Two Page Shorts by Nick Venom (top reads .txt) 📕

take us away from the fort, swerving around trees in the patches of forests near Alpha Fort. However, he stopped five minutes later. He came to a slow trot, giving Salinas and me time to catch our breaths.”

“W-What,” Salinas was interrupted by a loud wheeze. Salinas needed some more time to regain his oxygen to talk.

I, on the other hand, recovered faster than him. “W-What happened? Who was shooting at us?”

Garfield stared hard at a tree in front of us, not answering my question. I turned to look at his face, seeing a cold expression on full display. Unlike us, he wasn’t out of breath as horrifically, only taking in small gulps without opening his mouth wide.

Salinas recovered, walking closer to us. “Was it… Was it the 101st?” He said while still breathing heavily. 

Garfield nodded. “We’re surrounded.”

“By who?” I questioned.

“Us.” A voice remarked, stepping out from behind a tree. The person appeared in front of us from the tree Garfield was staring at. “My, my, my. I applaud your ferocity and wit, but it’s the end of the line here for you.” The man was the leader of the 101st, Captain Elliot Ryder. A crude man who was the same height as Garfield, nearing six feet, but was pale-skinned compared to our tan skin.

He wore a simple camouflage suit, leftovers from before the world went to hell. He walked with a swagger, approaching Garfield without hesitation. Garfield glared at him, ready to snap.

He should just kill him before he kills us, I thought. However, my childish thought was discarded quickly as the sounds of rifles loading a bullet into the chamber echoed all around me. As Garfield said, we were surrounded.

Elliot turned around, showing his back to Garfield as a clear sign that said: try to do something and see what happens.

He turned back around, giving Garfield a smug grin. “Well, it’s time to ground you all.” A single gunshot rang out.

I quickly inspected myself for a bullet wound, but I couldn’t find it. Instead, a shriek from Salinas confirmed who had been shot. I turned to him, seeing Salinas grabbing at a shoulder gunshot wound. The bullet didn’t go through anywhere fatal, but there was still a lot of blood and crying.

Elliot chuckled softly before turning to the people emerging from behind trees, all armed with rifles and camouflage armor. He turned back to face us. “Round all of them up.”

The 101sts overwhelmed us, stripping us of our weapons. They handcuffed us before making us march to Alpha Fox where they threw us into one cell. The cell was stained with the blood of the last couple of inmates. 

Garfield rubbed at his wrists, the handcuffs being taken off of us when we arrived in the cell block. “They were waiting for us.”

“Yeah, they clearly were.” Salinas sounded irritated, one hand resting over his wound. He had been treated slightly with a roll of bandages, but that was the peak of the treatment they gave him. “Now what do we do?”

“What can we do? We’re trapped in here.” 

“Let’s hope they didn’t get the others,” I whispered, careful not to leak any information about Luna or Lee. “Maybe they escaped and we passed by them.”

“I doubt it. We would’ve seen them.” Salinas said, sitting down on the cold floor. “Unless we’re just unlucky and we passed by them without knowing it.”

Garfield nodded, straining his neck to look at the guards protecting us. None of them were the corrupted guards everybody knew of. Instead, it was the opposite. 

“I wouldn’t try anything,” Elliot remarked, strolling up to our cell. “You wouldn’t want to end up like the last inmate.”

Garfield spat at him, the spit hitting the ground. “Well, I wouldn’t want to be you.” His eyebrows slanted downward as his lips did the same.

Elliot laughed in his face, turning away. “Well… I wouldn’t want to be Lee.”

My eyes widened as I took in his words. What did he mean by “I wouldn’t want to be Lee?” What happened? Were Lee and Lune captured and that’s why they never arrived?

I glanced at Garfield and Salinas and they had similar expressions. They were as shocked as I was. 

Elliot turned around, laughing. It caught our attention, drawing our gazes to him. “Man, you all looked like heartbroken children. Did you really think you could escape our grip? Lee and Luna tried to get through but were caught at the door. How hilarious.”

Nobody was laughing but him.

“And guess what?” He didn’t give us time to answer - not like we wanted to, anyways. “Luna isn’t any better. Well, I’m sure you guys would want to see her, right? Hmm… maybe if you come nicely and don’t cause me trouble, I ask the boss to let you.” He smiled creepily at us.

Garfield glanced at me, his eyes screaming to punish Elliot. Fortunately, he kept that anger bottled up. Instead, he nodded his head before turning back to Elliot. “We’ll go with you… as long as you let us see Luna and take a better look at Salinas’s wound.”

Elliot shrugged his shoulders. “Why not?” He turned to one of the guards posted at the cell’s door. “Get him-” He pointed at Salinas. “-to the medic for proper treatment.” He turned to the other guard. “Help me lead the others to the boss.”

Both guards nodded, rushing off to complete their orders. One of the guards helped Salinas to the medic while the other led us to the boss’s room. Before we split ways, Salinas glanced at us. “Thank you.” He said as he disappeared around a corner.

I smiled, biting my lip afterward. Don’t thank us, we haven’t saved you. That’s what I wanted to scream to him.

Meanwhile, they led us to the person in charge of the fort under the pretense of a “government” ruling the safe haven. I didn’t know much about the people giving out the orders, but today I have to. Today, I will meet the people in charge. 

