Chapter 11 - Weird Obession with Balls

My shoulder hurts. My hands are tied behind my back. Throbbing pain soars through my neck. A smelly rag tied around my mouth blocking my airway. Slow and rough breathing through my nostrils kept me alive and barely functioning. My legs are tied up too. I see the ground beneath me. At least I can see. What happened?

“Good of you princess to finally grace me with your consciousness” [Wong]

What the hell dude? I am stuffed with socks and you talking shit to me. “uuuu…” , ah sure. I can’t even talk back to this moron. I scuffled trying to free myself from my restrains to no avail. [Allen]

“They put sailor knots, connecting the ropes from your hands to your legs, so the more you try, the more they tighten” [Wong]

Something forced my body around and I see Wong sitting against the wall untied and nothing restraining him as far as I can tell. How is this asshole untied? Near him were the leftovers of whatever had restrained him.

“The genius Allen, the savior, what plans do you have to save yourself from this bind?” [Wong]

Dude, if you are untied, fucking untie me as well. What’s the point of talking to a gagged guy?

“I hate you Allen. You are this uncaring, free-spirited fucking genius who never had to work hard for anything in his life while I have always been struggling to keep up with yo. The worst part is, you don’t even see me as a rival.”. Reminiscing about something, Wong continued while I was still gargling with that rag in my mouth. “I envy you. You had Camille, the one girl I liked and Alvin the one my sister liked. Why do you horde good things to yourself?”.

Is he waiting for me to answer? This sadistic bastard.

“I was at my limit even before things turned out .. like this. I had excelled in my SAT’s. I was planning to attend med school, ask Camille out and move to an apartment in the city, away from you and from this shitty town. My dreams came crashing when that monster attacked us in the store. Even then, I took up arms and even ended up getting a treasure box. I was sure Camille would finally look up to me. I wanted to be the shoulder for her to cry, the one for her to share her bed with”

His eyes spew venom looking at me, “Yet you hogged even more glory to yourself. Not only you managed to get a treasure box, you even saved Camille from a monster with your quick thinking. I didn’t know whether to thank you or hate you for it. You sheltered all these people and even put up defenses while I was thinking of whisking Camille off her feet. Are you that ignorant of her charms or rubbing your fortune on my face? Then again, you were never the type to understand someone’s feelings”

“I worked twice as hard in this hell hole, while you sauntered away the evening with Camille. You even had the audacity to spend the night with her”.

Wong was dejected. “You broke my heart. You broke everything I worked hard for. You even managed to find another treasure box like they were easter eggs hidden for children to find. How would someone even transcend in sleep?”

I struggled to breathe, hiding my horror of what awaited after his monologue ended. He took pity on my plight and sit me up against the wall like how he was sitting.

“You came up with these ideas after ideas, trying to help us survive while I was just looking forward to the attack and let it be the end of my troubles. You made me feel disgusted with myself”. His shoulders dropped like they had given up. He sat staring at the ground between his knees and after a while looked at me with an invigorating look.

He dusted himself and stood extending his hands towards me. “I say all these because I don’t want to start a friendship hiding my true feelings. I no longer feel any animosity towards you. Camille loves you dearly. Even a blind fool can see that, except may be you. I am happy for her. This apocalypse has given me time to think about what I want to do with my life. I am reborn. My purpose is to find strength and to live”

He touched my restrains and they came off like melted candle. I was relieved to finally breathe free and awe struck at what he did. How?

“I have been caged since childhood never to fly free. I was a prisoner of my own making. Unable to let go of the restraints that pulled me down. I have transcended, Allen. The treasure box gave me a skill called, ‘Unbind’. May be it knew I was bound to my duties, my studies, my love, my parents and even myself. I am no longer abound. Nothing can restrict me. Now, tell me my friend, what do we do? We are in deep shit”. He smiled at me like everything was alright.

Why do I get mixed up with sadists and psychopaths?

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I paid no heed to my gut telling me to stay away from this deranged lunatic and took his hands finally realizing we were away from the store.

“Where are we? What happened? Leave nothing” [Allen]

“Lin and Camille spoke to Reverend Gale and he invited me to talk with them about the specifics. I was only happy enough to indulge and the next thing I know, I was out in the streets with you lying unconscious” [Wong]

“Go on” [Allen]

“I untied myself and looked for a way to get back inside the store. Against my better judgement I had to quickly hide since I saw some monsters spying the store. We are two shops away from the grocery store. This place used to be a meth lab. I used to hide here watching them make drugs right over there. I dragged your comatose body away to safety. Everything that happened after that, you already know” [Wong]

I wasn’t in a coma. Why did Camille speak with the reverend, despite me telling her not to include religious people? It must be Lin. Stupid bitch.

“Did you happen to know why they left us for dead?” [Allen]

Looking appalled at my question, Wong said, “I don’t know. I thought it was up your wheelhouse insulting the religious and antagonizing the old. I thought I was just mixed up in one of your blemishes”

So it was not him who brought me here. “No dude. I didn’t do anything. I even asked Camille to leave them alone. I suspected it was you who brought me here”. Averting his angry glare, “ you know, considering your .. monologue” [Allen]

“No. I would never do something that will make Camille sad. Anyway, we both know nothing more than we did earlier. Nice one genius” [Wong]

Bastard admitting he would have done this if it wasn’t for Camille. And stop with your sarcasm. “We know it was the revered who did this to us. Considering their affiliation, they might have thought we were heretics or something and left us here. They might even convince everyone in the store that leaving us out was the right choice. Before everyone is brainwashed, we have to get in somehow or at least let Alvin or Camille know we are safe. Those two might do something out of spite”.

