Tick tock tick tock tick tock

"WATCH OUT!"

A beam fell from the ceiling to the ground, inches away from smashing Paul, who had kept his eyes closed as he worked on "lighting up" a path through the collapsing building filled with darkness.

As Paul evaded the falling beam, he lost focus, and darkness returned.

Since he and Julien had entered the building, the shouts had never ceased.

"HELP!"

"WHERE IS THE EXIT??"

"I DON'T SEE ANYTHING!!!"

Panicked shouts were coming from multiple directions inside the 4-story office buildings.

Brr.. Br....

"Here's Brener. Do you copy? Over". A voice came through Julien's talkie-walkie.

"Copy. Over." Julien promptly replied.

"The building is collapsing. The 1st squad is to abort the operation and exit the area. Over." Brener said over the talkie-walkie.

Julien was momentarily silent. He then said:

"But there are still people here who can't find a way out. We can still rescue them. Over"

"Too risky. Exit the area. Now. That's an order. Copy that. Over."

"Copy. Over." Julien was bitter.

He turned to Paul and the three regular policemen with them. Paul had resumed "making" light, so they could see each other. They nodded to each other. The talkie-walkie had been loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Come on, there's no time. We can't help them." A policewoman said.

She pulled on the rope linking her to Julien, urging him to move.

Finally, at the back of the chain, Julien walked back toward the exit by pulling on the cord to guess the direction. He was attached to the outside world by a long rope, which was very useful to find the way back quickly.

Everyone then followed.

Everyone... but Paul, who was at the forefront. As the chain tensed, it suddenly stopped. Paul refused to move.

"Let's try a bit longer!" He said.

"Paul! There's no telling when the building will collapse; we can't risk staying here!" Julien replied.

"It'll just take us a minute. Plea.... "

Weakened by the grinding power of the source of the anomaly, another beam from the ceiling crashed on the floor.

"GO GO GO!"

"WE CAN'T WAIT ANY LONGER!"

"LET'S GO!"

The three policemen, effectively serving as an escort for Julien and Paul, rushed them.

This time, Paul did not resist. Although unwilling and shocked by the turn of events, he eventually let the chain pull him.

The rescue team exchanged no word as they made their way back.

Both Julien and Paul kept their head down as more desperate pleas sounded.

"HELP!"

"EH.... ! WAIT!"

"ARHHHH"

The last scream ringed of terrible pain.

"I'm sorry Paul... but we can't emotions take over our rationality...". Julien thought bitterly.

A moment later, they were welcomed by the sunlight as the shouts stopped.

They had escaped the darkness-type anomaly.

They stared in horror as the building in front of them fell into rubbles.

Julien and Paul were terribly aware of the many people that still a moment ago were alive.

"At least Altin didn't have to go through this," Julien exclaimed dejectedly.

"He's probably relaxing at home as we're talking." Paul's voice was full of bitterness.

However, Altin was not having fun.

---

At the same moment.

Altin lowered to grab his phone under his seat with his trembling hand.

"Haaalo ?" His voice was trembling, too.

"Ha ha ha, did you just drop the phone?" The voice at the other end of the line laughed; Jurgen was amused.

Altin took a deep breath. He held tremendous rage against Jurgen, but he was overwhelmed with apprehension: why the hell was Mrs. Durand's phone in his hands? He had to ask. He took another deep breath: "Where did you get this phone?"

"Obviously from the old lady," Jurgen replied in a playful tone as if he was smiling.

The ominous feeling in Altin only grew, so did his shaking. Something had happened to Mr. and Mrs. Durand. "Whe.... where are they? Did you ... hurt them?"

"Plenty. Damn! They were so noisy! I can't get their screams out of my head. 'SPARE US!' they said. They even cried. All because they got hurt a little. Some toenails pulled, a finger cut, a cut here and there, nothing unbearable, you know ?"

Altin kept silent, his mind crashing and pulse racing. Jurgen's words were only too descriptive for his imagination.

"THIS BASTARD!" He screamed in his mind.

Altin's stomach ached. It was rage.

At last, it took over.

"Release them." He said in an odd cold voice.

"Or what?" Jurgen replied.

"Or I'll kill you." Not the slightest hesitation could be found in Altin's voice. "I'll find you, and I'll kill you." He meant the words.

It was a good thing the train was a bit loud, as only Altin's seat neighbor heard the words and subtly distanced herself from him.

But Altin didn't pay attention.

Jurgen did not respond for a second.

He sneered and asked playfully: "So should I just kill them and play cat and mouse?"

Altin's hate and rage towards Jurgen threatened to overcome his common sense, but... he had heard Jurgen clearly.

The thought came to him: "He'll kill them. If I don't do as he says."

He cooled for a little for fear of causing the death of Mr. and Mrs. Durand was great.

"What do you want?" He asked.

Jurgen laughed at the other end of the line.

"What do I want? Just want to have some fun, you know? Here's what I want: I know where you are, courtesy of Mrs. Durand.

"As soon as your train arrives, go home and meet me in the garage. We'll be all here.

" Ummm, let's see. It's 11am, so your train should be here in... 5min? Perfect timing, isn't it? Leaves you with no time to delay.

" If you aren't home in 15min, they're dead.

" If you delay by buying groceries like you were supposed to, they're dead, too.

" If you contact the police, they're dead as well. Very dead. Clear?"

