Jake Addams April 23rd, 20XX

I learned a few things about Finn during our shopping trip as we exited the first store.

First, he abhorred bright colours and tended toward dark tones. He also wasn’t a fan of patterns and liked plain clothes. I learned that although he wore a lot of jewellery; he wasn’t all that interested in it. He casually looked over the display shelves as we walked by them, but he never so much as picked any up to try on.

I picked up the last of our bags and prepared to walk out after Finn when the lanky boy suddenly crumpled to the floor. I didn’t catch his facial expression as he fell, but as I threw the bags onto the floor and rolled him over, his previously excited expression had fallen into a dull and lax one.

He was unconscious.

I tapped his shoulder and tried to wake him up by clapping around his ears, but there was no response. He was out cold. I put a finger to his philtrum to ensure he was still breathing regularly before rolling him onto his side.

The next step was to call the ambulance. My phone was pretty much dead, so I reached into Finn’s pockets and grabbed his phone. I tried to use his finger to unlock it, but the sound of a gunshot being fired at the ceiling startled me into dropping the phone altogether. I fell onto the floor and tucked my limbs into myself.

Even though I worried about Finn and the others in the store, I had to guarantee my safety as best as possible. After all, I couldn’t help others if I didn’t help myself first. The sound of glass breaking hurt my ears, but I couldn’t guess if it was from the phone that smashed onto the ground or the bullet that had broken a light. It may have been both.

My throat constricted, and my head rang with stress as I heard a flurry of heavy footsteps invade the store. It wasn’t like this was my first time being put in a situation like this, but I’d had my dad and two other military officials with me the last time.

Right now, all I had was the training I’d last run through seven years ago and an unconscious friend. But then again, even if he was awake, I doubted he would have been much help.

“Everyone to their feet! Put your phones and headphones in the bag we’re passing around! If you do what we say and don’t cause any trouble, then we’ll be out of your hair in no time.”

I slowly got up and did as they said. I slid Finn’s broken phone over to them and brought mine out of my bag to join the group. While it was unlikely that they would know I had a phone in my bag, I didn’t want to bet against them doing a search.

As a tall and fit guy, I figured they would see me as a potential obstruction. It sucked, but there wasn’t anything I could do except obey their orders as best as I could.

They seemed very goal-oriented, as they hadn’t singled out anyone in the store and had yet to use direct violence. I wondered if I could negotiate with them to let me take Finn out and to the hospital.

It had been over ten minutes, and although he was breathing, he still hadn’t been pulled out of his unconscious state by the surrounding danger. As far as I know, Finn wasn’t prone to fainting spells, so this was most likely an emergent condition.

A tall and slender man walked out of the mass of individuals and spoke clearly, despite the thick mask on his face. I realized I’d seen him while we were shopping, but I hadn’t paid much attention to his attire. Since the flu season was coming, wearing a mask was common, but one of such durability had vaguely inspired my interest. The pattern on it, which I belatedly realized, was a specific pattern that rendered cameras unable to identify their faces.

“Everyone, just stay calm and this will be over before you know it! Stand in the center of the room and keep those pretty hands where we can see them!”

After directly addressing us, the leader went through a roll call and assigned each member tasks. He had such a district vice that I wasn’t sure why they hadn’t thought to use a modifier, but then again, that wasn’t any of my business.

I made to move toward the center of the room, but I was interrupted by Finn, who convulsed on the ground beside me. His breathing grew staggered, and his limbs jerked around in a way that was uncomfortable to watch.

Damn.

I had to do something.

The bandits looked on worriedly at Finn as his unconscious state made his body act strangely. I took the opportunity that the distraction gained me and snapped out an arm toward the nearest member of the group that surrounded us.

Thankfully, he was one of the weaker ones, and he struggled to but couldn’t get out of the chokehold. I grabbed the gun out of his holster and held it in the arm I used to stabilize the one I had across the stranger’s neck. It was an uncomfortable position, and it made it hard to move, but I wasn’t trying to break out. I just wanted to get Finn some help.

