again. I took the keys off of him and went into the armoury.
I entered the armoury and scaled the room, finding all the limited resources that I had access to at the moment. I quickly ran to the pistol section, I got myself a standard pistol as well as a revolver, I holstered the pistol in my pocket and ran to the armour section. You may wonder how I know to use a pistol. Let me tell ya, in the numerous executions that came to this prison, almost half of them tried to escape. So basically, I saw it. The armour section was the place where the armour and uniform of the marines were stored. I got myself light armour as I needed to run.
I heard the door creaking open. Someone came inside. "Prisoner Fuuma! Surrender now and we might give you a quick execution." He shouted. Yeah, no. I loaded the revolver and readied myself. I crouched as I slowly went towards the exit. To my right, there was... double-barreled shotgun, OH MY GOD!
I quickly grabbed it, and to my surprise, it was already loaded. Totally as if someone gave it to me for convenience. I holstered my revolver too as I gripped my shotgun. I was nearing the exit.
"Come on, Fuuma," The guard called out. "You can't run forever. The warden doesn't care if you come back dead or alive, but I'd rather not carry your corpse."
He paused, his back turned to me.
The moment came when he leaned down to check under a bench, turning his head away. I rushed towards him and got him into a chokehold. I disarmed him and shot his leg with the revolver. "Aah!" His screams were muffled by my hands. He suddenly lost consciousness.
"Sorry, pal," I muttered, grabbing his rifle and slinging it over my back. No such thing as too much firepower. "Be grateful that I don't wanna kill ya', after all, you are just following orders."
Suddenly the door burst open, with all the soldiers pouring into the room. Fuck! I went into cover, making sure I hadn't made a single sound.
"Sir! Ensign NPC is unconscious." Another ensign reported to the warden waiting outside. "What? Bring him here." The warden told. The ensign quickly left the room. Come on, I need a way, a way to escape this shit hole and find some goddamn answers as I don't have a goddamn fucking plan!
The soldiers fanned out, rifles at the ready, their boots thudding against the metal floor as they searched the room.
I glanced around, my eyes glimpsing between potential exits. The vent? No, they'd block it again. The door? Too many Marines. Then, I noticed something—a maintenance hatch in the floor, partially hidden by a stack of crates.
"Move in units of two! Sweep the entire area!" the warden yapped from outside.
Keeping as silent as possible, I crept toward the hatch, my feet skimming the floor.
I reached the hatch and tugged it open, the hinges protesting slightly. My breath froze as a marine turned his head. My grip tightened on the shotgun.
"Anything?" one of them called.
"No, clear so far," the marine replied, turning back.
I let out a slow breath and slipped through the hatch, descending into the maintenance tunnels below.
The tunnels were cramped and dark, lit only by faint emergency lights. I moved quickly, crouching low to avoid hitting my head.
Damn it. I picked up the pace, my mind racing. The Marines would block every exit, but they didn't know these tunnels like I did. During my years of captivity, I'd overheard enough from guards to piece together a mental map. If I was right, one of the tunnels led directly to the coastline.
I found it—a rusted grate. There was one problem though. The grate was bolted shut.
"Obvious," I muttered, raising the shotgun.
The blast was deafening in the confined space, but the grate blew off its hinges, clattering down onto the rocks below. I peeked out, the cool sea breeze washing over me. Fucking-A freedom!
I climbed out of the grate and stretched. I finally escaped, I looked back and saw the Marines rushing at me, they couldn't fire the rifles, as I was out of range. I was on top of a cliff, I looked down and saw the sea, the altitude scares me a bit, to be honest, but remembering the old Fuuma, I think it would be disrespecting him to be so cowardly. I gained some momentum and BOOM! I jumped off the cliff, my arms sticking to the side of my body. I didn't need the guns after all but hey, win-win for me.
No one can stop me, baby! I dived into the water. The cold temperature of the water brought my adrenaline to its all-time high. I swam towards the surface of the water and scanned the sea. I found a sailboat pretty close to me, time to do some acting. "HELP! HELP!" I shouted out, catching their attention.
"Kazuki, bring that guy here." The fisherman on the boat ordered his... servant? I don't know.
"Haruto, that guy has a gun." The Kazuki guy told the fisherman. Shit. "The fuck you say? He has a gun?" The fisherman asked. He then looked at me. "Holy shit! That feller is loaded with machinery, ain't he?"
"Aye," The Kazuki guy responded. "Look at his clothes, he seems to be a prisoner." He pointed to the white and black stripes on my dress.
"No, no. I am a fisherman like you both gentlemen. I was here catching my lunch, but this guy came out of nowhere, he knocked me out and stole my clothes as well as my boat. He even left his unloaded weapons to me so that the guards would catch me for having weapons from the armoury. If you leave me now, I'm as good as dead meat. So please, I beg you, save me. The water's gettin' cold."
"Toss your weapons here and then get on, we can't trust you just yet, ya' know." Both of the fishermen asked me. I had no choice, this or die. What the fuck should I do?