Silence Falls

No one said a word for a long time in fear of the repercussions for communicating with one another within the traversing van they’d been flung into. Instead, they opted to curl into themselves against the farthest side of the van door and suppress their whimpers. They trusted the tremors pulsating through their bodies would also recede with time as well. When that didn’t seem to happen, they tried to keep their minds engaged from their arrest by concentrating on the racket of the vehicle’s engine, or the noise of the rocks on the road crunching beneath the tires as they sped deeper into the swamps. The odyssey seemed like an eternity to them as the minutes ticked by, but that, they felt, gave them enough time to assemble themselves to slight their fear and speak.

“B-Bert? Otep, a-are you in here too?” Cris whispered aloud, praying that they hadn’t met their ends by the hands of the soldiers and were instead heaved into this same vehicle. Blinded by the bag swooped over their heads by the soldiers, his vision was completely obscured from pinpointing them. “Please say something! Tell me they haven’t killed you guys!”

Brooding in the back of the van, Otep’s eyes snapped in the direction of his voice that she could barely hear over the vehicle. “Unfortunately, they haven’t. I’m still here.”

“Don’t worry, you guys, we made it out alive.” Bert ensured everyone faintly, biting back a groan due to the throbbing blow to his head. Cupping a hand over it, he hissed. “How are you guys doing? Did they hurt any of you?”

“WHERE THE FUCK WERE YOU TWO!?” Bam spat uncontrollably before a fist banging against the divider between the front of the van and the back of the van resounded, shutting the males up and making the females jolt with fright.

“Oi, shut up the fuck up back there you lousy brats! Or I’ll fuck you up in ways that’ll make you wish you were born a mute.” A man with a British accent barked from the front of the van.

The apprehended prisoners in the back promptly restrained their desperate questions for what felt like another eternity. But the forthcoming unknown terrorized them too much for them to remain hushed, and so they discreetly started to communicate again.

“We went to the library across the street in search of a blueprint of the town. They discovered us there and threw us in this van.” Bert explained, mumbling the last part to himself in shame for they were probably the reason the others were captured too. If they had only remained in the mall and not ventured out tonight, they might still be back in their beds in the mattress store safe and sound. They would still have the mall, their home, to stay hidden in for as long as they could.

Connor’s head jerked in the direction of his voice, catching his breath from tussling to get his hands free from the handcuffs fastened around his wrists. Did he hear him right? “What? Why the fuck did you leave the mall for a blueprint for!?”

Otep shot Connor a glare despite the fact they couldn't see one another with the bags over their heads. “For finding a safe route out of this stupid shit hole of a town! Why else would we risk our lives by stepping out of the mall the way we did? It sure as fuck wasn’t for a fucking snack run, that’s for sure!”

“Hold on! Are you telling us you guys hadn’t deserted us back there at the mall and took off into the night?” Demitria asked, her hot tears having soaked into her black bag.

Bert was taken aback by that presumption. “Wait! What!? Of course the fuck not! Of all the times we could’ve ditched you gu-”

“And trust me, we came across plenty of opportunities to do so.” Otep inserted for added measure.

“We sure as hell did. We could have easily been out of this town years ago if we had only left all of you behind in that damned facility.” Bert quibbled, highly offended that any one of them would think they would simply forsaken them especially after everything they’d gone through to keep them alive and out of harm’s reach.

The others shuffled uncomfortably in return from where they sat, small tinges of regret pricking at them for ever suspecting Bert and Otep’s absence at the time of their arrest meant they had ditched them. It’s just when they woke up to guns aimed at them and men roaring for them to get down on the ground with their hands behind their backs, there were no signs of their two respectable leaders. They hadn’t realized it until they were marched towards the exit of the mall that they had already theorized the worst of them, that they had discarded them to the dogs to be eaten. Bert and Otep’s past actions never gave them any reasons to distrust their commitment to their survival, so to doubt them now was a horrendous way to thank them for all they’ve done.

Onika imparted first. “Look, you guys… we didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. We just jumped to the worst case scenario when they came crashing into the mall and you two weren’t there. We were so scared for our lives at the time, we never stopped to think that maybe you had been caught too.”

“We know.” Otep responded, not as miffed as Bert over it. She understood perfectly why their thoughts went that way. They’d always physically been there for the group from the start. Tonight was the first time they vanished without letting a single soul know.

“Does anyone know where they’re taking us?” Natasha murmured to anyone that was listening.

“I’m assuming back to the medical facility.” Bert voiced. “There isn’t any other place they can keep us.”

“Can’t we just kick their asses? There’s more of us than them which means we have an advantage. We should ambush them as soon as they stop this van, seize their guns and just pump them full of lead until there’s nothing left!” Bam proposed heatedly, the cuffs cutting into his wrists from all the hassling he was doing.

Bert sighed wearily. “No Bam, we wouldn’t make it even if we weren’t bagged and handcuffed. These are soldiers! They’re trained for this and will mow us down without breaking a sweat.”

That’s when it came back to them. The soldiers at the mall had apprehended their target too!

“Oh my god, you guys, we might have good news! While you two were out, the soldiers found the reason why they came here in the first place!” Alexis blurted before clamping her loud mouth shut and waiting for an outburst. When their bark never came, she let out a breath she’d been holding in relief.

Otep leaned over to pry her to continue. “What the hell are you talking about, Alexis?”

“Subject V.” Natasha answered. “They found him. Right outside the mall before they removed us.”

“Can you believe it?” Demetria added in wonder. “He’d been right there, and so close to us too!”

Otep’s heart ceased beating in her chest. She couldn’t take her next breath.

The soldiers have finally caught their monster.