The rest of the group quickly drew their weapons at me and encircled me, but no one fired. I reweighed the gun in my hand and exhaled when I realized it was just a stun gun. They had really gotten better at making them resemble the traditional bullet guns, despite the heavy regulations against doing so.

I was sure some guns in the crowd were real, but hopefully, I could negotiate with the leader before things got to the level of using them.

Since this wasn’t a matter of pride, I broke the silent standoff first and, with great difficulty, turned to face the leader. I tried my best to keep my tone calm and ignored the hopeful looks from the other people. As long as they stayed quiet and cooperative, I was almost 80% sure that nothing would happen to them.

The only reason I couldn’t just comply with their orders was because I worried Finn would choke on his tongue or something if I couldn’t get him some help.

“Wait, before we open fire and some of us get hurt, I want to say that I have no intentions to hurt your comrade here. You see that unconscious guy over there? That's my friend. I just want to get him to a hospital.”

The leader put on an annoyed but simultaneously amused expression as he stared me up and down in a way that made me uncomfortable. He waved a hand for his crew to put down their weapons and walked forward by a few steps, but I stepped back just as many.

It may have been a while since I received any training on what to do in hostage situations, but that didn’t mean that I’d forgotten everything.

“If you’re so openly hostile, you’ll hurt my feelings, you know? Why don’t we put the weapons away for now?”

Although he’d told his crewmates to put away their weapons as a sign of good faith, there were still way more of them than there was of me. It would only take a few seconds for any of them to withdraw their weapons and fire at me.

“I don’t mean to be rude, but I can’t do that.”

Not only was I unwilling, but it was also physically impossible to put away the weapon without releasing my hostage from the hold. I couldn’t throw away two of my only trump cards like that.

I shot a look over to Finn, but thankfully his breathing had stabilized, and he was still on his side, so we avoided the choking hazard. Of course, there were other issues, but that was the most urgent.

The leader slightly smirked as he realized I’d seen through his plan, and he straightened his posture. I took that to mean he would deal with me a bit more seriously.

“All this for a friend? You’re a loyal guy.”

I didn’t appreciate the implication in his words, but then again, I didn’t really care what he thought. I just needed to get out of here.

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“I’m afraid I can’t let you go, since you might call the police on us. But I’m sure we can negotiate with something else. A-wolf”

He called out to one of his colleagues with a rough bark that was a far contrast to the playful tone he took with me.

“This one is a trained medic, if you’re fine with letting him look over your friend-“

“Please stop playing around with me. I could give you my word that we wouldn’t say anything if you let us go, but I know that wouldn’t count for much. How long do you guys think you’ll keep us here?”

There was no way I would hand over Finn as another hostage, but at least it looked like he was open to negotiating with me.

He chuckled as I saw through yet another of his plans, but he seemed more amused than annoyed.

“Jeez, you’re a bright one, aren’t you? It shouldn’t take any longer than an hour if we have no more interruptions like this. I was serious about letting Awolf look at your friend, though. He’s a fantastic medic.”

A-wolf didn’t come any closer, but he took the cue to join the conversation and directed his gaze toward Finn.

“You did good so far, but he needs to get somewhere warm since the floors are cold, and I need to check his heart and breathing rate to make sure it’s not urgent. We don’t want any casualties during our runs either.”

It was far from ideal, but there wasn’t much more I could do. Hopefully, they weren’t so bored as to lie to me about the casualty thing.

“Then will you let me take him to the staffroom? You can send a couple of people with us if you feel you need to.”

I knew there was no way they would let me go to a space on my own when I’d seen them go through the bathrooms to make sure there was no one that could contact the police.

“I’m afraid I have to.”

