The second that voice yelled "Found them!!"
the whole world detonated inside Neo's chest.
Aiden jerked so hard his head hit the underside of the metal shelf.
Pia's breath cracked like someone squeezed the air right out of her lungs.
And Neo… Neo didn't even blink.
He grabbed both their wrists so tightly Aiden winced.
"Don't. Move." Neo breathed, voice shaking but deadly serious.But it was too late.
Heavy boots slammed across the supermarket tiles fast, confident, hunting.
They were close, so close the shelves vibrated with each step.
Pia whimpered. Aiden pressed his palm over her mouth, whispering "shhh, shhh…" but he himself was trembling like a leaf in a storm.
Neo lifted the phone to his ear again.
Lucas was still yelling, voice sharp with fear:
"NEO ARE YOU THREE STILL THERE?! TALK TO ME"
Neo spoke in the lowest whisper possible:
"Lucas… they planted a tracker. They're inside. We're boxed in."
There was a beat of silence on the line.
Then,"Neo, listen to me. You need to find an exit NOW".Glass shattered somewhere at the far end of the store.
Pia gasped and clutched Neo's arm.Aiden's phone vibrated in his hand so violently he almost dropped it.
Kellan calling.
He answered, whispering harshly, "Kellan..Kellan we're stuck"
Kellan's voice came through like thunder, furious and terrified
"Aiden, where are you?! I'm two minutes away! Stay where you are do NOT run unless Neo says run do you hear me?!"
Aiden let out an ugly, broken sob. "Kellan… Kellan they found us… Kellan they found us"
"I'm coming. Do not let anyone touch you. You hear me? Aiden. Look at Neo. Do what he says."
Aiden shut his eyes but nodded, whispering "okay… okay…". Neo listened to both calls at once, heart beating a thousand beats a second.
Then
A shadow stopped in front of their aisle. A long, slow footstep.
Another.
Then a voice, too calm, too amused:
"Come out, little rats… I know you're here."
Pia's nails dug into her brother's skin.
Aiden's entire soul left his body for a second.
Neo's throat tightened he realized exactly what was happening.
"They're sweeping the aisles," he whispered so quietly Lucas barely heard.
"If they reach us… that's it."
"Neo," Lucas said, his voice dropping into something cold, deadly, controlled.
"You three need to MOVE. NOW. Create distraction. Anything. Break something. Throw something. Just get out."
Neo nodded.
"Okay," he breathed. "We run in three."
Pia shook her head violently, tears streaming. "Neo I can't...I can't run" he never thought in his life he would ever see pia cry like this it moved so many emotions in him.
"You WILL," Neo whispered fiercely, gripping her face with both hands. "You hear me? You WILL."
Aiden wiped his eyes on his sleeves, swallowing a sob. "If I die here I swear I'll haunt you both". "Aiden shut up," Neo hissed.
The shadow got closer.
They could hear the man breathing.
Neo mouthed:
3…2…1..
A loud crash exploded from the opposite side of the supermarket.
Metal shelves toppled like dominoes,bags of rice burst open.Glass bottles exploded.
Even the men who were hunting them gasped.
Neo froze.
He didn't make that noise.Aiden didn't,Pia didn't and it seemed neither did this men
So who
A gunshot blasted the ceiling.The lights flickered.
Boots scrambled.
Someone yelled: "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!"
Another voice screamed "THERE'S SOMEONE ELSE HERE"
Neo's breath seized.Someone else?
Kellan?Lucas?Elijah?
No.No voices matched.
These men were panicking like they'd seen a ghost.
Aiden grabbed Neo's sleeve. "Neo, Neo WHAT'S HAPPENING"
Then,the fire alarm erupted.
Sprinklers blasted down on them like rain.
Everything drenched, cold, chaotic.
Pia screamed.
Neo grabbed both of them.
"NOW! WE RUN"
But before they could move, a figure stepped into their aisle.
Tall. Dark clothes. Hood dripping from the sprinklers.
Face shadowed.A gun in one hand.
Something small and metallic in the other.
He tossed the object on the floor near them.
It slid across tiles…
and stopped right in front of Neo's shoe.
Aiden stared at it.
Pia's eyes widened.
It was a black circular badge…
with a symbol engraved on it.
A symbol Neo recognized instantly. Because he had a clear view of this badge.
A symbol that did not belong to Lucas.
Or Matteo, Or Kellan.
It belonged to...
"Found you," the figure said quietly. Then he lifted the gun.
Aiden's scream tore through the aisle.
Pia grabbed Neo's arm.
Neo's phone slipped from his hand.
Lucas shouted from the line:
"NEO? NEO?! WHO IS WITH YOU NEO SAY SOMETHING-"
But it was too late.
The hooded man pulled the trigger.
BANG.
And everything went white.
The shout echoed through the aisles like a gunshot. The bullet had hit one of the other guys that earlier came to hunt them. It seemed they we're two separate groups hunting them.
Pia gasped and slapped her palm over her mouth so hard her nails scraped her cheek.
Aiden froze. His phone slipped from his hand and hit the floor with a tiny clack that sounded like a bomb.
Neo didn't blink.He just whispered
"Run."
But before any of them could even shift from their position.
A hand shot under the shelf and grabbed Neo by the ankle.
