G

It was three minutes until four and I was just about to log out and head on home. When I got a call on the office phone. It was weird to get a call to my direct line but I still answered it.

"Hey, boss, it's nick. We were shot at by a group. They were sitting on a couple roofs with rpgs. We captured two people we suspect to be the leader of the dumbasses. You want to sit in on the interrogation?"

"Yeah, I'm on the way." I hung up and rushed towards the elevator.

Our helicopters were basically silent as night. If you didn't know our routes, then you shouldn't catch our planes in the air. There was no tower control center. No government to hound us on air traffic.

But that couldn't stop someone who had a radar to specifically monitor the air. After all, the government is still around. Even though they were losing ground, it wasn't like they wouldn't make a comeback.

The elevator opened in the basement and I walked out and took the second elevator down to B1.

When the elevator opened for the second time. A group of guards smiled at me like creeps. They led me to the interrogation room where this beefy looking guy with a military cut sat tied to a chair. He had a couple tats that said his former divisions. Airborne this or that.

Fellow was dressed in white v-neck and faded jeans. Wearing cowboy boots that were worn out on the right side more than the left.

Nick stood in a corner looking like a crooked cop. I grabbed a chair and sat down in front of the man. I took out a blunt and lit up. After two puffs, I smiled at the guy.

"I'm confused about why you would be targeting flying crafts." I took another puff. "You don't have to answer my question or his because it will give us a chance to try out interrogation methods."

The man's eyes didn't hold a sign of fear but the knuckles on his fingers whiten for a few seconds.

"I'm sure my friend here didn't check you for possible gps chips right?" I waved at nick. "I remember reading a report that black ops soldiers would have a chip installed so they could be retrieved in case they were attacked."

The man's eyes flickered downward towards his arm but I could see it in his chest. Nick, on the other hand, steps out of the room for a few seconds.

"I don't think you realized that if the army comes to save you. They will just die." I took another puff. "I'm telling you this so you understand that what is about to happen to you isn't going to weigh in on my conscience. In fact, I might even sleep like a baby after fucking my girl. So, if you want to pray to God. Go ahead now."

I took a last puff and put it out. I turned to the table and unrolled a leather bag. There were all kinds of tools. I didn't need all those. I grabbed a long needle and grabbed his right hand.

"Do you think you are a tough man? I often think so but everytime I come close to losing my life. My will to be tough vanishes. It made me want to cherish my life a little more. You can say that it turned me into a coward that values life." My hand lifted up his pinky finger and I put the needle just under the nail.

The man's eyes were fierce, his nostrils flared, and he clenched his teeth. It made his jaw stand out a little more.

"When I was a young child, my father said that being tough was foolish but being strong was innate." I jam the needle underneath the nail and his body stiffen, his toes curled, heels slammed into the leg of his chair.

His neck tightened and he looked as if he wanted to say, 'shit' but couldn't get it out.

"He often said the difference between a man and a beast was how much he could learn. He forced me to read all kinds of books even though all I wanted to do was go play ball with the other kids. I had to analyze why the author wrote this character this way. Which parts did the author put himself into the book." I picked up another needle and grabbed the next finger even though he tried to struggle, he didn't have much leverage. "There was this one time when I just hit puberty that he took me out into the mountains. We were tracking a mountain lion. Well, I say we but really it was me. I had to kill it and bring it back."

The needle tapped the fatty part of his finger.

"It was weird because I could see the footprints of the lion. Saw its dung and tracked it to its watering hole but the old thing." I jam the needle in and receive several loose curses. Which I ignored. "My father gave me a small caliber pistol but while I was hunting this lion in autumn where all the leaves were brown to red. Brittle and easy to step on. This lion was following me, tracking me, tracking it."

I grabbed a third needle. "But what we both didn't know was that my father was tracking us both. But I didn't need him then because I had been clearly listening to my heart, my breathing, and the fact that the lion had stepped on those brittle leaves. So I was prepared mentally. No.. I should say that I hadn't even processed what I was going to do."

