Chapter 21: Blood Father

"I knew I will need to tell you sooner or later..." He sighed again "You know... I had a wonderful start... Famous father, jealousy of many animals, wonderful childhood... To some point... When I was six years old, my mother died in a car accident... At this age I couldn't even understand that she's gone. I always thought that she was somewhere else. First day, my mother didn't come back I started looking all around the house. Next day dad told me everything and really made me aware that I wouldn't see her anymore. I couldn't gather myself for a month. My mum would make me feel secure. I felt safe in her presence. After her death, dad became more important to me than ever. The bond between us was getting stronger. He was a supportive and compassionate father. He would take me to every place I wanted to go. He was also the main factor that contributed to my career. At the very beginning, riding a bike was just a fun for me. When my mother passed away, I thought about giving it a try and considered becoming a pro. My dad meant everything for me. Yet, some day an unexpected incident occurred that changed my entire life forever" Now Alan pulled out some kind of necklet and started holding it in his closed paw.

Alan's POV:

I graduated from the local middle school along with Gazelle and Nick. My passion for Speedway was the strongest back in these days. I wanted to become as good as my dad. You can't even imagine how happy I was, when he told me that I'm going to Poland for his match with him. My dream was about to happen. Meeting all those great Speedway stars like Laguta, Lindbaeck, Lindgren or even Hancock. Little did I know the trip to Europe would end up such a tragedy. It was three weeks past the graduation when my dad booked the flight to Warsaw. When we arrived in the capital of Poland, It was still two days before the match. To make this trip exciting, my dad took me to one of the local malls. It was quite famous for its parts, accessories, etc. to bikes. This building was a popular place attended by many animals. Since I got into liking of riding as well, Dad promised he would buy me some stuff like a new helmet, silencer, goggles and things like that.

The day of Alan and his dad's trip to the shopping centre
14.07.2012
In the shopping centre

"Look dad! Laguta got exactly the same helmet! It's soooo cool!" I said, seeing the helmet pretty similar to the one the famous rider would wear "Can I have this one?" I said and grabbed his paw.

"Hey, what have I told you, Alan? I said - you need to have your own style"

"But dad!"

"No ifs or buts!"

"Why? This helmet is so cool, even you found it a great one!"

"Yes Alan, but..."

"You promised!"

"Okay, okay... We will buy it when we come back"

"Why not now?"

"Because I said later"

"But why?"

"Alan!"

"What? I don't understand why we can't buy it now"

"You are just like your mother... You always need it now because you want it. Alan, stop that! If you still act like that I will never be proud of you!"

Those words hurt me a lot... I always wanted my dad to be proud of me. Especially since my mother died... Well, we wanted to go further to look around the shops, but then we heard unsettling noise. We didn't know what it was. Suddenly, a crowd of animals started running for their lives. A moment later we realized what was happening. Someone was shooting. It was hard to tell if it was just one crazy psychopath or even more. No one would have probably bothered at the moment like that. The only thing the animals knew was that the civilians were dying over there.

"Alan! Here!" Dad grabbed me and carried to nearest shop as fast as he could. He hid himself and me behind some shelves in a bookstore. We were out of their sight. I said their, because now I saw that there was a group of armed guys. They followed the running crowd, gunning down the animals randomly.

"Dad? What the fuck is going on?"

"I don't know, but we will get out of here"

After a while when the shooting seized, my dad sticked out his neck to check out if the area was clear.

"Okay. The plan is simple. We are trying to move like ghosts to the exit and get the fuck outta here. C'mon Alan, but shhhh" I and father left the bookstore and tried to move to the exit unnoticed. I could see many dead bodies laying around the entire ground.

"What the fuck? I don't want to end like them" I said with a trembling voice, looking at the perished civilians.

"If we are lucky, we will get out of here in no time"

We started sneaking around this massacre area, trying not to expose too much. Hiding behind the pillars and in the shops, we were handling the situation to some moment.

"Shit! They are here as well" I said, seeing that there was the armed group of mammals looking around the exit. It seemed they wouldn't move an inch "Damn!"

"They have to be by each and every exit... Fuckers... They planned that well..."