I let go of my hostage and quickly got down to pick Finn up. It was hard to tell when he was awake because of how he dressed and how languidly he moved, but he was a pretty big guy. I stumbled when I tried to get him onto my back. It was also difficult because I had to keep the stun gun within reach.

While it would have been nice to get some help, the other people in the store weren’t an option, and I didn’t want any of the criminals to touch Finn.

The leader pointed to a store employee, a chubby middle-aged woman, to lead us to the staff room. She had been a lot of help while we’d been shopping, so I felt bad to have gotten her involved. But then again, she was no more of a victim than I was. The only people who needed to feel sorry were the ones who started this event.

The leader walked beside me as we made our way to the back of the large store while the others went about looting all the cash and valuables from the store.

“This time I played fair, but you should really be more careful, kid. It was a risky bet to assume I wouldn’t be willing to let that guy get stunned while we dealt with you.”

The guy I’d taken as hostage stiffened at his leader’s casual words, but he didn’t retort.

“I don't know how I feel about getting advice from an armed robber, but thanks. I wouldn’t have done anything if my friend hadn’t passed out, but since he did, there wasn’t much else I could do.”

Since the leader was an overly friendly guy, I took the initiative and landed a soft jab as we talked. Rather than acting hostile, I just wanted to get through this as smoothly as possible. If that involved acting friendly to a serial robber, then I would do that.

He let out a guffaw and reached to give me a harsh pat on the back but stopped when he remembered I had someone dead-weighting on my back.

“You’re really a loyal fellow, aren’t you?”

“Is that a bad thing?”

I purposefully ignored the context he loaded onto the positive trait of being a loyal friend and waited for someone to help me get the door to the staff room open.

As the door swung open, I saw three employees kneeling on the ground with their arms tied behind their backs. The group was comprised of two women and a man. Each had varying bruises on their bodies, but the man’s injuries were by far the worst.

The leader suddenly went eerily silent, and the robbers in the room stood at attention as they realized their leader had arrived.

From the way they shuffled in their spots and the awkward stances that they took, I could guess that the employees had put up a fight before being restrained as they currently were.

“What happened here?”

The leader’s voice was a far cry from the genial tone he’d taken with me as we’d walked here, and I remembered he was, in fact, a member of an armed robbery group.

And the names he gave his group mates…

I refused to think about it too much and draw the connection between the people in front of me and the terrible group I’d heard about on the internet.

Finn’s body slumped heavily onto the couch, and arranging the lanky teenager onto the short couch was much more difficult than I would have expected, but what made it even more difficult was the requirements that A-wolf gave me.

I situated myself on the edge of the couch to make sure Finn wouldn’t accidentally roll off the sofa. Otherwise, I stayed as silent as possible as the leader disciplined his squad.

“We found them trying to use an emergency button that might’ve over burdened the signal blocker. When we tried to stop them, they fought back, and we had to restrain them.”

The explanation aligned with my earlier guess, so it didn’t come as much of a surprise to me. Well, hearing that they had a signal blocker made me wonder why they had collected everyone’s cellphones in the first place, but figuring that out was relatively low on my list of priorities.

I made to disconnect myself from the situation when I suddenly saw the leader kick down his already injured subordinate. The others in the room flinched at the sudden brutality, but the actual victim of it remained silent and took the beating.

Even though I was physically safe, I flinched and a sense of danger tempted me to move away, but I couldn’t because I suddenly felt the body flinch and slowly awaken.

“Don’t move and pretend to still be asleep. They’re all armed.”

I covered my mouth with a casual hand and whispered to Finn. While I didn’t think they would do anything to Finn, there was no reason for him to have to be awake and go through this. Hopefully, it would be over soon enough.

After seven vicious attacks, the leader suddenly stopped and looked at the other robbers in the room.

“Remember that we never use violence on bystanders. Since you seem to be convinced that it was unavoidable, who here is confident that they could have handled it better?”

A group member that had stood off to the side raised an arm and stepped forward.

