Chapter 11: Dragon's Eye Part 2

Ioren held onto Stone tightly. She could feel that the man was soaked. He wore a wet tan-colored shirt, his signature holster, his typical heavy-duty boots, and dark brown khaki pants. He carried a large number of belongings on his back with a backpack that consisted of most of his survival gear. Besides his powerful pistol, there was a shotgun that was part of his gear.

He set his shield down by the wall and had his arms held out as if he was not trying to hug her in return. Water dripped from his skin and onto the floor below. The reptilian woman had nothing but a sense of relief that he was alive. On the other hand, the marine momentarily lowered his hand and tapped her shoulder as a mild way to console her or push her away.

“Alright, alright,” Stone told her. “I can’t have you getting all weak on me. You have had enough time to rest.”

She let go of him as she stopped crying. She released him and proceeded back to the counter. She started to head towards her tilon. Stone was taking a momentary break as he walked up to the corner and sat down near the same spot that she was at. She started to type down the things that she needed to say.

“You are alive,” she typed.

“Of course, I am,” he replied with some annoyance. “Although ... I should say that more for you.”

“I awoke...” She paused and closed her eyes a little bit. “It was weeks later, and you were gone.”

“Hmph ... I’m sure that Zuri has already briefed you on everything.”

“He explained what he could. I don’t know what is going on, though.”

He took a deep breath and pressed his head to his back. He took his backpack and shotgun and rested it on the ground but close to his hand if he needed it.

“You know that they arrested me for that stunt you pulled,” he said as he pointed his finger at her.

“Me?” there was some mild agitation on her face when she responded, but he wasn’t looking at her.

“Yes ... that bitch pressed charges on me, but I already had a plan in place. You see this gun?” he gestured to the shotgun. “It is an M212 Automatic Shotgun, only used and operated by the UHN. These guns, as amazing as it is, still doesn’t beat some of the Aphadus shotguns, but I know that these things are hard to manufacture. You can’t simply make knockoffs of them. They all came from here ... so I offered them an alternative.”

“What was it?”

“I told them that I planned on killing Ik’Ik’ ... whatever her fucking name is, that I was going to kill her long after they treated you. The civilian courts saw me as dangerous and decided to have me shipped here. Of course, there was more to it than just that. Some in the UHN are secretly a part of this ... rouse that the civilians don’t know about. There would be... ‘special conditions’ for me. A few are fully aware that guns are vanishing from their armories, making their way here, and now being sold back to the mainland. The problem is that the UHN can’t launch an all-out assault on this island since it deals with the civilian sector’s problems. Instead, they just leave us to take care of their problems.”

“Why would they do this?” the Itrean typed.

“I don’t fucking know. All I know is that I came here, and it is pretty much what it is ... it’s a fucking cesspool and forgotten place. Oshun simply dumps their worst criminals and leaves them to die here. Can’t comment if it is the correct choice or not, but...” he paused as he started to unzip his pack and pulled out a small little can of chopped fish meat. “Sometimes, it might just be better to put them out of their misery, but maybe that is just me.”

“I encountered three so far,” Ioren typed.

“There are over thousands that are scattered about here, possibly far more. Most of these prisoners are rapists, murderers, assassins, deranged, violent anarchists, or some other groups. I managed to contact the village elder that lives northeast of here. A small group of prisoners has made their life in this penal colony. Apparently, the people are trying to ‘turn a new leaf,’ as the elder explained. They used whatever wasn’t taken when the penal colony was abandoned and tried to make their own homes. They have basic workshops, basic firearms, hunt, and even try to farm. Seems to be working so far for them.”

“Would Oshun condone this?”

“They don’t care or just don’t know. Gabatrix would be spinning in his fucking grave if he heard of all this, though.”

Ioren picked up her tilon and walked next to the marine that popped open his small can of food. She adjusted her tail and sat down not far from him. She started to type as she considered eating from her pack.

“How much food do you have?” she asked.

“Water isn’t an issue with the constant rain every couple of days. Food I have about a couple of days left. What did you bring with you?”

She lifted her butt a little bit to show the pistol. He nodded. His augmented eye could scan into her pack.

“An OCP-3 with a ‘Z’ etched into the handgrip. You have Zuri’s pistol...” he remarked with some surprise. “I have never seen him do that before. He just gave you his pistol just like that?”

She gave a couple of quick nods. The marine seemed to have a perplexed look to him.

“Hmph...” he remarked as he went and took his can of food and began to scarf it down. It took less than a couple of seconds for him to eat the entire can as he went and tossed the empty remains to the side.

“You took my gun,” she typed.

