"So, some strange guy just walks up, starts a conversation with you, and knocks you out?"
"Yeah! It confused me too. He seemed odd, but okay, you know? It didn't occur to me at the moment that he could be dangerous."
"Okay. So, what happened after you woke up?"
****************************************************************************************************************
I woke up in some strange place with Iggy standing before me.
"Chester, wake up," Iggy said calmly as he snapped his fingers in Chester's face. Chester, weak from being man-handled, was standing in front of Iggy with his hands bound together, and his feet chained to the floor. He opened his eyes, which quickly adjusted to the dim lighting of the cold room.
"Iggy," Chester growled, "If I get out of this, you're dead!" He lunged forward as far as the chains would let him. Iggy just stepped back just out of Chester's reach. "Why am I here?"
"If you would calm down, I would gladly explain everything, but you have to calm down and trust me."
"Why should I trust you? You knocked me out and chained me to the floor!"
"Everything will be easier if you'll just trust me, okay?"
"Fine! Whatever! Now explain!"
"Okay. First," Iggy gently touched Chester's scraped cheek, let's get your face cleaned." Iggy pulled a key from his pocket and unlocked the chains. He stood slowly and grabbed Chester's arm firmly to keep him from running off.
Iggy didn't look it with his malnourished body, but he was very strong.
Iggy led Chester down a dark tunnel. A dim light at the end of the tunnel revealed the texture of th walls. They were made of compacted earth. The room smelled of nature, which was something Chester had never paid any attention to.
"Where are you taking me?" Chester asked as he moved his wrists around trying to loosen the rope holding them together.
"If you struggle, the ropes will cut through your skin," Iggy pointed out. Chester stopped moving his wrists.
Chester thought to himself, "How am I going to get out of here? I can't get out of the ropes, but I'm free to walk and run. If I hit him in the gut hard enough, then maybe I'll knock the wind out of him, and I can get out!" A smile was visible on his face. He glanced at Iggy whose was attention was occupied by the tunnel and where he was going.
Chester rotated his arm slowly as to get his elbow angled for Iggy's stomach. He turned as fast as he could, causing his arms to jab Iggy's chest because the air friction made his arm move upward. He knocked Iggy back, and as he turned to run, Iggy stuck his foot out. Chester tripped on Iggy's foot and fell, face first, on the ground. As much as he struggled, he couldn't get up.
I thought I was being very clever, but Iggy was prepared. He was waiting for me to escape. It was then that I learned that I couldn't outsmart him. He had learned, over the years, how to handle people. I was trapped.
"Thanks for bruising my rib cage," Iggy said sarcastically as he pulled Chester off the ground and helped him stand right up. The impact of Chester and the ground made his scrapes begin to bleed again. "When you hurt another, you end up getting hurt in the end too. One wrong will make another. It's a chain occurrence. I hurt you, you hurt me, and it came back to hurt you.I guess it'll come back to me next, or someone else will be woven into it," Iggy continued with a smile.
When Iggy said that, I was confused for a moment, but then I understood it. What goes around, comes around. You know, he was probably the wisest person I had ever met.
They continued walking through the tunnel until the reached a large, circular area. There was a large, rectangular, concrete slab in the center of the room.
"This is the main room. We all hang out in here. This is, also, where we eat when we have food. All of us have to have room mates due to the lack of space. Violet will bunk in my room and you can share a room with Alex."
"Wait. Who's Alex?" his voice echoed faintly through the tunnels.
"Trust me. He won't do anything to you. He's seven."
"How many of you are there?"
"Five: Clive, Claude, Violet, Alex, and me."
"So, why am I here?"
"That is for you to find out on your own," Iggy turned to him and smiled.
Before I could reply, a little boy came running in. Behind him, two guys- twins- were walking.
"Iggy! Iggy! Iggy!" he exclaimed with a large smile going from ear to ear.
"One sec Alex. Chester, if you won't run away, I'll cut your ropes. What do you say?"
I was going to agree and run away once I was released, but I changed my mind. A girl, with black hair that reached her waist and sparkling green eyes, came up behind the twins. She was beautiful. I decided to stay. You know, to get to know her.
"So, what do you say?" Iggy repeated himself.
"Okay."
Iggy crouched down to talk to the little boy. "What were you sayin'?"
"I found a farm, and we got some vegetables! We got food!" the little boy announced triumphantly. The twins, both, had their arms full of carrots, tomatoes, potatoes, and corn. The girl had her arms filled with apples.
"Claude found an apple orchard, so we decided to stop and get some," she added with her strong, melodic voice.
She seemed like the type that would tell someone off if need be.
