Ch14: Getting out

The footsteps stopped before the locked door.

*Bang* *Bang* *Bang*

"Wake up trash! Breakfast is here!" A voice shouted before looking in through the hatch at the room inside.

The man took a look around before opening the door.

As Caden looked at him, he could describe the man as a pretty big fellow, definitely smaller than Handro, but around the height of Forland.

The guy had a big brown bag in his hands. Turning it upside down, from it spilled loafs of bread and some half eaten fruits.

Some slaves rushed at it, taking whatever they could and eating it. The man just spat at them. "Filthy trash, at least it's the last day we have to lose money on feeding you." He said, before walking out and locking the door behind him.

After he left, Bonzo stood up and took five loaves to share with the boys, giving Handro 2 of them.

For a moment they ate in silence. Forland finished first, mentioning what the man said.

"Yeah, looks like we should fasten our escape. If they want to get themselves rid of us tomorrow, we only have time until that." Said Caden, finishing his bread. It was hard and unappetizing.

"We could just wait and see what happens, maybe a better opportunity to run away will show itself." Said Bonzo, before choking on a bit of bread. One stronger clap on his back made him all better.

"Thanks Handro."

The giant only nodded.

"We can't wait for tomorrow. Who knows what they want to do with us. The plan needs to happen today." Said Forland, scratching his beard with his hand this time. "Ah, I needed that."

"Hmm, since it's breakfast then the day just started. Do we get food 3 times a day here?"

"Nope, just two times. Breakfast and late Dinner." Said Forland, before understanding what Caden was leading towards.

"Yes, if we know what time it is outside, we should start at night. At least some of them should be asleep, right?"

"That's a good idea. We also won't be able to adapt to the light too fast after leaving, so night is definitely preferred." Said Forland, thinking ahead.

"So we will move after eating dinner to have more strength to run." Stated Caden.

"Now for the other important part, do we take everybody with us?" Asked Bonzo, before Handro fastly answered. "Yes, we will."

Everybody looked at the giant, before he continued. "Our chances will be much higher that way. More hands to help won't be bad." He said positively, before Forland added. "Also, if it comes to it, they could be cannon fodder for us to escape."

Handro glared at him after hearing that, but he didn't refute him.

As they were sitting and discussing, Thomas who ate his fill finally saw Caden sitting with the men. Trying to stand up, he made his way to them.

Sitting beside Bonzo, in front of Forland, he spoke to Caden. "See kid, if you just left when I told you so, you wouldn't be here now."

"Who are you?" Asked coldly Forland, before looking at Caden. "Some friend of yours?"

"You could say so." He answered, before linking the dots in his head.

"I think I get most of what happened, so Thomas, correct me if I'm wrong." He said, before closing his eyes and concentrating.

"You warning me meant that you knew what was going to happen. But if you are here, then you didn't think it would happen to you or didn't care." He said.

"I didn't care anymore." Answered Thomas.

"Then the merchant sold us both as slaves?"

"Indeed."

"Ok, for at least warning me I won't beat you up, but anyway, explain what you know. Any idea of where we are?"

"Well, this island is called Boran. For the past 3 years, Puki pirates operated here."

"Then why weren't they stopped yet?" Asked Forland.

"The island was abandoned a long time ago, some rich dude bought it and built a mansion on it to live in solitude."

"How do you know so much?" Asked Caden.

"Well, I sailed with Ganero and Mabar before we started selling people as slaves. Three years ago, Ganero started to lose money because of his stupid hobby, so he started slowly selling the new recruits and part of his crew as slaves to the pirates. I heard that Puki pirates made money from selling these slaves to Tequila Wolf."

"Why did nobody stop Ganero?"

"Well, the first time after selling, he told everybody that they are all accomplices together with him if somebody rattles them out."

"He managed to convince them with just this?" Asked Forland, with his jaw hanging and eyes opened wide. The disbelief was shared with the others.

"Somehow, yes."

"..."

Hearing that, they looked at the 3 others that came with Caden and Thomas. 

They were sitting in the corner, slowly crying and sucking on their thumbs like babies. Other slaves seeing grown men acting like children slowly distanced themselves from them.

Shaking the disbelief off, the four of them decided to believe Thomas and took him in to strategize the escape.

After having made a rough plan, they talked to all the other slaves, getting them in on it. To convince them, Caden opened all of their handcuffs. To keep his powers hidden, he shaped the slime to mimic a normal metal wire, which he inserted into the keyhole. Moving the slime inside he opened them all.

Next, Forland organized them all into teams. He made 3 groups, with himself, Bonzo and Handro at the helm.

Bonzo's group would stop whenever they find women to help them out and keep them safe.

Handro's group had the important task of heading fastly to the port to secure a ship or ships that could take in all the slaves and more.

Forland's team would help Caden break through the mansion, following behind him and taking any weapons they find.

Finally, Caden assured them that he will be fine going in front, he only needs to find a gun and he will manage to kill most of the pirates.

