CHAPTER 5

The next day they woke up late and all their parents had already arrived. They all took their bath, went to the canteen for breakfast and then went to the hall. They all ran and hugged their parents who were already in the hall.

"Ok, we will give you time to talk to your parents after we have finished what we want to do, you may all take your seats," said Mr. Yen addressing them.

The students and their parents sat down and waited for Mr. Wong.

"I am sure that you are very happy to see your parents and you need more time with them, which can wait, we have something more important to tell you. You are all curious to know why you are here and that is what we will spend the whole day telling you. With me here, I have a video that I want you to watch for a few minutes and then we can go on with our program," said Mr. Wong.

He took his laptop, turned on the projector and played a video. The video was a short one but it was scary and touching that, some students ended up crying. The video showed people who lived in a fenced area, a person would be pushed in that fenced area after every two hours and the people in that place would eat them. The fenced area had more than fifteen people and they would fight for human flesh. Mr. Wong then stopped the video and stepped forward.

"You should thank your parents because if it weren't for them you would have been the ones being eaten," said Mr. Wong.

Hailey stood up and asked, "What do you mean by that sir?"

Mr. Wong signaled for her to sit down and started pacing back and forward, "don't worry, you will soon understand. Seventy years back, there was a man named William Winkle and his wife, Mariah. William reached the age of forty-five without a child and his wife was forty by that time. William was troubled by this and so was his wife. Then one day, he went to his farm to check if everything was all right and heard the cry of a baby. He went to where the baby was and saw that it was alone. He checked everywhere to see if the mother was still around but there was no one and he was happy. He thought that God had answered his prayer, took the child home to his wife.

"Look," he said to his wife, "God has heard our prayers and gave us a child,"

His wife was too scared to touch the child and said to him, "please take that child wherever you took him, I am not going to keep her."

William moved closer to her and held her hand tightly, "look, it's either you take care of this child or you go back to your parents, after all you don't have anyone left."

Mariah knew that she had nowhere to go so she agreed to take care of the child whom they named Harrison. At first, they loved Harrison because he was all they had but after a year Mariah gave birth to a baby boy and they named him Larry and things started to change. They started treating Harrison like a slave to the extent that sometimes he would sleep on an empty stomach. After five years, Mariah gave birth to another boy and she named him Wesley. Life was getting Harder for Harrison; he would spend two days without eating anything. One day, William and his wife decided to go out, he took Wesley and left Larry behind.

Harrison took a knife, went to Larry's room killed him and ate his flesh; all this was in the eyes of the house cleaner. The house cleaner called Mr. Winkle and told him what had happened, afraid that his son Wesley would also be eaten; he took him to his uncle.

When he came back, he tried to kill Harrison but it would not work. So he made a deal with him, Winkle was to bring a human being to Harrison every week so that he could eat or he would go and take Wesley. Afraid of losing his son, he agreed to that and he wanted to revenge his son's death," Mr. Wong stopped because Anne had her hand up.

"Sir, are you telling me that Mr. Winkle never suspected that Harrison was not a normal human being. I watched a horror movie and the horrors had shapeless faces, so Harrison's face was normal, it wasn't like that," she asked.

"Yes, he just looked like a normal boy. Molly can you explain why he was like that," said Mr. Wong.

"Probably his mother was a horror but his father wasn't one," Molly replied.

"How is that possible, who would agree to get married to a horror," Anne asked again.

"It is possible," replied Mr. Wong. "His mother was a horror and his father was a Chinese. His father was mentally ill and he lived in the bush. He met Harrison's mother and she promised to heal him if he had agreed to marry him. Harrison's father agreed because he had no option and he was healed. So you see Anne that it is possible," he said.

"Yeah, it is possible only if you are put into a tight spot. They must have been so desperate at that time, both of them," Anne replied and the others laughed.

