"Can you walk?" Diego approached Alec, who struggled to stand up among the rubble. "Yeah, I'm okay. Come on, let's go". Diego then assisted Alec to the bus and drove off towards his home.
"I'm sorry for putting you in that situation. They cornered me, so I was not able to move at the moment", Alec apologized. Diego shrugged it off. "Don't worry brother, it's not your fault. It's the mafia", Diego said and became silent. Alec looked at him and felt bad. It was obvious he was hurt about his dead men.
This game is even harder than I thought. Anywhere I go, these mafia men would locate me and try to kill me. I have to end this game before I unnecessarily died, Alec thought determinedly.
He looked at Diego and his men again. Did they realize they were just NPCs? Are they aware of themselves, or are they just a series of algorithms designed to help players achieve their goals? Alec wasn't even sure.
When they approached the apartment, Alec and the rest dropped down and headed to the apartment. Suddenly, Alec knew something was amiss. "Stop", he said. Diego stopped in his tracks and became wary. He looked around the neighbourhood but didn't see anything out of the ordinary.
"What is it, brother?" Diego asked Alec with a raised brow. "I don't think we should go in", Alec replied. Just then, one of Diego's men that were sent to gather intel ran towards them. "Sir, sir", he called as he panted.
"Hey man, Marco, what's wrong?" Diego asked confused as he approached Marco. "Sir, ahem. We were ambushed. There were many of them, they carried.... humph, guns...", Marco said amidst breaths. "Calm down Marco, come on say it", Diego scolded.
"While we were following one of the bodyguards to note their time of shift, somehow one of them saw us, and they ambushed us. But I was quick. They pursued us and killed us all. Fortunately, I was faster than them. I ran all the way here to tell you the information we managed to gather".
Diego's frown deepened on hearing his story. "How did they know of your location, Marco? Were you careless?" Marco shook his head negatively. "No sir. We did our job good. It was just a case of miscalculation. They were ruthless sir".
Diego sighed deeply and rubbed his forehead in stress. "Alright, alright, no problem. You said you have the information you want to tell me", Diego said. Marco's eyes lit up and raised his finger. "Yes, I do. But I cannot show it to you now. The blueprint you gave us was with the leader of the group, and he was killed. I have to show you the blueprint inside. Please let's go inside", Marco gestured for them to go in.
Diego nodded and ordered his men to enter the apartment. "Diego, no one should enter that apartment", Alec warned again as he sized up Marco, who appeared nervous and was shaking.
"Why brother, why we do not go to the apartment? Is there anything you know you are not telling me? Speak up man", Marco said slightly flustered. Alec bent down and examined the sand on the ground.
Marco, who was seeing this, became nervous, and he looked at his leader in agitation. "Sir, please _we don't have much time. They probably must be after me. Let me tell you this quick before I die".
"No, no one is dying here again. I've lost so much today, I cannot afford to lose again. Santiago, speak up quickly if there is anything you want to tell us", Diego stared at Alec who was staring intently at the sand.
"Diego, what is the tire track type of this bus?" Alec asked Diego without looking up. "Uhm, asymmetrical pattern, why?" Diego asked, not understanding where Alec was going with this question.
Alec knew about cars a lot. Due to the number of cars students brought to school every day, Alec learned to identify the owner of a vehicle through the tire tracks on the ground. He did it out of boredom though, as he didn't have anything better doing while he was trekking to school each day
Although he could not fully remember all the owners of each car by their tracks, he was confident of himself when he sees a track that was unfamiliar to him, he would know.
Right now, he noticed a car track that was not too common among vehicles. "Diego, come look at this. Is this the tire track of the bus?" Alec asked as he pointed at the sand.
Diego bent down and squinted at the sand to get a proper look at it. "No, it's not. Could it be that someone had come here before us?" Diego asked as he looked at Alec with curiosity. Alec simply nodded
"Sir, there is no meaning to what Santiago is saying, no offence. These tire tracks could be anyone's car. Neighbours like to use this space to drive their cars out of the apartment often", Marco said in disdain.
According to Diego, what Marco said made sense. "Alright brother, if there was anything suspicious we will be ready okay? Let's approach slowly and carefully. There might be people inside", Diego said, trying to make the best between the two conflicts.
Alec subtly looked at Marco, who's breathed a sigh of relief. Something was telling him Marco was hiding something. He desperately wanted all of us to go inside the house, which raised red flags.
"Why don't you go in first?" Alec suddenly made a suggestion, looking at Marco. "What?" Marco asked angrily. "What is wrong with you Santiago? Do you want me dead? Please, let's go inside and talk about this", Marco said, feeling really frustrated.
"We are all going, but do us the honours by going first", Alec insisted. Diego wanted to say something but ultimately didn't. "Alright, if you are suspecting me, here it is, I am going", Marco said with anger as he approached the entrance of the house.
Alec didn't say anything as he stared at Marco to notice if anything unusual would happen. "You always say stick to each other, trust each other. But what is he doing? He is f**king dividing us right. Trust me..."
Bang!
There was a ground-shaking explosion, and Alec and the crew were blasted away by the shock wave. Even from a distance, one could feel the ground vibrate as the magnitude of the explosion was big. The building blasted apart as huge chunks of rocks were fired in all directions.
_It was sheer luck that most of the force was transferred to the roof, otherwise Alec's body would have been torn apart. Although he was alive, he was in immense pain, as his body was aching from all parts of his body. The flying rocks did a number to his body.
To his relief, his wounds were not too deep. He was still able to move, which was a relief. He located Diego, who was buried amongst the stones.
Alec separated the rocks and dragged Diego from the rubble despite the aching pain he was feeling. "Come on, wake up!" Alec screamed as he tried to wake Diego up, but he wasn't responding. Alec slapped him several times, but there was no reaction.
Feeling despair, he started a chest compression rejuvenation. He pumped his chest many times, but Diego wasn't responding. Alec felt very depressed. He failed to handle the painful realization.
It can not be, Diego cannot die here. No!
Out of all the calamities Diego had been subjected to, he always left unscathed. Even Alec started to believe he could not die. But right now, he was facing the cold hard truth here. Just like he said, anyone can die at any time
Alec cried on his body as firefighters' sirens were blaring in the streets. With all the times he spent with Diego, he had a very good relationship with him. This amazed him a lot because he didn't like to bind with people, not after his mom died.
As much as he hated to deny it, he saw Diego as his older brother. He was like a little boy that saw his older brother as a mentor, a friend, a teacher. Diego had taught him many things he knew. Without him, he would have died even before the game started. Without him, he would not even know how to use a gun.
Without him, he would not be the fulfilled person he was today. He looked around the rubble and saw that even his men were all dead, in worse condition than Diego. He took out the chain necklace he usually wore all the time. He wanted to use this to remember him.
"Item found: Goddess of Luck. Added to Possession."
Amidst his tears, he was surprised that this was a lucky charm. He wanted to ask himself why, but the firefighters pulled over outside of their apartment. Alec ran to the nearest wall and climbed over.