The Red Nights

Sun rays were running up Volga's body from the bottom to the upper part, as they were gently stroking her eyes she frowned and opened them. Above her she could observe a spectacle she hadn't seen since a long time, the sky was revealing to her its two forms, on her right side the sky was painted in blue indigo while on her left side the sky was revealing an orange golden tint which was expending while swallowing the last clues of the presence of the night to prepare the place for the sun, announcing the beginning of a new day.

She sat up and as she was stroking her eyes she heard a familiar voice behind her, " you're awake? Great, I was about to do it myself but you've spared me some time. Hurry up, we have to go wake up the others and start preparing, Konny will soon be on her way to come here with her entire army " Jamal said while stretching.

She turned her head right and left and then looked at him, dumbfounded, " don't tell me we have slept here all the night? " she asked while pronouncing each word.

" We have slept here all the night " he responded carelessly.

" And you're telling me that so casually " she shouted, she stood up suddenly and started to glance around her as if she just appeared in a new planet, " how come? How come we're still... ? " Jamal put his hands on her shoulders, shook her slightly and said " relax, I don't understand why such reaction. Don't panic just because we stayed here all the night, it's alright, remember I have done this few days ago and I'm alright, you see? So calm down all things are alright ".

As she was listening to him she started to cool down. When she totally came back to her senses she coughed and told him " alright, let's return back. By the way let's also avoid people to know that we've spent the night here, it's would be... troublesome ".

" Agree, let's go " he replied. He released her and walked toward the metallic door while she was following him.

They returned back and as expected they were all still asleep, Volga proposed Jamal to split, he would start by waking up those staying in the upper level of the building while she would go ahead for those who were in the lower level. " I will go look for Pam's help, if I remember well she said staying in the lowest level near her dad's room " she informed him.

" Wait, when did you get along for her to tell you where she sleeps? " he asked her.

" Girls befriend faster than boys " she responded with a victorious smirk, " it was planned that I would stay with her there during the night before you trapped me outside "

" What are you talking about it was you the one who came for me " he laughed.

She pushed him, " let's go, we have wasted enough time " she said before she started running ahead.

Minutes later she arrived at the underground, she walked straight then turned left, following the path she remembered Pam had shown her and quickly reached her room. She was laying on a side of the bed leaving the other half free and Volga understood that she had left that place for her. She leaned toward her and as she was reaching her with her hand she noticed that she was shaking a little, when she bent a little further she could hear her muttering something " please... don't do that... please Konny leave me... it's hurt... ". Hearing that Volga remembered her story when she said having been Konny's prisoner for many days, [ she's getting nightmares of her from when she was being r.a.p.ed by Konny ] she figured out.

When she was working for the S.W.A.T Volga had intervened in some cases of women who were taken captive and was getting r.a.p.ed by some wicked men, she remembered that after their liberations, for most of them, they were still incapable to recover from those traumas, even those women, from the three previous cities they had saved, seemed to be completely broken and would need a lot of time to get any better. But on contrary to them, even after all those atrocious experiences she went through Pam didn't flee and stayed to continue the fight against the devil who had hurt her so bad. " You're one of the strongest people I ever met " Volga couldn't help but whispered to her after she realized all that.

She moved to another side of the room and started to shout Pam's name while acting like she was preparing herself in hurry, after she shouted her name three times the woman jumped from her bed. " What is it? " she asked while trying to wake up her mind, she noticed Volga who was wearing her boots and she started to get it " is it already time? " she asked one more time while she moved to get herself ready, too.

" Uh-huh " she nodded, " but we have to hurry, it's expected that Konny and her army must be on their way, already " she stood near the door to wait for her.

Pam quickly put her outfit on, she jumped a little and walked to join Volga and together they left the room. Volga made her the same proposition that they should split so that they could wake up the troops much quicker, " I will go ahead " she told her.

" Wait " Pam stopped her, " where have you been last night? I tried to stay awake as long as I could but I fell asleep before I realized so I don't at which hour did you come back ".

" Oh yes... I was with Jamal, we had many things to discuss about so we stayed until very late in the night " she responded while trying to convince herself that she didn't lie, technically.

