Date: Tue, 1 Mar 2011 16:48:56 +1300
From: Arthur <artcart65@vodafone.co.nz>
Subject: Elios 6

				   ELIOS


				 CHAPTER 6


			    SURVIVAL INSTINCTS


				 BY ARTHUR


Artcart65@vodafone.co.nz



The next morning the boys awoke to the first blush of dawn showing in the
sky and the soft swishing sound of the gentle waves lapping at the shore,
the three heads poked out of the top of their warm and comfortable sleeping
bag and sniffed the freshness of the salty air, a slight dampness from the
morning dew had settled on the outside of their sleeping bag and the light
chill made all three shiver slightly and wriggle closer to each other to
try and keep the body warmth a little longer.

It took them a little while to orient themselves and then ready everything
for their next move, after their meal they rechecked their quads and
supplies and after eating, were ready to move out on another search towards
the far end of the shore where they could see in the distance the face of a
cliff, had they been walking it would have taken them more than a dei to
make it but on the quads and at a leisurely pace they were close well
before high sun.

The boys had been looking out to sea most of the time they had been
travelling and the number of broken cave systems buried in the water
surprised them although, most were crumbling and showed no signs of the
gles that they had been used to seeing in the land based caves, these were
definitely ancient cave systems but why they would build them out in the
Oshun was a mystery to the boys.

Their concentration was so riveted on the Oshun that they almost missed the
movement of dark spots at the top of the distant sand hills and it was only
at the last minute that Elvan saw the movement out of the corner of his
eye, he quickly pushed the button that made the quad beep to call attention
of his friends, as they turned to him he pointed to the hill and shouted
out loud so he could be heard above the noise of the quad.

The boys stopped and looked ahead at the line of Renegs on the hill top,
they had also stopped and were looking down at the three boys on their
strange artifacts, there were over ten of the Renegs and the boys were not
about to try to challenge them here in the open, with a shout, Elios turned
his quad and took off in the opposite direction from the mounted men on the
hill top, the other two boys were quickly behind him.

The sound of the quads drowned out the shouts and yells of the Renegs as
they urged their Haws forward in an attempt to catch the fleeing boys, Elam
took the second place and Elvan the rear as the boys pressed down on the
speed button under their thumbs, the Renegs were at full gallop as the
descended from the sand hill after the fleeing boys, their yells and shouts
echoed down the shore as they tried to close in on their escaping prizes.

Elios, being lighter than the other boys was slowly pulling ahead but he
could also just hear the beat of the chasing hooves as the Renegs did their
best to catch up, they all kept their eyes on the sand in front of them,
until, Elvan felt a hot burning sensation on his thigh and the distinct
sound of metal hitting metal, Elvan looked down as he raced across the
sand, on the top of his thigh was a deep cut that was bleeding but in front
of that was the back half of a crossbow bolt sticking out of his fuel tank
and the cold wetness of the fuel spilling out over his injured leg.

Just as Elvan looked up to call out to his disappearing friends, his quad
hit a bump in the sand and at the speed he was travelling he was elected
high into the air and came smacking down hard on the sandy shore, as he
landed his instinct was to curl up into a ball and roll to avoid breaking
anything, to the side his quad spun into the air as well and, as the fuel
sprayed from the ruptured tank there was a flash and a deep boom sound as
it caught fire and exploded in a ball of fire.

Elvan rolled to his feet and reached for his Beretta as he settled onto one
knee to steady his shaking hands, the shock of the sudden tumble had not
had time to take any effect on his nervous system as yet but the fast
approaching Renegs were not going to give him a chance to run, far ahead
Elios and Elam heard the sound of the explosion and slowed enough to turn
around just in time to see the Renegs galloping down on the lone figure
kneeling in the sand.

Elvan watched the approaching danger and, just as they had practised at the
bunker, he began to follow the fig pictures, `pull back slide, safety off,
hold with both hands firmly, squeeze gently and slowly' The loud bang would
have startled Elvan had they not had the practise, his fist shot missed the
approaching group but settled his nerves, with slow deliberate actions he
continued to fire off his shots until the Beretta clicked empty, he had hit
two Haws which had thrown their riders, one of which didn't move any more
and the other was struggling to stand, he also hit two of the Renegs, one
falling over the side of his Haws and the other grasping his stomach.

