Remember Me (PAGE ONE) (Work In Progress)
Summary: This is the story of an unlikely friendship, forged in a warzone. For who can bear to be forgotten?
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Unfinished. Unedited. Rough Draft.
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UPDATED: February 14th, 2015, 10.10AM (my time)
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It would happen tonight, it had to be tonight or there would be no way out tomorrow. Jack Celliers gazed blankly out of his isolation cell, separated from the rest of the Japanese P.O.W camp and shivering with the cold, comforted only by the blanket of nightfall because that was his cue to suddenly blink and snap himself out of his daze. This morning a deal had been made, the other prisoners were going to be handed over, traded for Japanese prisoners caught by the Allied Forces. With just the one exception, for his misdemeanours and unapologetic attitude, Major Jack Celliers was to remain behind. The night was chilly but the days were scorching, he’d not last long out there with what they were planning to do to him. Conti had relayed the message to Jack, having overheard the horrible plans and wanting to forewarn his comrade but what could be done?
Jack wished Conti hadn’t told him at all, now he couldn’t get to sleep and as the dusk fell over the silent camp, the only thing Jack could do was sit and await the sunrise - and his torture of a death. Buried up to his neck in the ground, no food or water and no shade. He would have preferred a firing squad and be done with it but the Japanese were clever in their methods of cruelty and torture. Still, it was a relief to know that his brothers in arms were going home. Jack had no such luck, but he held no regrets for his actions, either. His unit had given the Japanese army more grief than all others put together, it seemed only fitting that they would not just finish him off with a quick bullet to the head or heart. Oh no, they were going to make him suffer and now that he was aware of their plans, the exact details of all things, Jack was wide awake and looking out into the night with despair.
Sure, he had run to the army to get away from his past and okay, he didn’t expect to return home alive but torture wasn’t in the plan. If he had to die, he wanted it to be quick and painless, he didn’t want to see it coming. It had to be tonight, if he didn’t find a way out of this cell tonight, he was done for.
He shifted away from a family of rats, who had come to sniff around for any crumbs he might have dropped from earlier and Jack was so hungry, he almost thought about catching them and stealing a cigarette lighter so he could roast them. But then, if he had a lighter, he could easily burn his way out of this dirty little cell and run for his life. The deal had been made, his friends were going home so there was nothing to keep him here any longer. Except a few iron bars and a very large padlock.
Jack stood up and approached the bars, pushing on them. The whole cell creaked and groaned, alerting some of the patrolling Japanese officers, who came running over and shouting at him to get back against the far wall.
“Damn!” Jack swore under his breath, the whole thing seemed like it might easily collapse if he’d given it enough force, but how to do it silently?
Impossible.
The Japanese officers inspected the cell, spoke amongst themselves and gave Jack a solid punch to his stomach just for good measure, before leaving him alone once more. Jack breathed heavily, holding his stomach for a few minutes but he’d had this happen (and a lot worse) so often, it had started to not really hurt anymore, it mainly just stole his breath momentarily.
Catching his breath back, Jack figured he should count himself lucky that at least they hadn’t used the butt of their rifles to do it, that always sent him to his knees without hesitation. He shuffled back over to the door of the cell, he could see their flashlights sweeping the grounds and the guard towers standing tall around the perimeter. Even if he got out, there was nowhere to go without being caught.
Jack sighed and slunk back to the corner, sitting down and leaning back against the wall defeatedly. His eyes were half closed, the will to live was so strong in any person and he was no different. He didn’t want to die, but there honestly didn’t look as though the fates would be kind to him anymore. Jack longed for a stiff drink, perhaps if he could get drunk then he wouldn’t suffer so much tomorrow. Of course, being in this place, one was lucky to be remembered enough to actually get fed, let alone dare to ask for a luxury such as alcohol - or a cell that didn’t smell of rats, urine and feces. His clothes were ragged and torn, the back of his shirt was stained with dark, dried blood from the welts on his back and his body was bruised in several places.
Swatting a mosquito on his arm and flicking it away, Jack leaned his head against the wall of the cell and closed his eyes. He felt drowsy and he must have dozed off for a moment because he suddenly jolted awake and stared absently around, his blue eyes glinting in the light of the moon.
“Hello?” Jack wondered softly, feeling stupid seconds later because who would even be out here except Japanese soldiers?
He settled back and tried to get comfortable, but he just couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t quite right and as he took more and more notice of his surroundings, he frowned. There had been noises before, the usual nighttime sounds like scurrying animals and chirping crickets but suddenly it had gone so eerily quiet, that even the Japanese soldiers were now patrolling in bigger groups. Jack strained to hear something, anything. But apart from the hushed whispers of the now very nervous soldiers and the crunching of their boots along the gravel paths, he couldn’t hear a thing.
Odd..
*
All he could feel was the harsh bumps of the road under him, the unbearable heat scorching him even at this unearthly hour where he parted from his nest and sought females and drink. He should’ve known better than to get started on the tequila, it sent him loopy even with higher capacity for alcohol, and his razor sharp tongue had landed him in this situation. Trapped in the back of an unmarked van, he could’ve easily snapped the males in two, snapped the restraint ropes and freed himself effortlessly; sober. He kept mumbling and drooling to himself, even laying down his head failed to stop swaying the swishes and swirls painted along his vision, everything looked like it was made of watercolours, the sight he moved his eyes from one to another seemed to stretch on. He saw strange things like this, but he quite enjoyed the hallucinogenic side to the drink, it let him escape for a while.
“Blaylock!” The two Japanese soldiers had been shouting at him for a good four minutes before John looked at them with his half lidded eyes and blinked his recognition, despite how slim that recognition actually was.
“Was’ your problem punk..” He slurred, he was still half in his kit, wearing his urban camo bottoms.
But they had taken off his shirt in precautions that he might've had anything hidden inside for ‘escape’, they didn’t know him as well as they thought. He was a local around these parts, despite his English background, he spoke fluent Japanese and claimed to be a mere civilian obsessed with soldier’s clothes..
Little did they know he was full and true a soldier, playing it off well at night while he spent days in his hideout, plotting his entry to the nearest POW camps, his mission was to rescue as many as possible of his own, and guide them to their safety. One soldier hauled him up by the neck and dragged him from the back of the van, into the nearby jungle, where it was lone and quiet.
“Why did you hit our friend!” The other one came rushing up and kicked him in the side as he was thrown down into a ditch and landed face first to greet a mouthful of gravel, dirt and whatever else belonged to the ground he called friendly.
“Fuck’re you talkin’ bout’” John muttered in English and they looked between each other and kicked him again and again, making him growl and wince again.
“In Japanese!” One of them knew scarce English and just enough to suffice the male now speaking English and revealing his intel.
“Fuck off!” John shouted at them, snapping the ropes and jumping to his feet suddenly, the soldiers both gasped and retreated back a few paces with wide eyes, only managing to get their first finger on drawing their weapons and parting their lips before John had drained them both within a flash, falling to his knees and then his front again when he was done. However he’d managed that, he’d done a pretty good job to even stand upright and aim his fangs, let alone stay there long enough to drain them.
John spent a while collapsed against the dirt, smothering his face in it, unaware it wasn’t the soft pillow it felt like. He eventually regained enough consciousness to get to his terribly unsteady feet and stumble into the Jungle, he felt like an adventure. Their intentions were unclear to him at the time, but after an hour of solid stumbling and falling he’d clocked just what they were going to do, as he stumbled upon a fence to a POW camp he’d not yet mapped out, watchtowers could’ve spotted him, had they been focusing on him and not shining their lights on the cell nearby where the soldiers rushed towards after a creaking sound of rusted metal protesting.
He backed away from the fence at first, back stepping to fall over into a bush and make a sound, he was sure that time the soldiers inside would’ve heard it, but it seemed there was no panic in the camp, he was expecting to hear sirens or enemy footsteps marching his way. Maybe they just dismissed him as an animal, but then that wouldn’t be a bad representation at all, he was very close to one.
“Oops..” He giggled as he fell into a tree and hugged himself against it, accidentally crushing a cricket with his cheek. He was already muddy, with torn trousers and a grazed bare chest, stumbling around like a headless chicken. At least when he woke up in a ditch somewhere or a bush, he’d forget exactly how stupid he’d been the night before. Why the soldiers hadn’t just killed him on the spot when he smacked their friend drunkenly was still lost on him, were they going to try and drain him of intel prior to his lock up?
No jail cell could hold him, teeth sharp enough to bite through steel, he was strongly built and even more superior with his enhanced abilities. John guided himself round the tree clumsily and stumbled towards a bush masked against the fence to peer inside, there were watchtowers and plains and many cells isolated from the rest, but the way the Japanese stormed over to the end one, he was sure somebody was locked up in there, probably a friendly too. He felt at the wired fence and giggled when the ‘electric shock’ tickled him rather than electrocuted like intended, so like a fool, he began to gnaw on the wires, breaking each loop with his strong bite and making the metal seem like butter to his jaw, it was easily done with the electric sizzling at his tongue and hissing, making him giggle more as he tried to keep his voice down.
“Eugh..” He almost swallowed a piece of the metallic material, spitting it out and continuing to gnaw an entrance to the mysterious camp, swarming with Japanese but in John’s eyes, they looked more like walking hotdogs, so many meals to be had…
“Oof” He fell through when he’d chewed the last piece off, scrambling to his knees and crawling through the dirt of the landslide, up towards the wooden cells nearby. He made sure to keep out of the spotlight swerving and made his way to the cell ahead, slowly and quietly enough. He covered his tracks with pats to the knee shaped patterns on the ground, getting close to the log built cell space.
“Hello?” He whispered in English first, he had to be sure.
Jack had not been expecting to hear anyone outside of his cell, except for the Japanese soldiers of course, so when he heard a soft greeting in English, he was hesitant to respond. Then another thought made him slowly get to his feet, had someone escaped? Jack was on death row, so he would naturally jump to such a conclusion of a rescue attempt, but he was quite cynical by now and hardly dared to believe it.
“Who’s there?” Jack wondered aloud, but softly because he wasn’t keen on drawing the attention of the patrolling guards a second time.
Having gotten his response in English, with a decidedly friendly accent, John rested and leaned his back up against the cell.
“Lieutenant-Major John Blaylock,” John answered, startling Jack as his voice broke the stillness of the night.