" Oh ", Pam smile and said jokingly " you know, you could have just told that you stay with him during the night. I didn't know that a couple needed to spend so much time together but I could have arranged a room for you guys ".

Volga sighed, " I know what you're imagining right now and you're wrong. Jamal and I are not together " she explained.

Pam looked confused " ah he's not your boyfriend... because you look so close and I thought yesterday when he was talking about his girlfriend I thought he meant you ".

" Not all " she shook her head, " he meant someone else, the actual mayor of Stainfall precisely, Lina. And in my case I'm also dating someone else, his name is Don. Jamal and I are just close like brother and sister ".

" Excuse me then, I misinterpreted " she apologized while putting a hand on her mouth.

" No problem " she replied, with a smile, " let's hurry up " she said while patting her shoulder before she ran toward the stairs.

Minutes later they were all gathered in the room they had set the meeting the night before. Jamal stood up " I assume that you already all know what you have to do moreover we don't have time, so no need for me to talk too much. I will just say this, those days you have been in the oppression and fear of Konny will end today, I will bring justice for all the pain you have felt all the blood and tears you have dropped until here because of her. The power she thinks making her invincible will not save her today from your vengeance. So whatever it takes stay alive, stay alive to witness the day of your victory ".

They all stood in applause and cheers, the noise was so loud that Jamal was even wondering if Konny could hear it from where she was. Without being asked, the soldiers started to leave the room to go join their positions. Jamal quickly reached Volga and Carla, he looked at them and said " you are in charge of the most dangerous part so be careful, I promise I won't take long so hold it until I finish ".

As a response they both nodded at him, he smiled and patted their shoulders, " good luck " he said before they went off. He then went to see Pam and Phil, " are you both ready? " he waited for them to respond yes before he said " alright, let's go then ".

•••

In her car, sitting in front next to the seat of the driver, Konny turned her head to glance at Sania and Nelson, the latter was leaning his head on the pane of the car staring at the parade of buildings and houses which was constantly changing as the car was rolling forward. " When we arrive you will take some of my men and go chase after those two friends of yours, if you can't capture them then kill them" Konny told him.

" I know what I have to do " Nelson responded coldly without taking off his sight from the outside.

" Hmmm " she considered him a little bit, " if you say so, I just wanted to make a remind as you seem to be carried away " she replied in the same cold tone.

" Volga is an ex-military woman who has much more experience than I and Carla is totally a genius when it comes to fight, I can't just go blindly chasing after them I need to think about a plan, a very good plan otherwise I will be soon dead " he glanced at her and said.

" You should have think about that yesterday when you had all your time " she said while raising an eyebrow.

" That's what I wanted to do but someone had decided to send a woman to come disturb mind " he gazed at her accusingly.

" I have sent Sania to help clear your mind, for you to feel good while being with the one you love " she corrected him.

" But as you can see it didn't work, you've just forced me to **** her body " he stopped and leaned back his head on the pane.

Konny chuckled " you soured man who doesn't know how to be grateful. Well, do as you want, as long as you continue to serve me well and to accomplish even the most capricious of my orders I can overlook your insolence ". She untied her seatbelt, turned around while putting her knees on her seat, she extended her to reach Nelson's chin, she grabbed it and pulled his head toward her until their lips were at one finger to touch each other, " to say the truth, that side of you really turn me on, you seem so proud of you and so sure of yourself, like the kind of man who is so strong that nothing can hurt him, who loves playing his role of animal alpha , the kind of man who thinks being above every woman and so has the rights to play with them as much as he wants. The very kind of man I hate the most, and knowing that despite all this pride you willingly became my slave... " she m.o.a.n.e.d while biting her lip "... you can't understand the p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e you're giving me " she said while l.i.c.k.i.n.g his lips, [ I can't wait to see how far I can break you, how much I can use all what you love to hurt you more ] she said in her head, [ if only I could have get Jamal to torture him like this, I'm sure the p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e would have been so high that it could have given me a climax. It's such a pity that he was too dangerous to left him alive ].

She softly returned to her seat, crossed elegantly her right leg over her left one and said " get ready we're almost there ".

