Seven (Completed)

CHAPTER 11 ~ Hide and seek

CHAPTER 11

Hide and seek

'Lucas! Carlos yelled from the distance and Lucas immediately reached his friends' side.

'What's the matter?' he wondered as his eyes fell upon Sonia's worried gaze.

'Sonia says she saw guards coming this way, not too far from here,' he answered as calmly as he could so as not to make Sonia panic even more.

'Oh no, um ... We need to hide then. Right...' he whispered and looked down for a minute, concentrating. He lifted his head up and called 'Guys! Everyone, gather 'round please.'

At the announcement of the incoming danger most of them panicked, the rest remained silent and Lucas desperately tried to calm everybody down and find a solution before it was too late.

And at that moment, Pierre who was quiet yet nervous the whole time, extended his arm to the direction of the rocks and pointed at the few small caves that were naturally created between openings on the mountain. 'We should hide there, Lucas,' he suggested.

Lucas hesitated at first but one more glance at the chaos around him convinced him that was their only choice. He unwillingly started climbing the rocky side carefully, driven by his sheer instinct to survive. When his hands found grip on an edge near a cave, it was not hard to make his way inside the opening.

The cave was spacious enough for three or four people and the one next to it had about the same size so Lucas asked everybody else to join him and the six friends of his were quickly climbing the rocky side a minute later.

'Split up!' he said next and Pierre, Felicity and Victor went inside the left cave while the other three joined Lucas.

'We're still visible!' Victor barked from across the cave wall.

Lucas knew it too as soon as he climbed up there. He was trying to figure out a plan but Carlos kept interrupting him.

'What is it now, Carlos?' he asked infuriated.

'Anne's got an idea,' he answered and looked at the blond girl who had lowered her stare.

'Tell me then,' Lucas said and came across a bit arrogant but it was too late for him to suck the words back into his mouth. 'What did you think of?'

'I just...' she hesitated. 'What if we explore the rest of the cave? It looks like some sort of a tunnel. All we can see is darkness in the other end. Maybe we can hide there,' she answered and took a step back.

'Could work,' Lucas mumbled behind his teeth. His hands opened the zip of the backpack that was in front of his feet and he looked around for his flashlight which he found hidden inside a t-shirt. He pushed the button a couple of times before it actually started working and he used the faint light to guide his way into the unknown darkness that lay in front of him.

He took many brave steps and it did not take him long before realising Anne's idea was brilliant. A narrow tunnel, wide enough for only one person to stand and walk through, ended at some point and Lucas could spot daylight as he reached closer and closer to the exit.

Anne, Sonia and Carlos had now begun following him and the sound of their footsteps startled him at first but he was glad not to be alone.

The light seemed to be moving closer and closer to him with his every step but Lucas knew his messed-up mind was thinking of it that way.

Upon reaching the end, it became obvious that there was sunlight coming inside, not from a direct opening but through some kind of hole in the ceiling of the cave.