Fighter and Captive

Charles and his still-unconscious mates slowly parked the stolen wagon in the designated area. No one seemed to come over to them yet, giving time for Char to think things through. Even if it was completely unreasonable, a small tray of hope appeared in his chest. Maybe they won't come over. Maybe they didn't notice all that honking and window breaking. Seems like someone fixed the roof since the tray disappeared as one of the security guards started walking towards them. He had a long beard, a baseball hat covering his eyes, and he was "horizontally challenged" as Hermann would've said. He looked like a grumpy, uninviting person.

-What's your ID code? - growled the unfriendly security guard. -Also, what the hell happened in here? - he said, this time in a slightly surprised tone, just as if someone knocked a vase over in his house.

Charles knew about the unfortunate fact, that his face didn't resemble the driver at all. All he could do is buy time while he thought about an escape plan.

-Give me one minute, I put my ID right here...

Charles started searching the storage, knowing that the ID was located in his pocket. He was clearly taking his time.

-I don't have all day! Hurry it up!

Suddenly putting the car in reverse and speeding to the entrance of the tunnel was risky. Most likely, a gate waited for them on the other side, guarded and locked. Charles couldn't afford to take such a risk. Behind the guard, multiple cameras waited for Charl to make a move, and assuming from the size of the building, several guards waited at them. Oh, we also shouldn't forget about the not-easily-dismissable fact, that the security guard had a new-generation machine gun. It was more like an advantage to our little JC. though.

-By hurrying up, I also meant telling me about your little party in the car.

-One of the captives woke up and knocked my guy unconscious. I managed to knock him out. - Charles held his thumb up pointing back in the direction of the ex-wagon-driver.

He wasn't sure if the guard was buying his story, but at least he didn't give him a reason to shoot him right away. If nothing else, that's a good start. Seeing no other options, Charles sighed:

-Guess we have to do things the hard way.

He gently pulled the handle while seemingly searching for the ID, and kicked a door with such power that the security guard lost his balance, and fell to the ground. The next second, he was already out of the wagon. The guard didn't have the time to react, a devastating roundhouse kick to the head made his soul leave his body. The gun didn't have to wait long before changing owners; he belonged to Charles now. Even if he was unnaturally strong, even he couldn't race over to the cabin before they noticed the trouble. Two security guards bashed through the door soon, ready to exterminate the intruder. Unfortunately for them, Charles wasn't all that bad at shooting. The two committed gatekeepers were lying on the floor soon after.

The action hero carefully, but swiftly executed his room-entering routine. After making sure no one was inside, Charles quickly searched for the coffee cabinet. In cases of jobs like this, a coffee table was necessary, since staying awake during boring jobs like this was akin to torture. It didn't take long to find the treasure box, it was right on top of the most visible shelf. Charles took the coffee box, and headed back to the wagon, hoping that the other guards would arrive much later.

Eh, that much luck is not allowed, apparently.

Even if there weren't emergency sirens that indicated the existence of a trespasser, countermeasures were still applied. The anti-intruder unit has arrived. They didn't make any noise arriving, they were, at the very least, semi-professional guards. It was pointless against Charles though. His proficient ears immediately detected the intruders' presence. He immediately jumped behind the car for cover. He knew that the forces knew about his hiding spot, so he had to wake up his colleagues while fighting off a bunch of guys with the skill of a US soldier. After assessing the situation, he flung open the back door of the wagon and started pouring the coffee powder into Hermann's mouth. He saw the shadow of a soldier standing in cover behind the gate's cabin, so he grabbed the driver's unconscious body and held it to his side. Now even if they had thermal scopes (pretty sure they did), shooting him meant risking the death of one of their people. Charles knew they wouldn't shoot through their colleague, because if that was the case, workers would have rebelled after a while. Except if this was a modern-day sect, but seriously what are the chances?

*Thank god they had this special type of coffee* - thought Charles. *If they hadn't that would've been an instant defeat for me, I can't leave these guys behind*

The soldiers, after seeing how things were, started to approach the archeologists' little coffee (powder) party. The only thing Charles could think is...

Explosions. Bad habits coming back.

Knowing what type of car he was dealing with, Charles hopped into the driver seat (all while holding the slightly overweight chauffeur), smashed in the plastic part of the control panel, pressed down the gas pedal, and quickly cut the few wires he was looking for. This way, the car will accelerate even if he wasn't in the driver's seat. Charles turned the key to start the engine, grabbed his friends in each of his hands, and ran out of the wagon. The car was no joke, it had a solid acceleration of 12 meters per second squared. That is a lot of acceleration, it'd take about 4 seconds to reach 100 miles per hour. With that, still flying through the air, Charles turned around, took aim, and shot the tank of the wagon. And it exploded. Right in their face.

