Chapter 2:
“Well here I go again,
from the start and to the end...
I wish I could remember what I've done.”
-Heaven & Hell
She awoke again, her head pounding once more. She rubbed the tender spot where the man had hit her, wincing slightly. Hopefully she could get some meds for that, but she doubted these people would be nice enough to offer any. For all she knew they'd killed her crew-mates, leaving her to live... for what reason? No ideas came to her, but from the way the older man had spoken, they had something against... Karith, was it? She remembered the logos on their jumpsuits. Maybe that was who she worked for. Maybe they were bad people... but just because some armed men who she thought might be military disliked Karith didn't mean they were bad... after all, the armed men could be the bad guys. Maybe they were holding her ransom!
Lisa raised her head from the desk and opened her eyes, immediately silencing her wayward thoughts. No sense in getting all paranoid before she understood the situation. Assess the immediate danger; panic later. Yes, that was a good plan to start with.
She looked around the room slowly, squinting at the bright lights. It appeared to be something of an interrogation room; build to give the imprisoned a sense of being trapped and to rob them of all hope of escaping. The walls were a slight off-white; the floor was a light gray. Fluorescent tubes hung from the ceiling in pairs, leaving no room for shadows. It was dull and boring... but she thought that was the intention.
Her attention was drawn to the door as it opened; the man from earlier stepped inside, his blue eyes still glowing with energy. He held a folder in one hand, but there didn't appear to be much in it. In the other hand was a cup of coffee; that he sat in front of her, along with two small white pills. She stared at them as if they were some sort of alien life-form, almost shocked that he had brought anything for her.
“They're not poison,” he said, taking a seat across from her as two guards took position at the door. He sat the folder on the table, which was also a dull white, and folded his hands over it. She kept looking at the pills. “They're for your head.”
Lisa looked up at him and back at the pills, finally picking them up and putting them into her mouth. She took a sip of the coffee and closed her eyes, enjoying the warmth. She quickly swished the pills around in her mouth (she'd never been able to swallow them directly) and washed them down with another sip of coffee. Sitting the cup back on the table, she opened her eyes and looked directly into his.
“So, uh, perhaps you would be so kind as to tell us your name?” he asked.
He didn't seem like a bad guy, so she went ahead and told him what it was. “Lisa Gogh,” she said, eying his shirt. The aforementioned name-tag was gone; luckily she still remembered what it had said. “And you're John,” she said with a hesitant smile.
He tried his best to keep his face straight but when she looked away, she saw him peek down at his shirt to see if he'd forgotten to remove the tag. She looked him in the eyes as he returned his gaze to her face. “Alright,” he said. “Age?”
“28, sir,” she replied, noticing that the guards were looking at her. They both appeared to be sort of young, maybe in their early-mid 20's... but they also appeared to have the mindset of a teenager. Respectable men were so hard to find these days it seemed, even in the damn military. She could almost see them undressing her mentally and it made her horribly uncomfortable. “Everything you need to know is no doubt in that manila folder in front of you,” she said, sounding a bit harsh.
John blinked and sat back, crossing his arms. “Yes,” he said after a short pause. “You're right, your name, age, weight, height, date of birth, etc, are all in this folder. I wanted to see if you would lie.” He paused again and looked at the folder. “You didn't... which is good. Want to know what would be even better? Telling me what isn't in this folder. Such as your life after school, any jobs you may have had, or spouses and kids, if any. All of that is 'conveniently' missing. Suspicious, isn't it?”
Lisa frowned and leaned forward as if to compensate for him moving back. She rested her arms on the table after pushing the coffee cup away and looked down at the floor between her feet. This was not good at all. Apparently her files had no record of her... and neither did her brain.
“I'm sorry... but I can't tell you. I don't know.”
John ran a hand over his face and sighed. Dammit, this was going to be harder than he'd thought. So much for being generous and hoping she'd spill the beans in gratitude.
“Alright, Lisa. I'm going to cut to the chase here. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. Easy way: I tell you all about how you're in a good hands here and that even if you are the enemy, we won't kill you. Why would we do that? We're not barbarians. All I want to know is what you've done between leaving home at 19 till now. Easy as pie! In return, you'll have a nice place to stay, even though you'll be under lock and key till we decide what to do with you. Three full meals a day, some time to get out and mingle with the other base prisoners (what few there are) including your shipmates. Or we can do it the hard way: I skip the sales pitch and the goodies and drop your ass right into the tor-”
“I don't know,” she said again, making John stop mid-sentence.
“What the hell do you mean, 'you don't know'?”
