Escape From Redeem, Rise of an Emperor

Planet: Redeem, Class A Prison World

The wind blew Calebs hair back, as he sped across the sheer drop from his platform. It seemed like madness that he could jump as high as the Drone had been. Managing to hold onto the smooth surface of its robotic shell had been even harder.

He imagined himself falling short, from his audacious jump. But instead of plummeting to a certain death, he jumped the imposable looking height with relative ease, and grabbed hold of the drone, as it hurtled back to the other side, where the guard was now panicking.

Out of all the guards at the facility, this one seemed the most affable of them all. That would not save him from Caleb’s wrath. He had suffered too much at the hands of these men, and one way or another it would end now.

The fool he was speeding towards had gotten over the shock of Caleb’s jump. It looked like he was fumbling for his service pistol, as Caleb loomed over the top of him, and landed with the grace of an acrobat.

The pistol was free, and the guard brought it to bear and fired wildly at the doom descending upon him. Caleb weaved from side to side, but a round from the pistol took him in the shoulder, and went clean through. It did not slow him down though.

It only added to his rage. He reached the guard, and swatted the gun out of his hand, bringing a chopping motion that hit him in the same move, with his other hand. The whole attack was fluid and perfect; this guard did not stand a chance.

Now weapon less, he huddled himself in a heap nursing the slap on his face that had knocked him senseless. He quietly whimpered on the floor, breaking Caleb out of his murderous fury.

‘Please don’t kill me, I’m only doing me job son!’

Caleb stood over the sorry form of the guard with his fists bunched. He contemplated ending him quickly. He had wanted to kill them all. They deserved it; all the men who had wronged him. It was not even about escape any more. Now it was only about revenge.

He did not know what stopped his hand from snapping this worthless man’s neck, like a twig. Maybe it was some wired in compassion that they had programmed into him, before he was born.

‘So should I let you live because you are just doing your job? You take just as much pleasure from their sick games. You even told me that once.’

‘B...but I tried to help ya out in the pit, didn’t I? Please, I don’t wana die.’

He had given him advice, but he had also remembered this simple man, not being overly concerned with his welfare either. On the flip side, he could might prove more useful alive than dead.

‘I could kill you as easy as thinking it. But if you do want to live, you will tell me what cell the man I saved in the canteen is in; Dillon is his name.’

The guard looked petrified and held one hand in front of him pleadingly, as the other still held the welt marks on his cheek.

‘I don’t know ya names; ya cell number is the number we give ya when you arrive. I swear!’

Caleb photographic memory had its uses sometimes; recalling Dillons number instantly.

‘098.’ He said out loud to himself. The guard nodded along, trying to look as helpful as possible. Thick dribble dangled from his mouth, and had shaken itself loose due to the enthusiastic agreement. Caleb picked him from the ground, and raised him onto the air, in a display of strength that he had last shown to the crowd in the pit.

The guard yelped in terror and tried not to cry like a child.

‘Now give me your key card, and tell me the cell number of the leader of the Mine Hounds. Do not tell me you don’t know this; for if you do, you know what will happen.’

‘Of course your worship, His cell is 013; here take this it’s my access card, to get through the doors.’

The guard pulled his security card and handed it to Caleb quickly. He was summarily released into a heap on the floor, and Caleb walked over to the sealed door that lead back up, to the upper levels of the prison.

‘It won’t do ya any good though; even with that card. There’s guards everywhere, who’ll shoot you up better than I did.’

The gunshot wound that had hit him on the shoulder had crusted up, and was healing fast. By the time he reached the upper levels, it would be fully restored.

Before leaving, Caleb walked up to the foul smelling cretin beneath him, with fury back on his face.

‘No wait… I helped, I...’ It took one blow to silence him, but he would live. Caleb would not envy the headache he would have, when he eventually woke from the blow.

He had imagined tearing through the prison, killing all in his wake. That was how he had felt, when Master Tong sent him his last message. But now his thoughts were calmer. It was not a peaceful calm that he felt in that moment. It was a feeling more like a simmering pot, waiting to boil over.

Caleb stripped the guard of anything of value, which did not add up to much. The guards I.D. card showed a picture of the simple man smiling dumbly. His name was Bartholomew Devenish but Caleb had heard the other guards call him Baz.

