Freedom X Mind

 

 

 

     A loud moan reached Cleetu’s ears, and it made his heart flutter. He was sitting on a throne made from the finest tires; in his hand is his father’s famous blackout dead moonshine. Next to the throne are two beautiful girls massaging his feet. On his lap is another beautiful girl caressing his hairy chest and belly. “Oooh, Mr. Cleetus, sir, you are so strong and awesome.”

  Cleetus gave a loud laugh to her comment and hugged her closer. “I know, mah dear! And don’t worry, we’ll bang, ok.”

  Behind the throne was his father holding the biggest moonshine jug, with a thousand X-marks. “That’s my boy!”

  Cleetus smiled more and enjoyed himself, but suddenly the sky changed, and moans around him turned to grunts. The earth began shaking, and Cleetus grew worried; the grunts turned into a male voice instead of a female one.

  He felt something holding on to his feet, and when he looked down, he saw a dirty hand holding him, he pushed it away. Then he opened his eyes to the real world.

  Cleetus looked around, confused from the dream and the waking world; he saw buildings towering over him; the sky was shining with clouds dotting the skyline in a fluffy atmosphere.

  He smelled a foul smell, and he remembered that he slept next to the trash last night because he could not find a place to stay. When he remembered that, he heard a grunt. ‘What the fuck… is this a dream still?’ he thought while trying to open his eyes.

  Cleetus blinked the crust away and shifted his weight to look at the sources of the voice. What he saw scared him.

  A homeless old man, wearing tattered clothes that were covered with foul piss and shit, the old man was bending forward, looking at Cleetu’s feet. The old man’s hand was on his dick. His full focus was on Cleetu’s dirty feet while jerking his body up and down, accompanied by his occasional grunts.

  Out of instincts, Cleetus asks. “What the fuck are you doing, you sumbitch?”

   The old man stopped and looked at Cleetus; the old man gave Cleetus a disturbing smile. “Give me a kiss, big boy.” Then he resumed jerking of to Cleetus.

  Cleetus stayed there for a while, shocked by the turn of events. Finally, he stood up and dusted himself, then he channeled all of his Nen in a murder’s intent towards the old man.

  He saw the homeless man’s eyes widen. His face turned purple from the aura around Cleetus; the rats that squeaked around them disappeared out of fear.

  The old man slowly began closing his eyes and fell down, covered in filth. Cleetus bent down and checked on the old man. “Dead…Fuck.” He looked at the dirty old man, who dared to try and use him as a lust object, and it revolted him. “What the fuck is wrong with this darn city.”

  He took a deep breath and almost choked on the fumes of the alleyway; the smell of trash, shit, piss, and the ungodly aura surrounding the docks made him dizzy. Still, he pushed through nausea that hit him. ‘Alright, Cleetus, you have to hold yourself together, first. Let's list everything.’

  He moved to a wall and began scratching a line for each problem. ‘First, you stink, you have a mind-control problem up there, you are hungry, you are wearing the same prison clothes, you lost Hamza’s book in the prison escape, you don’t have shit, and you don’t know what to do.’

  He looked at the wall and sighed in defeat. Then he looked up again and began scratching each mark. ‘First, get new clothes, get food, get clean, get some cash, fix the mind control thingy, figure out what to do in this bitch ass life.’

  Smiling at the progress he made, Cleetus looked around the neighborhood. And he saw a couple of people walking around. ‘Ok, hide this guy.’ he thought while kicking the crops of the homeless guy.

  He picked him up and threw him in the trash. ‘And done… that was easy, wait I think I have to say something.’ He turned around and began praying to the trash. “You were a homeless guy who jerked off… the end. “

  Smiling at his good deed of the day, Cleetus began wandering around the bad parts of the city; he walked and walked. He saw trash laying all around, drugs sold out in the open, diseased kids beating up a homeless dude.

  The more he walked, the more he understood this city; he saw gang signs on every wall, illegal activities, and more. But while he was walking, he noticed two cops looking at him suspiciously.

