Heroes

Chapter 6: mall robbery

George POV.

I heard the sound of an explosion and a voice crackled over the intercom that connected throughout the mall. A man was laughing at first and I recognised the sinister sound, immediately making me tense up and furrow my eyebrows.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” the sinister playful voice of a pure sociopath echoed through the entire mall, and people began freaking out around me. “I am not here to harm anyone, just for some stuff, as long as all of you behave nobody will end up dead.”

This was one of the most recognisable voices in the city, and because of this nobody believed his words. Dream was a well known sociopath, the most dangerous villain in the city solely because of his deranged personality. Everywhere he went, every crime he commited, had at least one dead body to go with it.

All around the mall people in black masks with white smiles painted on them began rounding people up into a huge group in the centre of the mall, directly in front of where I was sitting. As this was going on I glanced around, trying to look for a place where I could get any type of mask to cover my face so I could try and take these bad guys out.

I’d even be okay with sneaking off to call the others to get back-up even though I was still pissed with them. The only problem was the fact that there were at least forty or fifty masked maniacs and followers of Dream gathered around the entire group of people who had been in the mall, with more people being forced into the group every couple of minutes.

The masked henchmen didn’t seem to notice or care that I was still in my seat and I slunk further against the wall to try and hide myself more. After spending around five minutes, switching between staring at the large clock hung from the glass ceiling in the centre of the mall, and trying to guess if I’d be able to fight all these thugs on my own, the voice spoke again.

“Now that everyone is gathered up, some of my workers and I are just taking some stuff of interest. Food, cash, jewellery, if you have any of the following then we would greatly appreciate it if you speak up about it.” His voice reminded me of the Joker, that psycho-clown from the Batman comics and movies, and I tried to shrink back more at the thought.

I waited another few minutes as I watched some more henchmen walking in and out of shops while others continued guarding the group of civilians gathered around me. Some young children were crying loudly and small gatherings of teenagers were muttering quietly to each other.

Some of the henchmen were walking towards people who tried pulling out their phones to call for help, or send messages to family and friends. They’d smash the phones, or ipads, or any other devices they caught people using. After a few minutes some of them walked back and forth between us to make sure nobody was trying an escape attempt or anything.

I had a plan on what to do which I ran over a couple of times in my mind before I began to move slowly. Slowly, to make sure I didn’t get too much attention on me, I pulled my legs up to my chest to try and hide my phone, which I slipped out of my pocket.

My legs and arms stayed close together, except for my left hand which slid down to where my phone was hidden in my lap so I could try and send a message. I tried to send a quick message, managing to open my contacts and click on Bad’s name since it came up in contacts first.

As I began to send him a message I was careful to check whether or not any of Dream’s henchmen were looking in my direction, and I was about half done when someone that I hadn’t even realised was near me, grabbed my arm harshly enough to leave bruises, and pulled the phone out of my grip.

“Sorry but no phones are permitted during this time,” a harsh voice said as I looked up to see the one man I was praying not to see. Dream was staring down at me, I assumed. It was always hard to tell with that mask covering his face. My breathing started to pick up as he slid into the seat opposite me at the table, while still holding my phone.

I wasn’t scared of him, and I showed him that, staring straight into where I assumed his eyes were. The man just chuckled at me, “you don’t have to pretend not to be scared since I know deep down you are,” he stated in his cold, harsh tone.

“I’m not scared of you,” I responded, and Dream seemed surprised at what I said but believed that it was true. However it wasn’t ‘surprised’ in a sense of fear though, he seemed happy, even excited by what I said which made me feel more nervous.

“That’s good to know. Having people scared of me always gets so boring.” The blonde stated with a smirk on his face which made me nervous although I managed to keep my composure.
“I bet it does.” I decided to agree with him, not wanting to do anything to make him mad, since I didn’t want to make him put a bullet in my, or anyone else's, head.

A brunette girl who had been standing near the middle of the crowd put on a brave face and stood up. “What do you want to do with us?! Why can’t you let us go?!” She asked, causing Dream to look away from her and over at the girl.

Around her, members of the crowd knew what she had done wrong, but clearly the girl didn’t realise her mistake. She looked foreign, possibly a tourist who didn’t know about the dangers of the city, although it seemed like she was about to find out.

“Interrupting a conversation is always considered very disrespectful.” Dream tutted, watching the girl, while seemingly also watching me from the corner of his eyes. “Didn’t your parents raise you any better?”

Before the girl even managed to think of a response Dream raised his gun and aimed it at her, pulling the trigger without giving her the chance to even realise what was happening. Her dead body fell on top of some members of the crowd, which caused a bunch of screams from people both young and old.

“God, these people are like animals,” the sociopath muttered from opposite me with gritted teeth. He raised his voice and looked over at one of the men standing on the outside of the group. “Get rid of her body then get out of here, the cops are probably on their way.”

Two or three men walked from the circle of henchmen into the centre of the group to grab the dead girl and drag her body off somewhere. All of the civilians in the group were deathly quiet, probably worried if they made any noise they’d get shot like the other girl.

I noticed Dream standing up opposite me and let out a sigh of relief. I wasn’t sure that I was going to get my phone back but what surprised me more than my phone was the fact he was staring at me. “What?” I questioned, furrowing my eyebrows at him as I did.

“The cops are coming.” He responded, and I scrunched up my face as I tried to figure out what that had to do with me.
“So?” I questioned, feeling more irritated that he was hanging around as though he wanted to make conversation.

“So, an easier way to get out of a place with cops and heroes crawling around is with a hostage, so get up.” His voice was cold and so I didn’t bother arguing with him.
As he began leading me out of the building his hand brushed against my sore shoulder, but I didn’t bother complaining since I knew it wasn’t going to get me anywhere.
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