“Shh, sir!” Jack hushed the unseen, apparently higher ranking stranger in the dark, “they’ll hear you!”
“So what if they do?” John smirked, “oh alright, who’s in there with you?”
“It’s just me, sir,” Jack responded quickly, “what are you doing out there? How’d you get here?”
Questions, questions.
“Later,” John turned around and studied the cell for a moment, “and stop calling me sir, my name is John. Now, first things first, who is ‘me’?”
John wanted to keep the prisoner talking, because he felt like becoming distracted by all of those easy meals just wandering around. He could sense they were just about pissing their pants, each and every one of them and he bit back a laugh of amusement, his eyes almost dancing in the moonlight.
“Major Jack Celliers,” came the quiet response, “can you get me out of here?”
“I can,” John replied, eyeing off a group of soldiers that was approaching, each of them pressing their backs against the others in fear of being caught from behind.
The whole atmosphere of the camp had turned into one of dubious safety the moment John arrived, humans had this innate sense of danger, even if they didn’t know where it would come from but that just made stalking and hunting more fun for John. The more aware of him his prey was, the better he enjoyed himself and the fear laced blood was akin to a drug high.
“The whole thing will give us away if you move it,” Jack explained, unaware John was already on the move.
John crept around to the front of the cell, one simple padlocked door was all that stood between them. Jack looked around and saw the shadowy figure, who seemed to be shirtless and swaying more than just a little bit.
“Are you drunk?” Jack asked him, “you’re insane, they’ll see you!”
John looked at the prisoner, who blurred out from time to time and he had to giggle at the warning because he really didn’t care if they saw him. Jack tensed up at the sound of soldiers giving shouts from across the compound, he didn’t see John lean down and bite through the padlock because his gaze was transfixed on the approaching group of Japanese guards.
“They’ve heard me,” John told the handsome blond inside the cell, “come on, let’s get you out of here.”
Jack startled as the gate swung open, it was the only part of the cell that failed to make a sound, because it was used so frequently to deliver his rations or a savage beating if they thought he wasn’t suffering enough. Jack’s biggest weakness was his inept ability to cope with being left all alone, he was more at home among other soldiers and being isolated from everybody was like being in purgatory.
“Come on!” John urged the stunned prisoner, “ugh, this thing doesn’t half stink, does it?”
Jack took a few tentative steps forwards, a subtle hot blush creeping into his cheeks as John mentioned the smell of the tiny shack he’d been cooped up in for fuck knows how long now. Jack knew that he himself would most certainly reek of it and was grateful that John hadn’t said anything about it, even as he drew nearer to the odd stranger. John gave no indication that he smelled anything, he was upfront and forthcoming but complaining about a prisoner of war’s smell wasn’t very productive nor helpful and it was certainly to be expected.
“I’ll get you to the trees,” John explained, “then I’ll go back for the others.”
He would free as many as he could, but Jack seemed tired and weak, so he would need to ensure the Major’s safety first.
“They’re going to be released tomorrow in a prisoner exchange,” Jack told him, “they’ll be safe enough.”
John was only half listening and he grabbed Jack’s hand, who startled at both the gesture and the coldness of John’s skin. It wasn’t freezing, but it didn’t feel right either. Jack put it down to being on his own for too long, perhaps he’d just forgotten what people felt like unless they were punching him.
“Let’s go,” John grinned at him and Jack blinked uncertainly, as a fang inadvertently flashed in the light of the full moon overhead.
Jack stepped out into the fresh, clean air and filled his lungs with deep breaths of it, oh how good it felt to be out of that cell!
“Yamete!” came a shout. John knew this meant ‘stop what you are doing’ but he had no intentions to obey the command. He tugged Jack’s arm and they made a run for the hole in the fence, John ensured that Jack got through first before he hesitated and glanced over his shoulder, torn between fight or flight.
“Tomare!” shouted another guard, which meant ‘stop moving’ and John smiled slightly, did they really want to clash with him?
“John!” came Jack’s urgent call from the trees, “move!”
He felt odd giving orders to the Lieutenant-Major but he was clearly somewhat intoxicated and probably wouldn’t even remember it anyway.
“Oh god, decisions decisions Major.” John hummed with a delighted look about him, the fear invading and busying his delicate senses, filling his nose, making his heart race.
Jack looked panicked, struck by the Lieutenant-Major’s obvious intoxication and excitement flashing over his eyes, like he was some kind of adrenaline junkie. But it was probably the liquor clouding his judgement skills, he couldn’t take on the soldiers coming forth with rifles with just his bare fists; but yet again, how on earth had he unlocked the cell with no tool to his name. He registered the fangs as mere genetic coincidence, some people had pointier teeth that made them appear the fairy tale dracula, he didn’t really digest fiction so he upturned his nose to the thought and crawled further, desperate to keep going.
Oh what they’d do to him if they didn’t move fast, escape… Death? No that’d be far too generous of them, torture for sure, the ol’ drowning by bottled water sensation wasn’t in his agenda but it seemed to be in John’s.
“What decisions! Let’s get moving!” Jack pleaded with the reckless LT’s dilemma to stay behind, how was that even a decision to be made.
“Go on fellow, I’ll catch up..” John snickered, prowling as he ran on all fours and quickly got to his feet, running towards the soldier’s fearlessly and freely, their figures were a blur, it was difficult to hunt and locate with impaired sense but he’d manage.
Jack looked back and then looked on a few times, horrified yet too weighed down by the cruel reality of the camp to go back for John, he told himself five more minutes, give the man five more minutes, wait for gunshots. There’d be something to tell him John was in danger, the man seemed to think he could handle it, what sort of super-ego was this man possessing.
“Grrrrrr..” John growled playfully and almost erotically with a snap of his fangs as they came riveting and shaking out of their hiding place in his jawline and lengthened with one movement of his tongue.
The Japanese soldiers didn’t seem to register what this prisoner was playing at but they didn’t shoot, nor move their guns away from aiming towards him. He stamped his foot and came metres away from them, stopping in his tracks to just grin like a madman and go to circle them. Young, fearful, fresh-blooded, possibly slightly sweet. He could call this one, teppanyaki platter, one of his favourite dishes back in the central town he’d remembered being at one point, sober, eating at a bar and restaurant.
One Japanese soldier, braver than the rest, wasn’t as frozen as the others, something stopped them in their tracks, was it this mysterious man, shirtless and clearly drunk by his almost completely unbalanced stumble.
“Anata wa nani o shite iru nodesu ka?” The soldier demanded of him, what are you doing John?
John grinned excellently to reveal every single one of his sharp white teeth in excellence, flashing his widening, animalistic and wild eyes, pupils dilated and excited beyond belief. He soaked up in the fear before he went for the pleasure of the actual meal, worked himself up.
Flash. Thud, thud.
Two of them went down before the eyes of the others, paled and dead, eyes rolled into the back of their heads, their guns came clattering to the floor. The other two looked frenzied and started to shoot at John circling them, making him laugh as the bullets missed.
“Keep going, woah, another miss, miss..” John giggled childishly, speaking in a carefree manner and just raising his brows at them when they’d finally shot off all their bullets and had to reload, looking at him with dropped jaws.
“J-John?” Jack heard shots, he tried to shake himself out of going back yet he found himself on a raised slope, a mound, looking back and seeing beyond the fences now perfectly.
He could see John, the two soldiers, see the guns going off, John was still stood; but how? The proximity was far too close for them to just miss by chance, were they too nervous, was this man made of steel? The only two possibilities that crossed Jack’s mind were already far too insane to encounter. He knew those soldiers, cruel strict beings, they killed their own, John was an easy target for them. Jack settled down with force, making himself wait here ahead of John yet only an inkling made him feel slightly more secure, only because he could see the fences and not a dirty mucked up wooden wall like however long he’d woken up to before this miraculous moment. He’d never heard of anyone going by the name of John Blaylock, Lieutenant-Major John Blaylock, a new name and new face, the guy had some balls about him, maybe that’s why he was ranking so highly despite his completely obvious unprofessionalism and adrenaline addiction.
Another flash, the second to last one dropped the same deftly way as the others, John seemed to be stood in the same spot, the soldier’s eyes were far too obnoxious to his sort of speed, his kinds. He’d effortlessly drained three of them and gulped down three hefty meals already, and they were quite pleasantly sweet. John took a mental note of this place for when he felt like buffet next time, though he’d hardly remember it.
“Oh my word.” Jack gasped, the soldier dropped in the stare of John, did one look into the soldier’s eyes make them retreat. Everyone had their own weapon, Jack concluded this was his, to himself.
“Bye bye, tell them, they were mighty delicious, wherever you land human..” John sniggered to the last soldier, except this time he just walked over to the soldier, looking him in the eye and intimidating him to milk the last drops of fear before he threw him down onto the floor with one palm and toppled over him, growling hungrily as he bit and chewed, draining slowly and savouring his last victim.
More reinforcements were on their way, he could hear the clatter of their boots, the spotlight focusing on him suddenly. Snipers at the ready. He was sure the commander was lurking, he sniffed a dominant creature out among them all, nearby. But even he had his limits, he wanted this place for later. John grumbled as he pulled away and he stumbled into a clumsy run for the fence, heading that way with pace...
Jack was clawing at the dirt on the small rise, his whole body was tense and his jaw was clenched as he watched John finally make a run for it.
“Come on, come on!” Jack urged him under his breath, “run!”
It was beyond him how John had managed to survive that encounter, Jack had to believe that as luck would have it, only the most junior ranks were stuck out on night shift tonight while the higher ranking, more experienced officers were safely tucked away in their quarters. He was exhausted but the thrill of escape gave Jack his second wind and he was ready to bolt as soon as John reached him. There’d be no way he was going to get caught again and dragged back there, no matter how much he hurt, he would run until his lungs burst if that was what it took.
John squeezed through the mesh of the fence via his escape route and Jack pushed away from the ground, turning just in time to run alongside John. Now wasn’t the time to talk, it was time to run for all they were worth before the Japanese soldiers brought out their jeeps. It didn’t take them long and soon, the jeeps were speeding towards the wooded area but it was too late. The two men had run into the deep woods, where the trees were thicker. Jack had wanted to go around it, he knew it’d be slower going to have to pick through the trees but John had snagged his arm at the last minute and no amount of resisting got him free of John’s tight grip, so he had no choice but to follow. The jeeps came to an abrupt halt and the Japanese soldiers hurried over to the beginning of the thicker patch of woods, but it was pitch black in there and the headlights of their vehicles barely penetrated the looming shadows.
