Episode Five: Utopia

Utopia, a place where flowers bloom in rich soil. Birds were chirping from the great trees that were standing inside the great walls protecting its urban city. It was so innocent outside yet it reeked of impurity inside. The seductive music broke the quietest of evenings from the nightclubs constructed in a specific place: at the southeastern borders of the Utopian walls, through the narrow alleyways near the center square. The noise was also accompanied by the people hooting and groaning to the immoral show on stage in front of them. Indeed, the sight was so mesmerizing that one could be drawn like some kind of drug was injected to them.

At the largest strip club in the Utopia, the leader Iyaz, was seated at the second floor while surrounded by the women in nude, caressing his whole body in a provocative way. Only way seen to him were his smirks and dirty gawks at the people around him. He seemed to enjoy every touch and stroke to his precious parts, uncovering the true meaning of the name of his own faction — Utopia. Despite the nightly jobs by these women, they were unpaid and forced themselves into doing such in a teenly age only for the sake of not getting on his nerves. 

“Enjoying it sweetheart?

His girlfriend, namely Hilga, walked in and paid no attention to her boy’s business. The scene wasn’t anything new to her, so she would not consider any of these activities as cheating to her. Oh… Little did she know that there’s still remnants of Keisha’s being stuck within his heart.

Iyaz answered a bit stressed though his tone gradually calmed down for a short time, “I was so tired. Therefore, I need to relax and enjoy the scene. This is enough for a troublesome day caused by that rat.

He pushed all the girls surrounding him and signaled that they should return to their dens. The women whom he pushed got the message with just a gesture, then they left without any defiance. Who’d be a nitwit to defy his ways? After all, an 8mm bullet would only crack their craniums if they dare doing so.

“You enjoy yourself too much. You might forget about me.

Hilga bit Iyaz’s ear as she sat down on his lap — the response was a deep groan coming out of his lungs. They kissed intensely and Iyaz’ hand slid to every inch of her skin while gasping for a hot breath.

Seconds later, a guard barged in, being caught up with his extreme panting as he ran from the farthest prison facility. 

“Sir, there is a problem.

Annoyed and irritated, Iyaz quickly retorted, followed by a slam on the nearest table, “Didn’t you see that I am in the middle of something? If you dare this much, make sure you have a very urgent report. ‘Cause if you haven’t, I will kill you.

The thirty-fourth guard from the premises reported with fear in his eyes, “The prisoner 142 escaped. Miss Vista escaped, sir. When we returned to check on her status, the warehouse was already empty.

“What?!” He exclaimed but he took a five-second pause before spitting out another. As he spoke, it was followed by a faceslam to emphasize his utter disappointment, “Not only did I tell you such an easy task, I even provided you incentives for it.

“S-Sir! There are two pe-”

Iyaz stood and pulled his hand gun attached to his hip then pointed at the guard. Not a second of hesitation, a loud bang filled the room and blood spilled on the floor. Obviously, the gunshot startled everyone, but they did not dare to panic nor leave the area without his commands. As nothing happened, they went back to their old state, ignoring the corpse’s pool of blood dripping from upstairs. 

At the thought of her disappearance, Iyaz rushed on to the warehouse to check on where Keisha was supposed to stay. He also ordered the guards to block every exit where she would have escaped. However, there was no sign of her all over Utopia. 

He mumbled the name of the faction he truly despised since the beginning of the organization’s establishment, “Cipher...” He knew Keisha’s connection with them and the chief having a strong bond with her, a romantic one.

“What’s that?”, Hilga asked him as soon as she heard his mutters echoing inside the blood-stained warehouse.

“With all her wounds and injuries, she wouldn’t have enough energy to even break out of the prison cell”, he deduced, spitting on the blood trails on the floor inside the cell. “She must’ve been escorted by Cipher then she was long gone before we could even notice. They were the only people who could rescue her while these useless shitholes weren’t around.

“They must’ve taken her to their base by now, the blood trails look dried by a few hours or so”, Iyaz‘s female companion added, her fingers touching the crimson stain on the ground.

Iyaz called some darkly dressed men — his spies to track the blood trails and the possible direction where Keisha escaped. The men soon left for the mission in search of her… remains. 

