Episode 5: Lost Labyrinth (2): No escape (3)

"Mmm!!! Yum~ Andrea! Your cooking is the best!" the girl happily said while munching down on the boxed lunch.

"It's nothing, young miss," Andrea replied. Her cheeks were red. "It's just the ingredients here... they are exceptional."

"Don't be like this Andrea! I told you to call me Freya!" Freya pouted.

"But..." Andrea began to say. She turned her head and looked towards us. She leaned slightly towards Freya and whispered, "There are adults here. I should be respectful to you."

"Oi~ oii~ they are Antonio's friends, I'm sure they aren't the same as the adults at home~" Freya replied. She picked up the sausage with her fork and opening her mouth wide, she munched on it and squealed happily. "Where did he get these kinds of food!"

"Umm," Andrea agreed while she ate from her lunch box.

"And look at these!!!" Freya twisted her fork around and admired it. "It's shinyyyy!"

"Yeah... It's not something we see every day."

* * *

"Hey... umm," I muttered. "Where's the other two you were with this morning?"

The girl looked up to me, her eyes were wide open. "It's you?"

"Yeah, we met earlier."

"Karen, was it?"

"Mhm, my name's Karen. How come you're with..." I looked at Claire, "her?"

"We..." she looked back down at Claire.

Claire's eyes were closed and she tipped her head towards me. I moved closer and she leaned on to my shoulder.

"I got separated from the others as I followed Claire. We had some struggles and ended up here," the girl continued. "By the way, I'm Rose. Thanks for helping us earlier, thanks for helping me again."

"It's nothing."

Freya jumped up from her position and skipped over towards us. "Hey, hey~" She pushed the fork in front of my face with a piece of sausage stuck on it. "Are you hungry?" Her face was gleaming brightly as she smiled.

"Ah, well..." My stomach growled. I felt a little embarrassed. A young girl is offering me food. I held on to the fork and slowly said, "Thanks."

"It's nothing!" Freya replied. "I'm Freya and that over there," she pointed, "is Andrea."

"Nice to meet you, Freya, Andrea."

"Yesss!!!" she grinned and headed back to Andrea. She looked down at Andrea's lunch and said, "Let's shareeee."

Andrea looked at us again and then offered the lunch box to Freya. "Here you go, miss."

"Yayyyy." Freya sat back down next to her and ate happily.

"Do you know them?" Rose asked.

"No, it's the first time seeing them," I replied. The smell of the sausages made my stomach growl again. "Here you go, Rose." I passed it to her after taking a bite.

Hesitantly, she took the food. "Ah... thanks."

I smiled brightly and we continued chatting.

* * *

"So that's what happened," I said.

"Mhm..."

"It's been rough for you."

"I just... want to know where they've gone." she teared up.

"It's alright," I said patting her. "They are bound to be here somewhere. Just like how we met up, you'll meet them soon."

"Mhm..."

"Hey," Freya whispered loudly to Andrea. "Is she crying?"

"It seems so," Andrea whispered back while looking towards me. "It seems like they can hear you."

"A... haha... hahaha!" Freya laughed. She jumped up and dragged Andrea towards us. "Are you alright?" she asked Rose.

"Yeah, I'm... fine." Rose wiped her tears.

"I don't know what's made you sad but cheer up!" Freya pointed towards the shelf. "There's a lot of nice food here!!! Are you still hungry? Is that why you're crying? Andrea can cook really well! Let's ask her to-"

"Freya," I said stopping her.

Freya gave off a confused expression. "Ah! Yes?"

"Don't be scared, I didn't mean to stop you. I just wanted to ask, are the both of you looking after this place?"

The room was big. the lights weren't the brightest and the place I was sitting at was dim.

"Nonono, we-" Freya began to say but Andrea stopped her and pulled her back.

"Freya, we shouldn't tell them! Antonio told us to keep it a secret, remember?"

"Opps!" Freya closed her mouth with her hands. She turned back around facing us and laughed a little. "Hahaha, I mean, yes! We are... erm." Her eyes were looking away and around the place. "We are cooks here!" She pointed at the empty lunch box on the floor. "We cooked those, hahaha."

"Oh, right," I said.

"They're hiding something. Freya's bad at lying," I thought while smiling a little.

"So it there a kitchen around here?" Rose asked.

"Yesss! Let me take you there~" Freya held on to Rose's hands and pulled her up.

I laid Claire's head on to the floor and followed them.

* * *

"So, this is the kitchen!" Freya said.

We walked around the place. It was squeaky clean. Everything was nicely placed and ordered.

"Isn't this heavy?" Andrea muttered.

"What?" I questioned.

"We've, I mean, I've never seen such tools and equipment. They are usually only reserved for them double digits."

I turned my head looking around again. "You've never seen... what?"

"Ah... nothing."

I was confused. "What does she mean?" I thought.

"These are just ordinary kitchenware," I said.

Andrea's eyes brightened. "What?"

"Hmm?" I was still confused.

"Ah, n-nothing."

"You see allllll these!" Freya picked up a knife. "These are soooooo shinyyy!"

"Be careful-" I told her but Rose was shaking; the knife reminded her of the little incident she was in moments ago.

"Are you still hungry?" Andrea asked.

"Ah, I'm fine-" My stomach growled once again.

"You're belly doesn't agree with you!!!" Freya grinned.

"I-I can do the cooking, you kids sit over there and wait," I said blushing a little.

"I'll help out," Freya smiled.

"A-Alright."

* * *

Straight after we finished cooking, the room's door beeped and it slid over. I walked towards the kitchen's door and said quietly, "Wait here." Slowly, I peeked out.

A soldier walking into the room holding a gun in his hands.

"Shit," I said quietly. I turned back and swayed my hand at Rose and the kids. "Hide behind the tables!" I whispered.

"B-But!" Freya said quietly as she reached out her hand towards me.

I swayed my hand a few more times and looked back at the soldier.

The sound of the footsteps stopped and the soldier turned his head looking directly at Claire. He gradually approached her.

I tiptoed away from the door and around the shelf trying to hide my presence but my wound started to throb.

The soldier knelt down and leaned closer to Claire.

"What should I do???" I panicked quietly. "That guy's gonna capture Claire!" I glanced around and saw a few cans on the shelf. I grabbed one. "Canned pineapples... I'll distract him with this." I looked to the other side of the room and threw the can there trying to make the soldier notice it.

*Clank*

The can burst. It rolled towards the door as the door closed. The soldier turned around quickly and raised his gun. He stepped slowly towards the can and I slowly tiptoed my way towards Claire. The soldier walked past the can and scanned the area around peeking behind the shelves.

"Claire!" I whispered shaking her shoulders but she wasn't waking up.

*Clack* *Clack* *Clack*

I heard the sounds of something metallic falling on to the ground beside me. My eyes widened and I looked at the soldier's direction.

The soldier was pointing the gun at me.