9 Episode 3: The Transport Museum (1)

The fire was spreading faster than Sam thought it would.

"Ah... if I didn't make that mistake," Sam blamed himself.

Sam was running in front of me. "Sam, focus! Where are we heading now?"

Sam thought, "We were supposed to head to Playable to get the AR[1] glasses. They have infrared functionality and can track where the fire has spread and if there are any soldiers ahead of us but now since the fire has spread so much, we will have to go out blind! We can't take the risk anymore."

"Change of plans!" Sam shouted. "Turn left!"

We all ran left and then I busted open the 'emergency exit only' door with a swing of my leg. While holding on to Rose's hand, Sam guided us out of the building towards the car park.

Filled with crashed cars located everywhere, we looked for a hiding spot.

"Hey, Sam! This way!" I pointed to my right. There was a lorry with its side door wide open.

We quickly hid inside and I closed the door shut. Luckily, the storage space was connected to the driver's seat and I was able to climb over.

I turned back and said to them, "Stay here, I'll go check what's going on outside from the windows."

They nodded.

"The entire building's on fire," I muttered. Deep black smoke was rising sky high and the glass windows began to shatter one by one. Some of the cars' smoking flame blocked my vision and I couldn't see the door we exited from but I saw something moving. I squint my eyes and looked closer. Some sort of black silhouette moving around in the distance.

"It's the soldiers!" I shouted.

Sam poked his head through, "The original plan was to smoke them out anyway."

He turned around looking at Rose.

"We were supposed to get those AR glasses. Then it would be easy to follow them to their base. We don't have it now but we still need to follow them. There's got to be a commander somewhere..."

"Seems like they are regrouping," I said.

"Rose put these masks in your bag and let's get going," Sam said.

"Hey Sam, they are about to leave!"

I slowly opened the door and we crouched our way towards them.

* * *

As we were following them, the surrounding looked familiar. Ahead was WacDonald's[2] and across the street was the bus station.

Oh, the bus station! That's right next to the Transport Museum.

As we turned the next corner, it was there. We saw a lot of people screaming and gathered around near the front entrance of the Transport Museum. They were surrounded by armed soldiers. The soldiers we followed blended into the circle.

"Damn it... looks like we can't go further," I said.

"Not necessarily," Sam replied with a smirk on his face. "Remember our deal earlier?"

"You don't mean..."

"Yes."

Sam looked at the group of three heading towards the circle. "You see over there."

The family of three approached the soldiers and they let them pass.

"We should do the same," Sam confirmed.

We ran and headed straight towards them. I held on to Sam's hand and Rose held on to the other one. Jets flied above us as we kept hearing the sounds of bombing in the distance.

As we passed the soldiers, the ground suddenly shook immensely and Sam fell to the ground. The soldiers held their guns high, aimed around and then one of the soldiers pointed it towards Sam.

"Hey, kid," the soldier said. "Where're your parents?"

Sam was facing the floor and his hands touching the ground. He started to tremble and he turned his head towards the soldier's gun. "I... my parents..." Sam teared up and started to cry while rubbing his cheeks with his hands held like a ball.

"Hey, hey!" the soldier exclaimed.

I slowly approached Sam. "Hi... erm... we found him on our way here... his mum-"

The ground shook again.

The soldier looked around and then said, "Alright, alright, whatever, you can go!"

I picked Sam up in one arm and held Rose's hands in the other and we headed for the entrance to the Transport Museum.

* * *

The Transport Museum, a place where all ancient vehicles are stored and displayed. Coventry, the birthplace of bicycles and 'horseless carriages'; a truly mesmerising city. The magnificent expansion brought the city to its peak during the 20th century. And here we are now, the history of it all displayed right in front of us, the Transport Museum.

"Hey, put me down now," Sam muttered.

"Hm?"

"I said put me down!" He repeated.

"Ah..."

I let let him descend on to the ground.

Sam... this kid is extraordinary. He can fake cry and tear up in no time in front of the soldiers.

Sam squeezed his way into the front. We could still see him so it was alright to let him roam freely for a bit.

"I still can't believe it. When I questioned him about the car explosion back in the security room, he answered quickly and was mostly expressionless. His face was as cold as ice but just a moment ago when he was crying, it looks really sincere and realistic." I shook my head. "I guess some people are born to be actors..." I said while sighing.

Rose slightly tugged the clothes on my arm and spoke up. "Hey... when you asked him... he was emotionless but just right now... I think, maybe he really did cry."

"I don't quite get it, what do you mean?" I questioned.

"What I mean is... he really let his emotions take over and cried. But I do admit, he's a good actor."

"If that's the case, he must really have good self control. He was able to calm himself down and stop crying as soon as we walked away from the soldiers!"

"...yeah... I feel sorry for him. His mother died right in front of him as he was unconsciously carried away. He was helpless and couldn't do anything and all we did... was watch it explode."

Rose shifted her face towards the ground. I could feel her hand trembling in fear as she was grieving for a stranger she doesn't even know properly.

I squeezed her hand slightly. "It..." I started to say. "It's going to be alright now. We've arrived."

"What?" she said looking as me confused.

"This is the place, the place Janda wanted us to come to."

We quickly paced towards the Transport Museum and entered the front door.

*****

[1] 'AR' stands for Augmented/Mixed Reality.

[2] 'WacDonald's' is a fast food shop.