He then swopped clothes with Baz, and threw his rag like garments over the edge of the ravine, with contempt. Before he proceeded to his intended destination, he took an inventory of what he had.

The pistol was empty, but Baz had one spare clip of ammunition, which Caleb slid into it, and cocked the weapon. It was then holstered in a utility belt the guards all wore around their grey uniforms. There was also a simple truncheon on the belt, as well as a can of pepper spray and a few tins of tear gas. He took them all.

Instead of an all-out assault on the prison, He decided stealth would be a better idea, and made his way back to the caverns steel entrance. The ID card was then presented to the reader panel, and the door opened towards him quietly. He remembered the stairs before him led up to a central elevator, where there were many doors to what he assumed were other caverns, with other prisoners.

Caleb ascended the stairs until he reached the top, and peered around the corner, where a guard sat snoozing lightly at his desk. He ran to this guard, pulling the truncheon, and delivered a solid strike to the man’s head, knocking him out cold. Soon it would not matter that these men would sound the alarm. Caleb had planned on being discovered. That’s when all the fun would begin.

There were more clips of ammunition on the guard, which were put into his cargo trouser pockets. This one also carried a large lock knife on his belt that Caleb opened, to reveal a wicked looking blade. This would be put to good use soon. He picked up the guards hat that had fallen off when he had hit him, and placed it on his head. It would help disguise him, in the darkness of the main cell block.

The lift was operated like the doors of the facility, and the card worked just as well on the control panel that opened before him. He selected the sub-ground floor, where he knew the main cells were located. It would be lights out about now, and he did not expect to encounter too much trouble. The lift doors opened to reveal a deserted, tired gallery of cells. On the top floor he heard the footsteps of a lone patrolman, who thudded by noisily. Caleb crept against the wall of the lower cells. Even if he was seen, at this distance he would look like just another guard, having a midnight stroll. The guard did not even look down, and suddenly he turned a corner and was gone; for now anyway.

Suddenly Caleb had reached his destination; cell 013. The man inside, was the leader of the gang that had ordered the killing of Master Tong. He was going to pay him a quick visit, before all hell broke loose.

He presented the security card to the reader, and there was a clunk sound of the lock disengaging. The door opened to reveal a very large fat bellied man, covered in the tattoos the Mine Hounds all seemed to have. There were no lights in the cell, but that did not matter to Caleb, who could see quite well in the darkness. The fat man on the other hand, was confused and made an attempt to protest, for being roused from slumber.

‘What the hell is going on? It can’t be time for breakfast yet.’

He must have assumed Caleb was a guard. In the low light, he could be forgiven for this error.

‘No; it is not breakfast time. I came to give you a message actually.’

Caleb switched the light on, and the cell lit up, dazzling the boss of the Mine Hounds, who tried to look at the face of the guard that had bothered him this night. His eyes did a double take, as he realised that it was not a guard at all. He knew exactly who was in front of him now. There was a price on the head of the young man before him.

He had expected the gang leader to pounce on him, the second he realised who he was. But instead he asked shocked. ‘How did you get in here lad? We’ve been looking for you.’

He smiled at Caleb, and quickly got his confidence under control, showing a smug expression. The way he looked, it seemed like it would be he, and not Caleb that would be giving the message. Caleb closed the door to the cell, so that any no noise would escape.

‘I have my ways you scum. Now; before I give you this message. Tell me why you killed an old man, who posed no threat to you what’s so ever.’

‘Ha; you have balls to come here like this. If you hadn’t disrespected my crew, then one day I might have asked you to join. But the answer to your question is a simple one, you little punk. We killed him because we couldn’t find you; so it your fault really. He should not have spoken up for you and your friend in the canteen.’

The very thought of joining this scumbags gang, turned his stomach. The sick confession from him, only added to the rage he felt right now. The Mine Hound boss must of sensed violence, as he pulled a long ice pick like dagger, from under his mattress. Caleb was fast enough to stop him from pulling the weapon, but let him take it nether the less.

The gang boss had probably expected the young visitor to pull the pistol holstered at his side and wasted no time, thrusting the point of the pic, straight for his neck. The attack was fast for someone so fat, but Caleb glided to one side, and wrapped up the arm that past him, turning it and pulled down across his shoulder. The bone broke cleanly at the elbow joint,

and the pick fell to the floor. There was a high pitch scream from the gang boss, whose arm was now an L shape, but in the wrong direction. To silence his screams Caleb chopped his hand at his throat, turning the ear splitting cry of pain, into more of a gurgling sound. He fell to his knees struggling to breathe, through his ruined windpipe. The noise would unlikely be heard. Even if it was; a scream in the night on Redeem, was not something out of place.