 

The guard and Elliot lead us to a set of black doors. The guard pushed the door open, waving us in. Elliot turned to face us, motioning for us to go inside. “Here’s your front-row ticket to the boss.”

We stepped into the room,  a large lit room with the boss of the fort sitting on a makeshift throne, glaring at us. The boss stood up, showing off his muscles. He towered over Garfield, to my surprise, and was dressed waist-down. He had tanned skin the color of caramel and eyes blackened like night. His hair was long, ending at his shoulders, glowing a hazel color.

In any other instance, he would be considered overly handsome, but to me - his glare and status as the one who sent us to die overtook his good appearance. He was the one in charge of Iron Hold, overseeing the entire mission from his comfy watchtower. His muscles were just for show, rumors saying that he never entered the battlefield before, only directing it from behind the walls. 

I spat on the ground.

The man’s eyes locked onto me, smirking. “It looks like I left a bad taste in your mouth. Am I that repulsive?” His question was clearly rhetorical.

I fought back the urge to scream my answer. Yes, you are repulsive! I wanted to scream that, but I knew I couldn’t. We were trapped in his grasp.

The man stood up from his throne, his guards kneeling. “My name is Floyd. You can consider me as the president of this fort. This is the first time I’ve seen any of your faces.” He approached us, taking his time. “But you were a part of Operation Iron Hold. You must’ve gone through a lot.”

“You did this to us.” Garfield calmly said.

“Me?” Floyd pointed at himself, pretending to be dumb. “I don’t remember giving the call to fail the mission. Or to desert us.”

My face flushed as I realized his plan. Public execution of deserters would be the easiest way to get rid of us with the public’s support. That or a quiet execution. Who would care if three people disappeared? They were killed by zombies; that’s what they’ll say.

Floyd laughed in Garfield’s face, turning away from us. He strolled nonchalantly to his throne, sitting down. He faced us, still smirking. I hated the smirk.

“I’ll give you two options. Either pledge your undying loyalty and serve as my guards or be executed. Your choice.” He remarked.

I stared at him blankly, surprised at the options. Either we join him and lose our freedom or die. It was basically the same option.

I glanced at Garfield, who glared at Floyd. It looked like he had no intention of giving up his freedom. 

I turned back towards Floyd, spitting on the floor. It served as my answer.

Floyd cackled, his laughter echoing off the walls. It was piercing. “Ha! I see. Your team name makes sense then.”

The Warriors? Yeah… we are warriors. Warriors ready to kill you.

Floyd recognized what I wanted to say, chuckling softly. “Throw them back in the cell!” He ordered. Elliot and the guard stormed into the room, grabbing us and dragging us away. However, we didn’t go in the same direction as we came.

“Where are you taking us?” I asked. The guard didn’t respond, gripping my arm tightly. His nails dug into my skin, threatening to bleed.

“We’re taking you to meet… an old friend.’ Elliot said, smiling. He led the way, his hands to himself. He didn’t hold onto Garfield, standing in front of him. A gutsy move for sure, but a connected glance at each other before one aimed towards me - convinced me of the situation. He was threatening Garfield using me, this being the only reason why Garfield didn’t fight against him.

We were taken to a new set of cells, this one coming with an inmate waiting for us. The inmate was a blonde female wearing brown clothing. Her hair was matted with dirt and blood. Her clothes were torn and ripped at the edges. She sat against the corner, her head snuggling in between her chest and legs. 

Elliot shoved Garfield into the cell while the guard released me, pointing at the inside of the cell as if I was dumb.

“Stay inside while you wait for your execution date. You’ll get it soon, so don’t get too comfy.” Elliot started. He glanced around as the guard from earlier brought Salinas back. He threw Salinas into the cell with us before leaving. “Well, now the gang’s all here. Oh, except for Lee.”

Lee? Why did he mention Lee again? And what did he mean by the gang’s all here if… No.

Garfield had caught on faster than me, turning around and approaching the blonde inmate. He grabbed her head and raised it to see her face. It was a bloody Holly Luna. Her skin was scarred and bloodied. She had several wounds covering her shoulders, the blood drying out over the wounds. A few bruises laid on her face, lingering in their spot. She was a wreck.

“Enjoy your time. Try to reconnect with Luna before she loses it. Goodbye!” He said in a sarcastic tone. “You’ll be meeting your maker soon.”

I watched as he walked off, chuckling to himself. The guard followed him, glancing at us with slight sympathy. I gnashed my teeth as they walked off. I despised them.

Behind me, Salinas croaked “Luna?”

Garfield slammed his fists against the wall, shouting “Damn!”

I heard quiet sobbing coming from Luna. She was broken.

I stared blankly at the wall in front of the cell. “We’re in hell. Why?” A simple question without an answer. I spent time wanting to help out, but my first mission ended in disaster. Everybody but us died, and we’re now considered deserters. Why did this happen? Why were my parents killed? Why? Why? Why?

***

 

 

“Remember not to speak out of line.” A man told his partner. His partner, a black muscular man, nodded. 

“I know when to negotiate and when to kill.” The man calmly remarked.

“Good.” The first man said. He had on a black blazer that covered his