The Arcade || Lee Felix (rewritten version)

[14] - Jumping to our deaths

He was silent for a second as he looked down at the box in his arms. "Sorry" he then said.

"You don't need to apologize for hitting me in your sleep, it's not like you could help it" I said and looked up at him. He still didn't get eye contact with me though.

"That's not what I meant" he said, still looking down, I could almost see his cheeks gaining some pink color.

"Then what did you mean?" I asked curiously.

"I... uh, never mind" he said and then sped up so he reached the truck before me.

I just looked at his back as he sped away. So he had a soft side to him as well. I couldn't help but smile. I didn't even know what he was apologizing for, but it strangely warmed my heart a tiny bit.

Carrying all the boxes took forever. We moved box after box, non of us spoke and Felix kept being a tiny bit ahead of me through out it all. I put down the last box and the man payed us.

I looked happily at the money. It was like I could see the food in front of me.

"Let's go find the others" I said and put the money in my backpack.

We were heading back, but I couldn't help but feel like we hadn't been in this area before. Had we taken a wrong turn? Because I was usually good at recognizing places I've been to before.

The road was getting more and more narrow and the buildings looked more and more destroyed, the further we walked. It also felt like it was getting darker and darker since the road was narrowing down, not letting as much light in. I had a bad feeling about this place.

"Felix this doesn't feel good" I said.

"What doesn't feel good?" He asked.

"I think we've lost our way, I don't recognize this road" I explained to him with worry.

"Now that you say it..." he said but suddenly stopped in his steps at the same time he stopped talking.

I looked down at the ground and saw a red line drawn across the whole road. Behind the line it was written, also in red 'do not enter' and one side on each side of the road spread the same message. One of them said 'keep out' and the other 'do not cross the red line'.

We looked up at each other. He was definitely thinking the same thing as me. "Let's explore it" I said and he nodded.

At the same time we took a step over the line and entered the forbidden area. If they wanted to keep us out they should build a high fence or something. Having it open like this was just asking for us to enter.

We hadn't walked far when the alley opened up and we found ourselves standing by the edge of a big square. Around us were only gray buildings and there was no way out except the one we came from. From what I could see, it was empty. Not a single person in sight.

"I don't think we'll find anything here" Felix said. I nodded and we turned around. As we did I felt my heart sink. This is bad.

Behind us stood a group of those security guard looking men with too extreme weapons. They saw us and stopped for a second. We stood still as well. We were all looking at each other, waiting for someone to make a move, for a few seconds. Then I saw one of them moving their hand towards the gun by their side.

"Run" Felix said, and so I did.

We ran towards the closest building which looked very abandoned, like all of them. The guards followed us and as we ran up the stairs they were closing in on us. My plan had been to get some distance so they wouldn't know what floor we were hiding on but suddenly we found ourselves on the rooftop with no way out. Couldn't they be a bit slower? They're just programmed characters anyway.

"What do we do now?" Felix asked and looked at me with wide open eyes in fear.

I looked around in despair as the men started coming out of the stairs and blocking our way down. They stood still and watched us, and I saw how one of them smirked. They had us, that's for sure.

Then I had the most crazy idea I'd ever had. I grabbed Felix's arm and looked him in the eyes. "Let's jump"

He stared at me. "Are you crazy?" He asked.

"Maybe, but we have no other way out" I said. "You see that building, we should be able to land on the roof" I said and pointed towards a rooftop slightly beneath us.

"Then let's do it together" he said and held his hand out for me to take.

"On three" I said as I took his hand.

We both counted down before we synchronized started running towards the edge. We took a step up on the short wall, then jumped.

My heart was beating like crazy, and I was sure Felix's did as well. I closed my eyes as we were in the air, scared I wouldn't be able to open them up again, at least not on this level, but back in the lobby.

When I felt solid ground under me, and not too much pain, I was relieved. I was lying on the ground on the rooftop we'd been aiming towards, and next to me was Felix.

We stood up despite some smaller injuries. "We need to get out of here immediately" he said and we started running down the stairs. We'd come more than halfway when I noticed he was still holding onto my hand, really hard. I could feel how tense he was.

"Could you let go of my hand, it hurts" I said as I could barely feel anything in my hand.

"Oh" he said and let go of it. "Sorry"

We continued running down and to our relief, it was empty at the bottom. The men couldn't be seen, but we continued running in case they would catch up with us.

We ran for what felt like an eternity before we stopped to catch our breaths. I bended over with my hands on my knees as I took a few deep breaths.

"I think we got rid of them" I said.

"Yeah me too" Felix agreed and looked just as exhausted as me. We stayed there for a while until I suddenly felt how something was put over my head, preventing me from seeing anything.

I screamed, hoping someone was there to help me, but the next second I felt something sting in my arm, like a needle. Not many seconds passed before I felt how my body was beginning to get numb and I lost conscious.