The Scarecrow

The Marine Christ, a crucifix merged with an anchor, hung from my chest; its gold was the only thing that could still shine in the darkness of that cell. I was never a believer in religion, but it was something that reminded me of grandpa, the good part of him anyway. It’d been a week since our incarceration, so our eyes had promptly adapted to the absence of light. While my asthma had rendered me somewhat useless, my comrades had maintained themselves busy plotting an escape. I was able to distinguish Bruno’s slender figure working on some sort of wrench made out of sticks and mud; I don’t think that could have hurt anyone unless they swallowed it and then took a crap. Gabriel, boasting a much bigger silhouette, had kept himself busy making arrows out of leftover sticks (or bones, who knew) and a bow. He had had to hide the thing several times during feeding time, but he managed to complete it somewhat quickly. Again though, despite it becoming his weapon for a bit, I doubt that thing could have ever fired.

I could hear them talking, yet I don’t recall having said a single word since Raymundo dumped us in that hole. They didn’t talk to me either; they probably knew what was going through my head.

I had always felt lonely. No matter how much I tried, my past experiences with people haunted me. I couldn’t even fully trust my chosen brothers, and they knew that. I was a bit like an island in that regard; no matter how much I joked with them, I never felt like I could let them in. Perhaps that was another factor that stirred people away; my own self loathing. Raymundo implying I had no friends had been a severe blow to my mind; I was a bother in my current state. A cold sensation made nest in my heart for some time after that experience; it invaded me, slowly making me doubt every decision I could’ve made with ease in the past.

“Aduna, favored name: Leon.” We heard a guard talking on the outside. “6 feet tall, short sighted, and in need of wearing glasses… mole on the lower right side of his chin, short, dark brown hair, asthma, it’s the same guy!” We heard another guard agree with a grunt. “Even the other two are identical! Enforcer Bruno has the same curly long hair and boney body as his companion, named Bruno! Enforcer Gabriel is also as tall and sturdy as the other bigot accompanying him. They are the same! They ought to be gutted alive for us to watch!” Leaving out the gruesome imagery, the fact that they called Bruno and Gabriel “Enforcers” was somewhat confusing. At the time, at least. The sound of something hitting our door invaded the room suddenly, as if one of the charismatic cell keepers had hit his fist against it. I was about to dwell in on my thoughts when Bruno raised his voice.

“Hey assholes! We can hear you!” We heard the guards stumble, like Bruno’s voice had made them pass a kidney stone. Gabriel packed the arrows and the bow in the big, brown backpack he was always (and I mean always) carrying around. Bruno quickly placed the wrench behind him, ready to strike, and probably humiliate us more.

“Hey, you fuckers!” Gabriel quickly joined in, “are you gonna’ let us out or do we have to open this shithole by ourselves?!” I honestly thought they were mad. I mean, I was all up for trashing the place, but we clearly saw that those guards were all big and deadly on day one. If they wanted to die, they just had to sit down, do nothing.

“Uhh… yes, we are letting you out, actually” the guard replied.

“You asked for it dipshi…. Huh?!” Confused Gabriel was confused. Bruno let go of the wrench, then signaled Gabriel to calm down. I stood up and walked towards the door as it was opening; both guards stepped back at the sight of me. They weren’t the same as before, though, they were different people. Both of them came in and grabbed Bruno along with Gabriel with rough demeanors. In contrast, they asked me to just follow along without much hassle; I assumed it was because they knew my asthma was so bad I could barely breathe enough to walk, I mean, come on! I had been wheezing all week in my dirty junk of a prison and no one had bothered to throw in so much as a pill or an inhaler. Gabriel looked at me as if waiting for me to strike the guards down, but I just kept my sight on the floor and walked diligently; I could barely walk as it was. He probably got angry at me, knowing him; he always expected a lot more from me than what I could give. That being said, I did catch a glimpse of Gabriel frowning in comprehension; I believe he was well aware of my state of mind at the time. Bruno’s hand pat my back for a bit, but he also avoided eye contact with me, him most likely in disappointment.

