'This is stupid!' Amber growled. 'We're not going to find anything.' She rounded on Alex, still patiently feeling along the wall. 'Alex? Are you listening?'
'Huh?' Alex blinked and turned around to face his friend. 'What did you say?'
Amber sighed and flopped down on the concrete floor. 'Doesn't matter.' She watched Alex continue to look for loose bricks for a few more minutes before getting up and walking over to him.
'What?' Alex spoke without looking at Amber.
'Stop. There's no point.' Amber gently took hold of Alex's arm and pulled him back from the wall. 'Conserve your energy in case we get an opportunity to break free.'
For a moment Alex looked as though he was going to protest, but he say the truth of Amber's words and stopped looking for a way out. 'You're right.'
The two of them sat in the back corner of the cell in silence, both lost in their thoughts.
'What are they going to do with us?' Alex asked, his voice sounding loud after the long silence.
'I don't know.' Amber shrugged, her voice quavering slightly. 'I guess-' She fell quiet abruptly as five people entered the room. Four looked like body guards, Kevlar enforced jackets making their walk appear a bit stiff. They all seemed identical until you looked again, then you noticed one had a slight scar on his cheek, another had a squinted eye, the third had oriental features and the last man's nose had been broken and healed incorrectly. The fifth man, although he walked calmly enough and had a smirk on his face, looked nervous. His emerald green eyes flickered from side to side and he chewed his bottom lip every now and then. He was tall and skinny, with dark curly hair. Dressed in a tailored suit and loafers, he looked rich and businesslike. Alex looked sideways at Amber. Could this be Dominic Chance, the man that Hex had told them about?
'Ah... Hello.' The man stopped a metre from their cell, flanked by his guards. He had a clipped British accent that sounded out of place in the dungeons. 'I'm Dominic Chance.' He frowned as though wondering whether telling them his name was such a good idea, but a moment later the slightly self-conscious smile returned. 'Who are you?'
Amber and Alex remained silent.
'Alright then. You may remain anonymous, however I do need to ask you a few questions.' Chance was definitely a business man, remaining diplomatic even when his prisoners were being uncooperative. 'What brings you to my humble abode?'
Amber and Alex had decided just after they were captured that remaining silent would most likely get them into even more trouble. They'd agreed on a cover story and Amber put it into use.
'We were driving around, seeing the sites and our car broke down. Smoke pouring out of the bonnet... Freaked us out. We ain't that handy with an engine so decided to phone for help but whadda you know. No reception. When we saw the house it was an utter relief, but there didn't appear to be anyone here so we let ourselves in and went looking. Your goons started chasing us and of course we ran; wouldn't you if some giant is coming after you with a blinking gun?' She blinked at Chance. 'And here we all are.'
Chance smiled and shook his head. 'Nice try, sweetie, but you don't fool me. Who sent you and why?'
Still deciding to play innocent, Amber widened her eyes and looked hurt. 'What makes you think that?'
'You two don't look much older than 16. I doubt that you would be able to drive properly and even if you could, a tour group or resort isn't going to let you go out for a jaunt around the bush, unguided.' Chance raised his eyebrows and crossed his arms. 'So are you going to start telling me the truth or what?'
Amber and Alex remained silent, staring impassively at Chance and his thugs.
Chance shook his head and started to walk off, calling over his shoulder as he did, 'Rot in here then. See if I care.'
'Window's over there, about 10 metres on your left.' Paulo ducked his head back down and looked at Li and Hex. 'We're going in now?'
'Yep,' Hex replied firmly before leaving their relatively sheltered vantage point and hurrying to the side of the manor.
'What's on the other side?' Li asked, her voice barely a whisper.
'Storeroom,' Paulo breathed. 'Careful.' He helped Li through before joining her and Hex in the manor.
'Where would they be?' Hex wondered aloud.
'Some place out of the way.' Walking cautiously to the door, Li frowned and paused midstep. 'Someone's coming,' she hissed urgently.
It was too late to try and find a hiding spot. The door was flung open and two figures stumbled into the storeroom.
'Now!' Li launched herself at one of the people while Hex tackled the second.
'Li! Get off me. We have to go now!' Amber's voice squeaked out from under Li.
'Amber?' She rolled off her friend and hauled her to her feet. 'We were coming in to rescue you guys.'
'Well there's no need now. You won't believe it but some utter twit didn't even lock our cell door. I mean come on. If you're going to hold some one captive, at leats do it right!'
'You ok, Alex?' Hex asked with concern. He had helped his friend to his feet but the Northumbrian boy seemed unsteady. His face was pale and he was breathing funny.
