Episode 9
Tempted by the warmth as the cold is creeping
"I
couldn't sleep last night at all. Life is so meeeean to me..." Bakarne
was faking interest as she laid her head in one of her hands, and
Elizabeth had just taken over the front chair on the cafeteria table
once again. "And I had to put myself three fucking stitches! Three! Can
you believe it? Look, I can't even do my hair right now..." She pointed
toward her bangs.
"You look just the same to me."
"Oh, but a hair
is a woman's most treasured charm!" She waved at her. "If you didn't
look like a rat maybe you'll understand."
Man. I'm going
to shoot myself one of these days. The fanged woman had just finished
her daily vomit looking gruel. This time however, she skipped the toast.
"Atention everyoneee~"
Everyone looked
at the door where Gyeong was holding an uncomically large megaphone
compared to herself. She had that forever radiant smile and Banan
standing beside her, with her face compelling lot of contained emotions
of humiliation but still having a fake smile on her face.
“We will be having a surprise shooting test today.”
“Naaah.” Everyone protested as politely as they could in front of her. “No waaay.”
“Yes. For
this quick test you are all required to bring two round of small
weapons. You can have two of the same or two different ones. But they
must come all ready, so we can do this smoothly and quick. At 11 in the
shooting range, please.” Gyeong didn't get concerned about the
protests and brought the megaphone to Banan. “How do you turn
this off again?”
Everyone was quick to finish their breakfast as soon as they were able.
“Well, does that mean you have some work to do?” Elizabeth asked.
“Nope.
They are all already served. The Korean has already given them
ammunition enough for a small guerrilla, so I am out of work
lately.”
“Oh...” Eli crushed her toast onto the gruel in a
desperate attempt to make it get some texture. “Well, talking
about providing, you were also provided some yesterday, right
hun'?” He said as she rubbed her hands, getting off the small
black dust from them.
“What do you mean?”
“You were
holding a Russian gun while pursuing whoever you were trying to catch.
Tell me, where... I mean, from who-”
“Before
you start saying something stupid, you rotten rug filled with crusty
fleas, stop. We only reached and agreement. I watch his back, and he
feeds me proper meals. It is a completely business
relationship...”
“Ah. He feeds you. His communist cock down your throat, right?”
Bakarne looked
at Elizabeth with the most expressionless face she could. Then turned
toward the cafeteria's hall and made signs to Gyeong. The small lady
came closer with curiosity, as she didn't interact with the Elites yet.
“Heya,
boss. Sorry we don't talk much.” The Basque started. “But I
want to hit this fucking bitch's face with a chair without that
counting as an aggression, may I do it?”
The Korean had to blink twice before being able to answer.
“No, no,
no! No violence between the recruits!” She took one of her hands
up and gestured negatively with a finger. “No punch, no kick, bites, scratches, no
hit with chairs or tables, or stab with cutlery!”
“Hum...” Bakarne looked at the boss, then she checked
her fingers and recounted as she looked at the Nazi girl.
“Gotcha.” And then proceeded to smash Elizabeth's face onto
her bowl of gruel.
“Pbhgggrlh!?”
“Okay
then, it is totally legal. Right?” She looked back at Gyeong. She
had to compose herself for a second. Gritting her teeth as she forced
her smile.
“Well,
I'll let that one pass because it was overseen by my standards... But
no more food aggressions from now on.” And she proceeded to make
a 180 turn, almost robotically, to hide her face of disbelief while
Elizabeth got her head up, all covered by the pale mess of oats and
expired milk.
What a fucking
hole of animals, the merciful leader have some consideration for these
crazy rats because I don't. Gyeong thought as she got out of the
cafeteria.
***
“All of you, make only one line, please."
The
thirty-something members were already prepped on the range. Gyeong was
ahead in the stalls, holding a note pad and a pen. She somehow looked
less formal as she had started to lose patience seeing them organize in
a line that seemed more as if the members were going to conga line
dance. Her feet started to stomp rhythmically as she waited for an
actual line to be formed.