  Cleetus pretended not to notice and hid in a nearby alleyway; the alleyway had the usual trash and a homeless person sleeping. A metallic staircase was leading up to the roof. Cleetus, not risking anything, charged some Nen to his feet and jumped up in the air.

  When he saw the roof, he attached his hooks to the edges of the building and climbed up. He peeked down and saw the cops rushing into the alleyway looking for him. ‘I bet it's this fucking thing.’ He looked down at his prison uniform. ‘I really need to change.’

  Turning away from the view, Cleetus searched for a way out; he saw the way down was closed, a couple of air conditioners, and a water tank. While he was scouting the place, he noticed a gathering of trash.

  Cleetus approached it and found a homeless person sleeping in the trash. ‘What the fuck… wait, hold on; this is a good place to sleep.’ He thought about how this homeless guy avoided all the trouble by simply sleeping on the roof.

  He approached the guy and kicked him with his foot. “Hey there, wake up.” The homeless guy opened his eyes slowly and looked at Cleetus, and instantly the guy crawled back when he saw his uniform.

  Cleetus sighed. “Look, man, I just killed one of you guys. I don’t need to kill another one. So just chill and tell me, do you know where I can get some clothes around here?”

 The homeless guy removed his scarf and looked at Cleetus with suspicious eyes. “I know where.” He replayed with a scratchy voice.

  Cleetus stayed still for a moment and waited when nothing happened, he asked. “And where can I get them?” He asked while motioning with his hook.

  The homeless guy smiled; his crooked and broken yellow teeth showed how many years he lived in the city's streets. “And what do I get when I tell ya, huh?”

  Cleetus looked around the den of trash the homeless guy was in, and he scratched his scalp. Then he smiled when he focused on the trash. “How about the finest moonshine?”

 The old man gave him a queer look. “The heck is a moonshine?”

  Cleetus shocked, grew frustrated; he walked away from the man and moved to a water container he saw before; he placed his hooks in the water and changed it into moonshine, then returned with the plastic container. “This is moonshine, have a sip.” In good faith, Cleetus took a sip first and smiled.

  The old man nodded and cupped his hands, he took a single sip, and his eyes widened. “Holy shit, this is good; brings fire to mah belly!”

  Cleetus smiled; he always enjoyed watching people drink his moonshine. It brought memories of him and his family enjoying moonshine in the old summer night of the swamps. “So, here’s the deal; I will make you moonshine to last you a year if you help me out today.”

  The old man's suspiciousness returned. “I ain’t selling you, my kidney kid, I only have one now… Got some nice gin for my trouble.”

    Cleetus took a deep breath, calming himself down. “I just need some info, clothes; any kind, and a place to clean myself.”

The old man focused on Cleetus trying to find any hidden lies; he licked his lips and looked at the moonshine container. “Fuck it, you got yourself a deal, kid.”

Cleetus extended his hook, they shook. “Aight so, got any clothes?”

  “Wait here and make your moonshine while I get you some clothes… they won’t be much, but it's better than that shit you are wearing.”

  Cleetus nodding and watch the old man hobble away. ‘Aight, Cleetus, let's get to work.’ Cleetus changed various containers to moonshine for the next hour, he tasted some of them and found them good, but nothing beats real moonshine made from the finest cornmeal.

  While he was working, he heard the old man return with a trash bag. “Took ya long enough,” Cleetus said while showing his work.

  The old man smiled and began rubbing one of the containers. “This will do mighty fine, kid… Oh, right here.” he threw the bag at Cleetus.

  Cleetus opened the trash bag, and it smelled horrible. “Come on, man! At least get me something clean.”

  “Not my problem, kid.”

 Shaking his head, Cleetus changed his clothes. He looked himself over, a thick brown jacket with a couple of stitches all over the place, dirty jeans, old sneakers, a leather glove, and a heavy dirty scarf. “What’s up with this whole outfit.”

  The old man pulled his head out of the moonshine. “Huh? Oh yeah, I just got you the down under special, every now and then, we need to hide from the mob, gang, or whatever, so we all wear the same thing. So now you can walk around, and no one will give a shit about you.”

