Johnny Kape

The Captive Boy II

Chapter 1

He was very afraid, watching the knife in the other man's hand. He wanted to escape, but both of his hands and feet were handcuffed. He struggled a lot; however, every time he struggled, a wave of pain from the fresh flogging wounds on his body made it very painful for him. Finally he was exhausted and he gave up. He just watched the knife, which was reflecting the light, getting closer and closer to him.

He closed his eyes desperately. He felt someone grabbing his left hand. Very soon a sharp pain came and he screamed.

Johnny screamed and opened his eyes and found that he was still lying on the bed, covered in sweat. He realized that it was just a dream and lay there weakly. The bed sheet and his pillow were soaked through.

After a while, he touched where his own lost little finger used to be. He thought of the dream. No, it was not a dream. It was his real experience. His painful experiences came back to his mind, as if he had just flogged; as if his finger had been just cut off. He could even feel the pain, again.

He felt that his heart was still beating crazily. After a long time, he felt a bit better. He kicked the thin cover away and stood up. He walked to the bathroom, got into the shower and turned on the faucet. Then he stood under the stream, and let the water gently rinse his face and body casually.

After taking a shower, Johnny sat on the bed in a trance, watching the door . He had not had nightmares for… maybe two weeks? Once he thought that he finally gotten rid of those nightmares. However the terrible experiences were coming to hit him again.

Why? Johnny asked himself. He couldn't understand why he started to have nightmares again. Maybe it was because… Joey was not home?

"joey: please tell kiddie that zarkway and i will come to visit at the end of this month. we'll notify you about the actual time and schedule. jack."

Johnny held the telegram tightly in his hands, reading the text on it. After a long time, he raised his head.

"So Jack is going to come here?"

Joey loosened his tie and took off his business suit. He nodded and watched Kiddie with a smile.

Johnny read the telegram again and again, as if he was afraid it would disappear soon. His nude body trembled with excitement.

"They will be very surprised to see you becoming so tall and strong," said Joey.

Joey was right. He'd brought Johnny to the United States about a year ago. In that year Joey took care of Johnny very carefully. He would jog, exercise, and swim with Johnny. He even installed a shooting range in the basement of his house. He also taught Johnny many skills about unarmed combat. All these exercises made Johnny grow much taller and stronger. He also started to have muscle definition on his body.

Joey sat beside Johnny and put his arm around Johnny's shoulder.

"I miss them so much." Johnny put the telegram down and sighed deeply.

Joey could understand it. Jack had raised Johnny in the guerilla army, and Zarkway was another member who was still alive. Joey could understand how important they were to Johnny.

"Did you miss me too?" Joey rubbed Johnny's ear with his lips. Then he kissed his lips.

Johnny hugged Joey with his hands and started to kiss him too. Their tongues touched together. They sucked the juice from each other's mouth. After a long kiss, Johnny released his mouth and nodded shyly.

"Yes," whispered Johnny.

Joey smiled. He had left for Washington, D.C. for a few days, leaving Johnny home alone. However he didn't tell Johnny where he had gone or why he had gone there. When he had come it was already midnight. Though he had tried to be very quiet, he also knew that since Johnny had experienced the trials of wars, it was almost impossible to avoid awakening him. So Joey was not surprised to see Johnny there when he opened the door. He soon took Johnny back to their bedroom and handed him the telegram from Jack, to give him a big surprise.

Joey unbuttoned his shirt and took off his undershirt. While he was releasing his belt, he found that Johnny just watched him in a trance, without moving.

"What happened? You don't look good. You would always come to take off my clothes, but you didn't do anything today. What's up?" asked Joey.

Johnny woke up from his trance. He shook his head. "Nothing."

He started to release Joey's belt and took off his pants and underwear and dropped them into the basket. Joey pulled Johnny over to lie on the bed.

"I missed you so much," whispered Joey.

Soon Joey started to kiss Johnny's neck, the scars on Johnny's body, and his deformed nipples. All these scars marked Johnny's painful life in the Linbus Jail.

Joey kissed every inch of Johnny's body and enjoyed it. However, Johnny still thought of the nightmare he had just experienced. This time… it was even more real. He could even feel the pain, very clearly… Johnny closed his eyes. He tried to throw away the nightmare and concentrate on the feelings as Joey fondled him seductively.

Joey's fingers lightly touched Johnny's body. He touched and caressed Johnny's coarse skin. Though coarse, the muscle under the skin was becoming stronger and stronger. Joey's fingers walked through the muscle definition of Johnny's chest, towards Johnny's waist. Johnny felt Joey's warm skin touching his cool skin. Joey kept going to Johnny's thigh and crotch.

Joey touched and rubbed Johnny's dick. Johnny hadn't entered puberty yet, but his penis had become larger and thicker. Joey kept rubbing Johnny's penis tenderly, and it started to grow and harden.

"Hmm…"

Johnny tried to enjoy the feelings as usual, but he still kept his eyes closed. He stretched his arms and touched and caressed Joey's strong body. However, Johnny found that he still couldn't concentrate. The nightmare still bothered him.

Joey didn't notice Johnny's abnormal reaction. He just kept rubbing Johnny's prick and put his other hand on Johnny's ass. Johnny turned his body onto his side to let Joey touch his cheeks in back and explore his love hole.

"Do you want it?" asked Joey slightly. "We haven't had sex for days."

Johnny hesitated for a minute. However, he still decided to make Joey happy, even if the nightmare was still in his mind. He didn't answer Joey. He just raised both of his legs and put them on Joey's shoulders, revealing his bottom hole to Joey, as a signal to him. "Come in!"

Joey smiled. He took a bottle of lubricant from the drawer of the night stand and started to apply it to Johnny's anus and his own dick. Soon, he pushed his hard dick against Johnny's small hole, and started to enter it.

Johnny had been used to the feeling, since the day Joey gave him an intimate birthday celebration, at which time Joey entered his body for the first time. He loved to make love with Joey more and more. However, that night he found that he really couldn't enjoy it. Though the nightmares had disturbed him for a long time, it bothered Johnny even more that night. He thought of the days when he'd been frequently raped. He thought of the feeling, mixed with hatred, expectation, and the sense of guilt…

Joey started to go in and out slowly, and pushed deeper and deeper. He kept kissing Johnny's chest. He touched Johnny's body with his own. Then he started to speed up. His thick, large dick rubbed Johnny's small hole, hitting Johnny's prostate. Such a strong stimulation finally made Johnny forget about the nightmare. He started to moan.

"Oh… yes… hmm… keep going, Joey…"

Johnny's moan stimulated Joey very much. He penetrated Johnny faster and faster, almost crazily. He could feel that Johnny's body started to tighten and tremble.

"Gosh, Kiddie, I love you so much…"

Finally Joey started to shoot out the desire that had accumulated in his body for days. He pulled his dick out of Johnny's body and kept shooting the remaining seed onto him. Then he sighed with relief and put Johnny's legs down from his shoulders. Johnny also sighed deeply, with satisfaction; his body relieved.

Joey lay down beside Johnny and gasped. He watched his little lover and smiled. Johnny smiled at Joey too.

"It's so wonderful," said Joey.

Johnny nodded. He hugged Joey and buried his head into Joey's chest.

They lay there for a while, then Joey sat up. Johnny raised his head and watched Joey.

"I should take a bath now. Tomorrow I'll go to the elementary school and talk about your admission."

"Oh…" Johnny's smile vanished.

Joey saw Johnny's reaction and smiled. "Don't worry. Everything will be fine."

Johnny sat up too. He had heard a rustle. Then he saw that the telegram was crumpled when they were having hot sex. He laughed out loud.

Joey kissed Johnny's cheek. "Do you want to take a bath with me?"

Johnny nodded.

***

"General, we found them."

Lambriz stood beside the window and watched outside.

"They live in a small town called Milton now."

"Hmm."

"Do you want to send someone to attack them now?"

"No."

"No?"

"No. It's not safe here now. Go find another base near the town of Milton and get ready to withdraw from here. Keep monitoring them. How about the other part?"

"We have investigated it. There is a great possibility that you are correct, General."

Lambriz nodded. "Good. Go on with our plan and I'll tell you when to take action."

"Yes, sir."

The door was closed. Lambriz continued to look out the window with eyes full of hatred.

Chapter 2

He couldn't see anything, because his eyes were covered. He just felt that he was kneeling down on the ground. His hands were handcuffed behind him.

He didn't know how long he knelt there. Time meant nothing. Then he felt a gun pushed against his head.

"Say goodbye to the world, son," a cold voice said.

He didn't tremble. He didn't even show any fear. On the contrary, he smiled a bit. Just shoot, he thought, and he could get rid of everything…

"Shit. The bitch smiles?" another angry voice said.

BANG!

He heard a loud gunshot, so loud that he could still hear buzzing after a few seconds. But… he seemed to be still alive. Why? He raised his head in question.

BANG!

Another gunshot. The bullet grazed his right arm. He frowned due to the sting.

"Fuck! No fun! He's not afraid at all!" the first voice yelled.

Someone kicked his back. Then something hit him on his head. He fell into a deep dark…

Johnny opened his eyes. Joey was snoring beside him. It was the second nightmare in a night… Only, it was not a dream. He had been reliving his real experiences. What on earth happened?

Johnny watched Joey's sleeping face. He felt easier and better. He had gotten rid of the extremely painful life and now lived with his beloved Joey… Johnny closed his eyes again. He prayed inwardly… not to have any more dreams.

Joey knocked on the door. After a few seconds, a woman's voice said, "Come in, please."

Joey opened the door, walked into the room and closed the door carefully. He looked at the woman who was wearing reading glasses. He smiled.

"Hello, Mrs. Katie, well, Headmistress Katie. How are you? We haven't seen each other for a long time."

Mrs. Katie took off her glasses and looked at Joey. "Joey Bonders, it's really been a long time not seeing you. Have a seat."

Joey sat down in front of the headmistress. "You look very well and healthy."

"Well, you haven't changed much since you graduated from this elementary school. When did I see you the last time?"

"I remember that we met once when I was in high school. Then I left home to study in a university in Chicago. Maybe we haven't seen each other since then."

"You really seldom come back here, right?"

"Yeah."

"You didn't even show up for your father's funeral. Can you tell me why?" Mrs. Katie asked, staring at Joey with her piercing eyes. Her voice had become very serious, too.

Joey had a wry smile and sighed deeply. "You're still so strict, Mrs. Katie."

"I'm waiting for your explanation."

Joey nodded. "I shouldn't tell you this, but since it is related to why I came here, I can tell you some. I was on a secret mission that time."

"A secret mission?" Mrs. Katie raised her eyebrows.

Joey nodded again. "I can't tell you too much. I can only say that I was executing a secret mission for our country, so I was abroad at that time. Nobody told me and I didn't know of my father's death until I got home. It had already been at least half a year afterwards."

Mrs. Katie's face became mild. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know that. I'm sorry to blame you wrongly."

Joey smiled. "That's okay. Not many people knew about my job."

"So, you said that it is related to why you came here today. Please tell me more," asked Mrs. Katie.

Joey put the data folder on the desk and pushed it to Mrs. Katie. "This kid."

Mrs. Katie opened the folder and had a look at it. "Oh, I know. I read this kid's data a few days ago. Johnny Kape. There's no useful data about him, except his birthday."

"To be honest, it's not his real birthday either," said Joey.

"What?" Mrs. Katie was a bit surprise. "So is there any real data about him? What's the relation between you and him?"

"I'm now his father. I adopted him."

"Yes, I see… here, his guardian, Joey Bonders." Mrs. Katie took a look at the paper again. "But… how? You haven't married yet, have you?"

Joey shook his head. He tried to pick better words to say. "Well, this kid is… special."

"How special?"

Joey thought for a moment and said, "Johnny used to be a kid soldier."

"A kid soldier?"

Joey nodded.

"What does that mean?"

"That means this kid grew up where there was a war taking place. This kid used to kill people in the war. He was even captured and became a war prisoner."

Mrs. Katie looked very surprised this time. She waited for further explanation.

"He grew up in Africa."

"Africa?" asked Mrs. Katie. "He looks like an Asian."

"He should be," said Joey. "But he grew up in Africa. He was in the anti-government army of an African country where he had his youngest memory."

"Which country?"

Joey shook his head with a smile.

"Okay. Why was he in Africa?"

"I'm not going to say," continued Joey. "Johnny started to attend the country's civil war at age five. When he was eight, he was captured and imprisoned in a concentration camp."

"A concentration camp?"

Joey absolutely did not want to explain too much about the Linbus Jail. He just nodded his head.

"He was imprisoned for about two years and was abused very seriously there. I found him during a secret mission and rescued him. I spent a lot of effort to get his trust and got an identity for him to live in the United States. Now he lives with me."

"So you are his guardian now."

"Yes."

"He trusts you, right?"

"Yes, I think so."

"That's good. You are here today about his admission, right?"

"Yes. He is a very talented kid. He can learn things very quickly. However, in the past, he used his talent to kill people and to survive. He has never studied in a school. He can't even read. I started to teach him reading after coming back here."

Mrs. Katie nodded. "So this kid is about eleven, but you want him to start from the third grade."

"Actually his level is still not good enough yet, but I believe that he can catch up in a short time. However…"

"However what?"

"However, he used to be abused a lot. It's been a year since I brought him here, but the wounds on his body and in his mind made it very difficult for him to adapt to a life here. He trusts me, but that doesn't mean he can trust someone else. I think he may have a very difficult time to adapt to the group life in school."

"I see."

"Besides, killing people used to be a game for him," continued Joey. "I hope that you can change his behavior here, butI don't believe that he will hurt anyone. He experienced the time in the concentration camp, so I think he may not even have any reaction when someone bullies him. However, he grew up in the war. He had survived by himself in a difficult environment for a long time. We don't know what he will do when he thinks that his life is threatened."

"Okay." Mrs. Katie pondered for a while, then she picked up the phone and dialed. "Hello? Edwin? Can you come to my office now? … Okay. See you."

Mrs. Katie put down the receiver.

Joey asked, "Edwin?"

"Edwin Grey, the teacher responsible for the third grade class. You will need to cooperate with him closely about helping Johnny."

"Edwin Grey…" Joey murmured.

They waited for a few minutes, and the office door opened. A tall, thin man with glasses came in.

"Hi, Mrs. Katie. What's up?"

"Let me introduce you. This is Joey Bonders. He is here for…"

Mrs. Katie hadn't finished her words when Joey stood up and faced Edwin.

Edwin exclaimed, "Joey?"

Joey nodded with a smile. He stepped forward and hugged Edwin tightly.

"You really became a teacher, didn't you?" Joey asked, after hugging the man for a long time.

"Oh… yeah." Edwin finally recovered from a great shock.

"So you know each other?" asked Mrs. Katie.

"Yes. He was my boyf… uh… buddy. Good buddy when we were in high school, right?" asked Joey.

"Yeah. Joey joined the army after graduating from the university, and I lost contact with him. I used to think that he might have been dead in the war."

"Well, I couldn't contact you because I had my own difficulties. But I came back finally."

"Why are you here?"

Joey pointed to the data folder with his chin. Mrs. Katie pushed the folder to Edwin.

"This kid may need special help. Since you know each other, you can have a detailed discussion yourselves."

Chapter 3

"I almost made a slip of the tongue just now," Joey said while driving. Edwin laughed.

Edwin was sitting in the passenger's seat while looking at Johnny's data. He replied, "Yeah, Your slip almost made my heart jump out of my body, especially in front of Mrs. Katie!"

"I really didn't expect to see you there."

