In the last day, Rukan had discovered something new and exciting: he could get video games on his phone.

  Rukan was good at video games, and he enjoyed them. All the lights and sounds, the comradery, the people calling him slurs because he’d bought better in-game equipment with real money.

  The only thing missing from the games he had discovered on his phone were the shouted slurs and occasional shrieking, but some people used the messaging functions to great effect.

  Rukan was answering a very heated message from someone with the username Drift_Baby_xx123 when the door to his cell burst open.

  ‘Rukan,’ said the hulking man in the doorway. ‘I’ll take the ten grand.’

  ‘Eight,’ Rukan said, not looking up from the game.

  He didn’t have to look up to see the man take a large gun from a large holster at his hip.

  ‘Nine,’ Rukan said, looking up from his game.

  The man, who Rukan thought might have introduced himself as Stamp, thumbed off the safety and chambered a round.

  ‘Fine,’ Rukan sighed dramatically. ‘Give me your bank details.’

  Before he knew it, Rukan was being manhandled back out of the complex, message to Drift_Baby_xx123 unfinished in his hand. He’d gotten the best out of the deal, he knew, but he couldn’t help but be disappointed at the lack of etiquette displayed by the giant man called Stamp.

  If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

  His disappointment only grew when Stamp kicked open an outer door, picked Rukan up by the back of his shirt, and hurled him into the snow.

  Rukan stayed in the snow and finished his message.

  Someone nearby groaned. It was a very familiar groan.

  ‘I said I didn’t want him,’ Laila shouted as the door slammed shut behind him.

  The muffled voice of Stamp shouted back. ‘You take him or you take nothing.’

  Rukan finished his message and looked up. Things out here had clearly gotten out of hand. There were dead bodies everywhere. Laila was dressed in a massive leather coat. There was a very odd-looking woman with grey skin and far too many teeth.

  And Woll was on a stretcher on top of a large cart that seemed to be full of dirt.

  Also Shae was nearby, but was hard to notice as always, being shorter than the cart.

  Rukan got to his feet and dusted himself off. ‘If you’ve come to rescue me, you’re too late,’ he proclaimed. ‘These pirates have finally come to their senses and agreed to let me go for a frankly miniscule amount of money.’

  No one said anything, presumably wowed by Rukan’s negotiating abilities.

  The grey woman leaned over to Laila and whispered, loudly. ‘Didn’t you say you were going to kill him next time you saw him?’

  Laila rubbed her chin. ‘Seems unkind, since he’s just freed himself from his captors,’ she said. ‘We should let him find his way home. No need to interfere.’

  Shae grabbed the handle on the cart and started dragging it, and Woll, away.

  ‘I wouldn’t reject any help,’ Rukan hastened to assure them.

  Laila nodded and she, and the grey woman, turned to follow Shae.

  Rukan had the sneaking suspicion that his negotiation skills were needed once again. ‘I’ll pay you,’ he certainly didn’t shout much louder than he’d meant to, voice breaking a little with the words. He said it in a very suave and controlled tone of voice.

  Laila waved an arm around at the woods and the snow. ‘What’s money going to do for me out here, Rukan?’