The Outcast 13

‘I won’t,’ I gazed at Jean with a tearful expression. ‘Why are you guys doing this to me? I have never wronged you guys in any way, so why are you being so Ruthless? You know that you can’t do this to a human, you can’t,’ my voice cracked at the end. She simply ignored my cry with a bored huff. ‘Technicalities, whatever, so are you coming, or should I get Carmen?’ Hearing his name immediately paled my heart. ‘No-no-no, I am coming,” I gave in, wiping my hands with a handkerchief. A huge grin immediately appeared on her face. ‘Good, let’s go! Ouma will be looked after by our personal helper in the meantime.’ ‘Okay,’ I quietly nodded. Walking out of the house, I flinched as Jean led me towards the shabby shed, which I never dared entering because of the number of creatures probably hidden inside it, and opened its door. The place was ruined; so small and broken. There were boxes scattered all over its floor and had a blue ‘Beetle’ covering most of its space. Jean sardonically opened the passenger door for me. “Your majesty.’ I simply ignored her remark and settled down on the grey covers. The car was untidy, smelt of smoke and had a green leaf hanging from its rear - view mirror. After making sure that I was seated and protected by a seat belt, Jean quickly rounded the car and sat in the driving seat. I watched as she casually reversed the car and brought it out on the open fields. The sky was turning golden now. With our windows lowered, an awkward silence continued to embrace the warm air while the car sped across the rocky floor. I could see chameleons, lizards peering out of the huge bushes, fearfully eyeing the car, small rodents roaming around the fields. I was kept captive in such a creepy place. My life, I never knew it would change so much. From worrying about college degrees, bullying pain and dealing with rejection, I was now worried about my freedom, whether I would get to meet my family again, whether I would survive this, or would the ending consequences of this entire episode would be me losing my sanity or worst, being ‘cast’ away. Nothing too bad had happened till now, expect being kept in partial isolation, threatened with reptiles, and blackmailed to say yes, but who knows. My captor was a broken man, a person who was too lost because of the demons of his life. He was dangerous and unstable, chasing after some ‘conjured’ fantasy. From what I have picked, he had a highly strong mind gone down the wrong path. I have no ideas from where he got to know about me, but somehow I was his trigger, and he was simply dealing with his trigger in his own psychotic way. This trip, this tour, I didn’t have a good feeling about this at all. ‘THE FRAGRANCE OF A ROSE CAN DISTRACT ONE FROM ITS PIERCING THORNS-’ ‘Ma’am, the GPS is moving. He is taking her somewhere. Should we send the team?’ ‘Not now, Charlotte,’ Jolene got up with antsy. ‘Tell the team to keep up with the coordinates. We will keep following her, No rescuing until we are sure that Carmen has revealed all of his hideout locations. For now, just have the team determine the areas where the GPS is at the moment.’ ‘Oooh, okay, Ma’am.’ The sky had turned completely grey. And after driving for hours, Jean parked her old car in front of a huge grey building surrounded by small warehouses and brown grounds. I gulped at the sight of the daunting building which had a staircase leading up to it. ‘Come,’ Jean got out of the car. Hesitantly following behind her, I nervously pulled on my sleeves at the sight of a huge guards standing near the building’s main metal - doors. ‘What is this place?’ I whispered to Jean. She completely ignored me. Scanning her hand against the scanning machine located right in the middle of the metal doors, she tapped one foot anxiously and jumped with joy as the doors finally opened. ‘Come,’ she gestured and began stumping inside the building, I was looking around in anxiety and fear; a perfect replica of a super villain’s lair. I felt so tiny and vulnerable. Cupping the elbow of my right arm, I nervously stepped inside and winced as the door immediately slammed behind me. Fearful much. In front of me was a dark and eerie metallic - corridor, hardly lit by yellow ceiling - lights, disappearing behind a corridor. Jean was nowhere to be found. I felt highly creeped out. There were distant screams of agony echoing in the air, the noise of gunshots, and low explosive being heard in the distance. I felt like backing away, running out of this building, but couldn’t. There was nowhere out. The walls seemed suffocating, the ceiling so low. Hesitantly rounding one corner, I gasped at the sight of the corridor opening up to an extremely huge open - area, located right in the middle of the building. There was a boxing pit situated in its right - side corner, having some aggressive men fight with each other, a laboratory - like - setup situated in its other corner, dangerous people could be seen walking around, flexing weapons in their hands, I felt tiny. ‘Sarah, over here,’ Jean gestured while standing near the laboratory side. Immediately several gazes fell on me. Ignoring the stares, I hesitantly began heading towards her while nervously cupping my elbow. What was the purpose of bringing me to this place? I could feel everyone return back to whatever they were doing. There were loud sounds of punches hitting against metal, guns being fired out of nowhere, the place looked like some underground mafia hideout. I cant believe I had been taken to such a wonderful place. ‘So,’ I nervously bit on my nails as I finally neared Jean, ‘Where are we?’ She was leaning against a huge metal table, with loads of gadget placed upon them, as she gave me a huge smile. ‘We are at Carmen’s northern side lair. He has given me special orders to show you all his buildings because you are going to be head-female after marriage.’ ‘Female what?’ I choked on air. ‘You will become the owner of Carmen’s silver wealth and gangs, so that make you the main-lady, doesn’t it.’ ‘III’ ‘Come on. Let me show you around.’ She began pulling me by my arms. Dragging me along a set of tables which had people anxiously working on it, she stopped in front of a table completely loaded with weapons. ‘Let’s start with Carmen merchandise,’ she gleamed, making me hesitantly nod. A loud sound of an explosion made me jump in fear. ‘Here is Carmen’s person hacking gadget,’ she picked up a small, black and round plastic chip. ‘He built it when he was in high school and wanted to get into his school’s main system. This device can be attached to any computer set and is able to not only decode but hack so many sites.’ ‘Carmen built that?’ My eyes grew wide. I knew that guy was smart, but smart on this level, wow. ‘Ummm hmmm,’ Jean nodded. ‘Here,’ she picked up a white - coloured gun. ‘This gun shoots out transparent bullets, and the best part is that it can penetrate through the skin without piercing it. It’s more like poison and turns liquid when coming absorbed by the skin, immediately killing the other person. Also, it has its features so similar to that of a normal cell type that once having it dissolved in the blood, no-one can identify the cause of death, a perfect crime weapon.’ I shivered at the sight of this lethal weapon. Why would anyone feel the need to build something like that? Were the bullets made from snake venom?? ‘Oh, and this’ She now picked up a black cloth.’ is a hydrated, black, velvety, camouflaging-cloth. Its colour changes with the surroundings and it repels the waves which help in identifying whether you are carrying weapons or metal along. Super helpful in so many cases.’ ‘Carmen built all of this?’ I was still in shock. Such impossible gadgets built by one single person, so morbidly amazing. ‘Yeah,’ She profusely nodded her head. ‘You should have seen that guy when he was young, always walking around with a screwdriver, some wooden planks and some nails. He was always building and inventing something. My dad literally would lose it over having him spend his punishment by quietly working on some plastic pieces, so he made sure to burn all of Carmen’s work journals in front of him.’ ‘That’s harsh,’ I frowned, both impressed and disgusted by how talented Carmen was, this was big. A gifted IQ. ‘Yeah, Dad did tend to get carried away sometimes,’ she simply shrugged. Soon, after showing me all of the gadgets, the cage - fighting pits, the explosive room. She led me out of this building from the backdoor. I couldn’t get over what I had seen. The gang world, it wasn’t simple, it was so complicated, dark and full of secrets. Stepping outside, I gasped at the sight of a huge lush garden, with a huge fountain located in its centre and a pavement leading straight up to a beautiful mansion. Wow… ‘This is the northern side guest house,’ she informed. ‘Trading heads are asked to stay here during their stay. Carmen loves showing them his horse collection. There is actually a huge stable behind this mansion which is full of black stallions. Carmen’s most beloved horse is Pegasus. He named it after his favourite mythical creature.’ I didn’t know what to say. ‘Well, come on,’ She then gestured, leading me towards the entrance of the mansion. There were servants and workers walking in and out of that place. Mesmerized, I smiled as Jean opened the main doors, and we stepped inside the place. It was beautiful, so huge, bright and glamorous. We have stepped into a huge living room with a crystal chandelier above our heads. There were warm fire-places on both my right and left side, and in front of me were two golden staircases going up. I was amazed. ‘So, let’s just get you settled in,’ Jean now clapped her hands, making me turn towards her with a frown. ‘Settled in?’