Disclaimer: I do not own Alex Rider. Unfortunately. Damn.
I had a lot of trouble writing this chapter, hence why chapter 3 was late to be published. I didn't know where to go with this chapter. Well, I did, but I had two choices of where it could go, both of which will be explained in an A/N at the bottom of the chapter.
WARNING: slight coarse language used further down in the chapter.
Escape Chapter 4
As Lizard stepped forward to look for illegal substances inside the coach, Shark moved forwards to take a better look at the children, quickly getting frustrated that he couldn't see many of them; they all stood in their comfort groups, huddled together and meaning he could only see those in the front.
Seeing the frustrated look on the soldiers face, the smirk that had appeared on Alex's just moments before made a second appearance.
"Alright! Single file, immediately!"
Not many understood the command, never having been in the army cadets, or been taught it from movies or from teachers, and so looked at each other, waiting for someone to step forward and show them what to do.
Alex himself got a little frustrated at seeing them bumble about, and decided to save themselves some time, and consequently cutting down the time he would be in the soldiers presence, by telling them what the order meant. Adding an insult to them, of course.
"He means you have to stand in a straight line, you fools."
Understanding that order finally got them moving to stand in a straight line against the side of the coach, Alex moving away slightly towards the far end, away from the soldier and towards the car passengers, who still stood there, waiting for the soldier to finish so they could get back into their car.
The soldier mumbled to himself, complaining about how 'kids these days don't know nothing'. Alex wanted to roll his eyes, but settled with allowing some mirth to shine through them as those mumbles weren't exactly spoken in Standard English. Soldiers these days.
Shark moved to the front of the coach, looking each child over with a critical eye, searching for Alex. Any boy with blonde hair, or who was around 5 foot 6 got a double check, and those boys who had both features got a triple check, eyes looking for anything that really stood out that would indicate that the boys were Alex.
Reaching the end of the line, and consequently Alex, Shark gave a cocky smile.
"And so we come to you," he reached forward and took Alex's chin in his right hand, moving his face from one side to the other, looking his face over with a keen eye.
"Don't quit your day job, kid. Hairdressing is really not your calling," the soldier snickered at his own joke, referring to Alex's thirty second hair dye job done underneath a car. Alex just raised his eyebrow, a skill he'd perfected many years before.
"I don't have a job. So I can't quit anything, now can I?" Alex remarked to the soldier, annoyed now.
He really didn't have a job; MI6, technically, didn't employ him. It was more of a 'you do this for us or we put you in a children's home' or, since Jack had gotten her visa, it was 'you do this for us, and you'll be able to find out some things about your parents… after you've been shot at, burnt and almost tortured, of course.'
And then Jack was dead, and suddenly, Alex didn't care about what his father had done. All he cared about was getting away from MI6, from the SAS, from the ASIS, from the CIA. He didn't care about it anymore. Didn't want that life. Didn't want the danger. And the only way to get away from it all was to get away. To run away, and never come back.
The coach shook on its wheels behind Alex, consequently shaking him from his thoughts as Lizard appeared in the doorway, jumping down to the ground, and 'all clear, sir' coming from the man.
Shark stepped away from Alex, giving him one last look over, his eyes narrowed as Alex continued to smirk at him.
The red haired boy that had been standing silently beside him gave Alex a wary glance, before looking towards the three soldiers, Shark and Lizard looking towards their commanding officer, talking quietly so as they couldn't be overheard. Undoubtedly, they were telling him that there was nothing suspicious, that the boy wasn't here. Idiots.
An echoing shout came to those in the shuttle, ordering the soldiers to move out - it looked like time was up for their searching.
"Alright, you're free to get back to your vehicles. We are sorry for any inconveniences. Everything that happened here was all for your safety," the commanding officer said, before walking away towards the entrance to the tunnel, Shark and Lizard following him.
"Come on! Hurry up. This thing's going in a few seconds. Get outta there!" The same echoing voice called again, urgency in his tone. It was obvious that the shuttle would leave soon, very soon, be it with or without the soldiers on board. Preferably without them on board.
The soldiers picked up their speed, boots clashing with the floor, they didn't make it even half way to the entrance before the metal doors started to move, sliding closed slowly. Running, they managed to get just over three quarters of the way before the doors fully closed, sealing them inside the shuttle.
They continued to run towards the doors, and reaching them they pounded against them, a banging noise erupting, echoing back to those watching the scene with wide eyes.
Alex didn't know whether to chuckle or to pull a disbelieving face. On the one hand, seeing the soldiers panic about being stuck on the Euro-tunnel was all too funny, but on the other hand, it meant that he would have to keep up the charade of belonging on the coach even longer. Decisions, decisions.
