Simon watched sadly as all five boys scuttled back out of sight.
He knew he just had to get his hands on those boys and make them into something great, but they had been so badly abused he could not do much with them.
He had to get help just as soon as he earned their trust.
Liam, Louis, Zayn, Niall, and Harry stood trembling, heads bowed, while their master raged at them.
"All this time, and you STILL didn't bring back the jar!" he yelled, pacing back and forth.
Nome of the boys uttered a word.
"Nothing to say for yourselves, eh? Well, no food for you, you can sleep in the gutters again, and you can have this." He pulled a whip off a hook on the wall of the shack he sometimes let the boys stay in, if they had done something he really liked or he was just in a rare good mood.
The five boys nearly collapsed in fear as the burly man drew back his arm to strike them with the long whip, but a man's strong voice suddenly rang out, " STOP."
Simon strode into view, a handful of police behind him. " These boys are mine now, and you go with them." He pointed to the police, who quickly surrounded the man and handcuffed him.
Simon turned to the cowering boys and smiled gently at them, "Come now, you are safe with me. Let's go home."
As the police dragged the man who had been abusing them away, Simon tried in vain to get the boys to look at him as they walked to his SUV.
He did not want to command them, because he wanted them to realize they were not going to be made to do anything, but he really needed to know their names and ages.
Before he opened the door to his SUV, he paused and turned once again to the skeletal bunch behind him.
"Boys, would you please look at me and tell me your names and ages, I really need to know." Simon spoke firmly, but kindly, and this time the one he assumed to be the oldest look up at him.
The boy had nearly curly brown hair, sad chocolaty brown eyes, and a birthmark on his neck.
" 'S Liam. 'm 14." The boy mumbled, looking back down and hugging the dark haired boy and the blonde haired boy tightly to his chest.
" Thank you Liam." Simon said, smiling broadly. " Now, how about you?" he pointed to the next oldest looking one, a blue eyed, brown haired boy who was the only one besides the blonde who he caught sneaking glances at him on the way there.
"L-L-Louis. 15." The boy whispered, then hid his face in Liam's shoulder.
Simon was surprised. Liam was not the oldest then.
He turned to the cute boy with the thick curls.
"And what is your name cutie?" Simon asked, then regretted it as the boy started trembling and clung tighter to Louis.
Louis bent his head a bit and whispered into the other boys ear, then the curly-haired lad slowly raised his head, exposing his beautiful green eyes.
" Harry. 13." The boy spoke thickly, and slowly, seeming to have difficulty in pronouncing his words.
As Simon turned to the other two, both of whom were cuddled up in Liam's arms, the chocolate-eyed boy looked up again.
"The blonde is Niall, he's 13, and this one is Zayn. He's 14." Liam's voice trembled, but he managed to speak clearly this time.
Simon nodded and smiled, then opened the doors so the boys could get in.
All five drew back a little, their waif-like bodies trembling violently.
"You can get in, it won't hurt you, and neither shall I." Simon spoke soothingly, and the five boys piled in the backseat, leaving Simon to shut the doors.
Simon climbed in the drivers seat, but before he started the vehicle up, he looked back at the huddled group of boys.
" I am sorry to have to ask this, bit two of you will need to be up here, since not all of you can fit back there." Simon flinched at the effect his words had on the boys; almost at once, they all clung tighter to each other, Louis and the two youngest crying loudly into Liam.
Zayn just stayed where he was, clinging like he had been since Simon laid eyes on him, convulsive shivering racking his thin body every few seconds.
Simon's own eyes filled with tears, as he watched Liam sooth them others and speak quietly to Louis.
Then Liam unwrapped Zayn from him, prying his tightly gripping fingers from around his neck, off his arms, and finally transferring him to Harry, where, he too began to cry loudly, Harry's weak attempts as shushing him proving useless.
Trembling violently, Liam and Louis nearly crawled into the two seats closer to Simon, sitting down in them and immediately freezing into a sitting position, wide eyes staring at Simon unblinkingly.
Simon wanted so badly to just take them into his arms and sooth them, but he was not sure if they would freak out or not, so he just smiled at them instead.
" Could you please buckle up?" he asked as gently as he could, but pure fear leaped into the eyes of the two closest to him, and the shrank in their seats, shaking and whimpering as they buried their faces into their knees.
Simon felt helpless a he watched them all panic, then he made up his mind.
Getting on his phone, he called in a favor and a friend of his showed up and they swapped seats.
Thankful for tinted windows, Simon climbed into the back seat with the three youngest.
At once, Liam had landed on him, and before Simon knew it, he was being savagely bitten and his nose exploded into pain as Liam's fists connected with it.
"Git offn my bruthors." Liam growled, punching and kicking Simon repeatedly.
Simon held back a cry of pain as Liam punched his already bleeding nose again, the caught the boy's arms and quickly pulled him onto his lap, pinning him down and holding him tightly until he gave up fighting and cried instead.
Simon's face and arms were bleeding from multiple bite wounds, and of course he was sure his nose was broken.
"Brave boy." He wheezed, not loosening his grip on Liam who had stopped struggling and just sat limp in his lap, shaking and crying as the other boys cowered as far away form Simon as they could get.
Louis had climbed over the back of his seat and was with the other boys, trying to comfort them a little it seemed.
Simon gently stroked Liam's thick, tangled hair, finding it matted with dried, and fresh, blood, as well as dirt.
"Shhh, its okay, I'm not going to hurt you." He said softly, still petting the boy's hair, then moving down to his face and petting his cheeks.
"D-d-don't y-you dare h-hurt Lili." Louis growled weakly at him, then rubbed Harry's back as the boy began wheezing.
"Don't worry, I won't hurt any of you." Simon said, observing how Harry struggled for each breath he took. "Does he have asthma?"
Louis's eyes widened, and then he shook his head violently, more tears threatening to spill over as he looked imploringly at Simon. "H-Hazza's f-fine. D-don't t-t-take him aw-way p-p-lease."
Simon cooed gently. " I'm not going to take him away, but I have medicine to help him get better at home I can give him."
Louis burst into tears when Simon said this, and hugged Harry even closer the before, seeming not to notice the other two trying desperately to cling to him too.
"No, no, no m-m-mmedicine, p-please." Louis pleaded, squeezing his eyes shut.
Simon did not know what to say, but he was saved form answering when Zayn, opening his eyes for the first time since Simon had arrived, left Louis's side and shot over to Simon, crawling into his lap to latch onto Liam once again.
Simon only caught a quick glimpse of his hazel eyes, but they were so clouded with fear that Simon felt his heart about break.
He loosened his grip on Liam, and the boy stayed where he was much to Simon's surprise.
Simon then tried to stroke Zayn's hair, but Liam's shaking hand stopped him.
"Only I or Niall can touch 's hair." Liam said, not looking up.
"Okay." Simon said, then just stroked the back of Zayn's neck and rubbed his back.
They sat this way the rest of the trip, Niall clinging to Harry who clung to Louis, and Liam sitting in Simon's lap while holding Zayn tight.
Simon just hoped that once they all got out, that in the house things would go smoother, but he knew that was a very slim chance.
These boys were wrecked, worse then he had assumed, and he may need help sooner then he had expected.
Which meant it was high time to give his dinosaur friends a call, back in the land where there is no time as people know it.
The Land Before Time.