Emil was one of
the very first to shoot. His choice was a normal semi-automatic gun.
Everyone had expected him to fail miserably, but somehow...
"Not bad." The small serious lady grabbed the paper. "Second round."
Against all odds, both his papers had a rather good amount of holes close to the center.
"You can go now." Gyeong smiled as she noted down the score. "Next."
The line just
cleared quite fast. People were bothered that Emil had become better as
that meant they couldn't use him as a chew toy. Elizabeth refused to
accept it and scored perfect out of spite, but got a comment about her
ways of being too petty with arranging her hair perfectly and making
everyone wait before she shot her rounds. When it was turn of Bakarne,
who as usually she forgot to bring the extra ammunition for her Colt,
she knew she was done for after a good first round. She watched the
paper come. And just then, she felt the Makarov still on her jacket,
and shoot it to save her score. Or not as much, because the seconds
were quite worse.
"Hum. Average."
Gyeong compared the papers. "Almost like the first one was shot out of
muscle memory..." She looked at her. "Are you blind or what? Get out."
The woman
growled and remarked something about the boss as she left. It was now
turn of George. Unlike last times, he was called for a extraoficial
demonstration. He felt kind of nervous, as his specialty was close
range combat than shooting. He knew he did good on the scores on his
training days, but somehow didn't have recollection of them ever
happening.
"Hm. We have
here our little American hero." Gyeong looked at him, who was basically
a tower to her. "Ready to show how the pros do it?"
"Ah... I guess so..." He was doubting as he got his M16 ready. "I will do my best, miss..."
"Oh, such politeness." She muttered as she looked toward the range with her pen ready. "Good boy."
As he heard
that, his body slowly locked in and his rifle got straight as a lance.
His breath stopped and his doubts were frozen. It was just in three
seconds where the round had already hit the perfect center of the
paper. When the paper finally arrived, and they noticed, some of the
members able to see it whistled in admiration. George didn't react and
was waiting for the next one, still in the same locked pose. Even the
little boss was concerned about it.
"I heard from
the Muslim gal you were good, but didn't know you were that good." She
commented. "Hey, mister machine."
George snapped at the mention of Banan and his eyes flickered some. Only then he looked at the examinator.
"I did good?"
"Please proceed
with the second." And she actioned the next paper. But this time, it
sucked balls. It was all over the place. "What the f..." She had to bit
her tongue. "What is this, mister?"
"Eh... I don't know..."
"Ugh. Another average. Get out of my sight."
She kept going all over the members the rest of the noon.
***
Banan was not
happy to have seen the shootings. Somehow, now that things had a turn
where the members doing somehow better, that also made her feel bad.
First her anxiety was how they were going to fall, yet the feeling of
seeing now how the training of Gyeong was finally fruitful was hurting
her. She failed, and the new one didn't in a shorter space of time. A
bittersweet sensation of relief but also, humiliation. She knew what
was coming next: her demotion and very likely, firing from the division.
Her throat felt shore.
"Hello, dear."
When she was on
the second floor, she witnessed the devil, wearing red himself. A tall,
handsome man with long dark hair tied in a ponytail, well-kept facial
hair and a crimson colored full suit. Neck tie and fancy shoes included
in the set.
"Hello, Shadil. How were your vacations?"
"Nothing worthy of mention." He smiled. "Sorry that it took me too long to come back."
They entered
the computer office and Banan gestured him to sit on the chair. She
herself, booted the computer and just stood around, keeping herself
physically busy to avoid any eye contact.
"So, you are aware of the situation already?"
"You bet it. I
can make sure to know who is the person behind the murder of
Lázár in no time, and get them buried in the same
moment." He smiled. "No need for provide anything besides some
patience. I even already settled a room to stay instead of bothering my
dear peers, I know they will appreciate it."