I grabbed the next finger just as Nick came back in. The man was breathing hard enough that spit was linked to both his lips. His neck to his jaw was flushed red. There were veins that stood erected on his arms.

"I set up my tent on the edge of a river. The hard rocks were below and they felt warm with the autumn heat bearing down on them. I remember taking off my boots and resting my feet in the water. Then stepping on the oval rocks and enjoying that soothing sensation. While I was enjoying myself, the lion had completely forgotten that it was still stepping on those brittle leaves that crackle."

The needle tip pushed against the nail and the bed of the flesh.

"It had crouched down as I used the tent to block its line of sight. It was at that moment that a beautiful golden brown kitty launched and my steady hands predicted its landing spot. I remember firing off the entire clip into its head before it knew what happened."

The needle tip disappeared under the nail bed. A scream that couldn't quite be called manly made me pause my story. When he stopped screaming, I reached over and grabbed a fourth.

"My father probably didn't believe I would actually do it. Kill the lion that is. He probably thought I was soft and had been cuddled too much by my mother before cancer took her. Though, to be fair, I was kind of nerdy. I like playing video games and my mother did indulge me on that a little too much but when I killed that lion. I knew then that my father saw something different in me." I rubbed the knuckle of his index finger. "I remember gutting the lion, skinning it like how I would a deer. I made a tanning rack and hung up the hide. My body acted as an autopilot as I cut the lean meat that had fat. I knew that fat would make the meat cook better. While the rest, I cut into strips. I smoked them but the pan seared the fatty lean parts."

I crushed his knuckle and watched his body twitch in the chair. His screams almost deafen me but his hand in my hand was trembling like a tarp in a fierce windstorm.

"My father walked out of the forest that day. He stood there in the shadow of this great tree and watched me with concern in his eyes. But it wasn't a concern for me but for other people that I might meet. He realized at that point that I might not have been fully sane." I glance into the man's bloodshot eyes.

His lips were redden and had slowly fading white patches from where his teeth bit into his lips. Even though he breathed so heavily, the spittle on his lips were like survivors that didn't want to let go. They clung tightly with their legs dangling.

"Sane is a little strong of a word. It's hard to meet what the trend calls a sane person but I was different from normal kids. It was honestly his fault. He tried too hard to help me see what a man was and it worked. I became a creation that he hadn't intended. He didn't have to pressure me to get me to man up. Sadly, after that day, he allowed me to game. He no longer woke me up early in the morning for combat training or jogging down the neighborhood. But once you have something instilled in you, it's hard to forget."

I rubbed my index and thumb together and a blue spark formed but died out. Yet, I kept up on it as the man tried to control his breathing.

"I'll talk." The man's voice was a little shaky to me.

"My friend, didn't I tell you I had no interest in what you had to say? I'm doing this just because I feel like I have become soft. You are my target to help me man up." I smiled at him and for the first time since I met this brave man, he was scared.

The spark finally stayed and it began to branch out. Little thunder rippled the air. There were clear signs of lightning flashes.

"I messed up my back one time and lost movement in this very same arm." I move the lightning towards the metal needles. "They did something like this to test my nervous system. If the test works you would feel 'discomfort'. If it didn't, well you wouldn't feel a thing which was bad news."

At this point, the lightning had jumped to the needles. The man's body seized and he shook in the chair. His already erected veins stood out even more. His eyes were so wide that I felt they would pop out. Spit flew about as he rocked that poor chair.

I pulled back the moment I heard his heart skipping beats. I turned to Nick who was pale as he stood in the corner.

"Do you think they would attack us now?" I didn't expect an answer. I was just passing time.

Nick gulped down whatever was on the forefront of his mind. "We have spotted several spies in the city. They tend to roam around the inner wall or ask a lot of pointed questions. I have already ordered them to be captured."

I nodded and turned back to this brave man. "See, we don't need you to talk at all. Your employer will keep to the playbook. This makes him predictable. I don't need to play by those same standards because we have entered a new era. An era where we are pioneers and we have to carve out a path for the future generations to walk through."