"Me either. I thought that you'd been killed in Vietnam. You didn't even show up at your own father's funeral. Mrs. Katie was a bit upset with you for that."

"Yeah, I know. Mrs. Katie told me the same thing just now," said Joey, still with a wry smile.

Edwin laughed out. "She is still as strict as before. It's really not easy to work under her."

"Well, I'm so happy that you realized your dream to be a teacher," said Joey.

"Yeah, I realized my dream. And you? You gave up your dream of being a professional baseball player and joined the army, didn't you?" asked Edwin. He seemed to have so many things to say and didn't wait for Joey's answer and continued. "What were you doing all these years? I tried to contact you via the military when your father died. But nobody wanted to help me. They just told me that it was impossible to contact you. What on earth happened?"

"Well, I can't tell you too much. Simply speaking, I was working for our country. I was on a secret mission at the time."

"All right, all right, don't tell me if you don't want to." Edwin seemed to be a bit upset, but he still changed the topic. "How long have you been back here?"

"I've been back for a year."

"A year?" Edwin was very surprised. "You've been back for a year, and during this long year I never met you in this small town? And you didn't try to contact me, did you?"

"I brought Johnny back here with me. But of course we were keeping a low profile because of Johnny's special condition. I tried to help him adapt to the life here all this year."

"Mrs. Katie said that this boy needs special help. But I didn't see anything in the data. Who is the boy? Why is he with you? What's your relationship with him?"

Joey didn't answer right away. Instead, he turned the car into a small alley, parked it and switched off the motor. Then he started to speak.

"I think that I should tell you something before meeting Johnny."

"Okay."

"Johnny is a special boy."

"How special?"

"He grew up in a guerrilla army which was fighting in a civil war of an African country. He started to participate in the civil war and even began killing people at age five. When he was eight he was captured and imprisoned in a concentration camp. When he was about ten I found him during a secret mission and rescued him."

Edwin's mouth fell open, down to his chin. The answer shocked him very much.

Joey briefly told Edwin about his conversation with Katie. Edwin frowned.

"He really had a difficult childhood, didn't he?"

"He's a very brave boy," said Joey. "He was abused a lot in the concentration camp. Really a lot. I can't say that I could have hung on in that condition, but he made it. However, it's really a very big shadow in his mind. He doesn't trust anyone here, except me.

"During the past year, I would take him to exercise, swim, or try to let him play with other kids. He had never been with any other kids before. I just tried to let him have more chances to interact with other kids. However, the other kids could easily notice the scars on his body and that made Johnny self-conscious very much."

"I know what you mean. The fundamental problem would be if he could trust other people or not. If he couldn't, he would find it difficult to make friends with anyone, not to mention with other kids."

"I thought that a kid would find it easier to make friends with other kids."

Edwin shook his head. "That's under normal conditions. Two normal kids can play with each other very naturally, because they don't have the problem of any other issues between them. However, it's different for abused kids. Abused kids would fear that they might be hurt again. They would hate the differences between them and other people. Also, other kids would be curious about their differences and such curiosity would hurt the abused kids even more."

Joey sighed. "Yeah, that's what Johnny faced. He's actually a very talented boy. I think he can catch up very soon in his school work. What I'm worried about is his mental barrier."

"You really care about him, don't you?" teased Edwin. "Did you care about me like that before?"

Joey smiled. "You weren't eleven years old then."

"Do you know? I was so depressed after losing contact with you." Edwin put down the data and held Joey's hands. "My only lover just disappeared. It was impossible to contact him. Nobody wanted to help me. Every night I would just sit there, looking at our photos and sigh. Do you know the feeling?"

Joey could sense the hurt in Edwin, even as his friend tried to smile and be strong.

"I'm sorry, Edwin," said Joey, with great regret. "I understand. I admit that the decision to join the military was due to my willfulness against my father. However, the following developments were totally out of my control. They trained me to execute secret missions. They trained me to lead a mercenary team to fight all over the world. Then my father was dead and I didn't know it at all. They told me after one of my missions was completed, and it had been half a year after my father's death. I was so upset by not being able to be there… That made me think of retiring. Then in my last mission I met Johnny. I decided to really retire, and bring him back here."

Edwin sighed deeply. He released Joey's hands. Joey switched on the motor again and drove onto the road. They both didn't talk anymore.

***

"Kiddie, I'd like you to meet Edwin Grey. He's my good friend, and he will be your teacher in the school."

Edwin reached out his hand to Johnny. Johnny looked at him, then looked at Joey. Joey nodded to Johnny. Johnny shook hands with Edwin and drew back his hand again quickly. He kept his poker face.

"Don't act like that, Kiddie," said Joey. "Edwin was my best friend in my teen age years. He's here to help you."

Edwin waved to Joey to hint to him to stop talking. He smiled to Johnny.

"Kiddie? Is that your nickname?"

Johnny didn't answer Edwin.

"Joey's wrong. No, I'm not here to help you." Edwin squatted down and looked at Johnny. "I'm here to make friends with you."

Johnny still kept silent. Edwin could see distrust and nervousness in Johnny's eyes. He kept smiling at Johnny.

"I know that you won't accept me that soon. That's okay. Let's take it step by step. I just want to tell you that Joey told me something about you. I know that you are a very marvelous and great boy. Joey even thinks that he's not as good as you. You don't need to feel that you are different from others. Even if you are different, that means you are much, much greater than others.

"Now what we want to do is to let you experience a different life style. We also hope to let you know that, besides Joey, there are still many people caring about you and loving you. Okay?"

Edwin looked at Johnny. Johnny still kept his poker face. However, there was something in Edwin's voice that made Johnny feel easy. He felt more relaxed, and his eyes and face became a bit milder. Edwin knew that his words had some effect in Johnny's mind. He didn't expect Johnny to answer him, so he stood up.

"See you next week at school." Edwin waved to Johnny.

Joey looked at Johnny. Johnny was still with his poker face, but in Johnny's eyes Joey was relieved to see that Johnny wasn't as resistant to Edwin as when they'd met minutes before. He sighed with relief, nodded to Johnny and walked with Edwin out of the door.

***

"Hurry up, grandpa!" The boy turned his head and shouted to the old man.

"It's still very early. Why hurry?" smiled the old man.

The boy ran back to the old man. "I'd like to go to the station early."

The old man patted on the boy's shoulder. "The train will arrive in half an hour. Even if you go there now, you won't see your mom one minute earlier, will you? It's such a beautiful day. We have enough time to walk there slowly and enjoy the sunshine."

The boy pouted. The old man smiled and hugged him. He held the boy's hand and kept walking, staying in a good mood.

"Grandpa, see that van. It's so huge," the boy said, pointing to a black van in front of them.

The old man felt strange. In this small and peaceful town, he had never seen such a van there before.

At that moment, the door opened. Four men with military uniforms got out of the van and stood beside the boy and the old man. The next moment, they grabbed the old man's and the boy's arms.

"What are you doing? Don't touch me!" The boy struggled and yelled.

"Get away, or I'll call the police!" the old man yelled too.

The four men didn't answer. They just grabbed the old man and the boy tightly. Then came the fifth man from the van. The man walked to the old man and the boy. He put his fingers on the boy's chin and looked at the boy carefully. Then he started to speak.

"Our general wants to see you."

"I don't know your general!" shouted the old man. "You must have identified the wrong persons. Let us go!"

"I know that you don't know our general; that's okay," smiled the man. He handcuffed the old man and the boy behind their backs, and put blindfolds on their eyes. Then he put rags into their mouths. The old man and the boy felt that they were carried and thrown into the van. The door closed.

"Go," the last man's voice commanded.

The old man and the boy felt the van moving. They could only twist their bodies helplessly.

Chapter 4

"You're so tiny. How much do you wanna eat?"

He took a plate with hishandcuffed hands and stood in front of the food distributor. The distributor picked up a loaf of bread, took off a small piece intentionally, and put the small piece on his plate. He didn't protest. He just walked away quietly, and swallowed the small piece of bread directly.

Another man put a much bigger piece of bread on his plate. He raised his head and looked at the man with grateful eyes. When he tried to take the piece, the man suddenly hit the plate and made the plate and bread fall down to the floor.

"Oh, I'm sooo sorry. My hand must have slipped. Do you want to eat more?"

His heart sank into a deep valley. He looked at the man and tried to hold his tears very hard. Suddenly the man grabbed him by the hair and pushed him to kneel down on the floor.

"Eat it, bitch."

Without any hesitation he reached his hands out to take the bread. Soon someone stepped on his hand and he stopped .

"Yeah, that's it, good boy."

He didn't raise his head. He just knelt there quietly, still trying to hold his tears.

Johnny woke up. He lay on the bed and looked at the roof in a trance. Tears were still in his eyes. The bitter, sour and painful feeling came back to flood his mind again… He had not had any nightmares for a few days. However, they had started to come back again.

He looked out the window. The sky was getting light. It was his first school day.

"Good morning, kids," said Edwin.

"Good morning, Mr. Grey," answered all the kids.

"Come here, Johnny," Edwin beckoned to Johnny, who was standing outside the door, with many new books in his hands.

Johnny hesitated. Edwin smiled at him. After a minute, Johnny screwed up his courage and walked to Edwin. He put on his poker face trying to cover his nervousness.

"Boys and girls, now listen to me. This is Johnny Kape." Edwin wrote Johnny's name on the blackboard. "From now on, he will be in our class."

"Hey, I know him. He lives with Joey who works in the gym," a voice said.

"Then you are much more well-informed than I, Kevin," said Edwin. All the kids laughed. "I didn't know anything about him before last week."

"Johnny is a famous freak in the gym," Kevin said with a giggle.

All the kids laughed again. Johnny thought of those unhappy experiences of being teased and bullied by other kids in the past year. He kept his poker face and looked at all the kids.

Edwin changed his attitude and said in a serious manner, "Please come here, Kevin."

All the kids became quiet when they saw Edwin's face. Kevin was a bit surprised, but he still stood up and walked to Edwin.

"Now, Kevin, please observe Johnny carefully. Then share what you see, and everything you know about Johnny with us."

Kevin started to look at Johnny carefully. Johnny didn't know what it was that Edwin was attempting. He just kept his poker face and looked at Kevin. Kevin was a normal boy, with blond hair and green eyes. He was not tall, not fat, but his face was a bit round.

"So do you have any conclusion, Kevin?" asked Edwin.

Kevin nodded.

"Please share them with us."

"He's older than us," started Kevin. "His body's full of scars, including his hands, face, legs and body. He lost his little finger. I used to see him in the gym. He didn't laugh. He didn't even talk. Joey always wanted him to play with us, but he never came over to us. He always looked at us without any emotion, like this."

"Anything else?"

Kevin shook his head.

"Okay, please go back to your seat."

Kevin went back to his seat and Edwin started to speak.

"Okay, children. This is the first lesson I'll have today. Kevin's right. Johnny's older than all of you. There are scars all over his body. He doesn't laugh; he doesn't cry; and he doesn't like to play with you. He always looks at you like this. However, what I'd like to tell all of you is Johnny's like this because he had a very unfortunate and unhappy childhood."

All the kids listened to Edwin quietly.

"Unlike all of you, you all have parents to take care of you and love you. Johnny doesn't know who his parents are. From the time he had his youngest memory, he could only survive by himself. He's never gone to school. He's never studied. He's never played with any other kid. So many people have bullied him, beat him, assaulted him; his little finger was even cut off. However, nobody could protect him, and nobody wanted to. He could only survive by himself.

"Now, I want all of you to ask yourself: If it were you, if you didn't have parents to protect you; if you could only be bullied and beaten by others but nobody wanted to protect you; if you could only survive by yourself, what would you be like now?"

Edwin stopped his speech dramatically. The whole classroom was so quiet that one could hear a pin drop clearly.

Johnny looked at all the kids. Most of the kids lowered their heads. Some girls seemed to be sobbing.

Edwin waited for a minute intentionally, then he continued.

"Children, I'd like to have you all think about this question. Today you see that Johnny's so different from you, how do you react? Will you tease him about his lost finger, or show your consideration for him? Similarly, when you see a kid your age, sitting in a wheelchair, maybe bald, or a hand missing, or even full of scars on his or her face, how do you react? Will you tease him or her about being a freak? Or can you show your love to help him or her ride out their storms?

"Now, I'll give you two more minutes. Please think about it. You don't need to report your conclusions to me, no matter what your conclusions are. Just keep it in your mind. I'll start our classes in two minutes."

The two minutes passed in total silence.

"Johnny, your seat is there." Edwin pointed to an empty seat in the last row. "Now please be seated. I'm going to start today's classes."

Johnny walked to his seat quietly. When he was near Kevin, Kevin stood up all of a sudden! Johnny stopped in his tracks and Kevin walked to stand in front of Johnny. Johnny looked at Kevin with his poker face.

To Johnny's surprise, Kevin lowered his head and said, "Sorry, Johnny, I shouldn't have teased you."

Johnny was surprised. He turned his head to see Edwin. Edwin smiled and nodded to him. He turned his head back to see Kevin. Watching Kevin's blushing face, Johnny found that it was too difficult not to accept Kevin's apology. He felt that all the unhappy experiences, being teased and bullied, were melted in Kevin's blushing face totally. A shy smile spread over Johnny's face for the first time since he stepped into the school.

"It's all right," Johnny said quietly.

Kevin raised his head and smiled. He nodded and went back to his seat. Johnny kept going to his own seat and sat down too.

"Kevin, you are very brave and great," said Edwin. "Johnny has never gone to school before, so I believe that he will have a difficult time adapting to the school life. I wish all of you will try your best to help him, okay?"

"Okay!" all the kids answered.

Johnny felt that his face was all red hot.

***

Johnny had a good start for his first school day. After Edwin's skillful introduction, all the kids in the class became very nice and enthusiastic to him; so enthusiastic that Johnny almost didn't know how to deal with it.

However, at the end of the first day, it was still impossible to avoid some trouble. Johnny took his new books and opened his locker. When he put the books into it, he felt something wrong. His sixth sense, gained from all the time he spent in the war and the jail, told him that some malicious guys were getting close to him.

Johnny put all of his things into the locker and closed it. However he wasn't able to leave before four boys came up to surround him.

Johnny looked at the four boys. They were all much taller and stronger than him and he put on his poker face.

"A new guy, huh?" a blond boy said.

"Hey, George, I know this guy," another black boy said. "He's a freak. He came to our town a year ago, and rumor says that he can't speak."

George? Listening to this name, Johnny thought of the evening he was rescued by Joey. That evening he was raped again by George and Arn.

"Oh really? Can you speak?" George asked slapping Johnny's cheek.

Johnny looked at the other kids nearby, and knew that nobody would come forward to help him resist these boys. Just like every moment he was abused in the past, Johnny found that he could not take any action. He just put on his poker face and looked at the four boys quietly.

"He seems not to be able to speak, really." Suddenly George slapped Johnny's cheek very hard. "Maybe I should slap him more to make him speak."

The other three boys laughed out loud. One of them pinched Johnny's other cheek and slapped him too. Johnny just stood there, and let the boys beat him, without any reaction, like he always did.

"Well, let's see what he has in his locker."

Another boy opened Johnny's locker and took all the books out and threw them onto the floor. Then he looked into the locker.

"Nothing else," the boy said. He stepped on Johnny's new books. "Oh, I'm sooo sorry. I accidently dropped your books onto the floor. Do you mind picking them up?"

The boy's words stung Johnny. He thought of the dream he'd had that morning. All of a sudden, George grabbed Johnny's hair and pushed him to kneel down on the floor.

