Black Market Merchant

“What just happened?” The handcuffed woman called out stifling a shout. She had abandoned the scrubby bushes and was now helping the fallen woman up from the low ditch.

“I think that was Zane.” Henry answered looking in the town’s direction. “I can’t believe he was actually able to pull a shot off like that.”

“Well, it doesn’t matter right now.” The handcuffed lady said helping the scared woman towards the bushes. “The rest of the gangsters would have heard that shot and could come to investigate any second.”

Henry shook his head to clear his thoughts. “You are right. Willis, get the ladders ready.”

“What are we going to do with the bodies?” The handcuffed woman called over her shoulder. “We can’t just leave them here to be discovered. We still need to bring the others this way to escape.”

Henry looked back at the two lifeless bodies lying on the asphalt golf cart path. One of the flashlights had rolled around to illuminate the mangled head of its owner. Blank lifeless eyes looked back up at him as the pool of blood leaking from the gapping bullet hole slowly grew bigger to stain the asphalt.

Henry felt sick to his stomach seeing the grizzly sight. However, something indeed had to be done with the bodies. So, suppressing his urge to puke, Henry walked over to the illuminated body and grabbed it by the arm.

At first, he wanted to hide the bodies in the bushes, but if the gangsters followed the blood trail to the bushes than they would find their escape route. Looking towards the empty golf course he could not find any suitable place to leave the bodies there either. He had to make a choice quickly.

“What is going on out there!” A voice suddenly shouted from nearby.

Henry panicked and dropped the dead bodies arm. Pulling the pistol out from the back of his pants he looked around frantically but saw no one. The voice then repeated itself and it sounded like it was coming from right next to Henry. “I said, what is going on out there? We heard a gunshot, and it wasn’t near the mansion. Anyone else hear it?”

Looking down at the dead man, Henry saw the source of the voice. It was a walkie-talkie strapped to the man’s chest. Not knowing what else to do, he picked up the walkie-talkie.

Henry pressed the speak button and said, “A-all clear here. Are you sure that you heard gun shots?”

“What are you doing?” The handcuffed woman protested as she came back to join Henry.

“I’m improvising.” Henry said while waving dismissively at her. Though in truth, he had no idea what he was doing.

“Are you sure?” The man on the walkie-talkie replied. “What side are you patrolling on?”

Henry looked around himself before replying. “Uh, the east side.”

“That’s odd. The town is on that side and that’s where I am sure the sound came from.” The man asked skeptically.

“We are on the west side of the patrol heading back to the mansion.” A second voice said joining the conversation on the walkie-talkie. “The shot was too far for us to hear but it could have been from the fight downtown. We keep hearing an occasional shot or two over the last two days.”

“That’s true.” The first man replied. “It just sounded much closer than normal. Well, I guess just keep your ears open and report anything suspicious.”

“Understood.” Henry replied right away, and the second voice repeated his reply as well. Henry then dropped the walkie-talkie back onto the dead man’s chest and let out a sigh of relief. “That was lucky!”

“I’ll say.” The handcuffed woman replied crossing her arms to glair at him. “If you would have messed up, then they would have found us out even sooner.”

“I know that.” Henry quipped. “Let us just leave them here. We can take the flashlights and guns though. We will head straight for where Zane is and get you all safe.”

Henry and Willis then made sure the first group of women made it safely over the fence and through the scrubland. They managed to find where Zane was staking out the golf course and chose to have the ladies wait around the shed until everyone else was brought here. When Henry and Willis returned, the handcuffed lady chose to return with them. She insisted that she had to be sure every woman escaped.

Meanwhile, Zane and Lisa, not knowing all that had happened above ground, continued to get all the women out from their cells and out of the vent to the surface. Nothing much had happened, save for a few accidental slipups that resulted in the vent making some noise. Yet the gangsters below remained oblivious.

Just before Lisa left the cell room, she took out her can of spray paint and graffitied on the floor her new tiara symbol. She made sure to put it right at the entrance of room, that way it couldn’t be missed. Once that was done and she climbed into the vent, Lisa made sure she placed back the slatted vent cover to make signs of their escape harder for the gangsters to figure out. When Lisa climbed out of the vent duct, joining the numerous ladies doing their best to huddle low behind the bushes, she found Wayne waiting for her.

“Henry hasn’t come back yet. What are we going to do next?” Wayne asked softly.

“Let’s get them to the fence first and maybe we will find out.” Lisa whispered back.

Wayne stood up alongside the miniature barn to take one more look around. “Wait, I see Henry and one of the ladies returning.”

Lisa looked and saw they indeed were coming back, she also noted that it was the handcuffed woman that was with him. She also saw they were running fast, and that the woman was now carrying a rifle. Seeing this, Lisa knew something bad most likely happened. Even though there wasn’t much room, Henry and the handcuffed lady jumped over the low hedges and join Lisa and Wayne.

“We ran into some trouble and Zane has killed two guards already. Don’t worry, I already tricked the gangsters using their walkie-talkie. So far no other patrols have come by either.” Henry reported a bit lost for breath.

