After Days - Chapter 8

“I will ask you one more time, little girl.” The Private warned, already agitated and tired. “How has that young man-”

“Leon.” Vicky chirped happily as she clapped her ankles together, her legs too short to reach down from the chair. At a stretch, she could skim the tip of her big toe off the steel floor.

The Private sighed. “Fine. How has Leon kept you alive for so long?”

“Oh. He didn’t.” She smiled innocently at the man, treating him with the same manners as she would anyone else. “Mommy U did.”

Private flinched with disbelief, almost keeling off the back of his reverse-turned chair. He reached out to the back support, at his front, and pulled himself straight. “I’m not your damn mommy!”

Vicky huffed, as she did at most things. “Mommy U means Mommy Ueda, stupid.” She pouted at the man’s lack of information. How could he not know who Mommy U was? Everyone knew her.

He flared with frustration at the girl’s cluelessness, he had never had to deal with a child until now, so it made no sense to give him the task of questioning one. He had been given the option of picking the girl or the boy, thinking that he would be able to scare her into giving him answers, he chose Vicky. How wrong he was. “Don’t piss me off kid. Where’s Ueda now?”

Vicky shrugged as she found the clapping of her feet more interesting than the man’s quiz, quickly forgetting that she was mad at him.

Something inside of him snapped, lifting him from his chair and kicking it over before he circled the small, boxy office. He lapped the room over and over, fixing his eyes on the next corner, refusing to look at the child. God knows what he’d do if he did.

She sat, clapping her feet and picking knots out of her hair, wincing when she found a big one and strained to comb it out. “Can I go now?”

“Not until you answer my questions.” He had to cross his arms to stop himself lashing out.

Vicky sighed with childish impatience. “Okay, but make it quick, okay?” She too crossed her arms as she slumped down into her seat.

“Where is Ueda?” Private repeated.

“Dunno, Red-man took her.” She answered him quickly, barely a breath between question and result. She figured the quicker she talked, the quicker she could go play. The ride through the sky had gotten her all worked up and excited, she did not want to be sat still right now.

The man looked puzzled. “Who the hell is Red-man?”

“A guy with red hair.” Again, her answer was quick.

“Where did he take her?”

“Didn’t see, but big brother probably went with them.”

This was a good system, he asked, she answered. Suddenly he shared the same goal as the girl, ask fast, get it over with. He rested his back against one of the walls, far enough to the girl’s side that they didn’t have to look at one another. “Leon?”

“No, Laza.”

“Who’s Laza?”

“Biggest brother.”

“And where did he go?”

“Into the sky.”

“He a pilot?”

“What’s a pilot?”

The glitch in the system threw Private off a little, but he was focused and bounced back. “Never mind. Did your brothers help keep you alive?”

“Yep.”

“How?”

“They killed things, people, people like you.” An alien sinister tone filled her smile.

Private let himself ignore it, he didn’t want to risk saying something which would stop her being cooperative. “Using what? What weapons do you have?”

“A pipe, and a knife.”

“What? That’s all?!” Private couldn’t decide if she had suddenly switched back to the brat she had been, or if it was honesty. In the room opposite, Elliott was being subjected to similar treatment, perhaps his answers could shed some light on the subject. “Excuse me.” Private said, finding himself already closing the door behind him, he must have been more desperate to leave than he thought.

“Christ, that girl.” He spat. A patrol passed by, wearing heavy kevlar uniforms with harsh expressions on their faces, but Private did not hesitate to stop them. “Excuse me. Do you know if the young lad is still being interrogated in there?” He gestured towards the door.

Before he knew what was happening, Private found himself begin tossed into the room in question with the soldiers quickly pouring in behind him. The door slammed shut, locking. The second interrogator looked up in shock, but Elliott didn’t so much as wince. One of the men snarled with disapproval. “This cannot be him, he is far too young.”

“Gen…General Halsey? But the Master refused you entry, what are you doing here?” Private stuttered on the ground, rubbing his head to sooth the ache from his impact.

Halsey’s eyes flashed. “He refused my request to dock, but I can go where I please.”

“Ever the hard ass.” Dexter said, breaking the tension. “Sorry about your head, by the way. It seems that people on this rig don’t give a damn whether we made dock or not. Technicalities must just escape some people.”

“Technicality or not, you are not welcome aboard this station! I suggest you leave immediately.”

Hudson’s fist crashed into the side of the second man’s face as he challenged their presence. “See what he means?” The strong, almost Russian accent proved. He flexed his fingers to try and stop the pain. The angle of his strike had been awkward so his outer knuckles had made contact instead of his hardened ones. “You’re not going to be a problem are you, Private?”

“N-no sir!” He stood to attention next to Elliott. Being a Private had failed him yet again, he had no clue who was in the right and who was in the wrong, but he figured that it was better to do this than get his jaw broken.

“You, boy, why are you here?” Halsey took over, sitting in the stool across from the child. Elliott’s head hung low but it was clear that his eyes were angry, so angry that he didn’t care who these new men were. “I just asked you a question, now answer me.”

“Go fuck yourself.” His words were full of all the authority that a swearing nine-year-old could command, next to none, but he didn’t show the slightest hint of fear as the General turned purple.

Halsey was massive compared to the boy, he could probably snap Elliott’s neck in his sleep. The little boy did well not to be afraid.

“Do not test me kid. This is my mission, and you are an obstacle. I’d much rather go around you than through you.” He leant back as he pulled a short, serrated knife from one of his many pouches. He twisted it enough to flash the light from the ceiling up into Elliott’s eyes, making him aware that this was no game. “Clear?”

“Am I supposed to be scared of that? My brother’s knife is bigger than that tiny thing.”

The knife Vicky had talked about was real! Private’s face suddenly lifted as his question was answered. He took half a step forwards, almost wanting to leave having got what he came for, but the wall of soldiers quickly deterred him.

The General noticed, and he wasn’t in the mood to stay quiet. “Going somewhere?”

“Well, sorry, it’s nothing. I was just interviewing this boy’s twin sister, right across the hall.” His jaw stiffened, almost waiting for the imminent blow. But it never came.

Instead Halsey and Dexter both locked eyes. “These must be the other two that were mentioned in the report.” Dexter said as he stepped aside from the exit, expecting Private to dash out, but he stood to attention all the time. Impressive.

“That means the young man must already be here too.” He twirled the knife between his fingers as he turned back to Elliott. “You know where the other one of you is?”

Elliott smirked and looked up for the first time, meeting the General’s powerful glare. “When you find him, Leon is going to kick your ass.”

“Leon.” He grinned, finding it a fitting name for such a powerful tool. “Let’s go.” Halsey ordered, forcing the blade back inside its sheath.

The men cleared the room, leaving one furious little boy, and one very baffled soldier behind. Suddenly Dexter popped his head back around the corner, swinging from the door frame. “You’re with us now. What’s your name anyway?”

“But what about the prisoners? And it’s Franklin, sir. Private Franklin.” What was he doing? He couldn’t really go with these intruders could he, regardless of who they were. With that in mind, the General would have stabbed a child if he didn’t get the answers he wanted. Probably best to help him out than rub him up the wrong way.

“Well Franklin, these two aren’t important. It’s their older brother we’re here for. So gather your shit and let’s get going.”

“Yessir.” Franklin agreed, carefully skipping over the feet of the unfortunate, unconscious soldier. As he reached the door, he looked back to Elliott. He couldn’t just let him go, he was a prisoner, and if the other guy woke up to find the kid gone, he would be blamed for something he had no control over, being out cold and all. He closed the door behind him, drawing the keys from his back pocket and locking it. He checked it with a couple of quick tugs. Problem solved.