"Pick it up, freak."

It felt like all the same conditions as before. Johnny felt that he went back to the past days, the days in hell. He didn't resist, and he couldn't resist. He just obeyed the boy's command and reached out his hands to pick up the books. Soon someone stepped on his hand and he stopped.

"Yeah, that's it, good boy."

The bitter, sour and painful feeling came back to his mind again. He just knelt there. The foot left his hand after a few seconds.

"It's no fun. He doesn't talk or resist at all. No fun."

Johnny felt someone kick him in his ass, then the boys left. He still knelt there. He didn't know how long he knelt there, then someone came to him to help him stand up. He then woke up from the trance and saw the boy who supported him. It was Kevin.

"Sorry, Johnny, we didn't dare to help you…" murmured Kevin.

Johnny looked at all the kids around him. He didn't speak. He just picked up the books and put them back into the locker again. Then he walked through all the kids toward the school gate.

***

"General, we captured them. Now they're imprisoned in a dedicated room."

"Good."

"And I want to report some important news. Kape and O'tsin are on their way to the United States."

Lambriz snorted. After a while, he started to speak.

"How about our targets? Do you keep monitoring them?"

"Yes, sir."

"Keep monitoring. But conceal your actions better. Kape and O'tsin's coming here means they have known our plans. By the way, do you have contact with that man?"

"Yes, sir."

"Tell him to come here. I'll talk to him directly."

"General, he said that if you want to talk to him, you have to go there. Or just forget about it."

Lambriz's face twitched.

"I see. Go do your work."

"Yes, sir."

The door closed. Lambriz hit the desk with his fist hard, full of anger.

Chapter 5

Johnny walked toward home slowly. He had been attending school for a week. Most of the kids were very nice to him, but he still felt that it was very difficult to interact with them. The four tall boys would bully him almost everyday. Every time Johnny faced the four boys, he felt that he was totally confined. He couldn't resist at all, just like in the past… Johnny couldn't understand why.

He'd lived in this small town for more than a year. He seldom felt happy, except with Joey. He always asked himself if the decision to live with Joey was correct or not. He loved Joey. The love and care Joey gave him was the only motivation to keep him there. Joey always encouraged him to play with other kids. However, almost everyone would notice the scars on his wrists and his lost finger when they saw him the first time. When he swam with Joey, he could feel that everyone was pointing to him and whispering. But the worst time was when the police came to take him and Joey to the police station. They were set free after Joey made some phone calls.

Johnny looked at the sky and decided to turn onto another road. After walking for a while Johnny sat on a small hill, from which he could view the whole town. It was Joey's favorite place. They would usually jog in the early morning, along the road to this small hill. Then they would hug together to see the sunrise there. Sometimes, they would even make love there. During the days Joey was not home, Johnny liked to go and sit there, watching the town in a trance.

He looked at the town again and thought about the nightmares he'd had. Though they were dreams, their contents were all his real experiences after being captured. The pain and feelings were so real and made him very depressed. He really couldn't understand. Why did he have to experience such pain again… even just in dreams?

Edwin shook the wineglass slightly, raised it, and looked at his friend as Joey returned his gaze.

"Cheers."

They both sipped their wine.

"Thank you, Edwin. Thanks for telling me about Kiddie's condition in class. Without you he would not have started his school life without a hitch."

"It's nothing. However, I still couldn't stop the other older boys from bullying him. I spoke with all the other kids about them bullying Johnny, but when I asked Johnny he didn't want to say anything."

"That's okay. You can't keep an eye on him 24 hours a day," said Joey. "So as I have predicted, Kiddie didn't resist at all?"

"No."

"All right," sighed Joey. "He didn't even say a word to me about this. Maybe he needs more time."

"Don't worry. He will overcome everything with your help."

Edwin drank the wine in his wineglass. Then he poured more wine into it.

"Really, I'm really happy to see you again," said Edwin.

"Me too," said Joey. "I had been worried about this for a long, long time. I know that Kiddie's first teacher is the most important. I didn't know if he could have a teacher who understands his difficulties. I never thought that you would be his first teacher…"

"Can we stop talking about Johnny?" Edwin interrupted Joey suddenly.

Joey looked at Edwin in surprise. "Oops…"

Edwin drank the wine again, and poured another glass of wine. "Do you know how thrilled I was when I saw you again?"

"Edwin…"

"Do you know how depressed I was when you left me and joined the military all of a sudden, and then totally lost contact with me?"

"Edwin, I…"

"I tried to forget you all these years. I kept telling myself that Joey is dead. Joey is not in the world any more. However, I couldn't forget you. I can't forget the days with you. We gay people aren't accepted in this world. Do you know how much I cherish our love?"

"Edwin, I'm so sorry," said Joey. "I really wanted to contact you again, but I was not allowed to. In all those years I was seldom in the United States. I had so many secret missions and was abroad most of the time. Do you know how much I hated myself when I came back and knew that my father had been dead for more than half a year?"

Edwin put down his wineglass and looked into Joey's eyes. "I understand. I really understand."

Joey put down his wineglass too. He didn't talk. Edwin moved forward and hugged Joey. He started to kiss Joey's lips.

Joey was a bit surprised, but soon he started to hug and kiss Edwin too. Their tongues touched. Joey touched Edwin's back with one hand and started to unbutton Edwin's shirt with the other hand. Edwin released Joey and took off his clothes himself and then took off Joey's.

"Do you know how much I've missed you?" whispered Edwin.

"I know…" whispered Joey.

Edwin pushed Joey down on the sofa and kissed his lips again…

***

Johnny stood outside the window and looked at Joey and Edwin inside. They both were naked. They kissed, caressed, and whispered to each other.

That was what Joey would do with him. Johnny also liked to take off all his clothes and kiss and whisper with Joey. Then Joey would use his iron stick to penetrate his love hole. Johnny saw that Joey did the same thing with Edwin too. That meant… Joey liked Edwin too? Joey told him that it would feel very good to do all these things with a beloved one.

It was nothing. Johnny likes Joey too. Joey also said that he and Edwin are very good friends. However… Johnny still felt something strange. He couldn't quite understand what was in his mind.

It seemed to be a very depressed, angry, and weird feeling. Why?

Johnny left the window quietly and sat down on the stairs in front of the door. He held his own knees with his arms. He thought of the view he had just seen. He thought of the nightmares he had recently experienced. It was all too much. He felt like he was about to break down. He really didn't know what was happening to him. He buried his head into his knees, trying to clarify everything in his mind.

***

"Kiddie should be home now," said Joey while putting on his pants. "It's a bit too late. Where can he be now?"

Edwin put on his shirt and pants too. "Wanna go out to find him?"

"Yeah."

Joey took his car keys and opened the front door. He stepped out the door and found that Johnny was sitting on the stairs, with his head buried in his knees. He went to Johnny and sat beside him at once.

"Kiddie? What happened? Are you okay?"

Johnny raised his head and looked at Joey. He didn't say anything. After a few seconds, Johnny stood up and walked into the house, leaving a stunned Joey and Edwin alone.

"Kiddie!"

Edwin looked at Joey with suspicious eyes.

Joey shook his head, then he said slowly, "Did he see us…?"

"Go in and see what happened." Edwin patted Joey's shoulder.

Joey nodded and went into the house. He went to their bedroom, but Johnny was not there.

Joey thought for a while, and opened the door to the basement. He went downstairs to the shooting range he'd installed. Johnny was standing there, wearing a pair of soundproof earmuffs and a small handgun was in his hand. He started to shoot.

PANG! PANG! PANG! PANG! PANG!

Johnny reloaded the handgun very quickly, and shot again.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

Joey stood in the entrance and covered his ears with his hands. He decided to let Johnny vent his emotions with his shooting. Johnny kept shooting.

After shooting more than sixty bullets, Johnny stopped. Joey walked to Johnny and took the gun from his hand. He took off the earmuffs from Johnny's ears.

"What happened, Kiddie?"

Johnny just stood there quietly and looked at the shooting target. He didn't answer Joey.

"Tell me, Kiddie. What happened?"

Johnny shook his head, and ran upstairs all of a sudden.

"Kiddie!" Joey shouted.

Johnny didn't stop. He opened the front door, ran out and slammed it behind him.

Joey didn't run after Johnny. He just stood there and looked at the shooting target. The center of the target was almost gone.

***

Lambriz walked into the bar. The bartender raised his head.

"What can I get you, sir?"

"XYZ, with ice."

The bartender glimpsed at Lambriz, then he nodded. It was a signal. If someone came to order a cup of XYZ with ice, that meant he wanted to see the man. He had seen all kinds of people coming, but Lambriz's type was a bit beyond his expectation. A bit too evil, he thought. He didn't think that the man would accept Lambriz's commission.

He continued his work. After a minute he handed Lambriz a wineglass.

"The door is beside the restroom. Go downstairs and he's in the second room, left side," the bartender said, lowering his voice.

Lambriz nodded and left the bartender. He found the door and opened it. He went in and the door closed by itself.

He walked downstairs. In front of him was a long hallway. Doors were on both sides. He found the room he wanted and knocked on the door.

"Come in," a man's voice said.

Lambriz opened the door. The room was quite small; only a small table and two chairs. A man was sitting on one of the chairs.

"Good place," said Lambriz. He sat down across from the man.

"Tell me what you want directly. I don't like to speak in a roundabout way."

Lambriz took two photos out of his pocket. He put the photos on the table and pushed them to the man. "These two."

The man didn't take the photos, he just looked at them. His eyebrows raised.

"They're in the town of Milton," said Lambriz.

"What do you mean by giving me such a small boy as my target?"

"Don't underestimate that boy."

"Kill both?"

"Sure. Do it or not?"

"Did you bring the amount of money I want?"

Lambriz took an envelope from his pocket and put it on the table.

"I'll pay you thirty percent first. The other part will be paid after you're done."

The man laughed out loud.

"Okay! Thirty percent. How can I notify you after I'm done?"

"I'll know it once you're done. And I'll come here to pay the remaining seventy percent."

"Deal. But…" the man said. "Don't forget to pay the debt. I'll be able to find you no matter where you are."

"I won't," Lambriz sneered. He stood up and left the small room.

After Lambriz left the room, the man took the photos from the table and pondered. He thought for a while, then he put everything from the table into his pocket and left the room and ran upstairs.

Chapter 6

He looked at those jailers around him. They all were naked, and were smiling evily. He was naked too, lying on the bed. His hands were handcuffed to the bed corners.

He didn't know why they would strip him. Well, the reason was not important. After all, he had no choice. He just looked at these people desperately.

One of the jailers said, "Son, you're still a virgin, right? Enjoy it!"

He didn't understand what 'virgin' meant. He didn't know what would happen either. He just knew that no matter what would happen to him, he had no way to resist. He had no choices. He could only accept that. He looked at the black body of the man who was getting close and climbed on the bed. The man raised both his legs.

He felt the weight of the man's body on him. The wounds caused by being flogged started to hurt again. Then something was pushing against his bottom. After a few seconds, he felt a very strong pain from his ass, as if his body was torn in half from his ass. He screamed very hard.

"Ahhhhhh…"

The man was moving his body. Every time the man moved, the pain got stronger and stronger. He screamed and screamed. His legs kicked hard in the air. However, that didn't help. The man was still moving. He could feel that something was going in and out of his bottom hole. Each move made him hurt. Each move ripped his body from bottom to top. He kept screaming.

"Kiddie! Kiddie! Wake up!" Joey shook Johnny and tried to make him awaken from his bad dream. However Johnny still kept screaming and kicking. Joey was almost kicked off the bed.

Joey spent tremendous efforts to hold Johnny down on the bed. "Wake up! Kiddie!"

Johnny woke from his nightmare finally. He was covered with sweat. There were tears in his eyes. He lay there weakly.

"Are you okay?" asked Joey. "Another nightmare?"

Johnny could still feel the pain in the dream. His heart was still jumping crazily. After a minute he felt calmer. He looked at Joey's concerned face.

"What's up?" Joey wiped the tears from Johnny's eyes. He caressed Johnny's head and cheeks. "That's just a dream, okay? Don't be afraid."

Johnny looked at Joey and said weakly, "No… It's not a dream. It's real. Joey… am I going crazy?"

"No, you little fool. You just can't find relief from the extremely painful experiences in the past. But you're safe now. Nobody will hurt you any more. Okay?" Joey tried to comfort him.

Johnny didn't talk. He thought of that night. Almost all the jailers raped him that night. After they left him, he could hardly move. He could only lie there, feel the pain all over his body, especially in his bottom, and feel the flow of semen on his face and body.

Johnny closed his eyes. Tears ran out of his eyes again. Joey looked at his Kiddie very worriedly.

Johnny walked through the door of the hotel with Joey silently. They walked to the elevator.

"Fifth floor. Thank you." Joey give a bill to the serving boy. The boy pushed a button and the door of the elevator opened. Joey and Johnny walked into the elevator, and the boy pushed the button marked as "5". He bowed and left the elevator. The door closed.

It seemed to take a century to arrive at the fifth floor. Joey and Johnny walked out of the elevator. There were three men waiting there.

"We'd like to meet with Mr. Kape and Mr. O'tsin," said Joey.

One of the three men nodded. He said, "Please raise your hands. We need to do a simple body search."

Joey and Johnny raised their hands. Another two men quickly searched their bodies and nodded.

The first man said, "Follow me, please."

Joey and Johnny followed the first man. After walking to the room, he knocked on the door.

"Mr. Kape, your visitors."

"Please come in," a voice said.

It was Jack's voice! Suddenly Johnny felt very nervous and yet so excited at the same time. The man opened the door.

"Please."

Joey and Johnny walked in. The door closed behind them. Jack was standing there. Apparently he had waited there for a long time. Johnny couldn't control himself any more. His tears ran out of his eyes, and he ran to Jack and hugged him tightly.

Jack hugged Johnny tightly too. He could feel that Johnny was sobbing. He patted Johnny's back and said, "Why cry? We meet each other again, right?"

Johnny didn't answer. He just hugged Jack tightly and sobbed into Jack's chest as he caressed Johnny's back. After a long time, Johnny raised his head and looked at Jack with tearful eyes.

"I missed you so much."

Jack released Johnny and wiped the tears from the boy's face.

"Me too. Look at yourself! You've become so tall and strong! Joey has really taken good care at you!"

Johnny nodded and hugged Jack again.

"Has Kiddie arrived?" Another bright and clear voice was heard behind Jack. Johnny released Jack and saw Zarkway was smiling at him. He ran to Zarkway. However, when he wanted to hug Zarkway, he stopped in surprise.

He saw that Zarkway's left forearm was gone. Only the arm above his elbow was left.

"Zark, you…"

Zarkway smiled. "It's nothing. I just lost a hand. Will you refuse to hug me because my hand is missing?"

Johnny laughed out and hugged Zarkway tightly. "I missed you so much."

"Hey, Kiddie, you're almost taller than me." Zarkway also hugged Johnny tightly. After hugging for a while, he released Johnny and said, "Do you want to come in to see our room?"

Johnny nodded. Zarkway took Johnny into the inner living room. Jack turned around and shook hands with Joey. "Please come in. The room's so big that we're really not used to it."

Joey smiled and nodded. He followed Jack to the inner living room and sat on the sofa. Zarkway and Johnny were not in the living room. However he could hear Johnny exclaiming.

"Wow, the bed's so big."

"Too big for me," said Zarkway.

"It must be great to sleep on it."

"Ha, it's just a bed. Kiddie, do you remember the time when we camped in the jungle? You really liked to use my belly as your pillow and sleep on it."