Everyone appreciates that. Banan kept going on circles around the room.
"Is there any problem?" Shadil took a package of cigarettes out of his jacket. "Do you mind if I smoke?"
"I don't like
it, but I don't mind if you do." She finally turned and to her
surprise, he put it back in the pocket without taking one. "You really
can, hey."
"I'm not that kind of prick." He mentioned. "Either way, do I have something to sign?"
"Yeah, one
second." She went towards the file archive besides her desk and found
the paperwork and prompted it in front of him. "There you go."
***
"Heya."
"Say hello, you animal. Where are your manners?"
Rurik was in a
bad mood, having patched himself up for the injuries in his mouth and
fixed some cream to soften the pain in his neck from the strangulation
the night before. Luckily, he didn't have trouble to grab, or more
likely steal, some goods from the infirmary for such feat. And now he
was angry at himself for not being careful enough, angrily stitching
some of the goat skins he had collected into a single piece. He thought
he had more time, but actually Bakarne had come earlier that day.
"Sorry." The
woman approached him cautiously. For she knew she fucked up in the only
single job she had to do. "Still partners?"
"Shut up. You should have killed the bastard." Rurik mustered. "No food for you today, smurf!"
"Aw." It was
somehow what she expected. Then, she didn't feel as bothered for
bringing even more bad news. "By the way, here is your gun. Sorry, I
had to use it for something else."
Rurik almost
snapped at the moment he got up and looked at her bringing the gun out.
She asserted her as fast as she could.
"Is fine, is
fine!! I will bring you new ammunition right now. I know we have it in
the old warehouse. Just... Give me some time to find it, okay?" For a
moment, Bakarne thought she was dead. The look of Rurik was cold, and
when he was barely some inches close to her... he just picked the
Makarov delicately and slowly, and then turned his back. "Errr..."
"Don't come back until you have the refills. Then maybe I will consider feeding you."
"Heh." Smiling,
Bakarne got closer. "You are actually a sweetheart, aren't ya?" And she
picked up and threw him a few boxes of ammo. "I just wanted to see your
reaction. For such a monster, you are quite contained."
He grabbed the
small boxes and checked the bullets. They were the real thing. Not only
that, she also was kind enough to bring other refills for his
Mosin-Nagant, too.
"How did you get these?" The Russian tower was mostly enthralled now. "Special contraband?"
"Nay. We have
an old warehouse we used for older and other foreign weapons that
members won't use much. Because this shithouse is in the middle of
everywhere and nowhere at the same time, we got a collection of varied
stuff."
"Hm? In the middle of everything?"
"Yeah. Turkey,
basically. Since these ruins are technically inside the mountain of
Ararat - at the east frontier with Armenia. On the south, we have
Africa and the Middle East. Then on the north, we are in the in between
of the Western Europe, but also against the very edge of the Soviet
Union." Bakarne gestured. "And if I can say all of that is because we
got it hammered the first day, I hate Geography until it implies
knowing the best places for drinking and having pintxos. Either way,
this place is like, some kinda relic. A strategic honeypot. Enemies
accessing this base and its conduits would be a disgrace, for whatever
the mission is meant to be."
"Makes sense
why the old guy would like to protect it at all costs, then." And why
he would even resort to people he would usually hate, like me, or this
woman right here. "And you say this is like... the inside of the
mountain?"
"Yes. The
Anomaly." Bakarne chirped. "Althought I heard that outside of the
military world, people have taken it in a more mystical approach. Some
crazy wackos have decided that this is literally the place where the
last remains of Noah's arks rest."
"Where did that
come from?" Rurik sat and started to work more on the skins. It was now
clear he was making something akin of a cape, trying to use the whitest
haired ones for camouflage on the snow.
"I wish I'd
knew, but I never understood religious people. Probably some cultist
did his own math and rolled with it."
