Carved

by Miki

  Reeling from the slap, I fight to stay upright, to regain my bearing. He kicks my feet out from under me. I hit the ground like a bag of concrete falling from a truck. When I land, he kicks me in the ribs. Bones grind and my breath involuntary departs my body. I roll onto my knees and elbows, trying to catch my breath, and there’s a sickening crunch. A heartbeat later, a towering wave of pain from my left forearm destroys any sense of hope I have left.

  After a wave of pain attempts to drown me, I try to roll onto my side and curl protectively around my broken arm, cradling it gently with my other arm. I’m trapped by my left arm. It’s pinned in place by Jessup’s heel. I watch as he does his utmost to pulverize my arm with his boot heel.

  Don Manuel Jessup kicks me until I pass out. It takes forever, but one more good kick to my head and lights out.

  Again, I wake. I try to move, but the pain stops me. I lie still for a minute. Well, I need to find a way to keep from getting the shit kicked out of me by this asswipe. I’m not sure how much more I can take. I bump something metal with my foot. Oh, a present. I hope it’s a tank!

  Nope. It’s not a tank. But it’s is almost as good! The water tastes terrible, yeah, and I still drink it, a little bit at a time. The pain in my arm is unbearable, but not so bad that I can’t hold the bowl.

  I need a plan. No more Ms. Nice Bitch. I finish the water and use the side of the metal bowl for leverage on the bolt in the wall. Before I can get to work on it, the door begins to rattle as someone opens it and walks in. I’d already stopped working on the bolt and began pretending to drink from the bowl.

  “Well, that’s a good queen. Again, you are alive when you should not be.” If it wasn’t Mr. Asswipe Jessup himself… again. He’s wearing different clothes than earlier. “I have beaten many people to death. How is it you still live and are moving around after less than 24 hours? Have you been given something to make you heal, maybe? Answer me, bitch, or I’ll use a bullet to your head to see if you can survive it.”

  “Will you promise to stop beating me if I tell you?”

  “I’ll promise you this: tell me and I’ll not try to beat you to death again.”

  “Ok, ok,” slow breath. “TASS is part of a top secret multi-government program to help keep soldiers alive longer and heal faster. I was given the serum. It’s what has kept me alive. How’d you know about it? Was it Jafer? Did he tell you? It doesn’t matter—he’s probably dead anyway. I’m part of the experiment. I volunteered last year and have been in the project since then.”

  “No, Jafer did not tell me. In your words, Jafer is already e-lim-in-at-ed,” he stretches out the word for effect. “I’ll send a doctor to collect some of your blood. You may have just saved your own life, for a time. I’ll make more selling the secrets in your system to America’s enemies than as a ransom. So, you will be my new queen of the lab rats. Enjoy living while you can. No telling how much of your blood they will need. In the long run, you will likely hope for death. By then, my buyers won’t even care if they kill you when they take your organs to find your secrets.” He laughs.

  As he leaves he tells the guards, “She’s yours. Enjoy as you want. But do not kill her.”

  I quickly count the guards. Ok, there’s five. Hit the weak points: nose, throat, eyes. I don’t care how weak I am from the beatings, I’m not giving up. The first guard reaches for me, and I punch him in the throat with both fists. Pain stabs through my broken arm. Another grabs me around my waist from behind. More pain flashes through my body as he squeezes my broken ribs. I use the pain as a source of energy and back this guard into the wall as hard as I can. A low “Umph!” escapes his mouth as I break his nose with the back of my head.

  The other three use the chains running through the walls to end the fight. With my legs yanked from under me, I’m quickly subdued by three large men.

  The leader, Broken-nose, spits the blood pouring from his nose, and reminds them that they can’t kill me. He bellows, “I’m going to fuck that puta first!”

  I can’t fight them off. They’re too strong, too many. Somewhere along the way, I give up struggling. I’m not sure when I black out. It’s a blessing, though.

  After I wake, I tie the ragged edges of what is left of my dress together to cover me. I find the water bowl and gulp it down.

