REBEL chapter 1

CHAPTER 1: CHAOS

"no" I say firmly as his hand squeezes yet tighter around my throat. He growls and punches my face. Hot pain races through my nerves and I start slightly as it hits me. My nose is bleeding now,as well as the numerous knife wounds along my side an all over my chest and back. He mumbles something about  not getting paid enough and growls irritably.  His black hair falls over one eye, but I know it hides an eye patch . He wears a black ODA uniform and  name tag that reads 'Malchesta Unera'. His face is cruel,sharp angular features. I cringe inwardly as blood runs down my forehead, into my eyes,but stay still. Interrogation. When are these people gonna learn that it never works? " I'm gonna ask you one more time kid,where ARE they?" his voice rises as he speaks and I almost laugh. Classic bad guy. Big muscles,small brain. Instead, I smirk. " Hell. Where your going." I swear I can see a vein throbbing. I'd learned the first time not to piss this guy off. I still can't. As much pain as he causes me,it's too fun. He yells and throws me across the room. I hit a wall,hard,and fall to the ground,rolling away slightly. The man kicks me in the ribs and I curl in on myself. I swear I hear a crack. He steps out and motions for a guard. Another man cautiously walks in. this one also wearing a black ODA uniform. He has short,cropped brownish-orange hair. Grabbing one of my arms,he attempts to hoist me up, but gives up as I refuse to stand. He instead pulls me by said arm. Malchesta walks out in a huff. "come on kid it's over." the guard says softly. He picks me up gently in his arms and I manage a small smile. He brings me to my cell and sets me down on the cot. "I'll see what I can do about food." he says. I nod weakly. I watch him as he leaves,locking the door behind him. He wasn't too much older than my 17 year old self. Maybe about 20. 21? I sigh and sit up,groaning. I pull off my tattered shirt and toss it in a corner. I run my hands down my body, assessing the damage. Several knife wounds. Not too deep but still bleeding a good amount. I think two broken ribs. A black eye. A possibly broken nose, and lots of scars long since healed. I  sat back and thought about why I was here. We were in the middle of a raid on the ODA HQ when we were fired at by soldiers. We meaning me( Kuro),Saske,Iwao,Tama, and Shin. I had gotten caught when Shin had been shot in the shoulder and I went back to help him. Tama took him from me and ran before the solders could come. I stayed back to hold them off and was caught in the process. That was a week ago. Now,i sit here in my cell. Wondering if they'll come and rescue me. I'm not sure how long I can take this torture. I look up as the door opens a crack and a young girl,maybe about 15 years old,peers in. seeing I have not turned into a rabid monkey or something, she hurries in,closing the door behind her. She has raven black hair and is almost as skinny as me. "Darren said to bring you this." she cautiously sets the plate of food on the ground. I assume Darren is the guard who was nice to me. The girl hurries out and locks the door. I notice a piece of paper on the tray next to the food. I open it and read the note inside. 'your getting out' it reads. It says 'eat me' at the bottom. Alice In Wonderland. Nice. I smile to myself and remove the key taped to the bottom of the paper,pocketing the key and slipping the note into the sandwich. I bite into it hungrily,barely tasting the paper,and plot my escape. To bad that plan wouldn't be put to use. Almost as soon as I finish my sandwich, I hear a BOOM!  followed by the shaking of the building and I jerk upright,my eyes automatically train themselves on the door. I hear footsteps coming down the hall and I stand up,fists clenched and adrenaline pumping through my veins. "HEY!Kuro! You in there?" Iwao. I feel a rush of relief at the sound of my friends voice that I hadn't heard in almost a week. "YEAH! I'm here!" I yell back. I hear a few muffled hoots and 'yes's'. "Okay,Kuro,get as far away as possible from the door, or you'll get blown up!" Saske yelled. I laugh at her casualness and back away,flattening myself on the ground as far away as possible. There is a BOOM followed by a blast of heat,and then I am rushed at by my friends. I barely have time to brace myself before being embraced in a bear-hug by Iwao,who wears a Camo tank,covered over by a black leather jacket, and Grey jeans. "uh,Iwa,broken...ribs.....losing...breath" I gasp and he backs off. "oh,god sorry man you okay?" his face is worried. " I laugh weakly. "I'm okay" and he smiles. Saske hugs me next lightly." we were so worried about you. Why are you shirtless?" she mumbles into my shoulder. Her camo military style pants and Grey tank rubbing against my cuts and making me wince. Tama joins the hug,her shoulder length purple hair tickling my nose. They pull back and look at me. Tama's eyes widen. "what did they do to you?" the 18 year old gasps. "interrogation." I mumble,looking away. Seeing Saske's eyes widen I add,"Don't worry. I didn't tell." and she relaxes."Wheres Shin?" Iwa answers with an amused grin. "we made him stay. He's still recovering from that bullet wound."
