“My offer stands,” Lord Snider tells him sternly. “If you tell me the location I want, your girlfriend’s life will be spared and she can go free.”
My heart is still beating fast and I look at Rickie, wondering what he’s going to do.
“No way I’d trust you to keep that promise,” he says.
“Unfortunately it’s the only way out of it. So are you going to tell me or let her die?”
Rickie looks over at me again and I can tell he’d do anything to protect me; but surely he wouldn’t put all those children’s lives’ at risk just for me?
Carl looks at him too and I can tell he’s starting to feel worried. Rickie stays silent and Lord Snider waits like a shark ready to attack its prey.
“Don’t tell them,” I beg him quietly, hoping he would get the strength to do it. I know it must be one of the hardest decisions he could ever make, but he had to do what was right.
Rickie looks away from me and back at Snider, “I can’t tell you.”
Lord Snider looks surprised by his choice. I can’t help feeling a little happy that at least we had won and protected the children, even if the price was our lives.
Lord Snider looks furious that he hasn’t got what he wanted, “you’ll regret this,” he warns Rickie. “Enjoy the execution.”
He turns away angrily, “Bring them outside,” he orders the police officers. “We’ll put an end to the freedom fighters once and for all.”
We are escorted outside into the city square and my blood runs cold as I see Snider’s executioner holding an axe. My skin prickles with fear at knowing what is about to happen and I feel panic rise inside me.
“I’m sorry,” I hear Rickie whisper to me. “I wish I could have done more…”
“It’s fine, you made the right choice,” I whisper back.
A crowd of people gather around the wooden platform, coming to see what is happening and to watch the executions.
Lord Snider strides onto the platform, looking very pleased with himself and speaks out to them proudly, “we have managed to capture two of the cities most wanted criminals, Carl and Rickie Granger.”
The audience gasp at hearing this and look over at them both.
Lord Snider smiles even more, “as you know illegal fights towards the government are against the law and, as a consequence, these criminals will be executed.”
The police officers force Carl forward towards the executioner and I begin to feel ill with anxiety. I can’t bear to see him killed and I already feel sick and scared.
Once Carl is in place, the executioner raises his axe above his head and gets ready to bring it down. I shut my eyes tight and try to somehow block out the awful sound which will come next; but the next thing I hear is screams of surprise from the audience.
I open my eyes to see what’s happening. The executioner has been shot with a sleeping dart and has fallen unconscious to the floor. His axe has fallen out of his grip and Carl remains unharmed.
He wastes no time in getting away. He leaps back up and hits the two police officers that are holding him. They’re so stunned by what has happened that they aren’t ready for an attack and both fall back.
Small explosions erupt around the square and the citizens scream in fear before clouds of smoke fill the air and block our sight.
I smile to myself in relief. The other freedom fighters must have come to help us and now they are setting off smoke bombs so we can easily escape without being seen.
I hear the two police officers holding me fall to the floor and someone grabs my hand and pulls me through the dark smoke. I follow them quickly as they guide me, coughing a little and still unable to see ahead.
We soon leave the city square and the smoke begins to thin until I can finally start to see again. I look up to see who my rescuer is and feel stunned.
“Josh? What are you doing here?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” he smiles at me. “I meant what I said Star, I really didn’t want to give Snider information. I let him bully me into it and I regretted it ever since. I just hope now I’ve tried to make amends you’ll finally forgive me.”
I smile back, “I guess I can, if you’re still a freedom fighter?”
“Of course I am, I never stopped being one,” we both hug and he smiles, looking relieved.
“Where are the others?” I ask.
“Bryan and the rest are taking them back to one of our buildings,” he tells me. “Come on, let’s go.”
We both run away from the smoke and safely away from Snider and his police officers.
Chapter 24
Josh and I arrive at the small building ten minutes later and I run inside. Rickie is already there so I run straight into his arms and hug him tight. He smiles and holds me close, “I was gettin’ worried, I’m glad you’re safe.”
“I’m so happy you are too,” I say and look up into his eyes. “I love you Rickie and I couldn’t bear it if you had been killed.”
“I know, I’d hate to lose you too,” he says, staring back into my eyes. “I love you too Star, you mean everythin’ to me.”
We share a long kiss and finally the realisation hits me that we have escaped and I feel tingles of happiness and relief.
“Where’s Sarah?” Josh asks me, looking around. For a moment he looks worried, but then he catches sight of her and rushes over to her side.
I cuddle up to Rickie and watch, hoping that Sarah will be able to forgive him too.
Sarah looks shocked to see him, “Josh, did you help save us?”
He nods looking shy and Sarah throws her arms around him and gives him a big hug smiling.
“So you forgive me for the mistakes I made?”
“Yes, I do,” she answers and they too share a kiss.
Carl looks over to us and rolls his eyes, obviously teasing about the fact that there is so much romance around. Rickie and I laugh and go over to him.
“I’m glad you’re okay, bro,” says Rickie and gives him a bear hug. “I thought you were done for when that guy was about to chop your head off.”
Carl laughs, “yeah, me too.”
