A Hero After The War by Willie A Marquina Jr. (read an ebook week TXT) 📕

to beat you. So you must escape later at midnight. Don’t think of this as a way of me saying thanks to you for sparing my life, I just really want to beat you. The watch has an alarm which will set off once it is time to escape, The PDA has a virtual map which will show you the way you need to take to get out of this facility, you can use the key to open your cell but don’t think of freeing the other prisoners because that key only works with your cell. Some of the doors are electronically locked so you can use the keycard there. Good Luck to you and I hope to kill you in the future.
-Webb
After Mac finished reading the letter, the only thing he could say was “It’s time to bust out of here.”
Chapter 2: The Not So Great Escape

“Bust out, you mean escape” Lars eyes widened “There is no escape from this organization, even if we have a guy on the inside. How do we even know this guy isn’t lying to us?”
Mac held out a severed pinky finger deeper within the box “It’s either my intuition or this finger with the honesty written all over it.”
“Ewww. That’s pretty gross, But still……” Lars said upon seeing the severed finger. “Well I’m not going to be a frog for some people who entertain themselves with the death of other people.” Said Mac with a confident voice
Lars stood from his bunk bed and said “And I’m not going to be chained to other person again and be made fun of. Fine, let’s do it.”
They kept on waiting until the PDA rang. Mac checked the time, it’s 12:00 A.M.(midnight), the perfect time for escaping. All the other prisoners were asleep and the warden was nowhere to be found. Mac unlocked their cell and as quiet as a mouse they sneaked their way into the front door of the prison. Outside what they saw was a beautiful white hallway, not the one you’d expect from a place as brutal as this organization, the walls were white and decorated with numerous paintings, the ceilings were all lit up with fluorescent light, and each turn you see you might see a fern or some other kind of potted plant.
Mac and Lars hid behind the potted plants when they heard some footsteps and some voices making a turn at the intersection in the hallway directly in front of them. “Why are you bringing me along, it’s your job.” Argued one of the guard .
The second guard replied “Because if I don’t somebody might jump on me and wring my neck like Johnny.”
“Hmmmppphhhh….. You and your paranoia.” Muttered the first guard
As soon as the two guards took ahold of the prison’s door handle, Lars came out of his hiding place and pinched the two guard’s shoulder. In an instance the two guards fell unconscious “Learned that trick long ago when I was being rude to the guards.”
The duo hid the 2 guards in their former prison cell then bounded them; gagged them; and finally silently slid them out of their clothes (a.k.a. their armor) and fitted themselves with it. The duo then proceeds to walk the corridors while meeting with other guards who have no idea of the escaped prisoners and the tied up guards.
They kept on following the map on the PDA until they came upon the arena, which it’s domed roof has now been closed for the night. “Now this can’t be right. The map ends here but this is not the way out. Unless….” Lars said in a low voice. But before Lars can say more, the arena’s stage lights suddenly flew open and from the seats of the arena appeared numerous guards armed with long-ranged rifles. “Hahaha!!!!!! Bravo, you walk right into that one.” The Warden said as he clapped.
Mac demanded “Where’s Webb and what have you done to him?!”
“Oh him he’s here alright, not just how you thought him to be.” The warden said as he ordered one of his guards. Sure enough, one of the guards brought before them Webb but with his vest off and him in chains.
The warden brought out a syringe with a strange purple liquid and injected it in Webb’s back “He said he wanted a rematch, well let’s give him one.”
The Warden and his Guards quickly fled the arena and locked it as soon as they were all out. Mac and Lars approached the groaning Webb but as soon as they got close Webb grabbed Mac’s arm and shouted only one word “RUN!!!!!”
Webb started to rose; he then proceeds to break his chains by pure force and tear off his shirt, as soon as his shirt was off, 4 stingers grew on his back and his eyes turned to bloodshot red.
Lars upon seeing the transformation quickly hid behind a large debris while Mac just stood there in awe. Mac slowly approached the transformed Webb “Webb, try to calm down” but instead Webb used one of the new stingers to knock Mac back “Okay let’s try something else”.
Mac charged for Webb with a punch but Webb caught the punch and using one of his stingers, he grabbed Mac and slammed him to the ground multiple times almost making Lars dizzy who was watching from behind the debris, he then threw Mac towards a wall. Mac emerged from the wall but couldn’t find Webb; he scanned the area cautiously for him but couldn’t find anything. He searched behind a pillar but still didn’t find anything until a yellowy foam dropped from where he was. He slowly looked up but before he could even react Webb had him pinned down and was giving him a barrage of punches, when the 15th punch was about to be thrown he caught it and said “My turn”, Mac kicked Webb, stood quickly and then threw him towards the wall. Webb shot a stream of web towards Mac but Mac dodged it and grabbed the web hurling Webb upwards. Webb landed on the ceiling and using his web he hurled Mac towards the ceiling but Mac broke to the domed ceiling and in midair he spun 3 times before using enough force to drag and slam Webb on the floor again.
Just when he thought everything was over he began falling and forgot he was 80 ft. in the air.