Elvan reached for another `mag' but before his fingers could release the
button on his webbing, he felt a stunning blow to the side of his head and
all he could see was the sand coming up at his face before he blacked out
and lay still. Elios and Elam were in the process of turning around the
quads when the first bangs of Elvan's Berretta were heard above the noise,
they watched in fear and fascination as they saw two Haws stumble and their
riders fall badly to the sand followed by one more Reneg and then another
wobbling on his Haws.

What upset the two young boys the most was the sight of Elvan falling under
the blow of a big Reneg as he swung a blunt weapon at the smaller boys
head, Elvan collapsed and the sight brought a new fear to the remaining
boys, should they go and try to help him or try to escape before they were
all caught, the confusion from the sudden and deadly attack made it
difficult to make a decision.

Finally Elios called Elam over as the Renegs had stopped and circled around
Elvan's limp body.

"We have to save him; we can't leave him for them to kill."

"I know but what can we do, there's got to be more than ten of them and
only two of us?"

"Let's get up into the sand hill away from their sight and then we can
plan."

"Ok."

The boys turned their quads around and raced further down the shore before
they turned up into the hills to hide and plan. As they rode over the hill
and out of sight of the group on the shore, the first tears began to
appear, both boys sucked in big gasps of air to calm themselves, they
needed to be calm and concentrate on the task ahead, they both knew that
Elvan was in grave danger and to break down now would not help him.

"We've got to get him free, they're going to rape him and kill him or take
him for a slave, we can't let that happen." Started Elios.

"I know, but what can we do, there's only the two of us, Elios?"

"We've got those `rifles' we can find a place and try to get as many as we
can and hope the run away so we can get Elvan."

"Do you think it could work?"

"Yes, they only have crossbows and have to get close before they are any
good, we can stay well back and if they come after us we can jump on the
quads again and escape then turn back and do the same again, their Haws
will be slow going up the hills so all we have to do is find a place where
we are above them and then move before they can catch us again."

"How are we going to do it?"

"Let's fill up the quads and check the `rifles' put the small red lights on
the `rifles' " the boys had discovered during their long practices, that
the red light under their `rifles' made it easier to hit the
`targets'. "It'll make it easier to hit what we are looking at. We'll go
along here behind the hill until we're close to where they are, if we keep
low we can sneak up to the top of the hill and try from there, we will have
to leave the quads running in case we have to make a run for it."

Elam nodded his head in agreement of Elios plan and turned to get his quad
and `rifle' ready as Elios did the same, as they worked away the heard the
first high pitched cry from along the shore, it was made faint by the
distance and height of the sand hills but they knew what it meant to their
friend Elvan.

While he worked on his gear, Elios mind worked out their problem, they had
to find more boys to live with them and train, with just three of them they
were open to attack from bigger numbers, that would be their next search,
to find more boys to come with them to `Bunker #42'.

At last the two boys were as ready as they could be and so, with their
quads moving slowly to keep the noise down, they made their way along the
base of the hill until they thought they were close to where the Renegs
were holding Elvan. Both boys crawled carefully to the top of the hill and
with slow deliberate movements slowly poked their heads above the sand
hill, below them the sight nearly made them jump up and run down to help
Elvan.

The group of Renegs had elvan down on the sand, even from the distant
vantage point the boys could see he had been badly beaten and was now the
object of multiple rape, worse than that the Renegs had made him lay on his
back and two of them were holding his legs up while a third was pounding
into him with savagery, this position was the worst one that a boy could be
in, when boys played their games it was always agreed that they were boys
and would never have sex in the same position that a breeder is put, that
was not only a disgrace but was the worst insult that could be given to any
boy, the Renegs were delighting in the total degradation of their captive
as Elvan's cries and screams went unheard by his attackers.

Elios looked at Elam with a stoniness in his eyes that boded hate and
destruction to the gang below them, the boys slowly eased their `rifles'
over the lip of the hill making sure not to send any loose sand down the
hill to warn the Renegs, switching on the red light under the `rifle' they
took their first aim at the group, Elios picked the biggest man as it was
more likely to be the leader, while Elam took aim at the man on top of
Elvan.

"Ready?" Whispered Elios.

"Yes."

The resounding crack of the two shots could be heard along the length of
the shore as the two boys pulled the triggers, the large man that Elios
could see through the eye piece of the `scope' suddenly took a step back
and clutched his chest with both hands, he looked down and saw the blood
seeping between his fingers and then his eyes rolled up into his head as
his knees buckled under him, the rapist had no such chance as Elam's shot
took him in the centre of the back and exploded out through his chest to
spray Elvan with his blood, this Reneg had only time to mutter something
under his breath and then rolled over sideways, pulling out of Elvan at the
same time.

