The Forest
Chapter 3
"Bad Day"
Water dripped like a little storm from the ceiling of a run-down apartment. A mother and a son sat at the edge of the bed, which was directly across the room from the raining ceiling. The two just stared up, the young son looked content, but the mother looked livid. Supposedly the landlord was supposed to look into it, but never she hasn't heard anything since she mentioned it to him. The floor above them was completely flooded, probably close to almost two feet deep. The landlord contacted a plumber about a leak in the pipes in the water-filled apartment and tried to contact the resident living there. Supposedly this apartment had been abandoned for a while, but why would there be such a flooded room if it was?
The mother and son continued to look up at the leaked ceiling, the son played with a toy fire truck on the bed. The mother was now up and pacing back and forth, questioning why she would live in such a hell like this. She began to question he reasons for taking her son to a dump, what she could have done to save her son from this. However, she couldn't really do much about it now.
"Mom what's wrong?" The son asked gently, between his siren noises.
"Nothing Dustin, go back to your truck."
Quickly she walked to her door and swung it open, then slammed it quickly. She didn't like leaving her son in there alone, but all he did was play with that fire truck. It was crazy how much the truck meant to that kid, everywhere they went that truck was with them. The mother made it to the elevator door and entered it, pressing the Level 1 button. She was on her way to talk to the landlord.
"You were late! The lady that reported this is probably going to be livid!"
"Hey listen chief, I ain't goin' to sit here and listen to your annoyin' little voice. If you don't want me to fix the thing, then I'm not fixin' it, but if you do then shut the hell up." Julius' voice came from a dark corner in the landlord's office. "It's up to you."
"Fine! It's on the eighth floor, room 828, just hurry up!" The landlord said sitting down.
Julius huffed as he turned and walked out of the office abruptly, cussing a little under his breath as he walked. He didn't like taking crap from anyone, even if it was Julius' fault for making it there late. Bad days came and bad days went, but for Julius today was a very bad day. He had been running all over town for business, and right now he was fixing a pond from coming out of this run-down apartment. Should he just let it burst? Water from that room would ruin this whole dump and it would probably do the world a favor. That would mean no money for Julius and all this for nothing. The jingle of his tool belt was loud with every step that he took, annoying some people. He stopped at the elevator door and went into his pocket to pull out a cigarette and his lighter. Gently he placed the cigarette on his lips and squinted his eyes as he tried to light it. Right when he started to get it lit the elevator doors swung open and the mother jumped out to run straight into Julius. The lighter dropped and the flame caught his front pocket of his plumber jump-suit on fire for a second.
"Ah damnit"! He patted his pocket down to put out the flame, then looked towards the mother. "You in a matter of life or death lady?"
"You are finally here! Where the hell have you been?" The mother said glaring at the plumber.
"I sure have been asked that question a lot today..." He narrowed his eyes and looked away, taking the cigarette out of his mouth as he stepped onto the elevator. He didn't want to argue anymore...
"Well? You just gonna ignore me?"The mother said again with an angry tone.
"I'm going to fix your problem now toots, just relax." Julius let the door shut.
His hazel eyes finally opened, getting hit over the head with the handle of that gun hurt worse than he expected. Julius shook his head for a second, trying to get those cobwebs out his long brown hair danced around for a second, then fell back into place. As Julius finally came to, he realized he was tied down to stakes that were placed in the ground. They weren't normal stakes, they didn't want to come out of the ground. They seemed to be planted firmly into the roots of nearby trees. His baggy black shirt gently waved in the breeze that floated by the area. As he looked around he noticed all of the survivors from the boat were in the same position, placed all around this little camp. The camp had to be some sort of outpost for the Brazilian Army, since it was made out of tents and there were only a handful of soldiers. Actually, it was the same amount that captured the group, and the guy that Julius got a few punches on was holding his wounds. A slight smirk fell upon the face of Julius.
"You are enjoying this aren't you?" A woman's voice broke his glance of the injured soldier. Julius' smirk stayed on his face as he turned to the woman, she continued. "They weren't going to tie us up until you did that."
"Yes they were..." Another voice came from behind Julius. It was a woman also, but she had some sort of accent. Sounded like the woman who spoke when they saw the army.