"So Harrison kept on bringing many babies, and this meant that more human flesh would be needed. Winkle started kidnapping ten teenagers each week and when our parents heard this, they looked for a way to protect us and sending us to a karate school so that we can learn to fight for ourselves was the only way. Wesley Winkle was our friend but we did not know that his father was behind all these kidnappings until he sold us out. We thought that he was part of us, we thought that he wanted to help us stop whoever was doing this but we were wrong. He went to a karate school with us so that he could update his father of everything we planned. Harrison's father figured out that his children would be in danger so he decided to teach them Karate, he would come every day to teach them until he was fully convinced that they were able to protect themselves," Mr. Wong explained.

"This is weird, so that is why your parents sent you to a karate school because these things were being taught karate by their father," Hailey asked.

"That is right," he replied.

"So the first thing that we thought of was to destroy Harrison's mother and father and we succeeded. All that was left was to fight Harrison, his brothers and sisters," He continued.

"He had brothers and sisters, how many were they?" Mike asked.

"Yes," he replied. "Many babies kept on coming and Harrison would bring them to Winkle. He had no option than to take care of them because he was afraid that his only son would get killed. They were more than fifteen, I can't remember,"

"They were sixteen," Mrs. Wilson told them.

"Sixteen, were they from one family?" Molly was surprised

"Yes," Mr. Wong replied. "But we did not fight only sixteen people, Winkle had his own people, so we were eight and we fought more than twenty- five people. We did not just go and started fighting; Harrison kept the keys of the gate so we had to think of a way to get in. We tricked the guard so that he could take us to the fence and pretended we were dead," he explained.

"How did you trick him?" Jillian asked.

"We slept outside Mr. Winkle's gate and when the guard woke up he found us at the gate. So he just thought that we were the youths that were supposed to be delivered that day," Mr. Lighs replied.

"Weren't ten dead youths supposed to be delivered, didn't he count to see whether you ten or not?" Charles asked.

"No, he didn't count. He just carried us to where Harrison and his family lived. We knew that he would wait until all the ten dead bodies were delivered and we waited when he would start asking why there were only eight bodies. That is when we woke up and started fighting, it was very tough fighting with people who would feed on human flesh but we were brave. When Mr. Winkle got to know what had happened we had already fought the sixteen of them and they were dead. We were only left with fighting with him and his people. It took us more than two hours to defeat them, however we defeated them and I killed Winkle," he told the students.

"So his remaining son took over and started keeping these things again. You killed Harrison's father and mother, where did these ones come from?"Nick asked.

"We only got to know after twenty years that there was another family, it escaped and came back after we had left the forest. Wesley wanted to revenge his father and mother's death and he went to look for another family, which he found. So far there are more than eighty youths that are missing and the police is not doing anything to find out where they are disappearing to," his father replied.

"So what did he want Nick and I for?" Molly asked.

"He thought that kidnapping you and Nick would bring the others to him. He knew that if he kidnapped you, your fellow students would come after you or you would help him to get them," Her father replied.

"What was the ceremony that was to take place the day I was kidnapped?" she asked.

"He wanted to make you part of his team, he wanted to manipulate your brain so that you wouldn't remember anything. He wanted to take out fear from you so that you would be able to communicate with these people," Mr. Wong replied.

"Why does he use black magic?" She asked again and her mother looked at her.

"What mother, I want to know. We are the ones who are going to fight these things and we have to know everything," she told her mother.

"She is right; we didn't tell them anything so they deserve to know whatever they need to know. He uses black magic because he is afraid of being caught by the police, he himself is afraid of these people so black magic is the only thing that will give him courage. If he goes to jail, he gets released within two days, if he is taken to court, and he will win. We believe that you can stop him for good and destroy all the families that are bringing these children," he explained.

"We may go for lunch and come back; there are many things that you should know," said Mr. Wong.

They all left the hall and went to the canteen to eat. The eight students sat on their own and their parents sat on their own table.

"Nick, you really look like your father," Molly teased Nick.

"Please, don't say that. I look like my mother, my dad is not cute like me but my mom is," he replied and the others laughed.

"I'm glad that we now know why we are here," said Anne.