The remaining Reneg stood rooted to the spot at the sharp unknown sound,
the Haws however, knew danger when they heard it and all of them began to
bolt for safety up among the hills leaving their riders on foot, two more
crashes sounded out loud along the now still and quiet shore line, two more
Renegs crumpled onto the dry sand, the remaining eight looked about for
their Haws and only then realised that they were at the mercy of the
invisible killers with their strange new weapons.

One of the Renegs ran towards Elvan with the boys combat knife raised high
in the air to strike down the boy and finish him off before any more of his
fellow Renegs fell, he never made it to the boy as the twin sounds echoed
around the shore again, the Renegs were down to six and still confused as
to where the death was coming from, two more crashes and they were reduced
to four, it was time to call a halt to the carnage so they fell to the sand
on their knees with their hands empty and high in the air hoping the loud
crashing and death would stop but it didn't, two more fell never to rise
again, of the last two one was now crying out for the magicians to show
themselves, the other one lashed out with his hand and knocked the younger
one to the ground only to feel a hot knife pierce his chest and then he
fell to the sand not moving anymore, the last Reneg curled up in a tight
ball and sobbed loudly as he waited for his end as well, the magicians were
showing no mercy for Renegs.

A soft groan came from the young boy they had captured as he tried to roll
over and sit up but the effort defeated him and he collapsed back onto the
sand in pain, the young Reneg didn't want to move so he turned his tear
stained eyes to look at the boy, as he did he saw movement from the sand
hills above him, another young boy was coming down the hill carrying a
strange black pipe in two hands, when he was at the bottom of the hill he
knelt down and pointed the pipe at the Reneg, when this was done another
boy appeared at the top of the hill and began to run down it.

Elios knelt at the bottom of the hill and kept the red light on the chest
of the last Reneg, why they had not killed him as well neither Elios or
Elam knew, they had just decided to stop firing, Elios never took his eyes
off the Reneg as Elam crouched down beside him and took up the same stance
with his rifle pointed at the Reneg as Elios ran over to where Elvan lay
groaning on the sand, one glance and Elios was ready to kill the last
Reneg.

Both Elvan's eyes were closed shut and very quickly getting blacker and
blacker, there were small cuts over his chest from a sharp knife and
bruises over most of his slender body, from his boy hole there was blood
and man juice leaking and his thighs were also bruised, Elios knelt beside
his friend and tried to talk to him but his life long friend only tried to
hide his battered face from him, the ignominy and shame of being raped like
a breeder was having its effect along with the serious injuries, Elios
slowly put his arm around the boy as Elam came up beside him still pointing
the rifle at the Reneg who was still face down on the sand shaking in fear.

Normally the Rover boys would not fight back with the Renegs but these two
very young boys had not only fought back but had killed all of their
enemies with some new and strange weapon the Reneg had never seen nor heard
of before, he could see the two boys looking down at their friend but he
was not going to chance them seeing him move so he stayed as still as he
could although the sobs were hard to control he tried not to bring
attention to himself, he had only been with the Renegs for two yarn and
didn't want to die yet so he waited for the boys to make the first move.

Elios left Elvan to Elam and walked over to the Reneg, with his rifle he
poked the body on the ground.

"Turn over; have you got any weapons on you?"

The Reneg shook his head and rolled over and sat up to face the young boy
with the pipe, it touched his skin and he felt a faint heat to the end of
it. Elios stared at the Reneg and then gave a slight gasp, the Reneg was
only a few yarn older than they were, he was dark haired so he wasn't from
their Breeding Cave, he was also very dirty and his hair had not seen water
in a long time.

"Why did you try to hurt our friend?"

"I...I didn't want too, that's what they did to me, then they made me join
them or I would be killed, I...I like your friend, but, well I couldn't
stop them."

"What's your name?"

"Mita."

"Are there any more Renegs around here close by?"

"No, no more, we were on a hunting search and only stumbled onto you when
we heard those funny wheel things on the shore, there's a big group about
one dei away from here."

"How many is there?"

"I don't know for sure but about five plus ten at least."

Taking a short time to think, Elios continued.

"Turn around and put your hands behind you, don't make any other moves or I
will kill you."

