Chapter 4

Achilles' personality is quickly changing and going down hill. Sycophanta and Panxin go missing. Achilles and the rest have been abducted, they meet a new "friend".

Chapter 4

                 

Caedicia walked up to him and asked why he was being an a*s,”What’s the matter with ya?” She looked at his green eyes and they locked shut as he looked away.

“Nothing, what’s wrong with you.” He shot back with sarcasm.

“I see how it is…” Caedicia ran back to her brother and started a conversation with him. It was inaudible for Achilles, he was pretty far ahead from the group. After an hour they had reached the forest perimeter. Achilles was rushing them to hurry before sunrise, so they ran most the way. Backpacks swaying making a lot of noise. A few porch lights came on. He ordered everyone to drink and stay well hydrated. His demeanor was changing every second, every minute, and every hour. As time went on he became more hostile and less like himself.

Syco started to bawl after the whole ordeal, Panxin and Dashe tried to comfort him, but he was still crying. Dashe was beginning to become irritated with Achilles, she was mad that Caedicia was just letting him bully everyone like that. She approached him and opened her mouth,”What the hell is wrong with you? You made Syco cry, you’ve been super hostile and secretive. I thought we were friends, Syco trusted you. And you just made him feel like s**t.” She noticed Caedicia walking towards her,”Caedicia you take one more step I will break your leg.” Caedicia stopped in her tracks,”Now, tell me. Before I force it out of you.” Achilles shot a glare a anger towards her.

“Nothing is wrong my dear, and you will not hurt her. I forbade it.” Achilles said with much sarcasm.

“You say that like you own me. I’m not your f*****g pet! I can fight my own battles.” Now Caedicia was getting upset.

Jax spoke out,” Guys where did Syco and Panxin go?” Everyone looked around.

“Sycophanta, Panxin!!!!” Everyone started screaming their names.

Suddenly, Achilles was struck in the head with a PVC pipe, they all screamed. The attackers blew some kind of powder into their face, they all fainted. When they woke they all had bags over their heads.

“I-is anyone there?” A muffled voice called out,” I heard that they brought new prisoners, are you them…?” She walked up to everyone and untied them, removed the masks covering their heads and stood them up,” I’m prisoner 5374.. What number are you guys?” Jax looked at her with great confusion.

“Prisoner 5374….? What’s your real name hun?” He let out a sweet baby voice.

“It’s forbidden to say, but it’s Arya.” She was hesitant but seemed to trust Jax. He noticed she had an eyepatch on,” Are you hurt Arya?” he slowly walked towards her.

“N-no you can’t…. They’ll punish you.” She seemed genuinely worried for him and his friends.

“Who is ‘they’?” He continued to walk towards her,” You have to trust me.”

He heard a door slam open, he quickly backed up,” You,” The strange figure pointed to Jax,” come with me. Now!” he grabbed him by the arm and dragged him away.

“Where did they take him? Tell me!” Caedicia asked Arya when the man had taken away Jax,” Please, he’s my only relative. Wait a minute. Where’s Achilles?” She looked around only to find a pool of blood but no Achilles. She started to cry. Dashe, Panxin, and Sycophanta were all their, she hugged them all,” How long have we been here? What do they want from us?”

“They sell us for work, the females are sold to buyers for whatever reason they want. The men are kept here for manual labor. They manage to brainwash them into thinking that what they are doing is fine. The reason I’m still here is the manager has fallen in ‘love’ with me.” She teared up a bit.

“I don’t understand, where did they take my brother and where is Achilles?” Caedicia questioned her as if she a suspect to a murder.

“They took Achilles to the infirmary, the blow he took to the head was pretty serious. Jackson though, I have no idea where he is.”

“Wait, how do you know his name. I never told you his name.” She became suspicious of her intentions.

“You um, told me earlier…” Arya seemed to become defensive from that point on.

“You have to tell me where he is, please. Jackson is my only sibling I have, I need him.” She cried and cried, she knew it wouldn’t help but she couldn’t stop.

A man walked into the “shed” they were locked away in, he grabbed Panxin and Dashe. Sycophanta fought back, the man punched him in the stomach staggering him. He quickly got up and bit him on the arm. He dropped Dashe, instead he took Sycophanta. Dashe tried to run after them but was pushed back. Caedicia was crying,  Dashe was ripped away from her family, Achilles and Jackson were nowhere to be found, the only suspect was Arya. Dashe got up and grabbed her by the collar,”Where the hell are they? You better tell me before I rip you larynx out with this piece of wood!”

