"Oh boy, What do we have here?" Haskel, with his snake-like eyes, lifted Kael off the ground and readjusted his hand such that Kael was face to face with him. "The more that I think, the more that I feel that bulge is suspicious. If you had nothing precious to hide, you would have mindlessly thrown it in your sacks. But yet there is something in your pocket that you are trying to keep close." The hateful eyes of Kael blazed at Haskel, as he struggled to get him to release his grip. Both of Kael's hands gripped the arm that trapped him, and he swung his legs uselessly, trying with all his might to escape. "The more you move, the tighter I will grip." Upon hearing this, the boy in his hands stopped flailing around with his legs, though both his hands still gripped his arm, and he still had the hateful expression. "How cute. And the mister behind him, stop what you are about to do. You never know when my hand might tighten." With the smile still present on his face, he looked over the boy's shoulder, to see that his father had set the bag down and was rummaging through, searching for something. Upon hearing this, he froze and stood back up. "Kick the bag closer to me." His father followed the instructions and kicked the bag closer, such that it was in the middle between Him and the man who had his son captive.
Haskel kept smiling. "This won't be painful if you cooperate. I just need to check the item in your pocket. Would you be so kind as to retrieve everything in there and place it on my other hand?" He extends his other hand such that his palm faces Kael.
'Damn, how is he so strong?" Kael was using all his strength trying to get Haskel's hands off of himself to no avail. "...Retrieve everything in there and place it on my other hand." 'I cannot let this bastard get his hands on the crystal.' Kael's mind raced, trying to think of methods to prevent Haskel from getting possession of the crystal. However, the more he thinks, the more he realises that there isn't much he can possibly do. 'Then I'll do that.' The one and only solution flows into his mind.
Reaching down, he grasped the pouch inside his pocket. Then, he tried to quickly pull it out, only to realise that the motion of his hand was obstructed by something. Looking down, he realised that Haskel had cupped his hand over his pocket. "To prevent any unnecessary trouble." Haskel's smile seemed more sinister than before. "Now slowly take it out." Kael followed the instructions, and Haskel's hand cupped over Kael's hand, restricting any sudden movement. "Now open your hands."
Kael absent-mindedly looked at Haskel, before asking: "How am I supposed to open my hands if your hands are grasping so tightly around mine?" He stared dumbly at Haskel, who looked back at him. This standoff persisted for a moment, before Haskel finally loosened his hand slightly.
And in that split second, Kael suddenly pulled his hand away from Haskel's grasp. With his other hand, he grasped the second edge of the pouch, pulled it open, and thrust the crystal inside into his mouth. A moment later, Haskel's hand came closely to his head, snatching up the empty pouch.
'What's this?' Suddenly feeling the empty pouch, Haskel was momentarily caught off guard. 'Ah, the bugger has it.' he saw the momentary shine. 'And he ate it.' he realised this right as he felt a small pressure pushing on his chest. Kael had used his legs to push off Haskel. "He's trying to get away. No matter. His legs can barely reach my body, so the force won't be that much.' True to his thoughts, Kael only swayed backwards, not able to twist himself out. But then, he realised that one of Kael's legs was pulled upwards, in a kicking motion. Before he could react, Kael came down and delivered a spectacular kick on his groin.
Haskel's eyes went wide for a moment as he winced from the pain. His hand went limp for a split second, but then tightened again and remained steady, with Kael still there. But then he felt as if he forgot something.
Kwaaaaaang!
A hard metal rod was swung at his head, producing a loud smashing sound as metal came into contact with bone. Before he knew it, he dropped Kael go and collapsed onto the ground. In the time Kael distracted Haskel, his father had run up, grasped the metal pipe from his sack that he collected earlier, and used it to deliver a blow to Haskel.
Looking at the unresponsive man that was currently sprawled out on the ground, Kael massaged his neck, which had the imprints of the hand that grasped it moments ago. 'Damn, that was uncomfortable." He muttered under his breath. However, his father was panicking. "What are you waiting for? Run, you idiot! We were noticed!" "Hmm?" Kael listened. Truth be told, he could hear shouts from below, and the rusting of debris that came from someone trying to get up was evident. The hit had caused too much sound. Pulled back to reality, his father took his hand, leading him away.
"Did you eat the crystal?" A while later, when they were a good distance away such that they couldn't see the body anymore, his father asked him. "No, I just put it in my mouth." Kael opened his mouth to reveal the glowing, white crystal. "Good, keep it there." His father had a slight look of disgust before becoming more serious. "I didn't think to hide it there, which means it's a good place to hide."
What they didn't notice was the slight fade of the glow on the crystal.
They both approached the ledge once again and peeked over to survey the situation. The patrol was noticeably thinner than before. "About 10 people have gone to investigate. It's safer to go down now." Nodding to himself, his father pointed at a place, far from the place where Jimmy had died, where only 2 ant-sized creatures were moving about. "We will aim for that place for the best chance of escape. Let's strategise and come up with a plan." 5 minutes later, they prepared to descend.
"Pull down your hood and crawl." Following his father's instructions, Kael pulled up his hood and crouched down in a low belly crawl position, revealing only a grey speck to anyone who looked at them from afar. Like camo gear, the grey blended in with the background, and while not perfect, it was good enough such that, as long as someone didn't concentrate on their area, they would avoid detection. Since the place they were about to traverse was the closest area to the town, it was also the place that has been scavenged the most, meaning most of what was left were just large metal parts which were more than abundant, and small fragments which were too small to be useful.
Together, they crawled over the edge of the hill, revealing the town on the other side. Through a little sliver in his hood, Kael could see the endless low-rise shabby buildings that covered the ground past the border right as the place the trash ended, with dingy alleyways going through every small intersection. Right at the edge were numerous dark figures that paced the area. At the distance they were at, they could be mistaken for ants.
They carefully crawled down the stretch that separated them from the town, hiding between large chunks of garbage that acted as a second layer of precaution. There were quite a few large scraps that they could hide behind. When they had cover, they rested, and when their back was exposed, they would crawl hurriedly to the next large debris for cover. Like this, they slowly made their way down. Reaching the 10 meter mark from the end of the junkyard, they could now more carefully see the people patrolling the border.
They hid behind the last chunk of debris that blocked them from being discovered, which was a car door, to avoid detection. They looked at each other in anticipation, before Kael's father nodded, signalling the start of the plan. Grasping his sack which was full of scrap metal in one hand and Kael's sack which was full of half eaten food in the other, he stood up and made himself known.