The alley seemed gloomy as it was solely lit by the fire but in contrast to the roads I had seen before, there was no debris and it was fairly clean.
At the right side, close to where the child was, there were shelves that held some sort of torture tools I couldn't recognize and injections that were put together except from one that was placed far from the rest.
Underneath the shelves there were many empty beer bottles and a gasoline tank.
And at the right side, behind some boxes that seemed to be there to block anyone from coming, was me.
I waited and waited for a chance to save them as I watched the little kid loose more and more fingers.
As I watched them gradually losing emotion and giving in to despair my heart ached and I felt nauseous. I wanted to save them now.
I wanted to jump in but if I did, with a paralyzed adult and a tied up, half conscious child, jumping in would be the same as suicide.
I needed to be patient and wait for a chance…
…and a chance I got
"*phew* let's take a 5 minute break everyone. But fear not, the show will continue even more exciting than before when I return!"
The chubby man opened a door behind him and left.
Finally, he was gone.
I waited until I couldn't hear his footsteps anymore and jumped in.
The man and the child seemed to be out of it although I couldn't really blame them, I would probably be the same if something like this happened to me.
I ran towards the torture tools and swiftly grabbed one that seamed sharp and the injection that was separated from the others.
It must be something important if he put it in a different place. It could either be the cure to whatever has paralyzed the man or a terrible poison but I needed to do it.
No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn't save a fully grown adult that can't move an inch and a tied up child all on my own in less than 5 minutes. I needed the help of the man or else we would all die.
I approached the man to inject him but I hesitated.
'What if this really is a strong poison, what if he dies an even more painful death because of me, what if I kill him…'
This was not the time for this, I had to do it.
After gathering some courage I injected him with trembling hands and luckily he seemed to be waking up from his half conscious state.
I then ran to the child and cut the rope around him with the torture tool I had picked earlier and shook him lightly to wake him up.
"Uh..? D-dad…no… wh-who are you" The child asked worriedly
"Don't worry, I came here to s-save you" I replied with a smile
A small stutter escaped my lips. I wanted to appear calm to calm him down but this situation was too surreal for me.
"D-dad… where is dad"
"Don't worry, he is waking up right now. It is all over, don't worry"
"Ugh*sniff*… thank you"
The child started crying, it wasn't of fear or of loss but of relief. A warm feeling rose inside me.
"BEN"
"Dad!"
The half conscious man seemed to have woken up too. Now we needed to get out of here.
"Are you ok Ben? No… what am I even asking. I am so sorry Ben… I was too weak to protect you."
"It is ok dad, it wasn't your fault and I am ok now so don't worry."
"But how did you-"
"This good person saved us, he freed me and woke you up!"
The man then looked at the surroundings and soon his eyes met mine. His eyebrows were raised and his face became stiff.
"Who are you? What is a child like you doing in this place?" The man asked
"Hello sir, I came here to save you"
I avoided the question. I didn't know the answer to it either.
The man didn't say anything and just looked at me while hugging his son tightly
"Anyway, we should hurry up before that man comes back" I said
"Why did you come to save us, a kid like you… how did you find the courage to go against sir Brown? no… what courage?… this is insanity!" Exclaimed the man
"Well then you must be insane too" I replied with a blank tone
'So that chubby man's name was Brown'
He then frowned
"Fair enough"
"Ok, we need to get out now, he may return any second now"
After hearing this, the man frowned more and his face became darker
"I… see"
"Ok sir, go grab something that takes a while to burn and let it catch some fire of that big fire over there"
"Why?"
"How else are we going to escape safely?"
"I see…"
I run and grabbed the gasoline tank from under the shelves and spread it around the path we were going to take
I had of course formed a plan before coming here, even if it wasn't anything special.
There was no way the man that tortured 2 people so much was just going to sit still and let them get away and he probably wasn't alone. A guy that had this much equipment for torture was most likely a part of a dangerous group. We needed to leave no trace.
I finally used up all the gasoline and created what will be a wall of fire that would hopefully stop anyone from chasing us.
*phew*
I touched my forehead and it was full of sweat. This incident was too stressful for me but, fortunately with this, it was all over.
"Now sir, if you'll do the honors"
The man then, with his son in one hand and a wooden plunk that was slightly on fire on the other then responded with a grim look on his face.
"Wait, we forgot the teddy bear"
"The teddy bear?" I looked at him with a questioning look. I didn't even remember what that was.
"Yes… a teddy bear, it was gifted from his mother before she died, it is very important to him" he said as he looked at his son with a sad face.
"Dad, what are you-"
"It is the only thing he has of her, I would go grab it but I am afraid I will not be able to run fast enough after just getting my senses back and I will slow you down…"
Then he looked at me in the eyes and continued with a sad smile "No, wait… its not important now, we should run lit the fire and run away"
He then approached the gasoline with the wooden plank
"Wait… I can run and get it now, we have enough time to get it" I replied hurriedly.
I didn't remember what it was but I could probably recognize it if I saw it, it sounded like it mattered a lot to both of them and it wouldn't really hurt to try finding it for a bit.
I ran back to the place of the alley were the child was tied up and looked around, there didn't seem to be anything there that I could recall as a teddy bear.
"Sir, did you see where the man put it?"
"I… I'm sorry kid…"
The man then suddenly dropped the wooden plank on the gasoline and a huge fire lit up.
"What… what are you doing?" I said
"DAD" the kid shouted
"Why did you drop it? … now…now that good person can't escape!"
"Let's go" said the man
"WHY?" I exclaimed angrily
The man then turned around and looked at me while avoiding my gaze.
"That man… he won't get stopped by just a small fire… it will have no affect on him so…"
"What are you talking about?"
'So he trapped me to be a diversion? So he could have time to escape with his son while I, the person that risked his life to save them, am getting killed?'
"So you don't even know what John Brown is?" He said with a frown
"Your ignorance has cost you your life, good luck on your next life kid"
"DAD, NO"
Gradually, the voice of the child screaming died down. All voice disappeared and only the sound of the fire burning fiercely could be heard.
I gritted my teeth
'So this is the feeling of betrayal'
I felt like this wasn't the first time I had felt this feeling.
I turned around and tried to find another place I could escape from but I heard an old door opening revealing a creaking sound. My body froze as I stared at the man who came through the door.
"Ohhh? What do we have here?"