Bryan comes over and gives me a hug, looking relieved. I hug him back happily. “Are you all okay? We’ve been so worried,” he says.
“Yeah, we’re cool now Bry,” answers Rickie.
“Snider’s really crossed the line this time,” says Carl and I can tell he’s annoyed. “The whole thing was a trap and he managed to track down our new base through the fake telephone call.”
“So what’s happened to our base?” I ask, although it’s obviously not good news.
“They raided it minutes after you left,” answers Bryan. “I managed to get away and warn the other freedom fighters not to return there, but I suppose they’ll destroy that building soon. We’ll have to find another base.”
“We need more than that,” says Carl. “Snider’s winning and if we don’t do something soon he’ll destroy every single building we own.”
“And we gotta stop him tracking down the sanctuary,” says Rickie, looking worried. “I know it’s hidden but there’s always a chance…”
“He will never find the sanctuary,” says Carl determinedly. “Even if we all have to die protecting it then we will.”
“We need a plan,” says Bryan thoughtfully.
The next day we have an emergency meeting in the Gemini building where we had to sleep. So far I’ve not had time to feel the loss of our new base, which we had all worked so hard to make after Snider destroyed our last one. I was so tired I didn’t have a second to feel miserable.
Soon after arriving to the building late last night, I was so exhausted I went straight to sleep and it only seemed like half an hour later when Carl woke us all up the next morning.
“Sorry to wake you all so early, but as you already know we need an emergency meeting,” Carl tells us. “Last night I had a meeting with Bryan and Rickie to discuss what we should do next and we have come to a solution.”
&nbs
p; I suddenly feel wide awake, knowing that whatever is about to be said will be very important.
“Snider has started a war against us, he’s destroyed our buildings and he’s always arresting and trying to kill our people,” says Carl. “It’s about time we said that enough is enough. We’re sick of his attacks and we can’t have events like yesterday happening. Therefore we need to have a war against Snider and begin to fight back.”
Everyone seems shocked by this.
“But what does this mean?” asks Sarah, looking anxious. “Is Twilight City going to turn into a battlefield or something?”
I feel just as anxious. The last thing we all want is to end up fighting a war.
“It will if Snider has his way,” answers Carl, “but I didn’t employ you as soldiers trained to kill, we’re freedom fighters and we work to protect innocent people, not to fight a war.”
“Then what will we do?” I ask.
“We’re discussing the idea of destroying his buildings,” he tells us. “It will be pay back for what he did to us and if he loses resources and bases it will obviously have a negative effect on his dominating.”
“You want us to drop to his level?” Sarah looks shocked.
“No, we’re doing it to try and stop him,” answers Carl. “Obviously before recent events we would not have been provoked to do anything like this, but we have no choice. We can’t stand by and let him attack us continuously without fighting back somehow.”
“But it’s not right,” I say, having a bad feeling about the whole thing. “People will get hurt or worse if we start destroying buildings.”
“Star, it’s not as bad as it sounds,” Rickie reassures me. “We’re not going to become terrorists or anything like that. We’re going to make sure the buildings are empty, we don’t want to kill or injure anyone the way Snider does.”
“That’s right,” says Carl. “We are only destroying bases and resources. I know its criminal damage but if it stops him then it’s worth it. We need to do everything we can to stop him winning this fight or there won’t be anyone here to protect the people of Twilight City.”
“Does everyone agree with our proposal?” asks Bryan. “We’re open to other suggestions, but we need to agree on a plan before the end of today.”
No one else seems to have any other ideas so we all agree to it. After all, we need to stop him before he makes things even worse and we need to do whatever it takes.
Chapter 25
The next day we attend another meeting to discuss our new plan. Rickie looks really tired because he agreed to go out on a mission last night and only arrived back four hours ago.
I stroke his hair affectionately and smile. He looks so cute when he’s sleepy.
“How did it go?” I ask him.
“Really well,” he smiles at me and lies back in his chair and closes him eyes, nearly dozing off.
“Don’t worry, you can sleep once we’re out of this meeting,” I tell him softly and he nods in answer, half asleep already.
Bryan soon starts the meeting and I give Rickie a quick nudge to wake him up.
“As you all know Rickie went on a mission at Snider’s base last night and hacked into Snider’s computer systems, so we now have access to all his data and information.”
Everyone starts talking excitedly and a few people congratulate Rickie for getting the information we needed. I grin at him, feeling really impressed too.
“I’ve looked through the records and found the data with all his locations,” Bryan continues and shows a projected picture of a map with all the locations highlighted.
“Cool,” says Carl. “I bet Snider’s going to get a big surprise when he realises that all his buildings are destroyed tomorrow.”
“We definitely need to start our plan soon,” says Josh. “I heard that Snider is planning an attack on Twilight City tomorrow.”
“That means if we don’t do something he’s going to try and capture everyone who isn’t already on his side,” says Mick worriedly.
“Don’t worry, we’ll be ready for tomorrow,” says Carl.