“Yeah, well, I might have needed something to slap into my boot just in case. It did pretty well, though. It was damaged after you were shot, but it fixed itself.” The marine went and searched around in his pack. He pulled out the AKT-1, Ioren’s sidearm, and slapped it down on the pavement next to her. He then pulled out the spare loaded magazines and some of the tiny grenades before resting them next to her. A small smile appeared on her face the moment she saw it.

“Thank you,” she signed to him. She checked out her gun carefully to see if it was alright. There weren’t many grenades that were left after the last couple of days. She only had one red-tipped grenade and two decoys left. She opened her pouch and started to put them away.

“I can take the OCP-3 until you need it since you don’t have a spare holster for it,” Stone commented as he held out his hand. She pulled out the other pistol and handed it to him. She was about to pull out the additional magazines.

“No, keep both sets. I already have my Desert Falcon and shotgun. Those magazines simply add more weight to the pack. Now that you are here, we can start to proceed with the next plan in place.”

Ioren was getting herself situated when she spotted some blood on Stone’s shirt. It was covered up from his arms, but there was a clear indication of dried blood. She showed some concern as she pointed to it.

“A necessity,” he told her. “Be prepared to kill if need be. Even the elder here said the same thing. Those that aren’t a part of his village are just insane or too far gone to be part of it, even if most of them are pretty far gone anyway. Many of the people here won’t hesitate to kill you or do something to you that you might not enjoy very much.”

She gave a couple of quick nods. Then, she curled up into a ball as she kept her tilon at the ready.

“Thank you,” she signed to him before she resumed typing. “For saving my life.”

“Don’t thank me yet. We have a mission to complete.” He pulled out of his pocket one of the cards and slapped it down on the pavement. He also pulled out his tablet from the other and turned it on. A three-dimensional picture of the island was shown as he set it down and began to interface with it.

“I’m sure you have a map layout of the island unless the chief was just being dumb,” Stone explained. “The village is northeast from here that consists of the former staff housing. That is where some are currently living. We have no real business there unless we need to.”

“Are you sure?” she typed.

“No. The elder here is ... I feel that he is correct for somebody of his position to be put there. He hates the idea of a syndicate organization that is taking hold on this island.”

“Is he at war with the group like the gangs back at L’Kibera?”

“More or less. From what he told me, there have been some gangs and organizations that have always existed here, but something moved in southeast of here several months ago. It was rumors passed around in the village. Some that lived there fled from the former prison facility and area. Otherwise, the rest simply became a part of it. Others saw a new power structure forming and saw the prospect of getting off the penal colony. Then, the elder saw that the united gangs southeast were starting to acquire more and more firearms that were impossible to create here.”

“What about factories?”

“There are warehouses that have been turned into basic manufacturing plants,” Stone explained. “I’m getting the suspicion that Oshun did a poor job in stripping the island of essential items that the prisoners used.”

“I noticed lenses,” Ioren typed.

“Yes. There are the occasional cars that even work, and they have a solar-powered plant, too ... at least from one of the people I interrogated. According to the elder, they would notice shuttles that would regularly fly over the southern area of the island near the ocean itself. At first, they thought they were dropping off more prisoners, but it wasn’t a regular drop-off point. These had to be government shuttles. They are giving equipment to the syndicate ... at least from what I know.”

This was alarming news even for Ioren to hear. People that worked for Oshun were arming criminals and giving them the best equipment available. The very thought of it was sickening. She could imagine Itrean weapons, initially offered to and trained by UHN. Then she could see them being handed over to prisoners or those that bared discontent. Battles just like at L’Kibera. It would start off small but eventually, bleed out into the nearby neighborhoods. She kept a careful note of this along with anything else that she saw. There was no sense of being upset about this. Even Stone seemed somewhat centered now that he was here doing something about it. This had to be stopped, even if it was just the two of them.

“My people would not stand for this,” Ioren typed.

“Yeah, well, I don’t see them launching an army here,” Stone said. “T’rintar have an alliance. We are not a part of you either.”

“Plus ... they wouldn’t help me anyway.”

The marine nodded. “You can see the shit I have to keep in mind. I have made my fair share of enemies.” He crossed his arms as his back rested comfortably on the wall. “I don’t care what they think, but even then, it appears that the Itreans don’t care if you die. Some in the UHN don’t care if I’m shot and killed out here. It’s a wonderful convenience for them if we succeed or fail.”

Ioren was partly convinced, but she understood that Stone was pessimistic and pragmatic. She needed to help guide the conversation, even if he was correct.

“What is our next goal?” she typed.

“I have managed to get ahold of information that the syndicate’s numbers are at its peak, but they can’t have everything at one place. The first goal is to eliminate the place they are using to store military firearms that they receive.”