"RAT! If you don't open this bloody door now, you're getting a years worth of punishments, alone! No, screw that! If you don't open the doors then you're getting fucking binned! Do you understand me?!"
The commanding officer was losing his patience quickly. The idea of being stuck on the shuttle, with kids and screaming babies no doubt, and heading of to France was obviously not appealing to him.
A muffled reply was heard, fear and dread obvious in the tone of voice.
"I don't care if the stationmaster say's this thing needs to go! I'm an officer in the bloomin' SAS. To him, I'm the Queen of England! Tell him to open the bloody doors, right now, or when I get back to England, his arse is outta a job!"
Again, the muffled reply was heard, but this time a gruffer, more stern voice spoke too. Evidently, this was the stationmaster.
"What do you mean there isn't anything you can do? I'm stuck on here! I'm going to flippin' France! As a soldier in the army, I am ordering you to open the doors!"
Ah. The officer was quickly realising that he was destined to France and so had pulled his rank to get the doors to open. However, the stationmaster really had no power in opening the doors; once they were shut, that was that until they were in Port-de-Calais.
The officer only had time to bang his fists against the door once more before he, and the other two soldiers trapped with him, stumbled backwards, the force of the shuttle starting to move making them lose their balance.
"No! No, no, no, no, no! Open the goddamned doors, Rat!"
This time, Alex really did have to chuckle. Seeing the soldiers almost fall over was too funny.
The school children around him looked at him, unsure of why he was laughing - soldiers, people who demanded respect, had been locked into the shuttle, when all they were trying to do was protect them. They couldn't understand why he was laughing at them.
Shaking his head, Alex leaned down to the red head boys ear, whispering to him.
"This lot will more than likely stay outside of their coach, and not go back on it. In five minutes, I want you to go onto the coach, and open up the back emergency doors. A tenner will be in it for you if you do it," Alex bribed the boy again.
The red head was wary of Alex, unsure as of why he wanted on to the bus with them, but when the extra money was offered, he nodded his head in acceptance.
Like Alex said, the other kids and adults stayed outside of the coach, sitting on the sides of the shuttle that raised up slightly or sitting on the ground, their backs against the coach.
Clicking off the trainers hydraulic systems so that Alex could walk properly, he moved around to the side of the bus where no body could see, waiting for the emergency exit door to open. When it did, he hopped up, using the helping hand the red head gave him to boost himself up.
"Where do you sit on here?" Alex asked the boy, wanting to see where he sat, and if he sat alone.
"Umm. Back down here." The boy turned around and walked towards the front, his face watching the ground so he could manoeuvre around all the lose handles from bags that strewn around the place. He stopped in front of two orange and green seats, only one bag on the floor below the window seat.
"You sit alone?" Although there was only one bag, Alex wanted confirmation that the boy did, indeed, sit by himself - after all, one of the other kids may not have bought a travel bag, or may have took it off the coach with them.
"Yeah," the boy mumbled, embarrassed that practically everyone else was paired up except for him.
"Well, I'm your new seat buddy. Yay!" Alex pulled a sarcastic face, and fakely pumped his fist in the air, "Well, I guess that we may as well get our introductions out of the way. Hi, I'm Alex Rider. I'm 15 years old, lived in London all of my life, all of my family have been killed, the last of which was just shot dead this morning in front of me and my classmates, and for the past year or so, have been blackmailed by a whole load of organisations to work for them. Just doing little stuff like, oh, saving the world. They were the whole reason she was shot, actually. Oh. And now I have one of those organisations hunting me down because I've ran away. And that's pretty much my whole life story. So," Alex paused, giving the boy a second to take in what he'd just said, "who are you?"
A/N alright, so, like I said above, this chapter was a hard one to write. First of all, I didn't know whether or not I should have it so the soldiers got out, or whether they should be trapped inside. Then, I just couldn't work out how to write this chapter. After about 400 words, my mind just stopped working, and I couldn't think of anymore. So yeah. That's why it has took me so long to post it - I had to take a lot of time and effort to write it.
I know that this chapter is pretty crap, but it's the best I could do.
And also, please don't flame me about how Alex wouldn't have spilled his guts about working for MI6 and so on, but I felt that it was a good way to end a chapter, and also, with Jack dead, Alex doesn't give a flying donkey about who knows what anymore.
For the soldiers, no I haven't forgotten about them being trapped. Trust me when I say that Chapter 5 will blow your mind away with my brilliance of coming up with a plot so genius, it really shocks me. Yeah, so I'm excited about Chapter 5. So sue me.
Review, my pretties, review!
Please, review. Review like your life depends on it. It may just… I have a spoon and I know how to use it!