The next day everything is planned and ready. We wait until the evening and then everyone leaves to start our plan. Soon there is only me, Carl, Rickie, Bryan and Sarah left in the building and by now the sky is darkening.
“Okay, all the freedom fighters are now in position,” Carl tells us as he ends the last phone call. “The locations have been found and are going to be destroyed. We have sent out a warning to all the citizens about Snider’s attack. So, are you all ready?”
“We were born ready, bro,” Rickie grins.
“Okay, we’ll head over to Snider’s headquarters,” says Carl. “Rickie and Star, you need to cut off the power supply and help free the prisoners. Sarah and I will plant the time bombs and get the prisoners to safety.”
When we get to Snider’s building the sky is dark and the stars are beginning to appear.
Rickie and I manage to sneak past the guards without being spotted and walk around the side of the building. Rickie presses himself against the side of the building and carefully looks around the corner towards a security door guarded by two armed troops.
I hold my breath as he aims his sleeping dart gun and shoots both of them. The darts pierce into their necks and they fall unconscious to the floor.
We quickly run over to the security door and Rickie quickly takes one of the officer’s security card. He swipes it through the scanner and the door unlocks.
We quietly make our way inside and go along the corridor to the power supply room. We see that two of Snider’s employees are inside the room, working on a desk with their backs to us.
We get down and crawl low to the floor, so that if they look around we won’t be seen. We reach the huge power generator box at the left side of the room and Rickie uses his tools to open it.
I stay on look out and watch the two men at the desk, so I can warn Rickie if they show any movement or if they spot us.
Rickie studies the cables inside. He manages to find the right wires and cuts through them with some pliers.
Suddenly the room falls into darkness as the power and electricity goes off throughout the building. We hear gasps of surprise from the two men in the room with us and quickly run out of the room before they can realise we’ve been there.
We dash out into the corridor, the darkness hiding us from their view. We walk quietly along the corridor, trying to stay out of the way from any troops who might be patrolling the area.
I hear voices nearby and we press ourselves against the wall and listen. Lord Snider’s voice drifts from a room a few metres away from us.
“What has happened to the power?” we hear him ask someone furiously.
“I don’t know, I’ll go check it out,” we hear someone reply. I recognise the voice and realise that it’s Officer Vincent, the police officer who had previously arrested us.
Rickie grabs hold of my hand and pulls me back along the corridor. We hide behind a big potted plant in the corner and soon we see Officer Vincent walking along the corridor carrying a torch.
I hold my breath as I see the light getting closer and snuggle up close to Rickie, trying to hide my body out of sight. My heart is pounding hard in fear and it makes me anxious knowing that there is only a plant separating us from him.
He comes closer and the torch light drifts past us. We watch him walk past us along the corridor and into the darkness.
Once he’s gone we quickly carry on through the corridor, feeling relieved at not being caught.
It seems to take a long time to find our way through the building in the darkness without a light or torch, but finally we arrive in the basement where Snider has kept a few families imprisoned ready to be executed later on today.
Sarah is already there waiting at the open fire exit near the prison cells. Rickie quickly starts to pick the locks on the prison cell doors and we begin to set the prisoners free.
I quickly lead them
all to the fire exit through the darkness and they run outside to freedom with Sarah directing them to safety.
Once everyone is free, Rickie and I run through the fire exit and away from the building. The whole area is still in darkness which means we can easily get away without being spotted.
A few troops are nearby trying to secure the area and look out for intruders, but without light their job is almost impossible and we easily slip past them without any trouble.
We quickly hide behind the wall surrounding the building and Rickie gets out his mobile and phones Carl’s number.
“Hey bro, are you finished?”
“Yeah, we’ve planted all the time bombs around the building,” I hear Carl answer. “Are you all out?”
“Yeah, the prisoners are with Sarah,” answers Rickie. “Me and Star are outside.”
“Good, I’ll see you back at the base soon,” he answers and hangs up.
“Wanna stay here and watch the show?” Rickie asks me and grins.
“Are you sure it’s safe?”
“Sure, those time bombs are only strong enough to destroy the building, so we’ll be fine here.”
“Okay,” I agree.
We only have to wait another minute or two before we hear Carl’s voice as he speaks through a megaphone to warn everyone in the building.
“Lord Snider, we’re destroying your building in five minute’s time,” he calls. “You and your employees should evacuate right now.”
For a second the troops stop and look around, trying to search for Carl, but they’re unable to see him because he’s hidden somewhere.
We see a huge panic start as Snider’s employees race out of the building, all fighting to get out and away before the time bombs explode. Rickie and I giggle as we watch them push, shove and fall over each other, until they eventually run away from the building.
We see Lord Snider get out of the building, looking furious as ever. “If you dare touch my building, Granger, I’ll make you pay!” he yells to Carl, looking around for him.
Carl doesn’t answer, so Lord Snider looks nervous and quickly decides to make a run for it just in case.
Seconds later the building explodes and Lord Snider looks back wide eyed with shock, until he finally comes to his senses and carries on running.
We watch as the building crumbles and falls to rubble and then Rickie high fives me.