The three-dimensional portrayal of Dragon’s Eye showed the areas where there were large concentrations of buildings. The southern region was of particular interest. While it was faintly urban, the location near the sea was important.

“Our first goal is to obtain the information of where this hideout is located. Most likely, it is located near the sea. There, they can use a submarine to take in the goods and ship them outward as they did before. The other choice is to go straight southeast and assault the main hub, but ... I would prefer we do this first.”

“Why is that?” she typed.

“I think you know that answer already.”

Ioren considered the actions. The idea of attacking some hideout, just him and her, was insane. Attacking the main hideout itself was a suicidal idea. Hundreds of men and women would defend themselves in a battle to the death. This was beyond even the turf battle that got her nearly killed in the first place. Even this idea was still crazy, but something had to be done. Going southward warranted the greatest likelihood of success and least risk. She knew that Stone couldn’t do this by himself no matter how good of a fighter he was. There were going to be no further reinforcements because she was the reinforcements.

“What about the village? Can they help us?” she typed.

“No. The syndicate might be moving in on them. He can barely fight back against them anyway with their equipment. If it is just us, it will be easier for us to slip in and go after the syndicate’s storage facility.”

“How do we find out where they are?”

The marine didn’t seem to have an answer for a little while as he put his hands up in agitation. Finally, It caused Ioren to look down. Wandering around aimlessly wasn’t going to yield results. It seemed that Stone had been doing enough of that already. She started to look at the tilon closely, however, as an idea came up to her.

“How did you interrogate the first person?” she typed.

“I just found him. He tried to attack me in my sleep.”

“You found me with the tilon program, correct?”

“Yes, I did,” the answer to the question made him pause as he considered the idea she was thinking about as well. “Let them come to us,” Stone ordered her. “Turn on the program and put it to its highest pings. One of our devices is enough. It will start to attract the attention of any of their patrols. We can ambush them and interrogate them for more information.”

Ioren nodded her head as her scaly pointed finger began to search for the correct program. By now, the rain was starting to slow down a little bit. She activated it as her device started to send off pings.

“This will take time,” Stone commented. “Even if they send somebody to investigate, it might take an hour or two. This island is still big.”

It was a plan, even if Ioren was skeptical if it was genuinely going to work or not. It was even possible it would work too well. The area was simply too unpredictable without the correct information. Laying a trap, however, was still a viable one, and she didn’t have any better ideas. She relented.

“I’m ready,” she typed.

“Good. Now...” he turned his head to her. “I need you to show me how much you know your sign language. We may need this in the impending days to come...”

“No, no, no...” Stone told her. He went and pressed his two pointer fingers together. “This is ‘hurt,’ and you use it towards the areas of your body that you are in pain. For us, we can also use it in the way that we can indicate it towards others.”

Ioren did a quick nod as she understood it. They had completely lost track of time. Had it been an hour? Was it three? She didn’t know. All that she knew was that she was continuing to focus on her partner’s form of communication. Even if it seemed like an obsolete language, she felt a bond towards him that grew more and more. The marine was always stern and direct every time he would teach her. She could notice the differences between the first night he helped her when compared to now. Now, she could see that there was a vested interest in making sure that she knew more and more about it. She was fully aware that learning sign language wasn’t going to happen overnight.

“It is important that you understand the true word for ‘kill,’” Stone said. He went and pointed his finger at her and used his other hand to make a sweeping motion over it towards her direction. “That is the word for it. Don’t do it like what they show you in the movies by taking your pointer finger and running it underneath your chin and neck. That will be our definition of ‘slitting a throat.’ Make sure to know the differences.”

Ioren went and followed suit by repeating the movements with her hands. By now, her skills had increased more and more as each minute passed. She was enjoying it. An entire language that didn’t require the use of a voice box. If the Itreans or the humans couldn’t give her the ability to speak, then she at least had this.

Suddenly, the tilon started to give an alarm that caught their attention. Two red dots appeared at the edge of the proximity range of the tracking beacon. One was orange that indicated that it was homing in on her signal.

“They’re coming,” Stone said as he stood up. “Take your pistol but leave everything else, including your tilon. Let them come to it. Let’s move.”

Ioren acknowledged what he said as she was quick to stand up. Stone unholstered his gun but left his shield and shotgun behind. If the partners were fast, then it wouldn’t be an issue to leave all of it there for the marauders to find.

Both of them proceeded to leave the room as quickly as possible. By now, the rain had stopped, leaving a wet landscape. Upon touching the grass, Ioren could feel her lower pants getting damp, but there were no audible noises either. A flashlight could be seen in the distance, but she could see the illumination of something heading in their direction. While the walls still blocked their line of sight from seeing each other, she knew she couldn’t be there too long.