"Of course we did, amigos! Grab them!" We heard the tall guy's voice with odd accent. Then we got cought by five armed and masked animals. After a while they hacked us. I thought it's over.

"What you gain by killing us?!" My dad asked, feeling we can't do anything.

"Oh, don't worry about it amigo! We will take carrrrre of you two. Just think this way. We will get as much money as we wish by taking so many hostages! We will live like kings!"

"But you killed a lot of animals already! You think the police will be that kind and nice for you, seeing those all dead bodies?"

"No, but we have you and another 400 hostages scattered around the entire centrum. They won't even know when we hide those all bandichos! And you think we would hide even more hostages? No. We just had no room planned for them all. They are just a useless piece of garbage. And if I don't need something, I usually kill it"

"This isn't right man! Think about those all guys you killed! Their families! Look even at my son!"

"The end justifies the means. And our end is getting rrrrich! Mark them" That moment, an animal with some kind of a marker started scrawling something on my father's neck. It was a number. I can remember it as if it happened yesterday. He was 114. Then, the guy came over me and did the same thing, but this time the number was different - 115. Or I should say 1-1-5, because they used single digits to call a marked animal "Take this smartmoutch bandicho 1-1-4 and his pretty little guy 1-1-5 to number 16. Make sure they are the only animals out there. Treat them as VIP hostages" Now he started laughing "We will realise those idiots last... or maybe not"

Willy-nilly, we had to go with those bad guys. They dragged us to the same shop we had hidden in. Our clothes got crimson spotted, because their paws were covered in blood. It was certain they were nowhere near to being innocent. The tall guy was right. We were the only animals in this shop right now. They put two bad guys on the guard so as not to let us leave. We found a pretty cozy corner to avert our eyes from what was happening outside the shop. We sat on the carpet in the corner to pulled ourselves together.

"I thought they would kill us..." I said after a longer while of silence and hugged my dad. I couldn't stop trembling. I completely understood what really happened. I realized how many mammals died. I realized how easy it was to lose one's life. All what mattered back then was the financial gain, no the lives of the deceased. I also knew that I could lose my dad. I couldn't imagine what I would do without him. I would have probably lost my mind. In his arms and behind his tail I felt how relief started growing up inside me. His gentle touch made me feel more secure and calmer "Dad, what we do now?"

"Now all we need to do is just waiting. Let's hope this will end happily for us. We had a great luck that we survived by now"

In one moment the trip of my biggest dream turned into a real nightmare. I couldn't do anything. I just felt helpless, thinking that we were trapped here with those all bodies outside the shop. Seeing those bodies made me think about their families. They won't see them again. They might feel the same way I did after my mom's death. I couldn't help but think about my mum. I just curled myself up and started sobbing out of my dad's sight.

The time was passing mercilessly. I had been fooling around the the shop for an hour or so, trying to kill it. Out of sheer boredom, I grabbed some magazines and started reading them. It was hard for me, as I was still jittery. Then second hour, third, fourth and it was almost midnight. We couldn't see that, but we knew that the building got surrounded by the cops, cameramen and journalists. My heart got warm and was full of hope. I knew there was civilization quite near and the animals that were eager to help us... Despite the fact I was angry for cops now...

"The cops are here" Dad interrupted the silence and again tried to cheer me up "We will get out of here"

"Dad, the cops can't do anything. They even have a trouble to stop the robber"

"Yes, but they are special forces, and..."

"And you mean they are still that useless?!" I shouted out "We wouldn't be here if they had balls"

"Shhhh..." Now he put his finger on my lips "Alan calm down... It won't give you anything" My dad said, being as cool as a cucumber. He understood that he had nothing and no matter what, he wouldn't do anything "You are so cute when you get angry... Just like mother. But you shouldn't be really mad. All we need is just waiting and everything will be fine"

"You promise?"

"I promise" He hugged and kissed me "Listen... I don't know what will happen before we get out of it... But always listen those armed guys. Now it's your turn. Promise?"

