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Benjamin
Vaas had called for him – so Benjamin came.
Because you didn’t wanna keep the leader of the pirates waiting, especially not when no one had seen him the whole day. He had locked himself up in his hut, and this was dangerous. Nobody knew the mood he was in, and unfortunately it would be Benjamin who had to find out.
He tried to keep his breathing even when he entered the building, the air smelling heavily of weed, and the floor littered with several empty bottles. Music was playing; not the usual dubstep, but something softer, almost like Indie-Rock or Pop or whatever the fuck it was called. Benjamin licked his lips, a little nervous (yeah, sure, just a little) when he looked around for the boss but didn’t see him.
“Vaas?” he called and was surprised, that he sounded far surer than he felt. ‘It’s like with dogs – don’t show them you’re afraid, and you should be fine’.
“Over here,” came the slightly slurred answer from the next room – Vaas’ fucking bedroom (why had he taken that job again?). He sighed, brought himself to put one foot in front of the other, approaching the red curtain which covered the doorway to Vaas' room really slowly, and prayed that he wouldn’t find the pirate leader with his pants down.
“Boss?” he greeted when he pushed the curtain to the side and stepped in, finding Vaas lying on his bed (fortunately with his pants at the right place), and a cigarette between his lips. He was tapping his foot to the music, making a really relaxed appearance.
“Hey, my friend,” he laughed, and Benjamin was surprised by the light and happy mood surrounding him. “Um… José, right?”
“Err… actually, it’s Benjamin,” he corrected him hesitantly, afraid of the outburst that might follow.
But Vaas just kept laughing, propping himself up against the pillows and taking a long pull on the cigarette. “Yeah, right. I knew it was something stupid!” He laughed even louder and held his stomach, but Benjamin didn’t dare to say anything, instead shifting from one foot to the other. But unfortunately Vaas noticed the silence, and he looked up at the other man, all hilarity suddenly gone. “What? You don’t think I’m funny? Did I hurt your fucking feelings, or what?”
“No, sir, it’s not-“ he nearly lost his breath as Vaas’ eyes narrowed to slits, fumbling for the right words that would calm him down, but then the pirate king burst out in laughter once more, nearly doubling over. Benjamin was still frozen in place, not daring to even breathe too loudly.
“Oh man,” Vaas said grinning from ear to ear, “I had you there!” He sighed lowly, taking the cigarette out of his mouth with one hand and wiping over his scarred face with the other. “This was so good,” he whispered, and Benjamin found the courage to breathe normally again. “You know why I called you here?”
He shook his head quickly. “No, boss.”
Vaas seemed to think for a while, and Benjamin was wondering if maybe he had forgotten that someone else was still in the room with him. But then the pirate king sighed again, and this time it was him who shook his head. “I could do so many fucking things, you know? Hunting, for example, or maybe bossing around my men, visiting that motherfucker Bambi Hughes and getting him all riled up…” he made some sort of considering noise while stubbing out the cigarette in the ashtray on his bedside table. “But… it’s strange, you know? I’m bored, but I can’t make myself get up and do something. This is fucking stupid, isn’t it?” Benjamin opened his mouth even though didn’t know what to say, but obviously Vaas wasn’t waiting for an answer as he kept mumbling to himself. Finally he seemed to realize that he wasn’t alone, focusing his attention back on him. “Do we have rejects?”
Taken aback by the question for a moment, Benjamin sucked in his breath. “Um… yeah, three, I think. Two men and a woman.”
Vaas hummed, sighed, and then he swung his legs over the edge of the bed and stood up. “Come with me,” he said and Benjamin was surprised that the man was not even swaying in the slightest. He followed him out of the building to the compound, where the pirate called for the others to get him the rejects. A few minutes later they were gathered in the middle of the camp, the three vacationers kneeling bound and gagged before Vaas, and some of the pirates keeping eyes on them – or enjoying the show. “Chinamen, hm?”
“Actually they are German,” Benjamin corrected as Vaas moved closer to the woman.
He looked down at her, his face a blank façade , until a sardonic grin appeared on his face. “I bet you would like to suck my dick, right? You look like such a filthy whore… I know you can’t think of anything else.” He grabbed her face, pulling the gag from her mouth and holding her chin painfully between his fingers. “C’mon, tell me how much you want this!”