  Cleetus looked up. “And what makes you think I want to hide?”

  “Who are you trying to act all cool for, kid? You just escaped from prison or something, I don’t know what type of prison it is, but every prison has the same outfit.” The old man wiped his face with his hand. “Now, let's burn your prison outfit.” He took the old clothes and dumped them in an old metal box, then he lit it up on fire. “Now come sit, have a drink with me, and ask your damn questions.”

  Cleetus sat down and looked around the skyline of the city, he saw the sun approaching noon, but the weather was still cold. He took a deep breath smelling the crackling fire and the fresh, crisp air.

  “I need food,” Cleetus asked while his belly rumbled.

  The old man took a sip from the moonshine. “Well, that’s easy, here.”

  He handed Cleetus a small map of the city; it looks like a tourist map but was drawn over. Then he began to explain where to go and the places he needs to avoid.

  “Thanks, but you know a place where I can get some food for free?”

 The old man thought for a moment. “Well… I know this weird place; they opened two days ago… No, no, forget about it.”

  Cleetus tilted his head. “What’s wrong?”

  The old man sighed. “There is a rumor; they saw a couple of people go in and eat for free, but… they say that no one came out of that place.”

  Cleetus thought about it and shrugged. ‘Eh, I have Nen. What’s the worst that could happen.’ He brought his map again. “Tell me where it is, don’t worry, I can handle myself.”

  The old man shook his head and wrote on the map. “It’s called Chopshop, near east end; just take a train ride, and you will be there in twenty minutes, but you have to walk the rest of the way there.”

  Cleetus nodded, then he remembered something. He brought the card that John gave him last night. “Here, can you tell me where this place is?” The old man looked at the card and raised his eyebrow, then he pointed out where the place is. “Perfect! I can go get some food and go there.”

(The card he gave)

 With that, Cleetus stood up. “Thanks, old man, and try not to kill yourself drinking mah moonshine.” Cleetus walked over to the building's edge and jumped.

  The old man looked at the moonshine and blinked. “Holy shit, this is strong.” 

 

 

 

    After a nice free train ride, Cleetus jumped from the moving train. He channeled Nen to his hook and attached himself to an electrical line. The line shocked him, but Cleetus only flinched a little. When he was at the end of the line, he jumped and rolled.

  He stood up and dusted himself from the fall, then he looked to his left and found a dog staring at him mid-bite. The dog was about to bite a hand of a dead guy. “Nothing to see here, buddy….” He was about to go away but stopped and looked at the dog again, who gave him his full attention. “You’ve never seen me, got it?”

 The dog gradually nodded, and Cleetus smiled; he looked at the map. “Alright… I am at East End.” He looked up and saw hungry children, a dying homeless population, a guy jerking off in the open. “Yup, this is the slums.”

  Cleetus pocketed the map and continued walking. He noticed that no one gave a single glance in his direction thanks to the clothes he wore, which helped him.

  He traveled in the city’s slums, he saw more and more hungry and tiered people, while walking he began thinking. ‘I should have just stolen money or something, but I can’t fucking risk it… I need to lay low.’

  The slums of the east end were covered with filth and the unwanted trash of the main city; the buildings were made from scrap metal and junk that were attached to other buildings creating a maze of scrap homes.

   East end was a special place, he thought, even though it is a slum. The people still sell stuff and fix stuff. There were shops that sold food, clothes, and even a toy shop. Cleetus stopped at one of the toy shops to see small kids barely four or five in age trade cocaine for a toy and a piece of gum. ‘Scrap that… there are fake toy shops for drug monkeys.’

  Finally, after walking for an hour, Cleetus reached Chopshop. ‘Thank God for that old guy… if I went to any soup kitchen or something, they could have found me or worst.’

  Cleetus went near the shop and sat down near a trashcan. ‘Alright, now I just need to wait and focus.’

  He channeled Nen to his ears, increasing his sense of hearing. In the beginning, the sounds were too loud, but slowly he increased his focus, and he could hear what is going on inside of the building.

