15 Operation Lion Den

"Sigh, why do you have to play the knight in shining armour right now?", Panda exclaimed under his breath.

He was outvoted again, although it was much more safe and rational to stop and get back to the others, they didn't seem to see it that way as well.

"Well, now explain to me how we are supposed to do that?", he asked still doubtful.

Vincent didn't have a response to that. He just decided to do something to help their classmates escape, but he didn't really think further into how they could achieve that. It was an emotional decision.

"The metal cages have a key hole! We just need to find the right key and then we can escape together! Simple as that!", Claire answered in his stead.

They looked back to the cages, and indeed, they had some openings that resembled key holes.

"Simple as that? And where are we supposed to find those keys? We are currently stuck in a huge camp, do you want us to look through every one of the tents? Not mentioning the possibility that we might get caught somewhere along the way, do we even have enough time for this?!", Panda refuted her instantly. He agreed to take part in the scouting mission but not in a suicide mission.

"We don't have to look through every tent in the camp.", she responded mysteriously and turned her attention the the floor above her and looked at the staircases next,

"The main keys and most definitly the keys to these metal cages are somewhere in his personal room. They are too important to keep them with somebody else. Everything inside his mansion falls under that category! And if I was him, I would keep my belongings somewhere near me."

Panda looked at her like she said something completely crazy ...which she did.

"You didn't just tell us that you want us to go upstairs into the den of the monster? Gorst's Boss? The one guy we all agreed upon whom we should never cross paths with? That crazy maniac? Right?", he didn't know where to stop, so many reasons stopped them to even meet the person in question and now this girl in front of him suggested to go into his bedroom! And try to steal some keys under his nose! Reckless! Just reckless!

"No, you two don't have to do this. I will go!", Vincent told them. He was willing to take on the risk,

"In the worst case, if something goes wrong, I will scream out loudly and you will run away as quickly as possible! Don't look back and just try to find the other's and tell them what happened!"

"No, you won't go!", Claire stopped him from speaking further,

"I will do it! And don't even try to dissuade me!", she added when Vincent wanted to open his mouth,

"Look, not all of us can go up. We would make too many noises and that guy would definitly wake up. So, only one of us should do it. And I am the lightest one of us all! I've the least risk to wake him or cause any disturbances."

Silence permeated the air. Too many thoughts crossed their minds in that moment. Fear, unwillingness and conviction.

Suddenly a voice spoke from behind them:

"It's ok guy's. You don't have to do this!",

It was Kyle,

"Me and Lora just talked this through, it's not right for us to expect you to get us out! Just go back and try to find some outside help! The police, military whatever. Just go back to safety. We will ... survive somehow.", he tried not to look into their eyes directly. He actually didn't have much hope left in his body to look forward to any kind of help. It was already good enough for him to find out his friends were fine. He didn't have the right to drag them into his mess as well.

"Don't worry Kyle, you are not alone in this. We will get it done somehow just wait for a little more. We are all in the same boat so we have to help each other out!", Claire told him.

She was feeling anxious inside and she clenched her hands into fists subconsciously but she had already made the decision in her heart.

"Panda, can you act as a lookout? In case something happens there? Who knows if people roam around this place again.", she asked him.

He just nodded slightly, looked deep into her eyes and said to her:

"You're really brave! Either brave or reckless ... or both, haha.", and walked off after that. There wasn't much he could do otherwise.

"Be quick, and quite and if something goes wrong, don't do anything stupid and run back to us! We will be here ready and flee together!", Vincent had already accepted her determination and didn't try to talk her out of it. It would be useless and only cost them more time.

She nodded and made her way to the stairs.

In the background the old man just silently watched how all the scenes played out and didn't comment on any of their actions. A curious gleam escaped from his eyes and he let out small giggling sound, too faint for anyone to notice:

"Kekekeke, so young, so brave. New born calves truly don't fear the Lion King, kekekekeke!"

......

Claire put down her shoes to create less friction and sound with the ground and floors. She pulled up her courage and took the first steps upstairs. She slowly lost sight of Vincent and the others as the distance increased and the lighting got worse. She tried her best to calm her heart down and breath in more slowly and steady. It was quite hard when thinking where she was going to and what she was trying to accomplish. The scary and cruel Boss maybe lied in wait for her, expecting her to make one false step and trigger the death trap. She tried to keep these negative and distracting thoughts away from her because she needed to be concentrated now! Her life was at stake her!

After what felt like an eternity she reached the second floor, which was full of wardrobes, cabinets and baskets. She closed in on them as silent as possible and searched for the keys. But it proved to be futile. She only found blades, some food, more weapons, and clothes. If she had the time and the nerves, she might have combed through every possible compartment and take anything useful with her but she couldn't. There were more important things to do.

She made her way back to the stairs again and climbed them up. Somehow ... she had the feeling that he was there, up above on the third floor. That 'Boss'. The maniac, he was there. And as she glimpsed through the opening above her head, only a little, enough to get a general understanding of the room, her premoniton was confirmed. There was a 3 meter wide bed, and a massive body lied there inside the bed sheets. She might have thought he looked cute if the situation wasn't so serious. She was able to accurately asses the the room because there was an opening on the right side, where a glass window should have been. The moonlight shone through the opening and revealed what would have been otherwise hidden from her sight.

Just as she was about to move out, her eyes turned towards the left side of the bed and her pupils shrunk in response! She coverd her mouth with both of her hands to not let any possible sounds out and get herself exposed as a result!

She couldn't believe what she was seeing! She didn't want to! That was impossible! What the Fu#€ was this?!?

She had the instinctive urge to turn around and run away. Forget everything she saw and never come back. But she resisted. She resisted and continued staring at the beast sleeping next to the bed.

It had black fur, looked almost like a three times bigger version of a Rottweiler and ... had three heads! Three enormous massive heads lied on the ground! The heads themselves were practically half as tall as Claire herself!

She didn't want to get any closer to ayn one of them and should just abandon the plan, because the thought of being bitten into three pieces at once was just too gruesome and unbearable! She facing death herself right now and lost all hope and determination she build up before.

But when her eyes left the huge monster and reached the desk right next to it, something glittering fell into her eyes.

On the desk lied a book wide open but the important thing was the object lying upon its pages! A golden key!