"Oh and how do you know that? Are you in their little group too?" The first woman said back.
"No, I know Portuguese." The woman with the accent said back, this quieted the first woman.
"What are your names?" The first woman said after a few moments of silence.
"My name is Julius, sweetheart." That same smirk was still on his face, his southern American accent strong in his confident words.
"I'm Bailey," the first woman said gently. "Don't use any of your sweet talking nicknames please."
Julius shrugged and nodded together with a look of 'what did I say?' on his face. Even though he nodded, he would still throw out nicknames. Julius kept glancing over toward Bailey, she was extremely attractive, dark skin, dark hair and had a hint of a Spanish accent in her voice. She continued to struggle with the robe that was around her wrists, Julius just watched her calmly, like his shirt his hair would dance around his face in the breeze. The soldiers around the camp walked back and forth, talking to each other every once in a while, but it was relatively quiet in the camp. A few other survivors could be seen, not too far away, the young man that nearly drowned in the river was awake now and sitting close to the blonde lady who saved him.
"What about you?" Bailey said taking a break from trying to get free, looking up towards the woman who knew Portuguese.
"What about me...?"
"What is your name?"
"Kaila..." She looked softly over toward Bailey, from where she was all she could see of Julius was the back of his head. Kaila's voice was soft, unemotional and it seemed as if she only said what she needed to and then remained quiet.
The blonde lady that helped so many people out in the water watched the man with the lip-piercing closely. She was concerned for him because he was out for so long, but was relieved to see him actually wake up. Waiting for him to look over at her was taking a long time, he was staring at the ground below him with a hopeless look on his face. The soldiers were closer to these two than anyone else, watching them closely and speaking to each other every now and again.
"Hey, you alive over there?" The blonde directed toward the young man with the lip-piercing, her Australian accent coming through in her words.
"..." He didn't say anything, but he did look up for a second at the blonde.
"My name is Sarah, if you need something you need-"
The soldiers yelled in the direction of Sarah, cutting her off from trying to help out the grieving man. Her cloths were finally dry on her body, the green t-shirt she wore was dirty and had a few tears in it. Her khaki pants were a worse off, holes in the knees and dirt all over the place. She narrowed her eyes at the few soldiers that were looking at her, then began to wonder how she was going to get out of this mess. Right behind her was another survivor, tied up the same way as everyone else. The person behind her was a hulking man, his muscles in his arm flexed every so often as he tried to get out of the ropes. It was easy to see due to his tight tank top he wore, and his dark brown skin glistening in the sunlight. Sarah couldn't see him to well, but knew he was there, especially when he broke the silence with his deep voice.
"Miss," he said politely, he had a Jamaican accent. His voice was also really soft, so only he and Sarah could hear. "Don't give this little secret away, mun, but I have my arms free from these ropes." His voice began to go into a whisper so the officers couldn't hear.
"You are free?" Sarah whispered.
"Yes, but I will wait until for the best chance to get you all free before I move." He paused for a minute. "Be ready for it though mun, because we will have to move quick. We will try to get as many people free as we can."
Julius looked at the door that was closed, the room number said 828 and he could tell it was flooded. The door was creaking loudly, and water was slowly pouring from the bottom of the door. He glanced around the hallway of this floor and could tell that it had been abandoned for a while. Why would someone just leave this floor to go to waste? Well, Julius saw that the whole building was going to waste, and he could smell it too. A look of bad luck went over his face as he looked down at his boots that were on his feet. They were used to situations like this, but never really did any good, except for keeping his pants dry. He went toward the door handle his hand hesitant. Swiftly he opened the door and leaned forward, the water began to move rapidly out of the apartment room and out into the hallway. Julius stumbled a little bit from the harshness of the water that was moving at him, and holding onto the door was the only thing he could do.
"You gotta be kiddin' me!" Julius said watching a floater almost touch his leg. His brown plumbing suit was now turning black and his tools were luckily staying in his belt. Once the water began to slow down in intensity Julius inched into the room. He knew that he had to fix it, and knew that he better get a damn tip from this job. Just as he was making it into the bathroom, which is where he guessed the problem was, his cell phone began to ring. That only meant one of two things and each one was something he didn't like. It could be more work, which Julius didn't plan on doing today, or it could have been the girl he hooked up with the night before. Julius didn't call the girl back, and wasn't going to. He was a man for one-night-stands.
