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chapter 16

"How come you guys remember me?" Henry complained loudly, glaring at Joseph and Alexander.

The four people seated around the small wooden table glared angrily at him. He had managed to attract everyone's attention just because he had yelled at them in that manner. He didn't care though. All of a sudden he felt very proud of himself. After all, he was one of the most popular boys in their school. It wasn't often that the school's students treated him the way he treated those around him, especially since he was a new student. But even the kids who hadn't met him before wouldn't dare to ignore his presence.

Henry didn't care.

Although many of them weren't exactly friendly, he was pretty happy with how things had turned out.

Unfortunately, that happiness didn't last long, as Joseph, Alexander and John exchanged glances, none of them willing to break eye contact. Finally, Joseph gave in and spoke softly to Henry, "Sorry, Henry, but what are you doing here? It's not exactly safe. You should get going soon."

Before Henry could reply, Alexander cut in angrily.

"Why don't you explain yourself, Henry? Why are you here? Who invited you?" he asked coldly.

Henry didn't respond. Instead, he continued staring defiantly at his three tormentors. When the silence continued to stretch on for longer than they'd wanted, they began to shift uncomfortably in their seats, unsure of what to say next.

Finally, Henry spoke up. "That's none of your business, anyway." he muttered before turning on his heel and storming off out of the restaurant.

All of the sudden, a loud commotion erupted from within the restaurant. Everyone jumped to their feet and hurriedly ran inside. They had just enough time to see Henry run straight through a group of men in black uniforms before disappearing from view. Immediately afterwards, gunshots rang out from within the restaurant. Screams of terror immediately followed. The men dressed in black began to fire into the restaurant. People were screaming, running away and falling to the floor. Someone screamed out Alexander's name.

Without so much as taking a single step, Joseph sprinted out of the restaurant and sprinted up towards the entrance hall. By the time he arrived there, several bodies lay sprawled across the hallway, some lying motionless and unmoving whilst others were writhing in pain and trying desperately to crawl away from the approaching bullets. Most of them were dead, but many were bleeding profusely as bullet holes riddled their clothing and fleshy wounds stretched out like spider webs. Some of them had clearly been stabbed, while others appeared to have been shot repeatedly.

At the entrance hall, more bodies laid strewn across the ground. Blood seeped slowly from the corners of their mouths and nostrils. Some of their faces seemed almost frozen in the same expression as they died.

Joseph turned his gaze from side to side searching desperately for his brother, John and Mary. The two of them had disappeared sometime during the chaos. There was no sign of them anywhere. The only person still standing amongst the mess was Alexander. He was leaning against the wall with a gun loosely clutched in his hand, as he watched his friends' blood drip onto the ground.

"Alex, please let me help you!" Joseph shouted, rushing towards him and crouching down beside him.

"Please get away from me." Alexander whimpered, shaking his head slowly from side to side and pressing both hands firmly against his mouth and nose.

Joseph's face fell. He grabbed hold of his brother by the arm and dragged him along in front of him, ignoring his feeble attempt to pull away.

They rushed past dozens of corpses before arriving at a room at the far end of the corridor. Joseph forced open the door violently, causing it to bang loudly against the wall. Inside, he saw Mary and a man he presumed was the reason for Alexander's strange behaviour. Both of them gasped with shock and horror upon seeing Alexander.

"Alexander!" Mary cried out weakly, rushing forward and grabbing her son.

"What happened?" Joseph demanded sharply, pulling Alex from her arms. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Alexander mumbled in a hoarse voice, wincing as he attempted to smile.

"We heard shots..." Thomas murmured in confusion, raising his eyebrows slightly as he regarded his brother warily.

Henry nodded grimly.

Joseph looked down at Alex anxiously. Suddenly, a huge wave of relief washed over him as he realised that his little brother was alright. His eyes widened with astonishment and relief.

"You've got to stop running in places like this, you stupid idiot!" Joseph scolded, punching his brother lightly on the arm.

Alexander winced and tried to move away, but Joseph pulled him back towards himself, holding him tightly.

"Don't ever leave again like that." He ordered angrily, tears springing to his eyes once again. "Ever."

Alexander shook his head weakly.

"I'll never leave again, Joseph. I promise you that."

Joseph nodded reluctantly. "Promise?"

Alexander nodded, smiling faintly. "Promise,"

After a short pause, Alex said "Let's get back home."

Joseph nodded and helped Alexander stand up. Together, they left the room behind and headed back to the Hotel du Moulin d'Or. Neither of them spoke for the entire way, instead focused their efforts on keeping Alexander upright as he stumbled along beside them. Every now and then, Alexander's legs trembled under his body weight, forcing Joseph to take extra caution and keep an eye on him. Although he was barely conscious, he refused to give up, and kept insisting he was fine. However, his condition didn't seem to be improving any time soon.

Joseph frowned worriedly as they approached the hotel entrance. He was aware that he would have to deal with Alex's family later on, but at the moment he couldn't concentrate. Not only were his thoughts occupied with worry about his little brother, but also on how Henry was likely to react when he finally found out that Joseph and Alex knew each other. As far as Joseph understood it, it had been Henry who had contacted Alexander and asked for his help. He was supposed to make sure that Henry's mother stayed hidden until he could find her, but apparently he had been mistaken about that, and his actions had resulted in him being arrested by the authorities.

In order to prevent anyone from finding out about his involvement, Alexander had agreed to meet with Henry. He'd agreed to help Henry hide out, hoping that he could persuade Henry to change his mind about what he had done. Unfortunately