They began to shout to each other, uncertain if it was a good idea to pursue the men on foot. Some more of them arrived with flashlights and lanterns, which emboldened the others and they resumed the chase. Jack was something of great value to them and they wanted him returned, not because they prized him but because they felt they were owed. They were supposed to punish him by death tomorrow, that wasn’t something they took lightly and to have their victim stolen from them was more insulting than a slap to the face by a subordinate. Jack was having trouble keeping up, his ribs were quite bruised along with the rest of his frequently battered body but he refused to give up and stop running. He could barely see a thing, even the moon wasn’t showing him any kindness tonight as the thick tree branches overhead blocked out the sky. It was ideal for escaping into the blackness, but it made the going very difficult for him.
John had no such issues, his eyesight was just as good at night as it was during the day and he could move quicker than Jack even though he wasn’t feeling his best just now. Jack lost sight of John, but he kept going and then something tripped him. Jack fell forwards, his startled yelp muffled by that strangely cool, yet somewhat warmer hand as he fell onto his front and was dragged backwards along the ground.
“Shhh,” John hissed softly into his ear, holding the struggling soldier down and keeping him pinned.
Jack held still, trying to calm his breathing, eyes wide as he stared into the darkness. Shouts from all around them had the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end, a lot of the Japanese soldiers had turned back by now but a few remained for fear of being punished themselves in Jack’s place for having lost him. Jack couldn’t really tell where the voices were coming from, but John’s bright eyes darted from one voice to the next with startling accuracy in the right direction they were coming from. The two were in a fox hole, unused and hidden mostly by gnarled tree roots and leaf litter. It was a tight fit, but they had managed to squeeze themselves down into it and as Jack dared to glance up silently towards the entrance, John dug his fingers hard into Jack’s shoulder to stop him from wriggling down any further.
They were side by side, with John half on top while Jack was still trying to push down but there were a pair of boots visible by the entrance and Jack’s shuffling would have drawn attention to the fact that there was something moving inside the fox hole. Jack winced, John’s fingers digging into an unseen bruise under Jack’s tatty shirt. Keeping his hand clamped over Jack’s mouth, John prevented a sharp curse word from escaping it and the boots soon moved on, following shouts that seemed to suggest the soldiers were abandoning the hunt until daylight, then they would come back in greater numbers. Slowly, John removed his hand and Jack lowered his forehead to rest it in the dirt with a tired sigh, his heart thumping madly in his chest.
“I don’t know who sent you,” Jack breathed, eyes rolling and wanting to just close and sleep for days, “but you have my eternal gratitude, sir.”
“It’s John, not sir.” John smirked, although the darkness around them forbode the weaker eyed human from seeing that part, he felt strange to be called upon by such authority, every soldier he knew around, just called him John or Blaylock. His rank slides didn’t really fuss him all too much, he’d never asked to be promoted every time he was, but he just kept scaling the ranks like nothing with his acts of bravery and heroic moments. John was simply a daredevil, an adrenaline hoarder in their eyes, he took the craziest risks out on the field, even more so when he’d decided to walk all the way to Japan by foot with nothing but the clothes on his back. Entering enemy territory and living there was him setting new standards, but really, knowing these people were all out to kill him on sight, he could have as much guilt-free buffet as he wished. The only problem was explaining the pale, bloodless corpses left behind in his travels.
No other soldier dared come here right into the heart of it all, so John came a lone wolf, yet somehow the British army still managed to trust him to follow through with his proposed mission and return victorious, return all together, in one piece and not in a body bag. With the stunts he’d pulled off, it was hardly a shock to them anymore if he did walk into a burning building and come out without a single spec of ash or pattern of burns on him.
“Yes si-John..” Jack found it hard to go against his norms and address his higher as his name and not his number, his rank. It made him feel slightly more comfortable however, he’d not been in contact with an English man higher up than him for a while, apart from anyone back at camp whom he’d hadn’t spoken to for more than a word in weeks.
“How did you do that?” Jack had to know, he couldn’t dismiss of this super-natural behaviour, it was like a new evolved soldier was born out of John.
“Bravery.” John didn’t want to answer the question, usually drinking made his tongue slippery, but not enough for him to reveal his identity to someone he’d just met. How would he explain to a man of rules and probably religious content, that he’d been to the Battle of Hastings before this, witnessed Henry VIII behead his failure wives. John had a lot of memories many would not have, but if he revealed himself to one mistrusting person, it could all go balls up.
Jack’s breaths calmed and he knew he couldn’t get anything else out of John, he was just grateful for his life at least. However this’d happened, it couldn’t have gone completely unplanned surely? He was laying next to a madman but he couldn’t keep his eyes from closing, weighed down too heavily by his lack of rest recently with the impending doom of his sentence, this was the first time, despite being stuck in the middle of the woods, he felt safe.
John looked down at the soldier curiously and wondered why on earth he was falling asleep, it was night time, the best time of day. Well for John at least. He watched over Jack for some hours before he thought about moving him to somewhere more comfortable, and out of this danger zone. Considering the soldiers had retreated but would most certainly be back in the morning, John’s weakest and worst time of day, he gently lifted the soldier up in his arms and into a fireman's pose before he set off for the nearby town he’d been staying in with a whoosh.
*
John dropped his keys on the table and placed Jack on the sofa carefully, stumbling away to his bedroom and holding onto the wall on his way, he got into the door and managed to lock his front door safely, he’d pulled off some incredible things tonight, but there was another adventure waiting round the next corner. For now he just collapsed onto his bed and fell straight to sleep, bound to either wake up miserably hungover or completely fine, either way he’d not remember much of the night’s events or why there was another soldier in his apartment.
The Japanese soldiers would eventually start searching the town itself for answers, unless their leader got to them first and decided to do it himself out of embarrassment and rage at such a mishap in his camp. The other prisoners were seen to have no part in the escape despite being questioned and kicked about for answers at the early hours of the morning. The troops found the metal hole and how the escape had been executed, it looked like an accident, the other male assisting their most valued prisoner had found a hole in their security, it looked like a raccoon had chewed its way through the fence and they sought to fix it immediately.
“The British Army sent their best man for us, but we will not let them get away with this!” The leader shouted upon his men with furious desire for revenge, the speech ominous on the instant execution of the two men as soon as found, no mistaking, he didn’t even want to see Jack’s face. As long as the escapee and wingman were dead, the Japanese would have no emergency to announce the missing prisoner. Not until any havoc kicked off, unless the men decided to pull off more stunts, keeping quiet to avoid having to tell their generals immediately, they could handle this...
Jack barely registered being gathered up at all, he was so exhausted that he thought he was dreaming when his eyes fluttered open briefly during John’s dash for home. The sofa was a much welcomed source of comfort, he hadn’t felt anything so soft in months, perhaps even years by now. The only trouble was, with the softness of the sofa cushions came the relaxed muscles and that’s when the pain really started to bother him. Numb with cold and tense with anxiety, Jack had been able to largely ignore his bruises and the stinging lashes on his back. Shifting onto his side, he groaned in a fitful state of semi consciousness.
John would normally have heard him, but for now he was quite incapacitated and so Jack was left to his own devices. Softness, comfort, warmth - Jack was in heaven, despite his body protesting the alien sensations and giving him a hard time about it. He shifted painfully, but it didn’t help much. Knowing he was safe, at least for the time being, he settled in and kept his eyes shut for fear that if he opened them, he’d find himself back in the cell and wake from this wonderful dream. If this is a dream, he thought to himself hazily, just let me die without ever waking.. please.. And with that, Jack drifted into a dreamless state of proper sleep, his body began to revive and take on the rest as it should and he didn’t even wake up when the sun climbed high into the sky the next morning.
He was very still, breathing slowly and deeply, giving his body the best opportunity to recover from the brutal treatment it had almost become so accustomed to. He stirred briefly at around lunchtime, his stomach growling and his muscles aching but he simply turned and faced the other way, remaining in his deep slumber and refusing to adhere to his body’s call to rise up and seek food.
Evening settled over the house, Jack wasn’t as tired anymore and his aches and pains were slowly rousing him from his sleep, the rumbling of his stomach easily startling John awake in the next room. John raised his head, a little disoriented as he glanced around and tried to recall something of last night. He slowly sat up, rubbing his eyes and yawning as flashes of this and that made their way into his immediate memory. He smiled just a little, the taste of blood still in his mouth. Yes, he remembered now, the sweet and fresh out of military school soldiers at the camp he’d stumbled upon by accident. Laughing quietly to himself, John took a moment to register something else had happened last night and as Jack’s protesting stomach roared again, John’s head turned sharply to his bedroom door.
Jack was still softly groaning every so often, the pains seemed magnified by the lack of distraction and he was starting to awaken just a little. He had dreamt of a huge, greasy burger that was surrounded by large cut chips and a tall glass of beer. He smacked his lips, grinding his teeth as if trying to chew.
*
Back at the camp, the prisoners were shuffled off to be exchanged and the entire place was closed down for lack of a reason to keep it open - unless they should be so lucky as to capture more prisoners enough to reopen it once more. The young Commandant, Yanoi, was put in charge of locating Jack and was given quite clear orders to have him shot on sight and if this failed to occur, Yanoi would take his place. This was a most undesired situation for Yanoi, he had grown quite fond of Jack, though he dared not admit it even to himself because such a thing was forbidden, evil and wrong - punishable by death! Yanoi didn’t want to acknowledge his feelings towards the blond New Zealander, despite being unable to help the attraction he suffered towards Jack every time they spoke.
It was hinted to Yanoi that John be brought in, if possible, the Japanese army was curious about him and they had a special building designed for extracting information from even the most unyielding of prisoners. Yanoi took his best men and gathered them up into the jeeps, they spent much of the day searching the camp, it’s borders and the outskirts of the woods. He didn’t want to locate Jack, so his search was purposefully vague and sloppy, despite the soldiers under his command doing their best to try and impress him. Yanoi was too distracted to take much notice of them and by evening, it was becoming quite obvious that the pair were no longer nearby.
“We should search the nearest town!” suggested one of the Corporals.
“Not tonight,” Yanoi feigned weariness, “perhaps tomorrow.”
“But sir!” the man started.
“It is too dangerous at night!” Yanoi shouted fiercely, “too much can go wrong! We wait for morning!”