I created an obsidian dagger and gently cut the prisoner shirt open. I dug into his impressive bicep and pulled out a small chip. I dropped the chip onto the leather bag.

"Take that down to Demi and ask her to track it. When you find out where they are. Send the rapid response team. No survivors." I stood up and stared at my brave friend. "You can kill him now."

"Wait! Wait! I can tell you what to expect! Our weapons to people! How to get into the underground base and who gave us the orders!" The man shouted after me.

"Okay, begin by telling me what you were doing on that roof with rpgs?" Nick turned the chair around and dropped into it. His arms resting on the back of the chair.

I left him to the interrogation and walked out. On my way to the elevator, I noticed Beatrice's face covered in blood that was still wet and runny. She threw a glance at me before falling into step beside me.

"He didn't want to talk." She grabbed a napkin and dabbed at her face. "What about your guy?"

"He's talking but I don't think much of it will be useful. However, Demi should get something from the chip and those guys checking out the city. You will be my eyes and ears on the raid. I'm going to be sick." I tapped the elevator up button.

"Thanks for the trust boss." Beatrice opened a bottle of water and poured it over her head over a trash bin.

I just don't understand why she didn't go to the bathroom and use the sink and mirror. The impor question was why was she using some guy's blood as a face mask? Doesn't she know that's how disease is spread?

Future note, keep my dick in my pants.

The elevator opened and a guy dragged another smaller guy in chains. I wanted to ask why he used so many chains on the guy to the point where the guy could only hop but my crew was full of weirdos.

It was nice being the normal one.

*****

I pulled into a parking lot in the city and got out of the car. I did a quick direction check and headed towards Izzy beauty salon.

Walking down the sidewalk, I almost felt like the world hadn't changed. You could still find women of all types in leggins. Some in shorts that rode their ass cheeks. Their shorts had to be asking, can you breathe? Need more room, that's what I'm here for.

To be honest, I would have thought all the pretty hot women would have been snapped up or dead. After all, if you had the choice of sleeping with someone barely tolerable in daylight to someone that you can watch like it's a football game. Most guys would choose the latter, which means most pretty women would either be having the best time of their lives but feeling like a piece of meat. Or dead because someone less attractive pushed them down so they could live a few minutes longer.

But here, I saw something different. Fine women were just about everywhere. Slightly attractive women were showing off their best assets. While you had those women who had too much ass walking around like their backs permanently pushed inward. It wasn't a bad view though. I would have totally bed one or two. Just had to say bye when I was done. Matter of fact, don't even bring them back to your crib. Their casa or fine someone else.

I sidestep a guy on an electric scooter and remember why I hated the big city. Ignoring the tall buildings hovering over you but those crazy drivers, ignorant pedestrians, and that fucking glare off a glass skyscraper.

Sad that this city is turning to that point. Shit, I already see special brand cars and mopeds.

There was a guy standing under the shade of a hotel awning yelling at someone about his life insurance. That is how you know the economy is good.

My phone went off and I looked ahead at the glass display front with moving pictures of my different hairstyles. Sighing, I answered the phone and moved closer to this brick building that had the smell of old books.

"Whats wrong, demi?" I answered unhurried.

"You are going to be pissed but the military is working with a few towns who have cleared out the walkers in their area. That being said, they didn't have any huge walker presences to begin with. All low level grunts from some of the clips I'm seeing but because of this they were able to monopoly their supplies. However, the military is slowly trying to build up a fighting force outside the three major cities here. Well two since they lost one." Demi spoke without a pause. "The best part is that they are targeting our supply of food. They don't want to barter or trade but directly own our farms. This is an order from a two star General and highest member of the Cabinet."

I rubbed the bridge of my nose. "Do we have their location. The General or the Cabinet member? If not, we can subjugate the surrounding area."

"My team is still in the process of gathering intel. They don't say locations over the phone or through texts but we are working on turning their phones into mobile recorders. We just need time to slide the program into their phones."

"Okay, send the coordinates of the biggest threat from the local snakes." I turned back around.

"No problem."

My phone ding as I received a text. I guess it was time to show people how real thugs handle situations.