Johnny laughed out. "You were all so huge to me at that time. It was really comfortable to sleep on your belly."

"Yeah. Now you're almost taller than me. You must have grown ten inches in the past year."

Joey smiled listening to Zarkway and Johnny's conversation. Then he restored his serious face and said in a lower voice, "Recently, Kiddie's mental status has not been good. It's been several days since I've seen him laugh and look so happy."

"How come?"

"He started to have nightmares again. A few days ago, he screamed a lot during the dream, and his legs kicked very hard. It took a lot of effort to make him calm down."

"Do you know why?"

"Not really. He hasn't talked to me much recently. He would sometimes even do the opposite of what I told him or asked of him. Maybe, since he started school recently he was bullied by some older boys. And…" Joey scratched his head, then, embarrassed, said, "Maybe he saw that I was … doing something with my old lover."

"Old lover?"

"Yeah. My lover before I joined the military. Now he's Kiddie's teacher. I really didn't expect that I would see him there."

Jack smiled. "So Kiddie is jealous, huh?"

"Maybe. After that, he started to do the opposite of what I'd ask, " said Joey. "But I don't think that these things would make him have nightmares. The painful experiences he had should be the cause."

Jack sighed. "Kiddie's experiences seemed to much more painful than I expected…"

"Yeah. What I'm worried about is that Kiddie would trap himself in his nightmares. I tried so many ways in the past year, hoping to make him adapt the life here, but still in vain. He still doesn't trust anyone except me. Well, sometimes I feel that he doesn't even fully trust me. His teacher told me that he was bullied in school, but Johnny didn't even say a word about this to me."

Johnny ran out of the room and sat beside Jack. At that moment, he reverted back to the naive Kiddie. "Your room's so big."

Zarkway walked out of the room and sat on the sofa too. "Do you like it? Wanna stay here for a night?"

"I'd like to," said Johnny. "But why do you have guards with guns outside?"

"Oh, you know they have guns with them, huh?" said Zarkway with a smile.

Johnny nodded. "Of course. They're full of gun's smell."

Everyone laughed out. "You're still good at it, aren't you?" Zarkway patted Johnny on his head.

"So…" Johnny looked at Joey with wishful eyes. "Can we stay here for a night?"

Joey smiled and nodded. "I'll check in another room later. You can stay here with Jack and Zark tonight. However we need to leave here tomorrow early morning, right?"

Johnny pouted. "Really?"

Jack nodded. "That's why we have guards with guns outside. We have our missions here. Tomorrow morning we'll need to go somewhere to meet some people. Maybe we can go to your house before going back to Leer. Let's call for dinner first. We can also ask them to check on a room for Joey."

***

The dinner was great. Joey couldn't believe what he saw. It was as if Johnny became a totally different boy, so active and talkative. When they were at home, Johnny would talk and laugh when he was in a good mood. However it was the first time Kiddie became so active. Joey didn't talk much during dinner. He just smiled and watched the others chatting.

When the dinner was about to end, their topic changed to the purpose that Jack and Zarkway came to the United States.

"Jack, tell me. You said that you have missions this time. What's your mission?" asked Johnny.

"Oh," Jack drank some wine, and then he answered. "Do you remember Lambriz, the commander of the former Leer government army?"

Listening to Lambriz's name, Johnny's laughter vanished. He closed his eyes. This name… how could he forget?

"Kiddie? Are you okay?" asked Jack, worried when saw Johnny's reaction.

Johnny opened his eyes. He felt cold sweat on his forehead. However he still nodded.

Jack touched Johnny's forehead, still worried. "You became so pale just listening to his name. You even had cold sweat. Maybe we should stop talking about this."

"No. I want to hear about your mission."

"Really? Are you really okay?"

Johnny nodded.

"Okay, then I'll go on," said Jack, still very worried.

Johnny nodded again.

"After we conquered the capital City of Leer, Lambriz ran away. We didn't capture him. However rumors said that he went to the United States and hired a killer to get revenge."

"Hired a killer to get revenge?" asked Joey. "I know that he came here to buy weapons. But I thought that he just wanted to go back to Leer to start another military coup."

Johnny looked at Joey. "You know?"

Joey smiled. "I went to Washington D.C. because of it. When we talked about your immigration and getting an identity for you, one of the conditions I promised was that we needed to solve the any possible troubles ourselves. The government won't help us. That's why I was called to D.C., and that's also why Jack and Zarkway needed to come here."

Jack nodded. "Of course, Lambriz came here to buy weapons for another coup. However, he wasn't reconciled to being defeated at all. He can't have a foothold in Leer now, so he decided to aim his revenge at the old guerrillas outside Leer first."

"Old guerrillas outside Leer…" murmured Joey.

"Yes, that's Kiddie, and you, Joey," said Jack. "He knew that you attacked the Linbus Jail and rescued Kiddie and brought Kiddie to the United States. So he decided to kill you two first, then go back to Leer for a military coup.

"The President," Jack saw Johnny's questioning eyes and gave him an additional remark. "Yeah, Colonel. I've told you that we elected Colonel as our new President in the letter I wrote to you, on your new birthday, remember? He told me that he isn't worried, and he doesn't think that Lambriz can do anything harmful inside Leer. However he worries about Kiddie's safety very much."

Johnny looked at Joey, then he lowered his head.

"We once considered taking Kiddie back to Leer… for better protection. At least Lambriz couldn't easily attack Kiddie inside Leer. But I rejected this proposal. One of the main reasons is that we just started to rebuild our country. We can't provide Kiddie the appropriate education he needs. Besides… I don't want to take you away from Joey." Jack smiled and patted Johnny's head.

Joey felt himself blush. Johnny still lowered his head and didn't talk.

Chapter 7

His hands were handcuffed and he was hung from the roof. His foot kicked in the air. But as his body swayed, the handcuffs would become tighter and tighter, which brought more and more pain to him. He felt blood flowing along his arms to his body.

A man in a military suit came and stood in front of him. The man looked at him carefully, with cold eyes.

After looking for a long time, the man started to speak.

"Is he the little guy who inflicted such problems on us many times?" the man asked another man beside him.

"Yes, sir."

"He looks just like a normal boy. I really can't understand what you're doing. Are you so incapable that you don't even know how to deal with this little bitch?"

"General, he…"

"I don't want any excuse."

The man took an iron pincers which had been heated to red hot and walked slowly toward him.

"Now, show me how marvelous you are," the man said coldly.

He was very afraid, but he had been exhausted and had no strength to struggle. The man sneered at him. Without any hesitation, the man put the red-hot pincers on his chest. He screamed.

Johnny screamed and woke up from his dream. Again, he was covered with sweat and felt that his heart was beating crazily. Jack woke up too. He sat up and looked at Johnny.

"What happened? Another nightmare?" asked Jack quietly.

Johnny didn't answer Jack's question. He just lay there and listened to Zarkway's snore in another room. After resting for a while, he felt better. He got up and walked to the window. He looked at the moon outside. He really couldn't understand why those nightmares clung to him like a leech. How could he get rid of those terrible dreams?

Jack silently watched Johnny. Then he got up too. He walked to Johnny.

"What happened?" Jack asked again.

Johnny shook his head.

"Nightmares? Joey told me that you're so upset about those bad dreams."

Johnny didn't answer right away. He looked at the moon outside for a minute. Then he started to speak.

"No, they're not just dreams. I'm reliving my real experience. Those terrible experiences came back to my mind again. It's as if I was hanging on the roof again, as if Lambriz burned my body with iron pincers again… I could still feel the pain… being flogged, having my finger cut off, being fucked, being…"

Jack hugged Johnny tightly. "Say no more, say no more…"

Johnny stopped. Jack found that tears started to fall down onto Johnny's face. He wiped Johnny's tears.

"I'm sorry, Kiddie. I didn't protect you well. Even now, I can't protect you well either…"

Johnny was still sobbing.

"Don't think about those terrible things. Think about our happy experiences. We talked about many interesting things in the past tonight, right? Think about them. Don't be stuck in those painful experiences, okay?"

Suddenly Johnny broke from Jack's hug and shouted, "I can't! Those nightmares keep bothering me. I still remember the pain very clearly. Why? Why do I remember so clearly? Why can't I forget it?"

Jack was astonished and looked at Johnny. He had never seen his Kiddie so agitated and he didn't know how to react. Jack and Johnny looked at each other for a while, then all of a sudden Johnny started to weep.

Jack stepped forward and hugged Johnny tightly again. This time Johnny didn't resist. He just buried his head into Jack's chest and wept.

After weeping for a long time, Johnny said with tears, "I'm so scared…"

"Scared about what?"

"I don't know why I have so many nightmares… Why would I experience those terrible things again? Why would I feel the pain again? I feel like I'm so weak… Am I going crazy?"

Jack caressed Johnny's back.

"Kiddie, you're the bravest boy I've ever seen. Everybody has his weak side. It's not a bad thing. Don't be scared."

After sobbing for a while, Johnny seemed to calm down a bit. He wiped his tears and raised his head.

"Can I go back to Leer with you?"

"Go back with me? Why?" Jack was surprised. "Aren't you happy with Joey? He really takes good care of you."

Johnny lowered his head. "I know, but… he…"

"What's up with him?"

"I know that he has become Lambriz's target because of me… Lambriz is a terrible guy… and… and…" Johnny stopped for a while and then continued, "I… I don't know if he still loves me or not."

Jack laughed. "He loves you very much. I'm very sure."

Johnny didn't reply.

Jack tried to sound out Johnny. "Did you see something? About Joey?"

Johnny nodded. After a while he said, "I saw that Joey and… another man… were doing something. I have a very strange feeling. I don't know why I have that feeling. Plus those nightmares… I feel that I'm going to explode…"

"You're jealous," smiled Jack.

"Jealous?"

Jack nodded. "It's a quite normal reaction. It just means that you really care about Joey. But because Joey's doing something with another man doesn't mean that he doesn't love you any more. It's just because he has his own past, just like… you have your own past too. Before meeting you, Joey used to love others. That's all."

"And about Lambriz… even if you go back with us, it wouldn't stop Lambriz's attempt to hurt Joey. I truly believe that Joey won't mind becoming Lambriz's target for you. However if you choose to leave him now, it will make him lose his lover again."

Suddenly Johnny thought of Ming, the Vietnam boy Joey had told him about. Joey used to lose control in front of Johnny, saying that he loved Ming. At that moment Johnny felt that he could totally understand Jack's words, and Joey's pain after losing Ming. He felt much more relieved.

Jack hugged Johnny and they walked to the window again, looking at the moon outside.

"Kiddie, when was the last time we watched the moon together, like this?"

Johnny looked at the moon too. "I don't remember… it was so long ago…"

They were both silent for a while, then Johnny broke the silence. "I… I really want to be with you again, like before…"

"Me too. But time flows. We can't always stay in the past. You will grow up. One day you will not be the Kiddie playing and nestling in our chests any more, right?"

Johnny sighed deeply.

"Even now we don't live together any more, but the memories wouldn't vanish. I still remember the time I found you in the crashed airplane… I still remember the moment you were learning to walk, and the concentration on your face when you were learning to shoot…"

Jack stopped for a while, then he continued, "You're right. No matter whether they're good or bad memories, they will always follow you, like a leech. There are some things you will never forget… However, memories are just memories. They're not the present. You're not in hell now, not knowing when you can escape from it. I just hope you don't trap yourself in those bad memories. They are just a small part of all your memories."

Johnny wiped his tears. He didn't answer Jack; he just watched the moon in a trance.

***

The old man and the boy were sitting on chairs. Their hands were tied behind their backs, and their feet were tied to the chair legs. There was sunlight shining through the window. Tears were still on the boy's face. The old man looked at Lambriz with angry eyes.

Lambriz stood in front of the old man.

"Do you know why you're here?" Lambriz asked.

The old man was gagged. He was just humming.

"I know that you would never understand," sneered Lambriz. He walked to the boy slowly. The boy's eyes showed fear.

Lambriz held the boy's chin with his fingers and looked at the boy carefully. Then he smiled in satisfaction.

"Simply speaking, you're an important part of my revenge plan."

The old man kept humming.

"You must feel strange. Why do I have grudges against you?"

Lambriz sneered again. He took a small handgun from his pocket and pushed it against the boy's head.

"Say goodbye to the world, kid."

The old man shook his head violently and kept humming, hoping to stop Lambriz. The boy closed his eyes and his body trembled. His tears fell down.

BANG!

A loud gunshot, then a clear sound of something breaking. The plate on the table was smashed.

"You wet your pants, kid."

The boy heard Lambriz's cold and sneering sound. He opened his eyes. His pants were wet. His body was still trembling.

Lambriz put his gun back into his pocket. Then he walked to the old man and patted the old man's shoulder. He bent down and spoke softly into the old man's ear.

"Guess what? Your other grandson is much braver than this one."

The old man's eyes opened widely. He looked at Lambriz unbelieving. Lambriz sneered again and left the room.

***

The man left the window after Lambriz left. He felt fortunate that he restrained himself successfully from shooting just now.

Chapter 8

"Are you tired?" Joey asked, because he saw that Johnny was yawning. "You can sleep if you want. We still need to drive for two more hours to home. You must have chatted very late with Jack last night, right?"

Johnny shook his head. "No, not very late, but I couldn't sleep at all. Can I ask you a question?"

Joey nodded. "Just ask."

"You said that in order to get an identity for me to immigrate to the United States, one of the conditions was that we needed to solve any possible troubles ourselves," said Johnny. "What are the other conditions?"

"So you really noticed that, didn't you?" smiled Joey.

Johnny didn't reply. He just watched Joey.

"As for the other conditions, they wanted me to keep training you, including shooting, unarmed combat and many other skills. They thought that one day your talents and skills would be useful to them. That's why I installed a shooting range in the basement, and why I taught you so many skills. But," Joey stopped for a while and continued, "Though I keep training you, I will never send you back into war to work for the United States government."

"Never?"

"Never," said Joey firmly. "If I sent you back into that war, it would be totally meaningless to bring you here."

"What will we do then, when the government wants me to work for them?"

Joey grinned. "I don't know yet. Maybe we can flee to somewhere else. How about to Leer?"

Johnny laughed. "Sure, how about taking Mr. Grey with us?"

Joey looked at Johnny's smile in surprise. After a few seconds, Joey held the steering wheel with his left hand and hooked Johnny's neck with his right arm, as if they were wrestling. "Good boy, are you laughing at me?"

Johnny nestled into Joey's chest and giggled. Joey felt very happy and relieved, because he knew that Johnny would no longer mind those things between Edwin and him. He kissed Johnny's forehead heavily and released Johnny.

Johnny was sitting in the corner, watching other boys playing basketball on the court. He kept thinking about everything that had happened in the past two days. Seeing Jack and Zarkway again made him so excited that he cried; however knowing that Jack's purpose of coming to visit them was about Lambriz, made him fall into his nightmare again.

So terrible a memory… so painful feeling being burned…

Memories are just memories. They're not the present. You're not in the hell now, not knowing when you can escape from it…

Johnny kept thinking about Jack's words.

Memories… painful memories… they are just memories.

Johnny felt that a door in his mind was opened.

Time flows. We can't always stay in the past. You will grow up. One day you will not be the Kiddie playing and nestling in our chests anymore…

"Hey, look who's here!"

A voice interrupted Johnny's thoughts. He raised his head and saw that George and his three minions stood in front of him again. He still didn't even know the names of the other three boys. He didn't want to know either. He didn't want to see the four boys at all. He didn't know why he was restrained so hard, as if he lost his mind, when they bullied him.