The men glanced at each other, it had been long rumored among the camp that Jack had other worldly powers and was actually a demon in disguise of a human. He had endured so much and yet he was still so calm, snarked at them and poked fun at them every chance he got. They imagined he could get inside your head and make you do things that you wouldn’t normally do, they feared him and frequently struck him in fear and in anger of making them feel afraid. Yanoi was suspect of being under Jack’s control, so he was going to have some trouble keeping his men in line and finding excuses to search in all the wrong places for extended periods of time. Yanoi glared at the men, staring them down and they reluctantly fell back into his command with formal salutes.
“Good,” Yanoi spoke sharply, “I would hate to have to report you all for insubordination!”
A shudder of fear ran down all of their spines. Yanoi led them to a nearby barracks where they would rest up and sleep for the night, they were given food and beds generously and were welcomed as heroes on the hunt for the Japanese army’s most crippling duo. Jack wasn’t as threatening as John without his unit, he was alone without them now and it was going to affect his sense of belonging, like taking a puppy away from it’s siblings before he was ready to become the only dog in the house.
*
On the sofa, Jack slowly shifted and moaned once more, startling himself awake with the sound of his own voice in the perfect stillness that surrounded him. But he was lazy and warm, not wanting to wake up just yet and he settled back down into the cushions, so soft.. so comfortable.. he started to doze off again and barely registered the gnawing hunger in his guts, he was quite used to that feeling by now anyway.
“Mm..” John rolled onto his back after some well deserved time of luxurious slumber, full belly and comfortably warm, he couldn’t help but sharply stare the door down every time he heard a movement from in the lounge, a slight yawn, a roll, he knew he’d picked a soldier up at some point now, recalling little pieces of the to and from journey, but he was still on edge in fear of what the soldier was like, it was like they had yet to make their first conversation, from his perspective. He went to remove his trousers and then reminded himself he had company and shook off any heated desire to routinely go out and find a cheap date, cheap meaning, probably a hooker.
He had no interest really in a relationship, he’d never met anyone sturdy and interesting enough to feed the deep belly desire he had, so he lost some faith in that side of himself and resumed to just grab the prettiest girl and get on with it. It got tedious and yawn worthy at points because some of the prettiest ones proved the lamest entertainers yet, he’d still get a meal out of it, that’s how he sometimes had to encourage himself and excite himself enough to finish, the next move. He wasn’t one that suffered the human weakness of hangovers, so when he actually woke up and stopped fluttering in and out of slumber, he was well rested and content, he needn’t fear getting up to feel dizzy or disorientated. His bounce back time was impeccable considering how heavily he drank on a night, far more than a man could stomach, but that’s all that seemed interesting around here, drinking to himself.
Jack stirred and his stomach grumbled throughout slumber, it kept waking him with it’s furious growling to be heard, gnawing to show it’s strong desire to be entertained and fed. He didn’t want to awaken, no matter what he tried, he couldn’t seem to hold down a good thirty minutes shut eye without startling awake to his stomach again. Soon enough he’d opened his eyes very slowly and cautiously, to awake in the same comfortable position he’d been dreaming he’d been left in, so this was not just a dream..
The place was very suave, simplistic and dark, the lights off and blinds shut, lack of sunlight peeking through told him he’d woke at night. There were picture frames of nothing in particular, at first it looked a messy merge of colours but the more Jack focused, the more he came to realise it was in fact art. Wherever he’d crash landed last night, it was a sweet place to be, and something told him he was safe and there was food about to be had, which filled him with a strange, harmonious feeling, without even placing his lips to a fast food item, he knew he could eat, could roam about and not fear a lashing for running his mouth.
John heard the little patter of footsteps and jumped out of bed, inspecting his muddy self and sighing, he was a little bruised on the chest and muddy everywhere, his face, hair, trousers, wrecked. He had the feeling it’d been a wild one, so then he immediately stripped away his trousers and boxers and sought for a fresh pair to wear when he’d showered and cleaned up. He took a clean plain white shirt and some comfortable black slacks, a fresh pair of boxers, and slowly moved to the bedroom door.
Jack inspected the area, he knew he was safe here, John must’ve been involved in getting him here, but how? There were medals and certificates on the walls closer to the door, he eyed the latched door and a desire to walk away crossed him, but only briefly, he knew going back out there could be the worst move he’d make. He couldn’t do things on his own, not after being drove crazy with his own thoughts in a wooden cell. He turned his back to the door and shook it from his mind, finding a hallway, there were four doors down it, but the place was more an apartment than a house, every room on one floor. The kitchen open plan to a small dining space alongside the lounge. He went towards the first door, unaware it was John’s bedroom, and turned the handle ever so slowly, just in case it was somewhere he wasn’t allowed, he wasn’t used to exploring, not after being trapped in a camp so long, it’d take a while to adjust and function normally again, if it were even possible.
John frowned and tilted his head, he sensed Jack’s presence.
“Excuse me.” John muttered, walking past in the nude casually as Jack opened the door for him, John seemingly carefree to Jack’s presence and the fact that he’d just seen him clothless.
“Oh..” Jack mumbled after being frozen on the spot for some time, turning around and deciding to stop exploring now for his own good and search the kitchen cupboards for food instead.
“There should be some soup in the top left one!” John called to Jack, how on earth did he know what Jack was up to?
John was glad he’d stocked up, he wasn’t sure when to expect human visitors, but he certainly couldn’t cook so he just kept ready meals about for those odd occasions, and sometimes he tried them himself, there was one he could just about stomach, but he had pints and pints of ice cream in his freezer, stowed away for himself. John went into the bathroom and settled his clothes down, stepping straight into the shower and running the hot water on a high setting, shaking the water through his hair and growling to himself at the delicious streams covering him and heating him up more, his top half was colder than his bottom half because of his missing shirt, he’d have to recall his steps and find it hopefully, he liked that one too.
It was not an alien sight for Jack, being in the camp had meant that privacy was a luxury meant only for the Japanese soldiers and he’d seen his fair share of naked male bodies enough to not feel awkward around them. Or so he thought, but then, he didn’t really know John and while he didn’t feel as awkward as he probably should have, he still felt that an averted gaze was probably for the best. Locating the soup was easy enough after following John’s direction, Jack was tempted to just spoon the stuff straight into his mouth right out of the tin but he managed to have patience enough to heat it up just a little on the stovetop. God, hot food! What kind of saintly act had he performed to have deserved this?
Jack seated himself at the table, enough with the patience, he gulped it down hungrily, nevermind the spoon though - he simply picked up the bowl like an oversized mug and didn’t even care that some of it was spilling down his front. As he set the bowl down, he licked his lips and winced at the odd sensation of his stomach getting bombarded with something to digest without warning. He felt stronger within minutes of finishing, resisting the urge to lick the bowl clean as he got himself a glass of water. It was actual water and it was clean and clear, not that questionable, brown and murky shit they gave him in the camp.
Jack gulped down two full glasses of it, table manners were not something he’d had to use in far too long, so they were forgotten and unused here as well. John stood by the door, watching the strange way Jack ate and was amused by it. Jack was unaware of his audience until he turned around, stopping short to take in John’s suddenly clean and tidy appearance, so contrast to his own. John decided that Jack was similar enough in size to be able to wear his clothing comfortably, those tattered rags Jack had once called a uniform were beyond repair and the scent of stained blood on them would be too dangerous to keep them around.
The time for skirting around each other was swiftly coming to an end, John knew that if they were to be spending time together, he needed to feel some sort of trust in Jack. Trust that he’d do what he was told when it was most important, such as if they were found out and needed to get away quickly, he had to know that Jack would be compliant with his escape route and not try something on his own.
“Take a shower,” John instructed the silent soldier, “then we’ll find you something to wear.”
Jack nodded slowly, appreciation in his expression and in his heart, he was a soldier’s soldier and everyone loved him for his loyalty and the lengths he would go to in order to ensure the survival of his nearest and dearest.
“Thank you,” Jack said quietly, not yet comfortable enough to smart mouth John and he walked past to head off into the bathroom.
John closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, struggling with himself at the faint scent of blood upon Jack’s clothes. Jack looked around the bathroom, how long had it been since he had seen one? He saw a shower stall that wasn’t a hose and a bath that wasn’t just a bucket in the corner with a filthy rag dropped into it, he knew there’d also be a toilet around here someplace, one that wasn’t just a hole in the ground, too. He hurriedly stripped off, turned on the water and the warmth of it made him flinch in shock because he hadn’t felt it in so long. It was only lukewarm at best, but it felt to Jack as if it were molten lava and he needed to take some minutes to ease himself in.
The unfamiliar stream of water felt like nails shooting into his sensitive, torn flesh and the shower was quickly abandoned in favor of a less painful bath. He filled the tub, looking around only when John came into to take away Jack’s decidedly rotting clothes. Jack made no attempt to hide his nudity but the bruises and lashes were what made him suddenly self conscious and displeased with himself. His only comfort was that he’d noticed bruises on John’s body as well, so he wasn’t sticking out of place too much.
John took note of the brutality that was revealed on just about every visible inch of Jack’s body, gathering up the tattered, blood stained rags and leaving him to it. He would have to burn these, but how to be around Jack with those deep flesh wounds of his? They were on his upper back, not yet healed and sometimes weeping blood if he moved too quickly. Jack settled down into the tub, he sighed as the stiffness left his joints and his muscles stopped seizing up on him for the time being so he could relax. He wanted to talk to John, thank him profusely for saving his life, but right now it was time to soak and enjoy his little slice of heaven on earth.
Jack was a fiercely loyal man by nature and John had practically plucked him from the grim reaper’s grasp, he wasn’t going to ever forget that and in his own mind, John was already somebody who Jack considered a brother in arms. Jack would do anything for him, it was just his way and he’d been like that from day one. He might sass and joke around, push limits and test boundaries, maybe even go too far and warrant a good punch to the jaw but he was stubborn in his loyalty and everyone who knew him always were acutely certain that he had their back and with startling accuracy. In a pinch and when the chips were down, Jack could always be counted on and he would always do his best to keep his friends’ spirits up. Making fun of the Japanese soldiers just to get a good belly laugh out of his comrades was worth the savage beating he received for his cheek, it was the lonely weeks in confinement that tore him apart at the very seams but he never let them see it. He would never reveal how he felt inside, wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of knowing they were wearing him down slowly but surely.