Chapter 3: Welcome to Tropol

"Wake up sleeping beauty, Wake up.It's time for your medicine" Said a woman in a lab coat

Mac grumbled and buried himself in his bed sheets “We don't want you to go away now do we" The woman continued

Mac just deepened himself in his sheets."Come on me and your father just want what’s best for you"

Finally Mac snapped "No! Let me tell you what you want. You just want a name and place for yourselves"

"Nahhh, all I want is bacon" The woman's soft feminine voice suddenly turned into a deep masculine voice With those words Mac's head spinned and he suddenly found himself awake inside an old and ruined building.

 

"Wonderful morning kiddo, want some cofee? tea? Well I'm a bit sorry all we have is me" Lars then proceeded to a laugh but quickly straightened his face out "but no seriously, all we have here is water"

Lars grabbed a nearby chair which features shows signs of decation" Remember anything from before or even how you managed to defeat the semi-evil man-spider"

"Semi-evil?"Asked Mac with a puzzled expression"Well technically he did try to free us and help us escape but in the end he couldn't even control himself. So I guess we can categorize him in the semi-evil. Anyways, enough about him, more about you. How the heck did you did those things?"

"I don't know." Mac said while rubbing his  eyes. "In fact I don't remember anything at all, except waking up in a cold cell"

 "It'll eventually come back, you had a big fall, The doctor said It was a miracle on how you survived."

"Okay, so where are we now?"

 "Why you're here in the best town in the wasteland. Tropol."

"Wasteland?Tropol?Why the heck are we in a wasteland and what town is Tropol?"

"Where have you been in the last few centuries?"

"Like I said, I don't remember anything.""Oh well, Nevermind, Anyway do you  got a place to stay?"

"I really don't know......" Mac's voice trailed off as he sat up and looked outside. There were some few houses but all of them also looked ruined, the street was no better it was full of potholes  and abandoned and packed with abandoned cars, There were people too but instead of looking glum and miserable some looked pretty happy. Mac looked at what seems to be the town entrance and tried to read on what was top of the archways "Welcome To METROPOLIS" with the Wel,ME, and IS faded out. As Mac was trying to understand the surroundings and trying to compare them with his dream, his head began spinning and he lost consciousness once more because of one question. What happened?

 "Whoa, easy there partner. You just got back up and yet you're dying again." Said a girl while she catched a falling Mac. The girl then shouldered Mac while saying "Come on pal, let's get you recovered once more" and she made hin lay on the bed once more.

 

Mac was glad that his next dream wasn’t about forgotten memories but rather it was about alternate endings. On how could the Bone Crusher crushed have them, on how could the soldiers of QWO captured then again and then tortured them horribly, and on how Webb could entrapped them and then save them for dinner. Ok, So Mac wasn't glad at his dreams, he was terrified of his nightmares. Maybe this was a side effect from the bad medicine or the long fall and heavy thud he suffered, or maybe it was the guilt he was suffering when he slightly awakened in one of his dream/nightmares.

"Come on old man! You didn't think this through. Why did you have to bring another mouth to feed. As we have already enough problems feeding ourselves." Argued the girl who was counting some numbers

"Well what did you expect me to do? Leave him for the sandworms." Lars stopped tinkering the machine for a minute just to answer

"Well if we’re lucky, It would have a family and we'd have save more lives"

"But this boy saved mine, I can't just abandon someone who saved my life and expect to get away with a clean