  On the outside, Cleetus appears like any other homeless person; he was leaning on a trashcan with his eyes closed. Anyone who walked by would simply think that he was sleeping.

  On the inside, Cleetus heard the world; five hundred feet east of him were two people having sex, three hundred south of him was a guy getting stabbed, two hundred feet north and thirty feet up, he heard someone snorting some kind of drug and die.

  Fifty feet west of him, there were five guys cooking food and two people sitting and eating. He heard them talk for minutes, and a person walked in.

  The head chef asked what he wanted to eat, and the person asked for a free meal; he heard the sound of a cleaver hitting a wall and the guy running away from the shop. ‘Figures there was a catch.’ Cleetus thought.

 He stayed in his sleeping position, listing in on the cooks and the customers; he learned more about the going on in the city, who is sleeping with whom, which gang did what, and more.

  While he was listing, he heard two footsteps walking into the store. The cook asked what they wished to eat. “One frozen gator skin burger special, in the back room.”

  Oddly enough, the cook did not ask for cash and simply told them to go to the back-room immediately. Cleetus opened his eyes and smiled. “So, this is how they get free food.”

 Cleetus stood up and shooed a rat away from him, then he looked around the area while waiting, trying to find danger, when nothing happened after ten minutes Cleetus dusted himself and walked towards the Chopshop. He looked at the sign. ‘ChopShop noodles.’

  Pushing open the rusted red door of the shop, he was greeted by an irritated owner who asked him. “What do you want to order.”

  Cleetus placed one finger up. “One frozen gator skin burger special, in the back room."

 The owner blinked and smiled. “Go to the back, room 3 and here.” he threw a number. '1000'

 Cleetus nodded. 'Must be for the waiting line.' He placed it on his jacket and walked to the back of the small shop; he saw the mentioned room and opened the door to a red room with a couple of chairs; he sat down on one of them. “Can’t believe it worked… I bet this is one of those places that only give you special items with a code; I can’t wait to try the food.”

  He leaned down on the chair and tried to relax before the server could come to him, but just as he was about to truly relax, he felt a shift, and the walls began to move. “What the actual fuck?”

  The walls of the room shifted and movie akin to a mine shaft instead of an elevator, the room increased in speed, and soon he felt the shaft shake with each moment it descended.

  Sparks began flying, and he felt himself float, quickly he used his Nen to hold him down, but the speed kept increasing, and he saw the chairs, and the table floats with him. “Fuck, FUCK, FUCK!” He screamed while free falling.

  Cleetus began thinking. ‘Ok, Ok, OK! You can do this, Cleetus! They must not want you to taste their food! But fuck them! You will survive this!’ He waited more and more. ‘Fuck it, I will do it now!’ He thought while channeling more Nen and changing it to steaming alcohol.

  He aimed it at the floor and slowly increased the pressure; his body floated more away from the freefalling red floor; when he reached fifty feet away from the floor, he saw it crash, and his body began approaching it faster.

  In the last moment, he channeled all his Nen and slowed his fall, landing safely. He stood in this red room alone and shaking, his heart beating never stopping. “Holy shit! I fucking survived.”

 

  After twenty minutes of waiting and growing bored from the room, Cleetus channeled Nen to his ears and listened. “Hey, when do you think the test will start?”

  Cleetus opened his eyes and looked around the room; he approached the voice. “I don’t know, man… I’ve been here since yesterday, and nothing happened yet.”

  Taking a step back from the walls, Cleetus scratched his head. “Hold on… I think I know what is going on.” He tapped the wall leading to these voices. “There must be a hidden door somewhere.”

  Cleetus began tapping everywhere, trying to find a hidden door, but when he spent over an hour searching, he grew mad and channeled Nen to his hook.

 

 

    Gin Freecss yawned from boredom. He stretched his body and looked at the surrounding people. ‘I never knew these many strange people will gather in one place to test their limits… there are famous people too.’

  He looked at the first person that caught his interest, a thin man with a streak of white hair and a beard, he was twitching all over, and his body looks irritated. He was wearing a gray suit and a lab coat. He was number 555. ‘I wonder if he is a doctor of some kind.’