"Awesome!" Iggy stood and walked over to one of the twins. "Clive, I'll take these if you'll cut Chester loose. He's going to be staying with us a while."
"How come you can't cut his rope?" the twin asked.
"I don't have a knife. You do."
Clive carefully poured the vegetables into Iggy's arms. The three teenagers and Rue walked down a different tunnel. Clive reached into his pocket and pulled out a knife. It looked like an old dagger with it's rusted handle.
"Can you pull your hands apart at all?"
I pulled them tight, and about a centimeter of space was between my wrists. When Clive brought that knife up in the air, I knew what he was about to do, and I was scared out of my wits.
Clive raised the knife.
"Wait! What the heck are you doing?" Chester cried out.
"I'm cutting the rope, you idiot!"
"Don't just chop it! You could slip and chop my hands off!"
"So?" He brought the knife down so fast, Chester could feel the air coming off of it. Chester clenched his teeth and eyes shut as he heard a single, brief chopping sound. Chester opened his left eye slightly to see what had happened.
He had cut straight through the rope between my hands without even grazing either of my hands. Clive was a master when it came to weapons. I wouldn't want to get in an argument with him.
"Wow," Chester looked at his hands as the pieces of rope fell to the ground.
"Come on."
They started down the tunnel after the others. He could faintly hear the sounds of the others talking and cutting up.
Out of all of them, Clive was the least friendly. He had his own personal issues and didn't feel like putting up with other people.
"So, I'm Chester. Nice to meet you."
Clive remained silent.
"So, you're a twin. Cool. I don't have any siblings."
I was used to always being surrounded by people to talk to. It bothered me to be with only one person who refused to talk.
"So, what's with Iggy? He seems weird."
"Iggy is weird, but he's probably the best person you'll ever meet."
I couldn't see anything, so I hoped Clive knew where we were going. As we kept walking, a strong scent of apples flooded our noses. It was sweet and gentle to the senses. It, actually, reminded me of my mother. She wore some type of perfume that smelled like spiced apples or something. I missed her terribly.
"So, where are your parents?" Chester tried to keep a conversation going.
"Mom's dead, and Dad's in jail for life because he killed her," he replied casually as if it didn't matter.
"I'm sorry I brought it up. I know it must hurt you to think about it," Chester tried to be sympathetic.
"It doesn't hurt me one bit. My mom was alcoholic and didn't give a crap about me and Claude, and my dad was physically abusive. They both deserved what they got."
As we walked into the candlelit room where everyone else was, I looked over at Clive. A large scar went across the side of his neck. He had black hair. It was shaggy like Iggy's. None of them had had their hair cut properly in years. If I remember correctly, I think Iggy used a knife to sheer their hair if it got too long. His eyes were brown. I couldn't see his pupils. I guess I don't really have to describe Claude's appearances. They were identical twins. The only reason I could tell them apart was because Clive had a scar and Claude didn't.
The room, which was used as a sort of kitchen area, was warm. The fire in the corner, with a pot over top of it, was keeping the room at a cozy temperature. Apple and carrot slices were floating in the water-filled pot. Violet was chopping apples with a sharpened rock, Iggy had a real knife, and was cutting some carrots, and Claude was washing the carrots and apples and handing them to the choppers. Little Alex, was in charge of putting the slices in the pot.
They truly were a family. The sight of them all working together made me smile. I had never seen people working like this. It made me wonder if this was what the cooks at home did in the kitchen. I thought that maybe, when I eventually got home, I would go down to the kitchen and help out. It looked like fun.
Iggy let Clive take over his chopping and walked over and talk to Chester.
"Okay, Chester. I shall properly introduce the gang now. Okay so this little guy," Iggy took hold of Alex's shoulder and pulled him over, "is Alex. Alex, this is Chester."
Alex looked up at Chester and asked, "So, what was wrong with your parents?"
"Alex, go back over there, okay?"
"Okay!" He immediately brightened up and walked back over to the boiling pot.
Chester asked, "What did he mean by that?"
"We are all living together because we have personal issues. Our parents just happen to be our issues."
"What was wrong with Alex's parents?"
Iggy was silent for a moment as he looked back over his shoulder at the little boy. "His mother was raped and became pregnant with him. She couldn't afford abortion, so she went through with the pregnancy. Once she had him, she left him for adoption. He got adopted by my neighbors, who starved and beat him. They left him outside on our porch when he was four. When I left my parents, I took him with me. I raised him."
"Poor kid," Chester paused for a moment. "Why did you leave your parents?"
Iggy, apparently, didn't want to talk about it. He didn't answer.
