Stranded

It was late into the evening when Jimmy and Matt finally woke from their slumber, the time indicated to them by a small clock upon the wall that read 8:26pm. Well rested, they both dragged themselves out of bed and headed to the small kitchen area, Jimmy raiding the cupboards for any snacks and Matt seeing what he could find in the fridge. Then, they plopped down on the couch and began to tuck in.

"You sleep well, Rev?" Matt asked

"Not too bad, actually. This place kinda gives me the creeps though and I can't forget about the shit with the fire and the tiger..." He sighed.

"Me too, buddy... I just wanna go home. The guys probably think we're dead, there's no way out for us yet and we're in the middle of nowhere..."

Jimmy's face fell, a frown tugging at the corners of his lips. The idea of being dead to his best friends was horrible. He couldn't imagine the extent of the pain, the suffering and the grief the remaining bandmates would feel. Would they even be able to go on without them?

"Look, I know this is tough, but we're safe for now. As long as we stay safe and alive, there's always the chance of goin' home, yeah?" Matt spoke softly, a hopeful smile appearing on his face.

The drummer nodded, glancing around their tiny home as he ate. "How long do you think we'll stay here now?"

"Hmm..." Matt pondered. "I suppose that depends on how quick we overthrow this 'Foster'. Could be a week, could be three weeks, could be three months for all we know, maybe even longer. We'll just have to see how things go."

There was a knock at the door that halted their conversation. Swiftly, Matt got up and opened the door, surprised to see Cosmos standing on the other side, a mountain of clothes in his arms.

"Heya Matt! Mind if I come in for a sec? Got a few things that might- well, will be useful to ya." He asked, nodding at everything he held. Matt stepped aside to let him in and close the door once he stepped aside. Cosmos then dumped everything on the table and began to organise it all into two piles.

"Hm? What's this?" Jimmy asked, heaving himself off of the couch and walking over to the table. He watched as Cosmos checked tags in clothing and shoes and sorted them accordingly, before scooping the second pile from the table, spinning around and dumping it in Jimmy's arms.

"These are your new clothes, provided by Foster. It's stuff you're expected to wear around here." He explained. "Everyone has the same except Foster, so don't worry about thinking you'll look stupid or whatever."

Jimmy and Matt exchanged glances, then nodded at Cosmos, who handed Matt his pile of clothes before making his way to the front door.

"One last thing. You're gonna be meeting Foster in a minute, so get changed, have a bite to eat or whatever and meet me out here when you're ready." He instructed, allowing himself out of the house.

The pair made their way back to the couch, placing their piles down and examining everything they'd been given. Matt grabbed hold of the black leather tactical vest he'd been given and eagerly stripped off his shirt to try it on. Zipping it up and tightening the straps, he nodded down at himself in approval and looked over at Jimmy, his arms moving around to test the fit.

"What do you think?" He asked with a grin.

"Looks good on you, Shads. I bet Val would die to see you wear that." He snickered, grabbing his own vest from the pile and slipping it on.

"They're pretty damn comfy and they show off our tattoos." Matt added, looking down at his arms and smiling. "I'm so wearin' this when we get home." Next, they changed into the black combat trousers provided and finally, they put on their steel toe capped combat boots. Once fully changed, they looked at each other and grinned.

"We look like we're about to go kick some serious ass, dude." Jimmy commented.

"Well, we are gonna be kickin' ass. We're gonna kick Foster's ass right off his throne or whatever." Matt cockily said. Before leaving, Matt quickly grabbed his precious chain and locket from his jeans and draped it around his neck, the locket hiding just beneath the tactical vest. They then left the house, meeting Cosmos outside. He gave them approving nods and beckoned them to follow him as he then paraded down the dimmed path in direction of Foster's mansion.

The mansion, situated right at the very back of the colossal clearing, was a truly impressive building, one fit for a king. It was constructed primarily of stone and of the nightmarish wood that surrounded the clearing, topped with dark tiles and draped in vines that snaked their way up the walls. The mansion had only a few windows, blacked out by drawn curtains. A set of cracked stone steps lead up to the elevated, roofed decking before the entrance, and said entrance consisted of a grand wooden door reinforced by darkened steel bolted into place. Beside the door on both sides, two lanterns hung from nails sticking out of the wood, illuminating the decking area with a warm, orange glow.

The trio made their way up the cracked steps and Cosmos loudly knocked on the grand door. Within moments, the door was swung open, and in the doorway stood Atlas, who welcomed them all inside.

"Foster's all ready for you two." He told Matt and Jimmy as they stepped inside the mansion. "He's waiting in the living room. Ignore the stairs, you want the second door on the right."

The pair nodded, walking past the great, wooden staircase following the vast hallway down to the correct door. Matt gripped the cold, metal handle and hesitantly pushed the door open, revealing the living room. The room was huge, complete with luxurious leather couches, a massive tiger skin rug and several pieces of gorgeous wooden furniture, polished and without a single speck of dust. On the dark, wooden walls hung skulls of animals of all kinds, which the duo could only assume that the owner had killed by himself. Hanging from the ceiling was a stunning diamond chandelier, one which made both Matt and Jimmy's jaws drop.