Lukis was packing up his backpack that he managed to find floating in the water with all the supplies he needed to head off on his quest. He wasn't even going to wait up for Rhia, if she didn't come then she didn't come and he would just respect her less for what they were. The two were treasure hunters, they journeyed all over the world to hunt down myths and treasure. Was it for fame or fortune seemed to be the question, and Lukis has been doing this for quite sometime. He was actually one of the most renowned hunters and scientists in the world. Rhia had heard all about him, and actually idolized him. She was a rookie in the field, and was excited to hear that she would be working with someone at such a high caliber as Lukis. Quickly Lukis through his bag over his shoulder, his baggy white t-shirt scrunched up by the bag's strap. His brown colored khakis were a little dirty, but that didn't faze Lukis at all. The thing that was on his mind was the cut on his left cheek, it was hurting a bit, but he would ignore it. He must begin his search, before they fall too far behind. He glanced around the area a bit, seeing it Rhia was on her way, nothing but the trees and a few other survivors. With a sigh he grabbed a map he had out of his bag and began to walk, hopefully he would try to figure out where he was and where he needed to be.
"So, are you finally leaving or what? It has been about twenty-two minutes since our meeting." Rhia said with a slight smile. "I thought you said fifteen minutes?"
"Just stay close." Lukis ignored her comment and began to walk into the forest.
Rhia sighed softly, the only reason she threw out that comment was to pick on him, because she sort of idolized him for what he was. So far, she didn't really like what she was learning about him. She would try a few more times to get on his good side, but if she doesn't get a response after that then she would just give up and stay strictly business. Going out to search for this treasure on the first day, after nearly getting killed by rapid waters, seemed crazy to Rhia. She probably wouldn't even have thought of the treasure if it wasn't for Lukis, he didn't seem to care for other people. At least this is what Rhia was getting from a first impression. She tightened her backpack and began walking behind Lukis, luckily for them she grabbed some water for the journey.
The soldiers in the camp patrolled the area, walking between all of the captives making sure they were all tied up. Sarah and the Jamaican man tensed up for a split second as the soldiers looked in their area. If they did find out that the Jamaican was free, then he would have to take out that soldier and figure out a way to get out with everyone in those circumstances. However, that would be a very bad choice because the chances of them getting free and running to safety would be slim to none. Once the soldier passed their patrol Sarah sighed and relaxed for a moment. She glanced over to the young man with the lip-piercing, watching to make sure that the soldier didn't do anything to him. Sarah saw the man jump off the boat with a girl, but when she pulled him out of the water only he came up. The young man had to be grieving the loss of the girl he had with him, Sarah thought she heard the man call her Elizabeth.
"Hey dawg! Watch where you are pointing that thing!" A loud voice came from behind a tree that was close to the man with the piercing.
Sarah's eyes widened a bit, she didn't realize that there was another person over there. A few times she looked around the camp and started to count how many of the group there was. Now, another was added and the bigger the list got the harder it would be for them to get everyone out. Another soldier walked by Sarah, eyeing her as she leaned forward to try and get a look at the other man. All she could see was the tree he was tied up on. The soldier stopped for a second, eyeing her even more, this time the look was more flirting than anything. Sarah was an attractive lady, and she got that a lot but this time it just almost made her throw up. A second soldier yelled a bit and caused the gawking soldier to finally stop looking at Sarah and keep walking. She began to whisper to the Jamaican again.
"Hey-" She was interrupted
"I know, I heard," The Jamaican said softly. "That makes nine now doesn't it, mun?"
"Looks that way." Sarah said gently. "What is your name by the way?"
"You can call me Gage, mun. I think I overheard you name was Sarah?"
"Yes," she said moving around her rope on her wrist. "You just give me the word Gage, and we will get everyone out of here."