****
(page 2: http://luv-bowie-luver.livejournal.com/59323.html)
***
Unfinished. Unedited. Rough Draft.
***
UPDATED: February 14th, 2015, 10.10AM (my time)
***
It would happen tonight, it had to be tonight or there would be no way out tomorrow. Jack Celliers gazed blankly out of his isolation cell, separated from the rest of the Japanese P.O.W camp and shivering with the cold, comforted only by the blanket of nightfall because that was his cue to suddenly blink and snap himself out of his daze. This morning a deal had been made, the other prisoners were going to be handed over, traded for Japanese prisoners caught by the Allied Forces. With just the one exception, for his misdemeanours and unapologetic attitude, Major Jack Celliers was to remain behind. The night was chilly but the days were scorching, he’d not last long out there with what they were planning to do to him. Conti had relayed the message to Jack, having overheard the horrible plans and wanting to forewarn his comrade but what could be done?
Jack wished Conti hadn’t told him at all, now he couldn’t get to sleep and as the dusk fell over the silent camp, the only thing Jack could do was sit and await the sunrise - and his torture of a death. Buried up to his neck in the ground, no food or water and no shade. He would have preferred a firing squad and be done with it but the Japanese were clever in their methods of cruelty and torture. Still, it was a relief to know that his brothers in arms were going home. Jack had no such luck, but he held no regrets for his actions, either. His unit had given the Japanese army more grief than all others put together, it seemed only fitting that they would not just finish him off with a quick bullet to the head or heart. Oh no, they were going to make him suffer and now that he was aware of their plans, the exact details of all things, Jack was wide awake and looking out into the night with despair.
Sure, he had run to the army to get away from his past and okay, he didn’t expect to return home alive but torture wasn’t in the plan. If he had to die, he wanted it to be quick and painless, he didn’t want to see it coming. It had to be tonight, if he didn’t find a way out of this cell tonight, he was done for.
He shifted away from a family of rats, who had come to sniff around for any crumbs he might have dropped from earlier and Jack was so hungry, he almost thought about catching them and stealing a cigarette lighter so he could roast them. But then, if he had a lighter, he could easily burn his way out of this dirty little cell and run for his life. The deal had been made, his friends were going home so there was nothing to keep him here any longer. Except a few iron bars and a very large padlock.
Jack stood up and approached the bars, pushing on them. The whole cell creaked and groaned, alerting some of the patrolling Japanese officers, who came running over and shouting at him to get back against the far wall.
“Damn!” Jack swore under his breath, the whole thing seemed like it might easily collapse if he’d given it enough force, but how to do it silently?
Impossible.
The Japanese officers inspected the cell, spoke amongst themselves and gave Jack a solid punch to his stomach just for good measure, before leaving him alone once more. Jack breathed heavily, holding his stomach for a few minutes but he’d had this happen (and a lot worse) so often, it had started to not really hurt anymore, it mainly just stole his breath momentarily.
Catching his breath back, Jack figured he should count himself lucky that at least they hadn’t used the butt of their rifles to do it, that always sent him to his knees without hesitation. He shuffled back over to the door of the cell, he could see their flashlights sweeping the grounds and the guard towers standing tall around the perimeter. Even if he got out, there was nowhere to go without being caught.
Jack sighed and slunk back to the corner, sitting down and leaning back against the wall defeatedly. His eyes were half closed, the will to live was so strong in any person and he was no different. He didn’t want to die, but there honestly didn’t look as though the fates would be kind to him anymore. Jack longed for a stiff drink, perhaps if he could get drunk then he wouldn’t suffer so much tomorrow. Of course, being in this place, one was lucky to be remembered enough to actually get fed, let alone dare to ask for a luxury such as alcohol - or a cell that didn’t smell of rats, urine and feces. His clothes were ragged and torn, the back of his shirt was stained with dark, dried blood from the welts on his back and his body was bruised in several places.
Swatting a mosquito on his arm and flicking it away, Jack leaned his head against the wall of the cell and closed his eyes. He felt drowsy and he must have dozed off for a moment because he suddenly jolted awake and stared absently around, his blue eyes glinting in the light of the moon.
“Hello?” Jack wondered softly, feeling stupid seconds later because who would even be out here except Japanese soldiers?
He settled back and tried to get comfortable, but he just couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t quite right and as he took more and more notice of his surroundings, he frowned. There had been noises before, the usual nighttime sounds like scurrying animals and chirping crickets but suddenly it had gone so eerily quiet, that even the Japanese soldiers were now patrolling in bigger groups. Jack strained to hear something, anything. But apart from the hushed whispers of the now very nervous soldiers and the crunching of their boots along the gravel paths, he couldn’t hear a thing.
Odd..
*
All he could feel was the harsh bumps of the road under him, the unbearable heat scorching him even at this unearthly hour where he parted from his nest and sought females and drink. He should’ve known better than to get started on the tequila, it sent him loopy even with higher capacity for alcohol, and his razor sharp tongue had landed him in this situation. Trapped in the back of an unmarked van, he could’ve easily snapped the males in two, snapped the restraint ropes and freed himself effortlessly; sober. He kept mumbling and drooling to himself, even laying down his head failed to stop swaying the swishes and swirls painted along his vision, everything looked like it was made of watercolours, the sight he moved his eyes from one to another seemed to stretch on. He saw strange things like this, but he quite enjoyed the hallucinogenic side to the drink, it let him escape for a while.
“Blaylock!” The two Japanese soldiers had been shouting at him for a good four minutes before John looked at them with his half lidded eyes and blinked his recognition, despite how slim that recognition actually was.
“Was’ your problem punk..” He slurred, he was still half in his kit, wearing his urban camo bottoms.
But they had taken off his shirt in precautions that he might've had anything hidden inside for ‘escape’, they didn’t know him as well as they thought. He was a local around these parts, despite his English background, he spoke fluent Japanese and claimed to be a mere civilian obsessed with soldier’s clothes..
Little did they know he was full and true a soldier, playing it off well at night while he spent days in his hideout, plotting his entry to the nearest POW camps, his mission was to rescue as many as possible of his own, and guide them to their safety. One soldier hauled him up by the neck and dragged him from the back of the van, into the nearby jungle, where it was lone and quiet.
“Why did you hit our friend!” The other one came rushing up and kicked him in the side as he was thrown down into a ditch and landed face first to greet a mouthful of gravel, dirt and whatever else belonged to the ground he called friendly.
“Fuck’re you talkin’ bout’” John muttered in English and they looked between each other and kicked him again and again, making him growl and wince again.
“In Japanese!” One of them knew scarce English and just enough to suffice the male now speaking English and revealing his intel.
“Fuck off!” John shouted at them, snapping the ropes and jumping to his feet suddenly, the soldiers both gasped and retreated back a few paces with wide eyes, only managing to get their first finger on drawing their weapons and parting their lips before John had drained them both within a flash, falling to his knees and then his front again when he was done. However he’d managed that, he’d done a pretty good job to even stand upright and aim his fangs, let alone stay there long enough to drain them.
John spent a while collapsed against the dirt, smothering his face in it, unaware it wasn’t the soft pillow it felt like. He eventually regained enough consciousness to get to his terribly unsteady feet and stumble into the Jungle, he felt like an adventure. Their intentions were unclear to him at the time, but after an hour of solid stumbling and falling he’d clocked just what they were going to do, as he stumbled upon a fence to a POW camp he’d not yet mapped out, watchtowers could’ve spotted him, had they been focusing on him and not shining their lights on the cell nearby where the soldiers rushed towards after a creaking sound of rusted metal protesting.
He backed away from the fence at first, back stepping to fall over into a bush and make a sound, he was sure that time the soldiers inside would’ve heard it, but it seemed there was no panic in the camp, he was expecting to hear sirens or enemy footsteps marching his way. Maybe they just dismissed him as an animal, but then that wouldn’t be a bad representation at all, he was very close to one.
“Oops..” He giggled as he fell into a tree and hugged himself against it, accidentally crushing a cricket with his cheek. He was already muddy, with torn trousers and a grazed bare chest, stumbling around like a headless chicken. At least when he woke up in a ditch somewhere or a bush, he’d forget exactly how stupid he’d been the night before. Why the soldiers hadn’t just killed him on the spot when he smacked their friend drunkenly was still lost on him, were they going to try and drain him of intel prior to his lock up?
No jail cell could hold him, teeth sharp enough to bite through steel, he was strongly built and even more superior with his enhanced abilities. John guided himself round the tree clumsily and stumbled towards a bush masked against the fence to peer inside, there were watchtowers and plains and many cells isolated from the rest, but the way the Japanese stormed over to the end one, he was sure somebody was locked up in there, probably a friendly too. He felt at the wired fence and giggled when the ‘electric shock’ tickled him rather than electrocuted like intended, so like a fool, he began to gnaw on the wires, breaking each loop with his strong bite and making the metal seem like butter to his jaw, it was easily done with the electric sizzling at his tongue and hissing, making him giggle more as he tried to keep his voice down.
“Eugh..” He almost swallowed a piece of the metallic material, spitting it out and continuing to gnaw an entrance to the mysterious camp, swarming with Japanese but in John’s eyes, they looked more like walking hotdogs, so many meals to be had…
“Oof” He fell through when he’d chewed the last piece off, scrambling to his knees and crawling through the dirt of the landslide, up towards the wooden cells nearby. He made sure to keep out of the spotlight swerving and made his way to the cell ahead, slowly and quietly enough. He covered his tracks with pats to the knee shaped patterns on the ground, getting close to the log built cell space.
“Hello?” He whispered in English first, he had to be sure.
Jack had not been expecting to hear anyone outside of his cell, except for the Japanese soldiers of course, so when he heard a soft greeting in English, he was hesitant to respond. Then another thought made him slowly get to his feet, had someone escaped? Jack was on death row, so he would naturally jump to such a conclusion of a rescue attempt, but he was quite cynical by now and hardly dared to believe it.
“Who’s there?” Jack wondered aloud, but softly because he wasn’t keen on drawing the attention of the patrolling guards a second time.
Having gotten his response in English, with a decidedly friendly accent, John rested and leaned his back up against the cell.
“Lieutenant-Major John Blaylock,” John answered, startling Jack as his voice broke the stillness of the night.
“Shh, sir!” Jack hushed the unseen, apparently higher ranking stranger in the dark, “they’ll hear you!”