"I promise"

Well, obviously I wouldn't spend the entire time in his wrap, so after a great amount of time we started looking around the place. We wanted to find even more interesting magazines. They seemed to be the only way of enjoying time for us. We found some Speedway magazines, sports car magazines and another interesting thing - the cards. In spite of having an option to play with each other, we went for reading books. They were so gripping that we could forget about the bad situation we were in. I pretty enjoyed reading some articles about my dad, or even me.

After a long lecture I decided to fall asleep to make time fly faster. I prayed for the situation to be resolved in the near time. I didn't know how long I slept, but it definitely wasn't in my style to sleep that long.

Day 2 of the nightmare
In the bookstore

Well, I may have slept for a long time and had a decent rest, but given the horrible circumstances, I was in low spirits. Horrible. The dirty and worn clothes I spent the night in could remind me of what had happened. The nearest fashion shop was too far away to think about getting some new ones. I was cursed with that blood painted shirt. Looking at the the blood of innocent animals made me deeply upset. I wasn't sure what happened to them, but I'd prefer they were gunned down rather than killed with sharp objects. My dad was still sleeping next to me, and I had no heart to interrupt his sleep. Even if it was a nightmare. Obviously I didn't eat or drink from a moment this nightmare started. A glass of water and even just some bread was my biggest dream. Then, an unexpected thing happened - the dream came true. Maybe in way that I would prefere to evade, but still.

About 10 minutes later, when I snapped out of all confusions, one of the armored guys approached me. He was wearing the same mask like those other fuckers.

"1-1-5?" He asked, when he saw me laying on the floor with my dad still sleeping next to me.

"Y-y-yes..." I replied in fear of getting shot. I knew he came for me.

"You lucky little wolf. Boss wants to see you. Come with me"

"But my dad..."

"Don't worry about him. He will be safe here just like this night"

I knew I should have listened to the guy. We were safe that moment, even though he was carrying the gun. Maybe the guy didn't seem to be this sort of an animal, but remembering dad's word I followed him without asking more questions. I felt really insecure following him. Walking past those all dead animals, seeing real terrorists guarding each entrance and scared to death hostages squeezed tightly was horrifying. Every shop could contain dozens of animals. I saw that me and dad got really lucky, that we were alone in the bookstore. Following this guy was like a harrowing. I lost hope for anything good to happen. I realized how well prepared they were. It felt like being in a well secured penitentiary centre. Having so many animals under control, it was necessary to carry deadly weapons. They knew that we are priceless for special forces outside. After a short period of time, I entered the security room situated near the very centre of bloodshed. It looked like they prepared some kind of a safe house here. They had an access to all cameras around the building and controlled every route. The room looked like a lodge with much space to be used. There were only two animals - the guy with an odd accent from yesterday and another- a really short one.

"Ahhh, my favorite bandicho! So you are this young 115?" The tall guy said, when he recognised my face "The world is so small, isn't it? Now feel like our business guest, and let us take care of you. How about a proper meal for you? Fin, take care of him, we are leaving. The time you need is up to you" He said it to the little guy and left the two of us alone. I didn't know what he meant with this time he needed. I got scared. At least I didn't know him and his intentions. I was alone with the little guy now.

"Hey boy..." He said and came closer to me, but I started moving backward trying to avoid him "Hey, don't be afraid of me... I won't hurt you" In spite of holding a gun, he didn't look intimidating "You see, I might be the half size of those fellows, but I like looking into someone's eyes when I talk to someone. Can you do me a favour and sit here? I won't hurt you, I just want you to have a better contact with me"

Being unsure about that, I kneeled slowly, watching his every move carefuly. Seeing that he could be a really good guy, I sat on the floor.

"Here you are" Now he handed me a tin of soup. It had to be from the mall we were in "I bet you are hungry"

Being slow and suspicious again, I collected this tin from him and started looking at it. It was already opened.

"But my dad..."

"Don't worry. He will get some tins for himself as well..."

"What about other animals?"

"You know kid, sometimes you can't be kind or that generous to everyone..."

"This isn't right..."

