Chapter 18

It felt like my heart had stopped.

With every knock and bang on the door, I felt fear flood inside me.

"What's going on in !? Where's George and Nathan?" I hear another voice. No...not now!

I look out the window. Theo and the kid are still climbing down. Theo looks at me and takes a deep breath. He then proceeds to go down with a bit more speed. I can't start climbing. The rope isn't strong enough to hold 3 people.

" HEY!" Says the man outside. I can hear more of them outside talking and discussing.

"I need to hurry!" I say to Alex as I look out the window again. Thank goodness! They've reached the ground now.

I waste no time in getting out and climbing down. As I carefully go down step by step trying not to let terror overwhelm me and accidentally make me lose the grip.

"Calm down. It'll be ok!" I hear Alex yell from above.

Suddenly, I hear loud noises from up in the room. They're trying to break the door.

Right now, trying to keep my balance, holding on to the rope tightly and feet planted firmly on the wall, I feel my breathing quicken. My head keeps screaming that this is it this is the end. I'm gonna die. We're all gonna die. With shaking hands, I continue to climb down only to become slower since I'm afraid I'll fall.

The men keep trying to burst in. It's only a matter of time before the door lock breaks.

I guess Theo sensed my fear " Lisa! Don't worry. It'll be ok. Remember, I had set up a distraction. Stay calm, if you fall, I'll catch you. So just breathe and continue." He says. The kids have gathered up around him. They also look very scared.

I take a deep breath and try to calm my racing heart as I proceed to move downwards.

THUD

the door slams open.

But instead of them coming into the room, I begin to hear screams.

"FIRE! FIRE! GET THE EXTINGUISHER!" I hear one of them say. So a fire started.

I finally reach the ground. Theo helps me down. Although, I can't find Alex.

"Thanks! You're plan totally worked! How'd you do it though? " I say to him with a grin as we start to run away from the building.

"Taped a long thread to a wall and burned one end. The other was attached to the gasoline covered carpet so it was only a matter of time." He says confidently as he carries Jonathan on his back.

"LISA!" I suddenly hear Alex behind me from a distance. I stop and look back. I can now see smoke coming out of the third floor.

"What's wrong?" Theo says as he does the same wondering why did I stop.

"THEY'RE COMING! YOU ALL NEED TO HIDE!" He shouts. And that's when I see it...

Those men coming from around the building. 4 from the left and 5 from the right.

With guns.

"Lisa! Come on!" Theo shouts as he and the kid start to run. I follow them.

"THERE THEY ARE!" One of the men can be heard saying and then they all run towards us.

One of them fires a gunshot in the air. Literally, the sound of it is enough to make our hearts stop beating.

"Everyone! We'll need to scatter! Girls, go with Theo to that building up ahead on the right. Boys, follow me into that building on the left. Alice! You'll need to come with me." I yell. It's a good thing most of the buildings here are abandoned or ruined. We can take advantage of it. Right now, That's the best option. We could hide inside a building and try to take them out if we can.

More gunshots are fired and two or three bullets hit a car nearby. We keep running without looking back until we get near the buildings.

"NOW! SPLIT!" I shout. There are 6 boys and 6 girls. Since Theo is already carrying Jonathan on his back and I'm taking Alice with me that makes 5 kids we both need to look after. He gives me a thumbs-up as he leaves with the kids.

I on the other hand lead the kids into another building. There were no doors which were good. It's an old hotel with a big lobby. Turning on my phone flashlight, I quickly look around. The interior is just dusty and surrounded by broken furniture.

"Keep running! Let's go upstairs! We'll hide in one of the rooms" I say as I quickly scan the area for the emergency stairs. Once I find the door leading to them, I run towards it. The kids look tired of running but still follow closely.

It's a matter of life and death after all.

It's a good thing we were pretty far from our pursuers. I don't know if they heard our plan or even saw us go into the building. Our first priority is to hide. I can just hope Theo is doing well. After that whole fire thing, I've realised I was just overthinking about him being distrustful. He's ok I guess. But why can't I see Alex anywhere? Why does whenever I most need him, he's not there! Maybe he's with Theo or keeping an eye on the traffickers.

"Here!" We enter the second floor. It's as if a fire had broke out in this place too. The walls are blackened. The kids stand by the emergency exit as I search for an open room.

"This will do. Guys, over here. Quickly!" The door to a room was open and had broken furniture in it. As soon as everyone was in, I closed the door and pushed a wooden shelf in front of it, barricading everyone including myself.

We all sit down and breathe heavily. Running for your lives is exhausting. I take off the wig and untie my hair. Wearing a wig is so uncomfortable.

"Is everyone ok?" I ask them. No one seems shot or anything so I guess they're ok. They all nod and say yes.

"What if they come here?" One of the boys asks.

"Hopefully not. But if they do they'll mostly split up and look for us. I remember seeing 7 of them. Don't worry, we just need to be smart." I say as I check my phone. It's past midnight. Will the darkness be to our advantage? I'm getting terrified at the thought of seeing a ghost in this total darkness.

Then realise something awesome.

"There's reception here! I'm getting some bars." I exclaim. After Dialing 911, I wait for the call to connect and walk over to the room window. Trying not to be in clear sight, I look through the window from the side. Yeah, thought so. Too dark to see anything but I could feel my eyes slowly start to adjust.

"911, what's your emergency?" The sudden voice of the operator breaking the silence makes me flinch.

"Yes! Hello! I umm need the police to get to the location I'm about to say as quickly as possible. children's lives are at stake here" I answer unsure how to start.

"What is this? Miss, what are you trying to say?" The operator woman asks with a serious tone.

Then for the next few minutes, I explain to her about the human traffickers and how I, alone went on to save the kids like some hero. I gave her the location and everything and hung up.

"Are the police coming?" Asks Alice. There's a hopeful glint in her eyes.

I smile and pat her head " Yeah, we're gonna be ok. Till the police arrives, we have to be saved. Understood?"

Everyone nods their heads. I could tell they all are relieved. Meanwhile, I have mixed feelings. Calling the police means getting involved and if that guy recognises me and tells them about me, then I'm going to get arrested too.

" Anything?" I suddenly hear a man's voice outside. Carefully taking a peek from the window, I see 4 men holding flashlights and guns. I can't see their faces well though.

"Are you sure they're not in that building? I saw them go in that direction though." One of them says. It's the building next to us. Good thing we weren't there.

"Well, the others went up ahead thinking they're not in this area. Hey, how about this one?" To my horror, he points to our building.

"Yeah, we'll check. You both go in that one. Seriously, this is such a pain. How did those people even get in." One of them says as he and another man walks towards our building. The other two walk towards where Theo and the rest are.

Shit. We need a plan. Now.