“You can explain later.” Lisa replied. “Lets hurry. I still want to breakout the men next.”

Without further to do, the now large group rushed for the fence. Even though they were not doing much to conceal themselves from the moonlight, Lisa knew that speed was going to be their best bet to escape right now. If they had already raised suspicion than lingering or traveling in smaller groups wasn’t going to work.

Luck remained on their side, however. It was fortunate that that Mad Dogs didn’t believe they would need a tight patrol of the golf course. They probably assumed no one would have figured out where their factory was and got lazy over time.

Once the last lady got over the fence, Lisa gave her next instructions. “Henry, Willis and you…”

“My name is Bellamy.” The handcuffed woman answered. “But just call me Bell.”

Lisa gave her an approving smile, “Alright then, you two and Bell once you reach Zane and the others tell him to keep watching over me. I am going to get the men out myself. You all are to go straight back to the dam. Get the women settled inside the tunnels as we planed and make sure no one sees you all go in there. Once it is discovered that they escaped, the Mad Dogs will be asking around for information. If we can hide them long enough for me to arrange the fight with Martinez, then we will win!”

“You are going to put us underground again?” Bell exclaimed.

“Its only a temporary solution.” Lisa replied. “Perhaps not even for a week and you all will be able to come out a few at a time in the meantime. No cages either.”

Bell shook her head. “It better be as you say. I’m not letting go of this gun either, just in case.”

“That’s fine with me.” Lisa said giving a nod. “I trust you know how to shoot?”

“Of course.” Bell answered.

“Good. Shoot anyone that aims a gun at those within the dam.” Lisa ordered. “Henry, make sure you tell her who on the outside is trustworthy along the way.”

“You got it.” Henry replied giving a thumbs up. He then turned to the ladies tucked behind the scrubland bushes. “Come on, follow us to the town.”

Lisa then laid down the two ladders and headed back to the factory to break out the men next. She wasn’t going to go back to the same vent this time. She assumed that the men were being kept at least two or three topside vents further into the golf course from where the ladies’ vent was.

She decided to go to the furthest vent and check there first. If they were closer than she would have waisted less time crawling through vent duct to find them. When she arrived at this vent it was like the two before, surrounded by decorative hedges and rocks. Breaking in was also just as easy.

Tying the rope to a large rock Lisa climbed inside and quickly got down on all fours to look for any light coming through a slanted vent. This time she spotted light coming from close by on her right. Carefully she shimmied her way through the low duct and peeked inside. Her first guess was right once again, the men were in the room below.

Before she started to pry apart the slatted vent, Lisa made sure to look for the cameras and the condition of where the most men were being kept. The camera was in the same place as in the women’s room, right of the door. However, there was one thing that confused and perplexed her.

There were far fewer men than she thought. There was less than one hundred women but here there were at most thirty men. Looking at the other cells it looked like they used to have occupants but now they were empty.

Putting her questions aside, Lisa focused on getting out what men were left. The vent was easily removed, and the camera too was easily disabled. Lisa dropped the rope down into the empty cell below all without waking the tired looking men in neighboring cells. Thinking ahead, Lisa put on the Mad Dog red and black armband incase the guards showed up.

Lisa slid down the rope and dropped like a cat onto the metal floor, disturbing no one. Then taking her cell door key, unlocked the cage door and stepped into the isle between cages.

“Ahem.” Lisa cleared her throat before speaking in a low voice. “Alright sleepy heads, time to wake up.”

Hearing the unexpected voice, the men started to rise from their beds. They looked at Lisa with blank, tired expressions. Lisa saw they looked no better, perhaps worse, than the women did. Their beds and cloths looked to be even grosser and thread bare too.

“Y-you aren’t one of the regular guards.” One of the men replied rubbing at his eye sleepily.

“Wait, I saw her two days ago.” Another man from across the isle called out.

Lisa looked at the man and saw that he was the man that had won the fight after Tio gave them the serum injections. “Yes, I was there, but we aren’t talking about that. I want all of you to pack up your things and get ready to go.”

“Go? But Tio already took the rejects away. What are we going to do?” The first man asked.

“Tio took the rejects away?” Lisa thought quickly. “Does that mean all the men here are serum compatible? Interesting.” Then speaking out loud she said, “I am going to be breaking you all out of here. The Mad Dogs have kept you as lab rats, but I plan on taking them down and you all can get revenge on the Raiders that sent you here!”

Suddenly, from behind Lisa, the door burst open. “Hey, what’s going on in here? It’s the middle of the night.”

Lisa turned to see two unfamiliar guards coming into the cage room. “Ah, good timing. These guys were getting rowdy, and I can use your help shutting them up.”

“Is that so?” The two guards said noticing Lisa armband. “Well, we can’t let that happen.”

The two guards then passed by Lisa and started for the closest of the cells. Lisa smirked seeing them turning their backs to her. She then took off her sword from its belt and with one fell swoop, decapitated both men!

As their lifeless bodies clattered to the metal floor, Lisa addressed the caged men. “As you can see, I am serious about helping you all. Now, lets get out of here.”