Altin couldn't help but swallow and wanting to puke. Puking of rage and apprehension. "He had it all planned. He only phoned now because he knew I was about to arrive. Fucking psychopath."

Jurgen was right. Altin's train was about to arrive at the train station in Reims, and from there, he would need ten minutes to go home. He would make it in time if he ran, but this didn't leave enough time for the police to arrive and deploy. So he was on his own.

"Don't do anything to them. I'm coming." Altin replied.

Jurgen hanged up the phone.

Bing Bing. Overhead, the driver announced: "Attention ladies and gentlemen, we will arrive soon at Reims's train station. Please make sure to carry all your belongings as you exit the train. Thank you."

Altin's sleepiness had long gone. His stress rocked unhealthy levels. As soon as the announcement was completed, Altin saw some people already getting ready.

"I can't be behind the other passengers... ! I have to exit the train asap!" He thought.

Altin couldn't wait a single minute waiting for the car to clear to exit.

He hurried to pack up his things and walked to the exit of the car, bypassing anyone in front of him.

He tried to go to the next car, but the access was blocked.

So he waited in front of the exit door.

3min before arrival.

The train was already slowing. It had entered the perimeter of the city.

It seemed to crawl at a terribly slow pace.

Altin questioned: "What can I do while I wait?"

An idea came to him. His friends. They would understand the situation quickly and do what is needed.

So Altin took his phone and sent a voice message to Julien and Paul via their private chat group.

"So much is at stake...," Altin realized.

Altin knew he had to be as clear and concise as possible. He couldn't afford to make any mistake or to waste anytime. He only had this one shot to warn and enlist the help of his friends.

Because after that, he would run to his house without stopping to talk or do anything.

"Julien, Paul. This is urgent. I'm about to arrive at Reims. Jurgen called me. He is holding my foster family hostage. He gave me 15min to come to the garage, no more, or he will kill them. I have to run. Please call the police, ... or the army... I don't know, figure it out. I won't be able to answer this message. This is urgent!!!" Altin sent the voice message.

"Will they hear the message in time?" He wondered. Maybe not.

Thus, he wrote "URGENT URGENT URGENT" to the chat group and also sent the message by text.

The passengers lining up behind Altin didn't miss the words he said. They really were talking among themselves about what to do. But Altin could not care.

He could see and hear only what was ahead of him. It was as if his vision and senses were tunneled.

1min.

Altin visualized the way to his house to make he would not lose any time. He would have to first exit the train station, then go through a boulevard, then three streets. The route would take 10min ordinarily, but he was too stressed to afford to walk leisurely. By running, he calculated that he would shorten the trip to 3 or 4min.

The train slowed to a stop.

The door...

Opened.

Altin jumped off the train and ran.

He ran as if his life depended on him.

He ran because Mr. and Mrs. Durand lives depended on him.

He ran because François's death kept flashing in his mind.

He ran because it was the only thing he could do.

He ran to his power because he could not think while he did.

He debated at every crosswalk whether he should cross or wait for the traffic to stop; he did not - in two instances, he nearly ran into a car.

But he did not stop to look behind.

He arrived.

Altin checked his phone. There was still 6min left.

6min left. Not a lot but enough to pause.

"I need to catch my breath first." Altin thought.

He decided to wait in front of the house and first catch his breath.

Every window of the house was closed, and the curtains were drawn.

It was impossible to guess whether anyone was inside.

Altin only took note of a van parked not far from the garage.

He recognized it as the van of Jurgen.

"This asshole." Altin once more insulted Jurgen in his mind.

5min left.

5minutes was a long time, depending on the context.

If somebody told you "I'm coming in 5minutes", then you should expect a really long amount of time.

However, if you had 5min to arrive at a destination, given that your family would die if you were late, it would really be a short amount of time.

Chances are that you'd try to make it as soon as possible.

Yet.

Altin still took one more minute to regulate his breath as much as possible and regain control of his body.

He was preparing to fight.

To the death.

He inhaled and exhaled deeply.

He relaxed his muscles, especially his leg, to gain agility over power.

He visualized the punching and kicking techniques he learned.

4min left.

Finally, Altin focused on feeling the 5th force around here.

There were very few. Unlucky, it seemed there was no anomaly nearby.

In these conditions, Altin would not be able to draw any power from the 5th force.

Despite that, Altin courageously set his mind on going and fighting to the best he could.

He checked his phone.

Julien and Paul had replied by text.

"WAIT UNTIL THE SPECIAL FORCES ARRIVE!"

"DON'T GO IN YET; YOU KNOW IT'S A TRAP!"

Of course, Altin knew it was a trap.

But he also knew that Jurgen really would kill Mr. and Mrs. Durand if he did no come.

What did the man have to lose?

Altin had been told that his band and gang had been discarded and their assets seized.

He knew in his guts that Jurgen was here for revenge.

He knew Jurgen was not stupid, and he would not wait till help came.

He thought: "This fuck*ng psychopath."

Altin wrote back to his friends, "Sorry. I have to go. I'm going."

Taking one last deep breath, he walked to the garage and pushed the side door, made for easy access.

It was opened.

Heartbeat racing, he entered the garage.

He scanned the interior.

Two chairs. Mr. and Mrs. Durand on them. Cuffed. Brushed and bleeding, heads down.

One man. Bald, smiling. Evil. Behind. Armed with a gun.

..

..

..

"Welcome home, Altin," Jurgen said.