"Yeah, at least we will train very hard. But it is scary fighting with someone who can eat people, we might win the war but every one of us will have lost a finger or an ear at the end," Molly laughed and the others joined her.

"Yes, it is scary but we should not allow that to happen. Especially us without boyfriends or else we might never be loved by anyone," Anne said looking at Molly.

"Come on Anne, losing an ear or a finger doesn't mean that you won't be loved by anyone. Actually, I think that you will find someone who really loves you no matter what. If you are normal, you will not be able to tell if someone really loves or is after something for example your parents' money or something else," Molly comforted Anne.

"Molly is very good at comforting others although she knows that what she will be saying will be impossible," Abby said and the others laughed.

Molly stood up saying, " Ok, maybe for you to take me seriously in whatever I say I have to say it standing up, maybe someone will know that I'm serious. What I said is true, isn't it Mike?" she asked.

Mike looked at Anne and nodded, "yeah, you are right but we have to avoid that," he replied.

They finished eating and went to their rooms waiting for their parents to finish eating so that they would go back to the hall. Nick went to Molly's room, "hey, I was serious about showing you to my mom," he said to her.

"I thought you were joking," Molly replied.

"Yeah, I was joking at that time but now the feeling that I might never see my parents again keeps overshadowing me and I want to do it now" Nick told her.

"Ok, to your mom only because your dad is frightening," Molly said laughing.

"Ok," said Nick calling his mother. "You can come in," he said.

Molly looked surprised, "Oh my God, now," she said panicking.

"Yes, I am sorry for not telling you early. I came with her and left her at the door, so that I could talk to you first before she could come in," Nick kept quiet because her mother came in.

Molly hugged her and they sat down, Nick took Molly's hand and said to his mother, "Mother, this is Molly the one I was telling you about and Molly, this is my mother Mrs. Lighs."

"It's nice to meet to you," Molly said.

"No, it is nice to meet you. You don't know how long I have waited to see you, I am glad," Mrs. Lighs, said holding her hand.

"So am I, Nick told me a lot about you," she said.

"Well, I better go to your father before he starts looking for me," she said leaving.

"Ok, "Nick replied.

As soon as she left Mike's parents and Molly's parents came in with Mike following them, Molly hugged Mike's parents and they sat down.

"Molly really looks like her father, if she was a boy she would have looked exactly like you," Mike's father said.

"Please don't say that, my daughter is beautiful, she looks like me," Molly's mother said.

"Yeah, dad has big nose and mine are perfect so there is no way I can look like him," she said teasing her father.

"I can't explain how happy I am to meet you and your family. I thought that I was going to die without knowing where my twin brother is, today is the happiest day of my life," Mike's father said.

"So are you telling me that after we gave you those phone numbers you didn't call each other," Molly asked.

"What, no. We have visited each other more than ten times, I am happy because I have seen my brother's daughter," he replied.

"Ok, I thought that you had never met," Molly said.

"This must be Lighs' son," Molly's father said.

"Yes, sorry I forgot to tell you. Father, this is Nick, Nick this is my father, mother, his brother and his wife. Nick is mmmmmy boyfriend," Molly stammered.

"Why are you stammering, I was going to ask because Mike has shown us his girlfriend although he seemed not sure of what he was saying," Molly's mother said and the others nodded in agreement.

Molly knew that Mike loved Anne but was afraid to tell her, he did not want to tear the group apart before they had fought the war. She went to him and whispered in his ear, "Want to see you before we go back to the hall."

"Ok," he whispered back.

Their parents then left and went to the hall, Mike remained behind, "what do you want to say?" he asked.

"Don't pretend as if you do not know why I wanted to see you, you like Anne. Don't you?" she asked.

"What do you mean I like Anne? I do not know what you are talking about, I like Hailey but I just do not know if she is the right one for me or not. She is not faithful, she is always on the phone and if I ask her who she will be talking to she snaps at me," he told her sister and Nick.

"Now you are talking, hey I am here to help you so if you don't tell me your problem how will I help you," Molly said.