Mia and Hermann landed in a rather discomforting pose, while Charles rolled on the ground before standing up. Maybe because of the wake-up kiss from the ground, but Hermann started to wake up.

-What the actual fu.. - started Hermann still in a half-conscious state, but Charles interrupted him.

-I just blew up the wagon they kidnapped us with, so they're going to be here soon.

-What?

-Help me wake up Mia.

Charles poured the remaining coffee powder into the sleeping princess' mouth. Hermann kneeled next to her with an evil look on his face.

-Hehehe...

He slapped Mia in order to wake her up.

-Ah, that felt good.

-What did?

The sleeping princess returned the gift with a smile, though even an outsider could tell just how much stronger it was. See? She's a good person. She likes the give more than she likes to receive.

Finally, all three of them were standing. With scars, wounds, and bruises, but they were standing.

Their wounds weren't as bad as Secno's though.

[....]

Ugh, come on. Why do I have to be knocked out all the time? I heard it's not good for your health. My health wasn't top-notch in the first place. The bleeding from the wound in my shoulder seemed to have topped, but I still lost a bunch of blood. Although, maybe this isn't the time to worry about these "minor injuries" of mine.

-Thank you for your cooperation good sirs, and ladies. - greeted us someone probably from the bandits' side.

I would have complained, and I'm sure the others would've too if it weren't for the rag sealing our mouths. Our hands and legs were tied together, and I noticed that they changed the lasso tying my arms which was even tighter than the sheriff's.

-Now, let's begin your volunteer work. - he said with a smile faker than the guaranteed safety of the residents of the American Colonies.

Three people entered the room, untying us one by one. We still weren't allowed to speak, as they left the rag on. They soon reached me as well. I looked around for more information, how could I escape? There was no escape. Hardly noticeable, but a few men stayed hidden in the bushes, probably with rifles. No use trying to escape. But as expected, someone was desperate enough to try.

A man started to run away in the direction of a seemingly open gate, not far from our current position. He almost reached the exit, when his blood, like a red geyser, escaped from the side of his head. The man fell to his knees and from there to the ground. The remains of the man were lying prone on the pavement, motionless. Silence.

A few seconds passed.

Silent panic broke out throughout the area. Only I and a small portion have managed to remain calm. As I was looking around trying to use the situation to escape, I noticed a girl around my age, who was just as calm, if not calmer than me. I followed her line of sight, and I noticed that they lowered the gate. Those assholes.

-DO YOU WANT TO GET SHOT YOU LITTLE SHEEP?

Slowly, the ones who got scared after the shooting managed to calm themselves down, with terror and fear remaining on their faces. That others looked quite agitated, as some reached for their guns, which were, obviously, not there.

-Good. Fortunately for you, the mighty superiors have given you 2 weeks before you start the work. You are free to do whatever you want in the designated area. Except for escaping of course.

Without wasting another word on us, he disappeared behind a large metal door. The first thing I needed to do is assess my situation. I pulled myself together and stepped outside the building we woke up in. The corpse of our fellow prisoner still lay there, nobody bothered to clean it up. Averting my eyes, I was forced to look at the place I'll be living from now on. The setting sun shined over the large plot we'd been given. There were a few buildings, that even from the perspective of a non-architect (in this case me), seemed poorly built, and looked like they were on the verge of collapsing. A small pavement made out of rocks could be seen in the middle, which connected the various places to rest. Even if the whole camp looked like someone cut the minimal budget by 50%, the fence seemed impenetrable, guarded by snipers for watchtowers. In the background an enormous gate could be seen, that emitted such an ominous aura, that felt suffocating even from this distance. Long story short: I was stuck between 4 big ass walls and had the living conditions of a slave. The future seems very comfortable, fortunately.

As I flopped down to a bench that consisted of 3 planks nailed together, I looked around. Surviving this situation without allies would be cool and all, but not possible. It was high time to get myself together. I noticed the girl from earlier leaning against the wall a few meters away from me. Something pulled me back from talking to her. As much as I would like to say it was intuition, but no, I was just afraid of her. And all of the girls my age in general. I haven't met that many girls on our isolated farm, okay?

But no matter how reluctant I was, I needed allies. So I got over my shyness and stood up the speak to her. I only started to walk in her general direction, and before I could vocalize a single sound she questioned me:

-What do you want?

The funny thing is that she didn't even look my way. Ignoring the roots my feet grew in the ground, I stepped forward.

-A..

My voice cracked, and so I tried to cover it up by clearing my throat.

-I'm looking for allies.