0001 {The Number Series}

2

There were five of them in total, their faces were covered by the red masks and dressed head to toe in black and grey uniforms. From their body shapes it looked as if two were women and three were men. In their gloved hands they held large machetes. Slowly, the man in front held his sword up and pointed at me and then at Quinn before it came slowly down at his side. 

"You two," he said in a deep, raspy tone. "Are putting yourself in situations you have no business being in. We've seen you."

"We don't know what you are talking about." Quinn said sharply. 

"Yes, you do." The man said. I wanted to reach forward and rip off his mask and expose him for who he really was. "Although, I will admit that I am surprised a couple of no goods live in a home. And who is this lovely lady?"

The man pointed to my younger sister Cora. No one answered him. My mother stepped closer to her, wrapping an arm around Cora's shoulders. My sister was trembling with fear. 

"I said, who are you?"The man demanded. 

"C-Cora." She stuttered. Her round light brown eyes met mine in panic. My family worked hard to shelter her from the horrors outside our home. She only knew what she had to. Her face became shinny with sweat; her corkscrew curls stuck to her forehead in patches. 

"And how old are you, Cora?" His voice sounded overly cheerful. I could imagine a savage grin spread across his face as if he had discovered something he should not have. 

"Twelve." Cora was visibly shrinking as if she were trying to hide behind our mom as she had as a young child. At twelve there was no hiding like that any longer. My mother and Cora held tightly on to each other. They let out a simultaneous gasp as the man took a large step forward. The blade he cared scraped against the old hardwood floor, his boots let out a low click. 

"That's a good age." He said, taking another step forward. The masked man then faced Quinn and I. "Listen, I am going to strike you a deal. You stop investigating completely, entirely, permanently, and we will forget all of this every happened."

The other four masks turned our way, their hands resting on their swords. They were relaxed as the tip of the blade dug into the wood as they leaned against the hilt. 

"And, in return for our generosity, we'll be taking Cora with us." 

"No!" My mother shouted, gripping my sister even harder than before. They clung to each other like soaked clothes would cling to ones body. 

"Oh, no need to worry. She'll be just fine." The man cooed, stretching out a black gloved hand. 

I did not know what to do. Quinn and I had nothing to defend ourselves at the table and there would be no chance of making it to the second floor and back down again before they took off with Cora. The only option was to take matters into my own hands; literally. 

As if the other four masks read my mind they stepped towards their leader. Quinn, noticing my stance took one of her own. She was closer to them than I was. With a swift movement she stole the sword of the most relaxed of the group right from his grip and sliced hard down on his calf. He howled as he fell to the floor, clutching the bloody leg in his hands as he rocked back and forth. I could have cared less about his pain. 

I did not have to time to pull the same move as Quinn before they were on me. Two of them to my one. They swung, I dodged, we repeated. I grabbed a wooden dinning room chair to protect myself from the on coming assault, and not a moment too soon, as a blade cut the armrest off in one swipe. I could hear my sister screaming and my mother yelling at the leader as he tried to take Cora away from us. I could not let her be one of the murdered kids.