Manhunt the Evader // Evade Fanfiction

Chapter 7 // The Defected Rebel

I was awoken by the sounds of the glass cups. The windows slowly opened to the world. The blur faded away as my vision became crystal clear. I was laying on my side on a somewhat comfortable bed, a soft mattress. I directed my eyes to focus on a figure in front of me. He was rather tall, with a front-facing black navy cap. I saw the backpack he was wearing; he must have carried many military weapons in that. There was a red ribbon strapped on both of his arms like if he is part of a pack. Finally, he turned around, showing his scarred face.

"So, would you like Barley or Peppermint Tea?" he asked.

His voice was rather old like if he fought from World War II. His arms stiffened when he asked the question. It caused quakes and shivers in my spines. I recognized that uniform and face. Wasn't he part of the rebels?

"I'm sorry, why are you helping me?" I said, getting up from my sleeping position, "and where is Bobo?"

I felt much better than I was the last few days. I touched my shoulder, not a single pain from the day that bullet shot me. Even he was a rebel, why did he save me?

"I felt a bad for you and your friend," he responded before pouring hot water into the glass cup, "barley or peppermint?"

I haven't gained full trust on this guy yet, but despite his deep manly tone, it was enough for me to answer his question.

"Uh, peppermint for me please!" I answered meekly as he turned around to the table and dropped the peppermint bag into the boiled water.

As he waited for the packet to diffuse into the water, he walked towards me before sitting beside me on the soft mattress. His arms are still as stiff as wood.

"Listen to me very carefully," He said in a harsh tone, "As rebels, we don't usually speak of our real names. We usually roam around different dimensions and hope that we could find a single artifact,"

He was quite an odd fellow. Is he really lecturing me about the rebel's reputation and goals? If what he was saying is true, would that mean his buddies would hunt me down just because I am also after the dimension's treasures? I watched as he paused from his previous statement, he was absorbing the event that happened to me and Bobo. 

"I never asked myself whether or not I am doing the right thing," he continued, "I continued my job, until I saw you and Bobo,"

He took a quick peak at my appearance. He could be observing any appearance, whether it's my pale-yellow color or the choice of clothing.

"Judging by your condition," he observed, "are you a college student?"

This man is a detective.

"Ah, yes... Yes, I am," I spoke, my mouth was getting dry from the near-death experience.

"The reason why I saved you," he said, "I wasn't keen to shooting you two kids,"

That statement shocked me. He is a rebel, right? Wasn't he supposed to be one of those ruthless murderers like the rest of his comrades? I started to feel sorry for this guy, he must've been forced to join this mission just to shoot down two people. His face was dried up from tiredness as black bags are visible under his eyes. I thought I was the only one who is exhausted all the time.

"I had a huge argument with my comrades after I told them I wouldn't shoot down you two kids," he continued on, his face darkens with sorrow, "they called me 'The defected rebel', just because I wasn't like them," 

I couldn't believe it. Even an enemy suffer more than you could possibly imagined. Maybe we aren't all the bad guys after all. I put my arms over his shoulders.

"I understand, and I am sorry to hear about your mistreatment by your group," I answered with empathy, "but you couldn't just let drag your tail all the time. You control your actions, not them. It doesn't matter if your leader doesn't approve. If you don't want to do it, then don't do it. You could always join in another group that you feel comfortable in,"

The rebel looked at me. His eyes softened as his limbs unstiffened from the words that poured out of my mouth. Although the red color on his arms still frightened me, he listened to those words like Jesus listening to his disciples. 

"We lost a rebel!" a voice boomed from outside the research, "find him before the timer runs out!"

"Fuck! We got to go!" he whispered harshly as he grabbed the tea in one hand and my baggy hoodie on the other.

His running speed was fast paced, even I couldn't keep up with his speed. He took a sharp turn before racing down the long staircase. In front of us was a large metal door with heavy handle. He pressed the handle before letting go of me. I managed to get up from my feet and walked into the small room. To my surprise, the blue visor boy was waiting for me by the doorway.

"Jard! You're alive!" Bobo squealed in excitement as he grabbed my arm and dragged me into the room, "someone carried me here and managed to heal my wounds!"

"Yeah... About that-"

I was interrupted by the sound of an opening metal door as the friendly rebel appeared from the crack of the entrance. Bobo, who had seen enough of his black and red uniform and predator like eyes, screamed as if he saw a monster.

"AAAAAAAAAAA! A REBELLL! GET HIM OUT!"

He proceeds to pick up a thong from the corner of the room before launching it at the rebel's face. I squinted my eyes, ready to watch the entire situation explode in my face. However, the rebel did not flinch, he only managed to look down at the broken footwear before bending down and picking it up.

"Did you just throw a thong at me?" he said, completely unfazed as he raise his eyebrows.

Before things got messy, I stood in front of Bobo.

"Bobo, it's alright! He's on our side!"

He only looked at me in confusion.

"How would you know that Jard? It might be some old trick!" Bobo complained in his child like voice, "I mean, look at him! He has a scary red ribbon wrapped around both of his arms,"

"If you really don't like the color red, then I can change that for you," the rebel said in the background.

If he was a rebel, wouldn't he be armed with some kind of gun?

"Couldn't you just shoot them?" I asked in curiosity.

"I would, but not now," he confirmed, "I left my pistol upstairs,"

"Well, we are fucked!" Bobo added as he helped himself in emergency noodles, "at least there are food down here, we can wait it out!"

"No! We need to get that artifact!" I said, "so uhm, rebel guy, is there a way we could clear your buddies so we could snatch that artifact?"

The rebel stared at me for a few seconds. He then dropped his heavy military bag in front of him. He dug into the huge storage and pulled out barrier poles and heaps of landmines. He then looked at me and Bobo with determination in his eyes.

"I've got a plan!" he said, "before I explain it, does anybody have any questions?"

Bobo puts his hands up.

"Yes?"

"Now that you are with us, what should we call you?" he asked. That honestly was a good question, "do we still call you 'Rebel'?"

"I prefer not to be called that," he answered, "call me Defect,"