Kevin winced when the man’s hand made contact with his back. The punishment that he received was harsh but he never gave them the satisfaction of crying out when the torch seared the skin on his back. He took a few faltering steps into the cave and then collapsed onto the ground, overcome with the pain.
“Dammit! Kev? What the hell?” AJ’s voice rasped out in the darkness of the cave.
“Don’t touch me,” Kevin whimpered, his voice barely audible.
“What did they do?” Howie cried out.
“I was punished,” Kevin replied softly.
“Punished for what!?” both AJ and Howie asked in unison.
“Long story and it’s overwith,” came the short reply.
That was always Kevin, once it’s done, the matter is finished, closed for conversation. A light from one of the outside torches cast a orange toned glow into the cave, enabling AJ to get a little bit of a better look at Kevin’s back. His breath drew in quick when he saw the destinctive marks of large, angry looking blisters covering 1/4 of his back.
“Christ Kev, what the fuck did they do to you?” AJ mumbled.
Lizz sat up quickly when she felt poking at her back. She was shocked to see a group of natives had formed a circle around herself and Nick.
“Get up! You come with us now!”
Lizz cast a glance towards a sleeping Nick, who seemed to be oblivious to the situation at hand. “I can’t leave him, he’s still sick!”
“We will take care of him, you must come with us now!”
Lizz narrowed her eyes at the one she figured was the leader of the group. “You don’t get it! I told you I’m not leaving him!” She quickly placed her hand to where the native had backhanded her face.
“You insolent bitch! I told you to come with us or else!”
She decided that now wasn’t going to be the time to argue with the men, it would be a losing battle and they were slowly losing their patience. She was, however, afraid that they would leave Nick where he was at. Although he had gotten all the meds he needed to be taking, it would or could be hours before he would respond and he could possibly have another seizure in the mean time.
“Can we at least take Nick along?” Lizz pleaded.
Her answer was only the natives clucking back and forth in their native tongues. Suddenly, one man came forward. He reminded her of one of those Sumu wrestlers. He bent over and scooped Nick up and threw his lifeless body over a shoulder.
“Follow Tsu!” Came the order with a sharp shove on her back.
They walked down a narrow path that led away from the delapitated bridge, farther and farther away from the cavern’s edge. This was answering her question of how they were going to get back over to the other side since the bridge was out. The path took an unexpected turn when Lizz found them back at the cavern’s edge but instead of an “Indiana Jones Style Bridge” greeting them, they were met with a narrow, moss covered tree trunk.
“You gotta be kidding me,” she stated as she surveyed the dangerous predicament she found herself and Nick in.
Brian woke up suddenly, expecting to find himself in a hotel room. He looked around to get his bearings. “What kind of hotel is this?” he thought outloud.
As he started to lift his body up from the cot, he was overcome with a wave of dizziness and nausea. He decided to lay back down. “Nick?... Howie?....... someone?”
Lelani rushed into the hut when she heard Brian’s voice. “You’re awake!”
Brian narrowed his eyes as he looked at her, “Do I know you?”
The young woman shook her head. “No, but I’ve been trying to keep you from harm. What do you remember last?”
Brian thought for a moment. “I.. I guess.... I don’t know,” he sighed.
“You don’t remember anything at all?”
“Not until a few minutes ago, no.”
Again he tried to sit up, but the symptoms prevented him from doing so.
Lelani gently placed her hand on Brian’s shoulder. “Just lay down, you need to keep still.”
“Where am I? Where are the guys?”
Before Lelani could reply, Tsu came lumbering into the hut with Nick draped across his shoulder. With a quick sweep, Tsu knelt onto a mat and lowered Nick onto the floor. Brian stared at what was occurring with disbelief. “What’s wrong with him!?”
As he tried to get up from his bed, Lelani forcefully shoved him back down. “You need to lay still!”
Brian’s eyes shifted from Lelani’s face to Nicks. Suddenly, Lizz burst into the room, ushered by an angry looking native.
“Lizz!” Brian cried out. The native had a rough hold on her upper arm. Lizz struggled against his grip to get to Brian. “LET GO OF ME!” she shrieked.
