Iron angel (Book 1 of IA)

[23] A Long Road...

​"Curses, I feel like this is going to take forever." I cursed twisting my neck at an awkward angle to look outside the window. The back of the van was spacious enough to fit six people. Five of them were wearing MSs, and I was just in camo uniform. I felt pretty left out for not having one.

"46 hours, 42 minutes and 23 seconds until destination. So save yourself some energy and quit squabbling fresh meat." Isa wasn't wearing her helmet visor any more. It was the second time I had seen her wearing an MS. She had never admitted it was her who sliced the truck in half midair or saved me from the Pingus but I knew. Although kind of embarrassing to admit, in a way, she was my knight in shining armour.

"Yes sir."

The rest of the crew chuckled and I managed to laugh awkwardly with them.

Even though I was legally an adult those veteran's probably viewed me as just another stuck up kid. At that thought I couldn't help but avert my eyes outside the window and sigh. Then all of a sudden a curious thought entered my mind:

"There's no stops during the escort right?" I asked no one in particular.
"That's right son." One of the men replied. He had a deep voice and looked to be in his late forties.

"Then how do you go to the bathroom?"

At soon as I finish the sentence everyone just completely lost it as if they sucked in too much of that laughing gas or something.

"There's no bathrooms boy." One of the men answered.

"Then what do you all use then?"
A silent conversation was exchanged between amongst the rest of them. After a good moment of silence, the same man who just replied to me spoke up:

"Pissbags. That's what we call em'."
That word defiantly sounded like a jargon to me. So even when he told me, I was more confused.

"Pissbags? How do they work?"
A few awkward chuckles escaped from members of the group, I could see some of the men warning me by shaking their heads. That only made me more curious.

"Well, you see it's this tube that extends..."

By the time the guy was done, I was having second thoughts about owning an MS.

"Oh don't worry, we will give you this for relief," said of the veterans sliding me a metal bucket.

"And we'll make sure the lady doesn't turn around!" another veteran jested.
My face was burning from embarrassment and I knew that at some point I would have to go and relieve myself. I could have done it quietly but these old jerks had to ruin it for me.

​Now I have to keep on holding it...curses...

***

​In the end I did get relieve myself (with the bucket of course); as embarrassing as it was it sounded better than the pissbag. Though I did so after Isa and the others fell asleep. I couldn't sleep anyway. I wasn't the type of person who could fall asleep on a vehicle, unless I was drugged or something. On top of that there was this one veteran who snored so loudly I mistook him for thunder several times. Lunch was disputed after only God knows how long and there wasn't much to it either. A piece of hard bread and juice box was all we got. When I took a bite of the bread, I found myself shoving the rest of it down my throat and washed it down with the juice box in one gulp.

"Woah, slow down buddy." One of the veterans said.

I hadn't realized how hungry I was until that point; I probably had all my energy drained from boredom or something. Just as I nodded that I was fine and I wasn't choking to death or anything, thunder came in the distance, real this time.

"Looks like we got ourselves a storm up ahead." Another veteran remarked.
I instinctively looked out the window, seeing if there was more. The sky appeared to be wailing, wrapping curtains of grey clouds around itself to hide what it had in store for us. We were on a mountainside road with an endless drop to our left and a massive cliff face to our right.

"Where are we?" I asked no one in particular.

"Runannan's cut." One of the veterans answered.

"Ru-what cut?" I asked, having completely given up on the pronunciation.

"Runannan's cut. More than a millennia ago, Runannan was a powerful demon king..."

"Oh no, Sartorius is back at his stories again. Everyone cover your ears!" one of his comrades teased.

"Shut up Derick, I am trying to be serious here." Sartorius said, whose face was a little flustered.

"I am kind of bored anyways, let's hear the story." The man called Derick nodded his head around.

"Alright, continuing..." Sartorius cleared his throat. "At one point, when his armies lost to the rebel army lead by the great Risinger himself,
Runannan was forced to make his last stand in the Fortress of Night. After ninety and nine straight days of besieging the city, both sides were nearing the nearing the end of their strength. Just then, Runannan supplies were to be delivered on the hundredth day through a secret passage way. Luckily the rebels found out at the last moments and crushed the supply chains by using simple tactics: pushing boulders and trees off the cliff. The supply lines were destroyed, but the rebels didn't go for the fortress just yet. They waited another ninety-nine days before they finally entered the fortress. There were no guards, no civilians, and no slaves. Just corpses and skeletons picked clean by the crows. It was a horrific sight, no one knows what really happened inside the fortress during the last ninety-nine days. Rumours say that the slaves resorted to cannibalism, others declare there was a major power struggle between Runannan and his demon lords, and they fought on the streets, causing the death of many innocent civilians..."

Sartorius took a moment to scan at all of us, apparently we were all waiting for him to continue.

"There are a lot of theories and rumours about it, but what is confirmed is that Runannan's body was found sitting on the throne, his soul had long since returned to hell, and the body was hardly more than an empty husk."

Everyone waited for him to continue, but it seemed he had finished his story there. Unsatisfied everyone turned away and minded their own business again.

Until the sound of the earth splitting apart came from outside.

Q: What is your experience of needing to use a bathroom during a long transportation ride?