Hard.
Neo yelled as he was yanked out from under the metal rack like prey.
"AIDEN..N...NO!!" Pia screamed, scrambling after him.
Aiden lunged forward, grabbing Neo's wrist right as the hooded man dragged him across the tiles.
The man's grip tightened; Neo's nails scraped the floor, leaving long desperate marks.
"Aiden, don't let go!!" Neo's voice cracked.
Aiden's whole arm shook violently.
"LIKE I WOULD EVER LET-!"
Another hooded figure kicked Aiden across the face.
The kick was so clean it sounded like a snap.
Aiden flew sideways, crashing into a rack of cereal that toppled on top of him in an explosion of boxes.
"AIDEN!!" Pia cried.
Neo tried to twist, but the man dragging him slammed a knee onto Neo's spine, pinning him down.
Neo choked on a breath.
Pain burst white behind his eyes.
Then the hooded man leaned down, voice low, amused:
"Found you."
Neo spat blood on his shoe.
"Fuck you."
The man raised a gun clearly provoked.
Pia screamed her lungs out.
But before the trigger could pull
another attacker grabbed Pia by her hoodie and slammed her into a cart.
"A pretty one. Don't struggle," he sneered.
Pia slapped him with all the anger in her small body.
He staggered, shocked she even dared.
"You little"
He lifted his arm to hit her back
"YOU TOUCH HER AND I SWEAR TO GOD!!"
Aiden erupted from the pile of cereal like a demon. Blood poured from his lip, his cheek instantly swelling.
He grabbed the nearest glass bottle from a fallen shelf.
And smashed it on the man's head.
The shattering glass echoed through the entire supermarket.
The hooded man screamed, clutching his bleeding scalp.
Pia ran to Aiden, grabbing his arm.
"Aiden..Neo....NEO!!"
Neo was still on the floor, struggling as two men tried to fully restrain him.
The man on top of him reached for a knife
Aiden didn't think.Didn't blink.Didn't breathe.
He charged.Full force.
He slammed his entire body into one of the attackers, knocking them both across the tiles.
They rolled, fists flying. He didn't know he had it in him.
Aiden was already bruised, bleeding, panting like a hunted animal, but the rage was insane.
The second attacker tried to stab Neo
Neo twisted his torso, kicked the man's wrist so hard the knife skidded across the floor.
Then he flipped onto his back and elbowed the dude straight in the throat. Neo thanked God where those reflexes were coming from.
The man gagged, then neo scrambled to his knees
But another figure stepped out from the shadows.
Tall.Heavy boots.Fully masked.
"Oh God how many are they" neo said
He grabbed Neo by the collar and lifted him off the ground like he weighed nothing.
Neo's feet dangled, kicking.
Pia screamed his name.Aiden saw it
and something unrecognizable flashed in his eyes.
Fear? No.Pure, raw protectiveness mixed with fury.
"Aiden…" Neo choked.
The masked guy slammed Neo into a shelf.
Cans tumbled.Glass shattered.
Neo's head whipped back from the impact.
Blood trickled from his hairline.
"AIDEN!" Pia sobbed, clutching Aiden's shirt with trembling fingers.
Aiden shook her off gently, stepping forward like a wolf with no leash.
"Touch him again," Aiden growled, voice low and shaking,
"and I will end you with my bare hands."
The masked man tilted his head mockingly.
Aiden took another step, Pia grabbed him desperately
"Aiden, don't!". But it was too late,The masked man dropped Neo.
Neo crumpled to the floor coughing
Aiden didn't even get to reach him.
Because,a cold gun barrel pressed against the side of Aiden's neck. A third hooded attacker.
Aiden froze.
His breath hitched. Neo lifted his head, vision blurry.
"Aiden… no…"
The gun clicked loudly, right next to Aiden's pulse.
The room felt suddenly too quiet.Too still.
Pia dropped to her knees beside Neo, hands shaking uncontrollably in a begging manner.
The masked man behind Aiden leaned close and whispered in his ear:
"Found.You."
Aiden's eyes widened
Neo tried to crawl toward him while Pia sobbed. And then
P O W!!
P O W!!
P O W!!
Three rapid gunshots.From the entrance.
Fast, Precise, Professional.
The hooded man holding the gun to Aiden's neck dropped first.
Then the one by Pia.
Then the masked giant turned
Three shots hit his shoulder, arm, chest
dropping him like dead weight.
Aiden stood frozen.Neo's mouth fell open.
Pia covered her ears.
Smoke curled in the air.
The supermarket doors slid open with a soft ding.
Boots stepped inside.Three silhouettes.
One familiar voice.
Cold.Deadly.Terrifying.
"Get your hands OFF my familia."
Aiden's knees almost buckled.
Neo's breath shattered.
Because standing there, gun still smoking
Lucas.
And flanked behind him
Kellan.Matteo.Elijah.
Lucas lowered his gun, eyes locked on the scattered bodies, then on his people.
And that was when Pia whispered the words that hurt neo
"N-neo…
we were really going to die" "no sis we weren't not at all".
It hadn't even ended when the third hodded guy who was shot three times lounged at neo with a syringe right on his neck. Lucas quick to release another bullet straight to his head that finally ended him dead. But neo was already injected with the syringe
"L..Lucas!!!"