Julius sat tight, he was leaning back a bit confident and comfortable: that is how he liked it. He was starting to feel the effects of not having a cigarette, his mouth was going dry from not having any water as well. The thought of trying to escape crossed his mind for a split second, but it wasn't worth trying to effort. If he attempted to escape, especially if it was just him, he probably would be spotted and gunned down. Plus, his head was still aching from the blow he felt earlier. Bailey was still over there trying to get her wrists free, but it just wasn't going anywhere the knot was tied tight and she couldn't pull her way out. When the soldiers finished their little patrol of the small camp Bailey looked over towards Julius then over toward Kaila. Bailey wanted to get out, she hated being in a position like this. The looks she was getting from the soldiers were a lot like the ones that Sarah got, but Bailey was getting them from every soldier. Her tight tank top and small shorts really showed off her curves, which got a lot of attention directed toward her. However, she didn't really like the looks she was receiving like she did in her wild days. Julius would look her over as well, through his long brown bangs.
"Hey mamaceta, you ain't comfortable with being tied up are ya?" Julius said with a sly grin on his face looking at Bailey.
"I told you not-"
"I'm gonna get free, just give me a few minutes." Julius started to wiggle his rope.
Back at the waterfall wreckage, Christian and another survivor decided to search through luggage to try and find anything they could use. Mostly they were out looking for medical supplies, anything to heal up injures or sicknesses. Beka was only using a first aid kit that she found a few feet from the rubble. Christian and Ryan were the only two that seemed to be ok enough to venture out into the woods. Desareh was another one that wasn't too badly injured but Christian insisted on letting her rest. Ryan seemed to be a nice guy, and willing to try and help out the injured. He had dark skin, and a slight accent but Christian couldn't really place where he thought the older man was from. Judging from his looks Ryan was probably in his early forties. Christian grabbed a boot from someone's luggage to cover his bare foot, but it was growing uncomfortable having two different shoes on and not having socks only on one of his feet.
"So, Ryan, where are you from?" Christian said trying to make conversation.
"Ah, I was born in the States, from southern Florida." Ryan said hesitantly. He was probably stressed out because of the crash. Christian looked at him for a second, then squatted down next to a bag of luggage and began to rummage through it.
They were in the middle of the forest, it was so beautiful. Every once in a while Christian would stop and glance around just staring at the wonder he was placed in. He loved being out in the wilderness like this, it made him feel like he was back out in the field of duty. It made him feel like he was out, serving his country yet again like he always wanted to do. Without a cloud in the sky, the heat of the area began to grow as the day went on, and he knew that they better finish their search soon.
After about an hour of searching Christian and Ryan came back to the camp with a few bags of luggage filled with extra clothes, hygiene supplies, and very little traces of food for the camp to use. The food that they found was mostly snacks, bags of chips and crackers but that would have to do for the time being. At least until the search party would come for them. Christian hoped by the end of the day that they would be rescued, but he questioned that thought because of the fact of the captain on the ship was dead. The two walked over towards Beka when they go back to the wreckage. Beka was starting to check up on the man in the white shirt. She had a bad feeling that the man was dead, but she hoped that he wasn't.
"How is he?" Christian said as he walked up behind her.
"He is breathing, surprisingly. He must just be knocked unconscious." Beka reached into the water that was next to them and gently poured it on the man's face.
"Wow, I'm surprised he is alive, he hasn't moved since the crash." Christian set down the luggage and kneeled down next to Beka. Ryan crossed his arms as he watched from over their shoulders.
The man in the white shirt began to move, and open his eyes slowly. "The crew..." Surprisingly that was the first thing out of his mouth. All he cared about was the crew that he tried to save on the ship.
"What is your name?" Beka said leaning down to look at his eyes.
"Steven Streets."
"It's good to know that you remembered your name. I think you just had a nice fall, you should be ok." Beka looked over his head, stretching his eye lids back and making sure he was alert. However, when Christian went to help him to his feet his white shirt was stained with blood around his stomach. Quickly Christian put him back down and laid him on his back this time. Beka quickly opened his shirt and glanced over the wound on his stomach, it didn't look good at all.
Julius continued to mess with the ropes around his wrist. It was getting nearly impossible for him to get out, they must have tied his knot extremely tight. Probably because he actually attacked one of the soldiers, that confident smirk fell on his face again as he thought about it. The soldiers were now back in the middle of the camp, closer to Sarah and Gage.
