First Blood

"First Blood" is the 8th episode of Sweet Escape.

Plot
A young boy is seen curled up inside a small, dark, enclosed area, cowering out of fear as an older man yells aggressively downstairs in a foreign language. The young boy is Rena Lacerda, about six years old. He’s hiding in his closet as his father yells furiously at his wife for the third time this week. Suddenly the shouting stops and heavy footsteps are heard making their way upstairs. A shadow reaches and stops at Rena’s bedroom door as he tries to open it, but it’s locked. Rena’s father furiously demands that his son open the door, but he stays hidden inside the closet. His father smashes the door open and heads straight to the closet, knowing exactly where his son hides during these encounters. He grabs the child by the wrist and begins dragging him forcefully downstairs, “No, papá!” Rena cries out, begging to be let go. His father ignores his pleas and drags him to his mother, who is cowered in the dining room. He stands Rena up by pulling his arm and grabs his head, making him look at his cut and abused mother, “You see this?” he asks his crying son in Portuguese, “This is what happens when your whore of a mother decides to sleep with another man” he hisses, spitting at his wife. The scared Rena doesn’t take in what his father has told him and simply stares at his mother helplessly, begging for help with his eyes. She is beaten, weak and unable to help her son so she sheds a tear. Rena’s father grabs his son by the shoulders and forcefully makes him turn to him, “If you ever disrespect this family like your mother has, then that will be you… cowering in the corner like a piece of dog shit” he tells his son in Portuguese, intimidating him. Rena, whose eyes are flooding with tears, is unable to respond. His father begins to shake his son, “DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!” he roars. Rena meekly nods. The next morning Rena is extremely tired, as he wasn’t able to get any sleep out of fear of harm to himself or mother. He cautiously walks down the steps of his home to his kitchen and to his surprise his mother and father are sat at the dining table eating breakfast together in peace. His mother, who has attempted to cover the bruises on her face with cheap makeup, smiles at her son and points towards a plate of food on the table, “Breakfast is ready, Reny” she says in Portuguese. Rena raises his eyebrow with the sudden contrast in his parent’s behaviour from the night before, but he decides to sit down anyway. “So you and papá aren’t mad at each other anymore?” the innocent child asks. Rena’s parents share a glance, the father’s glance is angrier, and then his mother smiles at her child comfortingly, “No. Mummy and daddy aren’t mad anymore” she assures him. Rena looks towards his father, who turns his angry glare into a smile for his child; however, Rena caught the switch of emotion and raises his eyebrow with confusion again. The three silently tuck into their breakfasts and the young Rena is left confused.

The group outside the pyramid are stood watching the small hole that has opened and begun watching them, according to Josh. Rena clutches his fists angrily and begins heading to the van, Josh asks where he’s going so the Portuguese explains that he’s not just going to stand around waiting while they’re being watched. “I don’t know what the people you work for are playing around at, but I’ve had enough of it!” Rena huffs. Ali tries to calm Rena down, saying they’ll figure a way inside sooner or later, however, Rena questions why they should even have to find a way inside, “And what if they don’t have Mary?” he points out, “How are you so sure that they have her?” he asks the two angrily. Josh and Ali share a glance and shrug their shoulders, “It’s just what makes most sense” Josh supposes. “No! It doesn’t! None of this makes any fucking sense!! I’ve tried to keep my calm during all of this but I’ve had enough of the games! If your people have Mary then why would there be a gunshot?? We don’t even know if Mary’s alive” Rena yells furiously. Josh and Ali are speechless for a moment, “You just have to trust us” Josh says. Rena shakes his head, “No. I don’t. I’m going to find Mary… and don’t even try to stop me” he tells the entire group as he enters the van with Rocky inside. He quickly drives off down the road, ready to begin his search for Mary. The group are left behind in shock.