"I know, but I can't do anything about it. C'mon, eat. It's for you"

Feeling sorry for other hostages, who had to withstand the horrible conditions, I started having the soup slowly. Maybe it wasn't a master chef dish, but my hunger and the overriding feeling that I might not have had such a good chance to eat for the next few days, made this soup taste pretty great. The fact the soup was cold was probably the greatest drawback in such a dire situation.

"That's it blud, drink it up..." He said, seeing that I started drinking it up "What's your name?" I stopped eating the soup for a moment, and after a while of being quiet, decided to answer him "Nicolas... or Alan... Everyone calls me one of those two names..."

"Ahhh... Nicolas or Alan, right? Both of them are beautiful" Now he sat next to me "I heard you want to be a speedway rider..." I didn't know how he found this out, but I decided to just continue my... breakfast... or dinner "Dangerous sport... You need to have balls to corner over 80 miles per hour on a bike without breaking. Aren't you scared of it? Scared that you could crash badly?" I only shook my head to contradict "Well... It's up to you... Maybe you would become like your dad" When he said that sentence, I finished having the food. I put away the tin I emptied a moment ago and felt how he grabbed my arms and pulled me towards him. I didn't expect that and just fell over him, but I tried to get away from him.

"Shhhh..." He tried to calm me down, seeing that I want to get out of him "I won't hurt you..." He said again and pulled my head to his chest and started stroking me. I didn't really know what to do now. Despite the fact I was scared, I decided to let him do his thing "That's right kid... I know you don't want to be here. Just like I do... it will end soon, I promise" I heard some kind of fear and tension in his voice. He seemed as if he had wished to be somewhere else. Just like me "I had a friend..." He started, still stroking me "He had big dreams... He wanted to be like Ronaldo or Messi. He had a great character to follow their footsteps. He trained football everyday, trying to find his own style. And... he found it. He gained recognition of trainers and fans. I could see how much he loved doing that. It made him happy. Whenever he played it, he tried to share his passion for football with others. Even as a great teenager, he acted like a pup when it comes to all. But one day, something happened. His dad died in a plane crash. He worked as a pilot. The day his father died, he was coming back home after a practice match. When he entered the bathroom, the body of her mother was hanging on a thick string motionless. It seemed like she couldn't deal with the death of husband and committed suicide. The boy plunged into a bottomless pit of despair and misery. A month later, they found him hanging in the same bathroom his mother died. What a shame... such a kid with great potential got wasted. Trust me kid... You shouldn't act in the future like him. Regardless of what might happen, you need to keep the composure and do what you love. No matter how hard it can be to fulfill the dreams, you can never go back on your words. You have only one life, so don't let it get ruined by you or others"

"I can't understand one thing... Why you brought me here?"

"You know kid... I was really moved seeing you and your father in this situation..."

"Really moved, huh? That's why you killed so many animals?"

"I didn't even shot once..."

"So... Why you here?"

"It's so complicated... I can't do anything about it. You won't even understand... but it doesn't matter now... I just brought you here because the boss knows that you are the most valuable hostage right now with your dad. He wanted me to take care of you..." Now he pulled out an old MP3 player and started unrolling cans plugged to it "Here" Now he started inserting them in my ears "Just relax..."

Well, it was a strange thing... I was expecting some kind of music, or something like that, but instead of it I heard... a sound of the sea. I really didn't know what was going on. Now the strokes became more intense. I felt so right hearing this pure noise of hitting waves on the beach. In spite of no knowing this guy, and probably didn't want to, he seemed pretty friendly to me. I forgot about this madness that happened here, I started enjoying myself.

I don't know how, but I just fell asleep. I guess all those things made me feel too relaxed and I just dropped away. One may think it didn't make any sense. Why the hell he would try to relax me? And why he executed it pretty well. Well... I don't know. I would have believed in his words about me being the most valuable hostage five years ago, but now it seemes rather fishy for me. I felt like he wanted to take care of me. It seemed like the guys wanted to experience a bit of fatherhood. Well, most of terrorists are fucked up, and I think it's not that very important for me. I stopped worrying about it the moment I left that guard room later. I didn't know how long it had been since I left the bookstore. When I woke up, he brought me back to the place I spent the last night with my dad. It was hard to tell what kind of game the terrorists were playing. The only thing that was certain was that all hostages were in deep shit. It was the worst nightmare that happened to me.