He would take his time with this murderous fat pig. The weapons he had acquired from the guards had not been needed for this man. They no doubt would be used later he guessed, but for the mine hound, all he would need was his bare hands. With that thought, he kicked the big man in the side of his torso, hearing ribs break satisfyingly. He tried to scream again, but still no sound would come. His face told the whole story of the pain he was in.

Caleb gagged him anyway with a pair of socks that were on the floor. He then spent the next five minutes, breaking every limb in his body, without an ounce of compassion. The whole frustration he felt, at what had happened to him over the past year, was now being taken out on the fat gang boss, who had long passed out from the many fractures his body was enduring. Caleb did not put him out of his misery. Instead he just left the unconscious broken form, where he lay and left, to visit another cell. Before the end he would return to the fat boss.

***

He made his way up to the upper levels, where his next cell visit was located. Walking along the gangway made a little noise, but no way near as much as the guard, who Caleb could hear rounding the corner up ahead. With his back against the wall, he waited for him to turn. As he did, Caleb pounced, grabbing his uniform and launched him over the barrier, where his scream was cut short quickly, when he hit the ground head first, killing him instantly.

This was now the fourth man he had killed, since coming to this cold world. Again he felt nothing for the life he took. He had been wronged by this system of evil, and did not even turn to see the twitching body, several floors below. Time was running out now, and if he was to fulfil what he had been planning these last month’s, then he needed to hurry.

Finally he reached the second cell he wanted to visit and opened the door the same way as the first. The man in this one, quickly huddled himself into the corner of his bunk.

‘No! Not again, please I can’t take any more.’

The man, begging for mercy, had a recent broken nose, and his face was swollen and covered in bruises.

‘Dillon, it’s me Caleb. Do not fear me. I have not come to harm you my friend.’

‘Caleb?’

He switched on the light, which made the shaking Dillon hold his hand up to shield his black eyes.

‘Caleb is it really you, or am I dreaming?’

‘It is me my friend. What have they done to you?’

Tears began streaming down Dillon’s cheeks, making his bruised and swollen face look oily. ‘They come to me most nights Caleb; and every time is worse than the last.’

He went on to say how they had abused and tortured him. The noose that the warden put into most cells was Dillon’s only way out, from a life of unbearable suffering. So far he had held it together enough, not to put his head through the rope.

He stood and threw his arms around Caleb’s muscled body, hugging him close.

‘I am here this night to change things Dillon. Stay here until I have finished my work; can you do that my friend? Can you hold on a while longer?’

Dillon broke away, and wiped his eyes gently.

‘Are you trying to escape? It can’t be done my friend; there’s no way out of here, and even if there was; we are stuck on this planet.’

He said to Caleb, trying to warn him of his folly.

‘Trust me when I tell you not to worry Dillon. As you might have already realised, I am not like other men. I do not plan on sneaking out of some tunnel or service hatch, and then taking my chances outside.’

‘Then what do you plan?’ He asked still confused

‘When I leave, I am going to just walk through the front door. But there is work to do first.’

‘How can you do that?’

Whispered Dillon, entranced by the angelic, and powerful saviour before him.

’I will do it, because I I’ve had enough of this place. I will do it, because I have been wronged for the last time. I will do it, because I now know what I am capable of, and who I am.

‘Who are you then Caleb? I dreamed that an angel would sweep me away from here one day. Are you that angel?’

Caleb straightened himself to his full height and lifted his chin defiantly. Even though he was dressed in the uniform of a prison guard, he looked like a young god of vengeance in his glory. ‘It is only now, that I truly know who I am Dillon.’

That fact was true enough. He had been forged in a laboratory but he had been tempered on the ice world of pain misery and isolation. It had taken all of this, for him to finally realise.

‘I am the leader of all mankind. I was created to be so.’ The awed look on Dillon’s face, showed he believed him.

‘Before I live up to that destiny, I must first have my vengeance. Wait here, I will return.’

Caleb was like a wrath, as he left the cell to start something that he could not return from. It was the beginning of his destiny, and like a primordial force he would let nothing deny him.