“So what if they do?” John smirked, “oh alright, who’s in there with you?”
“It’s just me, sir,” Jack responded quickly, “what are you doing out there? How’d you get here?”
Questions, questions.
“Later,” John turned around and studied the cell for a moment, “and stop calling me sir, my name is John. Now, first things first, who is ‘me’?”
John wanted to keep the prisoner talking, because he felt like becoming distracted by all of those easy meals just wandering around. He could sense they were just about pissing their pants, each and every one of them and he bit back a laugh of amusement, his eyes almost dancing in the moonlight.
“Major Jack Celliers,” came the quiet response, “can you get me out of here?”
“I can,” John replied, eyeing off a group of soldiers that was approaching, each of them pressing their backs against the others in fear of being caught from behind.
The whole atmosphere of the camp had turned into one of dubious safety the moment John arrived, humans had this innate sense of danger, even if they didn’t know where it would come from but that just made stalking and hunting more fun for John. The more aware of him his prey was, the better he enjoyed himself and the fear laced blood was akin to a drug high.
“The whole thing will give us away if you move it,” Jack explained, unaware John was already on the move.
John crept around to the front of the cell, one simple padlocked door was all that stood between them. Jack looked around and saw the shadowy figure, who seemed to be shirtless and swaying more than just a little bit.
“Are you drunk?” Jack asked him, “you’re insane, they’ll see you!”
John looked at the prisoner, who blurred out from time to time and he had to giggle at the warning because he really didn’t care if they saw him. Jack tensed up at the sound of soldiers giving shouts from across the compound, he didn’t see John lean down and bite through the padlock because his gaze was transfixed on the approaching group of Japanese guards.
“They’ve heard me,” John told the handsome blond inside the cell, “come on, let’s get you out of here.”
Jack startled as the gate swung open, it was the only part of the cell that failed to make a sound, because it was used so frequently to deliver his rations or a savage beating if they thought he wasn’t suffering enough. Jack’s biggest weakness was his inept ability to cope with being left all alone, he was more at home among other soldiers and being isolated from everybody was like being in purgatory.
“Come on!” John urged the stunned prisoner, “ugh, this thing doesn’t half stink, does it?”
Jack took a few tentative steps forwards, a subtle hot blush creeping into his cheeks as John mentioned the smell of the tiny shack he’d been cooped up in for fuck knows how long now. Jack knew that he himself would most certainly reek of it and was grateful that John hadn’t said anything about it, even as he drew nearer to the odd stranger. John gave no indication that he smelled anything, he was upfront and forthcoming but complaining about a prisoner of war’s smell wasn’t very productive nor helpful and it was certainly to be expected.
“I’ll get you to the trees,” John explained, “then I’ll go back for the others.”
He would free as many as he could, but Jack seemed tired and weak, so he would need to ensure the Major’s safety first.
“They’re going to be released tomorrow in a prisoner exchange,” Jack told him, “they’ll be safe enough.”
John was only half listening and he grabbed Jack’s hand, who startled at both the gesture and the coldness of John’s skin. It wasn’t freezing, but it didn’t feel right either. Jack put it down to being on his own for too long, perhaps he’d just forgotten what people felt like unless they were punching him.
“Let’s go,” John grinned at him and Jack blinked uncertainly, as a fang inadvertently flashed in the light of the full moon overhead.
Jack stepped out into the fresh, clean air and filled his lungs with deep breaths of it, oh how good it felt to be out of that cell!
“Yamete!” came a shout. John knew this meant ‘stop what you are doing’ but he had no intentions to obey the command. He tugged Jack’s arm and they made a run for the hole in the fence, John ensured that Jack got through first before he hesitated and glanced over his shoulder, torn between fight or flight.
“Tomare!” shouted another guard, which meant ‘stop moving’ and John smiled slightly, did they really want to clash with him?
“John!” came Jack’s urgent call from the trees, “move!”
He felt odd giving orders to the Lieutenant-Major but he was clearly somewhat intoxicated and probably wouldn’t even remember it anyway.
“Oh god, decisions decisions Major.” John hummed with a delighted look about him, the fear invading and busying his delicate senses, filling his nose, making his heart race.
Jack looked panicked, struck by the Lieutenant-Major’s obvious intoxication and excitement flashing over his eyes, like he was some kind of adrenaline junkie. But it was probably the liquor clouding his judgement skills, he couldn’t take on the soldiers coming forth with rifles with just his bare fists; but yet again, how on earth had he unlocked the cell with no tool to his name. He registered the fangs as mere genetic coincidence, some people had pointier teeth that made them appear the fairy tale dracula, he didn’t really digest fiction so he upturned his nose to the thought and crawled further, desperate to keep going.
Oh what they’d do to him if they didn’t move fast, escape… Death? No that’d be far too generous of them, torture for sure, the ol’ drowning by bottled water sensation wasn’t in his agenda but it seemed to be in John’s.
“What decisions! Let’s get moving!” Jack pleaded with the reckless LT’s dilemma to stay behind, how was that even a decision to be made.
“Go on fellow, I’ll catch up..” John snickered, prowling as he ran on all fours and quickly got to his feet, running towards the soldier’s fearlessly and freely, their figures were a blur, it was difficult to hunt and locate with impaired sense but he’d manage.
Jack looked back and then looked on a few times, horrified yet too weighed down by the cruel reality of the camp to go back for John, he told himself five more minutes, give the man five more minutes, wait for gunshots. There’d be something to tell him John was in danger, the man seemed to think he could handle it, what sort of super-ego was this man possessing.
“Grrrrrr..” John growled playfully and almost erotically with a snap of his fangs as they came riveting and shaking out of their hiding place in his jawline and lengthened with one movement of his tongue.
The Japanese soldiers didn’t seem to register what this prisoner was playing at but they didn’t shoot, nor move their guns away from aiming towards him. He stamped his foot and came metres away from them, stopping in his tracks to just grin like a madman and go to circle them. Young, fearful, fresh-blooded, possibly slightly sweet. He could call this one, teppanyaki platter, one of his favourite dishes back in the central town he’d remembered being at one point, sober, eating at a bar and restaurant.
One Japanese soldier, braver than the rest, wasn’t as frozen as the others, something stopped them in their tracks, was it this mysterious man, shirtless and clearly drunk by his almost completely unbalanced stumble.
“Anata wa nani o shite iru nodesu ka?” The soldier demanded of him, what are you doing John?
John grinned excellently to reveal every single one of his sharp white teeth in excellence, flashing his widening, animalistic and wild eyes, pupils dilated and excited beyond belief. He soaked up in the fear before he went for the pleasure of the actual meal, worked himself up.
Flash. Thud, thud.
Two of them went down before the eyes of the others, paled and dead, eyes rolled into the back of their heads, their guns came clattering to the floor. The other two looked frenzied and started to shoot at John circling them, making him laugh as the bullets missed.
“Keep going, woah, another miss, miss..” John giggled childishly, speaking in a carefree manner and just raising his brows at them when they’d finally shot off all their bullets and had to reload, looking at him with dropped jaws.
“J-John?” Jack heard shots, he tried to shake himself out of going back yet he found himself on a raised slope, a mound, looking back and seeing beyond the fences now perfectly.
He could see John, the two soldiers, see the guns going off, John was still stood; but how? The proximity was far too close for them to just miss by chance, were they too nervous, was this man made of steel? The only two possibilities that crossed Jack’s mind were already far too insane to encounter. He knew those soldiers, cruel strict beings, they killed their own, John was an easy target for them. Jack settled down with force, making himself wait here ahead of John yet only an inkling made him feel slightly more secure, only because he could see the fences and not a dirty mucked up wooden wall like however long he’d woken up to before this miraculous moment. He’d never heard of anyone going by the name of John Blaylock, Lieutenant-Major John Blaylock, a new name and new face, the guy had some balls about him, maybe that’s why he was ranking so highly despite his completely obvious unprofessionalism and adrenaline addiction.
Another flash, the second to last one dropped the same deftly way as the others, John seemed to be stood in the same spot, the soldier’s eyes were far too obnoxious to his sort of speed, his kinds. He’d effortlessly drained three of them and gulped down three hefty meals already, and they were quite pleasantly sweet. John took a mental note of this place for when he felt like buffet next time, though he’d hardly remember it.
“Oh my word.” Jack gasped, the soldier dropped in the stare of John, did one look into the soldier’s eyes make them retreat. Everyone had their own weapon, Jack concluded this was his, to himself.
“Bye bye, tell them, they were mighty delicious, wherever you land human..” John sniggered to the last soldier, except this time he just walked over to the soldier, looking him in the eye and intimidating him to milk the last drops of fear before he threw him down onto the floor with one palm and toppled over him, growling hungrily as he bit and chewed, draining slowly and savouring his last victim.
More reinforcements were on their way, he could hear the clatter of their boots, the spotlight focusing on him suddenly. Snipers at the ready. He was sure the commander was lurking, he sniffed a dominant creature out among them all, nearby. But even he had his limits, he wanted this place for later. John grumbled as he pulled away and he stumbled into a clumsy run for the fence, heading that way with pace...
Jack was clawing at the dirt on the small rise, his whole body was tense and his jaw was clenched as he watched John finally make a run for it.
“Come on, come on!” Jack urged him under his breath, “run!”
It was beyond him how John had managed to survive that encounter, Jack had to believe that as luck would have it, only the most junior ranks were stuck out on night shift tonight while the higher ranking, more experienced officers were safely tucked away in their quarters. He was exhausted but the thrill of escape gave Jack his second wind and he was ready to bolt as soon as John reached him. There’d be no way he was going to get caught again and dragged back there, no matter how much he hurt, he would run until his lungs burst if that was what it took.
John squeezed through the mesh of the fence via his escape route and Jack pushed away from the ground, turning just in time to run alongside John. Now wasn’t the time to talk, it was time to run for all they were worth before the Japanese soldiers brought out their jeeps. It didn’t take them long and soon, the jeeps were speeding towards the wooded area but it was too late. The two men had run into the deep woods, where the trees were thicker. Jack had wanted to go around it, he knew it’d be slower going to have to pick through the trees but John had snagged his arm at the last minute and no amount of resisting got him free of John’s tight grip, so he had no choice but to follow. The jeeps came to an abrupt halt and the Japanese soldiers hurried over to the beginning of the thicker patch of woods, but it was pitch black in there and the headlights of their vehicles barely penetrated the looming shadows.
