5

They gathered in a fair hurry, while the sons were packing, the father was mopping the floors and pouring water into the sewer behind the house.

Cornelius immediately noticed the red color of the water.

— Dad, did you kill them?—Cornelius asked, stepping aside with his father.

— For bastards like them, being shot in the forehead is just too good. Believe me, anyone will tell you that they don't deserve to live.—Radoslav tucked the blaster into his belt.— I'll go get a weapon for you now.—

— No need, I have it.— Cornelius opened the bag with the working equipment.— I have one.—

— Service weapons cannot be used, Cornelius! They will track the signal as easily as they catch smartphone signals. By the way, you'd better leave your phone somewhere in the cushions of the sofa, but don't turn it off - maybe this will give us a head start...—Radek wheeled a large suitcase out of his room.— Can you fit in?

— Dad, you... Are you serious? I'll have to fold three times...— Cornelius looks at the suitcase. — Well... I can fit in... —

— Great.—Mariusz's people can be at every turn. We need to hide... I know why he's looking for you, my poor Cornelius...—

Father sighs heavily.

— Tell me when you want...— says Cornelius.— I don't want to take it out of you...—

He got into the suitcase and Radek wheeled the luggage out of the house.

It turned out to be incredibly difficult to roll the suitcase into the compartment where Radek stores bicycles.

— Corey, how much do you weigh?— my father whispered softly, leaning as low as possible towards the suitcase.

— Daddy!—Cornelius chuckled.— What are these strange questions?—

— Because I could barely drag you in here!—father let out a soft laugh.

Cornelius bit his lip when, at the start of the engine, he hit his elbow on the inner fastening of the suitcase.

Blood spilled over the T-shirt, viscous, red and black.

Cornelius tries to pull his knees up to his chest, but the suitcase suddenly almost danced on the sides.

The feeling of fear pierced him like an electric shock, pierced through his whole body.

Who is this Mariusz? Why is his father so afraid of him?

His eyes are closing by themselves...

***

... The trailer has fallen on its side.

Radek badly bruised his temple, and his eye turned red from blood.

Radoslav immediately took out his weapon. The blaster became slick with blood almost instantly.

The palms and arms from the elbow to the wrist were severely scratched when falling on the asphalt.

Mariusz stopped the car and approached Radoslav with a pistol in his hands.

— Where is your son?—Mariusz asked, holding the muzzle of a pistol to his older brother's neck.

— You know you don't stand a chance... You can't get it out of Cornelius, it's become a part of my boy... Mariusz, you're trying to get something that's not available to you...— the split lip throbbed, it was getting dark in ршы eyes.

Radoslav looked at his younger brother with disgust.

A poke in the adam's apple with a muzzle almost makes you faint.

Radoslav smiles with a considerable amount of sarcasm.

— Where is Cornelius? Answer me, or I'll put a bullet in your forehead!—Mariusz breaks into a growl that sounds like the rampage of a psycho in a madhouse.

— I'm here!—Cornelius's shout made him shudder.

— No, Cornelius...—Radek whispered softly.

Mariusz threw Radoslav aside and ran away. The stone face with the burning eyes of a madman changed its expression. The madness slipped from his face in a second - the car, shrouded in black fog, took off and hit the asphalt.

Cornelius covered his father with himself, standing in front of him.

Radek tried to crawl away, but Cornelius showed him with a glance "behind the trailer."

— Take him!—Mariusz shouted to the "retinue" accompanying him. Mariusz himself jumped back to the overturned car, almost tripped over it.

Radek hugged his youngest son to him.

Black smoke began to spread across the asphalt and rise up like a snowdrift.

Cornelius's eyes change their color.

A black explosion covers the area without making a single noise.

When this explosion subsided, when there was no more fog, a terrified Radoslav looked out from behind a large tree.

Cornelius was sitting on the asphalt, looking so tired, as if he had run a marathon in a few seconds.

— Cornelius!— Darek tried to pull away from his father's arms, but Radoslav hugs his son tightly to himself.

— Cornelius! Can we go out now?—He asked his eldest son loudly.