"I just wish you were not my sister, we were a perfect couple," Mike said. "No offence Nick, you are lucky to have her. I just wish I could find someone like her," Mike said looking worried.

"Hey don't say that," Molly said hugging her brother. "I know someone who is perfect for you, Anne. You should go and talk to her or I will talk to her for you," she said.

"No, I will talk to her myself. You have to talk to Hailey and see if she still loves me or not," Mike said.

"I can do that for you," Nick said.

"How are you going to do that?" Mike asked him.

"Come on, I am a guy. I know how to sweet talk and make her tell me everything," Nick replied.

"Ok, but please don't arouse any suspicions. She might freak out and leave without finishing what she came here for," Mike said.

"I won't," Nick promised.

They all went to the hall, everyone sat with his or her parents.

Whilst they were in the hall, Winkle and his people were having a meeting in his office. They were looking for other ways to take down the students since the first ones did not go well. Winkle looked pale; he had two children so he was afraid to lose them if anything comes up.

"What should we do? Our first two plans failed, this time we have to make a plan that will take them down for good. If they come to fight I am going to lose my children," Winkle said.

"How can you lose them sir, you can just take them somewhere where no one can follow them," Morgan said.

"It is not that easy Morgan, you don't know these things as much as I do, they promised me that if anyone comes to fight them they are going to trace them wherever they will be hiding and will kill them. We have to think of something else that will destroy them for good. I can't afford to lose my children," he said.

One of his people whispered to his friend who was sitting next to him, "its funny right, he is afraid of losing his two children yet he is killing other people's children. He has to feel what it's like to lose your child; these things should kill his children."

"Sshhh, he will hear you and probably throw you into the 'lion's den'," his friend said.

"I think I have a plan sir," Tyler said.

"Bring it up, let us hear it maybe it might help us," said Winkle.

"If it is possible, we might be able to control all the students' brain that is at that school and then they will attack the students and their parents," Tyler said smiling.

" I hate to admit but Tyler might have a point, the only problem is the security is very tight, how do we get in?" Winkle asked.

"Are you forgetting that you have the most experienced hacker, I will hack into their security system and see if I can do it," Tyler said.

"They are human beings Fool, not robots," Winkle said.

"My head is just full of robots, but we still can do it. You can use your magic to control their minds," Tyler told Winkle.

"Now you are talking, that can be possible than what you were saying. We have to make it work or else we will all die," he said.

Winkle's two children Dean and Deon heard everything that was being discussed in that meeting. They knew that if they did not do anything they would all die so they thought of a plan.

They had heard their father talking about the eight students of New York so they decided to look for them. They knew that they were the only people who could save their lives; they were their only chance of survival. Dean grabbed his sister's hand, took her to his room and locked the door. He took his tablet and put it in front of Deon, "these are the eight students father wants to destroy, we have to help them and I believe they will help us in return. If we do not do anything very quickly, we will die. I'm sure you heard one of dad's workers planning to kill us. We have to find the school they attended and go there," Dean, told his sister who was crying.

"Dean, I am scared," Deon told his brother.

"Hey, don't worry. I am here, nothing will happen to you. I will figure something out, stop crying everything will be ok," Dean promised his sister and wiped her tears.

"I have located where they are, how are we going to tell dad?" said Deon.

"We don't have to tell him, he won't allow us to leave the house if we tell him the truth, we have to think of something else to say," Dean replied.

"Something like what that he can buy," his sister asked.

Dean was quiet for a moment and then jumped which startled Deon, he said, "I think I have an idea, we will tell him that we want to go and see uncle and that we won't be long."

"Good idea," Deon smiled.

"Do you have any money with you," he asked his sister.

Deon stood up, went to her room, brought an envelope and gave it to her brother who looked surprised.

"Where did you get all this money?" her brother asked.

Deon smiled and said, "I was saving it for our birthday party, don't pretend to look surprised. I know you have more than that."

"How did you know?" Dean asked.

"Come on, you are my brother, I know you," she replied.

Dean opened his drawer, took out two envelopes, and threw it on his bed.

