Chapter 5 Betrayal

Aella was suddenly woken up through the violent shaking of her body. Opening her eyes, she saw Koito who had one finger to his lips indicating to her not to talk. The lights were out, but she managed to pick it up.

" What's going on?" She asked

" This entire house is surrounded. I don't know who it is, but I saw a few people move among the trees through the window and they had guns." Koito emphasized.

" I couldn't find Brandon anywhere though, I wonder where he is." He said with a sad tone.

" Is it really okay for you to be moving around with those injuries? Your friend said it was a miracle you even survived you know!" Aella said with concern.

" Shh, keep it down Aella." Koito said in a desperate attempt to make Aella reduce her volume. " They're guys out there with guns. I don't know their objective but judging from the recent occuring events I'd assume they're probably of the same faction as Frederick. "

" Alright, I guess you're right. But how did you find out there were people in the trees, you're not really the perceptive type especially in the dark. " Aella remarked.

" Well,... I suddenly woke up from my sleep due to the pa..." Koito paused " Anywho, he continued. " I saw Kari over there looking out the window and so I went to check and that's when I saw them. At least 20 guys running around carrying guns"

'He was totally about to say PAIN just now wasn't he, definitely, I'm sure of it' Aella thought to herself.

" But you know, what's really bugging me is if they really are connected to Fredrick, I never told Fredrick about my relationship with Brandon, the two never even met. So how did they find me so fast?" Koito said thinking heavily. Kari was silently observing the two the entire time, without saying a word. It really was difficult to figure out what she was thinking.

" Well, no use worrying about it now, if they're already here. Let's slip out of here." Aella said " Do you have any great ideas. I didn't really move around this place so I have no idea where all the exits are, or even if there are any, since it's a no brainer to just walk through the front door. "

" Well, there are two that I know of, the front door from which we came and the back door which is waaaaaaaaaaay in the back."Koito replied.

" For now, we'll make our way to the back door. We'll run out immediately after my signal and take cover in the woods. If we're lucky, they'll not spot us since it's dark outside. So are you up for it?"Koito then asked Aella who nodded her head in response.

He looked over at Kari who just stared it them blankly. Her input wasn't really that important anyway so they began to make their way to the back door exit. They moved with the shadow and didn't make so much as a sound. Movement could be observed outside, the windows but they paid it no heed. They doubled their pace but it still took a while for them to reach the door. Upon reaching it, Koito slowly creaked it open and popped his head outside. It didn't seem as though there was anyone over at that side of the house. So he signalled to Aella and Kari to come closer to which they did.

" Ok, I'm going to count to three and we're all gonna make a run for it. Got it" Koito said with three fingers pointing up.

Aella nodded her head in agreement. Koito stood up, took a deep breath and exhaled just to calm himself down a little. He then started counting.

" Three... Two....One, go!" He said and they all sprinted out. Suddenly, lights flashed around the entire house. They shone so bright one would think it was day time. Koito and gang felt a shiver run down their spines.

" Go back inside now!" Koito shouted and they hurriedly made their way back in without a hitch. Koito proceeded to lock the door from the inside after seeing that everyone had gotten back in. Panting heavily as if they had been running a marathon due to the fear induced in them from the sudden lights.

" You were actually planning on running past us! Ha ha, ... How naive!" Came a voice from a man outside standing in front of the illuminating lights. " I know you're in there Koito, come out now before we force you out!"

This was very much expected. When Koito had thought of the plan, he didn't really have any high hopes for it, but having the reality of things thrown to your face really hits hard. They really were surrounded. Who were these people and what do they want. Perhaps it was a trap to lure them out from the very beginning. Am I going to get killed? Are we going to get killed? All these thoughts and more came rushing through Koito's head and he just stood there paralysed.

" Why should he come out?! You're just going to kill him anyway aren't you?!" Aella shouted, her voice was trembling.

" Huh! Who the heck are you woman?!" Shouted the man outside. " Hey, was there a woman in the report you got?" He then proceeded to ask a guy who looked like his assistant who wore glasses.

" No sir! There was no such report!" The young man replied.