They began to shout to each other, uncertain if it was a good idea to pursue the men on foot. Some more of them arrived with flashlights and lanterns, which emboldened the others and they resumed the chase. Jack was something of great value to them and they wanted him returned, not because they prized him but because they felt they were owed. They were supposed to punish him by death tomorrow, that wasn’t something they took lightly and to have their victim stolen from them was more insulting than a slap to the face by a subordinate. Jack was having trouble keeping up, his ribs were quite bruised along with the rest of his frequently battered body but he refused to give up and stop running. He could barely see a thing, even the moon wasn’t showing him any kindness tonight as the thick tree branches overhead blocked out the sky. It was ideal for escaping into the blackness, but it made the going very difficult for him.
John had no such issues, his eyesight was just as good at night as it was during the day and he could move quicker than Jack even though he wasn’t feeling his best just now. Jack lost sight of John, but he kept going and then something tripped him. Jack fell forwards, his startled yelp muffled by that strangely cool, yet somewhat warmer hand as he fell onto his front and was dragged backwards along the ground.
“Shhh,” John hissed softly into his ear, holding the struggling soldier down and keeping him pinned.
Jack held still, trying to calm his breathing, eyes wide as he stared into the darkness. Shouts from all around them had the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end, a lot of the Japanese soldiers had turned back by now but a few remained for fear of being punished themselves in Jack’s place for having lost him. Jack couldn’t really tell where the voices were coming from, but John’s bright eyes darted from one voice to the next with startling accuracy in the right direction they were coming from. The two were in a fox hole, unused and hidden mostly by gnarled tree roots and leaf litter. It was a tight fit, but they had managed to squeeze themselves down into it and as Jack dared to glance up silently towards the entrance, John dug his fingers hard into Jack’s shoulder to stop him from wriggling down any further.
They were side by side, with John half on top while Jack was still trying to push down but there were a pair of boots visible by the entrance and Jack’s shuffling would have drawn attention to the fact that there was something moving inside the fox hole. Jack winced, John’s fingers digging into an unseen bruise under Jack’s tatty shirt. Keeping his hand clamped over Jack’s mouth, John prevented a sharp curse word from escaping it and the boots soon moved on, following shouts that seemed to suggest the soldiers were abandoning the hunt until daylight, then they would come back in greater numbers. Slowly, John removed his hand and Jack lowered his forehead to rest it in the dirt with a tired sigh, his heart thumping madly in his chest.
“I don’t know who sent you,” Jack breathed, eyes rolling and wanting to just close and sleep for days, “but you have my eternal gratitude, sir.”
“It’s John, not sir.” John smirked, although the darkness around them forbode the weaker eyed human from seeing that part, he felt strange to be called upon by such authority, every soldier he knew around, just called him John or Blaylock. His rank slides didn’t really fuss him all too much, he’d never asked to be promoted every time he was, but he just kept scaling the ranks like nothing with his acts of bravery and heroic moments. John was simply a daredevil, an adrenaline hoarder in their eyes, he took the craziest risks out on the field, even more so when he’d decided to walk all the way to Japan by foot with nothing but the clothes on his back. Entering enemy territory and living there was him setting new standards, but really, knowing these people were all out to kill him on sight, he could have as much guilt-free buffet as he wished. The only problem was explaining the pale, bloodless corpses left behind in his travels.
No other soldier dared come here right into the heart of it all, so John came a lone wolf, yet somehow the British army still managed to trust him to follow through with his proposed mission and return victorious, return all together, in one piece and not in a body bag. With the stunts he’d pulled off, it was hardly a shock to them anymore if he did walk into a burning building and come out without a single spec of ash or pattern of burns on him.
“Yes si-John..” Jack found it hard to go against his norms and address his higher as his name and not his number, his rank. It made him feel slightly more comfortable however, he’d not been in contact with an English man higher up than him for a while, apart from anyone back at camp whom he’d hadn’t spoken to for more than a word in weeks.
“How did you do that?” Jack had to know, he couldn’t dismiss of this super-natural behaviour, it was like a new evolved soldier was born out of John.
“Bravery.” John didn’t want to answer the question, usually drinking made his tongue slippery, but not enough for him to reveal his identity to someone he’d just met. How would he explain to a man of rules and probably religious content, that he’d been to the Battle of Hastings before this, witnessed Henry VIII behead his failure wives. John had a lot of memories many would not have, but if he revealed himself to one mistrusting person, it could all go balls up.
Jack’s breaths calmed and he knew he couldn’t get anything else out of John, he was just grateful for his life at least. However this’d happened, it couldn’t have gone completely unplanned surely? He was laying next to a madman but he couldn’t keep his eyes from closing, weighed down too heavily by his lack of rest recently with the impending doom of his sentence, this was the first time, despite being stuck in the middle of the woods, he felt safe.
John looked down at the soldier curiously and wondered why on earth he was falling asleep, it was night time, the best time of day. Well for John at least. He watched over Jack for some hours before he thought about moving him to somewhere more comfortable, and out of this danger zone. Considering the soldiers had retreated but would most certainly be back in the morning, John’s weakest and worst time of day, he gently lifted the soldier up in his arms and into a fireman's pose before he set off for the nearby town he’d been staying in with a whoosh.
*
John dropped his keys on the table and placed Jack on the sofa carefully, stumbling away to his bedroom and holding onto the wall on his way, he got into the door and managed to lock his front door safely, he’d pulled off some incredible things tonight, but there was another adventure waiting round the next corner. For now he just collapsed onto his bed and fell straight to sleep, bound to either wake up miserably hungover or completely fine, either way he’d not remember much of the night’s events or why there was another soldier in his apartment.
The Japanese soldiers would eventually start searching the town itself for answers, unless their leader got to them first and decided to do it himself out of embarrassment and rage at such a mishap in his camp. The other prisoners were seen to have no part in the escape despite being questioned and kicked about for answers at the early hours of the morning. The troops found the metal hole and how the escape had been executed, it looked like an accident, the other male assisting their most valued prisoner had found a hole in their security, it looked like a raccoon had chewed its way through the fence and they sought to fix it immediately.
“The British Army sent their best man for us, but we will not let them get away with this!” The leader shouted upon his men with furious desire for revenge, the speech ominous on the instant execution of the two men as soon as found, no mistaking, he didn’t even want to see Jack’s face. As long as the escapee and wingman were dead, the Japanese would have no emergency to announce the missing prisoner. Not until any havoc kicked off, unless the men decided to pull off more stunts, keeping quiet to avoid having to tell their generals immediately, they could handle this...
Jack barely registered being gathered up at all, he was so exhausted that he thought he was dreaming when his eyes fluttered open briefly during John’s dash for home. The sofa was a much welcomed source of comfort, he hadn’t felt anything so soft in months, perhaps even years by now. The only trouble was, with the softness of the sofa cushions came the relaxed muscles and that’s when the pain really started to bother him. Numb with cold and tense with anxiety, Jack had been able to largely ignore his bruises and the stinging lashes on his back. Shifting onto his side, he groaned in a fitful state of semi consciousness.
John would normally have heard him, but for now he was quite incapacitated and so Jack was left to his own devices. Softness, comfort, warmth - Jack was in heaven, despite his body protesting the alien sensations and giving him a hard time about it. He shifted painfully, but it didn’t help much. Knowing he was safe, at least for the time being, he settled in and kept his eyes shut for fear that if he opened them, he’d find himself back in the cell and wake from this wonderful dream. If this is a dream, he thought to himself hazily, just let me die without ever waking.. please.. And with that, Jack drifted into a dreamless state of proper sleep, his body began to revive and take on the rest as it should and he didn’t even wake up when the sun climbed high into the sky the next morning.
He was very still, breathing slowly and deeply, giving his body the best opportunity to recover from the brutal treatment it had almost become so accustomed to. He stirred briefly at around lunchtime, his stomach growling and his muscles aching but he simply turned and faced the other way, remaining in his deep slumber and refusing to adhere to his body’s call to rise up and seek food.
Evening settled over the house, Jack wasn’t as tired anymore and his aches and pains were slowly rousing him from his sleep, the rumbling of his stomach easily startling John awake in the next room. John raised his head, a little disoriented as he glanced around and tried to recall something of last night. He slowly sat up, rubbing his eyes and yawning as flashes of this and that made their way into his immediate memory. He smiled just a little, the taste of blood still in his mouth. Yes, he remembered now, the sweet and fresh out of military school soldiers at the camp he’d stumbled upon by accident. Laughing quietly to himself, John took a moment to register something else had happened last night and as Jack’s protesting stomach roared again, John’s head turned sharply to his bedroom door.
Jack was still softly groaning every so often, the pains seemed magnified by the lack of distraction and he was starting to awaken just a little. He had dreamt of a huge, greasy burger that was surrounded by large cut chips and a tall glass of beer. He smacked his lips, grinding his teeth as if trying to chew.
*
Back at the camp, the prisoners were shuffled off to be exchanged and the entire place was closed down for lack of a reason to keep it open - unless they should be so lucky as to capture more prisoners enough to reopen it once more. The young Commandant, Yanoi, was put in charge of locating Jack and was given quite clear orders to have him shot on sight and if this failed to occur, Yanoi would take his place. This was a most undesired situation for Yanoi, he had grown quite fond of Jack, though he dared not admit it even to himself because such a thing was forbidden, evil and wrong - punishable by death! Yanoi didn’t want to acknowledge his feelings towards the blond New Zealander, despite being unable to help the attraction he suffered towards Jack every time they spoke.
It was hinted to Yanoi that John be brought in, if possible, the Japanese army was curious about him and they had a special building designed for extracting information from even the most unyielding of prisoners. Yanoi took his best men and gathered them up into the jeeps, they spent much of the day searching the camp, it’s borders and the outskirts of the woods. He didn’t want to locate Jack, so his search was purposefully vague and sloppy, despite the soldiers under his command doing their best to try and impress him. Yanoi was too distracted to take much notice of them and by evening, it was becoming quite obvious that the pair were no longer nearby.
“We should search the nearest town!” suggested one of the Corporals.
“Not tonight,” Yanoi feigned weariness, “perhaps tomorrow.”
“But sir!” the man started.
“It is too dangerous at night!” Yanoi shouted fiercely, “too much can go wrong! We wait for morning!”
