Chapter 2_
His eyelids blinked as he struggled to open his tired eyes.
"Damn!" He said as he remembered where he was. It was really ridiculous to even think how he had managed to fall asleep in such a horrible place.
He couldn't see a thing and that made everything more frustrating. He had gotten over the blood and skulls around him because he was pretty adaptive to any surrounding, even a place as awful as this was still adaptable by him.
Then suddenly, he heard a loud noise from far above and then booming footsteps.
"Who is there?" Hr asked, yelling at the top of his newly retained voice.
His question was answered by the falling of a long rope from above.
"Grab the rope!!" A male voice yelled from above.
He walked, staggering to the rope and grabbed. "I have it!!" He yelled back.
"Great. Hold it firmly. If you don't, you're going to die." The voice warned.
He nodded his head as he gripped the rope. "I'm ready..."
The rope was pulled with so much force that in few seconds, Henry found himself on the edge of a broken ground, in front of several armed men.
Quickly, he backed away from the massive hole on the floor which looked endless.
The guards laughed. "How did you find the hole?" One of them asked amidst laughter.
Henry scowled at them. "Who are you people?"
"Unnecessary question." One of them replied.
"Please let me go." Henry pleaded.
"Not yet." The hugest one among the guards walked towards him. "Someone seeks your presence."
"Someone? Who?" Henry asked.
"You'll know when you meet her " The huge one said as he grabbed Henry by the waist and lifted him above his head, and placed him on his broad and muscular shoulder.
"What are you doing?" Henry asked as he attempted to wriggle out of the man's grip.
"None of your business." The man said as he ignored the punches Henry gave him like it wasn't having any effect on him.
They walked in an elevator which was shiny and new, then after some long minutes, the elevator door opened and Henry was carried to brightly lit long passage which was white all round.
There was nothing in the endless passage which made Henry wonder where they were actually going to.
After walking for a while, the four guards which accompanied Henry stopped by a bare white sparkling wall and to Henry's amazement, the wall there gave way to a wooden door.
"What is this?" Henry asked with his eyes and mouth agape.
"This is... Magic." A guard replied.
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Claudia and Hugh, after running out of Colonel's Mark Augustus's office, walked into a cafeteria in silence.
The initially buzzing and noisy cafeteria became as silent as night as they both strolled in.
The awkwardness of it all, made Hugh attempt to run off but Claudia restricted him and led him to a seat close to a floor to ceiling window.
A young waitress walked to them and asked for their order.
"Fries with Ketchup." Claudia said.
The waitress stared at Hugh and smiled. "Should I get you your normal Chicken fried Bacon with peanut butter and a medium sized bucket of ice cream Or your favourite..."
Hugh stopped the waitress by raising up his hand. "Get me water. A cup of water."
Both Claudia and the waitress stared at each other in surprise and then back at Hugh.
The waitress questioned Claudia with her eyes and Claudia simply shrugged her shoulders and mouthed the words 'I don't know.'
"Fine." The waitress said at last. "Your order is on it's way."
She turned around and walked away, leaving Claudia and Hugh alone and in silence.
Claudia cleared her throat. "It seems like many people have indeed read today's newspaper."
Hugh nodded his head and let out a loud sigh. "I guess we're ruined."
Claudia felt like saying something comforting to Hugh as it hurt her so much seeing him sad, but she didn't know how to boost his mood as she herself felt really bad.
This had always been her dream. Being a field agent is everything she had hoped for as a young child. What kept her going. Now, it was gone, just like that, all hope just disappeared and the only thing she could do was eat a bunch of French fries with the regular ketchup.
Life was messed up. Hilariously messed up.
She didn't really care about the people talking about them in the cafeteria or the number of times she heard her name being whispered in people's mouth, she didn't even care about anything anymore as all she really cared about had been taken away from her.
The waitress returned with her fries and Hugh's room temperature water. "Have fun." The waitress said as she dropped their order and walked away to attend to other customers.
After Hugh drank his water, he lowered his head and faced the tiled floor, with his hands trembling.
"Hugh, are you okay?" Claudia asked.
"Yes. I... think I need fresh air." He said as he began rising up
"Fine, let me go with you." She said as she wrapped her fries.
"No." He said. "I'm fine. I guess I just need some space. I'd be back soon."
"Be careful, Hugh."
He nodded his head and began walking away.
Somehow she knew something was wrong. Was it from his stance, or the posture he assumed when he walked away?
Anyway it was, her instincts turned out right as usual, as Hugh walked a few steps outside the cafeteria, he suddenly collapsed to the floor.
"Hugh!!!"