  I’m so tired, but there’s no time for rest. I’ve got to get out of here. Using my bowl again, I shove the edge under the bolt. Leaning my weight on it and bounce. Thank God it shifts. It takes me several more hours to get it out of the wall. It’s very long and has a pointed end. Clearly the wood it was in has partially rotted. I gain a small part of my freedom. It comes, though, at a cost. I’m panting like I’ve just run a marathon. Trying to not pass out again, I push the chain into the hole the bolt came from to make it look like it’s still attached to the wall.

  I’m not done. I won’t give up. “Never give up! Never surrender!” I laugh as I say it. My brothers thought that movie was so funny.

  I stumble to the door and slide down it. I’ll sit behind it and rest until I hear someone open it. Then, I’ll do my best to kill them with my bowl and chains, or even the bolt I just put back in the wall. I lean back and drift off to sleep.

  I wake with a jerk, not meaning to fall asleep. Sleeping on the job will ruin my plan. I’d better go back to the wall and play like I’m still chained. That’s a better plan anyway. They’ll walk over to me and I’ll attack.

  I sleep again. I reach for my bowl and it is full of water again. I must be out of it for someone to bring me water and not even know it. Good thing for me, I appear as if I’m still chained to the wall. I’m glad I thought of that. I sip my nasty water like it is brandy. It feels good on my throat, even though it tastes like elephant ass.

  It’s the water! The shock of my sudden revelation bursts through me, jarring me awake. It’s drugged! That’s why I can’t stay awake.

  I’ve sat here for what feels like hours. Have they forgotten me? Maybe they’re busy with something more important for now. If so, maybe I can heal some before they start experimenting on me. As soon as I form this thought, the door lock begins its familiar rattling. I ready myself.

  The light from the doorway is so bright. I can’t see. Are there only two of them this time? I’ll take the one in front first. Burning tears run from my eyes as I grab him and stab the bolt into his neck, using it to rip through it. He goes down hard, and I go with him.

  The other guy is yelling at me. I turn, ready to attack him. I set my hips, preparing to lunge, but his hands are up in the universal, ‘I surrender,’ position. Confused, I pause for a heartbeat.

  He’s yelling, “Kendra! Kendra, it’s me. Kendra, remember Arden? Your friend Arden. Remember the fountain at University?”

  “Oh my God, it is Arden. The doctor is Arden. You’re the doctor! Yeah, I remember the fountain.” I collapse into him as he pulls me to his chest. I cry. He continues to hold me. “Kendra, I don’t know how much time we have. I was sent to collect your blood samples. Your Ducere are in the jungle, waiting for my signal. They’re coming. Well, that’s the plan, anyway. I’m not sure any of this crew will wait. They’re not very patient where you’re concerned.

  “Amber and Mason snagged the keys for me. Let’s see if they work on your chains, shall we?”

  I nod at him and tell him, “Thank you, Arden, I’m so glad to see you. I can’t believe you’re here.”

  He lifts my arms to get at the locks. He takes sharp breath when he sees my wrists and arm are mangled. Bone shows through in several places. Blood covers most of my body. Arden does his best not to hurt me when he removes the cuffs.

  That’s when we hear the first blast. We look at each other with big eyes. He moves even more quickly to unlock my leg chains. Finally, finding the right keys, my chains fall one by one onto the ground beside the dead guard. Arden pulls the AK-47 from under the guard.

  I watch, surprised, as he goes through the AK like he was born with one in his hands. He checks to se
e if it’s loaded, checks the magazine load status. He racks it and thumbs the safety off.

  “Grab his extra mag.” I point to where it is on the dead guard.

  He opens the door, motioning for me to lead. He whispers, “I can keep an eye on you better this way.”

  I crouch low, walking out. Directly in front of me is a large window with bright lights shining in. Damn, it’s dark out. Those are giant flood lights! That’s why my Ducere are here!

  Continuing down the hall, we stop to check every door we pass. “Doors and corners will get you killed.” I remember an old detective telling me that. After a few turns, the hall opens to a large courtyard that easily encompasses a couple of acres. It appears to be lit with floodlights. There’s a high fence, maybe ten feet tall, surrounding the parts I can see, and a large house anchors one side of the compound wall. My intuitions were spot-on. I find myself in a compound butted right up against a jungle.