"We haven't seen you for two days. Where have you hidden, freak?"

Johnny still sat there and watched the four boys quietly.

A black boy came to Johnny and pulled him to his feet. Then he slapped Johnny. "George is asking you. Do you hide so that you wouldn't need to see us again?"

Johnny didn't answer. He just lowered his head and kept silent.

"We've told you to bring money. Where's the money?" George said as he pushed Johnny.

Johnny still stood there with his poker face.

George said impatiently, "Search his pockets."

The other two boys grabbed Johnny, and the third one started to search Johnny's pockets.

"Nothing there."

"Nothing?" George sneered. "So you really want to resist us, don't you? I should teach you a lesson for this."

George punched Johnny in his stomach. Johnny bent his body over and held his belly. His hair was soon grabbed.

Johnny closed his eyes and got ready to receive more punches. However he heard a voice yelling.

"Don't… don't hit him anymore!"

It was Kevin's voice! Johnny opened his eye in unbelief. He saw Kevin standing in front of them. Kevin looked scared, but looked at everyone bravely.

"Well, well, well. Look who's here." George laughed. He stepped toward Kevin. Kevin stepped back in fear. Then George looked back at Johnny. "When do you need such a small potato to help you, freak?"

Johnny didn't answer. George went back to Kevin and pushed him. "So you want to replace him receiving my fist, huh?"

Kevin looked at George in fear. He started to tremble.

"Okay, let me satisfy you first."

George held his fist up and prepared to punch Kevin.

Quickly Johnny found that he was shouting.

"Don't touch him!"

George stopped his action, turned his head and looked at Johnny.

"Who's speaking? You?"

Johnny felt a bit surprised too. He still felt restrained, but he didn't want Kevin to be punched because of him.

"What are you saying, freak? Can you please repeat that?" George said while putting his hands around his ears in ridicule.

Johnny became silent again.

"Well, since you have nothing to say, I'll go on."

George turned back to Kevin and held up his fist again. Kevin raised his hands to protect his head.

"Don't… touch… him!" Johnny shouted again.

George looked at Johnny and laughed hard. "Hey, look, this freak can talk and he is ordering us!"

The other boys laughed. George pushed Kevin hard, and Kevin fell back several steps. Then George stood in front of Johnny.

"So I touched him. What do you say?" George said provocatively.

George hadn't even finished his words yet when he saw Johnny's eyes change. At that moment he had broken away from the other boy's control, held up his left fist and hit George's stomach very hard.

George opened his eyes wide in surprise. His body became weak and he knelt down on the ground. Johnny's right fist soon found George's nose.

George fell down and his nose started to bleed. Johnny felt that he not only broken away from those boys' control, but also got rid of the restrained feeling. He felt that the active Johnny that he had been before being captured came back to his body. He turned around and looked at other boys with piercing eyes. Then he walked to the black boy.

The black boy still stood there, as if there was a magic spell cast on him, making him freeze. When Johnny stood in front of him, he woke up and started to escape. However Johnny reached his foot to trip the black boy, and soon he used his knees to sit on the boy's chest. His right thumb and forefinger then pushed into the black boy's neck.

The black boy grabbed Johnny's hand and started to struggle, trying to push Johnny's hand away. However, Johnny's fingers were like a pincer. He didn't release his fingers.

"Umm… uh…"

The black boy couldn't make sounds. His feet kicked. Johnny didn't move at all. The black boy reminded him of those soldiers and jailers in Linbus Jail. He pushed even harder, to give out his pent-up emotions accumulated in the past three years.

"Stop!" a voice shouted.

Johnny seemed not to hear this. He kept pinching the boy's neck.

"Johnny Kape! Stop!"

Johnny raised his head and looked at the source of the voice. It was Headmistress Katie. Johnny finally released his hands. The black boy started to cough hard.

Katie looked at Johnny with serious eyes. Johnny put on his poker face again and looked at Katie too.

They both looked at each other for a while. Suddenly Katie sighed deeply.

"Now I know what Joey meant," Katie said thoughtfully as she looked at Johnny. Then she turned around and shouted to the dumbfounded boys, "What are you still doing here? Take them to the medical room!"

The other two boys helped George and the black boy up in a hurry and left.

"Johnny, come with me," said Mrs. Katie.

Kevin ran to Mrs. Katie and said hurriedly, "Mrs. Katie, Johnny hit them because of me…"

"Stop, Kevin," Mrs. Katie told Kevin. "You come with me too."

Chapter 9

"Mr. Grey, why did you punish Johnny with suspension?"

Kevin grabbed Mr. Grey's clothes and asked anxiously.

"Kevin…"

"He fought with them because he saw George was going to hit me…" the boy interrupted.

"Kevin! Calm down!"

Kevin stopped. He stared at his teacher with his green eyes.

"Listen to me, Kevin." Mr. Grey put his hands on Kevin's shoulders. "I didn't punish Johnny with suspension only because he fought with them."

"What else?"

Mr. Grey thought for a while. Then he said, "I can't tell you too much, because it's related to Johnny's past. However, did you notice that Johnny almost killed York?"

Kevin lowered his head. After a while, he nodded.

"I don't blame him for this. He survived by himself for a very long time, so in his mind he has learned different standards for many things than we have. Therefore, I have to let him know that, he can't do that here. Do you understand?"

Kevin didn't answer Mr. Grey. He just looked at him silently.

Mr. Grey patted Kevin's shoulder. "Before Johnny left, he wanted me to say thank you to you for him. He appreciated you very much for stopping George for him."

Kevin raised his head in surprise. Mr. Grey nodded and smiled at him.

The sun was still under the horizon. The temperature was a bit low in the early morning. Johnny followed Joey and ran uphill slowly. It was very quiet; they could only hear the sounds of their steps and breathes.

All of a sudden, Johnny had a strange feeling. He slowed down and turned around.

Nothing special.

Johnny still felt that someone was following them. He looked for a while and turned back. Joey was a bit farther ahead, so Johnny started to speed up to chase Joey.

Joey turned his head back and looked at Johnny with concerned eyes. Johnny nodded to him. They kept running uphill slowly, until they were near their favorite hill. Then they slowed down and started to walk.

They walked to the hill and sat down under the tree, as usual. Joey took the bottle from his pack and drank some water. Then he passed the bottle to Johnny. Johnny drank some water too and Joey put the bottle back into his pack. Then Joey hugged Johnny and let him lean against his own body.

"Feel cold?" asked Joey quietly.

Johnny shook his head. He leaned his head against Joey's chest. Joey wiped the sweat on Johnny's forehead, then he kissed Johnny.

They didn't talk, just watched far away quietly. The sun was about to rise. The temperature was getting warmer. Joey took off his and Johnny's jacket, then he hugged Johnny again and kissed Johnny deeply. Johnny hugged Joey too. They touched each other's tongues, explored each other's mouths.

After kissing for a long time, Joey released Johnny and asked with a smile, "Do you remember the first time I kissed you?"

Johnny nodded. "Yes," he whispered.

It was not very long after Johnny was rescued by Joey. They both were in the sentry box on Joey's base. It was the first time Johnny unarmed his own mind and opened it to Joey.

"You were so thin and small back then…" whispered Joey. "Now you have really grown up."

Johnny looked at Joey's smile and thought of his helplessness at that time, then he thought of the present. Just a few days before, he finally broke away from the confined feeling when being bullied by the four big boys and attacked back. Though he was suspended due to fighting with them, he felt that the heavy repression was gone. The little Kiddie who was active in the war had come back to his body.

Joey seemed to have realized Johnny's changes. He hugged Johnny and said, "You know? I feel that you are different these days."

Johnny didn't answer. He just leaned his head against Joey.

"After you resisted those boys, you became a lot more relaxed and sanguine. Do you still have bad dreams these days?"

"Actually, yes, those terrible things in the past still appear in my dreams, intermittently. However, it is no longer so terrible and painful…"

Johnny stopped for a while and then continued.

"At first I didn't understand why those painful experiences kept bothering me in my dreams. I could even feel the pain… I also didn't understand why I was confined so seriously each time those boys bullied me."

"At that night, Jack told me that memories are just memories. He hoped that I would not trap myself into those bad memories. Then, when I saw Kevin standing up to resist George for me, suddenly I realized what Jack meant."

Joey looked at Johnny with a smile.

"Yeah, you finally realized that. That's my biggest hope this year. I hope that you can get rid of those bad experiences in your past. Now I'm so happy because an all new Kiddie is born."

Johnny looked at Joey, and suddenly he hugged Joey tightly.

"Thank you, Joey," whispered Johnny, then he kissed Joey's lips.

Joey was a bit surprised. In their intimate touches, Joey was always the active one. So Joey felt very happy when he saw Johnny's action. Soon he started to kiss Johnny deeply too.

After kissing for a while, Joey pulled Johnny to lie down under the tree.

"We haven't had sex here for a long time," whispered Joey. "Now nobody is here. Do you want it?"

Johnny thought of his feelings just then. He looked around and made sure that nobody was there and then nodded.

Joey put his hands under Johnny's sport shirt and touched Johnny's body. After a while he started to take it off and soon Johnny was shirtless.

Joey took off his own sport shirt too. Then he started to kiss Johnny's bare chest and his deformed nipples. He kissed Johnny's scars all over his body. Then he rubbed Johnny's body with his own cheek.

"I really like your smell after you've been exercising and sweating," said Joey.

"Me too," Johnny answered quietly, with a shy smile.

Joey smiled too. He got above Johnny and touched Johnny's body with his own. He kissed Johnny deeply again, and started to take off Johnny's pants with his hands and feet.

Then he released Johnny's lips and started to caress and kiss Johnny's nude body. The sun was out and made the temperature around them become very comfortable andJohnny lay there happily. The sunlight, dirt and grass kissed his nude body; plus, with Joey's tender caresses, Johnny felt that it was the best feeling he ever had, even though it was not their first time to make love there. He closed his eyes to enjoy the wonderful moment.

Joey spent quite some time kissing Johnny's hard penis. He pushed down Johnny's foreskin and started to lick Johnny's penis head. Johnny's body trembled uncontrollably. A familiar exciting feeling was all over his body. Though familiar, Johnny felt that the feeling was the best one he ever had, and he could concentrate more on the pleasant sensations Joey brought to him. Joey kept rubbing and licking Johnny's penis. Johnny started to moan.

"Oh… Hmm… Yes…"

The excitement was building stronger and stronger. However, Joey stopped his actions and started to take off his own pants. He touched Johnny's erect penis with his own. Joey's stopping made Johnny feel unfulfilled. He got up and pushed Joey down, then he started to kiss Joey's body.

Joey lay there happily, letting Johnny kiss all over his body. Johnny kissed Joey's strong chest. He smelled Joey's smell. Then he kissed Joey's thick iron stick and licked its head.

Though Joey had had sex with Johnny many times, he had always been the active one. So Joey felt very happy to see Johnny's change. He felt that he had never had such great sex with Johnny. Johnny's warm tongue licked his dick and stimulated him more and more.

Joey couldn't control himself anymore. He got up and pushed Johnny down to the ground and lifted Johnny's legs. Johnny stimulated him so much that he felt himself about to explode. He could no longer fondle Johnny slowly to make Johnny relaxed. He pushed his dick, which was already extended to the limit, against Johnny's small hole. Johnny smiled. He seemed to have been waiting for that moment for a long time.

"Kiddie, I can't wait anymore. I want to enter your body, or I will explode."

Johnny smiled and nodded andJoey started to penetrate him.

Maybe because Joey didn't lubricate his penis and Johnny wasn't relaxed enough either, Joey's penetration made Johnny hurt; such hurt made Johnny think of the dark days before. However, Johnny knew that it was totally different. He gritted his teeth to endure it. Just as he expected, soon the hurt feeling vanished and was replaced by a pleasant excitement. Joey sped up in a short time. He kept penetrating and hitting Johnny's bottom. He embraced Johnny tightly and kept kissing him. Johnny moaned, letting the familiar but even better feelings flood all over his body.

"Oh… oh… Joey… I… I've never felt that… so wonderful…"

Joey just kept penetrating the young boy crazily. Johnny's moans stimulated him even more. Finally, a wonderful feeling came over him. He started to shoot his seed into Johnny's body.

Joey finally pulled out his dick and put Johnny's legs down on the ground. He lay down beside Johnny and gasped.

After gasping for a while, Joey saw that Johnny's dick was still standing there. He rubbed it. Johnny smiled.

"This time it was ever more wonderful than before," whispered Johnny.

"For me too," said Joey with a smile.

They embraced and kissed each other. Then Joey said, "we should get up and put our clothes on. There will be people passing by here soon."

Johnny smiled and nodded. They got up and started to put on their clothes.

They had just put all their clothes on when they heard a sound.

"You really don't mind being watched by others, do you, Joey?"

Joey and Johnny were startled. They looked around and saw a man standing in front of them, smiling. Joey's mouth opened.

"Arn?"

Chapter 10

"Long time no see, Joey," said Arn with smile.

"What are you doing here?" Joey still couldn't close his mouth.

Ann laughed out loudly. "Do you think that I'm only here watching your passionate performances? Another guy was following you all the way since you started jogging. Joey, did you really backslide so much that you weren't aware of this guy at all?"

Joey blushed. He looked at Johnny. Johnny put on his poker face. He did feel that there seemed to be someone following them, but he didn't forget that night either - the night Arn and George raped him, after he was rescued by Joey.

Looking at Johnny's poker face, Arn smiled. "Don't be like that, Pokerface. I know that I owe you very much. I'm here to pay you my debt."

"What do you mean?" asked Joey.

Arn didn't answer Joey but left them. A few seconds later he dragged something out from a corner. Joey looked at this 'thing'. It was an unconscious man. His hands were tied behind his back and his mouth was gagged. Joey could see that he was a black man.

"This is what I meant. Do you want to talk here and let everyone see us, or shall we go back to your place? After your passionate show, you need to take showers, don't you?" Arn asked, with a teasing laughter.

***

Johnny sat beside Joey, still with his poker face, looking at the black man sitting across him. The man was awake, but was still tied and gagged. He looked at Johnny too.

Arn stood beside the black man and started to speak. "I'm here because someone paid me to kill you both."

"Lambriz?" Joey blurted out.

Arn nodded. "I did some investigation and knew that he used to be the commander-in-chief of Leer's ex-government army."

Joey thought for a while, than a smile arose on Joey's face. "So he wanted to find a killer and he chose you? When did you become a killer?"

Arn sighed. "Just like you, I left the mercenary after coming back from Leer. The main reason of my leaving was the lesson Pokerface taught me."

Joey looked at Johnny, then looked at Arn. Johnny still kept his poker face.

"Since the day Pokerface saved my life, I realized how much I was lost. Those fighting days in the mercenary made me lose my humanity, so when I saw Pokerface I couldn't control my sex desire and raped him. Therefore I decided to leave the mercenary and start a new life.

"However, I didn't have any useful skill other than combat. I could only find some odd jobs and sometimes earned the prize from boxing. Then, when my life became unsustainable, Mr. Rayben came to me."

"Oh?" Joey was a bit surprised.

Johnny looked at Joey with questioning eyes. Joey explained to Johnny, "Mr. Rayben was the chief leader of our mercenary army. He was responsible for deploying us and giving us missions."

Arn nodded. "He came and asked me if I wanted to accept a secret commission or not."

"To kill someone?"

Arn nodded again. "You know that I can't tell you too much. Simply speaking, someone brought a huge amount of drugs into the United States and he was protected by a powerful person. Mr. Rayben told me that his superiors didn't have enough evidence, but they didn't want to see those drugs spread everywhere. So they wanted him to strike first."

