Ah... next chapter! I felt it was a bit rushed, but.... hope you like it, R&E :) Feels like forever since the last update.
When Peter finally came to, he was sprawled out across the hard, cold marble tiling of the floor. He sat up and leaned his head against a wall, and then saw the rope tied around his wrists.
Right, he remembered, I'm being held captive by a power-hungry Frenchman. He looked around and couldn't find Winona; the only people in sight were Napoleon and another man in a matching uniform, assumed to be one of his men. They were conversing swiftly in French, and were too deeply immersed in the conversation to take any notice of the prisoner.
Taking advantage of the situation and of the little energy he had left, he began to attempt to gnaw through the thick ropes that bound his hands together. Only when a shadow loomed over his head had he realized he had been caught in the act. Only when the person standing before him had spoken softly had he stopped trying to escape and looked up.
"Son," the soft voice murmured in an unidentifiable but definite accent, "it would be best if you did not try and escape. You do not want to get hurt." That last part had a twinge of hurt mixed into it, Peter could hear it well. The boy complied and sat normally, obediently facing forward, no longer facing the man with the soft voice, as much as he'd wanted to.
The man glanced at Napoleon, and seeing the Frenchman had not noticed the event that had occurred, he exhaled, relieved. He got down and sat against the wall, beside Peter. The boy mustered up his courage and looked to his left, examining the stranger. He was a dark-skinned man, dressed in tattered clothing. The man had a kind face, but it was as if he had no soul, like he gave up on his dreams. There was no life in his pitch black eyes. Peter could sense this man was not unlike himself, he was afraid, but deep down something twitched, telling him to do something, to take action. However, physically he could not comply with the messages sent to him by his brain. This man was whipped, a literal slave, and completely loyal.
The man turned and examined Peter, taking in his image as the boy did to him. He looked back to the ground and said, almost whispering, "I'm sorry, I cannot release you. There is no other choice, otherwise, he will…" The man gulped and shook his head slightly.
"You're bigger than him," Peter replied, immediately feeling foolish for saying something as obvious as that.
"Mr. Bonaparte is my new master. Ever since I could walk, I have been a slave. What would I do without a master? What good is a slave without a job to do?" Peter thought hard for a reply, but couldn't think of anything worth saying.
"What's your name?" the boy settled with asking a simple question.
"Moses."
"Oh. I'm Peter. I'd shake your hand, but…" He raised his bound wrists. "Yeah." Moses looked at the rope with his blank eyes, and cringed a bit. Hoping to lighten the mood a bit, Peter brought up what first came to his mind.
"Do you know Winona, Moses?"
"I know of her, yes. She is kind, and she thinks freely and bravely. Inspiring, is it not?" Peter smiled and nodded. She truly was something else, all that bravery and wonder behind such a fragile-looking face.
It had become louder in the background as they'd been speaking, Peter had noticed. He looked over his shoulder and saw exhibits of all kinds arriving into the room, standing at attention before Napoleon. Just as everyone stopped filing into the room and were all still, Napoleon began pacing back and forth, looking at his troops. He stopped abruptly, looking moderately pleased.
"Men," he announced, "We have been pushed around for too long. We will revolt and destroy all enemies that stand in our way! Now is the time to fight, and we shall take this museum to be ours!" He unsheathed his sword and raised it above his head as his troops roared with agreement. "Now, men, let's—"
"Hey!" A loud hollering interrupted Napoleon's battle speech. The Frenchman looked back, and when he did, he seemed very displeased. A mob of security guards stood opposite of them, guns at the ready. Napoleon's troops greatly outnumbered the guards, and were in some cases more lethal—in his group were two or three dinosaurs, an army unit of French military men, several other muscular slaves like Moses, and a few bronze statues.
The guards, apparently not considering the fact that the exhibits had feelings of their own and were mostly once real people, mercilessly shot their guns. At the first shot, the bronze statues stepped in front of the other troops, every once in a while gaining a dent or causing a bullet to ricochet. The small army of exhibits slowly marched forward, staying on the defensive: the statues remaining in the front, and the French soldiers shot through the spaces between them. Those of who could not attack long-range stayed in the back.