"I bet he was pissed" I laugh. "yup! He yelled and ranted all day!" Tama says brightly. "guys,i hear guards,lets split." Saske is suddenly serious. We all nod and head out. Iwa gives me his jacket and I gratefully pull it on,nodding my thanks. My ribs hurt as I run,but I make it to the Hummer without getting caught. I climb in the backseat,breathing hard,and pass out.
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I wake up in my bed back at our small safe house in North Carolina. Everything aches and I groan as I pull myself up. i notice that someone has bandaged my side tightly to let my ribs heal,and has bandaged all my wounds from that fricking knife. I swing my legs out of bed,wincing as I jostle my injuries yet again. I look around for a shirt,since know one seemed to think of giving me one,and find a black shirt on the ground that says something in Japanese on it. As I shrug it on,i catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror. Dark,dark Brown hair that's pretty spiky for some reason., kinda pale skin, and cuts and bruises everywhere. I sigh softly and stand up. Glancing at the clock on my way out. 12:45 AM. I make my way to the kitchen and grab a bagel out of the fridge,popping it in the toaster and patiently waiting for it to cook. I quickly grab it and throw it on the counter before it can burn me. I open the fridge and rummage around. Butter butter butter...oh,here it is...I butter the bagel and grab a napkin,holding the bagel on it. Walking into the living room I notice I'm the last one up. "morning." Saske greets me. I nod back at her.
"Hey Shin. How do you feel?" I look at him,at his spiky-ish dark red hair "hey Kuro. Heard ODA beat you up pretty bad." he says. Hes wearing no shirt,his chest bandaged with slightly bloody bandages. His bottom half is covered by a Grey blanket. He leans on the arm of the couch. Iwa smiles at me,his arm around Tama. She leans against him,a faint smile on her face. Sleeping I guess. I take a seat next to Saske and eat my bagel slowly. She wraps her arms around me and squeezes gently,careful not to hurt me. I kiss her head and hug her back. Shins face is blank as he watches us, green eyes full of longing. He is the only one of us who is single. It wasn't always like this. Three years ago, we had had another member of our group. Yuki. She had died in a food raid when she was shot in the head by a guard. She was also Shins girlfriend. Iwa stands up and walks  out of the room,sensing the tenseness in the air. Tama follows, giving Shin a pitying glance as she passes and ruffling his hair. He turns and swats her hand away,laughing, and then wincing,holding his shoulder where the bullet hit.
"So Shin, did you have to go to the hospital for that?" I say,worried for my friend. Its been a week and the wound is still bothering him enough to make him wince in pain whenever he turns.
"Naw Saske fixed me up pretty good. Barely even feel it." I can tell he is lying by his face. Shin is a horrible liar." stop lying. How much is it bothering you?" Saske demands.
"Really its noth-" Saske cuts him off."How much is it bothering you,Shin?" she growls. Shin winces."Alot." he mumbles shamefully. Saske gets up and walks over to him. "Turn around" she orderes. "its okay I can deal with it." Shin protests but one pissed off look from Saske shuts him up and he obediantly turns around. Saske carefully undoes the bandages. I notice they get bloodier with each layer. Shin winces with every pull of gauze. When Saske finally gets all the gauze off,what is underneath is shocking. "IWA!TAMA! Come here now!" Saske yells. I move closer to Shin to get a better look. The bullet wound looks painful. Blood and puss ooze out from the hole that seems to go through Shin's whole shoulder.  The skin around the injury is red and inflamed,swollen to almost double the regular size. Tama and Iwa come in. Tama puts a hand over her mouth. Iwa looks horrified.
"oh my god SHIN! Why didn't you tell someone?" Iwa yells."s'nothing" Shin mumbles weakly. He lets out a small whimper when Saske pulls a piece of gauze out of the infected area. "Shin" Saske says calmly. "You do realize if you hadn't told us, you could have died from this?"