  Gin thought while playing with his fishing pole, then he looked at the second person that cough his interest. ‘I never knew they let old men try the hunter exam.’ He looked at an overweight old man wearing a stained brown monk robe on his chest was number 60.

  He saw another person. ‘This guy is so cool!’ Gin thought while admiring the metallic clawed hand of number 104. ‘He has a curved sword!’

    Gin smiled at all these people and watched number 104 talk with number 105. ‘This guy is awesome too! He has a cape, a skull shirt, and an eye patch! Is he a pirate, I wonder?’

  While watching them talk, he heard someone getting beat. “Fucking bitch! You don’t mess with Purple-gator!” Gin looked at the source of the voice and cringed. ‘This guy won’t shut up.’ He looked at number 69, who was wearing a fur-lined purple alligator trench coat; on his body were many amounts of gold and silver.

  Gin looked at the one who punched him and saw an almost naked woman that made him blush; her body was covered with green tribal tattoos, she has bones and leather covering the most private parts, and she has two spears. But what caught his interest was two things, his wooden mask, and her wolf companion.

  ‘That’s number 700 and 701; I wonder which tribe she belongs to? The Hanalulu or the Shizbits? I’ve read about them before, maybe I can talk to her after the exam, and she could teach me their language!’

 While thinking, Gin shifted his pole and tried to clean it a little bit. He looked around and found two girls speaking to each other, one has a strange rifle, and another girl was bugging her about her rifle. ‘That’s number 900, and 954 number 954 is weird. She moaned when she touched my fishing pole… and she kept asking people about their weapon… wait, is she trying to steal one? I mean, she only has that wheel and chain.’

(900)

(954)

  Gin lifted his fishing pole and sighed, then he heard a person screaming. ‘Not this guy again.’ He took a deep breath and looked at number 1; he was sitting in a corner; near him are various body parts he took from people annoying him. He was wearing jeans and a blooded wife-beater shirt, while his face was covered with a tattered hoody.

  He watched number 1 slowly pulling his victim's arm off, like a praying mantis tearing its live prey apart. Blood spilled all over the gathering area, and the man’s face never twitched for a moment.

  Slowly he pulled the arm off with a pop and threw it nearby. Then he pulled his victim and opened a beer bottle. He poured all the beer into the victim’s mouth. Gin slowly saw the victim twitching and his face turning purple. Then number 1 simply threw the man like trash.

  The waiting area stilled, and the man took another beer bottle and began drinking them again. Gin looked at the various body parts around him. ‘This is the sixth one today… a lot of people are trying to kill him.’

   Gin sighed and relaxed while waiting; he watched the clock on the wall ticking, then after a while, he heard a crash nearby. ‘Weird… is this part of the exam?’ He looked at the others and saw all of them trying to find the source of the noise.

  When nothing happened, everyone returned to what they were doing, and finally, after another hour, he saw someone approaching from the end of the tunnel. The man looked tired and annoyed; in his hand is a metal flask that he was sipping on. He was wearing a dark trench coat and a fedora.

  The man walked forward; he took a small sip from his flask and reached up to his hand. He looked at his watch and waited without saying anything. Just as he was about to talk.

  They heard another crashing sound, then another. Everyone turned their head and looked at the source of the sound. More crashing sounds came when they saw the wall at the end of the tunnel cracking.

  Some people backed away from the wall, and finally, when nothing happened, he turned and looked at their examiner, just when he was about to talk again. There was another crash, and the wall exploded, sending debris all over the place.

  From the wall came a man wearing dirty clothes that the local homeless wear; his hands were hooks, and he looked annoyed. “Fucking finally! I give up; there was no secret door! Fuck this place!”

  When no one spoke, the figure finally noticed us. “Ah, shit! Sorry about that! You know bad walls and all.” He tapped the broken wall with his hook, which made it fall over. “Yeah, so… Is this the place?” he asked, unsure.

  The examiner cleared his throat. “And the exam starts now; yes, you are in the right place, number 1000.”

  Cleetus turned his head to the left. “Exam what now?”