Fighting for life
The two words fell like a death sentence.
Ahmed, the guard of the left, hesitated. He was reluctant to kill innocent teenagers. But sensing Jurgen's cold gaze, he walked towards Altin nonetheless. He had yet to draw out his knife.
On the other hand, Peroni unsheathed his knife and walked toward Paul.
Jurgen stood motionless, watching the show unfold.
At the same time, the boys double-faced to face the guards.
They had heard Jurgen. He intended to kill them.
Cornered like animals in a cage, they felt despair.
---
Altin's mind went blank when he realized death was inches away. He saw Ahmed walking towards him.
Altin felt his head becoming hot, but he subconsciously repressed that feeling.
Without an ounce of fighting spirit, he pleaded Ahmed with the most sincere expression he was capable of: "Please.... let us go."
Ahmed somewhat slowed.
---
Julien was furiously thinking of any solution. He calculated they couldn't battle the men. Perhaps only François could equal one of the men in strength and fighting experience, but the rest of them? No chance. They had to flee. But where?
"The warehouse." The thought came to him. He screamed: "RUN TO THE WAREHOUSE!"
---
Paul could not detach his eyes from the knife of Peroni, unsheathed, shining brightly at the light of the torch lights.
"It's all my fault..." He thought. "I deserve to die." Dark and hopeless thoughts paralyzed Paul from acting.
----
François was the closest to Paul. He heard Julien screaming to get to the warehouse. There he saw their only hope: flee to a place where the assailants would dare not trespass.
It was their only advantage: they knew of the warehouse's dangers and could bypass them.
However, two significant obstacles remain to reaching the warehouse: two dangerous men. They were between them and the dark alleyways of the warehouse.
But seeing how Paul was about to be stabbed, François rushed to the man, Peroni.
"I can't let any of my friends die. I have to knock him down." François told himself.
He ran at full power and pushed Peroni against the wall.
A sharp but painless pain pierced his belly. François didn't care; he was under maximum adrenaline.
---
Altin saw François knocking over Peroni.
He understood he had to do the same with Ahmed.
Gathering every ounce of courage he could, he rushed toward Ahmed. He did not know where to strike, for Altin had never fought before. He felt that there was no good place to hit. He felt powerless.
However...
"I must fight" He thought.
Ahmed was still hesitant to unsheath his knife. There was the only chance to attack.
Altin leaped towards Ahmed and threw a kick towards the only place he knew would have a particular impact: the balls.
Altin lost balance and fell to the floor on his knee, but the kick had been successful. Ahmed twisted in pain on the floor.
In the same second, Altin instinctively took the torchlight of Ahmed, got up, and ran towards the warehouse, tracing along the corridor.
---
Julien had observed in furious thoughts the fight ongoing.
He pulled Paul's by the hand, and they ran towards the warehouse, leaving the men behind.
---
François felt his hands slippery, but he had no time to care. The man he had pushed had knocked his head against the wall, leaving François a second of respite, but he would undoubtedly recover in a moment. There was also Jurgen. Without a second more of delay, Français ran towards the warehouse.
---
Four seconds had passed since the order to kill had been given.
Jurgen was not satisfied with the performance of his guards.
The four kids were running towards the warehouse and were about to enter.
He couldn't accept such poor performance from his crew.
"CHASE AFTER THEM!" He ordered.
---
From the corner of his eyes, Altin saw that his friends were all following. They entered the warehouse again.
He was the only one to have stolen a torch from the guard he defeated.
Despite the torch, the warehouse was still in such darkness that he felt fear from looking at it. However, he felt greater fear at the thought of stopping running.
"Altin, towards the S anomaly, behind it!" Altin heard Julien saying.
He forced himself to remember where it was. They had discovered a strong force anomaly close to the alleyway and rack where they found the goodies.... It was at the left of the location when they had tried to circumvent the darkness by the left side.
Illuminating the path by the torchlight held in his trembling hands, he traced towards the warehouse, relying on his instinct to avoid the dangerous anomalies.
Paul, Julien, and François were following behind.
François felt becoming weaker and weaker. Breathing was hard.
The boys traced in darkness courageously towards the most dangerous anomaly of all.
---
The two guards tasked to kill them hesitated when they entered the warehouse. Their hesitation bought more time for the boys, and the distance grew again. However, they knew that Jurgen would kill them if they failed in their task. The mad man held them by the balls. Seeing how no danger had occurred to the kids when they explored the warehouse, they followed the teens. If kids could walk and exit the warehouse unharmed, surely they could do it as well.
---
Guided by Altin, the four boys arrived at the location (2,5), behind the strong force, hardly visible in the darkness, where they knew anything would disintegrate, having smartly moved around it.
The effects of the 5th force on the strong force were terrifying; the force created an invisible field that spread death and destruction of whatever it touched. Coming anywhere near was a terrifying experience for Altin, but this time the anomaly was his way to get rid of the guards in this particular instance.
The boys... waited.
---
Ahmed and Peroni caught up with the kids. They appeared to stop a dozen meters away from them. Nothing seemed to bar their path.
The boys saw them. They started to run again.
---
"Follow us...." Altin prayed in his mind. Julien had devised in a few seconds a simple plan: waiting behind the strong force anomaly, waiting for the guards to come, and run away, inviting the guards to pursue them. This way, they would cross the strong force anomaly in a hurry and not bypass it.
He, with his friends, ran towards the last rack.