They didn't take long to reach the border of Phil's territory and they stopped there. Arriving there Konny knew that she could not be reckless any more, she got out of the car and starting to observe. Phil had a perfect knowledge of the city greater than Konny's so he knew exactly the perfect spots to place his men so that they could intercept any enemy who would dare to penetrate. [ I can't escape their sights ] she admitted while trying to resonate [ it would be completely stupid trying to sneak in so let's forget that ] she remembered having tried to sneak in, the last time she had tried to catch him, but it didn't work out, the result was she had lost many of her men, [ but now it's totally different ].

Indeed, after having taken the control of all the soldiers from the three cities' army she had actually a larger army than before and the most important thing which would make all the difference was that she actually knew exactly where to go, [ thanks to the good job Jamal had done before he died I have now an idea of where Phil is hiding his a.s.s ] that thought made her mouth curving in a satisfied smile. Although it was true that she didn't obtain the exact address, the zone Nelson had told her they had managed to draw was largely enough for her to find him and it would be even more easier while applying the same procedure he had told her they used.

[ This time you won't run away from me, Pam. I shall take you back with me ] she thought without doubting from her victory.

She made a sign to the people inside to leave the car. When Nelson and Sania showed their faces Konny told them " we will separate from here, as promised you can choose among the army the soldiers you will need to carry out your mission, Sania will of course accompany you " she paused and glanced at the woman " achieve your mission and you can soon get her back to you. I assume that you already know where you will start your research, don't you? "

He nodded, " initially we had decided of a place where we would gather after we would finish the mission, if I know them well they must still be there or at least somewhere around " he responded while looking at a direction which was probably the said point of gathering. " I will wait for you here whenever I finish " he said before he moved to call his men and went off.

•••

Nelson had taken with him at two dozen of soldiers, even though Konny had suggested him to take more he had estimated that number to be enough. He knew that the only chance he had to get them is to use the effect of surprise as he did with Jamal, he was sure that after what happened they would be actually on their guard so if he went to bring too many people they would quickly figure out the trap and it would be over for him. He knew that he had a lot of luck for having managed to kill Jamal easily without fighting but that chance would not come again so he had to be smart.

Firstly, he asked his men to left their vehicles somewhere farther from where he suspected Volga and Carla to be, to avoid the noises of the engines to catch their attention.

Then he asked to split into groups of three people and to go stay in standby while he would go himself along with Sania to the exact point of rendezvous, they should be positioned near the spot in sort that they would surround them and ready to attack whenever Nelson would give the signal. In fact, the job of Sania and him would be to drive Volga and Carla out from their hideout while his soldiers, placed around, would jump on them to catch them and in case things went wrong they would still be able to use the confusion of the fight to kill them.

[ I can't believe what I'm about to do ] he said to himself when he got off the car, he gazed at Sania on the other side and sighed, [ may God have mercy on me. For sure men are weak when it comes to women ]

He turned to the people behind him and said " alright guys, here we go, let's quickly finish this ".

They followed the plan and went to place themselves in the positions assigned while Nelson and Sania walked straight to the gathering point which was the small parking of a grocery. They both stayed there for several minutes before anything happened, " let's go look for them inside " Sania proposed, Nelson gazed at her silently, he lifted his sight to observe the buildings around before he finally nodded, " I will enter from the front and you from the back " she said, Nelson didn't think it was a good idea to separate again but she didn't wait for his opinion and already moved toward the entrance. He sighed and decided to do as she said.

It seemed like there was no one as they both met again, they inspected together the inside again and before they left. " What do we do now? " she asked him, he thought and as he was about to respond her that they should go visit the buildings around they both heard loud screams. They immediately drew their guns and stood back to back while trying to figure out where was the enemy. " It seems like we screwed the effect of surprise " he couldn't help but commented.

2 minutes later they again heard screams of men coming from elsewhere and it continued like that for a quite long moment. " eight... " Nelson had counted, it seemed like the enemy was targeting the groups of men he had placed around, " they purposely made them screaming in order to put us in a state of anxiety in sort of diminishing our capacity to think correctly " Nelson shared that thought with Sania, he chuckled " looks like something Jamal would have done, how deep are they influenced by him? ". For a long and stressful moment the ambiance was awfully calm, Nelson's mind was working at its maximum to try to anticipate from where the attack would come, his sight was moving from a place to another while trying to catch the smallest trace of movement, without success.

