The Island's Captives

Chapter Fourteen: Veni Vidi Vici

Peter Morris

"Peter!" I heard Alex exclaim as he and Ronny busted out the front door of the Brown House. I felt dazed, and I had a massive headache from the blow of the boy's hit. Alex wasted no time and charged at the boy standing above me, only to be knocked down by Fawkes. I heard a shriek and looked at Ronny, who was about to run back into the house, till he noticed Rose. She was very pale and her face was hidden behind her trembling white hands.

"Rose? What ya doing?! Get the heck outta here!" Ronny exclaimed as he pushed Rose into the house. He turned and was confronted with one of Fawkes' henchmen, the short one.

"Uh, hi. I was just...leaving!" Ronny made off in a mad dash, leaving the short boy grinning.

I suddenly noticed the boy above me was distracted, and I punched as hard as I could at the side of his face, throwing him sideways. I jumped to my feet (causing another bad headache) and ran toward New York. I needed to get Ludwig and Menelik out of there before the fire grew too big.

"Hey, stop!" I heard a plaintive shout. For a moment, in my still slightly dazed state, I thought it was Alex, or maybe Ronny, so I turned around. I was met with a hard pummel to the stomach as the short boy rammed into me. The force of the slam was enough to knock me down into the rough ground. The short boy pinned me down by pressing his knees against my sides, and started punching me. I felt a dizzying faintness all over, but I knew I couldn't give up. The fire was still blazing, and Fawkes had taken one of the burning sticks and was setting it against the house. The initially light-blue house started turning brown as the fire took hold. Unfortunately, the siding was wooden, and that helped speed up the fire.

I was so focused on the fire that it took me a moment to realize the punching had stopped. I looked up to see that the boy was watching Fawkes with both shock and admiration. Taking advantage of the unexpected opportunity, I tensed my arm in preparation. As though he realized something was wrong, the boy turned his face back to me, just in time to receive what must've been a painful punch right beneath his right eye. It was painful enough for him to loosen his grip on me at least, and I slipped out from underneath him. Without a moment to lose I headed straight for the burning building, shouting the whole while, "Ludwig! Menelik! Get out! GET OUT!"

I reached the building and looked around, wondering what I should do. Should I go in? I didn't notice that Fawkes was walking toward me till he was right beside me. I felt a tremble go through me as I looked at him. He gave me a sly grin, than delivered one swift strike to the side of my neck. I blacked out almost immediately from the pain, falling into a world of darkness...