We walked through a rather large hallway with very little light and a very foul smell. I briefly distinguished the walls differing from the cave-like structures we had previously seen, turning into metal coated ones, likely some sort of reinforcement to prevent collapsing or protect against bombardment. I would later find out this place was meant to be a nuclear apocalypse bunker designed for politicians during the Cold War, but let’s save the details for when they matter.

After 5 minutes or so, the guards stopped in front of a humble wooden door that seemed to cover an entrance that was most likely made by punching the ground until a hole was made. They told us to go in and sit down; we obeyed. When we entered, the first thing I was able to see was an old table with four plastic chairs and a man sitting in front of us. He was about my height with curly, short hair and physique that was even slimmer than Bruno’s. I immediately recognized him, despite him looking much older. His name was Alejandro. He was always a bit of a douchebag if you ask me, but he was a good friend nonetheless. He had been with us during college for about a year before he changed to the evening shift classes. I enjoyed his company, though I think Gabriel cared for him more than any of us. I don’t really know how close we truly were, since we often clashed due to our personalities and views. I do, however, remember this one particular instance where he was the only one to show up for my birthday party. Anyway, back to the story at hand.

“Pepe!” Gabriel yelled in excitement. That was indeed the nickname with which we referred to him usually, but weren’t we in a different dimension? Was I the only sane person here that realized we weren’t home? Alejandro smiled calmly and walked up close. He looked at all of us in the eye before giving us a hug, pleased.

“I missed you guys” Alejandro said in his characteristic deep voice as he asked us to take a seat, “the good part of you guys, anyway.” We all sat down around him and he proceeded to make small talk. He seemed somewhat tired as he spoke, almost like he had gone a long period of time without sleeping. “So Bruno, how’s League of Myths coming along? Best player in the world yet?” Bruno looked at him, perplexed at the question.

“Not at all…I’m just an average player”. Alejandro smiled again.

“Not in that dimension, eh?” he whispered calmly.

“You, Gabriel, how’s life treatin’ ya? I heard the whole penis in the forehead thing! A true classic!” Gabriel and Alejandro laughed in unison. My forehead was still rather red from all the scrubbing it took to wash it off. Who uses permanent marker to draw a dick?! It took three days to rinse off! Gabriel slammed his fist against the table in rejoice.

“Pretty good aside from the fucking week you had us in there, dick!” Gabriel said still laughing. Alejandro tightened his expression a bit, understanding Gabriel meant both a joke and a complaint.

“Well excuse me, princess!” Alejandro said quoting a rather obscure cartoon show, “but it was the only way to keep you safe. Not many people here liked our leaders not beheading you a week ago. Hell, Raymundo tried filling your cell with poison gas on day three.”

“I thought that had been Bruno’s fart” Gabriel replied.

”Told you it wasn’t me” Bruno promptly interjected. I honestly thought it smelled more like Gabriel’s farts due to the toxicity of it; you see, Bruno’s farts tended to be strenuous but not that bad, while Gabriel’s…wait, I was talking about something. Right! Alejandro. He laughed off the commentary assuming it was some sort of joke among friends before turning towards me. He closed his eyes while he got his head close to my chest. He seemed to be paying close attention to my inhaling, which was tired and difficult.

“Not feeling really good, are we?” he said while digging in his pockets. He pulled out a small, transparent plastic bottle with pills on it. “It’s called Salvatin. Aduna Pharmaceuticals developed it as a treatment for allergic asthma. Two pills a day and you’re basically like any normal person. Side effects include renal infection and headaches though, so try to have some other medications at your disposal.” He pushed the bottle towards me. I grabbed it, inspecting him. He seemed a lot calmer than the Alejandro I knew, yet something seemed terribly off. I hadn’t finished wrapping my head around the idea that there was a miracle drug that cured asthma, when Bruno snapped me back to reality.

“Aduna Pharmaceuticals?” Bruno asked, “there’s a company with Aduna’s name on it?” Alejandro turned to see him, before understanding Bruno was still not really aware of what was going on.