The men glanced at each other, it had been long rumored among the camp that Jack had other worldly powers and was actually a demon in disguise of a human. He had endured so much and yet he was still so calm, snarked at them and poked fun at them every chance he got. They imagined he could get inside your head and make you do things that you wouldn’t normally do, they feared him and frequently struck him in fear and in anger of making them feel afraid. Yanoi was suspect of being under Jack’s control, so he was going to have some trouble keeping his men in line and finding excuses to search in all the wrong places for extended periods of time. Yanoi glared at the men, staring them down and they reluctantly fell back into his command with formal salutes.
“Good,” Yanoi spoke sharply, “I would hate to have to report you all for insubordination!”
A shudder of fear ran down all of their spines. Yanoi led them to a nearby barracks where they would rest up and sleep for the night, they were given food and beds generously and were welcomed as heroes on the hunt for the Japanese army’s most crippling duo. Jack wasn’t as threatening as John without his unit, he was alone without them now and it was going to affect his sense of belonging, like taking a puppy away from it’s siblings before he was ready to become the only dog in the house.
*
On the sofa, Jack slowly shifted and moaned once more, startling himself awake with the sound of his own voice in the perfect stillness that surrounded him. But he was lazy and warm, not wanting to wake up just yet and he settled back down into the cushions, so soft.. so comfortable.. he started to doze off again and barely registered the gnawing hunger in his guts, he was quite used to that feeling by now anyway.
“Mm..” John rolled onto his back after some well deserved time of luxurious slumber, full belly and comfortably warm, he couldn’t help but sharply stare the door down every time he heard a movement from in the lounge, a slight yawn, a roll, he knew he’d picked a soldier up at some point now, recalling little pieces of the to and from journey, but he was still on edge in fear of what the soldier was like, it was like they had yet to make their first conversation, from his perspective. He went to remove his trousers and then reminded himself he had company and shook off any heated desire to routinely go out and find a cheap date, cheap meaning, probably a hooker.
He had no interest really in a relationship, he’d never met anyone sturdy and interesting enough to feed the deep belly desire he had, so he lost some faith in that side of himself and resumed to just grab the prettiest girl and get on with it. It got tedious and yawn worthy at points because some of the prettiest ones proved the lamest entertainers yet, he’d still get a meal out of it, that’s how he sometimes had to encourage himself and excite himself enough to finish, the next move. He wasn’t one that suffered the human weakness of hangovers, so when he actually woke up and stopped fluttering in and out of slumber, he was well rested and content, he needn’t fear getting up to feel dizzy or disorientated. His bounce back time was impeccable considering how heavily he drank on a night, far more than a man could stomach, but that’s all that seemed interesting around here, drinking to himself.
Jack stirred and his stomach grumbled throughout slumber, it kept waking him with it’s furious growling to be heard, gnawing to show it’s strong desire to be entertained and fed. He didn’t want to awaken, no matter what he tried, he couldn’t seem to hold down a good thirty minutes shut eye without startling awake to his stomach again. Soon enough he’d opened his eyes very slowly and cautiously, to awake in the same comfortable position he’d been dreaming he’d been left in, so this was not just a dream..
The place was very suave, simplistic and dark, the lights off and blinds shut, lack of sunlight peeking through told him he’d woke at night. There were picture frames of nothing in particular, at first it looked a messy merge of colours but the more Jack focused, the more he came to realise it was in fact art. Wherever he’d crash landed last night, it was a sweet place to be, and something told him he was safe and there was food about to be had, which filled him with a strange, harmonious feeling, without even placing his lips to a fast food item, he knew he could eat, could roam about and not fear a lashing for running his mouth.
John heard the little patter of footsteps and jumped out of bed, inspecting his muddy self and sighing, he was a little bruised on the chest and muddy everywhere, his face, hair, trousers, wrecked. He had the feeling it’d been a wild one, so then he immediately stripped away his trousers and boxers and sought for a fresh pair to wear when he’d showered and cleaned up. He took a clean plain white shirt and some comfortable black slacks, a fresh pair of boxers, and slowly moved to the bedroom door.
Jack inspected the area, he knew he was safe here, John must’ve been involved in getting him here, but how? There were medals and certificates on the walls closer to the door, he eyed the latched door and a desire to walk away crossed him, but only briefly, he knew going back out there could be the worst move he’d make. He couldn’t do things on his own, not after being drove crazy with his own thoughts in a wooden cell. He turned his back to the door and shook it from his mind, finding a hallway, there were four doors down it, but the place was more an apartment than a house, every room on one floor. The kitchen open plan to a small dining space alongside the lounge. He went towards the first door, unaware it was John’s bedroom, and turned the handle ever so slowly, just in case it was somewhere he wasn’t allowed, he wasn’t used to exploring, not after being trapped in a camp so long, it’d take a while to adjust and function normally again, if it were even possible.
John frowned and tilted his head, he sensed Jack’s presence.
“Excuse me.” John muttered, walking past in the nude casually as Jack opened the door for him, John seemingly carefree to Jack’s presence and the fact that he’d just seen him clothless.
“Oh..” Jack mumbled after being frozen on the spot for some time, turning around and deciding to stop exploring now for his own good and search the kitchen cupboards for food instead.
“There should be some soup in the top left one!” John called to Jack, how on earth did he know what Jack was up to?
John was glad he’d stocked up, he wasn’t sure when to expect human visitors, but he certainly couldn’t cook so he just kept ready meals about for those odd occasions, and sometimes he tried them himself, there was one he could just about stomach, but he had pints and pints of ice cream in his freezer, stowed away for himself. John went into the bathroom and settled his clothes down, stepping straight into the shower and running the hot water on a high setting, shaking the water through his hair and growling to himself at the delicious streams covering him and heating him up more, his top half was colder than his bottom half because of his missing shirt, he’d have to recall his steps and find it hopefully, he liked that one too.
It was not an alien sight for Jack, being in the camp had meant that privacy was a luxury meant only for the Japanese soldiers and he’d seen his fair share of naked male bodies enough to not feel awkward around them. Or so he thought, but then, he didn’t really know John and while he didn’t feel as awkward as he probably should have, he still felt that an averted gaze was probably for the best. Locating the soup was easy enough after following John’s direction, Jack was tempted to just spoon the stuff straight into his mouth right out of the tin but he managed to have patience enough to heat it up just a little on the stovetop. God, hot food! What kind of saintly act had he performed to have deserved this?
Jack seated himself at the table, enough with the patience, he gulped it down hungrily, nevermind the spoon though - he simply picked up the bowl like an oversized mug and didn’t even care that some of it was spilling down his front. As he set the bowl down, he licked his lips and winced at the odd sensation of his stomach getting bombarded with something to digest without warning. He felt stronger within minutes of finishing, resisting the urge to lick the bowl clean as he got himself a glass of water. It was actual water and it was clean and clear, not that questionable, brown and murky shit they gave him in the camp.
Jack gulped down two full glasses of it, table manners were not something he’d had to use in far too long, so they were forgotten and unused here as well. John stood by the door, watching the strange way Jack ate and was amused by it. Jack was unaware of his audience until he turned around, stopping short to take in John’s suddenly clean and tidy appearance, so contrast to his own. John decided that Jack was similar enough in size to be able to wear his clothing comfortably, those tattered rags Jack had once called a uniform were beyond repair and the scent of stained blood on them would be too dangerous to keep them around.
The time for skirting around each other was swiftly coming to an end, John knew that if they were to be spending time together, he needed to feel some sort of trust in Jack. Trust that he’d do what he was told when it was most important, such as if they were found out and needed to get away quickly, he had to know that Jack would be compliant with his escape route and not try something on his own.
“Take a shower,” John instructed the silent soldier, “then we’ll find you something to wear.”
Jack nodded slowly, appreciation in his expression and in his heart, he was a soldier’s soldier and everyone loved him for his loyalty and the lengths he would go to in order to ensure the survival of his nearest and dearest.
“Thank you,” Jack said quietly, not yet comfortable enough to smart mouth John and he walked past to head off into the bathroom.
John closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, struggling with himself at the faint scent of blood upon Jack’s clothes. Jack looked around the bathroom, how long had it been since he had seen one? He saw a shower stall that wasn’t a hose and a bath that wasn’t just a bucket in the corner with a filthy rag dropped into it, he knew there’d also be a toilet around here someplace, one that wasn’t just a hole in the ground, too. He hurriedly stripped off, turned on the water and the warmth of it made him flinch in shock because he hadn’t felt it in so long. It was only lukewarm at best, but it felt to Jack as if it were molten lava and he needed to take some minutes to ease himself in.
The unfamiliar stream of water felt like nails shooting into his sensitive, torn flesh and the shower was quickly abandoned in favor of a less painful bath. He filled the tub, looking around only when John came into to take away Jack’s decidedly rotting clothes. Jack made no attempt to hide his nudity but the bruises and lashes were what made him suddenly self conscious and displeased with himself. His only comfort was that he’d noticed bruises on John’s body as well, so he wasn’t sticking out of place too much.
John took note of the brutality that was revealed on just about every visible inch of Jack’s body, gathering up the tattered, blood stained rags and leaving him to it. He would have to burn these, but how to be around Jack with those deep flesh wounds of his? They were on his upper back, not yet healed and sometimes weeping blood if he moved too quickly. Jack settled down into the tub, he sighed as the stiffness left his joints and his muscles stopped seizing up on him for the time being so he could relax. He wanted to talk to John, thank him profusely for saving his life, but right now it was time to soak and enjoy his little slice of heaven on earth.
Jack was a fiercely loyal man by nature and John had practically plucked him from the grim reaper’s grasp, he wasn’t going to ever forget that and in his own mind, John was already somebody who Jack considered a brother in arms. Jack would do anything for him, it was just his way and he’d been like that from day one. He might sass and joke around, push limits and test boundaries, maybe even go too far and warrant a good punch to the jaw but he was stubborn in his loyalty and everyone who knew him always were acutely certain that he had their back and with startling accuracy. In a pinch and when the chips were down, Jack could always be counted on and he would always do his best to keep his friends’ spirits up. Making fun of the Japanese soldiers just to get a good belly laugh out of his comrades was worth the savage beating he received for his cheek, it was the lonely weeks in confinement that tore him apart at the very seams but he never let them see it. He would never reveal how he felt inside, wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of knowing they were wearing him down slowly but surely.
****
(page 2: http://luv-bowie-luver.livejournal.com/59323.html)