"AHHHHHHhhhhh"
"MY FEETT...AAAHHH"
Two terrified screams rang out.
Altin stopped and looked behind.
The guards were disintegrating. The light in their eyes became dull in a fraction of a second, and soon nothing was left.
Their dying scream rang in the warehouse for everyone to hear.
---
Jurgen had not entered the warehouse. He knew better than not to risk his life there. His life was more important than his lackeys.
Instead, he calmly waited. He hoped that Peroni and Ahmed would get rid of the boys and allow him to drink an expensive wine they had robbed the other day. It was drinking time, and he was thirsty. He didn't want to stay in this place any longer.
However, when he heard the terrified screams of his guards dying, he knew he would have to change his plans.
He closed the door leading to the warehouse and locked it with the key.
Then, he passed a phone call.
He would wait until morning before sending all his men through the vehicle gate to kill the boys.
He was not afraid that the boys would stay eternally hidden.
They also didn't have any phone to ask for help.
Also, Peroni had severely wounded one of them. There was an abundant blood trail leading to the warehouse on the floor.
As a last resort, he would set the warehouse ablaze; however, a fire wasn't so good, it would attract unwanted attention, and rescue may save the kids in time. Best to kill them for sure.
They knew the location of their cache.
They knew too much.
Jurgen ordered the rest of his men to surround the warehouse and sleep the night in their cars.
---
The loud slam of the metal door closing the only way to the warehouse rang loudly for everyone to hear.
Altin knew that they had escaped Jurgen's men... for now.
The four boys had managed to outwit and outrun more vigorous opponents in this life-and-death situation. However, they were now trapped.
Altin started to relax slowly.
"I'm hurt... " A pained voice rang. It was François.
Julien, Paul, and Altin turned towards him. Altin shone the torchlight on him.
A gaping wound was visible on François's belly. It was bleeding.
François looked at his own belly, and he suddenly realized he was knifed when he had knocked Peroni over the wall to escape.
It was as if a dam broke; suddenly, as he became aware he was severely wounded, he felt tremendous pain in his belly.
"Oh my god... François!" Altin exclaimed.
"You're bleeding!" Paul said.
"Sit down; we need to stop the bleeding!" Julien advised.
François had his three best friends surround him, worried eyes gazing at him; he felt thankful for such good friends.
Altin pointed the torch towards François's wound.
"We need to wrap his wound and apply pressure to stop the bleeding," Julien said, his voice trembling.
Julien didn't hesitate in the slightest when he removed his pants and used them to band François's belly.
Seeing that, Paul removed his shirt and made a ball of it. He then applied the ball to François's wound on top of Julien's pants.
François groaned... it was hurting pretty bad.
Tears threatened to flow from each of the boys.
They were trapped, alone, with a friend bleeding severely, with the only near people wanting to kill them.
"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry,' Paul said, crying.
François felt no anger nor hate. He only felt grief. He knew they might all die here, him the first. There was no point in arguing now. "Paul, it's ok... He may have killed us anyway. It's ok... It's not your fault."
Words brought no comfort to Paul.
He continued to cry.
Altin felt despair, but despair turned to rage. He had to do something, anything!
"What can we do except wait?" He thought.
He forced himself to detach his gaze from François and thought:
"Wait here till they come? If they come? François will die if we wait." Altin moved his head left to right. Waiting was not an option; Jurgen could do anything; they had to seize the initiative.
"Somehow force our way out? The door is locked and is reinforced. The roof is too high for any of us to reach. Even if we did, we shouldn't move François."
"If only we could call for help..."
A full minute passed while Altin furiously thought of all possibilities.
It appeared Julien was similarly thinking of a solution. He was silent.
François and Paul were overwhelmed by their emotions.
The vastness of the warehouse, how empty it felt, yet how full it seemed with all the racks full of boxes, shook Altin.
"Perhaps..." An idea was beginning to grow.
"Perhaps we can find a phone in one of the packages on the shelves here and there !" The realization that one such box might have unsold phones took him.
"Guys! We may find a phone in one of the boxes in the warehouse! We could then use it to contact the police!" Altin exclaimed.
Julien, François and Paul trembled. They really may find one phone in the vast warehouse.
Altin remembered that any phone could call the police in the European Union even if it didn't have a SIM card.
"François, please hold on. You have to hold one! The rescue will come soon!" Altin pleaded François. "Julien, can you stay here to apply pressure on François's wound? Paul and I will search the boxes."
Julien nodded. He understood that searching the warehouses would be risky and require avoiding anomalies. For this, Altin and Paul were more skilled than he was.
He switched places with Paul.
His hands, pressed against his wound, felt... cold and slippery. Blood was still leaking from the clothes applied to the injury.
Time was of the essence.
François needed surgery, and quick...
Paul and Altin first searched the boxes nearest them but found no phone. They searched with haste and hurry, barely taking any time to think.
Yet, after 30 minutes, they still had to find a phone. Instead, they found mischievous items: vehicle parts, construction materials, garden tools... It seemed the warehouse stored all kinds of goods, but no electronics.
They searched for one more hour, half-careful of coming near any anomaly.
Yet, they still found no electronics.
Altin cursed the damned place.
"If only we could find a phone..." Altin started to grow desperate.
Drip. Drip.
The sound of the blood of François, dripping on the floor, kept ringing in Altin's mind.
It was a hallucination, Altin knew.
Yet, he also knew that they had to call for help soon to save François.
Very soon.