  Much of the compound is beautifully landscaped. There are two swimming pools. One, near the house, has what should be a waterfall, with a large grotto at one end of the pool and a large hot tub at the other end. The pool is empty; it’s still under construction. The other pool is for children. That little fact jars me, as I realize there may be children in the area.

  Jessup’s men are fighting a fierce battle to control the area. They’ve employed machine guns from the towers, small rocket propelled grenades (RPGs), and at least 65 soldiers. I even see a tank and a helicopter preparing to take off. Luckily, I don’t see the tank moving. The helicopter is our most pressing problem.

  Searching for a path forward, I find myself perpendicular to a line of soldiers in cover, with more coming towa… oh hell—Mica! He’s right in the middle of the line. No armor, no helmet, just his bad-ass bravado going full blast. Using his… is that a 50 cal.? Whatever it is, he’s chewing holes in walls, buildings, any place that Jessup’s men might be. Any time a soldier gets within range of him, he pauses, grabs them and kills them on the spot. He is covered in shithead blood.

  Out of the blue, I catch a glimpse of three men running at him with a tomahawk in each hand. They appear to be out for blood. I yell, “Run, Mica!”

  He deliberately stops and waits for these three. He sets his stance, his balance low. When first one reaches him, without hesitation, he grabs him and uses his body to beat the other two. Repeatedly, he pounds the two on the ground with the one he caught. The pounding continues until the man is dismembered. His legs and hips are beat from the rest of his body. Guts, blood, and bile spill from the bifurcated parts.

  Mica, left holding only the man’s legs, grabs the two men on the ground and, without so much as a trifling effort, removes both of their heads. He returns to his machinegun again. This time, he targets Jessup’s men deliberately, not just the buildings. The 50 cal, tears holes through them, spilling even more gore. The smell of the blood and ruined bodies permeates the air. He turns and spots me. The smile on his face settles me. No way in hell will he let them hurt me again.

  Mega runs to help him and now, together, they form the middle of the phalanx pushing Jessup’s men. The gargoyles try to change tactics. Even though they stay back, Mica chews them up with the machinegun. If they rush him, they’re torn apart.

  “Nobody attacks my family without facing death,” I say out loud to anyone around. The love I feel for these men because of the risk they are taking for me is indescribable.

  There are others in this fight. Two of them are flying; they have no weapons in their hands that I can see. These men have wings. They aren’t men—per se, more like dragon-men. They both have clawed feet, scales, long tails, larger armor scales throughout their bellies and chest. Their arms…

  “Shit! Holy fuck-fire… Jared, Dana! What the hell am I seeing?” They’re so handsome, and… in so much trouble! The clouds behind Jared are rapidly building, and the lightning is shooting through the sky behind them. The helicopter lifts off and is angling toward them. Lightning flashes, and thunder rips through the compound. Boom! The helicopter explodes in a flash of fire and electricity. Damn, that was good luck!

  The rain is pounding now. Any fires nearby are doused. Just then, Jadite, my beautiful warrior, lands in front of Arden and I and begins yelling for us to move out. “My queen, now is the time to leave. Our mission is to save you, not destroy this cartel. There’ll be time for that later.”

  I’m in awe of the fighting force decimating the cartel. Arden is holding me, almost carrying me in the direction of the pool that’s under repair. We round the grotto and arms grab Arden. Well, if it isn’t the top asswipe himself, Don Manuel Jessup, and he has a gun pointed at Arden’s head. He barks, “Make them stop, or your friend dies. You,” now talking to Arden, “drop the weapon.”

  Arden drops the gun. “Don’t do anything. I’m dropping it,” he says.

  Jadite was ahead of us and turns to end Asswipe. He begins to reach out, but suddenly stops and slowly backs up several steps.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I see Dana moving to help, waving Jadite off. Dana starts to make his move. Asswipe sees him and point-blank fires two shots into his face. Dana drops to the ground near the edge of the pool; the momentum from the fall carries him into the pool.

  Panic, dread, terror, resignation course through my hopelessly hysterical brain. My Dana, my precious little brother, gone.