The young Reneg just did as he was told and waited for the young boy to
tell him what to do next, taking his old sling from around his neck, Elios
quickly tied the Renegs hands behind him, once that was done he left Mita
where he was and went back to the now calmer Elvan, his shirt was torn and
laying on the sand, Elios picked it up and ran down to the Oshun to wet it
and try to clean Elvan up a little, once he was back he asked Elam to go
back over the hill and bring their quads back one at a time, they would
have to take elvan back to their home cave and treat him properly there, he
was sure the ancients would have some sort of medicine to help his friend,
of the young Reneg he was not sure yet as what to do.

Elam left to get the first quad as Elios continued to clean the cuts on
Elvan's chest and then he carefully tried to clean the blood and man juice
from between his friends legs, when he had finished Elvan was calmer but
still not able to look his friend in the eye from his shame at being taken
like a breeder, the rape had been bad enough as had the beating but the
shame he felt was far more disastrous to his sense being a boy.

Elam brought the first quad up as Elios finished with his cleaning duties
and then Elam turned again to get the last one, they would have to double
up to get Elvan back to the home cave, Elam still had a hatred for the
remaining Reneg and was only stopped by Elios from killing him immediately,
Elios explained that they might learn a lot from the young Reneg but they
would have to keep him from either escaping or attacking them on the way to
home cave.

Elios had thought out a plan to take the Reneg with them, Elvan would have
to ride with Elam and Elios would tie Mita's hands to the rear bars of his
quad, they would have to make their home cave in what was left of the dei
so they could help Elvan, so they would refuel here and head off at top
speed for their base, Elios went and picked up Elvan's webbing and Beretta
before going over to Mita.

"We have to get our friend back to our cave, you'll come with us but if you
try anything I'll let Elam kill you slowly so no funny tricks."

Mita could only nod his head, he would rather be a slave to these boys than
be dead, besides, they had so much ancient artifacts they must be very
dangerous, maybe if he did as they said he would get something to eat at
last, it had been two dei since he had been allowed to eat by the Renegs
and he had little energy left to fight these boys.

When Elam had returned they fuelled their two remaining quads and sat Elvan
on the back of Elam's making him as comfortable as they could for the long
run back home, Elios told Mita to sit on the back of his quad facing
backwards, he then took both his sling and the one Elam had and tied Mita's
hands to the metal pipe at the rear so he could not try and attack Elios as
he drove the quad, there was not much space but it would have to do,
besides he was only a Reneg captive so he would just have to put up with
it.

"If you try to escape I drag you along behind until your dead so don't fall
off, we're going to be going fast so hang on tight to that pipe." Elios
told him.

Mita nodded his head in understanding but his stomach was gurgling with
fear at the strange artefact that the boys used, it alone was terrifying
enough he was not going to take any chance of being dragged behind it as
well, Elios gave Elam the signal and they took off for home, the speed
built quickly as they pushed as hard as they could on the speed button,
there was no time for being careful, their friend needed help as soon as
they could give it to him.

The dark was approaching quickly as they hit the flat sand of their valley,
with a quick burst of speed the boys made a final short dash for the door
to their home cave, Elios made sure that Mita was still looking backwards
as he got off the quad and went to open the door, all Mita could do was sit
there and wait as he first heard a deep rumbling sound and then a small
vibration from the pipes he was sitting on.

Elam went in first followed by Elios who stopped to close the door and then
took off after Elam to park the quad in the `garage' where he helped Elam
take the now almost unconscious Elvan from the back of the quad and helped
him to support Elvan down to the `ablution' room where they could wash him
and then put him in one of the bunks to rest as they tried to find a way to
help him from all the `manuals'.

Mita tried to look around this new huge cave, there was so much in it and
he didn't understand any of it, none of it had been seen by him before and
although his hands were hurting from the tight skin thongs used to tie him
up, he thought it better not to say anything unless the boys got angry and
killed him, he sat and waited as far off noises came to his ears, the sound
of water made his dry throat constrict and somewhere he could smell some
sort of food being cooked. Mita's biggest amazement was the amount of light
in the cave, it shone down strongly from long gles strips high up in the
roof, there was a real freshness about the cave that he had never felt or
smelt before in all the caves he had been in.

After what seemed forever, Mita heard the sound of approaching steps,
looking up he saw the smaller boy come into the cave, in his hand he had
another black artefact and it was pointed right at his head, it was smaller
than the long pipe he had seen earlier but looked just as dangerous in the
smaller boy's hand. Elios went over to Mita and stared at him, his hand
holding the Beretta was still and firm as he pointed it at the Renegs head.

