THE DESIRE TO SURVIVE

"Yuri, swing harder!" An enthusiastic feminine voice cheered on.

"Such weak arms." A deeper voice boomed out amid belly-deep laughter.

"Daddy! Yuri not weak!" A high-pitched pouty voice whined out.

"Of course, my Yuri is a superhero!" The person with the deep voice boomed out cheerfully.

"Yay! Yuri, superhero!" The high-pitched voice screamed out.

"Yes-"

The voices became gradually distant, until it all became mute, just to be replaced by a high-pitched ring.

Pain

That was what Yuri felt as he tried to desperately crawl out of the underground tunnel that led to the outside world from his now ambushed estate, the high-pitched ringing in his head did nothing to help.

He had no idea of why he suddenly had an echoic flashback from his childhood, something that he doubts he would have remembered under normal circumstances.

Groaning from the immense pain he felt all over, Yuri tried to sit up to rest his back against the tunnel wall. After successfully sitting up, he hastily reached for his inhaler that his mother had frantically stuffed in his hands before he departed from his parents. Yuri hurriedly shook the little plastic, then breathed in deeply to puff the medicine into his mouth, shaking the inhaler in between puffs. He repeated this action for about five minutes before he was convinced that he had caught his breath enough to continue his journey.

But no, his limbs refused to move, they remained stationary as Yuri mentally begged them to at least twitch.

Excruciating pain.

Yuri could feel himself blacking out as he fought against his eyes that were begging for a rest. He was about to succumb to the darkness, but slightly jerked up when he remembered his parents' words.

Survive, mi flor.

Hot tears cascaded Yuri's rosy cheeks, weeping silently as he tilted his head to the back to rest it against the cold wall with the knees folded against his chest. He clutched his chest, right above his heart with both hands as it felt like he was being poked there by a thousand needles.

He continued weeping silently until he remembered that he had limited time and that the bad guys could catch up with him. With a profound determination visible in his now red eyes, Yuri harshly wiped his tears away with the sleeves of his jacket, standing up sluggishly with the help of the tunnel's cold concrete wall. He groaned when he felt a jolt of pain on his right thigh, he looked down to peer at the leg but grimaced when he saw blood oozing from the bullet wound he was nursing. Earlier, he got shot by a stray bullet while still in the estate's main manor, thankfully none of the bad guys has seen him, yet.

Still leaning on the wall partially, Yuri pushed himself from the wall slowly and gently, then opted to stand steadily on his good leg, and partially on the bad one. After making sure that he was steady on the ground beneath his feet, he gave out a sigh of relief.

Placing one foot in front of the other gently and slowly in an attempt to be mobile, Yuri found himself taking little steps with his palm against the cold wall to support a little fraction of his weight. After ten more steps, Yuri found himself gaining a little more momentum. It was in times like these that he wished he had longer legs, but he would make do with his five feet, five inches height for now.

During the ambush, his parents hastily told him that he would find an untrackable car, he was ordered to drive in the car till he reached the capital of the country where he would have to locate an apartment in the city that was bought under his name. Amidst the commotion, his parents also informed him that his surname had been changed to his mother's for his safety. While his parents dumped a series of information on him, Yuri felt extremely confused and scared, but the most prominent emotion he felt was shame.

Shame of not being able to save his parents, even though they always called him their superhero, Yuri scoffed mentally at this thought. He could barely save himself, how would he have been able to save his parents? He was no hero, he was a weakling. Stray tears escaped his eyes, self-pity and guilt swallowed him whole as he tried to keep his eyes focused by blinking away the tears that were almost blurring his sight.

Was he ever going to see his parents again?

How would he survive without his parents? His eighteenth birthday was barely two weeks ago.

He was protected away from the outside world his entire life, so how is he to survive without his parents?

He suspected his parents knew this was going to happen someday. Even if he was kept from the outside world, his parents taught him all the basic things of life to survive. For example, he was taught how to drive all sorts of cars, and how to tend to injuries; his Dad would always allow him to use his injured bodyguards as lab rats, he had been learning how to maneuver all kinds of aircraft since he was sixteen, how to cook, wash dishes, do laundry, clean the house and other basic things even if there were more than enough maids in the estate's main manor. It was like his parents had been training him for this moment, the moment when they would leave him.

Yuri's blue eyes brightened when he saw a beam of sunlight hitting the brick wall a little distance upfront from where he was. Seeing this, Yuri increased his pace by more hasty steps. Getting to the sunlight-illuminated area, he saw a rusty ladder that would lead him outside and he could see the blue sky from where he stood. The distance was a short one, but he was worried about his injured thigh. He begrudgingly lifted his injured leg after placing his good leg on the first step. Gradually but surely, Yuri got to the top and then painstakingly crawled away from the large hole.

His mind was set to one thing, and it was to survive.