"Alan!" Dad shouted, seeing that I came back. He jumped over to me and hugged me so tightly. I felt a great relief and comfort as he was hugging me. Now I understood how important and who really he was for me. He was the only thing that was positive in this clutches of nightmare "I thought I wouldn't see you again! You okay?"

"Yes..."

"What they did to you?"

"Nothing really... Even I don't know how to call it"

"But you are right, thank goodness. I don't know what I could do without you..."

"Yeah dad... me too"

I spent the rest day hugging to the sole parent I had. I felt so right being that close to him again. To be honest, I would stay hugging to him until this horror has ended.

"I'm here Alan... I won't let you get hurt... I'm here..." Now he started stroking me "I'm here..."

Feeling so right in his wraps and knowing the situation we were together, I started crying in his chest quietly "Hey, don't cry baby..." He said and hugged me even more tightly "Alan stop it. If you won't stop, I will start crying too..." He said, seeing that I was sobbing. After a while he started crying as well. It was too much for his heart to bear "You know... Maybe sometimes I say those things... but it's only because I want you to be as perfect as your mum was... I yell at you not because I want to hurt you... I just want you to be a perfect animal. To be honest, you are already nearly perfect... I love you"

"I love you too..."

It seemed that I spent great amount of time with short guy. We felt it's evening already now. Maybe I slept that long last night, or this guy really held me down. Or all these things combained. Some time later, when the crying stopped and it was completely quiet here, dad started stroking me again.

"Alan... I don't know how it will end... but I want you to know, that I love you over my life..." He said and kissed my cheek.

"I love you too dad..."

Maybe it's odd that the son would act with his father like that, but the situation was too overwhelming to squeeze tears. Being still close to each other, we were reading magazines and then had 2 tins of soup they brought us here. Right before going to sleep I prayed for the better tomorrow. I hoped we would be safe and sound soon. However, the next day was a harbinger of even worse things to happen.

Day 3 of the nightmare
Again in bookstore

I woke up due to a really loud noise. The surroundings started shaking uncontrollably. Something was going on. I was really confused, because I just woke up, and was unable to pinpoint the source of tremor. Then I saw my dad running into the shop.

"Dad?" I looked at him, having the worst feeling possible. He was scared and really energetic at the same time "What's going on?" I asked in fear of hearing the most horrific scenario.

"They are trying to kill us! They mined the entire place to have a plan B. It turns out most of them exploded. It's worth giving a shot and run for our lives. We might not have a better chance! We can get out of here! There are no guys around!" Now he grabbed my hand and pulled me to him "Let's get the fuck outta here!"

We ran outside the shop. Like he said, the entire centre looked like there was no soul alive. The building was in a horrible state. I wondered what happened to make the terrorists go to such great lengths. The police might have done something that forced them to detonate these? I didn't know. It wasn't really important how it happened. We had to get out of here. We started running towards the nearest exit, but it was completely flooded with debris.

"Shit!" I screamed, seeing that the way out is blocked "What now dad?"

"We need to find another exit. We have no time!" Now he grabbed my hand again "This way!" And he was right. We had no time because the building was about to collapse any minute... Dad knew where we needed to go. He dragged me to the stairs. To leave we needed to access the first floor. We managed to run the whole length of the mall. We went back to the ground floor, but this time we were so close to the exit, but... It seemed like there were still some bombs left...

"There! That's the way!" Dad said seeing exit "C'mon Alan!"

It was a really big bad luck, because some bombs were placed in vicinity of the exit, out of sight. When we got near our gate of salvation, one of the bombs went off. I was lucky enough to survive the blast. Despite the fact I got flinched and felt dizzy, I gathered myself and was fair to middling... But my dad wasn't...

"Dad!" I shouted out in fear, seeing that it ended much worse for him "DAD!" I kneeled next to him. He had a lot of blood in his muzzle, and reacted slowly to every stimuli. Some debris and shrapnels that were thrown up in the air at high speed wounded my dad seriously. He got a rod pierced through his chest... "Dad! Look at me! NOW!"