"I'm going to untie you, you do anything silly and I will put a hole in
your head, understand?"

Mita nodded his head, besides, the way he was feeling without food for so
long he had little energy left to try and fight this boy, the boy smelt
clean and looked as though he had just eaten, he had to find out more about
this new cave system, maybe, just maybe, if he was good and worked hard for
them, they would let him stay, he had not enjoyed the last two yarn with
the Renegs, even now he was still treated like a slave boy to them.

Elios held his Beretta with one hand while he loosened the two slings with
the other, once he had the Reneg free he stepped back out of reach and
pointed towards the door, by the smell of the Reneg he would need a wash
before he was allowed into the living and eating area. Elios followed along
behind and a little distance away from Mita as he directed the Reneg to the
`ablution' room.

"Strip your skins off and stand under that pipe over there."

Mita looked at the clean shirt that Elios was wearing and then down at the
roughly tanned skins he had on, these boys were way better off than any of
the Renegs had ever been apart from the big leader who was a long way away
in the Reneg cave town. Mita did as he was told, the strange white squares
of stone under his feet felt cold as he stood and waited. Elios went closer
to Mita and turned on the two levers to start the water flowing, he then
reached for a yellow bar they used for washing and threw it to the Reneg.

"Use that to wash, it will make you cleaner and make sure you use plenty on
your hair, it's like a rat nest up there."

Elios stood back and watched as the Reneg boy took off his skins, his
boyhood was a lot bigger than any of the three friends and he stood staring
at it and wondered what something that big would feel like inside him, his
eyes glazed over a little at the thought but then he shook himself as the
Reneg got under warm water. At first Mita couldn't make out what it was but
the water was definitely warmer than any river or other water he had washed
in so long ago, he stood in awe as the warm water ran over him, he felt his
sore muscles begin to relax and, just as he got used to the water, Elios
turned the lever a little more and the water became hot, Mita jumped and
then began to relax as he felt the new sensation run over him, taking the
yellow square he began to rub it over his skin, the scent making him relax
even more, it smelt of strange flowers and the dirt seemed to just run off
him.

Elios watched as the dirt ran from the body of the young Reneg, what
appeared made Elios like the look of the older boy more and more, once the
hair was washed it had a soft shine to it and while it was way longer than
any boy he had seen, nearly down to the middle of the Renegs back, it also
intrigued him, his breach-clout was beginning to get tight as his reaction
to the older and bigger boy took effect.

Elios waited until the Reneg was clean and then told him to leave his dirty
skin on the floor and walk ahead of him, Elios directed him to the main
room where they had some of the left over spam pie from their meal, it was
still warm from the heating oven and Elios directed him to sit and eat, the
Reneg didn't need a second invitation, he sat and began to shovel the first
food he had had in deis into his mouth with his fingers.

It wasn't long before the metal tray was as clean as though it had never
been used, Mita was still hungry but wasn't about to ask for more, he had
been lucky so far and didn't want to push his slim luck any further while
the boy stood there with the strange black weapon pointed at him.

"Right, you're going to be put in a room to sleep, I have to tie you up
again until we feel we can trust you, get up and go down there." Elios
pointed in the direction the Reneg was to take.

"What about my cloths?"

"You don't need them yet, if you turn out ok we will find some new ones for
you to wear but for now, you stay as you are until then." Replied Elios.

Mita walked ahead of the boy until he was told to stop at a door, the boy
opened the door to a dark cave, he was then pushed into the dark and then a
bright white light came on showing a number of strange sleeping platforms,
each one had another above it. Mita was told to stand back against a wall
and not move while the boy went about taking some strange rolls and laying
one on a sleeping platform; he then placed two grey thick cloths over the
base and signalled Mita to lay down.

Mita did as instructed and, as soon as he was laying on the soft pad, the
boy put the two grey cloths over him and told him to put his arms above his
head, once that was done the boy then got two of the unusual belts and tied
his hands firmly to the pipes at the top of the platform, he could relax
his arms but not get them close enough to each other to untie them, the boy
then told him.

"Stay here and don't try to do anything silly, we only sleep over the other
side and can hear you if you do, then you will be killed."