She raised her head and looked at him, a vacant look in her eyes, as if she were in deep thought. “The ship... it crashed. Troy said so. I was knocked unconscious when we hit, I remember that much, but when I first woke up, I had no idea where I was... it was dark, cold, and so creepy. At first I thought I'd died and went to hell, that maybe hell wasn't fire and brimstone after all. Being alone for an eternity in the dark seems far worse... and the bugs I heard-”
It was John's turn to interrupt. “Bugs?”
“Yeah, the noises I heard sounded like large bugs crawling- wait, where are you going?”
John had stood and started for the door. He looked at the two guards for a moment, then told them to move her to Cell 41b, where she'd have more room. He didn't think she was much of a threat now, apparently.
He have a problem with bugs or something? she wondered.
Lisa didn't have time to ask him again where he was going, being whisked out of the room like lightning. Rubbing her eyes as she walked, she begin to wish that, at the very least, these guards weren't the ones taking her. She remembered how they had looked at her.
It wasn't long before they reached her cell; she was ushered inside quickly and quietly, the door sliding shut and locking behind her with a quiet buzz. Electronic lock, great. You couldn't pick your way into one of those.
Or out, if that's where she needed to go.
Feeling slightly tired, she walked over to the bunk built onto the wall and laid down, not bothering to take her jumpsuit off or pull the sheets over her. The pillow was barely soft, probably more from disuse than bad material. She made a fist and punched it a few times. There, much better.
Lisa had almost drifted off to sleep when her cell door hissed open, the soft footsteps of one trying to be quiet reaching her ears regardless. She heard the person breathing somewhat heavily, so she assumed it was a man. Opening her eyes the tiniest bit, she saw that it was a man. In fact, it was one of the guards from the interrogation room earlier. Wonderful. She'd probably be better off feigning sleep; maybe he wouldn't bother her then.
No such luck.
The guard stopped next to her bed and she heard his armor creak slightly, as if he were bending down or kneeling. She kept her eyes closed, her breathing slow and regular. She felt his hand on her stomach and almost tensed up, but surely that would give her away, so she did her best to act calm and... well, asleep. Easier said than done, she was discovering.
He moved his hand upwards slowly, still breathing heavily. Lisa wanted to open her eyes and see what he was doing, but she dare not. Doing everything in her willpower to remain still as his hand reached her breasts, first touching one then the other. She heard him chuckle slightly. “Nice tits,” he muttered, squeezing lightly. She uttered a low growl, wanting to hit him in the head so badly, but he only chuckled again and removed his hand. Maybe he'd mistaken it for a moan?
She felt him touch her again on the stomach, but this time he went in the other direction, but he was also starting to lean over her, for she could smell his breath, a scent that almost made her gag. What the hell had he eaten?
Sensing he was going in for a kiss along with his female anatomy safari, she finally opened her eyes and glared up at him, causing him to freeze.
“Oh shi-” he started to say.
“Bastard!” she shouted, lifting and bending her leg towards her, he knee connecting with the side of his head. He grunted and fell backwards, giving her the perfect opening. She stood and kicked him square in the balls, an act which gave her much satisfaction. He yelled and clasped his hands between his legs, pushing away from her. Resisting the urge to do more damage, she turned and went to the door to signal the other guard, but what he said next made her stop and turn around.
“You cunt,” he growled, standing. Apparently she hadn't hit him hard enough the first time... or he was well armored. He started for her and she sidestepped to the right, towards the corner. Shit, that was a bad move. Never ever let the enemy corner you, she remembered. Well, too late.
His facial expression went from rage to a sort of sadistic happiness. He was grinning, by the gods! He thought this was some sort of game!
“Wanna play, sweet sugar? Daddy will play with you... but if I catch you I'm gonna punish you,” he said, darting towards her. She used this sudden movement to her advantage, grabbing his outstretched arm and sidestepping to the right once again, sending him right into the wall. Groaning, he turned around, his smile gone. “Okay slut, we're gonna skip the game and go right to the punishing.”
With those words he removed a small knife from his vest, sending a large dose of fear through her. She had nothing to defend herself with; only her hands and feet. He could kill her easily and have his way with her.
No, no... I have to stay smart... stay on top of this, she thought to herself. Breathing in deeply, she braced herself for any coming pain and motioned for him to try it. Snarling, he rushed for her again, swinging the blade as he came. She pulled back but almost not enough; the blade cut through the outermost layer of her jumpsuit. Not wasting time, she moved forward herself and grabbed his wrist with one hand, positioning the other on his elbow. His eyes widened as he saw what she was going to do, but it was too late. Using all of her strength, she pulled back on his wrist and pushed forward at the elbow till she heard the crack. He wailed loudly as the knife dropped from his fingers. Not done, she grabbed the back of his head and brought it down on her knee, breaking his nose also.