In a flashback, a slightly older Rena is in the garden of his small house as the sun of the beautiful day shines down on him and his mother, who is sat watching him perform a dance routine he prepared for her. As he does his flamboyant twirls, spins and leaps across the soft grass, his mother watches and smiles at her son as he shows off the skill he is passionate about. Inside the house, Rena’s father is doing work in his darkened study when he hears the faint sound of clapping coming from his back garden. Confused, he moves through to his bedroom and looks out the window where he sees his wife watching their ten year old song dancing. He is infuriated. He storms downstairs and into the garden, when Rena sees his father he stops dancing immediately. “What are the hell are you doing Eliana” his father yells at his wife, “Why are you letting him do this?!” he roars in Portuguese, pointing furiously as his child. Eliana stutters as she tries to explain herself, “Tiago, please, he enjoys it” she tells her husband in Portuguese, hoping he’ll understand. Tiago slaps Eliana across the face, “Do not answer back to me” he snarls. He stomps towards his son, who is stood, knees quivering. He grabs Rena’s shirt and lifts him slightly upwards so he’s stood on his tiptoes, “Are you not a man?!” he begins, “Do you enjoy acting like a woman?!” he finishes, screaming in his child’s face. Rena looks down at the ground, scared, but his father tells him to look at him when he is speaking, “You are not a man, you do not fight like the other boys… you do…THIS!!” his father screams. From behind, Eliana calls out for her husband to leave their son alone, but he does not reply to her. Tiago pushes Rena to the ground and tells him to get up and fight like a man. The young child just bursts out crying. “GET UP!” his father yells. The young child reluctantly stands, not wanting to fight his father. Once on his feet, his father pushes him to the floor again, “You must learn to fight like a man or you are not going to survive in this world” he tells his son, slightly calmer, “Do you understand?” he asks sternly. Rena nods in hopes that it’ll get his father to back off. The plan works and his father heads back inside to continue his work. He ignores his wife as he walks past her. Once he’s back inside, Eliana rushes to her son to comfort him as he cries, assuring him he’ll be alright.

Back in the present, Rena comes to a stop in the van, deciding to explore the area he’s in for any signs of Mary. He jumps out of the car, bringing Rocky with him, hoping he’ll be of some use. They walk around the area for a few minutes and then Rena lets out a sigh, Rocky looks up at the sound. “I don’t even know why I’m bothering, finding her is going to be helpless” he says sadly, “She’s probably dead” he finishes. “What do you think?” he asks the dog who doesn’t respond, “Right…you’re a dog, I don’t know what I expected” he says, frustrated. They both keep on walking, looking around the area, “I just can’t help but feel guilty” he confesses to the animal, Rocky remains oblivious. “She was in a fragile state, she was vulnerable…” Rena begins, “I should have helped her… she needed help” he says, almost crying. “If she’s hurt I’ll never forgive myself” he says, coming to a stop. He tells the dog that Mary doesn’t deserve for this to happen to her, “Why not me? I’ve done countless horrible things in my life…Mary was sweet and innocent” he says glumly. “God I’ve done horrible things” he repeats, “I don’t deserve for Josh and Ali to be helping me…” he realizes, “I don’t deserve a second chance” he finishes. He looks down to Rocky and sees the dog is eating his own faeces. “Why am I telling you this…? Stupid animal” he sighs. Suddenly, something catches the attention of Rocky and his head snaps up instantly. Rena is confused, “What is it, boy?” he asks. Rocky starts sprinting off into the trees and Rena runs after him, struggling to keep up.

