Chapter 276: 276
The amount of supplies from the shipping containers even from half of the port west of the City Hall is staggering. The only problem with that is it’s filled with random stuff and we may need to find a manifest to know which container contains which. Nevertheless, if we find something we like, we’d be sure to have a shipping container’s worth from it at a minimum.
Jared came back to our table after a few minutes since he took all the containers we used and washed them. It was all neatly packed and it is in the same paper bag that his mom owns. We’ve walked through several plans that needed adjustments and Iskoh stood up and looked at us.
“Are we done here? I’m gonna visit my wife for a second if we are.” Iskoh asked Rod and I.
“Close. I have a few things to ask you before we go back to the hospital.” I replied.
“Sure. Anything on your mind?” he looked at me.
“Don’t take this the wrong way but have you ever killed anyone?” I asked with a serious look.
“What did you say?” he was shocked.
“You heard me and it’s a legitimate question. After you’ve answered that, there’s a few follow ups on that.” I replied.
“Well… I’ve sent soldiers to their deaths… I’m not the one who killed them in actuality but I think I’m the one who did. Does that answer your question?” he said.
“That’s a no.” I thought to myself.
“No. What I’m asking is if you’ve ever picked up a gun and shot somebody with it. If not, how about a knife in the chest? Or even a twist of a neck? Anything that stops a person from moving completely.” I explained.
“I’ve shot a few of those things out-” he stammered but I interrupted him.
“No, I mean people, not those things outside.” I said as everyone who heard what I said looked at me.
“What are you getting at?” he asked.
“This is your place and I’m gonna inform you of something really important so you better listen. There are people inside here that caused a lot of deaths due to a foolish decision. If this was my place, they’d be dead already but here’s the thing… this place is not mine. I think you understand what I’m getting at, right?” I replied.
There’s a few heads that turned to our direction and then a small chattering is occuring.
“Hold on, deaths? What are you talking about?” Iskoh asked.
“Kid, explain yourself. Did something happen over there?” Rod spoke.
“Something like that. I think it would be best if you’d hear the same thing from your soldiers so you’d be sure that I’m not lying.” I looked at Iskoh.
“F.u.c.k that kid. Just tell it to us straight. I believe you.” Rod said.
“Well they could help me in telling the story since they were the ones to tell me that the people who did something at the canteen were living here.” I replied.
Iskoh then called Cruz and Mike over to tell the whole situation with me and everyone around understood what happened. Rod already knew what to do so he ordered his soldiers to bring those people over. Iskoh is still in disbelief of what we discovered and it seemed that he knows the people Cruz and Mike were talking about. He’s rubbing his glabella while looking down on the ground.
My group was just silently watching the events unfold and they’re already trusting me in what to do in this situation.. I also took a short glance at Micah and she seemed to know and seemed to be familiar with what’s gonna happen next.
There’s now a large crowd when Rod’s soldiers arrived with four people in handcuffs and wearing horrified expressions. Iskoh gave a small glance towards them at first but now he’s just looking down on the ground. The four were made to kneel and then they started to cry out. Their shouting attracted more attention from the residents inside and some of the people which I surmise are their relatives, are trying to get past the soldiers that have formed a small perimeter to not interfere with our business.
“Mr. President! What’s the meaning of this?!”
“We’ve done nothing wrong!”
“Why are we in cuffs?!”
“Mayor Iskoh please help us!”
There’s now an even larger group of people around us and even the people outside caught wind of what’s happening and they’re trying to stick their heads out to see what’s going on. Iskoh is still silent and Rod is looking at him seriously. The four kneeling in front of us still have no idea as to why they’re in the situation they’re in.
“What’s happening?”
“I don’t know either.”
“Why are they cuffed?”
“Are they gonna get executed?”
“Probably.”
“Why?!”
“President’s orders, I think.”
“Who’s the kid with them?”
“He’s the one who got lost earlier.”
“What? Then why is he the one who came outside leading their soldiers?”
“They say he has a big territory too. The soldiers here have been saying that he discovered something and the four there were at fault.”
“At fault?”
“I’m not too sure either but it seems the president believes him.”
“What if he’s lying?”
“What would he gain though?”
“I dunno.”
“The fours there are just maintenance guys, right?”