"Quite impressive, huh? Yeah, I know." Came a low, gruff voice from the other side of the room. Matt and Jimmy, who had been too busy peering at the skulls, spun around to face the source of the voice. There, they saw a tall, 6'2, Herculean man dressed almost identical to them, the exception being his clothing was black and white as opposed to just black. His skin was tanned bronze with two black dragon tattoos on each arm, stretching from wrist to shoulder. Every bit of exposed flesh was riddled with large scars, healing scratches and was overall rough and uneven.

Matt wasn't intimidated by the man's solid, muscular frame, and he approached him, staring directly into beady glacial blue eyes. The man had a sculpted face, with sharp cheekbones, a pointed nose and chin darkened by a 5 o'clock shadow and a wolfish grin. Resting upon his shoulders was a mane of tangled, raven hair, just like Atlas.

"Oooh, well aren't you a brave boy?" The man sneered, unfolding his arms from his chest and giving Matt a harsh shove, sending him stumbling backwards slightly.

"You think you can intimidate me?" Matt scoffed at him, briefly glancing over his shoulder as Jimmy joined his side. "You've got another thing comin' if that's the case."

"We'll see about that. But first, I think we should get on with introductions, hm? No? Well, it doesn't matter what you think because I'm in charge here and I make the decisions."

"Not for long..." Matt muttered under his breath. The man glared at him, but his narrow, cracked lips remained temporarily sealed.

"Hm. Anyway. As you may or may not already know, I am Foster. I rule this island of Inferno Reef, The Devilwood Forest and the Twin Dragon Tribe who live within it. I have done so since I was 21, and I've been in charge for just over 15 years."

"And lemme guess, you're from Australia." Matt said, his comment based upon Foster's thick accent.

"Bingo. And now, I'd like you two cocky bastards to introduce yourselves. I want to know about the pair that are just too stubborn to die."

Matt chuckled and glanced over at Jimmy again. "I'm M. Shadows, he's The Rev-"

"And your real names?" Foster cut in.

"Matt and Jimmy." He replied. "We're from California, we're part of a band and we're supposed to be on vacation to the Holiday Islands, so if you'd be so kind as to give us a lift there, that would be fan-fuckin'-tastic."

Foster just laughed and laughed, his arms crossing over his chest again, his face burrowing into his right hand. And then, just like that, he stopped and snapped his head up to look at Matt, his eyebrows slightly narrowed, as were his eyes. "No. Not happening, mate. You're stuck here until you die. Judging based upon your survival from the tiger and the fire though, that could be a long ass time."

Matt and Jimmy both exchanged disappointed looks and sighs. The drummer's gaze shifted to the floor, prompting Matt to soothingly rub at his back, promising him that it'll be okay.

"But just to make it very clear," he then begun, his tone taking a stern turn, "there are severe consequences for those who dare escape. The forest is full of snipers ready to take your ass down if you try to run. Hiding in there is pointless too. They can see everything that you can't. Understand?"

The pair reluctantly nodded, their eyes avoiding Foster's serious stare. Foster, however, took their gesture as a personal insult, and he stepped closer to the vocalist, their chests nearly touching, their faces centimetres apart.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you." He snarled. M shot a piercing glare at Foster, but he remained silent. "Fucking show some respect. I am your ruler now."

Matt dared to look away again, not caring for a word Foster had to say, resulting in Foster's short-temper running out. Enraged by such disrespect, the ruler eyed the chain around Matt's neck and grabbed it, tugging harshly, snapping the chain and ripping it away from him. He then stepped back, examined the locket and burst into laughter. Matt stood there in shock as he grasped what had just happened, and once he did, his fists clenched tightly, shooting daggers with his eyes.

"Give. That. Back." He growled lowly.

"Um. No. I'd rather not. Not after how you disrespected me." Foster said, grinning as he dangled the locket in front of Matt. Determined to retrieve his precious accessory, he lunged at the Tribe Leader, aiming to grab the locket and floor the man in the process.

Except, that didn't happen.

As Matt lunged, Foster swung the locket out of reach, spun around and kicked out. The heel of his combat boot connected with Matt's jaw, resulting in the delivery of a powerful superkick, a loud smack and a thud as Matt was sent sprawling to the floor, clutching his jaw. Jimmy stood there with wide eyes, staring in disbelief.

"Oh dear. Looks like today's just not your day, huh?" Foster snickered, turning his attention to Jimmy. "Please don't tell me you're foolish enough to do the same thing, right? I'd suggest you do the smart thing - take your buddy and leave."

The drummer nodded slowly, crouching beside Matt and helping him rise to his feet. Matt scowled as he then staggered out of the living room with Jimmy guiding him, his hands clasped around his jaw. As they left, Foster plopped down on one of the many luxury couches, sparking up a cigarette, taking a long drag and blowing the smoke upwards into the air. He opened up the locket and looked at the pictures, the first of Matt and Val, the second of Matt with all his friends and family. Of course, Foster had no real use to it, but he could only imagine the sorts of fun he could have pissing Matt off with it.



After all, he knew Matt could potentially overthrow him, and anything he could do to weaken him mentally and physically would lessen the chance of that ever happening. Being of similar builds and sizes, Foster had no doubts he was strong, or perhaps even stronger...

He just had to prove he was the stronger man.

Notes

Hey guys! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!
I'd love to hear your thoughts on what's happened so far! Your feedback is really appreciated!
Thank you for reading!