Just as I crashed into two of the soldiers, a shuffling noise sounded behind me, which I assumed was Damien waking up as well. Master Aki had totally known what he was doing when he’d tied our hands to the door.
I had little time to plan my crash. I tried to tuck my chin down on impact to minimize the face smashing, but it did little good. Arms outstretched, I took down two of the men, my shoulders slamming into their chests and knocking them backwards. My eye impacted one of the dudes’ helmets and I felt the skin rip open immediately.
Damien was next. I saw him as a blur of motion trying to disarm one of the other men. I counted six of them inside, with more outside no doubt. Two of us against them were not great odds, but I’d take it.
Rolling off the two dudes I’d knocked over, I rammed my knee into the nearest guy’s crotch as he tried to get up.
“Stand down!” a man outside yelled. “We aren’t here to hurt you.”
I realized then that the men I’d floored had flashbangs and Tasers but no lethal weapons, and they weren’t fighting back.
I looked up to the old timer who’d spoken and didn’t recognize him. He was a tall white dude with gray hair, and reeked of upper military. I could see it in the way he stood, in his haircut and the crispness of his ironed clothes.
I stood then and Damien backed away from his fight to step in front of me. “Then why the hell are you here?” Damien growled.
The man snapped his fingers and his men flanked us, one of them holding a pair of handcuffs. “We just need to talk. It’s a matter of national security.”
I full-on belly laughed. “Oh fuck national security. You sold us out years ago.”
His eyes widened before he recovered. “We’re just going to take you in for a little chat. Alright?”
It wasn’t a question. The men were already moving to cuff us. Damien looked at our friends asleep on the bed. “Let us wake our friends first. They’re in a bad spot in the Dream War.”
Oh shit, I’d forgotten about the breeder.
The man raised an eyebrow. “You think I’m stupid? They will try to help you escape.”
Panic flooded me as one of the men yanked my arm and slipped the handcuff over my right hand.
“WAKE UP!” I shouted to my friends, but their bodies just lay there, going through God knows what. We’d only been asleep maybe twenty minutes and I was still tired as hell, but that breeder…
Damien tried to fight, and the sound of a crackling Taser filled the room as they took him down.
I didn’t fight, I knew there was no use, and my mind was on other things. Reaching through my bonds with my friends, I found Master Aki’s energy
‘WAKE UP!’ I shouted mentally, and then I did something awful, something I hoped he could forgive me for. Pain.
I pushed the thought of pain into his Earth body, hoping to slam him with the biggest headache known to man that would wake him up so he could wake the others. The army guy gripped me hard under the armpits and started to haul me outside, but I caught a glimpse of Master Aki stirring.
‘Pain. Forehead explosion. So much pain you think you might die!’ I slammed the thought into him and then they shut the door, before pushing me and Damien into the back of a van and peeling out.
Oh God, I hope they woke up in time.
Two
The van hit the road hard and fast as Damien and I leaned on each other.
‘I think I woke Master Aki. They will be okay,’ I said into his mind.
His eyes widened, still unused to me talking to him like that, but then he nodded.
I had no idea where we were being taken or what the hell the United States government was doing in Canada, but I think I was about to have a rude awakening. These guys were definitely military, and the military positively had it out for me. Damien too, I couldn’t forget the kill list he was on. They’d come unarmed, but they’d also taken us by force. These people were by no means my friends.
We drove for what seemed like an hour before the van came to an abrupt stop. Asking questions was no use at this point, so when the doors opened I let them pull me out. We were backed up to a loading dock that smelled strongly of milk. Damien was hauled up next to me and then we were walking. I’d trained for situations like this. They weren’t supposed to happen on Earth, but the training was the same. My eyes flicked around as I took in different signs and landmarks to hopefully identify where I was. We were at some type of dairy farm or bottling facility. I counted two men stationed at each entrance or exit, and then another two roaming the hallways. This place was crawling with army personnel.
We were led into a room and made to sit in two metal chairs, where our handcuffs were chained to the back of the chair so we couldn’t stand without taking the chair with us. The second the men left the room, I turned to Damien.
“If they get hostile, I have a crazy idea,” I told him. We were probably on camera but I needed to check in and make sure he was okay.
He looked… pissed.
“If anything happened to Jeremy or anyone else, I’ll kill these men,” he growled.
“Damien, focus. We need to think about how we’re going to get out of here.” Planning our revenge while we were still captured was a rookie move. We needed to bust out, meet up with our crew, then plan