"Julius..." Kaila spoke quietly, only for Julius to hear. She seemed closer than she was before.
"What?" His voice sounded agitated because of the ropes he was trying to get out of.
"I want to thank you for getting me free..." Julius felt the ropes around his wrist loosen. "When you tackled that soldier I got his blade. Looks like you can save that pretty girl over there after all." Kaila shoved the knife into the back of his pants.
A look of shock went over his face as he glanced over his shoulder at Kaila. Quickly she began to run off, quiet and swift. The get away was easy for Kaila, she was off to the side and out of view for most of the patrol. Julius kept his hands behind his back and watched the soldiers closely. Then, the sound of a twig breaking echoed through the camp. It was quiet in the camp so it was easy for everyone to hear it. It came from the direction of where Kaila ran off to. Without hesitation three of the soldiers grabbed their guns and ran in the direction of the noise. Two of the soldiers stayed in the camp, and noticed that Kaila was missing. Out of the two in the camp, one stayed in the middle and one walked over to the empty spot Kaila was at. Julius looked up towards Bailey, and slowly moved his hand out from behind his back. Slowly he moved his hand back, just to let Bailey know that he was free. Through his brown hair his eyes moved over toward Sarah and Gage, he couldn't get a good enough view of anyone else.
Gage figured this was the best time to try his rescue attempt, since only one guard was near them. Cautiously Gage started to move, crawling over toward Sarah. The guard near them was watching the area of Julius and Bailey. When Gage got to Sarah he began to untie her, and began to look around at the other survivors.
"Sarah, you untie your friend and anyone close to him. I will get the three over there." Gage pointed over toward two unknown people as he got Sarah out of the knot.
"What about the other two?" Sarah said standing up slowly.
"I think they are doing just fine..." Gage said as he started to walk toward the lone guard. Sarah glanced over towards Julius and Bailey confused.
Gage made it about ten feet from the guard, and he started to run. The big man gained momentum, then, threw it all into the back of the guard. The guard let out a loud scream as he was sent to the ground in a nice close line from Gage. The other guard turned around quickly, and Julius' head turned around to see what happened. Gage kicked the soldier in the face, breaking his nose and knocking him out. The other soldier began to yell, throwing his rifle up and began to aim at Gage. He got off a few shots, but he was quickly taken down from a nice tackle from Julius. Ironically it was the same guard that Julius attacked earlier, and a grin went over his face.
"Well, it looks like we got some unfinished business, cowboy." Julius said as he sent a punch into his face. Then, he took his rifle and sent a nice blow right into the soldiers' face. "Payback is a bitch." Julius slowly stood up smirking.
About an hour later Julius came down the elevator, his plumber jump-suit covered in water that spewed out of the room. His hair was wet, sticking to his face, which hinted to the fact that he fell into the water and went under at one point. The look on his face was that of a very pissed off man, his eyes were narrowed and a frown rested on his face. His day just kept getting worse, because on the other side of the door was the mother that yelled at him earlier. The shoulders of Julius slumped down gently when he saw her, as in 'are you serious?' Calmly he walked by the lady, glaring at her for a second which stopped the words that were about to come out. She could tell that he just went through hell up there, so she held her words in. Because his pants and boots were so wet, every step he took made a nice squeaking noise. The landlord came out of his office to chew Julius out, but the plumber threw his hand up with his palm facing the landlord. The words never came out of the landlords mouth, instead he threw a glare at Julius and watched him walk out of the apartment.
His cell phone started to ring again, and Julius let out a grunt of frustration. Quickly, the plumber went into his pocket again for a cigarette. He just let the phone ring over and over, his mind was on ignore mode. Licking his lips before the cigarette touched them, he could taste the nicotine before it even made contact. Yet again he was denied a cigarette, a crowbar swiped Julius across of his back, knocking him to the ground and his cigarette rolled into the storm drain below his face.
"Damnit! Your about to get a beat-" Before he could finish his sentence he was picked up by his plumbing suit. There were two of them carrying him into a nearby alley, it was clear that Julius was getting jumped but it didn't seem like they were after his wallet.
