I am Number Two

Chapter Two

Conrad tosses me a pistol and peers out the window. '' T-they arrived so fast...and look how many of them too. There must be more than a hundred Mog soldiers out there! ''.

Mog soldiers are supposed to be more powerful than the scouts and have more deadly weapons. Instead of having a lone dagger, the soldiers have long, gleaming silver swords and cannons as well.

In the blink of an eye, a boy about my age breaks through the roof and land on the ground next to us. Instinctively, Conrad takes aim and shoots a flurry of bullets at the boy, but all are deflected by some kind of psychic power.

'' What?! '' Conrad utters in disbelief.

'' I come in peace! I'm not one of those bastards, '' the boy says.

Without warning, the front door is broken down and the Mogadorians start filing in, and the boy is nowhere to be seen. Maybe he is one of them...

Conrad turns about half a dozen Mogs to ash with a flurry of bullets from his assault rifle, but he runs out of ammo, and one of the remaining Mogs fires a white light with his Mog cannon and Conrad goes flying into the wall behind us, blood leaking from his forehead and mouth.

'' NO! '' I shout. I try to run over to Conrad but I'm punched in the back of the head by a Mogadorian, and as the pale faced monster raises his sword, I close my eyes and accept death.

However, nothing happens for a few seconds, and when I peel open my eyes, the boy from before is fighting the remaining dozen or so Mogs.

'' This must be hard for you, but you have to forget your Cepan and get the hell out of here! I don't know how much longer I can hold them off, '' the boys says, looking back at me for a split second.

I don't know what to say, or what to do, actually. I stand there, rooted in place, staring at the dying body of Conrad, not able to do a thing to save him, and then I look at the boy, fighting the Mogadorians.

'' Listen! I am one of you, one of the other Garde! I know how hard this is, my Cepan was killed too! But they were always going to die, their duty, at the end of the day, is to protect us, even if it means they die. We are the ones that need to stay alive, get out of here! '' he shouts back.

I can feel tears dripping down the sides of my face, and even though I know the boy is right, I can't move. I drop to my knees and sob more than ever. Then, the boy is sent flying into the kitchen sink by a powerful uppercut from a Mog, and they turn their attention to me. It's too late. I'm going to die.

As one of the Mogs approaches me, his small, sharp teeth bared ( in what I notice is probably a smile ), he stops moving when he's about two feet away from me.

'' Move, NOW! '' the boy shouts.

With one last glance over at Conrad's dead body, I dart through the cottage as fast as I can, escaping through the back door. I realise I'm a coward, I should have stayed and helped the other Garde, and it's because of me Conrad is gone...

I watch the cottage go up in flames from behind a bush, tears still soaking my face, my eyes bloodshot, and I brace myself for another scar to be burned into my ankle, but no pain comes. I sigh, relieved, and look around for any sign of danger. There are more Mogs around, I know that for sure. The few that attacked us in the cottage was just the first wave. Expecting to see a Mog coming right at me with a sword in hand, I see the boy from before running in my direction. I wave at him and he comes over to me, breathing a sigh of relief that I'm still alive.

'' There are more lurking around, we've got to move! '' he says, as he takes my hand and we silently creep along the shadows of the bush in the Scottish highlands.

''W-what number are you?'' I ask.

'' We'll talk about that when we get out of here. My name is Adamus Sutekh, but you can just call me Adam, '' he says.

'' Wow, Adam, that's a pretty weird name for you to choose, '' I chuckle, '' Don't you think it could draw attention to you? ''.

He doesn't respond, instead cutting us off our path and into some grass that's probably about eight feet high, and they scratch my skin...

'' Where are we going? '' I managed to ask, somehow keeping the grass out of my mouth.

'' Anywhere but here, '' he says, firmly.

'' My Cepan had said he had a safehouse prepared in London, '' I offer, tears welling up in my eyes at the mention of Conrad.

'' We wouldn't be able to find it without your Cepan here, Two. I do have a place in Manchester though, '' he says.

The sun is only just waking from its slumber as we arrive at a train station in a town called Aberdeen, and I can't lie, I'm pretty embarassed. My reddish-brown hair is all over the place, and I have a lot of cuts and bruises all over my body. Not to mention my clothes looks like I just took them out the garbage...

When we board the train, thankfully there aren't many other people in our cab. Just a few elderly people and a businessman dressed in a black suit with a red tie.

'' You are very fortunate to have escaped from certain death back there...'' mutters Adam.

Memories of the night before flood back to me, of our fight with the scout, of Conrad's death and of our escape.

'' Yeah..I thought I was done for. I never really thanked you, haven't I? '' I say, a small smile forming on my lips.

'' Don't worry, I'm just doing my job, '' he says matter of factly.

'' You just saved my life, what are you talking about? '' I say, taking his hand and squeezing it.

He blushes. '' Uh...hey, where's your chest? '' he asks, changing the subject quickly.

I try to recall what happened to it. '' My Cepan decided it was better to store it in a safe place rather than keep moving around with it. He didn't want to draw any attention to us, ''.

'' Do you remember where he did it? '' Adam asks.

'' If I can remember correctly, it's supposed to be in a small village in Spain, I think the name of it was Avila or something, ''.

'' I see. Well, we can't be sure it's still there, but as soon as possible we'll have to make our best effort to retrieve it. It's important that we keep the chests out of Mogadorian hands...they probably already have Number One's chest, '' Adam replies.

I think of asking him where his chest is, but I decide against it.

We arrive in a town called Oldham at around lunch time, and I ask Adam how long until we can get some rest.

'' The place is about a fifteen minute walk from here. It isn't anything big, but it'll do until the time comes to leave and find another place, '' he says.

It was more like a half an hours walk, but Adam stops me when we arrive at a red-bricked little house with a beautiful, small garden in the front yard.

'' This is the place! My Cepan bought this house when he was still alive, '' Adam says.

It is small, but it looks awesome, at least better than the cottage back in Scotland.

'' First, we get some rest. Then, we both have some explaining to do, ''.