— Yes. We're leaving.—Slightly tensing, Cornelius returned the trailer to its original place.—Can you drive? If you don't have the strength, I'll get behind the wheel.—

— No, my dear, I can go.—Radek shook the dirt off his knees.

— Then let's go, and quickly.—Cornelius said.

Radoslav checked if the engine was working and started the car.

Cornelius sits down next to him.

— Darek, if something bad happens, get back in! Understood?—Cornelius said.— Do you understand me?—

— Yes, Cornelius, I get it, don't yell at me!—Darek was angry.— I'm not small, I know that our business is bad!—

Cornelius gets up from his seat and hugs his younger brother tightly to him. It's like he's hoping to protect him with this.

But it is unknown whether his strength, which fate has given him like this, will be enough to protect those he loves?

**

Mariusz woke up pinned down by a car. One of his legs was no longer showing signs of life.

He barely reached for the radio and called another squad.

He definitely needs to be afraid of this boy. Well, if you take away what he loves, he will clearly become more malleable...

***

Cornelius replaced his father in the driver's seat a couple of hours later.

It was not clear at all where they were going. Into the wilderness until they find a place where it will be impossible to find them.

Darek got into the vacant passenger seat.

— How's Dad doing?—Cornelius asked, turning off the road.

— He snores. He's so old!—The younger brother laughs.

— Dad is not old, he's not even retired yet!— Cornelius can't stand it and laughs too.

— I want to become at least half like you...—Darek says.— And this power... Was it painful to have it?—

— No, it's not... It was impossible to breathe... And why me? — Cornelius, sighing, looked at his hands, taking them off the steering wheel for a second.

— Nothing is done just like that...—Darek suddenly said with unusual seriousness for him.— Someday we will find out why these powers were for you...—

— You're scaring me, Dariusz...Cornelius shuddered.— Never grow up, otherwise there will be very little sun in the world...—

Corey hugged his brother with his free arm.

Suddenly, they were startled by a scream together.

— It's Dad screaming in his sleep.—Dariusz said sadly.

— Go wake him up. I'm driving right now,—Cornelius asked his younger brother.

The fact that his father screamed at night was not new to the brothers. Radoslav was often tormented by nightmares, so one of his sons, who was at home or closer to him at that moment, had to wake him up.

Darek started shaking his father by the shoulder and Radoslav opened his sky-blue eyes in fright. The man was breathing heavily, his heart was beating in his chest like a frightened bird in a cage.

Except for his wife, everyone in the family had blue eyes, but Cornelia's eyes changed during the mutation, and Darek's mother's eye color and father's eye color were mixed - the eyes were blue-gray.

Darek's smile was definitely his mother's - when you look at Darek smiling, you want to smile back, even if it was sad before.

Radoslav always thought that all the good, beautiful and kind things in this world were concentrated in his sons.

And it's not the world's fault that it's so hard for him to live. This is only Mariusz's fault.

Mariusz is like a disgusting worm, gnawing through rotten wormholes in this bright world...

Radoslav hugs his son tightly.

— Nightmares, right, Dad?—Cornelius asks.—Maybe we should stop somewhere? I'm terribly hungry!—

— Oh! And we forgot to take the food, Cornelius!—Radoslav's eyes widened in fright.

The eldest son stopped the car, got up from the driver's seat and beckoned his father to follow him, restraining himself from laughing.

There was another room further in the trailer and Cornelius filled it. He took everything from the house that they could use: sofas, refrigerators, cupboards, a stove, a large supply of batteries for the stove, a heating generator, a water purification system...

— When will you stop hitting me, my precious child?—Radek said in shock.

— It's easy!— Cornelius took the kitchen stove and tossed it like a ball.— I probably look stupid right now...—

— No, I admire you more and more...—Radek said.— We need to rest and I need to contact Ryan. If he's not here, he'll tell you how to open his bunker...—

— Who is this Ryan?—Cornelius asked.— I don't remember you mentioning that name. —

— Ryan Carter is a renegade mercenary from the planet Tyrant. He didn't want to be like everyone else...—Radek opened the refrigerator.— Well, we really need to eat now...—