“Yeah, let’s just watch.”
“I think I already know the ending to this.”
The people around are chattering even more and the soldiers are pushing some of them much further so we could have the appropriate space. I wished to tell him of it later this night but I don’t want the risk of having those kinds of people around.
“SHUT UP YOU SONS OF BITCHES! WE’RE TALKING HERE!” Rod bellowed.
“M-Mr. President! I-I don’t understand!” one of the four wearing a white t-shirt spoke immediately.
“I’m not in disagreement in the meeting earlier if this is about it!” the guy with missing teeth said.
“Iskoh, are you just gonna stare at the ground or what?” Rod looked at Iskoh and everyone did the same.
He’s still not moving but I could see him clenching his fists a few times but he’s letting go right after. He’s breathing heavily and he’s leg is getting restless. He finally raised his head and his expression now is different from earlier.
“The canteen. Who?” Iskoh said with a cold tone.
“Mayor? Canteen?” one of the four with a crew cut was confused.
I’m looking at them and I instantly saw two of them, a man and a woman that seemed to be a married couple quickly changing expressions. The other guy with several missing teeth still seemed to be as confused with the guy with a crew cut.
“Those other two then?” I thought to myself.
It’s the guy wearing a white t-shirt and the other was a lady with dyed hair and a mole near her upper lip. They seemed around the age of 40-50 and they’re both wearing rings that seemed to match designs. When the two heard the word ‘canteen’, the lady froze while the guy immediately tensed. It was a brief moment but anyone closely watching them would’ve noticed.
“It’s you two, right? Teresa and Kiko, I saw your immediate reaction. You’re the ones assigned with the canteen. I think you two know what I’m referring to, right? Who locked those people inside?” Iskoh pointed at them.
The crowd then understood why those people got dragged towards us and another round of chattering ensued. The other two beside them let out their biggest sigh of relief when they learned it wasn’t them we were looking for.
“M-mayor Iskoh! It could’ve been anyone! T-the chains are always dangling on the door handles so when we close up, we’d just push down on the padlock to secure it!” the guy quickly answered while trembling. The lady on the other hand started to cry uncontrollably when everyone’s gaze landed on them.
“The word ‘anyone’ could still be you two, right? Why the f.u.c.k did you lock those people up?!” Iskoh shouted in anger.
“M-m-mayor! It’s all a misunderstanding!” the guy quickly answered once more.
“Huh~? Do explain before I do something irreversible.” Iskoh replied.
“P-please h-here me out! Teresa! Stop crying because we’re innocent! We need to explain our side so they’d know what happened. We’d get through this like always, I tell you.” he held his wife’s shoulders and assured her.
“Like always?” I thought to myself.
“Quickly.” Iskoh reminded them but his anger seemed to have subsided a couple of notches.
I then glanced at Kaley and she’s actually looking at me.
“Oh, right. In the canteen… well, let’s see what he has to say first.” I thought to myself.
He then told us the story that when it started at the canteen, it was all in chaos. Several gunshots started to rang out from the entrance and a few wounded people rushed inside the canteen. The people who rushed in told them that the soldiers are mindlessly killing the people and they ran here to hide. The people inside tensed once more when they heard gunshots and that’s when the panic set it.
He continued by telling us that the soldiers kicked the door open and they started looking for people with wounds that came rushing to this place. The people inside however, got too scared to what had happened and they were about to rush the soldiers in an attempt to escape and live. However, a scream followed from the second floor and they saw that one of the wounded people who came rushing in was eating one of the other employees.
The soldiers then, according to him, started shooting everyone that started to rush them and the two of them were one of the lucky ones that didn’t get hit since they were down on the ground. However, several more bloody figures came from the outside and took out chunks from soldiers whose backs are turned against them. He said that they had to crawl from a pile of dead bodies just to get out of the canteen and they found out that the someone chained the canteen up so that the ones inside wouldn’t be able to get out. However, the ones that chained it up did it poorly and there’s a gap that they could squeeze in.
He told the story as everyone listened intently. Iskoh’s expression is now of relief, same with the others especially the guy named Kiko. Teresa is still crying non stop while Kiko is hugging her. However, there’re several people not buying it when I glanced around the people hearing his story.
“You sure about that? I have a few questions.” I broke their small celebration.