The Orphans' Hero and His Redemption
Chapter Twelve
Once Murdock had left the mine, Face turned to the rest of the children inside the cell and told them that they needed to go throughout the mine and begin working so that they would be able to blend in with the rest of the children who were already working. Face overheard the guards yelling about an escape and he worried about Rick's reaction to the news. He didn't want any of the kids to get hurt just because they were in the way.
Then, he walked over to Cadao, who stood and was about to go out with the rest of the children, and said, "You're still not in any condition to work again. I don't want to risk the wound on your hand opening up again. I won't know what to do if it does. Murdock will be back with our friends any time now. Until then, just make it look like you're doing something in case one of the guards comes nearby."
Cadao nodded and asked, "But what about you?"
"I'll be fine," Face answered. "I'm going to keep my eye on things to make sure that the rest of you stay safe. Don't worry, just go and be careful."
"You be careful too," Cadao replied as he reached up and put his arms around Face's neck in a hug.
Face smiled as he watched Cadao run off with the other children. Then, he quickly became somber and headed off to try to learn of Rick's whereabouts. However, he didn't have far to go as he saw the man and two of his men walking fast and angrily toward the cell that they were all once inside of. Face hid around the corner from the cell and tried to listen to their conversation as Rick began to yell at his men when he found the cell to be empty.
Rick shouted, "Where is everyone? How did they all manage to escape? This is impossible!"
One of his men responded, "Sir, they couldn't have all escaped. Only the crazy guy did. We would have known it if a bunch of the kids ran out of the mine. They must be working with the other children who were already. We could do…"
"I want you to spread out and find me the crazy man's friend," Rick interrupted. "Find the man and bring him to me. Then, I want you and the rest of the men to gather up the gold and money we have gathered and load it up into the truck outside. We are finished here in this crummy town."
"What about the children?" another one of the men asked. "What would you like us to do with them?"
"I don't care about these brats any longer," Rick answered. "By tonight, they will no longer be my concern and neither will this mine. We are going to blow them both up once we are a safe distance and then leave once and for all."
Suddenly Sam walked over to them angrily after coming in from outside to overhear their conversation and shouted, "You can't do that to all of these innocent kids!"
Rick turned toward him and responded, "I can do whatever I want. No one cares about you and I will not have any of you escape, so that you can find someone who will try to stop me."
Sam smiled and replied, "You're too late. Someone already has escaped and is on his way to find his friends. They will stop you!"
"Kill him," Rick said to one of his men as he began to walk off. "And find me the hero, now!"
One of Rick's men grabbed a hold of Sam as he tried to run away from them, as the other thug aimed his gun and was about to shoot the young man, when all of a sudden Face came from out behind the wall he was hiding around and knocked the gun from the thug's hand. He elbowed the same man hard in the stomach and kicked the other guy in the head to get them to attack him and leave Sam alone.
"Run and hide, now!" Face shouted to Sam who quickly did as he was told.
Face managed to knock one of his attackers' unconscious, but he was having a hard time fighting off both Rick and the other thug. Two of the guards saw the fight between the stranger and their boss and ran over to join them against Face.
After a few minutes, they had finally overpowered Face and the two guards pushed him down onto his knees while Rick wiped off the blood that was now coming from his mouth. Face got in a few good shots, one that was hard enough to knock out two of his teeth. Face struggled to get his breath back.
Rick glared at the man kneeling on the ground in front of him and before saying anything, he swung his arm and backhanded Face hard across the Face. His whole body hurt worse than ever, but Face refused to show the pain he was in. He knew that he never should have tried to attack Rick and the others because of how sick and hurt he already was, but they would have killed Sam if he hadn't have stepped in.
Rick spoke up first as he asked, "You think you are pretty brave, don't you?"
Face looked up at him with a grin and answered, "I certainly like to think so. I usually like to talk to people in hopes of avoiding a fight, but as you can imagine, that doesn't happen very often. Besides, men who force children, who have no one to look after them, to work as slaves are usually pretty unreasonable because they are the foulest kinds of people on the Earth. I've dealt with a lot of dirtbags like you and believe me when I say that you are one of the worst I have ever come across."
"How did your friend manage to escape?" Rick asked. "He will not live long enough to find someone to help you or these children. My men will find him and kill him. Then, by tonight you will all be dead."
"You underestimate my friends, Rick," Face replied. "People always do and we always win the big fight."
"Not this time," Rick responded and then turned to his men. "Take this hero to one of the rooms in the back of this mine and chain him up. We're going to make him pay for his insolence and I will enjoy doing so. Inform me the moment my men get back from killing his crazy friend and bring me his body. I want to see it for myself so that I know no mistakes have been made. Go!"
Two of the men dragged Face off while Rick walked away to go oversee his men's progress of gathering up his riches. As he did so, he failed to see both Sam and Cadao, who was struggling in Sam's arms, hiding behind a wall as they watched the find and conversation between Face, the murderer, and his men.
As they watched, Cadao tried to run to help Face, but Sam held him tight so that he wouldn't get himself hurt or killed. After they watched Face get dragged away, Cadao quit struggling and began to shout at Sam.
He cried, "You just stood there and watched as they hurt him! We should have helped him. He saved you! Why didn't you help him?"
Sam looked down at the boy and sadly answered, "Because he told me to run. He sacrificed himself to protect me and if you and I tried to help him, we both would have been killed. I'm sorry, Cadao. I know how much he means to you. I finally see what I refused to see in him before. Let's hope that his friends get here in time to save him and the rest of us. I am sure that they will."
"They'll be here!" Cadao replied firmly. "I know they will! They're the A-Team!"
