The 4 walked in the dark in silence. Kevin had seen no sign of Howie in the last town. He would ask at the next stop for any info on him and the rest of their families. Nick hadn't taken his arm off of Angel's shoulder since they left the last hide out. Kevin knew that Nick thought if he let go then Angel would disappear again and this time for good. Kevin frowned a little at the thought and looked at Brian who walked next to him, separated only by inches and thought how good it was to know he still had family alive. He out his arm around Brian's shoulder and Brian looked at Kevin and smiled. He felt the same way.
"We should be there in about an hour." Kevin said and he heard 'uh huh's' as replies. The sun was starting to come up which let in some light though the woods they were walking through. Suddenly they heard a noise.
"What was that?" Angel whispered.
"I donno. Get down." Kevin whispered back and the 4 hit the floor. They heard dogs. "Search party." Kevin whispered. With the dogs to sniff out the other 3,
Kevin knew they were screwed. He had to do something. "We need to split up" he said and the 3 looked shocked. "We have to otherwise they will find us."
"I'm staying with Angel." Nick said to Kevin. He nodded understanding.
"Go around that hill we will meet you on the other side. The hide out is not far from there." Kevin said giving Nick directions. Nick nodded and he and Angel slowly walked off in that direction and stayed behind bushes while Brian and Kevin went the other way.
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Nick and Angel held hands as they tried to make their way to the hill. They heard some one yell behind them.
"YOU TWO! STOP!" It was the Talaban police. Nick got scared. They started to run.
"Angel hide in there." Nick said pointing to a small cave. "Try to get back to Kevin. I'll distract them.
"No Nick, I can't loose you again." She cried
"You're not gonna loose me. Now go. They can't see us at this second so go." Angel nodded and went to the cave as Nick ran for his life. She saw him go over the hill then minutes later he saw the "police" follow. She wasn't seen. She waited about a half hour before moving. She slowly stepped out of her hiding place and moved toward the top of the hill and looked down the hill. No one was insight so she made her way to find Kevin and hopefully Nick as well.
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Brian and Kevin once around the hill knew the "police" went after Nick and Angel. He heard the yell in the distance.
"Damn it!" He said and Brian looked over.
"I'm sure they will be ok." Brian tried to tell Kevin although he wasn't so sure himself. They walked silently to the hide out hoping that their two friends would be there.
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Nick ran but they seemed to be closing in on him. They were yelling at him to stop but he kept going. He tripped and fell. When he got back up again they had caught up and one of the men grabbed him.
"Run away slave we have here." One of them said.
"That's Carter. Jahed's slave." Another said. Nick was scared. There were 5 of them and one of him. 'At least Angel is safe' he thought to himself. Just then one of the men hit him in the stomach and then the face. He would have fallen to the ground if no one was holding him up.
"No good slave. Jahed was good to you from what I hear and you desert him." The man that hit him said. The guy that was holding him dropped him to the ground and Nick held his stomach. Then the blows came. They kicked him punched him hit him with their guns. Nick was doing his best to shield his head with his arms and curl up to protect everything he could.
'I am going to die now. Like this' Nick thought to himself and silently said a prayer.
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Kevin and Brian waited by the hide out and Angel showed up a few minutes later.
"Angel! Thank God your..... wait where is Nick?" Kevin said.
"They were following us and he ran, he told me to stay in cave, I was safe, he ran, I donno if he was caught." Angel said out of breath.
"Ok. I'll find him. You two get in here." Kevin said opening up a ground door. Angel didn't want to go in. She wanted to see her brother but Kevin told her not to worry and that Brian would look after her even though Brian wanted to go to. He told Brian what to do to get in then Kevin went off to find Nick.
Kevin reached the hill and peered over it. What he saw made him sick. Five "police officers" beating Nick. And Kevin couldn't do anything about it. He watched for a little while to see what was gonna happen. After a few min the picked Nick up and dragged him to a van. Kevin was able to follow it for a little while before he knew where it was going. He turned around to go back to tell Angel and Brian what was going on and what he had to do.
