CHAPTER 9. TO BE DEAD.
The traffic rush raged on for a few more minutes until the final few cars started to leave. Simba raced down the stairs and onto the road, "Dad?" he called out to no response. He eventually came across his father who lying on the floor with the broken ladder next to him. His eyes were closed and face and shirt were covered with blood. "Dad?" he said again, to no avail. Simba began to fear the worst, "C'mon Dad it's time to go home." Maybe he's just unconscious, he has to be. Simba thought, he knelt down and shook him. "Come on you have to get up," Simba said as he checked his neck for a pulse; of which there was none. Simba felt tears starting to burn his eyes. "HELP!" he yelled out, the cry just echoed. "Somebody! Anybody...help..." Simba felt the tears stream down his face, he collapsed next to his dead father and cried. He then lay down next to him put Mufasa's arm around him, like he would have done when he was young and sad. He cuddled up to his dead father and sobbed for several minutes. His father had given his life to save him.
He lay there crying until a hand touched his shoulder: that hand belonged to Scar. "Simba, what have you done?" he asked solemnly. "What...nothing...he tried to save me...it was an accident." Simba said through sobs. "If it weren't for you he would still be alive." Simba shook his head in disbelief. "No, I didn't mean to...I couldn't have." Scar hugged Simba and let him cry on his shoulder. "Of course you didn't, no one ever means for these things to happen, but the king is dead." Scar reassured him. Simba looked up at him with wide-open, watery eyes. "What would your mother think? Not to mention the rest of the country." Simba backed away from him. "Run Simba, run away and never come back." Simba didn't need to be told twice. He turned his back on Scar and ran away from the road. Once he was up the stairs and away from Scar, Shenzi, Banzai and Ed appeared from behind Scar and walked up on either side of him. "Kill him." Scar ordered.
Simba ran through the train station parking lot, crying as he ran, he never turned to look back, until he started to hear footsteps behind him. He turned around to see the three mobsters closing in on him, knives bared. Oh no, not them again. Simba thought as his jog turned into a sprint. He ran across the road, and his three attackers tried to follow but were stopped by cars, that gave Simba a small advantage. He needed to find a place where they couldn't follow him, it started to rain heavily and that factor wasn't helping Simba in the least. He brushed his wet hair out of his face and continued to run down the street, the hissing of water rushing down the roadside lead him to a drain, which all the water was pouring into. That's it; they can't follow me down there. Simba used all his strength to lift the grate off of the drain; he jumped down into the dirty sewer and tried to pull the grate over the hole but was stopped by Banzai. "Yeah don't think about hiding down there." he sneered as he lifted the grate off and prepared to jump down himself. As it turned out Simba was wrong about presuming that they couldn't fit down there and Banzai was about to join him down there and kill him. Then Simba remembered. Uncle Scar gave me that gun. He reached into his back pocket and drew it. Please work this time, Dad can't save me now. Simba aimed and fired. The bullet hit the metal outlining of the drain and ricocheted away with a loud TWANG! "Holy shit he has a gun!" Banzai cried. He tried to lift himself out of the drain but it was too late, Simba aimed at his chest and fired again. The recoil lifted the shot up and the bullet hit him in the arm. Banzai flew back onto the road, his right arm severely wounded. "AW CHRIST!" Banzai screamed in agony. Shenzi picked up the grate and put it back on top of the drain. "What're you doing?" Banzai asked through clenched teeth. "Well there ain't no way any of us are going down there, so we'll drown him. Once that drain fills up, he's as good as dead." Shenzi said before picking up two stones and placing them on either side of the Grate to weigh it down so there would be no chance Simba could get out. Shenzi gestured for them to leave. "And if he comes back to the palace, we'll kill him." Shenzi said as she started to walk away. "Yeah, if you ever come back, we'll kill ya!" Banzai shouted down the drain.
Simba stood there in the confined area for a few minutes until he was certain the thugs had left. He tried to push the grate off but it wouldn't budge. The water was already up to his waist, and he needed to find a way out if he was to live. He tried again and again but to no avail and the water level rose higher and higher. The water was up to his neck when he decided the only thing he could do was call out for help. "HELP!" he yelled out several times before the water level rose above his mouth. Simba took a huge gulp of air as the water level started to rise above his head, he pounded on the grate with his fist hoping someone would hear. He held his breath and pounded on the grate, he could start to feel life slipping away from him, he felt light headed and his knocks on the grate became weaker and weaker. Can't give up! He gave the grate one final hit before everything went black, he could start to feel himself floating away, as if his soul were floating all the way to heaven.
At Nala's house. 3 hours later.
Sarafina turned the television on, she had heard about the bomb in the city from her friends at work, and wanted to see the news report. "Two massive Headlines tonight, firstly the Prideland City Center was subject to a suspected terrorist attack today, with over 30 dead and almost twice as many wounded, this is rumored to be the worst attack on the country in it's history. Our second headline tonight, one that's rocking the internet world; our beloved King Mufasa and his son Prince Simba have been confirmed dead today by authorities..." Nala rushed into the room. "Mom turn that up! they said something about Simba." She sat down on the couch next to her mother. Scar appeared on television, speaking at a press conference. "The loss of my brother the king was a terrible tragedy, but to lose Simba, who had hardly become to live..." Nala's jaw dropped. "There you have it Ladies and Gentlemen, Our king and prince are confirmed dead." The reporter finished. "No it can't be..." Nala said stunned. She sniffled and started to cry, her mother hugged her and whispered: "He was a good kid, I'll miss him too, everything's going to be okay," She cradled her sad daughter on her lap. "It'll be all right," she whispered to her over and over.
At the Palace. 6 hours after Mufasa's Assassination
Scar lead his new army of thugs up the palace stairs, two security guards then halted him. "Sir we need ID." Scar showed him his Royal ID card then gestured for two of his men to go 'sort out' the security guards. They grabbed the guards' weapons and lined them up against a wall, the two soldiers looked back at Scar, waiting for his approval; Scar nodded. They shot the guards against the wall. Scar continued to march up into the Palace. Eventually he reached the famed 38th floor, he walked over to the balcony and pulled down the current blue, green and white National Flag. He replaced it with his new flag: A red communist star on a black background. A new era, he thought.
In the coming weeks, Scar abolished the House of Representatives and the Senate; he also had a large amount of its members killed on his orders. He spent a massive amount of his budget on making a more modern and advanced military. He had successfully set up a Totalitarian government, like he had always planned.