"Dean and Deon, where are you?" their mother called. They quickly hid the money under the table, took a chessboard and pretended to play chess.

"We are in here mom," Deon called back and went to unlock the door.

She opened the door, peeped in and then closed the door. Deon ran after her, "mom, would you please come, we have something that we want to ask you," she said.

She turned back and followed Deon to Dean's room.

"Before we ask, why were calling us?" Dean asked.

"I just wanted to check if you are ok," she replied.

"Really, is there something we should know you are not telling us," Deon asked her.

"No, there is nothing, what is it that you want to ask me," she asked.

Deon looked at Dean and he nodded, "mom, we want to go and see uncle. Please will you talk to dad for us so that he can allow us to go," she said.

"You know how your father is, he doesn't want you to leave this house on your own," she replied.

"Mother please, we will go with one of your board guards, please please mother," they all begged her.

"Ok, I will talk to your dad, for how long are you going to stay there?" she asked them.

Dean and Deon looked at each other, "just for a week," they both said.

Their mother stood up and said, "I will call you after ten minutes and tell you what he says."

"Thank you mother," they said.

Mrs. Winkle went to his husband's office and knocked. "Can I please talk to you for a second," she said to her husband.

Mr. Winkle came and looked at his wife, "What is it that couldn't wait until the meeting is over?" he asked.

Mrs. Winkle had never heard her husband talk to her like that, she took his hand, "Hey, are you ok?" she asked.

"I am sorry, just that I have a headache," he lied.

Mrs. Winkle knew that he was lying but did not bother to go any further, "Dean and Deon want to go to see their uncle so I thought that I might ask you first before I say yes," she said.

"Why do they want to go there?" he asked.

Mrs. Winkle knew that something was bothering her husband, more than just a headache, "are you sure you are ok? She asked. "You are the one who said that they should be allowed to go wherever they want but now you are asking me why they want to go there. Whatever it is that is bothering you, please don't let it take away my children's happiness," she told him and turned to go.

Mr. Winkle held her hand, "please, forgive me. They can go, just make sure that they go with their guards, I don't want to lose them," he said.

Mrs. Winkle went to Dean's room, "he has agreed, please be careful ok. Roger will go with you, please you must go with him wherever you want to go. It's nine o'clock, you have to pack your clothes and by ten you must be ready," she told them.

"Yes mom," they answered.

Dean and Deon hugged each other; at last, their plan had worked.

"Please don't forget your passport, make sure that you pack clothes that will sustain you for a month or so," Dean told his sister.

By ten o'clock, they had finished packing; they took their suitcases outside so that Roger could put them in the car.

"You two have packed as if you are going there forever," their mother said looking at their suitcases.

"Mother, you know how your children are, we don't want to start wearing other people's clothes after all our clothes are dirty," Deon lied.

"Ok, please greet your uncle for me. Roger, make sure that you go with them wherever they want to go, Deon can be stubborn sometimes but do not do what she wants. Wait for your father; he wants to give you something," Mrs. Winkle said.

"Here, take this, you can use it for whatever you want, Roger please take good care of my children. If anything happens to them I will kill you, you know me," Mr. Winkle said giving an envelope to Dean and kissed them, they then left.

When they had traveled a mile, Dean stopped the car, "Roger, if you want to live you have to do what we want, we have to go to the airport. We are not going to see our uncle but we are going to China, there's something that we want to do, so it's either you go with us or we kill you right here," Dean said with his hands on Roger's throat. Roger knew that the only option was to do what they wanted, if he chose to go back home he would still die so he chose to go with them.

"I will go with you, get your hands off my throat. But you have to tell me why we are going there," he said.

"One of father's workers is planning to kill us and if people come to attack those things that my father keeps we are all going to die. So we cannot just sit and wait for death to come and meet us, we have to go and ask for those students that are at a karate school to help us," Deon explained.

"Wow, it sounds like a good plan," said Roger, "will they protect me also?" he asked.

"Of course they will, even if they don't we will protect you, let us go or we will miss the flight," Dean said pushing Roger inside the car.