  Jadite roughly seizes Jessup and plants him in his place in front of me, daring him to move. “It’s your choice, asswipe. Move and I’ll make sure today is the day you pay the ferryman.”

  Jessup arrogantly pointed his chin at me, talking. He’s talking. What’s he saying… something about ‘making it worth my while’ if I let him go?

  At this point, Mica steps from behind me. He takes my hand and gently pulls me to him. I feel his heart beating and smell him for the first time in what feels like forever. I start to lean in, then pull away. “I’m not done!” I tell him as I place my hand on his chest.

  My tears are falling like the rain. My anger is growing.

  Jessup is screaming. Threatening or pleading, I don’t know. I don’t care. I can’t understand a word he’s saying. Right now, the entire world sounds like it is speaking to me through a giant can on a string—all mumbles, no detail. “Dana,” I cry. This mama bear bites!

  Anger floods my feelings, overwhelming every rational thought. It turns to rage, rage to hatred, hatred to a deep, visceral scream.

  The “NO!” that I exhale is filled with all the anger, rage, and hatred I have for this man and his men.

  Brilliant light fires from my mouth concurrent with my scream. Like a laser, it hits Jessup in the dead center of his forehead. I keep screaming until I have no more breath left. I collapse onto the ground, sobbing. Don Manuel Jessup, his entire upper body completely burned away, has fallen to the ground in front of me.

  Jadite lifts me to my feet. “Kendra, we need to move you, now!”

  “Wait. Dana.” I hurry to the edge of the pool where Dana had fallen. Horrified, I stare down into the pool.

  Sometimes in my life I see things others can’t. Often, those ‘visions’ have led me to decisions that I struggle with; some change the plane of my life. But this is no vision! This is real! My heart skips a beat. Staring into the pool, I see Dana standing there looking back at me with the biggest shit-eating grin on his face. “Hi Sis,” he tells me, his dimples in full force.

  “What? He shot you in the face… I know he shot you. He shot you twice.”

  “It’s ok, Sis, I’m fine.”

  “Thank you, Lord!” I launch myself at him and grab him in a fierce big sister hug. “I thought he’d killed you.”

  “My skin isn’t stone, Sis. I think it’s harder than stone,” he tells me as he points to his aqua colored skin. Weird, it looks good on him. He tells me he was hit several times today and thinks all he got is a chip in his front tooth. “We need to remember to keep our mouths shut in a gun fight,” he chuckles. “Jared’s the same way, I’m just
prettier.”

  I would have laughed too if I wasn’t burning so badly. The storm that was raging is ebbing now. Now that the fighting is ending.

  The burning is getting bad and the cool rain isn’t helping.

  I crumple, looking to Arden for help. The battle’s over; Jared and Mica are with me now too. “Ouch! It hurts everywhere! Help!”

  Jared answers me, “Look at me, Sissy. I can help you, but it isn’t easy. You need to listen to me. Remember, you’re part dragon.”

  “I do, but this is burning! It hurts so bad!”

  “Sissy, let the dragon come. Relax into it.”

  “What?”

  “You can push your dragon blood to the top if you try. Visualize what you would look like if you were a dragon. It doesn’t have to be right. Just see it. Concentrate and think of it. Push your dragon blood to the top.”

  I do, and the burning subsides. It feels better. A little, anyway.

  Jared continues, “That’s it, Sis—concentrate and push it to the top.”

  I hold my breath and push all over and I feel better. I relax, and wings shoot out they’re much longer than my arms.

  “All righty then,” said Jared. “I’m not sure why, but Jericho said it’s important to fly right now. So, can you flap your wings?”

  I can and do tentatively.

  “Okay so do that and hold our hands.” Jared and Mica both take a hand as I flap and up we go.

  “Holy crap! We’re flying. Okay, I got it now,” I yell, “but catch me if I fall.”

  Mica answers in his deep loving voice, “Always, my love.”

  I take a short flight around the compound. It looks like most of the cartel is dead or has retreated. The TASS soldiers are cleaning up, checking for wounded. Jadite is attending to those at Arden’s direction.

  Time to land. I watch Mica, he gently guides me through the landing process. We touch down, light as a feather.