They don't know who I am? Aella thought

" I'm... Wonderwoman from the justice league. I suggest you leave, before you have a taste of my whip!" Aella said with tears in her eyes.

She was really just saying whatever came to head. She was panicking and scared, she could really die in this situation. Koito saw her desperate act and tried to pull himself together too. He couldn't just leave everything to a girl. Isn't it a man's duty to protect his woman.

Koito then hugged Aella and said " Thank you for standing up for me, you can take it easy now"

Aella calmed down, but only a little bit. Words alone weren't enough to escape this situation.

" Just come out man, let's not waste each other's time" came a very familiar voice outside. Koito and Aella were both shocked. It couldn't be who they thought it was right. It just wouldn't make any sense. Koito and his lover peeked over the window and there he stood, Brandon looking so cold and unfazed.

" Brandon!" Koito exclaimed. " You did this?"

" I don't wanna hear my name out of that filthy mouth of yours." Brandon said.

"Why Brandon?" Koito said with a really anguished gaze " Why you too? Have I ever done anything to offend you in any way? Tell me please. Why does it seem like all my friends are leaving me?"

" You, I've always hated you. You definitely are the kind of guy who'd kidnap someone." said Brandon with a disgusted look on his face.

" Huh?" Koito didn't quite get what this dude was saying. Hated him. Why? Weren't they like brothers?

" You think you're better than everyone else, having been born rich and all. And you're always spouting nonsense about beauty and stuff. I was really starting to get nauseated every time I saw you. You disgust me. So, when I saw that you had the girl with you I called the police so they could send you to prison, exactly where scum like you belong." Brandon said full of contempt.

Koito was very hurt by this. He had known Brandon since childhood he was like a brother to him. Why would he do such a thing. Did he really hate him that much?

" Oh, I may hate you but I never had any contempt towards your mother. I'm very sorry to hear about her, I can sympathize with you on that." Brandon said.

'Again! What do they mean. What happened to my mother' Koito thought to himself.

The first guy to have called out to Koito stomped his feet 3 times and all the men in the woods began making their approach to the house. Aella detected movement with her sharp senses and signalled to Koito.

Koito took a deep breath again. And with then with a serious tone he said" I see, thank you for sharing with me how you really felt." Desperately trying to hold back his tears.

He looked at Aella and whispered. " There is one more place we could use to escape that I hadn't told you about."

From the outside, the men continued to make their approach. Brandon continued spouting more hateful words but there came no response.

' He isn't responding anymore. Did it work?' Brandon thought ' I got out of the house because I didn't want to be confused to be one of them if they started attacking and so I had them halt their attack as I made my way out. I really thought this was the strategy of capturing him without hurting him or the girl though. Breaking one's will to fight is usually the best course of action in order to end any sort of quarrels without actually using force per se. Do they really have to resort to using violence.' Brandon thought. ' But why has it been so quiet?... Don't tell me...' Brandon's face flashed as if he had realized something.

" Hey, four eyes! Tell the men to get inside quickly, I have a feeling bad feeling about this !" Brandon shouted to the secretary looking guy.

One of the men thew a tear gas bomb through the window. The men then made their movements quickly, and broke into the house. There was no one there. It was completely empty. Brandon dashed inside too and made his way to the living room. The sofas had all been pushed to the wall.

" Dammit!" He screamed as he ran to the kitchen and got himself a knife. He then ran back to the living room and as if digging the knife into the floor, he raised it up, there was a secret passageway underneath.

" We're going after them!" Shouted one of the men.

" It's useless, they're probably long gone by now. This passage was made for these types of situations or in case of robbers. We did it just for fun but the point is there's a car parked at the end of this tunnel and I bet they've already reached there by now. They're gone." Brandon said.

There was brief silence in the room. Suddenly, a gun was pointed to his head and a voice came.

" They broke the our agreement first, don't blame us for what happens now " and he was hit with a gun on his kneck making him unconscious.

" We're going after them, and take this guy to the car. He might be useful for something later!" Said the man who had knocked out Brandon.

'Sorry, Koito Kun, I tried to protect you too but I failed. Run! And survive' Brandon thought as he faded out of consciousness.