She whimpered and tried to pull away from him. “Bitte, ich flehe Sie an, lassen Sie mich gehen!” Suddenly Vaas let go of her, and she fell backwards onto the ground.
He turned to Benjamin with a bored expression. “Do they understand anything I say?”
He shook his head. “I don’t think so, boss.”
He sighed, turned away again. “Then threatening them is no fun,” he said. His gaze fell on one of the two men, and he stared at him for a while before he spoke again. “Tell me, José-“
“Benjamin,” he said, but Vaas ignored him.
“Do we have something like toilet cleaner?”
He shrugged. “I guess.” Nobody moved, and finally Vaas turned to him again.
He smiled, but it was not a good smile. “In case I did not make myself clear, it wasn’t a question like ‘Oh, do we still have toilet cleaner? – Good, then I don’t have to put it on the grocery list’. IF I ASK FOR THE FUCKING TOILET CLEANER”, the whole camp nearly jumped when he started screaming, “THEN GET ME THE FUCKING TOILET CLEANER!”
It didn’t take long to get Vaas what he wanted (honestly, you wouldn’t want to make him wait either), and he was already chuckling when he put the plastic bottle in front of the man who he was watching earlier and loosened the gag in his mouth. He stood before him and leaned forward, propping his hands on his knees. “Drink,” he told the man, and Benjamin grimaced as he gestured to the bottle. This would get nasty.
The guy didn’t stir, but his eyes kept switching from the bottle to Vaas’ face. Either he really didn’t understand what he was supposed to do or he was too scared to move – or he knew what would happen and didn’t wanna end it this way.
“Drink,” Vaas repeated, his tone much lower and much more dangerous. Still no reaction, and finally the pirate stood up straight and shook his head, grinning once more. “That’s okay, really, you stupid motherfucker, I like the hard tour the most, anyway. Hold him still,” he ordered, and three other men grabbed the guy at his shoulders and hair. They tilted his head back, and Vaas grabbed the bottle, again laughing like a madman, and moved closer to the screaming and struggling man. “This will be so funny,” he laughed, and Benjamin wrinkled his nose as he poured the acid down the guy’s throat.
The screaming stopped for a moment, covered by gurgling sounds, and then it returned, sounding much more painful and hysteric. He coughed, and the liquid splattered across his face and in his eyes, Vaas stepping back to avoid getting his share of the acid. The other pirates released him as well, and he bent forward immediately, heaving until the first spate of acidic vomit mixed with fresh blood erupted from his mouth. Benjamin closed his eyes, trying to block the chocking noises out, overlaid only by Vaas’ mad laughing and the two other hostages’ muffled screaming.
Finally it was over. There was a thud when the now dead man fell into his own pool of the remains of what had been his stomach and esophagus, and then – silence. “Well,” Vaas said and sounded very amused, “This was funny.” He took the bottle from the ground, went over to the whimpering women, and waved it in front of her face. “Wanna have a sip?” She probably didn’t even understand what he’d said, but her eyes were wide open and she shook her head violently. “Yeah, thought so,” he said, smiling, and threw the bottle away, reaching to the back of his pants instead and taking a hold of his gun. Her scream was high and deafening, but also short-lived, as Vaas put a bullet right between her eyes. He last man tensed when he approached, but Vaas didn’t even bother to look at the guy when he shot him.
He watched the smoke trail from the mouth of the gun and sighed. “Wouldn’t have been fun the second time anyway,” he said and chuckled lightly. “Did you see his face? He was all like ‘Ahhhhh!’” He laughed and doubled over, clutching his stomach as his whole body shook with laughter.
Nobody else moved, everyone waiting for Vaas to give them orders, but no one wanting to be in his center of attention. Finally he had recovered and wiped the tears from his eyes, looking at the three dead bodies and shrugging. “You know what?” he said and turned to Benjamin with his maniac grin, who in turn tensed at being addressed again, “I think I’ll go hunting now.”
He went past them, strolled towards his hut, whistling a tune while walking. “Someone clean up this mess,” he called as he vanished into the building.
No one moved for a while, the shock still lingering in their bones, but then Benjamin cleared his throat.
“Didn’t you hear him?” he shouted and walked past his comrades towards the camp’s exit, “Clean this mess up!”