In a flashback, many years later, an adult Rena is sweating as he pounds a punching bag at a gym. The family moved to America a few years ago as they decided it’d help Rena’s career. It’s late at night so nobody else is around; the only person with him is his father, who is stood in the corner watching his son attack the bag. When Rena is done, Tiago throws his son a towel to wipe the sweat off and then he starts clapping, “Well done, son” he tells Rena. Rena doesn’t smile at his father, he just wipes the sweat away for a moment, “Thanks” he says bluntly. “I’m so proud of you, son. You’ve come a long way” Tiago smiles, “I know with your diet you’re not supposed to drink, but what do you say to a few beers with your old man?” Tiago asks hopefully, Rena shakes his head and says he’s tired. Tiago seems disappointed. “Well do you want a ride home?” he asks his son, “No, I drove. It’s fine” Rena explains before heading out of the gym, leaving his father behind. As he opens the door to leave, he greets another man who enters the gym, ready to train, “Hey Tom” Rena says, recognising him. Tom greets Rena in return. A while later, Rena is at an almost empty bar, drinking beers. The television is playing and it switches to a news channel, the story being reported is about a businessman, owner of the California Nuclear Power Plant, being arrested for money laundering. Bored, Rena rolls his eyes and asks for another beer, “Sorry, last call was ten minutes ago” the bartender explains. A drunken Rena sighs, frustrated, and then wobbly makes his way towards the door, “Hey, are you alright? Do you want me to call a cab?” the bartender asks, concerned. Rena shakes his head, “No, I-I walked. It’ll be, I am… good. I need to get fresh air” he slurs. The bartender lets the drunken man go. Once outside, Rena doesn’t begin to walk home as he instead gets inside his car. He slowly sits in the driver’s seat and takes a deep breath. He starts the engine and begins to drive. Rena’s face is void of any emotion as he drives. He turns on the radio to play as he drives, but as he skips through the stations all he hears is pop songs. With a thought in the back of his head, implanted by his father, that he shouldn’t listen to them and only listen to masculine songs, he turns the radio off. He sheds a tear as he approaches a pier. He stops his car in the middle of the road and takes a deep breath as he looks down at the pier. “This is it” he sighs to himself before starting the engine and speeding down to the pier. As the car drives down the road it picks up more and more speed, he intends to drive off the edge. Faster and faster he goes until suddenly, a car slams into the side of him, spinning him out of control and making the other car come to a halt. Inside Rena’s now upside down and smoking car, he hangs unconscious, breathing ever so slowly. Inside the other car, the drive and their passenger lay dead. The next morning, Rena awakens in a hospital room, blinking rapidly at the bright light. He’s all cut and bruised from the crash. He looks up to see a doctor next to him, “What happened?” he groans with pain. The doctor explains to his patient that he was involved in a car crash with a couple, “They didn’t make it, I’m sorry” the doctor says bluntly before leaving the room. Rena is mortified at the news and shed a tear, feeling immensely guilty for the death of two people. It’s not soon after the doctor leaves the room that a police officer enters. Rena questions why he’s there, so the officer explains that alcohol was found in his system the night of the crash and he was way over the limit…”I’m afraid you’re under arrest, son” the officer tells Rena. Rena is even more mortified, but accepts his fate as he knows he is responsible.

In the present, Rena finally catches up to Rocky, who has stopped to investigate something on the ground. He approaches the dog to find it sniffing a strange, thick yellow substance coming out of a small vent in the ground. “What the fuck is that?” he asks, baffled. He crouches down to smell the substance and can’t help but knock the feeling that he has smelled it before. Rocky begins licking up the strange substance, so a grossed out and concerned Rena pulls the dog away, scolding him, “Bad dog!” he yells. “I wonder what it is…?” he asks to himself quietly. He thinks to himself that he should take some with him to show the rest of the gang so he stands up to grab a large leaf to scoop it up with, as he doesn’t want to risk touching it with his skin. However, he is suddenly alarmed by the horrific yelps of pain coming from Rocky. A scared Rena looks at the dog with wide eyes, watching in terror as it spasms around on the floor. He rushes over in an attempt to calm it down, but it’s too late… the dog stops shaking… he’s dead. Rena is saddened by the sight of the dog before him, but soon realizes that it was the substance that killed it. Knowing something doesn’t seem right, he heads back to the van and in hopes of warning them about the deadly substance. Once in the car, he drives back to the pyramid as fast as he can.

Meanwhile, at the pyramid, everyone is stood around the white triangle, doing nothing as they’ve given up on getting inside. Ben is sat on his own, near the tents, getting more and more frustrated by the second. Suddenly, he decides he’s had enough and charges towards Ali, grabs her gun from her holster, wraps his arm around her neck and points the gun at her head. Ali is horrified, “What’re you doing?” Liz gasps, concerned for her friend. Ali begins struggling, attempting to get out of Ben’s grasp, “Get off me you psycho!” she yells furiously. Josh and the rest of the group simply observe, slightly nervous. “Get the hell off of me!” Ali yells even louder. Ben smiles, “You think I don’t know who you are?” he snarls, “Start talking” he demands. Ali’s eyes fill with fear.