Hopefully, they keep additional weapons in the basement. Having the belief that their captors are at least a little logical, they planned it around finding guns or knives or even some sabers and swords to fight with.

Now, the only thing they need to do is wait until nighttime.

At the same time above ground, the women slaves were walking around preparing the banquet. They did their best to not be noticed by the pirates walking around.

The unfortunate ones were groped, abused or outright taken against their will and raped.

The time went by and it was already evening.

From the merchant ship Ganero stepped out, taking only Mabar with him to attend the banquet. In Mabar's hands was a bottle of rum, intended as a gift to the host.

A moment before they went out, Hank arrived in a carriage.

"Good evening Ganero, Mabar. Please come inside and we will shortly arrive."

They both stepped inside and sat down. The horses slowly started pulling the carriage up to the mansion.

Few minutes later, they arrived at the entrance. Everybody got out and went inside.

Going through the hallways, both guests didn't even look around. It wasn't their first time here after all.

Finally arriving at the main hall, which encompassed almost 3 floors, having balconies on the walls and a big chandelier hanging from the ceiling, they saw Kaeru.

Sitting on a luxurious armchair, positioned at the end of the very long table, he looked ahead and saw the visitors.

"Ah, Ganero. Good to see you. I heard of the new slaves you brought me." He said, with a squeaky voice.

Kaeru was a small man, barely the size of Caden. Ganero looked at him, noticing that his hair was dark green, different from his normal black color. There were some other changes from how he remembered him, but nothing too noticeable.

Ignoring this small fact, he greeted the man. "Hello Kaeru. I hope they are enough for our agreement."

"Yes, they are. Although kids would be more preferred, the 4 adults cover their absence." He said, before informing the servant to bring something.

"Oh, right. Come sit, tell me about your trip this time."

They sat down, with some more pirates joining in. Currently at the table sat the most important people for their whole slave operation.

Kaeru, Hank, Ganero, Mabar and over ten other pirates that held important positions. As the time went on, they drank alcohol and discussed many things.

Ganero also generously gave the rum he brought to Kaeru, who showed him exactly what interesting thing he bought.

Turns out Ganero's hobby was eating aged cheese. He just loved the smell of it together with taste.

Other pirates and even Mabar were disgusted with it, the only exception being Kaeru, who looked at it with shock. He thought Ganero was only faking it, so he bought the cheese to test him.

Moving on from that, other pirates around the mansion were also drinking and partying, since after tomorrow they will have to go back to work, looking for more slaves.

When everybody was having fun, only one angry pirate was sitting down at the bottom of the basement next to the stairs. He was the only one who had to stay sober and keep watch over the slaves.

"Fuck them all. I can't believe they just left me like that." He grumbled, kicking stuff laying around.

"At least there are darts here." He said, trying to think positively.

For the next hours he threw them at the board on the side, not even bothering with checking on the slaves. They already got their food a few hours prior after all.

Sitting there, he heard some screams from the slaves.

"Fucking idiots, can't even shut up for one day." He said, before begrudgingly standing up and walking to the door. He couldn't just ignore it, what if they started killing themselves somehow? That would lessen his payment.

Standing in front of the door, he opened the hatch to check on them.

Just as he did that, the door opened with full force, striking him on the side.

"What the fuck!" He shouted, before being punched on the face by some kid and losing consciousness.

From the room left Caden, looking around to ascertain the situation.

"Nobody is around guys, move." He said, turning to the people behind him.

"Everyone remembers what to do?" Asked Forland, getting a bunch of nods and quiet "Yes" from others.

"Good, I will go ahead and scout. If I can, I will subdue anybody I find." He said, slowly walking to the stairs.

As he was going, lights started to appear around him. Some lamps were put on the walls, with no decoration whatsoever.

Behind him Forland searched the fallen guy, finding one gun of low quality.

With a whispering voice, he said. "Caden, here. Take this!"

He looked back and took the gun. It was a basic one barreled pistol.

"Look for the sack with ammunition." Said Caden, looking up at them.

In a moment he was presented with a small sack containing around 20 bullets. It's annoying, but this gun could only shoot once at a time before needing to reload.

Walking up the stairs and exploring the upper basements, they didn't find much. Only some food storages that they raided and moderately ate some of it.

Lady luck actually smiled at them just as they were about to go up on the ground floor.

"Hey, I think I found something!" Said one slave quietly, before opening the most unimpressive looking doors.

On the other side were stored around 10 guns, all of them also just pistols. They worked the same as Caden's gun, so nothing impressive. Fortunately, they found many more bullets stored there.

Those who knew how to operate or were brave enough to try took the guns.

Caden was still walking ahead of the others and finally he reached the ground floor, signified by the windows on the walls.

Looking around, he didn't see any pirates in the hallway, but heard some laughter and screams of women further down and from up above.

"It seems like they are having a party. Good for us, maybe their screams and shouts will block the sound of gunshots." He said to himself, before going down to talk with the others. There being a party above made the team change their plans slightly.

From going there guns blazing and hoping for the best, maybe a more stealthy approach will work better.

~2119 words