Mita had no doubts that the boy meant what he said, it was obvious that the
three boys were old friends and wouldn't hesitate to protect each other,
Mita had no doubts and decided to do as he was told, besides, it was also
obvious that he was in a much better place than he had been for the last
two yarn, good food, plenty of water and warm cloths, that is if he was
ever allowed to have any cloths.

Elios returned to their sleeping room and saw Elam lying beside the injured
Elvan, the boy`s eyes were now completely closed and showing the dark blue
of the bruises, his chest was covered by a new cloth that Elios had not
seen yet, it was only about three fingers wide and went around and around
Elvan's chest and stomach, there were faint splotches of red coming through
the strips of cloth but looked as though they were drying rapidly.

"Where did you get that cloth from?" asked Elios.

"I looked at all the remaining `manuals' until I found one that had a
description of injuries, the symbols were to big to understand so I just
looked for some fig pictures, they showed a box with a red + on it and
inside was another small `manual' on how to use the cloths and some of the
mixtures inside, I use something called an `antiseptic' to clean the cuts
and then covered them with the long cloths, he seems better now and the
wounds aren't bleeding anymore."

"Is he going to be alright though?"

"Yes, but he still feels bad about being taken like a breeder, I think
we're going to have to be careful for him for a while, what about that
Reneg boy?"

"I tied him to a `bunk' in the other room, he can stay there until sun
rise, then I think we should question him about the Renegs and what they do
or where they come from, we might have to fight them again one dei so the
more we know about them the better for us."

"Yes I agree, are you going to sleep here now?"

"No I think I should give Elvan space to heal, I'm going over to that
`bunk' are you coming? I really need you after the dei we've had?"

Elios went to the `bunk' he had pointed too and made it up ready for use,
by the time he had stripped off and got into the bunk, Elam was also ready,
he too was naked and hard as he slid down behind Elios, his rigid boy hood
pushing urgently into Elios asking for entry, both boys need some relief
after the tough dei and the attack on the Renegs.

The following sun rise, Elam changed the cloths on elvan who was now awake
but feeling very sore and so was told to stay where he was and they would
look after him until he felt better, Elios went to the other room and
released the Reneg boy and took him to their main room, after making sure
the boy was tied to a chair he went to the `galley' and took another of
Elvan's dishes from the `cool room' and put it in the `oven' to heat for
their meal.

As Elios put the tray of food on the table, Elam arrived and after giving
the Reneg a murderous look, sat down and began to eat while Elios took out
his Beretta and laid it on the table in easy reach then released the Reneg
boy so he could also eat, they all stayed silent as they ate and when Elam
had finished he filled a plate and took it to Elvan while Elios stayed to
watch their prisoner.

Mita was still hungry and there was still some left in the tray but he was
not going to risk his neck by asking for more, the small boy looked as
though he too was ready to kill him, Mita sat back and waited for his next
orders and the one that came surprised him completely.

"You can finish the tray if you're still hungry, we have plenty of food in
here, when you're finished I want information about the Renegs, no lies or
only half stories, I want to know everything you can remember about them."

Mita could only nod his head in agreement as he refilled his plate with the
unusual but great food, he had no intention of giving the boys any reason
to kill him or throw him out of this great and secret cave system. When
Mita had finished eating and Elam had returned, Elios told Mita to tell his
story starting with why he was with the Renegs. It turned out to be a
horrifying story and when Mita got to the end the boys could see why he had
joined the Renegs, after being repeatedly raped by any Reneg that saw him,
he was given the chance to either join them or die, if he joined them he
would stay their slave for three yarn and then he would be old enough to be
a full Reneg, the boys attack had put a stop to that end.

Elios and Elam began to question him about the Renegs, how many, where they
stayed, what they did, what weapons they used, who was their big man, it
took a long time but both Elios and Elam could tell that the Reneg had told
them the truth and not held anything back from them, they both stood up and
went over to a far corner where they couldn't be heard by their prisoner,
after a short discussion, the two boys went back to the table, Elios looked
down at the Reneg and took out his Beretta, looked at it and then at Mita,
he could see the fear in the Renegs eyes as he held the Beretta loosely in
his hand.

Elios replaced his pistol and looked hard at Mita.

"Here's what we agreed, you can take it or you can die, there's no other
way for you. You become our slave for one yarn, you will do all the
cleaning and anything else we want for that time, if at the end of one yarn
we are happy with your efforts and you want to stay with us then you can,
we will give you plenty of food and cloths, you will sleep in the room you
were in last dark but we will not tie you up, we will block the door so you
can't get out while we sleep, if you agree then you start now, if not then
you die right now, your choice?"

