Freedom Hunters

Chapter 5

The chaos created by the soldier made it impossible for Start to try to help his father. After getting pushed to the wall for the third time and almost breaking down emotionally, he started looking for his mother. He hid behind a trash compactor and looked down the alley to see her mother and all of the other women and children in the hand of the soldiers, probably to take them as hostages or kill them later. Kila saw Start peeking from the side of the furthest compactor and shouted:

--- Run, Start, RUN!

Start didn't know where to go. He looked around with his wet and blurry eyes, and saw a maintenance door that lead into a building on the other side of the hallway. He rushed to the door while evading the shots from the soldier. He slammed it open and found himself inside a kitchen full of confused chefs. He kept running towards more doors until he found the one that led outside. He exited the kitchen and entered the restaurant itself. He ran straight to the door to get out but saw that it was locked, so he decided to jump through the window. The crash of the window alerted the soldiers to his left who joined the chase with the other soldiers. After running for a while, almost getting shot twice, and still having them on their tail all the time, Start decided to go for a different approach. He went to a very busy street, full people and restaurants that were open 24 hours. The busyness of the street stopped the soldiers from firing at him since they could hit a civilian, and it helped Start break sight of them a couple of times. When he reached an intersection, he grabbed a menu from one the restaurants, turned right, and entered a restaurant while blocking his face with the menu. He saw the soldiers run by, past the restaurant, and scream:

--- Excuse me! Coming through! Persecution in progress!

After a few seconds of silence, Start stepped out of the restaurant and looked around. He had lost the soldiers. He crossed the street and entered a clothing shop, bought a new pair of pants, a new shirt, and a pair of sunglasses with the backup money he had in his backpack, and started walking to the hop-on area.

After a couple of minutes, he reached the hop-on area where they were going to meet up with Coth, sent him a message to come pick him up, and waited there. After a few seconds, Coth's ship showed up and opened the boarding door so that Start could get in. Once inside, Start took off his backpack, threw it across the room and started crying. Coth, knowing what had happened, took the spaceship to a safe enough area in outer space, left the steering wheel, and sat down next to Start. After 15 minutes of crying, Start calmed down and began explaining what had happened.

--- We... me... met up with... my mom... a... and... we were so ha-appy hugging a... and... the soldier shot dad... --- Said Start and continued to cry after explaining.

--- What about your mother? --- Said Coth.

--- She was ca-captured by the so-oldiers...

Coth then distanced himself a little bit form Start and started thinking about what he should do next. After a few seconds, he looked at Start and said:

--- I know how to rescue your mother, but it will be very risky, dangerous, and I would require your help to do so. Are you in?

--- Yes.

--- Good. I knew I could count on you! We start with the training tomorrow morning! --- Said Coth as he stood up and headed to the cockpit.

--- Wait, training? What training? --- Said Start with a confused look on his face.

--- Oh, you will see... Now, what you have to do, is explain what is going on to your little brother and then go to sleep. You will need the energy. --- Finished Coth as he closed the door to the cockpit.