Joey could understand why Arn didn't want to say too much, so he didn't ask more about Arn's mission. He changed a topic. "So you became a killer since then?"

"Yeah. But I have my principles. I didn't accept all commissions. Just like what I've said, I don't want to make the same mistake of losing my humanity. So I would always investigate the background in detail before accepting a commission."

Joey pondered all he had heard for a while.

"But… why did Lambriz choose you? Didn't he know that you and I were in the same mercenary army and we assaulted the Linbus Jail together?"

The black man seemed to be surprised. His eyes opened widely.

"It's true but, Mr. Rayben cleared all my records after I agreed to accept his commission. After all, a killer should keep secrets. It's not good to let others know too much about my past, right?" Arn patted the man's cheek.

The man looked at everyone with hatred in his eyes. Suddenly Arn hit the man's neck. The man fainted again.

"What are you doing?" asked Joey.

"I don't want him to know about what I'm going to tell you," said Arn. He poked the man with his fingers to make sure that the man was unconscious. Then he sat down on another chair. "After Lambriz visited me, I followed him back to his base. I saw two other people there."

"Two other people?"

Ann nodded. "Lambriz kidnapped an old man and a small boy. I'm not sure who they are, but I heard Lambriz say that they were a part of his revenge plan."

"A part of his revenge plan?"

Joey and Johnny looked at each other. Arn continued.

"We need to find out who they are. Maybe we need to find out if there are reports about their missing. However we need to be fast. Lambriz will know in a short time if his underling doesn't report back. I'm afraid that he will injure the old man and the boy."

"WE?" laughed Joey. "No, YOU've done enough for US. Just tell US where Lambriz is. Then YOU don't need to be involved anymore."

"Oh, YOU just want to enjoy such an exciting adventure for YOURSELVES?" laughed Arn.

Johnny looked at Arn. He didn't make a poker face any more. Johnny knew that Arn came to make up for his mistake. At that moment, Johnny had forgiven him.

***

"Kiddie? Where are you?"

Joey shouted. He found that Johnny was missing after showing Arn to the door. He looked into the room and then went to the shooting range. Johnny wasn't there.

"Where had Johnny gone?" Joey wondered. He wanted Johnny to prepare weapons with him. He had arranged to meet Arn at midnight and attack Lambriz at dawn. They should prepare everything and then have some sleep…

Suddenly a thought jumped into Joey's mind. Would Kiddie… ?

"Damn it!" Joey cursed himself. Would Kiddie hide in Ann's car and ask Arn to take him to Lambriz's base?

***

Ann looked into the mirror and smiled. He kept stepping on the gas pedal. His car roared down the road.

After a minute or two Arn said, "Come out, Pokerface."

Johnny lifted the canvas that was covering him andsat up and looked at Arn.

"Come and sit here." Arn patted the passenger's seat.

Johnny looked at Arn, then he climbed across to the passenger's seat.

"You knew that I was in your car?" asked Johnny.

"Sure. I knew that right after I got into my car," laughed Arn. "Let me tell you, you're too anxious and too murderous now. An experienced soldier could easily sense your existence if you're too murderous. It's not good for you, do you understand?"

"So you knew that I was in your car, but you didn't tell Joey?"

"You hoped I would take you to Lambriz's place, didn't you?"

Johnny nodded.

"Why hurry? We've arranged everything. We'll meet at midnight and start to attack at dawn."

"No," said Johnny. "I just want you to take me there. I don't want you and Joey getting involved in it. If you don't want to take me there, please let me get out now. I'll get there myself."

Arn laughed out loudly. "Do you think that you can defeat Lambriz? Do you think that you can save the old man and the boy?"

"I'd try my best."

Arn looked at Johnny. He knew that Johnny was quite serious. He stopped being flippant. He parked his car at the side of the road and stared at Johnny seriously.

"So I should get out now, right?" asked Johnny quietly.

He shook his head. After being silent for a while, Arn asked, "Why do you want to go there alone? Why don't you want us to get involved in it?"

"Because I don't want anyone to be hurt or killed because of me any more."

Arn pondered. Then he asked, "What do you have as your weapons?"

"Two small handguns. About one hundred bullets."

"Only that? You'll definitely be killed. It's impossible to defeat Lambriz with those weapons only."

"I'll try it in any case," said Johnny, still quietly. "Even if there is only a very few chances to succeed, I will try it."

Ann looked at Johnny's face. Johnny wasn't afraid at all. He seemed to have made up his mind. Arn sighed and thought for a while, then he started the motor and started to drive again.

They both didn't talk. Arn just drove and Johnny just looked ahead quietly.

Arn drove outside of the town. After a while, he parked his car.

"You should walk from here," said Arn. "Go along this road, walk about two miles. There will be a big motel which is abandoned now. Lambriz's there."

"Thanks," said Johnny. He opened the door.

"Wait."

Johnny stopped and looked at Arn.

"The motel is big. There are several rows of two story houses, surrounded by a fence. Though there are some trees outside the fence, it was still very open between the houses and the fence. I'm a bit surprised that Lambriz would choose such a place to be his base, because that would be too conspicuous and could be easily surrounded and attacked. Maybe he thought that nobody would be near there and it was easier to monitor you. Because of the vulnerability, he will have many guards around. It took quite some effort for me to sneak in last time and I think it will be even more difficult for you. Do you still insist on going there alone?"

Johnny nodded.

Arn took something out from beneath his seat. "Put it on."

Johnny looked at it. It was a bulletproof vest.

"It's my treasure. Maybe a bit too big for you, but it's light and has good effects. Put it on."

Johnny looked at Arn and smiled.

"Thanks," said Johnny while taking the vest.

"That's the first time I've seen you smile." Arn smiled too. "Okay, not including your smile in the morning while having sex with Joey. It's the first time I've seen you smile at me."

Johnny laughed out loud. Arn patted Johnny on his shoulder.

"Take care, Pokerface."

"My name is Johnny. You can call me Kiddie too."

Arn laughed.

Johnny got out of the van. He just closed the door and Arn started the motor again,made a U-turn and left.

Chapter 11

Arn drove back hurriedly. He was quite upset with himself. He could understand Johnny's feeling; he appreciated Johnny's courage too. However he shouldn't have agreed with Johnny's decision and request. Why did he become soft-hearted when facing Johnny? Or maybe he should say, why was he so hard-hearted to let Johnny face Lambriz alone?

He thought of Johnny's face. His eyes were so peaceful but firm. Was it Johnny's eyes that made him have no choice but to agree to Johnny's request? Johnny's eyes were so firm and stubborn that he must have no room for any concession.

He thought of that night again; the night he raped Johnny. He thought of Johnny's pokerface that night. Johnny's mouth held his own dick…

Maybe it was because he felt he owed Johnny too much, so he felt that he had no choice?

Arn stepped on the brakes. No! If he drove back to Joey's house, it would be too late to come back here. Johnny would have no chance to try to defeat Lambriz. He must go back and help Johnny secretly and wait for Joey to come. He believed that Joey would come soon once he had found Johnny was missing.

***

Joey thought about what to do next. Johnny decided to leave Joey alone and face Lambriz himself. That action made Joey very worried and upset. He thought for a while and started to carry guns and bullets from the armory in the basement to his own car.

He worked quickly. He kept thinking while working. Arn had given him some information about Lambriz's basement, however it was still not clear enough. He must go and observe there so that he could decide his tactics. However, time was very tight. He didn't know if he would have enough time to observe or not. The more he thought, the more uncertain he felt of his rescue action. He just hoped that Arn could help Johnny and wouldn't let Johnny face Lambriz alone.

When Joey was almost done, he heard a sound of car braking. He put the weapons on the ground and walked upstairs.

"Joey? Kiddie?" someone shouted.

It was Jack! Joey ran and opened the door quickly. Jack and Zarkway were standing there.

"Hey, Joey, we know where Lambriz is now," said Jack quickly. "Not far from here, but it may not be easy to capture him. He has a small troop of his elite soldiers there."

"I know all that," said Joey. "However, there are something I need to tell you…"

Joey told Jack and Zarkway quickly about the news Arn had told him and Johnny's disappearance. Jack and Zarkway's faces became very serious.

"We need to act quickly," said Jack. "I've informed the US government that we may have a fight when trying to capture Lambriz. They told me that they would never interfere with our fights with Lambriz. They also warned me that we need to take full responsibility for any loss, including financial damage, or even injury or death to any US civilian."

Joey sighed. "I'm ready to go there now. We'd better go as soon as possible. Besides Kiddie, there are two more hostages there. Things are getting more and more tough…"

"Well, Joey, do you need my help?" another voice said suddenly.

All three were startled and looked at the source of the voice. A man was standing there, watching Joey with a smile on his face.

***

Johnny stood there and looked at Arn's car leaving. When it was totally gone, Johnny put on Ann's bulletproof vest and took his small handgun out. The vest was really light, so light that Johnny almost couldn't feel its weight.

Johnny started to move toward the motel where Arn told him. He thought about how to sneak into the motel. He had only two small handguns, which couldn't shoot too far; so he had to fight with them at a short distance. He didn't know how many people were guarding there. He didn't know if he had enough bullets or not.

Johnny thought of that; it seemed to be his first time to act alone since he started to participate in the civil war of Leer. He started to feel regret. He seemed to be too impetuous. He was acting even before knowing how many enemies he would face. It would be better if Joey was here, the young boy thought…

Soon Johnny shook his head and rejected that thought. Joey had become Lambriz's target because of him; there was an old man and a boy kidnapped, too, also because of him. He didn't even know who the old man and the boy were. They didn't know about the existence of Johnny either. Johnny really didn't want to see more people getting hurt because of him.

He made up his mind to rescue the old man and the boy. He wanted Joey safe from Lambriz's threat. He would pay anything he could; even if he needed to sacrifice himself; even if he would be killed, or even worse, even if he would get abused again like he had been in the Linbus Jail.

Johnny soon saw his destination. As Arn had said, the motel was formed by a few rows of two-floor buildings, which formed an H, with a wooden fence around it. Many parts of the fence were destroyed. There were big clearings between the buildings and the fence, which should be for parking. Outside the fence were some sparse trees. Johnny hid within some trees and observed the building through holes in the fence. All the buildings were dark. He watched and thought where Lambriz could be. Would he and the hostages be in one of the rooms? How could he find them?

Johnny watched for a while, but still couldn't see anyone. Could it be a trap? Johnny couldn't hear anyone walking either. He couldn't even smell the smell of gunpowder. Instead, he smelled a very light unknown smell, which made him uncomfortable. He didn't know what the smell could be. Could it be possible that Lambriz had run away because he knew that his underling, who monitored them, was captured?

Johnny decided to start his action. He held his gun and sneaked through the fence carefully. He looked around to make sure that nobody was watching him, then he started to walk along the buildings slowly. He listened carefully.

After walking for a while, he stopped. He heard a very faint sound andstood still and listened carefully.

It was someone breathing and moaning!

Though very faint, Johnny could still hear it. Someone was moaning. It sounded like he was gagged. He started to trace the source of the sound.

The sound was getting clearer and clearer. Johnny walked to the side door of a building. The sound seemed to be coming from the second floor. He raised his head and looked up. The sound should be from that building.

Johnny watched carefully and tried the door. The door opened.

He felt very strange. He had a strong, uneasy feeling. It was very likely a trap. But he had to find out who was moaning. He walked into the building carefully. In front of him was a long, horizontal hallway. The whole building was quite dark; there was only the moonlight from some of the windows.

Johnny waited for a while to let his eyes adapt to the dark. The moan was even more clear in the building. He started to look for the stairs along the hallway.

There was a very strange, pungent smell in the building, neither of gunpowder, nor of the moldy smells from an old building. Johnny felt strange. He kept walking and found the stairs.

He stepped on the stairs and a big creaking noise startled him. He found that the stairs were wooden and were old. Johnny was upset with himself; he should have been more careful! He kept walking upstairs very slowly, trying not to make a sound.

Though less than twenty stairs, Johnny felt that he walked for a very long time. The moan was becoming louder and Johnny tried to find the source of the sound. The pungent smell was stronger and stronger and his uneasy feeling was getting stronger and stronger too. Finally he found the source of the sound. It was from behind a door. He opened the door and saw a figure in the room, lying on the ground, wriggling and moaning.

Johnny went into the room and found that it was a boy. The boy's hands were tied behind his back and his feet were tied too. His mouth was gagged. Johnny took a small knife out and cut off the ropes, then he removed the rag from the boy's mouth.

"Are you okay?" asked Johnny. He helped the boy stand up. He looked at the boy, then his chin fell down to his chest.

How… come?

Johnny looked at the boy in a trance. The boy in front of him was a bit taller than him. The boy's type of build was similar with his own and he had black hair and eyes, just like him. The most important was that, the boy's face was almost the same as his! Johnny felt that he was looking into a mirror.

Could it be that… the boy really was related to him?

The boy was also surprised and looked at Johnny in a trance. They looked at each other for a while, then the boy hugged Johnny tightly and started to weep.

Johnny was startled, but he hugged the boy tightly too. He patted the boy on his back.

"You're safe now. Don't be afraid."

"My grandpa… my grandpa was taken away…" the boy said with a sob.

"Do you know where your grandpa was taken to?" asked Johnny.

"I… I don't know… " The boy was still sobbing. "I just know that… they left me here and took grandpa away."

"Okay. I'll find your grandpa. Don't worry," said Johnny. He took off the bulletproof vest. "Put it on and let's leave here now."

The boy was still sobbing and didn't take the vest. Johnny helped the boy put on the vest, then he held the boy's hands and prepared to leave the room.

Suddenly, something hit the window and broke it!

Johnny turned around and raised his arm and fired his handgun and hit the object flying into the window. However, at that moment, the object started to burn. When it hit the floor, the whole room suddenly was in flames!

Chapter 12

The fire spread very fast and fiercely. At that moment Johnny just realized that he stepped into Lambriz's trap. The boy was so shocked that he just stood there.

"Run! Hurry!" shouted Johnny.

Johnny grabbed the boy's hands and ran out of the room. The boy was then awakened from the shock and ran with Johnny. Johnny found that almost the whole building was burning. He grabbed the boy's hands and ran downstairs. The stairs were starting to burn too. He couldn't be sure that the stairs were safe or not, he just kept running with the boy.

It was so hot… Johnny felt that his whole body was burning. The hurt and unbearable feeling was overwhelming him, as if he went back to the Linbus Jail and his enemies were burning his body with red hot iron pincers. He felt that he went back to that hell and didn't know when he could leave…

So hurt… so hot… Johnny felt that he couldn't endure anymore…

However, at that moment Johnny felt the touch of the boy's hand. His hands were grabbed by the boy tightly. He became clearer.

He must rescue the boy! He must hang on!

Johnny pulled the boy's hand and ran recklessly. They reached the side door, but it was closed. Johnny tried to open it but it was locked. Johnny fired at the lock and hit the door heavily with his shoulder and body. The door was broken and Johnny and the boy ran out of the door. Cold air hit their faces. They kept running until they were far away from the burning building. Johnny fell forward, rolled on the ground to put out the fire on his body. Then he lay prone, coughing and gasping hard, breathing the cold air greedily.

Johnny felt that he was still trembling. After gasping for a while, he tried to collect himself and stand up. He looked around to find where the boy was. The boy was still lying prone, gasping and coughing. Johnny walked to the boy haltingly and helped the boy to stand up.

"Are you okay?" asked Johnny.

The boy calmed down a bit. He raised his own arm.