He fell to the floor and lay there, shaking and rocking back and forth. Just as Lisa stepped away from him, the door slid open and John ran in, his eyes wide. Panic began to set in as she realized what she had just done to the guard, who was a soldier nonetheless. She scrambled for some words to offer, some way to describe what he'd done to her and why she had retaliated, but there was no time. John grabbed her arm and pulled her outside and down the hall to what looked like an office. He looked at her and asked if she was okay.
“W-what?” she asked in reply, unsure of what was going on. She wasn't being transferred to some horrible part of the base?
“I asked if you were alright. I saw the whole thing on the security cameras, don't worry. You're not in trouble. Him, on the other hand...”
Lisa swallowed and nodded. “I'm alright. He almost got me with that knife of his though.”
John noticed the cut in the fabric and shook his head. “You moved fast, but almost not fast enough. We're going to have to work on that.”
She was confused again. Work on what?
John pointed to the first of two doors leading away from the office. “Down there is a private guest room. I reserve it for any important visitors we get here, but I haven't had any in what feels like ages. Go in there, take a shower, get a good night's rest. You're going to need it. One question: is that ship you came in on locked down?”
She said yes, because the systems immediately locked everything down within an hour of a major crash. She still didn't understand, but apparently John wasn't offering any answers... at least not tonight. He walked towards the door, then hesitated. “Oh, I hope you're not fond of that jumpsuit. If all goes well, you won't be wearing it tomorrow, or ever again.”
“Why?” she asked again, completely confused by now.
“It can wait till morning, ok? Good night,” he said, leaving the room.
Frowning, Lisa walked into the guest room and shut the door, the automated lights coming on as soon as she was submerged in darkness.
How convenient, she thought, stripping off her jumpsuit and underclothes as she went. The guest room, or rooms for that matter, consisted of two open spaces: one held a bed and a dresser, along with some small tables and lamps. The other had a sink, toilet, and shower. It was the last of these that she headed for.
When she was done, she put her underclothes back on and crawled into the bed, loving the comfort of it instantly. It had the basic necessities, but it was clearly made for well-to-do people. She thought maybe not having anyone in here for so long was the reason for it being so bare.
Giving the voice command for the lights to dim, she shifted onto her stomach and curled up with the pillow, ready to fall asleep. Before she did, however, she felt something underneath the pillow. Something... plastic? Frowning, she pulled it out and turned the lamp next to the bed on. It was a picture.
In it were three people: a young girl about the age of three, Lisa guessed; a woman who was holding the girl, her reddish hair almost glowing in the mid-afternoon sun (it was too bright to be any other time of day); and finally, a man in casual attire who was standing next to the woman, one of her hands in his own. He had brown hair and a slight beard, what they called 'shadow'. But that wasn't what attracted her attention... no, it was his eyes. Piercing blue, almost as if he could see her from the picture itself. It gave her chills so she put the picture back under the pillow, but not before checking the back. It was blank.
She wondered if it was a picture of John when he was younger, maybe with his wife and kid, but the picture was somewhat new and besides this was the guest room anyways. The people in the pic must have stayed here and someone had lost the picture, not noticing it was gone when they left. How it had been left perfectly under the pillow she had no idea, but that wasn't important right now. She'd take it to John tomorrow and ask him who they were. Surely he knew.
With that thought, Lisa drifted off into a slightly troubled sleep.
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Author's Note:
Although I had not originally intended on writing a second chapter, things started coming to me and I just had to write them down. This took longer than I would have liked, but I had an accident a few days ago (fell down a flight of stairs) that left my arms and hands rather sore, along with my shoulders, back and ribs (I had to wear a brace on my right hand). Naturally this impaired my ability to type anything out, so the first half of this story remained in limbo till just a few hours ago. My fingers and such are doing fine now, but my ribs and shoulders are still sore. Nevertheless, I put the pain behind me and finished the rest of this chapter tonight and it's ready for all of you to read. I'm planning on continuing this eventually (hopefully) as well. I'm thinking 3-4 chapters total maybe. I sure hope that sounds good to you because it's downright appealing to me. Alas, the work of a writer is never done, and I usually end up being dragged from a small story into something much bigger (see: THTF).
Ok, enough talking. I hope you all enjoy this latest chapter! Injuries aside, I had a blast writing it, just like I always do.
Good night, faithful readers.
-Death
(PS: R.I.P. Ronnie James Dio. He was the singer for Heaven and Hell, the band that owns the lyrics just before the chapter starts. He passed away on May 16th of this year and in his honor I decided to look up some of his work. The song in question that the lyrics belong to is Bible Black, from H&H's only album: The Devil You Know. Check it out on YT, folks!)