Suddenly, their both guns got shot and went to fly far away, they were disarmed. Cold sweat was running down Nelson's back, " we are doomed, I thought being able to trap them but from the beginning we were the ones who were getting played " he understood, a bit too late. He took a look at Sania behind him and she seemed to be more afraid than him, subconsciously she took Nelson's hand in hers, when their sights crossed for a short moment he seemed to have recognized Sania, the real he fell in love not the puppet Konny was controlling. But it was just for a short moment, because after they caught the sight of some shapes away she suddenly released his hand and turned again into Konny's puppet.

As the shapes was getting near, Nelson quickly recognized them, " Volga and Carla... " he exclaimed. They were at three meters from them when Volga waved a hand to greet " hey, how are you today, you both look for people who just betrayed all their friends " she told them.

Nelson didn't know what to reply, he thought that he would end that as fast as he could for not be obligated to face the shame of his actions, he couldn't even look at them in the eyes, " listen, you don't know what it is all about " he started " It may look supernatural but Konny has power... "

"... which allows her to control people? Yeah, we already know " Carla cut him, " we also know that she actually took the control of Sania and made a deal with you that she would free her at the conditions that you betray us and kill us all ".

He was speechless, [ they knew? How? ] he couldn't help but ask himself, so many things were bombarding his head that he couldn't organize his thoughts and focus on one thing, he opened his mouth trying desperately to defend himself " that's... that's not it... "

" Oh really? " Carla replied while becoming more and more furious, " so you're telling me that you didn't come here to try to kill us, Volga and I? ", her voice was starting to break because of the emotion, Nelson slowly lifted his head to look at her and the feature before broke his heart, tears were overflowing from Carla's eyes, " how? How could you do that to me? You promised him you will look after me... you promised Amir... I thought we were a family but you were still willing to kill me! ".

[ What have I done? What have I done? How could I do such things? How could I be so dumb and heartless ] Nelson started to hate himself from the deepest part of his heart, at that moment he couldn't think about anything else but to kill himself, to die for all the sins he had done. But he gazed at Carla and his thoughts changed, he wanted to hug her, tightly and beg for her forgiveness even though he knew that apologizes would not be enough to correct all the bad deeds he had done.

He was about to put a step ahead toward Carla but the woman behind him had been faster. Sania drew her knife and quickly ran toward Carla, she was very fast and covered the short distance in no time, she would stab her and Nelson couldn't do anything, he lifted his hand as if he wanted to catch her and shouted at her with all his breath to stop and happened next was out of expectation. Sania moved the knife forward aiming for Carla's c.h.e.s.t but the latter had been faster than her, she kicked in Sania's hand so hard that she immediately let go of the knife, sending it to fly far away, then she turned around herself to punch at the left side of Sania's face with her elbow and she directly fell unconscious on the ground.

The scene was so intense that Nelson didn't even realize that he fell on his knees. As he was slowly rearranging his mind he saw Volga slowly walking toward him at that moment he couldn't identify what expression her face was showing but he did understand what she said, she was looking down at him and said " sorry but you too have to sleep for the moment " and she then finished by kicking him on his temple and he he fell unconscious.

•••

" Alright, let's carry them now " Volga said while stretching out, she gazed at Carla worried and asked " hey, are you okay? ".

The latter wiped off the tears from her face, she nodded " sorry that I lost control of myself but I'm feeling better after I punched this woman " she said jokingly while lifting Sania to carry her on her shoulder.

Volga laughed slightly then she lifted Nelson and landed him on her shoulder, " alright let's go, Jamal said that we should keep an eye on them until he finishes with Konny, the attack already started so it should be soon " she informed her, then they moved toward where they came from with the unconscious bodies of their friends on their shoulders, " by the way who is Amir if I dare asking? " Volga said nonchalantly.

" Oh, he's someone dear to me, I will tell you about him later " Carla responded.