49 The Next Stage

'I'm fed up of walking.'

This was all that was on Lukas's mind for most of his waking hours.

Cars, taxis, bikes. Anything apart from his own two feet.

But in the end, all he'd done was make a list of all the things he couldn't have.

Let's face it, he was getting thinner.

Walking up and down, and up and down. Going through the forest was indeed a shortcut, however, it was not worth the amount of cuts received by thorny bushes and spiky leaves.

Weeks flew by without any major happenings. Most of it was spent teaching the boys to steal professionally. This wasn't much of a problem. Everybody had their own fair share of experience in the world of deceit. Aside from this, life went on pretty slowly. It took only a few days for the boys to properly get used to living in the mansion. They knew when to go out, when to lock themselves up in their rooms and more importantly, when to wake up in the morning to ensure that they could get to the bathroom first and leave for school.

...

-The Library-

"You know how to ride a bike?"

Lukas sat with his chin in his hands as he stared intensely into Wu Shen's eyes.

"Yeah. So?"

Wu Shen shifted a little in discomfort. Why was this guy asking him about this?

"You have a bike?"

"I used to. Then my father took it away from me."

Lukas seemed to deflate and his eyes held no more burning passion or interest.

"I see."

Wu Shen sensed the change in his mood and tried to continue the conversation.

"Can you ride one?"

"No."

Flat denial. Wu Shen felt as if he was poking at a grizzly bear. His brain worked over-time to figure out the reason behind Lukas's sudden questioning.

Everything became clear in a matter of seconds.

"Hey, by any chance, did you want one?"

Lukas continued in a dejected manner, "Yeah, but there's no point anymore. You don't have one. Nobody else has one. Buying one is out of our budget. Stealing one is..." His eyes lit up again.

Wu Shen panicked. He could see where Lukas's imagination was going and he was pretty sure he had to stop it in its tracks. "Let's be rational here, boss. You can't steal something of that size."

"Hmm? Of course we can." A sly smile settled on Lukas' lips. "Call the others. We're going out."

...

The plan is what Lukas considered to be simple. Find a bike. Make sure it had keys. Steal it. The only problem was with the 'steal it' part. If Wu Shen was in the group who found a bike, then it was ok. However, for the other unlucky individuals, wheeling it away would be a very taxing thing. It would also be suspicious.

"Which is why we need that van."

Mike blinked down at Lukas who sat cross-legged on the dirt. These two formed a pair to look for something different. Something that could carry a bike away without causing major suspicion.

"Bro, as I thought, let's give up."

A little way away from them was a van. The only problem was that there was still a person inside of it. He had parked up to let his partner go to the toilet. When the pair happened upon this chance, Lukas became ecstatic and strongly insisted that they knock out the man and drive off with it.

Well, of course, that was until Mike crushed his enthusiasm with the cold reality. Neither of them could drive. Moreover, the man looked beefy.

"Let's do it. What's so hard about it. You press a pedal and turn a wheel. Simple."

Lukas jumped up and reasoned with Mike who's doubts soon cleared from his face.

"Wow, that actually seems kinda easy. Ok."

They ran towards the van and Mike opened the door to the unoccupied seat while Lukas thumped on the driver's window. Shocked by these teens coming out of nowhere, the man had no chance to say anything before Mike bashed his head on the steering wheel. The driver blanked out from pain and Lukas pulled him out of the door.

Success.

They clambered in and Lukas stomped on the pedal. Nothing happened.

"Hey, bro, what's wrong?"

"It's not moving."

"Huh?! Ah! Maybe you need to twist those keys or something."

"Oh." As Lukas twisted the keys, the engine revved to life but still wouldn't move.

"Raise the brakes!"

"Oh-"

The van shot off and slammed into a car in front of it. Lukas's head crashed into the steering wheel too and for a moment, he could see stars. Mike's yell woke him up.

"Shit! Bro! We're going to die like this!"

"Ah... Let's swap."

"Huh?! No way! Just do it gently."

"Oh."

Lukas alternated between going sickeningly fast to a frustratingly slow pace before being able to adequately drive the van properly. There was, however, one problem. He had no idea on when to change gears or use the indicators so with many tries and the cussing of drivers behind them, Lukas decided to drive the van home instead.

"Well... Let's hope someone else can drive this thing."

"Yeah."