Fighting the dizziness, Brian managed to get up and half-walk/half stumble towards Lizz. He literally fell into her arms, taking all the strength she had in her small body to keep Brian from falling to the floor.
“Nick?” He whispered.
“He had two seizures. I managed to get him to take his meds and hopefully now the natives will the see the importance of letting him take them when he needs to.” I explained quietly.
“And you?”
“I’m okay. They are letting me stay in here for awhile. That
fat one
said
as soon as Nick is better, I will be joining him in whatever work they
are
making him do. I guess they figure that you will be in okay enough
condition that I am not needed here.” I said with a trace of
anger.
Brian turned his head up to me, confused.
“When you said you wanted to die,” I started, my voice
catching,
“Lelani
couldn’t handle it so she said I was to stay here until you did. I
guess
now that you seem a little better they won’t let me stay much longer.
How
much do you remember?”
“Not much. A lot of nightmares.” He shuddered in my arms and I
hugged him
tighter.
I heard a snarl and when I glanced up, Lelani had fixed her cold gaze
on me.
I almost flinched at the hatred that flowed from her. She snapped
something to Tsu and he walked over to us. Without a trace of
gentleness he
leaned down and grabbed Brian. He yelped, but could do nothing in the
fat
man’s iron grip.
“TSU!” Lelani barked.
Tsu turned, Brian still in his grip, and looked at Lelani. The
look
on his
face shocked me. Surely a man of his size shouldn’t fear that little
girl.
But he did. Lelani spoke more angry words in her native tongue,
gesturing
back and forth between Brian and I. Tsu nodded and gently set Brian
back
down on his cot. Then he marched back over to me and grabbed my arm,
yanking me up roughly. Evidently his roughness was supposed to be
directed
at me and not Brian.
“Time for your punishment!” He growled at me.
I felt the color drain from my face.
“No! Lelani?” Brian sat up quickly and grabbed her
arm.
Lelani beamed at the attention. “It has to be done,
Brian.”
“No, Lelani, please. Please don’t hurt her.” Brian pleaded,
visibly
distressed.
“Ok, alright, for now. Just stay calm please!” Lelani said
anxiously.
“She will be spared the reprimand for now. Just relax okay?”
Brian nodded and sank back onto his pillow. “Thank you.” He
whispered.
Tsu made a disgusted noise and released me. Lelani walked over
and
stood
directly in front of me. “Brian spared you for now, but don’t think
you
will be so lucky next time.” She hissed. “You will be allowed to stay
in
here for the remainder of the day, but tomorrow at sunrise you and the
other
slave will be sent back out to work.”
I nodded, keeping my head low. With that, Tsu and Lelani
left.
Brian
was
fighting so hard to stay awake and losing the battle. I walked over
and
knelt down by his cot.
“Let it go, Bri.” I said softy, resting my hand on his
forehead. It
wasn’t as hot as it was last time I had felt it. His fever must have
broken
sometime during the night. That was a relief, maybe now he would start
pulling out of this.
“Mmffph.” He mumbled, eyes falling shut.
I smiled. “Whatever you say dude.”
Satisfied that
Brian seemed to at
least to on the road to recovery finally, I scooted over to Nick. He
was
still asleep, but didn’t appear to be in any distress. Part of me
wanted to
wake him up, but of course I wouldn’t. He needed to rest as much as
possible. I curled up on the dirt floor, but didn’t fall asleep. The
sun
was just starting to come up and I felt too wound up to sleep.
That was how the rest of the day was spent. I eventually fell
asleep,
but
of course that couldn’t last. Nick woke up several times during the
day and
each time seemed a little more alert than the last. Brian also seemed
to be
doing better when he woke up. The natives left us alone and as
relieved as
I was, I was also a little worried about it. They had let AJ come in
once
during the evening. He wouldn’t go into detail, but I know it had
something
to do with Kevin. Lelani was with him and gave him a cloth and a small
jar
of something. I tried to ask him what they had done to Kevin, before
he
could tell me, Lelani told him if he talked to me, we would both be
punished. After that, the rest of the evening and night passed without
event. I tried to stay awake so I could make keep an eye on things,
but
sleep finally won out.