"Hum." Rurik
knotted one of the threads and bit the leftover from it. For a few
moments, he admired what he already advanced. "You know, its own
twisted way, this place is indeed like Noah's Ark. But all the animal
couples are mixed, as a disjointed piece of modern art."
"Heh." The fanged woman smiled. "Such a pretty analogy this place is not deserving of."
***
The night had
already settled when everyone was getting ready for bedtime. It was
still early, but just like hibernating species, the early coming of the
moon every day made them even more sleepy than usual. Fanny was looking
at the snow from one of the windows. Just like when she was just a
child, even if it was a rare occurrence, when it did it was an amazing
experience. Before she was part of the machine that would just help
perpetuate The Troubles, she used to capture surreal artistic pictures
of the nature. In a candid attempt of represent how her own self felt
after living the Bloody Friday, ironically caused by the same entity
that she joined later. And just after that, of course, she would be the
eye candy for the strange men in black recruiting for the Divisions.
The best of the
best for every horrible group, militia or guerrilla. But that was their
motto. Fanny herself admired her companions more than she ever did
herself. So she never understood, of all the ones that were resting in
the cooler that time, she was the one that got off. And probably, the
rest of her former partners were serving for life with no way to bail
out.
She sighed and
looked at the sky. It wasn't as starry at other times, but it was still
very beautiful to admire. If it was only the strange building was a
top, she could also would be able to observe the city of Yerevan and
its lights.
It was in the middle of her thoughts she felt an arm resting on her shoulders.
"Heeey." George cheered her. "How are you?"
"Fuck you."
Fanny looked at him expressionless. "Don't jump at me all of a sudden,
or one day you will get a taste of lead if you catch me loaded."
"Aww. Don't be
so cold." George assumed there was not much of a need for formalities
anymore, nor he intended to keep them either. "What are you up to?"
"Just chillin'. It wasn't a lie, after all. "I saw you at the range. Are you okay?"
"What do you mean? Of course I am!" He smiled.
"Yeah, sure. There was something different when you shot the first round."
George looked confused. He signaled his own face.
"Yes, you."
She didn't get
any answer, since he looked even more troubled to understand than she
did. If anything, it could only be part of those special CIA trainings.
Or he is just a dumbass blessed by the beginner's luck. She turned
around to look again the sky and leaned toward the frame. The guy would
just emulate and look at the sky as well, without any words. The moment
felt as if they were freezing on the spot. They didn't really need
anything else. Before noticing, the lights inside were turned off. And
they knew they should be heading for the dorms.
Before they
reached the first floor, they saw Banan going upstairs. She nodded at
them and kept going. George felt still a tiny pain, but still relieved
at her smiling more nonchalantly than the usual. And of course he
tripped with the last step, but the mask would not work much to make
the hit with his whole face hurt less.
"Retarded
gringo." Fanny mentioned. Then she grabbed his hand to help him getting
up. "I am going to become jealous if you don't stop oggling the Muslim
bean there."
"I am sorry, I
can't help but to worry sometimes." He put his hand over the masked
face to check the rough parts. "We were engaged in the past, so of
course I still care about her."
"You were about to marry that tight ass!?"
"Didn't I tell
you?" Her face of disbelief was all he needed to confirm. "Yeah, maybe
I should have said that before dating you.
"More than
that, why would you or anyone want to be with such a narkeyhole? She is
boring and nagging, just exactly what guys dislike. So-"
"She was the
best and only survivor of the Wahhabi airstrike terror group she was
in. An expert on the same force of destruction that pursued her life
over and over from her childhood." The words of the blonde boy were
painted more serious than ever. "And a smart girl that got asylum in
the UK finishing her studies and even getting big grades on technology
and computering development. She left that life due to... personal
reasons and kept joining more terrorists groups until we met in
Kazakhstan for the first time. By then she was quite one of the most
wanted in half of the globe." He smiled. "I still remember when my
uncle Beser presented her to me and also thinking like a stupid that
she was too small and non-bloodyseeking." He rolled off one of his
sleeves and proudly showed a profound scar crossing the muscles. "This
is what she did to me when I called her "too innocent" that same day."