"I'm okay. The vest you gave me kept my body from being burned, so only my arms were burned a bit."

Johnny looked at the boy and knew that he was not seriously injured. He sighed with relief. Once he was relieved, a burst of strong pain came over him. He looked at his own body. His clothes were burned away a lot, and his body was burned too.

"Are you injured?" asked the boy with concern.

Johnny gritted his teeth to endure the pain. He shook his head.

"It's nothing," said Johnny. He held his gun again. "It must be them that set the fire. They must be nearby."

"Who are they? Why did they kidnap my grandpa and me, and even want to kill us?"

Johnny looked at the boy, and then he lowered his head. He didn't know how to explain everything to the boy. After a while, he raised his head and prepared to speak.

At that moment, Johnny felt someone walking toward him. He pulled the boy behind him, and raised his gun to point at the coming person. The fire behind them lit the man.

It was Lambriz! The fire lit his cold face; the face Johnny would never forget.

There was another man behind Lambriz, who was pulling an old man along with him. The old man was gagged; his hands were tied behind his back. He kept struggling.

The boy saw the old man and exclaimed, "Grandpa!"

The old man saw the boy and Johnny. He stopped struggling. He stood there still and looked at the two boys with wide open eyes.

Johnny looked at the old man too. He thought about how to rescue the old man and the boy from Lambriz's control.

Then Lambriz started to speak.

"We meet again, kid."

Though the sound of the burning building was quite loud, Lambriz's cold voice still pierced Johnny's ears and made Johnny think of his terrible experiences in the past. Johnny shivered, but he tried to control himself.

"What you want is me! Let them go! I can promise you all your conditions; you can do anything to me, but let them go!" Johnny shouted to Lambriz.

Lambriz grinned coldly.

"Son, you're not the one to make orders. I am. Drop your gun, now!"

Johnny hesitated so Lambriz made a gesture. The man behind Lambriz took out a gun and pointed to the old man's head.

"I repeat, drop your gun!" Lambriz said again, coldly.

Johnny dropped his gun and raised both his hands.

"Okay, I dropped my gun. Let them go now!"

"Son, I've told you, you're not the one to make orders here," Lambriz sneered. "I should remind you of that."

Lambriz took out a gun and shot toward Johnny.

"Ouch!" Johnny exclaimed.

The bullet grazed Johnny's left arm. He grabbed his left arm with his right hand. Blood started to flow between his fingers. The boy behind Johnny screamed. Johnny endured the pain and waved to the boy with his left hand, telling the boy that he was okay.

"Let's start with your arm. I will enjoy watching you die… slowly."

Johnny raised his head and looked at Lambriz. The fire lit Lambriz's face. His eyes were full of hatred.

"I've waited for this moment for a very long time. You made me lose everything. Now I can enjoy the the taste of sweet revenge. I can enjoy watching you die. Oh, how sweet! Ha! Ha!"

Lambriz laughed out loud and coldly. However, Johnny had sensed that something was happening outside of the fence. There seemed to be some faint voices; the voices of fighting. Someone seemed to be getting nearer. Were they Lambriz's underlings? Seemed not. If they were Lambriz's soldiers, why would they fight? And why would they move so quietly?

Johnny didn't know what was happening or who they were, but he decided to bet on his hunch. That would be his one and only chance. He should keep Lambriz's attention on him, to avoid Lambriz from noticing the abnormal movement outside. He endured the pain and shouted at Lambriz.

"I was captured a long time ago. Why did you say that I made you lose everything?"

Lambriz sneered, "You were in the anti-government army, so you are one of them who caused my failure! Not to mention that you killed many of my soldiers!"

The tumult outside the fence seemed to getting bigger. Though the burning building made a lot of loud noise, Johnny could still hear the voices of fighting. He considered how to keep Lambriz from noticing that.

However, while Johnny was thinking about what he could do, he found that there were two men appearing quietly from behind Lambriz. Johnny didn't know who they were.

The man who had hold of the old man didn't notice the newcomers. Soon he was hit by a buttstock and fell, unconscious. The old man's mouth was also covered by a big hand. Johnny heard the boy exclaim a bit. He reacted very quickly. He soon squatted down, like he was in pain. His right hand grabbed his injured left arm tightly and made a painful expression. The boy was startled and grabbed Johnny. Johnny pinched the boy's hand slightly, trying to give the boy some hint.

Lambriz sneered again. He wasn't fazed by the show of pain in front of him.

"My soldiers always told me how formidable you were. Humph! You're nothing to me. You stepped into all the traps I prepared for you. Ha! Ha!"

Johnny raised his head and looked at Lambriz with a painful face. Lambriz kept talking with a triumphant voice.

"When I knew that you captured the guy I sent to monitor you, I started to deploy everything. I started to soak this wooden building with inflammable liquid, and left this kid in the room. I knew that you would have to come here to rescue him. But I didn't expect that you are even more stupid than I thought. You came here alone! Ha! Ha! I just assigned a soldier to wait here. I simply ordered him to throw a bottle of gasoline into that room when you found the kid. I know that you would shoot it and cause a big fire to burn yourself. Ha!"

Inflammable liquid? Johnny thought of the unknown and uncomfortable smell.

"I have to admit that you are really like a cockroach. Your will to survive is much stronger than I expected. I was already very surprised that you weren't killed in the Linbus Jail. Even such a big fire couldn't kill you!"

Johnny noticed that the voice of fighting was gone. Johnny didn't know what was happening. He didn't know how the old man was. He pretended to be in a lot of pain. Well, he was in a lot of pain, but he still tried to keep Lambriz talking.

"Where are your other soldiers?"

"Since I decided to give up this base, I let most of my soldiers withdraw first. However I left some here. Their guns are pointing at you now. Ha! Ha!"

"Well, I don't think that they can respond to your commands now," another voice said from behind Lambriz.

Lambriz was startled. He turned around and raised his gun. At the same time a gunshot rang out.

BANG!

Lambriz's gun flew away from his hand.

Lambriz looked at the source of the gunshot with hatred in his eyes. Johnny then realized that the voice was Zarkway's and the one who shot Lambriz's gun was Jack!

Johnny sighed with relief. Once he was relieved, he felt weak and almost fell down. The boy behind him supported him from behind.

"Long time no see, Lambriz," said Jack. His gun was still pointing at Lambriz.

Lambriz sneered. He looked at Jack with venom in his eyes.

"You're a lot more abominable than everyone could imagine," continued Jack. "You sent Kiddie, who was just a small boy, to the Linbus Jail and let him be abused a lot there. You couldn't face your failure but shifted all the responsibility on him. You even kidnapped two innocent people just because you wanted revenge!"

"You made me lose everything. I want to take them all back," Lambriz said slowly.

"You have no more chances. You are going back to Leer with me to face your trial!"

"Humph! I won't be defeated that easily."

"Do you still think that those hidden soldiers will help you?" Another voice came from behind Johnny. Johnny turned around and saw that Joey and Arn were standing there. "All those hidden soldiers are captured."

Seeing Joey, Johnny had an indescribable feeling. He didn't want Joey to get involved, but Joey still came to rescue him. At that moment he really wanted to hug Joey tightly. Johnny tried to stand up.

"Are you okay? You seemed to be bleeding a lot," said Joey, concerned.

Johnny nodded. His arm stopped bleeding, however he felt hurt; the pain was all over his body. The boy was still supporting him from behind.

Lambriz looked at all the people around him. His anger and hatred reached the top. He roared.

"You all will pay for this!"

At that moment, everyone heard two gun shots!

Chapter 13

BANG! BANG!

Two gunshots. The boy behind Johnny felt that something hit his back heavily; so heavy that it made him fall forward. Johnny was pushed and fell down too. Joey and Arn shot back at the source of the gunshots immediately.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Everything was in a great mess. Lambriz roared again and got another small hand gun out of his pocket. He aimed at Johnny and prepared to pull the trigger. However, Jack was faster than him. Before Lambriz could shoot, Jack had already shot three times. Zarkway also shot several times. At that moment Lambriz's body was riddled with several holes and he fell down.

The gunshots stopped. Joey was about to go to see who was there. Arn stopped him.

"Go check Pokerface and the boy. Let me check the enemy," said Ann.

Joey nodded. Arn left Joey and Zarkway followed him. Joey and Jack ran to see Johnny and the boy.

Johnny was under the boy. He struggled to get up and shook the boy's body. "Are you okay?"

The boy moaned. "It hurts…"

Joey squatted down and checked the boy. Then Joey found that two bullets were stuck in the bulletproof vest.

Joey took off the vest from the boy's body and checked the boy again. He sighed with relief. "Fortunately the vest saved your life. If you didn't have it, you had no way to survive."

Johnny looked at the vest. He hadn't thought too much when he gave the vest to the boy so he felt very happy that it really saved the boy's life. He helped the boy to stand up.

"Oh my God… you…"

Jack saw the two almost identical boys and his chin dropped.

The boy looked at Jack and then looked at Johnny. Then he saw Lambriz's bloody body. He shouted and grabbed Johnny tightly and buried his head into Johnny's shoulder. Johnny turned his body to prevent the boy seeing Lambriz again and patted the boy on his shoulder.

"It's all right. Don't be afraid."

The boy raised his head. "Where is my grandpa?" he asked.

Jack patted his shoulder. "Don't worry. Your grandpa is in our car now. My guard is with him."

"I want to see Grandpa! Take me to see Grandpa!"

"Okay, okay. Follow me," said Jack. He used his hand to cover the boy's eyes to prevent him from seeing Lambriz's bloody body and took him away. Johnny turned around and looked at Joey.

"Isn't this vest Arn's? Why is it here?" asked Joey.

"Arn gave it to me before I got out of his car," answered Johnny.

Joey nodded. Then he looked at Johnny and said very seriously, "You were really too reckless this time! Did you have any plan before coming here? Did you think for more than three seconds before deciding your actions? Fortunately Jack and Zarkway came to our place in time and Mr. Rayben also brought some soldiers in our mercenary troop to help us so we could knock down Lambriz's ambushes nearby. If they hadn't come, Arn and I wouldn't have been able to save you from Lambriz's hand, not to mention the old man and the boy! Your reckless actions would not have had any effect. They would only send yourself into that hell, again! Do you understand?"

Johnny lowered his head and listened to Joey's admonishments. Though being reproved, Johnny didn't feel upset. On the contrary, he felt much better. He raised his head and looked at Joey with watery eyes. Then he embraced Joey tightly and buried his head into Joey's chest.

Joey patted Johnny's head and changed his manner to be tender. "You little fool. What problems are unsolvable if we are together? Arn told me that you didn't want me to be hurt by Lambriz so you decided to come alone. But did you think about me, that I don't want you to sacrifice yourself either and make me lose my lover again?"

Johnny didn't reply. At that moment he just wanted to hug Joey tightly. Joey patted him on his back.

"Ouch!"

Johnny exclaimed and released Joey. Joey was startled. "What happened?"

"It hurt…"

Joey then found that many places on Johnny's body were burned. He started to remove the remaining parts of Johnny's burned shirt.

"How about Kiddie? Is he injured? How about the other boy?" It was Zarkway's voice.

Johnny saw Zarkway come toward him with Arn.

"Kiddie's body was burned some places, but not very seriously. Well, he will have to endure the pain for some days," said Joey. "And about the boy, fortunately the gunman shot from a long distance, and the boy had a bulletproof vest on him, so he wasn't injured. Did you find the gunman?"

"No, he ran away. Damn it! Why didn't we notice that someone was slipping through our net?" Arn looked annoyed. "Maybe he's one of Lambriz's elite and ran away after he saw Lambriz die."

They all looked at Lambriz, who lay in a pool of blood without breathing.

"Your nightmare is over, Kiddie," said Joey.

Johnny silently looked at Lambriz.

"I hope so," Johnny said, after a long time.

***

After discussing it with Jack and Zarkway, Joey decided to take Johnny home first because Johnny needed treatment and bandage, and also to avoid getting into more trouble. Jack, as an emissary of Leer, would take full responsibility for the fight and deal with the aftermath with police.

Mr. Rayben also left with Joey. "Well, I didn't see anything happening here. But Joey, you owe me one," said Mr. Rayben with a smile before leaving.

"Yeah, I owe you much," replied Joey, also with a smile. He waved to everyone.

"I'm sorry that you were involved in these things," Jack told the old man and the boy. He was bandaging the boy while waiting for police and corresponding diplomatic personnel to arrive. "But please, please don't tell anyone that you saw Joey, Johnny, Arn, Mr. Rayben and his soldiers, okay? This will be a diplomatic incident between Leer and the United States. They will get into deep trouble if they're involved. My name is Jack Kape. I'm the emissary of the Leer government. I'll take full responsibility of all these incidents. And for you, please just tell them that you didn't see anything, okay?"

The old man nodded. "Thank you, Jack. Thanks for saving us. I'm Tom, and this is my grandson, Jason."

Jack nodded, too. He continued bandaging Jason's burned arms. Then he patted Jason's shoulder. "Okay. That should work for now, but you'd better see a doctor later."

"Thanks," said Jason in a low voice.

Jack looked at Jason and said, "You… you look so much like Johnny… almost identical. Tom, may I ask when your grandson was born…?"

"Yes," Tom replied even before Jack finished his question. He seemed to hold his words for a very long time. "Actually, Jason has a twin brother, named Dean."

Jason opened his eyes widely in disbelief.

"What? I have a twin brother?" Jason said in a lather, grabbing his grandpa's hands. "You and Mom have never told me that. Why?"

"Calm down, good boy. Let me finish," said Tom. "When you were just several months old, your parents divorced. Your father took Dean away and migrated to the South Africa. However, the airplane they took crashed."

"Air crash…" Jack murmured. He thought of the raining night when he found Johnny in a crashed airplane. Johnny's background coincided with Dean's. Are they really the same boy?

"There were many people missing in that tragedy. The rescue people were not able to find the missing people, even their dead bodies. We prayed to God for miracles, hoping that Dean and your father could survive. But we didn't get any good news.

"Your mom broke down that time. She was in tears all day long, blaming herself that if she hadn't divorced your father, Dean would not have died in the air crash. So I decided to take you and your mother to my place to live together. All these years, I'm always careful not to talk about your father and Dean."

Jason looked totally shocked.

"Jack, may I ask about Johnny's background? Why was he with you?" asked Tom.

Jack pondered for a while and shook his head.

"Not now," said Jack. "I can only tell you a bit, about how I found Johnny. But I can't tell you about the other part, unless Johnny agrees, or you can prove that Johnny is really your grandson, Dean. Is there any special characteristic on Dean's body to help you identify him and prove that Johnny is Dean?"

Tom shook his head.

"I don't know. I have to ask their mom. But I believe that Johnny is Dean… He must be…" Tom said with sobs.

Jack patted Tom on his back and didn't say more.

***

Joey loaded the bathtub with cold water and let Johnny soak in it. Then he removed all Johnny's clothes in the water. He looked at all the burns and wounds on Johnny's body and arms. The burns on Johnny's body had blisters. The gunshot wound on his arm was not small, but had stopped bleeding.

Johnny felt much better soaking in the cold water. Joey moved Johnny's left arm out of the tub and started to clean the wound.

"Ouch!" Johnny exclaimed slightly.

"Did it hurt very much?"

Though Johnny felt very sore, he gritted his teeth to endure the pain and shook his head. "No, not very much. I can take it."

Joey smiled and went on with his work. He carefully and lovingly finished cleaning his boy, being gentle when he worked on his wounds. Then he applied some medicated salve and bandaged each of the wounds.