“Hey, hey calm down! I have no idea.” Arya quickly disarmed her and turned the stake to her,” Why don’t we all calm down. I’ll tell you if you tell me what you were doing in the forest.” Her demeanor quickly changed from innocent and nice too intimidating and scary.

“What the hell! Who are you?!?” Dashe pulled herself back from Arya’s grip.

“That doesn’t matter, now does it? You just want to know where your comrades are. If you answer my question I will answer all of yours.”

“Fine. We were going out for a walk, we had heard of stories about bandits and traitors living out here. So we decided to check it out.” Dashe let out a sigh of relief to trick Arya into thinking she was calming down, but in fact she was building her strength back up.

“Hmp, alrighty. I guess I owe some answers. Oh! And my true identity.”

“What do you mean your true identity?” Caedicia finally crawled out of the corner and said something.

“Did you truly believe you were getting out of here alive?” She pulled of a wig. Her hair was as black as the night, she had scattered braided strands throughout her thick pulled back hair. It wasn’t pulled back all the way, it was sort of a half ponytail. Her pupils were very contracted, her eyes were a scary looking dark violet. She had two sharp spires protruding from her hands as weapons. She twirled them in between her fingers. She picked up a bow with some iron arrows, she put the bow around her and put the arrows in a quiver.

“What the hell?!” They both sputtered out loud.

“Surprise!” She jumped in front of them,”Now,tell me. What are your names?”

“Were not telling you are you crazy!?” Dashe quickly backed up only to see Caedicia up in her face,”What are you doing?”

“She knows where they are.”  Caedicia’s eyes narrowed as she looked into her piercing red eyes,”WHERE THE HELL ARE THEY!!”Her screamed seemed to have shaken the whole building.

“And, why would I tell you that?” She was staggered from all the shouting,” Now, let’s be civil shall we.” She was becoming more visibly insane and sarcastic,”Let’s play a game, shall we.”

“What kind of game?” This was the first time Dashe had spoken since Caedicia had jumped in.

“You get three guesses as to my real name, if you guess wrong there will be consequences, guess right and I will spare your friends. I will give you hints but you only get 5.”

“What the hell is wrong with-” Dashe was quickly cut off by Caedicia.

“Alright we’ll play.”

“Perfect!” Her voice became high pitched,” First clue is on the house. My name begins with and ‘R’.”

“That helps..” Dashe rolled her eyes,” D, don’t. I, we, can’t risk it.”

“Rose.”
“Wrong! Second hint, Rex is my nickname.” Her eyes  seemed to have popped out of her socket.

“Rexy.” Caedicia continued to guess.

“D! Stop! Before we lose someone!” Dashe became frantic

“Wong again! But close. Third hint, my name ends in an ‘N’.”

“Rexilyn!” Caedicia shouted.

“How did you guess?” Rexilyn seemed surprised.

“I have my ways. Now, tell us. Where the HELL are they!”

As soon as Caedicia spoke out the mirror behind Rexilyn light up, it was a two way mirror. She saw Panxin, Sycohanta, Jax, and Achilles. She gasped. They were being hung by their wrists. Their feet were barely touching the ground. A man dressed in all black walked around them with a Desert Eagle pistol in his hand. He waved the gun around Achilles’ head. He let out a squeal, the man yelled at him to shut the hell up.

Caedicia started to cry, Rexilyn laughed like she was enjoying it.The moment only became more intense as the mysterious man walked over to Panxin. He cocked the gun, the lights went out. All you could hear was a gunshot then a scream by Sycophanta. Dashe ran up to the mirror and broke it. She saw the dead body of her sister just hanging their. The rest of them were gone. She cried and screamed, nothing could take back what she just saw.

Caedicia grabbed Rexilyn by the scruff and punched her,”Wh-where are they?!” Her tone of voice was of mixed emotions.

“Why would I tell you?Haha, you should see your face Dashe.” She wiped a single tear from her eye as she laughed,” By the way you never told me how you knew my name.”

“Y-you were in my class last year, at my new school. I recognized you, you were the crazy one. I knew that tone of voice and that game. You played it with the teacher before she went missing.”