He slowly turned his sight to me. Seeing that I'm here, he grabbed fur on my chest.

"Alan..." He said with delirious voice... Now I looked at the exit we wanted to leave by. It got collapsed and there was no way of getting through it anymore.

"Fuck, Dad! We will find another way out" Now I put his arm behind my neck, pulled him up and started carrying him. Since I wasn't stocky and muscular, his body weighed was to much for me to handle it. My body got also feeble due to unfavourable conditions we had to endure. I proceeded really slow with my barely alive dad on me. I was passing all dead bodies lying in the building that could collapse any time soon. You can't imagine how fast my heart was pounding. I really wanted to get out from here as fast as possible. I could feel freedom was somewhere on the way and it was all about stretching the hand to seize it. Walking along those halls I felt how I'm running out of my strength. Passing every meter was getting harder and harder. My dad got much worse in a matter of a few minutes. I could see how much blood he lost by seeing the trail of it he left behind. All what mattered was to seek medical help. The blood wasn't his only problem. He was severely bruised and some of his bones could have been fractured.

"Alan..." He started, when I crouched for a moment to get a breath. He saw how hard it was for me to carry him "Leave me... I will bleed out anyway..."

"Leave you? Oh no, you fucking don't say it" Now I stood up with him "We will do this together"

After a short while, when I reached the last exit I got really angry. Unfortunately, the last ray of hope seemed to be fading away as I found out the last passage was blocked too. Everything inside me cracked... I collapsed on the ground with my father, next to a dead terrorist's body.

"Shit! Is this a fucking sick joke! Every exit has to be fucking stuck?!" Now the tears started coming down my cheeks.

"Alan..." Now my father started coughing with blood "Look at me son... I won't get out of this..."

"Don't even say it!" I said that with a really big grief in my voice. I stood up and looked at the exit "I will fucking make our way out" I said and started trying to get through this mess, throwing away smaller parts of debris. Then I realized I can't do anything... There were some big parts of the wall and roof that I couldn't move an inch "DAMN IT!" I screamed, trying to move away those pieces of the building. Feeling so helpless, I moved back, took a momentum and tried to break through it. It only ended with pain in my shoulder. But I still tried. I took the second attempt, took momentum again and banged against the wall of debris. The effort proved to be fruitless too. After that attempt, my shoulder was badly hurt. I groaned and dropped on my knees due to excruciating pain. But I wasn't done here, moved back again and bashed it the third time. And it didn't work... Moreover, I didn't feel my right arm now. I fell down next to my father, right in a puddle of his blood.

"Alan..." On hearing that he wanted something from me, I didn't think twice to look into his eyes.

"Dad...?" I saw how he was suffering and how painful for him it must have been to say something. He was about to burst into tears due to extensive wounds.

"Everything hurt me... Nghhh... I don't know if I want to continue this..."

"Dad?"

"Alan... end my misery..." Now he started looking at the body next to us. I didn't know what he meant, but then I realized... He was looking at the pistol that was laying next to him "Short my pain..." He said again. Now I completely broke up inside and turned on the waterworks.

"Dad? DAD! NO! I WILL NOT KILL YOU!" I grabbed him and pulled to me by his shirt. From this moment everything I said was interlaced with my weeps and sobs.

"Please..." I saw the pain in his eyes. Something forced me to grab that pistol. I slowly put my hand on it, then grabbed it and started holding it. I started looking at the gun. Seeing that I have problems, and my face covered in the tears, dad grabbed my second paw "You already made me proud of you... I love you Alan..."

"I love you too..." I said shakily with fear and sorrow in my voice "I'm sorry..." Now I turned around my head, closed the eyes, put the gun to his head and I... And I... I pulled the trigger... I... I'm sorry...

Back to normal POV:

"I'm sorry..." Alan said, feeling he can't stand it any more. He started crying quietly, stood up from the couch and ran away from the living room. Runing away wolf left something behind. It was a necklet he pulled out earlier. It was his dad's dog tag.

"Alan, wait!" Gazelle shouted out and run after him.