In a flashback, many months after being arrested for causing two deaths while driving under the influence, Rena has been released from prison after serving his time. During his time in prison he’s been getting help for his mental issues concerning depression and anger towards his parents. He is now a much happier person. He’s walking through a pleasant neighbourhood, hoping to surprise his parents with a visit to their home. As he walks through the neighbourhood, he catches the scent of burning in the distance, and when he looks into the sky, he sees smoke. Noticing this is in the direction of his parent’s house, he sprints as fast as he can, fearing for their lives. When he turns onto his old street his worst nightmare comes true; his parent’s house is on fire. With no fire brigade around yet and no sight of his parents, Rena rushes inside the house, knocking down the locked front door on the way. Once inside, he is instantly met by the massive heat of the large fires inside. He searches around the bottom floor of the house for any sign of his parent’s, but he cannot see them, so he begins to call out for them before heading upstairs, narrowly avoiding the burning flames around him. He starts kicking down the doors to all of the rooms upstairs, but they’re in none of them. He finally comes to their bedroom and is relieved to see two figures sleeping in bed. He rushes over to them to wake his parents up, but as he grabs his mother’s shoulder to flip her over, he’s horrified to see that he throat has been slit. His eyes and mouth widen with pure horror, “No…” he gasps helplessly. He looks towards his father and notices that he’s been killed too as he has stab marks all over his body. Rena steps back in pure shock and then turns around, vomiting on the floor before breaking down and crying. He begins to feel lightheaded due to a mixture of shock, nausea and inhaling the smoke. He finally ends up fainting on the floor. Not long later, the fire has been put out by the fire brigade. Firefighters and officers enter the house to find any survivors. The firefighters lead the way to keep the cops safe. After searching the house, they finish by checking Rena’s parent’s bedroom. A firefighter enters and is shocked to see the dead couple in bed…and Rena lying unconscious on the floor with a knife in his hand. He calls out urgently for the officer to come and assist him. Officer Balk enters the bedroom and stares down at the unconscious Rena… he lets out a secret smile.

Inside the base, Mary is seen hanging from the shackles that she was held in earlier. She is asleep due to exhaustion. Her hair is sweaty and messed up while her body and clothes are covered in swear and blood. Val and Justine enter the room, looking fresh as ever. “How we feeling, Miss Castillo” she asks uncaringly. Mary spits on the floor, disrespecting her captor. Val feigns shock, “How rude” she states as she begins to inspect tools to torture Mary with. “You don’t scare me, you know?” Mary tells Valentina. Val turns to her captive and smiles, “Really? Do tell” she wonders. “When your henchman took me… I was going to end my life” she begins. Val looks at Mary, intrigued as to where this story is going. “I was weak” she admits, “I couldn’t cope with all the pain… I just wanted to escape it all. A cowards way out” she states. Val and Justine simply listen to the story, “So I want to thank you…” she tells her captors. “Why?” a curious Val asks, “Because in my time here…you’ve shown me what real pain is. The physical kind. And let me tell you, it’s a lot worse than what I was going through” she explains. Val is confused. “And I’ve been able to survive through it all. So that is why I want to thank you… for giving me a new motivation in life” she finishes. Val asks what that motivation is, with a hint of a smile on her face. “To kill you” she smiles. Val’s smile turns into a glare and she begins inspecting the tools again. “So I’ve come to realise that life is worth fighting for. My life is worth fighting for… And oh fuck am I going to fight for it” she tells her captor bravely. A furious Val grabs a knife and moves quickly to Mary, pointing it only centimetres away from her face. She smiles sinisterly, “You want to fight for your life? Well if it’s a fight you’re looking for, trust me dear, you’re gonna have to fight so fucking hard” she snarls, “A war is coming… people you love are going to die. And I’ll be sitting back, enjoying everything you once loved collapse before your very eyes” she finishes. Valentina turns to Justine, “Prepare the lift, it’s about time we pay our friends a little visit” she orders her. Justine nods and leaves the room. Mary seems slightly intimidated by Val’s threat, “If it’s a fight that you want then it’s a fight you shall get” Valentina tells her prisoner before leaving the room.

Back on the surface, Ben is still holding Ali at gunpoint; everyone is watching him with fear and anticipation. Anyone that dares to talk to him or approach him, even the slightest step, ends up with the gun being pointed at them. Suddenly, Rena pulls up in the van and hurries out, ready to tell everybody the news of the substance he found, but stops in shock when he sees Ben pointing the gun at Alison. “What the hell is going on here?!” he yells to Ben. Ben simply looks at Ali, “I don’t know. Why don’t you let her tell you” he announces to everyone. “What are you talking about?” Rena asks. Ben throws Ali to the floor and then aims the gun at her, “Start talking” he demands. Ali looks at everyone around her with fear.