For the meantime, he drove back to his lair then checked all the surveillance cameras installed at certain areas in the base. All of the cameras were knocked down from the southern side of the town to the prison warehouse. With his solid assumptions, he confirmed that they were followed in by other patrols or worse, followed by the Cipher’s primary personnel. He picked up his radio transmitter then contacted the same men he deployed.

“Start searching from the forest where we found her. She must’ve contacted the Ciphers while she was hiding. Their base must be near around there if they had the chance to follow us. Also, the recorded video stopped by the time we arrived. Be careful, you might get detected.

“Copy that sir”, the man from the other line with the deepest tone responded.

Iyaz threw everything he touched out of rage. Every monitor and transceivers inside the room were destroyed. It was followed by picking up an Uzi then used it to shoot towards the monitors down as he laughed like a fucking madman. He poured gasoline all over the place; threw a grenade inside while he exited. The large explosion caught everyone’s attention as he climbed up on the high ground right at the center of the town, majestic as he stood.

“THE CIPHERS TOOK SOMETHING VALUABLE FROM US. WE CAN’T LET THEM ALWAYS WIN JUST BECAUSE OF YOUR STUPIDNESS. I SHALL LIFT A NEW POLICY. THE ONE WHO DISOBEY MY ORDERS, SHALL BE SHOT DOWN TO DEATH. THIS IS A WARNING FOR THE WHOLE OF UTOPIANS.

Iyaz apparently lost his sanity after realizing that he lost someone irreplaceable; putting the blame on his subjects for failing to do the job assigned to them. Or so, his own fault for being foolish for taking what’s not his. Everyone soon became devoured by fear after his gunmen each welded two Ak47s, pointing at  each of their heads while grinning from ear to ear. Their brimming fright made them kneel down, as well as Hilga that was just a few meters away from the headmaster, Iyaz. 

After the wicked moment, he left the centre with Hilga straight to their private room where they settled for a slumber.

Hilga rolled her eyes while she sat down on the king-sized bed inside the room, “Putting such threats to people won’t make them follow you.

Proudly, Iyaz stated, ignoring his girlfriend’s sass, “They won’t bug about it, trust me. After all, they will blame Cipher for that. That’s how stupid people are nowadays. They will hate because of the misfortune entering their worthless lives.

“But isn’t that the reason why they will be up against you?”, disagreeing with him, Hilga crossed her arms.

“Nope, I have a plan”, Iyaz grinned devilishly, similar to the typical scheming antagonists that always exist in movies. 

Little do Hilga know, he ordered his most trusted friend to pollute all the Utopians’ minds. Jack was at the biggest strip club to enlighten people; not really in a way of informing them but to change their perspective in order to manipulate them easily. This is to convince the members and draw their setbacks towards the Ciphers who only did was to save a dying damsel in distress. 

“You know why this happened to us?! It’s because of Cipher. If there were no prisoners, we wouldn’t be put under such threats!

“But why? Why will they take one prisoner?!”, one guy from the middle row of the cluster answered with his face turning red out of anger.

Jack continued to sympathize with the people in fuel and fire, “That girl was a threat to all of us. We sealed her away from everyone so that it won’t be in the wrong hands. Our leader Iyaz was just protecting us. But now that they have her, we won’t even stand a chance! Unless we all unite to go up against Cipher! WE SHALL REIGN OVER THEIR DEAD BODIES!

...

The next morning, all of the people in Utopia gathered at the plaza, just the same central area from last night’s activity. They were all waiting for the arrival of their great commander, chatting and whispering to each other; inaudible. Not a while later, the deceiver arrived — a giggle escaping his lips at the sight of the perplexed people.

“I think we are all on the same page here aren’t we?”, Iyaz told them, metaphorically washing his hands to wipe out his sins.

“We can’t let Cipher be victorious. It will be the end of all of us”, Jack added fuel to the coal, just waiting for the cluster to start the fire.

“That’s right! Ciphers are selfish! They must burn in hell!”, a man exclaimed with a metallic scream, raising both of his middle fingers in the air. His teeth were replaced with gold, grinding and eyes as white as being possessed by a demon.

A woman added, her voice screeching, piercing through the drums of everyone’s ear, “My boyfriend died because of them! They don’t deserve to live either.

All of the shouts and complaints were to mock and ridicule Cipher. After that, Jack finally silenced them and then faced Iyaz for a question.

“Oh, great leader, what should we do now?

Iyaz sneered as he cockily stated his words.

“OH, my brethren. We will attack.