I worried they would sort out their pecking order now, but to my surprise, the leader simply stepped over the subordinate he had beaten up and patted the volunteer on the shoulder.

“You’re D-wolf now. Act accordingly. You. Get out of here. You can go on scout duty.”

I caught onto their lazy naming system and realized that what they called each other weren’t names but were rather ranks.

The injured and newly demoted group member limped out of the room and the new sub-leader took control of the group and led them all out since the leader was now present.

They gently carried the employees out and to the center of the store with the rest of the civilians.

The leader took a few seconds to relax and return to the lax attitude he’d carried on the way here.

“Sorry you had to see that. But you’re a military brat, right? I’m sure you understand how difficult it is to discipline your soldiers. But what was it? Marines? Special ops? Just a regular trooper?”

He guessed at my family’s ex-occupation while looking me up and down in a way that made me even more uncomfortable than I already was. I guessed he was also an ex-military person, but I wasn’t a fan of being profiled so openly.

“I’m an athlete.”

The leader let out a sardonic laugh as he caught on to my dismissal of his attempt to find out more about me.

“Smart kid, I’d love to have you on my squad, but I’m sure you’re much better off where you are. Stay smart yeah?”

I didn’t really know how to react to the sudden advice, condescending as it may have been, so I only nodded.

He misread my confusion as dissatisfaction and took it upon himself to keep talking and make sure I stayed on the right path. Again, I wasn’t sure how to feel about receiving advice from an established criminal, but I guess he was successful enough in his own right.

“You said you were an athlete. From your build I’m figuring it’s some kind of martial art, right? Your legs are pretty strong, so you’re definitely a runner. You’ve got muscles and you know how to use 'em, which can be dangerous.”

Again. I was so uncomfortable with being profiled that it was a fight against myself to keep myself from scowling too aggressively. I just wanted him to get out of here so I could get up and stop worrying that Finn would give himself away.

“If you really wanted to, I bet you could take out three or four of us; I won’t go any higher since I have the pride of my boys to worry about. But you’re a powerful guy. I can’t take that away from you. Despite that, it makes me glad to see you prioritized you and your friend’s safety, you know? Those boneheads like to take the little skill they’ve barely picked up and get themselves in trouble.”

I tired of the unwarranted lecture, and I could tell Finn was losing patience.

“Don’t worry. If I wanted to play hero I would have by now. It’s just not in my nature to get involved in things that I don’t have to. I know those aren’t all fake-“

I referred to the guns he had strapped to his holster. While I wasn’t any sort of arms expert, I got the negative sense that one of them was entirely too real.

He laughed and prepared to launch into another tirade when his walkie-talkie buzzed. They had finished what they came to do.

I vaguely hoped that they had left behind the stuff Finn had already paid for, but then again, it more looked like they focused on the jewellery and the money rather than the clothes and materials in the store. There probably wasn’t anything to worry about.

Right before closing the door behind him, he turned back with an odd smile on his face. Well, a smile that was odder than all the others he’d given me.

“The name’s Arax. You don’t seem like a police dog, so if you ever find yourself in trouble, come find me.”

Never mind the many things wrong with it all; the generic name made it hard to appreciate his future blank check. It was so generic that hospitals and police stations used it for unidentifiable people. Although I’d tried my best not to engage with him, I couldn’t help myself.

“Like Arax Neo?”

He didn’t respond and dashed away. I wondered if I should take his name to the police since he didn’t seem like he was joking, but then again, I just really didn’t feel like getting involved with anything.

The heavy door slammed heavily behind him, but I didn’t have the space of mind to pay it any more attention. Finn arose in a singular, unnerving motion that pushed me off the edge of the couch and onto the floor. It wasn’t on purpose, but I wished he’d been more careful.

“Hey-“

He cut me off without looking directly at me. Instead, his eyes stayed trained on the door that ‘Arax’ had just closed.

“I don’t get it.”