Fanny's face
was a mix of jealousy but also, renewed perception. She never had
thought, not ever once - Banan had anything resembling of a cool past
of her own. To the Irish girl, she had always been a pushover secretary
that would live slowly cracking over eggshells with superiority over
them all.
"Jesus fucking christ." Those words were the only thing she could mutter.
"Yeah." George
put back his sleeve. "We had it rough, we shared the same pain for
a few years. It may not be much, but honestly, anyone you survive
a Russian airstrike with, must be someone you may trust the rest of
your life, you know."
She was silent
in the rest of the way to the rooms. George was already in the door to
his own, and he meekly gestured by to her, but she didn't reciprocate.
Instead, she went her own way without a word.
"See ya tomorrow!" He finally said out loud.
She looked at
him without turning her body, and gave him a timid smile. Only to then
look away and frown, containing her itching throat's desire to pout and
cry.
***
Half finished
blueberry lime spritzers on the table. A rusty nail player over a vynyl
with the best hits of Modern Talking, now just recently separated. The
soft touch of the red velvet blankets that could not compare to the
usual everyone had to deal with. Such display of luxuries - all catered
for only the now accomplished goal. Shadil was laying on the bed,
completely naked and erected, as Banan was also undressing excepting
her hijab.
"Hey, why won't you take it off? Don't ya trust me enough?"
"Not a matter
of trust." She said softly. "And you know it." It was not like she was
really following proper modesty now, either. But she decided she
deserved to indulge after all the stress she had deal. And she knew she
could always dispose of him very easily. But for now, mutual benefit
was ahead of them.
"Hm. Well, it is just more exciting as it, so I'll deal with it."
Shadil didn't
want to go straight to the main course. If anything, the small frame of
Banan getting closer was already pleasurable enough. Her dark eyes so
enticing.
I can't believe
his ex would pass on such a cutie. What a stupid yankee. He elevated
his fingers toward her chin and looked his sight on hers. His thumb
tracing along her lips. To them be pursed against it.
"Mh."
"Dance for me."
And so, she
did. Her body moved slowly close to him, he was only able to watch the
back for some while. He didn't even feel the urge to grab her, but
actually, the show itself was enough to keep him entertained. All the
curves on motion, her own hands highlighting them and sometimes even
looking back at him with a sultry smile.
I am going to
lose my shit. The man just did his best to calm down and started to
take the momentum to masturbate the need out. That felt much better.
And probably was his favorite part rather than taking any of her holes.
The vynyl kept playing, and the rough bumps that would make an almost
unnoticeable scratch would make him feel slightly disturbed. But he
kept shaking his cock at the vision of Banan, that had finally turned
her front towards him, allowing to enjoy the view of her perky, yet
still generous breasts. All of her was a treat to witness.
"Hmmm." She looked down at him. "Is someone already bored?"
"You are
completely wrong in that regard, "She who survives airstrikes", hun."
His strokes becoming more and more slow but long, not diverting his
eyes from her body. "Tell me, is this part of any modern management
methods?"
"Such a silly
guy for the top spy in the world." Her hands laid on the sides of his
body, crouching closer to him. Her breath of mint toothpaste made him
comfortable. All of her was elegant without being extravagant. And in
the cold winter of Turkey, they would finally embrace of each
other.
Cheri cheri lady, goin' through emotion
Love is where you find it, listen to your heart
Cheri cheri lady, livin' in devotion
It's always like the first time, let me take a part
She just longed of the attention and touch of someone, when the one she wished for was not going to be.
The other, just
having a distraction with the new tool in his shed. For he knew she was
crucial for his plan to set on motion.
Both of them,
every sound and movement captured in the video camera set in the table,
where the drinks were standing still - yet to be finished.