'Huh? Yeah, I'm fine.' Alex walked to the window, feeling anything but fine. He had no idea why he felt so light headed; his side hurt dreadfully as well, but he put that down to his collision with a guard when he and Amber had escaped from the cell. Surely that wouldn't make his side hurt this much, though?
'We better move it,' Paulo said, already half out of the window. 'They sound mad.' Crashes echoed along the corridor, matched in volume by loud curses.
'Right behind you,' Amber replied, standing back to wait for Li to jump through. Alex went to pull himself up onto the ledge and almost ended up on the floor. He gasped and staggered.
'Alex!' Hex gasped, darting forward to grab his friend. 'What's wrong, mate?'
'Nothing. Really, I'm ok. Just a twinge, that's all.' Alex gritted his teeth and pulled himself through the window.
'You go next, Amber.' He waited for the American girl to hop out the window before following, casting one last look back into the storeroom. He couldn't believe that had been so easy. Too easy, his mind screamed. Something has to go wrong. Hex pushed the little voice to the back of his mind and darted after his friends, back into the safety of the bush.
'Everyone's ok?' Li asked, concern etched into her Anglo-Chinese features.
'Yep.' Paulo and Hex nodded.
'Okey dokey,' Amber added.
Alex didn't answer. He had sat down about eight metres from his friends, head in his hands.
'Alex? What's wrong?' Amber stood up and walked across to Alex.
'I- I don't know.' Alex's face was confused, his voice uncertain. 'My side really hurts, but I don't know why.' Amber looked down at Alex's right side and saw his hand clamped to his t-shirt.
'Let me look.' She turned her head slightly and called over her shoulder, 'Hex? Can you bring a torch over?'
'Sure.' Hex got up and hunted around him for a torch. 'Um...'
'Here.' Li's hand hit the torch and she tossed it to Hex.
'Thanks,' answered Hex as he made his way across to Amber and Alex.
'Shine it here.' As the beam of light lit up Alex's side, Amber pulled her friend's hand away. She studied the t-shirt. 'I don't think I can-'
'Crap!' Hex's gasp made Amber swivel her head.
'What- Oh my God!' Amber stared in horror at Alex's hand; it was covered in red.
'What's happened?' Li and Paulo cried as they scurried across to their three friends.
'Alex? What happened?' Amber had pulled a bandage out of the first aid kit and was trying to stem the blood flow seeping out of Alex's side.
Alex shook his head and sagged. 'I don't know,' he said slowly. 'Maybe it was when I ran into the guard.'
Paulo had taken over form Amber, but the makeshift pad was already soaked with Alex's blood. Alex gasped and closed his eyes, face taunt and pale.
'Don't,' he croaked.
'Alex, I'm sorry but I have to do this.' Paulo pressed harder, making Alex cry out. The blood just wouldn't stop. Li sat next to Alex and helped him lie down with his head on her lap.
'You'll be fine,' Li soothed, squeezing his hand.
Alex gave a humourless laugh. 'Sure thing. Whatever you say.' His breath rasped in his throat and he groaned. 'Thanks for everything guys. You don't know-' Li stopped Alex's words by clamping a hand over his mouth.
'Don't,' she hissed. 'Don't you even dare.'
Alex weakly pulled Li's hand away and shook his head. 'Please, Li. I need to say something.' He took a wheezing breath before continuing. 'You guys are the best friends I've ever had. Thanks so much for everything. I know we've been in some rough situations but we worked together and got out of them.' Alex coughed and Li's eyes widened as she caught sight of flecks of blood on Alex's lips. 'I love you guys so much.' His voice was barely a whisper. Alex smiled, took a shuddering breath and lay still.
Li sat in a stunned silence, her hand resting on Alex's blonde head. She barely noticed the tears start rolling down her cheeks. She felt Paulo take hold of her hand, but it barely registered. Suddenly she gave sob as the full situation hit her. Alex was dead. She folded forwards, cradling Alex's head and cried for the friend she had lost. Paulo put his arms around her, his tears making her back damp.
As Alex had taken his last breath, Amber had collapsed in a flood of tears. She sat, hunched over, until strong arms lifted her slightly. Hex pulled her towards him and she huddled close to him, gripping his t-shirt tightly, burying her head in his shoulder. Hex rested his head on Amber's, his eyes betraying all the horror and sadness he was feeling. Tears started to fall from his eyes, dripping soundlessly onto Amber's brown hair. He hugged her tighter, wondering if anything was going to be the same again.
I felt so awful writing this. I was nearly in tears; I have a very vivid imagination and could see the whole seen in front of me as I typed it. One more chappie after this, fairly short I think and we'll be back at the funeral. To add a wee bit of happiness to this otherwise sad fic, there will be a nice little moment to look forward to at the end of the next chapter.