Chasing Demons

CHAPTER 2

*

We were a small crowd in the cage. I quickly started up a conversation with the few other humans around; they were a crew of soldiers who had been ambushed on a patrol. "These things are not too bright; they only took our biggest guns, but left our sidearms and knives alone, though I suggest not trying anything. That was how Lucas got his arm bent out of shape like that" one of the soldiers explained, Rick was his name. Besides humans there was another person in the cage a strange-looking woman, she was extremely tall making the soldiers look tiny and making me feel even smaller than normal. I am not a tall guy, but that woman made me feel it. She had a scar splitting most of her face, a stark contrast to her otherwise delicate features. The most standout thing about her at a glance was the ears; they were long and pointy and seemed to move on their own at times. "Have any of you guys talked up the lady yet?" I questioned. "Nah, we rather not she is an elf and those bastards are not much better than orcs," Rick explained, before Lucas added; "Honestly just as nasty but cleverly, that orcs lack. "

I had heard we were fighting the elves too but way less had been said about it. In contrast to the orcs, the elves had not been a part of the invasion of New York, and I had first been informed about them when I arrived at the base. At first, I thought someone was having a joke at my expense, but evidently, they were a thing. Despite the warnings from the crew I could not help but be curious about the elf, also with how her ears moved I was pretty certain she was listening in on our conversation. I wondered if she spoke English or could at least understand it. We spent a few days in that cage together; I asked the others if the orcs ever bothered to feed us, and no I received made me worried. If the orcs were not giving us food, then they would not be keeping us for long which would make sense at least. Later that day the orcs took most of the crew including Lucas, leaving just me, Rick, and the elf.

Rick and the elf did not get along and the following day I woke up hearing shouting "I am not going to let you kill me, bitch," I quickly got up to access the situation. The woman was holding Rick by the throat trying to suffocate him. "I am helping you human, better to die now than suffer what the orcs have planned," she replied in oddly good English. "What about we do not kill each other and instead focus on another solution like trying to fucking escape," I interjected not at all ready to deal with this much murderous intent first thing in the morning. "You expect me to let this psycho live? Even though she is keen on fucking killing me," Rick sounded less than impressed, "You would not win a fight between us, without your weapon you are pathetically weak," the elf mocked back not at all helping to de-escalate the situation. "I expect you two to not get us all three killed, the fuck is this supposed to achieve? Some ego-stroking before death? Because we will die if we stay here, and there is no fucking way we are getting to escape if we are this busy killing each other," I am not even sure when I raised my voice, but in the end, I was shouting too. The silence following my outburst was awkward as we all glared at each other, but in the end, logic won out. And we started laying a plan for how to escape the orcs.

*

The plan was simple and not at all agreed on. Rick wanted to search the camp for his crew to see if they were still alive. The elf insisted they would be dead, and it would be a waste of time. I was liable to agree with the elf, but I was having a hard time explaining that to Rick without him accusing me of just placating her because I wanted to sleep with the elf. Stellar conclusion there Rick, maybe some of us are not thinking about getting our dick wet when we are trying to escape certain death. In the end, the elf and I had one plan and Rick had decided to be a rebel and have his plan. Our plan was simple due to my small stature and build I would be able to get through the bars of the cage and then open it from the outside. All I would need was a key located on the stump of wood not that far away from the cage. So at the crack of dawn, I got ready to do the first step, the orcs were mostly sleeping then, so it was a perfect time. I got the key without issues and while the lock was a bitch I did manage to get it open, and as soon as I did Rick decided to enact his stupid plan. He split off from us leaving me with the elf.

"So do you have a suggestion for where we can run to?" I asked not sure what to do with myself. The only base I was familiar with was the one I was abducted from and I had no idea where it was located compared to this orc camp. "Just follow me" the elf replied moving very fast, forcing me to sprint to not lose her out of sight. My heart was about to burst out of my chest, but she was still running not at all slowing down. Fuck I was in a bad shape, or maybe she was in stupidly good shape, either way, I was having a hard time keeping up. Even worse I doubted she would care about leaving me behind to fend for myself. We got pretty far before the orc noticed us missing, but as soon as they did they started following us like a pack of feral dogs. I had no choice I had to hide; there was no way I could keep running like this. So I duck behind a tree nearby, and remembering my last encounter tried to cover myself with mud and dead leaves to cover my smell. Meanwhile, I lost sight of the elf, but it sounded like the orcs might have caught her. A familiar feeling sat in as my body grew numb and I waited, after a while, I realized the orcs were not coming for me. But I was stuck having no idea where to go now. And as I sat there the guilt came back, I knew going back was an awful idea, had I, not myself told Rick that? Still, it gnawed at me the guilt, besides it was logical was it not? I needed someone to guide me, or I would be dead either way.

Tracking the orcs was easy those things are anything but subtle, they had gathered around an altar made of skulls. Around it were the discarded remains of what might once have been people. I had to fight to not throw up as the smell hit me; it was like a slaughterhouse. They were dragging the elf to the altar, but Rick was nowhere to be seen unless those parts over there were him. I evicted that thought as soon as it entered my head. So what now? I stood no chance against a single orc let alone a whole group of them. I searched the area looking for anything useful, what was it Rick had said? Right that the orcs rarely took all their equipment maybe if I was looking around there might be a flash-bang somewhere. Orcs had an excellent sense of smell, but I was not certain that extended to eyesight. Bingo I found what I was looking for; while I had been busy searching the orcs had started chanting. A flash of red light appeared and then a person. They looked humanoid but not human their skin was a deep red and they had horns. Honestly, it looked like a demon but I had no idea if that was accurate or not yet.

"Thank you gentlemen for giving me such a warm welcoming today," the maybe demon said. The smile plastered on his face was wrong too full of teeth to be anything but scary. "Oh and I see we have a guest too, do not be shy hiding behind the tree over there." I froze how the fuck did he spot me. I had very little time to ponder that as the orc started looking around for me. Realizing the gig was up I elected to step out myself "I would be less shy if your friends here had not been as busy murdering people" the man laughed, "well I am sure you have nothing to worry about, as long as you behave." I swallowed a rather choice response to that as I positioned myself next to the elf. A plan slowly coming together, just needed this guy to talk a bit more "right, and what exactly are you expecting? I was just thrown at this party with no guidelines not even sure I received a proper invitation" I readied the flash-bang tuning out the reply, focusing fully on the task at hand. One, two, three go, and then I threw the flash-bang aiming straight for the red fellow. I wasted no time grabbing the elf's hand and running. I wish I could have seen that guy's face as we bailed; sadly we were too busy running for our lives. When we finally made it into the forest I was all out of breath seems like even adrenaline can only get you so far.

*

"My name is Ilynia" I looked over the elf in confusion "my name is Caleb." She nodded and continued walking. That name exchange must have meant something to Ilynia because after that she started talking to me. She had been captured by the orcs while out searching for her missing brother. A tale that hit a bit too close to home for me, and then I of course ended up sharing how I joined the military to look for my missing brother. In a moment of pure sentimental energy, we made a deal that day, we would help each other find our missing brothers.