"Chaarge!" Napoleon shouted, pointing his sword in the direction of the enemy. The dinosaurs complied and ran around the shield of statues, charging at the guards. At the sight of them, the men panicked and retreated, some shouting into walkie-talkies.
When it was thought that the guards were gone, an even larger force of guards appeared through the only other open entrance, rendering Napoleon and his men surrounded, what with even more guards in the neighboring room. Some of the soldiers were shot down and panic rose, and both sides were now mixed in a large mob.
Moses, to Peter's surprise, undid the rope that bounded the boy. Maybe he wasn't as completely lifeless as Peter thought.
"Now's the best time to run, if ever. Quickly now," the man put his hand on the boy's shoulder and led him through the crowd. However, not long after this, in the middle of the crowd, a hand fiercely grabbed Moses by the shoulder and spun him around. A French soldier then proceeded to punch Moses in the face, causing him to land on the floor.
"Traitor!" he spat, with fire in his eyes. Moses tried to get back up, but was kicked in the stomach. The man then took Peter roughly by the upper arm and pulled him behind, marching away. Strangely, he was stopped. Moses grabbed the soldier by the ankle and pulled him down, making him fall on his face. The slave got up quickly and pulled Peter further into the crowd, away from the soldier.
Moses held his side, Peter noticed, where the soldier had previously kicked him. The boy had opened his mouth to thank him, but was distracted by the sudden appearance of a raged dinosaur. Blood spurted from one of its limbs; it seems it was shot there in a tender area. The beast roared in pain and flailed about, its tail whipping about, hitting both ally and enemy. The duo was surrounded on one side by clashing forces and on the other by a rapidly approaching, out-of-control dinosaur.
Peter felt Moses' grip tighten and saw the man's jaw stiffen. He himself became pale and he desperately searched the crowd for any possible way to get out. As he searched until his head spun, a hand grabbed his free hand and pulled him, which in turn pulled Moses behind him.
The soldier! Peter thought, panicked, as he was pulled into the mob, away from the dinosaur, jumping over injured and ducking beneath punches. He tried to pull away from the soldier's grasp, but to no avail. After about half a minute, they got out of the crowd, and Peter took what seemed like his first deep breath in hours. Peter tried to get the soldier off of him.
"Let me go," Peter said as he struggled. "Stop it!" To his surprise, the hand let go, and only until then did the boy look up at the soldier. Except it wasn't the soldier.
"Winona!" She smiled as Peter gasped in shock and happiness. Moses, who had been unable to keep his grip on the boy as they were dragged through the crowd, stumbled out of the mob. He noticed Winona and gave her a quick nod.
"I found my family," she ecstatically said. "They are located not too far from here. I will need your assistance, Peter. Possibly you as well, Moses." She turned and ran, the other two following behind.
Meanwhile, the fighting mob grew larger as each side called for more reinforcements. The trio tried to go around the fighting groups, but it was almost impossible with all the chaos. So instead, they charged straight through, each on their own. Peter was just about to reach the other side of the room as he was grabbed by the collar of his shirt. Why me? Seriously… he cried to himself in his mind, as he was stopped short. Winona and Moses were just ahead of him, but were too busy dodging the brawlers to pay him any mind.
Peter was spun around, and he faced a rather hefty security guard who looked him up and down.
"Hey, you're human!" the man exclaimed. "What're you doing here…You're just a kid! We're going to get you out of here, don't worry about a thing." He reached for his walkie-talkie, but Peter had already had enough of being captured by various parties by now. Peter punched the man square in the jaw, temporarily stunning the man. The boy's hand was unexpectedly in pain—it was the first time he'd punched a person—but his panic overcame that. He ran off and disappeared into the crowd before the guard could catch him again.