“I don’t know how we can do that. We can’t go to the roads, they are being watched by the monsters. I don’t even have my gun and even if I did, I don’t know how useful I would be in a direct confrontation. What about you?” [Wong]

“What about me?” [Allen]

“What did you get from the treasure box?” [Wong]

Oh crap. I could have done something if I had those. “I haven’t opened them yet. I was contemplating whether to combine them or save them for later. Trevor said they have other uses. I just need more time to figure it out” [Allen]

Snorting like a kid, Wong continued, “See, this is what I said. You act like you know better and you didn’t even ask me whether I opened my treasure box. If you had asked me, you would have known and you might have gained a skill or two yourself” [Wong]

No need to argue with him. “Sorry. I will rely on others next time. Now, tell me how many scouts did you see out” [Allen]

“4 pairs of 2 monsters of same kind. How do you know they are scouts?” [Wong]

“You said they were spying. They are waiting for a moment to attack. These monsters are just here to observe and report. Which is probably why they were lax when there was no activity. That explains why we didn’t die as soon as we were out. They were monitoring us and that means they will attack tonight”. [Allen]

“What, why? It makes no sense how you came up with that conclusion” [Wong]

Ah, this idiot. “If I were a monster, I would observe this place while I gather allies. Even after 12 hours, the situation has not improved and the humans have not come out. This doesn’t mean much, except show that the humans are afraid. You follow me?”.

Nodding his head like a goat, Wong gestured me to continue. “This behavior could also be an elaborate trap. However, it is still better to attack than wait incessantly hoping that the human sustenances would deplete. Besides, the more the monsters wait, the better prepared we become. They should have attacked us yesterday, while we were still pretty shaken from their first wave of attacks. But the monsters might have been scattered and needed time to regroup. That leaves tonight the best time for an all out attack”.

Isn’t this an obvious conclusion people arrive at? I wonder how humans survived the prehistoric age.

Crushed by his horror Wong loudly shouted shocking me by my collar, “What are we going to do? They don’t have anyone with monster fighting experience” [Wong]

Idiot. Like we both had a lot of experience. My monster died to a book and yours to a gun. We will make absolutely no difference with our so called ‘monster killing experience’.

His voice echoed through the warehouse and I heard some footsteps. Barely ducking Wong away from sight, we both hide some place cozy. Why cozy? Because it was fucking small for two people.

Two monsters wielding spears entered the place through a door on the other side of the building. Their silhouettes dark due to the blinding light poured from the other side of the door. These must be the scouts. Are they hiding in the building?

Following them, a bigger monster lazily moved around carrying a heavy club like the one from The Flintstones. This must be the boss. They are a clan, so chieftain may be. Right, correct the semantics when you die, you stupid fucking brain.

The two monsters left after discussing something, probably just dismissing the noise as their delusion. The chieftain dropped itself to the ground with a loud thump and slept near its club. Its loud snoring resonating throughout the empty space.

“Dude, we are screwed. That monster is right over there. What do we do now?” [Allen]

My body relaxed only after confirming that my life is not in any imminent danger. I turned around to see what my new friend was doing. Only to find him blushing and shy from looking me in the eye. What the hell dude? You were just, ‘I hate you’, suddenly now you are blushing at my touch?

“How long are you going to hold me? You can let go of me now” [Wong]

Its not what it looks like.I had a really good reason for holding him. Fear of dying alone is not one of them, okay!

“That monster is the chieftain, I assume. Its taking a nap. We are stuck here unless a miracle occurs” [Allen]

My mind was contemplating our next move while the idiot beside me squirmed like I was going to rape him.

“Buy me dinner before you have your way with me” [Wong]

We both loosened up after his quirky remark. Risk of us both ending as fodder for the chieftain didn’t stop us laughing.

….

God I hope he was just joking. I am not into men.

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Something breathed down my neck and a chill ran down my spine. Deja Vu.

“Hey Allen, we meet again” [Trevor]

You gotta be fucking kidding me. What do I do to get rid of this guy? “Hello Trevor. Good of you to visit me”.

“You were kidnapped and offered as a sacrifice to the invaders. By your own people” [Trevor]

What the fuck? I am a what now.

“You are a sacrifice. They kidnapped you and brought you out to die” [Trevor]

“So what now? Do I wait till something ends my misery?” [Allen]

“It’s up to you. You can grab your fate by the balls or just die. I am here because the all knowing wants me to tell you, ‘its yours if you will it’. Nothing more, nothing less” [Trevor]

And the ball poofed away, without as much as a goodbye. Why do I get mixed up with weird people and their unpleasant obsession with balls.

Nice little titbit to know Trevor-the fucking alien ball, ‘its mine if I will it’. Makes no fucking sense. What is mine? How do i will it?

I casted a spell waving my hand like a wand, “Abracadabra, become mine!” [Allen]

“You know, if you keep doing that, I will really think you are aiming for my body” [Wong]

Fucking shit. Where was this guy when the ball was here?