Elio awoke the the awful feeling of another man's hands over him and the harsh sensation of being slammed into the back seat of a car the being driven away.
He tried to yell out for help but the thick rope that gagged him made it difficult to breath, never mind yell out. His vision was obscured by a large bag over his head and no one was talking so the only thing he could hear was the roar of the engine and the rapid beating of his own heart.
He tried to untie himself from the tightly bound ropes but could only admit defeat after trying until his entire body was slick with sweat and he nearly ran out of the limited oxygen he could access through his nostrils and gagged mouth.
After travelling for what felt like an eternity the truck came to a sudden stop and loud voices that were muffled by the bag over his head and ears.
Elio heard the door swing open quite violently and the sharp thumping of military boots jumped into the van and he was lifted up onto someone's shoulder like a burlap sack. Panic flashed through him and he began to thrash around like a herring in a net and made the person who was carrying him lose his grip and he began his descent to the ground.
Elio braced himself for the impact that never came. Instead he felt that someone else had caught him. Muffled and panicked voices seeped in from the outside of the bag,
" Be careful! What would the commander say if you harmed his older brother?! Do you think you'll still have any place in the army after that?"
The second voice which was clearly younger quickly responded,
" It wasn't my fault! He kept moving around!"
" Just be careful"
Elio quickly put it together that his rescuers were the goons of his youngest brother and stopped struggling. He did wonder why they didn't immediately just untie him and let him walk on his own but he couldn't raise his complaints verbally and didn't want to be dropped again.
After ten or so minutes of walking the two began to speak again.
" Still, this is one messed up family huh? The eldest son goaded the second son to try to kill the third son and fifth son made a plan to rescue him and the fourth son joined in later on to use him for his company. Meanwhile their father just watches all of it and calls it a 'test of mettle'"
The second man made a sound between a cough and spit and followed up by saying,
" This is why one has to be born in the middle class. Being poor is obviously not the best background, but being so rich isn't that good either."
Finally one of them regained his awareness and softly pointed out,
" Hey, can't he hear us? Should we be saying all of this in front of him? What if he reports to the Commander?"
The other men quickly quieted down and sped up their pace as if trying to run away from their previous conversation and arrived at their destination in less than half the time that was necessary.
Under their young commander's glare they gently set down the young man they had hoisted onto their shoulders. Elio was quickly unwrapped, with much more tender care than he would have ever expected from a bunch of military men and faced his admirable youngest brother.
Elio squinted his charming eyes against the sudden influx of light that attacked his eyes once the bag was taken off his face and once his hands were freed, ripped the saliva drenched gag out of his mouth.
Standing in front of him was his only brother that seemed to have the potential to overtake him in height, Bullet. Even at only 17 he was already 6'1 and showed clear signs of growing.
The young boy stood in front of more than twenty soldiers, excluding the three that had brought Elio back to their base and managed to look just as imposing as their own father when he sat behind his work desk. Bullet stiffly bowed in acknowledgment of his older brother
" Third brother"
Of course seeing their commander lower his head to someone else the rest of the troops bowed as well.
Still in shock from his recent kidnapping and rescue Elio dully nodded in acknowledgment and barely waited till Bullet straightened his back before barraging him with a mouthful of questions. He started in a calmer tone but as we went on, his tone grew more and more agitated as she realized the ridiculousness of the situation.
" Bullet, thanks for rescuing me I guess, but is what they said true? That Chad's the one that ordered to kidnap me? And John goaded him on? Why would he do that? What's going on? And how did you know about it enough to rescue me?"
Bullet was slightly taken aback at his usually apathetic older brother suddenly behaving so animatedly and had to swiftly gather his thoughts before he could respond in an appropriate manner.
" Yes. Second brother did order your kidnapping, and as for eldest brother goading him on…. That has yet to be determined. And as for how I knew about it, Father assigned me permission to keep tabs on all of you using the families private forces when I was 12. It wasn't difficult to figure out the plans once I knew about them."
Elio felt a faint chill at the matter of fact manner his youngest brother had admitted to constantly spying on all of his brothers for the past almost 6 years and somewhat realized that out of all of his brothers this one was probably the one he had to be the most wary of.
In fact, this young teen might even be more powerful than his father in a few more years.
A commotion made itself known from the other side of the makeshift base Bullet had created for the rescue mission and a familiar lower pitched voice that should have come off as respectable was making a thoroughly un-respectable scene.
" Hey! Let me through! Who do you think I am! If your commander hears about you hindering his direct older brother in such a manner do you think you'll still have a place in the army! Huh?"
Elio watched in amusement as he watched the usually stoic and rule bound Bullet restrain himself from rolling his eyes and waved at one of the soldiers beside him to go deal with the nuisance that was their fourth brother.
The younger man strutted over to them with his head high, despite the fact that he was being carefully escorted by two soldiers to prevent him from making any more trouble and his eyes lighted up when he saw Elio safe and sound.
He broke free of the soldiers grasp and threw himself into Elio's grasp, almost knocking the frail man down.
" Eli- Second brother!"
He quickly changed his form of address upon seeing the displeasure on Bullet's face and even the soldiers who knew had known the two for so long had to wonder who was the oldest among the two. Bullet stiffly walked forwards and grabbed Aloic from the back of his collar and attempted to drag him off Elio who stayed still in shock at the sudden show of affection.
While the two, Bullet and Aloic, had been very affectionate as children they had suddenly cut him off once they hit their teens and Elio had figured it was because they were finally old enough to realize the difference between their statuses.
Bullet eventually gave up trying as with every pull Elio was just dragged along and finally for the first time showed the same amount of frustration that a normal 17 year old child should.
" Aloic! Restrain yourself! You aren't a child anymore!"
Aloic simply stuck out his tongue in an annoying manner and said,
" Curb your jealousy Bullet. You're just jealous you can't do this because of your 'pride'. I on the other hand have no such thing. Hey Elio!"
Elio finally snapped out of it and gently pulled Aloic away from him with a soft but stern pull.
" Aloic?"
Aloic looked up from his height of 6' to Elio and said in the same boot licking manner that should have been incredibly annoying but he managed to pull it off with his charm and shamelessness.
" I just wanted to ask you. Now that you've been attacked by the family you can't really go back to the house anymore cause you know that dad, eldest brother and Chad are scheming against you…...do you wanna be an idol?"