After cleaning Johnny's body, Joey let Johnny stand up and dried his body carefully. Then he applied some ointment to the burns on Johnny's body and bandaged them.

"I can't take you to the hospital because it would get us into more trouble. I'll try to contact a doctor who was in our mercenary army before and see if he can come here to check your wounds. Here are some aspirins and a sleeping pill. Take them and go to bed now. I'm going to take a shower."

Johnny nodded and took the medicine Joey gave him and lay down carefully, trying not to hurt his wounds. Joey took a quick shower and lay down beside Johnny. He kissed Johnny's cheek."It's over, Kiddie. Have a good sleep!"

Johnny smiled. Joey kissed Johnny's lips and patted his head. Johnny closed his eyes and fell asleep quickly.

Joey smiled, watching his little lover. As he closed his eyes, the telephone rang. Joey jumped up and rushed to pick up the phone, worried it would wake up Johnny.

"Hello?"

"Joey? it's Zark. How's Kiddie now?"

"I simply applied some medicine and bandaged him. There are a few burns more serious. His wound on left arm is not small. But generally speaking he's okay. He just took some medicine and now he's sleeping."

"Okay. Now, here, everything is in a big mess. Jack wanted me to ask about Kiddie's condition. And we'll arrange Kiddie to meet with Tom, Jason and their families in a few days."

"Tom and Jason?"

"Oh, sorry. I talked too fast. Tom and Jason are the old man and the boy who were kidnapped by Lambriz. Jack had a talk with Tom. Tom told him that Jason actually had a twin brother. There's a great possibility that Kiddie is the other twin. They've contacted Jason's mother and hope to see Kiddie as soon as possible."

"Twins?" Joey thought of the boy who looked almost identical to Johnny.

"I'll arrange for it in a few days. Maybe at your place, or at the hotel we lived at last time."

"Okay, see you then."

Joey hung up the phone and walked back into the bedroom. He sat on the bed beside Johnny, looking at his face.

He started to struggle in his mind. If Johnny was really the other twin, then…

Then…

Would it be better for Johnny to let him go back to his real family?

Chapter 14

Someone knocked on the door.

"Mr. O'tsin, your visitors."

"Come in, please."

The door was opened and Zarkway's bodyguard led Tom and Jason and a woman into the room. Soon the bodyguard left the room and closed the door.

Zarkway had met Tom and Jason, so he observed the woman with them. She was in her forties. She was wearing a plain dress, which showed her good figure. Zarkway knew that she must be Jason's mother. Their faces were quite similar.

"Wow, it's so huge," Jason exclaimed when he entered the room. He started to look around excitedly.

"You look much better after resting for a few days," Zarkway said with a smile. He nodded to other people. "Please come in and have a seat."

Zarkway led them into the living room and everybody sat down except Jason. He was still running around the living room and bedrooms.

"Mr. O'tsin, this is my daughter, Lisa," Tom said, introducing the woman to Zarkway. "She's Jason's mother."

"Nice to meet you," Lisa said, shaking hands with Zarkway. "Thanks for saving my father and Jason."

"Don't say that. It should be us apologizing to you. Tom and Jason were innocently involved in these terrible things because of us."

"Where is Dean?" Lisa looked around and asked. "Where is he? I'd like to see him."

"Dean?" Zarkway thought for a while and realized. "Oh, do you mean Kiddie? They're on the way here."

"Oh…" Lisa looked a bit disappointed.

"Be patient, Lisa," said Tom. "We don't know yet if Johnny is Dean or not."

Jason ran to his mother and sat beside her.

"This is so great! I wish I could sleep here for a night," said Jason.

"Well, you can ask if Kiddie will live here too, later. If he does, you can stay here with him," said Zarkway with a smile.

"Really? Wow!" Jason exclaimed excitingly. "Mom, can I really sleep here for a night?"

Jason's mother looked at him tenderly. She nodded and said, "Don't get too excited, baby."

Zarkway smiled watching Jason's excited face. Jason reminded him of Johnny. When Johnny found something new, he would also get very excited like Jason. The two boys seemed to have something in common. Only that Johnny became a lot more quiet after… those terrible experiences.

"Well, please tell me, Mr. O'tsin," said Lisa, "About Dean… oh, Johnny. What kind of kid is he?"

"Please just call me Zark," said Zarkway. "I can tell you that Kiddie is the most brave and marvelous boy I've ever seen. In the days he was with us, he brought unlimited happiness to us."

Lisa seemed to have taken Johnny as her kid for granted. Listening to Zarkway's words, she had a proud smile on her face.

***

Joey drove with a heavy heart. Johnny was very likely to be the other one of the twins. If so, should he let Johnny go back to his real family? This question kept bothering Joey.

Joey told himself that he should let Johnny decide. If Johnny decided to go, he should let him go. However, he still struggled a lot in his mind. He wanted to ask what Johnny thought, but he restrained himself not to ask. He told himself that he shouldn't try to affect Johnny's thoughts.

Joey looked at Johnny. Johnny looked out the front with a poker face.

"Are you nervous?" asked Joey.

Johnny didn't reply to Joey immediately. Joey didn't ask again. He just kept driving.

Johnny finally answered Joey after nearly two minutes.

"I don't know how to describe what's going through my mind…"

Joey nodded. "Me either."

Johnny glanced at Joey. He didn't talk anymore, just looked out the front.

***

Johnny walked into the elevator with Joey. The elevator was still very slow. Johnny felt that he was even more nervous than the last time, the time he came to see Jack. He was so nervous that it almost smothered him. Joey could understand his anxiety. He put his arm around Johnny's shoulders, trying to give Johnny some support.

The bodyguard knew them, so he didn't search their bodies. He led them to the room and knocked on the door.

"Mr. O'tsin, your visitors."

"Please come in."

The bodyguard opened the door and held it for them to go through. "Please."

Johnny followed Joey into the room. The door was closed behind him. Johnny saw Zarkway walking out of the living room. The boy was following him.

"Hello, Kiddie, Joey. You finally arrived. Come in," said Zarkway with a smile.

Jason ran to Johnny and held his hands. He looked very happy. "Yeah, you finally got here. I've been waiting for you for a long time!"

Johnny looked at Jason's smile and relaxed a bit. He wasn't able to say anything and Jason began tugging his hand and ran into the living room.

"Mom! He's here!"

Johnny followed Jason into the living room and saw a woman standing there. The old man he saw that day was standing behind the woman. Jason released Johnny's hand and ran to his mother.

"Mom…?"

Lisa just stood there, watching Johnny in a trance. Johnny looked at the woman quietly.

After a minute, tears started to fall from Lisa's face. She walked toward Johnny and touched Johnny's face, cupping his cheek in her hand. Johnny stood there quietly, looking at the woman who might be his mother.

"It's… really you…"

Tom came and patted Lisa on her shoulder. "Let's sit down first," said Tom.

Lisa nodded, but she seemed like she didn't want to leave Johnny.

"Okay, please be seated," said Zarkway.

Jason held his mother's hands and sat on the sofa. Tom sat beside her. Johnny and Joey sat across from them. Johnny lowered his head and didn't see the three.

"So…" Zarkway started to speak. "Let me introduce everyone. This is Joey Bonders. Now he's Johnny's father. This is Johnny. Joey, this is Tom, Lisa, and Jason."

Johnny raised his head and looked at Jason. Jason smiled at him. Joey nodded at the three people as a greeting.

"Thanks for saving us," said Tom.

"It's nothing," said Joey.

It became silent. They seemed not to know how to start. After a while, Zarkway decided to break the silence,"Okay, let me ask directly. Lisa, you think that Johnny may be your son. Do you have any proof?"

Joey became very nervous while listening to Zarkway's words. If Johnny is really Dean…

Lisa nodded.

"Yes."

Lisa let Jason stand up and pulled his T-shirt up.

"Both Jason and Dean have a big birthmark on their waists."

Jason turned his body around. Everyone looked at his waist. There was a big birthmark there, about as big as a fist.

Zarkway nodded. "Okay, Jason. Please sit down. Kiddie, do you mind letting everyone see your waist?"

Joey closed his eyes. He was thinking if he had ever seen a similar mark on Johnny's body. He didn't remember seeing any mark like that. Actually, Johnny's body was full of scars. He suspected that was what people could see, even if there used to be a mark there…

Johnny still lowered his head and didn't move.

"Kiddie?"

Zarkway called Johnny several times. Johnny finally raised his head and stood up. He didn't talk, just turned around and pulled his T-shirt up.

"Oh, my God…" Tom exclaimed in a low voice.

Joey opened his eyes and looked at Tom's surprised face. Then he turned his head to see Johnny's back.

Johnny's back was full of scars, being flogged and burned. He couldn't see if there used to be a birthmark on Johnny's waist or not.

Joey sighed slightly.

Johnny glanced at Joey and put his T-shirt down. He sat down and looked at the three in front of him quietly.

"Sorry, Lisa," said Zarkway. "There are too many scars on Johnny's body, so we can't see if there's a mark or not. We still can't make sure if Kiddie is your son or not."

Lisa's tears started to fall again. Jason caressed his mother's back to comfort her.

"There must be… another way to know it. He must be… We can go to the hospital… to do more tests… we… we…" Lisa said while sobbing.

"Though we can't see his birthmark clearly," said Tom. "Mr. Kape has told me something about Johnny. The time and his background matched with Dean's very well. He must be Dean. De… Johnny, can you go to the hospital with us to do more tests?"

"What do you say, Kiddie?" asked Zarkway.

Joey looked at Johnny nervously. Johnny looked at the three quietly. Then he shook his head.

"No."

Everyone was surprised.

"What did you say, Kiddie?" asked Zarkway.

"I said, no."

"Why not?"

"I just want to be with Joey."

Joey looked at Johnny. The heavy burden that filled his mind finally fell down. He couldn't help smiling.

Tom saw Joey's smile, but he didn't say anything. After a minute's silence, Tom started to speak.

"Zark, Joey, can we have a private talk with Johnny?"

Joey hesitated and looked at Johnny with questioning eyes. Johnny nodded.

"Okay."

Joey stood up and walked out of the living room with Zarkway. They opened the door and left the hotel suite together.

Johnny still sat there and watched Tom.

"Johnny," said Tom. "Don't you want to know about your origins? Don't you want to know where you come from? Don't you want to know if you still have a real family in the world? Don't you want to reunite with your own family and get your original life back?"

Johnny shook his head again.

"Why not? Can you tell me? We really want to know if you are the missing boy we are looking for. Can you understand?"

Johnny kept silent for a while, then he stood up.

"No. I don't want you to get involved in my… pain again. You and Jason were kidnapped because of me, even before you knew of my existence. That made me feel very sorry and painful…"

"Don't say that. When we knew that we were kidnapped because of you, we were very happy. After all, you are our family. It's very natural to share the pain with our families," said Tom.

"Yes!" Jason ran to Johnny and held his hand. "At first I was very afraid. But when I knew that I had a twin brother and I was kidnapped because of him, I was so proud and happy."

Listening to Tom and Jason's words, Johnny felt that he didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He shook his head again.

"You don't know how much danger you were in… Lambriz, who kidnapped you, was a very terrible guy. He is much, much more terrible than you could imagine."

"He's dead," said Tom.

"Yes, he's dead. But his followers are still there. I haven't got out of my dangerous condition. I'm afraid that you haven't either."

More silence. Lisa was still sobbing. Tom sighed deeply.

"So you don't want to go to the hospital to do more tests with us, to see if you are really Dean or not, do you?" asked Tom.

Johnny shook his head firmly.

"Well," Jason said. "You can still be my brother even if we don't do any test. I have really wanted to have a brother for a long, long time. Johnny, can you be my brother? Please?"

"Yes," Tom echoed with a smile. "Even if you just wanna be with Joey, we can still be your family. Lisa can still be your mother. No matter if you're actually Dean or not…"

"Yes, yes, so that I can come to find you during my summer vacation. You can come to our place too. Come on, Johnny, pleeeeease?" Jason said, holding Johnny's hands tightly.

Johnny looked at Jason's eager eyes. He looked at Lisa's sad face and watery eyes. He looked at Tom's smile. He knew that the three people in front of him were very, very likely his real family. He had been thinking for a very long time since Joey told him about Tom and Jason. He didn't want anyone to be hurt because of him. He knew that Lambriz's followers were still around. They may hurt Joey, or even Tom and Jason anytime. However, at that moment, watching Tom, Lisa and Jason, Johnny found that he couldn't deny them. Actually he didn't want to deny them at all.

After thinking for nearly a minute, Johnny nodded. Jason jumped up excitingly.

"Wow! I have a brother! Yeah!" Jason shouted happily as he hugged Johnny tightly.

Tom walked to Johnny with a smile. "Let me hug you too, my boy."

Johnny hadn't answered yet and Tom gave him a bear hug. Then Tom turned around and beckoned Lisa.

"Come on. Give your son a big hug."

Lisa walked to Johnny and touched his face. All of a sudden, Lisa hugged Johnny tightly. Very tightly.

"My baby…" Lisa said. She was still sobbing. "No matter if you're Johnny or Dean, you are always my baby…"

Johnny listened to Lisa's words. He felt Lisa's hug. Though the wounds and burns still hurt a bit, the feeling of being hugged was quite warm… Johnny hugged Lisa too.

It was not bad to have a mother, Johnny thought.

***

His hands were handcuffed to the bed corners. His knees were up by his shoulders. He was numb to everything. He just let everyone enslave him. He didn't resist at all.

The man who was penetrating him had an evil smile. He kept his poker face. However, he knew that when the man's penis was rubbing and penetrating his anus, he had an incredibly pleasant sensation. He hated those people, but he began to look forward to such great sensations, a lot. He was quite ashamed of himself for expecting it.

Why? When had he started to expect such a pleasant sensation? When had he started to like that feeling? It should be painful. It should be suffering. But why did he like to let other men penetrate him with their disgusting penises?

He felt that he was about to explode. He tried hard to hang on. He tried hard to keep his poker face…

Suddenly he heard a loud sound. Several people ran into the room. One of them jumped on the bed and kicked the man who was fucking him off the bed.

BANG!

He didn't see what happened, but he knew that the man had been shot. He didn't feel afraid. He just looked at the one standing on the bed.

The background was changed. The one standing on the bed became a tall, thin boy, smiling at him.

"I hope that you can be happy with Joey," said the boy.

Suddenly he had a warm and familiar feeling. Had he heard those words before?

He wanted to ask something, but the boy started to vanish. Finally he was in the dark. He just heard the boy's voice.

"You're free now. Don't forget it."

Johnny opened his eyes.

Another nightmare? No, it was not a nightmare. It was a dream. It was still his experiences… but a bit different.

The boy in the dream made him think of the dream he had after Joey told him Ming's story. There was also a tall, thin boy in that dream. The boy seemed to come to his dream again, giving him warm support.

Johnny turned around and looked at Joey who was in a sound sleep. It was Joey who saved him from the painful life. It was Joey who gave him an all new life. Though Johnny would still dream of his own painful experiences intermittently, he wasn't afraid of those dreams anymore. Because he had Joey. He had Jack and Zarkway, who were on the opposite side of the sea. He had Tom, Lisa and Jason in another city. They all cared about him. They all loved him.

Johnny hugged Joey and buried his head into Joey's chest. He could still feel Joey's semen flowing in his anus. He closed his eyes with a smile. Then he thought of Kevin. Johnny felt that he liked Jason very much. They had become very good friends. He said that he would teach Johnny how to play basketball the next day. Johnny believed that it would be very interesting to play basketball with him. He couldn't wait for the next day to come.

The End