She stood there watching as Ralph struggled to escape from the man, tears gathering in her eyes. "Ralph!" She called crying.
"Take her away, Sam. Please take her away. Run with her." Ralph pleaded.
Sam was startled to hear Ralph call his name and ask him to escape with his sister. The same boy who had refused to let him look at his sister let alone touch her, was pleading with him to hold his sister and run with her.
"Please!" Ralph screamed, more like an order.
Sam stepped forward ready to grab Kidaya and do as told, but she moved away, resisting. "Your brother says I should take you -
"I am not leaving without Ralph!" Kidaya yelled moving away and closer to the door where Ralph still struggled with the bulky man. She was tired of everyone always asking her to run away while they stayed behind and died. She was tired of running away alone! She was tired of leaving the people she knew behind and running to save herself. She was tired of losing people she cared about. First, it was all the people who worked at her home, next had been her father, then her mother, then Commander Ben. And now, Ralph? She would not, leave him behind!
"Leave Kidaya. Go with Sam and Miya." Ralph says when he saw her begin to take slow steps towards the door.
"I am not leaving without you, Ralph. I will not!"
"If you come out of there little girl, I will let your brother go. If you don't, I will do really bad things to him that won't leave him alive when an done. Come out here." The Slave Master says.
"Don't, Kidaya." It was Miya this time. "He will take you back to those people, those men, he was chasing you in Vianto."
The man slightly lets go of Ralph, his full attention on his prize. "Don't mind your friends. I won't. Come out and save your brother." He persuades with a fake smile on his face.
Ralph looks at Kidaya and knew she was going to take that step. He needed to do something, and fast. Ralph bends and bites the man again on that same spot and he yells and lets go of Ralph again for a second. Ralph tried to run to the door but the Slave Master put his leg across, causing Ralph to fall. He tried to get up and run away again but the man caught his leg just as he was about to dash through the door.
"Grab my hands," Sam said rushing close to the door and stretching out his hand towards Ralph. Ralph did as told, grabbing tightly onto Sam's hand, and Sam began to pull. But the Slave Master was no small man, Sam could not pull Ralph away from the man's grasp. Miya threw away the bag she was holding and came to join her brother in pulling on Ralph's hand. But it wasn't working.
"Kidaya!" Miya called. "Join us."
But Kidaya wasn't paying attention. She was busy searching for something. Her eyes glinted when she finally found one. Pieces of broken bottles some feet away from them. Grabbing onto the big part of it, she hurries back to the door. When the man saw her rush forward, he smiled thinking she had finally agreed to follow him, but he was wrong. He was still smiling when Kidaya slashed the piece of broken bottle in her hand across his face, tearing from his left cheek to his right eye.
"Ahhhh!" He screams letting go of the boy and covering his right eye with both hands.
Ralph quickly runs through the door before falling to the floor and heaving out. He turns to look at the man whose blood began to fill the floor around him.
"Quick, let's get out of here before the ship authorities come and find us here," Sam says running away. The rest followed.
Ralph was about to run when he realized his ankle was twisted. The man's grip on his leg must have broken his leg. Sam runs back and helps Ralph up, supporting him, and they begin to run. Behind them, they could still hear the man screaming in pain, and people had begun to gather on that part of the ship. Some even ran past the children, towards the direction of the scream.
*
After what seemed like a week, the ship finally decked on land in another nation. For the past few days, the children had hidden themselves in the VIP section of the ship among their belongings in one of the rooms. Sam and Miya had sometimes sneaked out of their hiding place to go find some leftovers or anything they could eat which was always barely enough, but they always managed. Kidaya always stayed with Ralph who still couldn't walk well, she always stayed with him to avoid being seen by any of the Slave Masters men and ship authorities who were always searching for them.
"We should leave now," Sam said.
"No." Miya protested. "We can't."
"And why?" Sam asked her.
"I saw some men, they had the same swords those men had." Miya turns to look at Ralph and Kidaya. "The ones who were searching for you two when we were about to board the ship."
"The Faceless Men." Ralph whispers.
"Is that their name?" Miya asked but got no response from Ralph. "Anyways, the Slave Master is with them too, and they are searching every one emerging from the ships, all the ships not just this one. They are searching for you."
"Quickly, search all the rooms and compartments." Came a voice from a distance not too far away.
They were here. They were onboard the ship now. The Faceless Men. Ralph begins to search for where they could run to. But they were bottled in, there was no way to run to. Sam rushes to the side of the ship and looks down at the water below. They were at the back of the ship and the water at the back was deep, compared to the front which was on dry land.
"We have to jump." Sam says turning to look at everyone.
Ralph stares at him like he has grown two heads. "Are you joking right now? You can't honestly be saying we should jump from such a high place into the ocean. We will drown before we make it to dry land."
"But if we continue to stay here we will be caught by those men who are chasing you two, and we may be killed for helping you and your sister. Miya and I don't deserve that for helping you two all this time." From a distance, they heard the foots of many people running in their direction. "We have to jump. Ralph!"
"We can't jump. Kidaya will dro-" he was cut half way by the sound of something heavy falling into the ocean and making a sound. They all quickly looked around. Kidaya was missing. "Kidaya!" He called looking around frantically. She couldn't have been the one... She wasn't... "Kidaya!"
Miya rushes to the side of the boat and looks down, there was Kidaya in the water, looking up at the boat. "She's here." Miya says pointing into the ocean.
Ralph quickly hops on one feet to the side of the boat. "Kidaya!" He called when he saw her in the water.
"They can't catch me." Kidaya says shaking her head, eyes on Ralph.
Ralph understood completely what she meant. The sound of foots got closer.
"Ralph !" Sam called in a warning tone.