Mita didn't hesitate in his decision, even being a slave to younger boys
was better than he had with the Renegs and here he had good food, could
wash all the time as he hated being dirty like the Reneg were, and he would
have a chance to be a part of this secret cave system, Mita told Elios he
would like to stay, even as a slave to younger boys he would be better off
than outside or dead.

"Right then it's agreed, you go with Elam and he will show you how to
operate the water levers in the galley and clean up the eating tools, when
that's done come back here and we'll give you some more work to do, if
you've done good work in the galley we will give you some cloths to wear,
it's all up to you."

Mita nodded and quickly followed Elam out to the galley where he was shown
how to use the water levers and where everything went after washing and
cleaning the galley, Mita set to work straight away, the plates, trays and
eating tools the boys had used took a little while but when he finished he
started on the rest of the galley so everything was again shiny and clean.

It was five deis before Elvan was up and about with any sense of freedom
from his pain and injuries, he eyes were both still black but he could now
see clearly, only the bruises ached a little but his cuts had healed
remarkably quickly with the aid of the medicine Elam had found and used.
Elvan was still very suspicious of Mita and would not let the Reneg close
to him even though he could see the new addition to their small family was
trying very hard to do as he was told and with no complaints.

At their dark time meal the three boys decided to talk over what they would
do next while Mita was in the galley cleaning, he was not included in any
decision making, he was their slave and that was that, Elios brought up the
question of numbers again.

"From what Mita told us the Renegs are many more times than we are, if we
run into a big gang of them we might not be as lucky as last time, I think
we have to go out and look for more boys, we need more numbers to train so
we stay safe from them."

Both of the other boys nodded their heads in agreement as Elios continued.

"Elam, do you think you can operate the APC properly?"

"Yes, I've been practicing a lot in the garage but it will take the three
of us to operate it properly, what do you have in mind?"

"Well, we can't leave Mita here on his own and I don't want him trained in
anything until he has finished his one yarn so he will have to come with us
and that means he can't ride a quad, if we fill the APC up with everything
we might need we will still have space to put some new boys to bring back
here, also the Renegs have nothing to break into the APC so we'll be safe
inside it, it'll only be when we have to go outside of it that we will need
to be very careful."

"Ok, so when do we go looking and what will we need?" Asked Elvan.

"We'll need food, fuel and weapons as well as the sleeping and cooking
things, the food will have to be more than last time because we might have
other boys to feed, how many people do you think will fit inside along with
everything else, Elam?"

"Uhm, let me see, I'll drive, Elvan on the big weapons, you reading the
directions and Mita sitting in the back, plus fuel, lets say ten of the
jerry cans full, the boxes of food and there's places to store the hand
weapons on the sides so that leaves enough space for about ten plus five
boys on each trip."

"Good, Elvan can you cook enough food for every one if we get that many?"

"Yes, I can use Mita to help cooking when he's not doing other stuff, I
think we should take that big rifle out of the box and use the box to store
the food in, it's the right size to take a lot of trays then we only have
to heat it up like last time."

"Good, ok, now what about you using the big weapons in the APC?"

"Elam will have to teach me about it but I think I can do it."

"Good, right now all we have to do is work out what to do with all the boys
when they get here, what do you guys suggest?"

Elam spoke first.

"Why not make a list of what has to be done then, we can tell each boy
where he has to work each day and we can leave enough time for them to do
training as well, like, if there's going to be lots of boys then Elvan will
need a lot of help cooking and cleaning, then there's the transport that
will need looking after according to the manuals they need something called
a `SERVICE' done every so often so they don't break, I'll need some of the
boys to help with that sort of thing, what do you need Elios?"

"I think I should try to teach some of them about reading the symbols and
how to work a map, there's also the items in the administration room, they
call them `COMPUTERS' I haven't worked them out properly but they seem to
hold a lot of information inside them that we might need or be able to use,
some of the boys might be able to learn about them."

The three boys ran through the list of needs in the head before all
agreeing to call it time for sleep, they sent Mita to his bunk and locked
the door before going to their own room where they could all now sleep
again together as Elvan was not as sore anymore, at the rising of the new
sun they would start to put their plans in operation so they could go
looking for new boys to join them as soon as possible.


TBC


Artcart65@vodafone.co.nz