The Gamble
Sebastian Doukes
"Hey. Hey! Sebby! Wake up!"
I ripped open my eyes in a flash, the blinding light of the new sun through rough bars struck my eyes in an instant, causing me to close them again as I held my hand in front of my face, "Ugh…What…?"
"Good." I heard Albrecht's voice speak up, "You're awake now…Get up Sebby."
I felt Einar's rough hand pull me up from the wooden floor, letting me get a gaze of our surroundings. Other than being locked up in a prison cart that's oddly five times bigger than the ones on earth, it hosted all twenty-nine seniors, adults, and kids. They all were chained, no matter their age. Some were crying while others remained silent. They all had different bruises around their bodies from the bolas used by our captors.
"Where…are we going?" I asked.
"To a city. Cause all of us are located on an island." Einar answered.
"How do you know?"
Einar nodded his head to the horse riders outside, riding along with the cart, "They informed us earlier. Turns out, there were more humans other than us. All over the island, they had captured every single one of our kind Hundred-fifteen in total. And they're bringing us to their city right now."
"For what reason?"
"Oh, maybe they'll treat us to some tea! Maybe brutalize us like what they did Norman! Yeah, we'll be in good hands! Wow!" Albrecht had a wide grin on his face, before sulking into despair in the next second, "We're fucked, Sebby."
"Good lord. Can you guys shut up? Please?" A familiar voice spoke up.
The three of us turned to the source of the sound, there sat a group of seniors from the same school as ours. But their reputation was less than stellar compared to us. The one who was speaking was the platinum-haired delinquent, surrounded by her gang, Luna Vivia Armanova.
"No, we will not, Luna." Albrecht grumbled, "Do you even realize what's happening to us right now?"
"I know. Just be quiet, will you? You're so loud." She scoffed, "You're annoying me."
"Well, that's too bad." Einar spited her, "You can fuck right off."
"Didn't know you were like that." One of her gang members answered for her, "But you don't get to talk to us with that filthy mouth of yours."
"Sounds oddly ironic, doesn't it?" I commented.
"What did you just say-?!"
BANG BANG BANG!
"Oi! Shut your trap!" An orc shouted into the prison cart as banged his axe on the bars, "You don't want me to go in there, don't you?!" Everyone quieted down. Even the adults were shushing us, begging for us to be quiet. After all, they don't want to turn into another Norman, don't they?
But I noticed something. An odd sensation tugged at my chest as my breathing rapidly increased. My heartbeat replicated the ongoing ticking of a clock. Or a timer perhaps. My body felt lighter than usual, my head spun for a bit as I tried to sit up straight. The chains on my wrists and legs weren't helping a lot. Rubbing against my skin wrong as my hand begged to scratch it, but I was just unable to.
However, the ticking clock echoed in my head, tainting my line of thinking for a second. I looked outside the bars of the cart. Trying to make sense of where we are. We're moving through another large forest right now. Moving along in a straight path while towering trees stood tall above us. If there was a rabbit that I was hunting moved into the forest, I would have called it quits, I wouldn't be catching one.
But that sparked an idea, "Einar…Albrecht."
"What…?"
"Huh?"
"Have you guys ever killed anyone before?"
Maybe I should have said it differently, judging from their expressions of horror, I tried to find an alternative way to say what I was going to propose, "Sorry…I meant as like…Are you guys brave enough to do so?"
"What are you trying to say, Sebastian? Are you mad?!"
BANG BANG BANG!
"Hey! I said to shut your trap!" The same orc yelled, "Do that one more time and I'm going in there!"
The adults and even other seniors shushed us down, "Be quiet! Please!" They pleaded in a low tone.
But that just fed the fire in my brain even further, "Heh…You hear that…? Boys?"
"Hear what…?"
"The ticking clock…"
Tick
Tick
Tick
"I…" Einar and Albrecht tried to say something, but nothing came out of their mouth. They hear it. I know they are, "What the hell is that…?"
"Our ticket out of here." I grinned, a tingle echoed through my spine and back as the ticking clock slowly approached the end bit by bit.
I nearly forgot about Helena sitting near her friends a short distance away from us, but she seemed to have been listening in on us, "What are you planning…?"
"It doesn't concern you."
"As far as I'm concerned, it concerns everyone." Luna spoke up, "What are you planning?"
"Something. We won't know how it goes. But if you can keep up and adapt to what's gonna happen, you might be able to join us in escaping this cart." I explained. That seemed to have riled up everyone on the cart, as a low murmur echoed through the cart.
But that seemed to trigger the orc as the cart suddenly halted. The same beefy and mean-looking orc opened the gate, stepping into the cart with his axe held firmly in his waist, many of the humans scurried back in fear as he huffed and puffed through the cart, "I told you twice already! Shut your damn trap, or you'll regret it!" he pointed to the only person standing in the cart, which happened to be me, "YOU!"
"Little ol' me?" I smirked.
"Sebastian-! What are you doing-?!" Einar panicked, "You're going to get yourself killed!"
"Trust me. We got this."
The orc stomped his way towards me, his footsteps blending into the timer counting down:
Tick
Tick
Tick
He reached out and grabbed the collar of my shirt, "You should have shut your tongue! Maybe then we would have let you keep it!"
"Really?"
"You think you'll get off free from this?" The orc continued to speak in an odd version of english.
My grin widened, as my eyes turned to Einar and Albrecht, signalling them to the dagger and axe sheathed in his waistbelt. They know what to do, but I'm not too sure if they'll do it, however, "I'll take my chances."
Five!
Four!
Three!
Two!
ONE!
TING TING!
"I choose heads!"
PLINK!
TICK!
"There we go…"