Sorry, sorry, sorry… The words echoed in Peter's mind as he ran through the crowd. I know you meant well, but I have bigger problems right now! Apologies began to echo in his mind again until he reached the other side of the room. There, Winona was waiting with Moses, looking at a keypad that apparently opened a large, important looking door.
The ever-so popular "Staff Only" sign was on the door, but no "Exit" sign was above it, Peter had bitterly noticed.
"I do not quite understand the 'machines' of your time. But my family is behind this door. You can open this?" Winona knocked on the steel door, the sound echoing in Peter's ears. He was about to reply, but a man knocked into his back, causing him to almost fall flat on his face. Peter turned around and was utterly shocked—the fighting crowd had nearly doubled in size from the last time he'd gotten a good look at it. Here and there, he could spot some of fighters of the neutral party. To the left, a large balloon animal stepped on anything that wasn't sharp enough to pop him, and the Thinker was doing anything but thinking; he was recklessly flipping the smaller humans and exhibits, and seemed to be having fun. To the right, Peter spotted a pride of lions ambushing an-already injured dinosaur.
Wait—what party do the lions belong to? They're not part of ours, he thought frantically in his mind. Still, no one in sight could possibly help him unlock this monstrosity of a door. If only he'd brought one of the Einsteins along with him!
"So- sorry… This kind of stuff is too complicated for me." Peter fixed his gaze on the ground. "If only—"
"Hey, Joe Brooks*!" Peter spun around at the familiar voice. It was exactly who'd he'd been wanting to see. "We've been looking for you everywhere, kid! Where'd you run off to?"
Al Capone toted his Tommy gun, walking calmly toward Peter with open arms. He walked up and put his hands on the boy's shoulders, smiling like crazy. It was unnerving to see Capone smile so happily, but still nice to see a familiar face.
"Oh, golly, kid. I thought you'd been iced or something. Good to know that's not it though," Capone managed to smile. He looked around, releasing Peter from his grip. "We got to get you out of here." Meanwhile, Winona and Moses looked at the man incredulously, their eyes fixed on him and his threatening looking gun. Winona took her eyes off of the man, then fixing her gaze upon Peter.
"Go." Her eyes were rather empty, and her tone of voice was quite cold. Peter was taken aback by a sudden feeling of guilt. Of course, Winona felt like she was being betrayed. He shook his head at her, smiling faintly, and then turning to Capone.
"I've got to help my friend, first. Her family's in there," Peter pointed at the steel door. Capone laughed lightly, and turned around, aiming his gun into the crowd.
"Tell everyone in there to back away from the door! Then get the hell away from here," Capone said. Surprised at Capone's confidence, Peter told the people behind the door to back away, and ran off to the side of the room with Moses and Winona.
Capone shot into the crowd, standing in front of the steel wall, creating a roaring sound from the T-rex. Why would he shoot at that…monster?!, Peter screamed in his head, mouth agape as it rammed its way through the mob, ready to headbutt Capone. When it was about ten yards from him, Capone turned and ran to the left, where the three waited for him. As Peter realized his plan, the T-rex turned sharply before hitting the door, chasing after the gangster. This wasn't part of the plan, was it?
"Ruuun!" Capone hollered as the dinosaur chased after them. The man grabbed Peter by the collar, Moses following closely behind. However, Winona stayed behind—the T-rex had swung its tail into the wall beside the door, creating a gaping hole leading into the closed off room. Peter looked back just in time to see Winona helping a younger boy out from the hole, followed by other members of her family.
Meanwhile, Peter, Capone, and Moses were being chased by a huge, prehistoric beast. This night just isn't going to end the way I want it, is it?
Sorry, it ended at an awkward/weird part. I was just sick of staring at the same old chapter, really. But I hope you like what's written so far. Feedback&Critique(even a simple "nice job/can't wait to see more" is enough to drive me to write more!) is much apprecated, thanks. Please look forward to the next chapter.
*Joe Brooks: student/well-dressed person