Young Writers Society

Does it look stupid that Raquel cant pick a lock? I just wanted to put Felix in the sptlight.

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"Keep your head down, Felix." Raquel whispered as she saw two of the guards who had to stand guard walking around brushing their teeth. Felix nodded and pulled the cap of the jacket over his head, Raquel was strugling a little to open the door, because Ben had striped her off her keys. "Here, let me," Felix said, Raquel looked at him confused, "I'm going to need your hairpin." He then said. She frowned, but decided to let Felix do his job. Felix was good at picking lockes or broken slots, but Raquel didnt know that. "Here you go,"she said as she took out her hairpin and handed it to him.

Felix picked the lock. As the lock sprang open he smiled a little, he had proven something. "Fancy," Raquel said as they got out, Felix closing the lock again so the guards would think nothing was wrong. "Where did you learn that?"

"My sister," Felix whispered, glancing back to make sure the guards hadn't noticed. He stepped into the tall grass outside the gate. "She's-" He stopped. "She was interested in engineering, always taking things apart to see how they worked. Sometimes that included locks." Felix shook his head. He'd slipped up again.

Felix took a deep breath and changed the subject, asking, "Now then, where do you think the person you're looking for went?"

"I don't know kid," Raquel said, Felix frowned and asked, "How are you going to find someone if you don't know where they are?" Raquel sighed and asked, "How did you lose her? Your sister?" "How did you lose him? Your brother?" Felix then asked, "I know you are looking for Lorenzo, Ana."

Raquel's eyes grew wide and when they were outside she asked Felix, "How do you know his name?" Felix did not answer and said, "He's been missing for six years now, right?" Raquel then asked, "How do you know that? Have you met him? How?"

Felix said, "I met him. He used to come to our house sometimes to help my dad fix things around the house, he would usually stay for dinner and play football with me. He said he needed the money to survive. He also used a false name, Lewis Marley." Raquel smiled at this, it was their invented names they came up with as children when they played undercover agents.

Raquel then asked with a sigh, "How long was he with you and what else do I need to know?"

"He started coming when I was... maybe ten, or so?" Felix frowned thoughtfully as he walked through the grass. "He'd only come once every few months, but we always treated him like part of the family."

Felix glanced up at Ana, with her black hair and blue eyes. "You look like him, you know. Although I don't think Lorenzo ever had such a fierce expression on his face."

By then, the two of them had reached the top of a hill. The sun was starting to crest the horizon, and in the dim dawn light, they could see some ramshackle buildings in the valley below.

Raquel rolled her eyes playfully at Felix's statement and as she looked across the valley she said, "Holy sh*t." She looked at Felix and said, "You didn't hear that."

No one had explored this part yet or brought it up, it could be for two reasons, one Ben had explored it and he did not want anyone to know yet and two they could be the one to tell Ben and he would forgive Raquel for everything and forget her true identity and not sell her to her father.

After they had explored the new ground for about half an hour.

"So, where did Lorenzo go after he left?" Raquel asked Felix. Felix was not paying attention, instead he was looking at something on the ground. "Felix, Felix," Raquel called as he woke from some kind of trance. He picked up a metal bracelet and said, "This...this is..." he stuttered. "Is what?" Raquel asked, "Felix, are you all right?"

Felix took a deep breath. He examined the bracelet, the metal gleaming softly despite the layer of dust on it. "I- I'm not sure, but this looks a lot like the bracelet my sister used to wear. But I thought... I thought she d-died in the fire..."

Felix stood there for a moment, squeezing the bracelet in his fist. "M-maybe she came here before? Or is she...?" He couldn't say it. He couldn't get his hopes up. "Never mind. Let's just look for Lorenzo."

Felix shoved the bracelet into his pocket, next to the stone. He wiped his eyes quickly and looked at the buildings. Most of them were old and beyond repair, but there was one a few paces away that looked sturdier...

"Let's look at those buildings over there." Raquel said to Felix. As they walked and reached those buildings before entering, Raquel stopped Felix and said, "Hey," she sighed and looked him in the eye, "If your sister is alive, we will find her, okay?" Felix's eyes lit up with new hope, "Cool Ana. Thanks!" Raquel gave him a fist bump and together they walked into the building.

When they reached the inside, it looked so new. As if someone lived there. Raquel walked over to the kettle and carefully held her hand against it, "It's still warm. Someone has been here." Felix held up three plates from the sink and said, "I think it was some people who were here, not someone." "They can't have gone far," Raquel remarked.

Felix crouched next to a small window, observing the surrounding buildings for any trace of the residents of the building the two of them were standing in. A beam of wood creaked in the middle distance, but other than that, there was no movement. The streets were empty, with not even a rat scurrying back and forth. Felix was filled with a sense of unease.

Then he caught sight of movement. It looked like… a few small figures, tramping across the grass, coming from the opposite direction of the camp. “There!” Felix hissed, pointing them out to Ana.

Raquel looked outside to where Felix was pointing, "Felix," Raquel said slowly as she took a gun from her backpack, "this is not Lorenzo and this is not your sister."

The few shadowy figures came closer and closer, "Get down Felix," Raquel said worriedly, "Hold this gun. First you pull this back, then you load the bullets and then you pull the trigger." Felix took the gun and swallowed, "Why are you giving a gun to a fifteen year old?"

Raquel said, "Because Felix, those are the Abductors."

~~~

Question though, Are Ben and his crew the Abductors or is there another team? I didnt quite catch that part while reading the story.

Also, what do you think about that as an ending for post two?
If you have any other idea or you want to continue it just yet, let me know.

Also, if this is the end, is it okay if I post this one?

Yeah, that sounds like a good ending for post two! Feel free to post <3

I believe the aliens are the abductors! You may have seen the characters referring to “them.” The aliens are also probably the ones who burned down Felix’s family’s house.

~~~

Felix’s eyes grew round and he grasped the gun tighter. Could it be… them? The same ones who’d burned his house and killed his family? His eyes narrowed.

“Tell me when to shoot.” His fingers trembled a little. He’d never shot a gun before, but if it was like the movies, he could just pull the trigger… Never mind the fact that they were probably capable of destroying him in a blink. He had to do something.

Hey Mint,

I've already posted the second one. Thanks again for doing this with me.

~~~

Raquel tried not to panic, but the abductors were here, what could she do? She couldn't let them take her or Felix. But could she fight them? No one had ever fought them, or anyone who had came back either dead or almost dying with a message, and the people they took never came back.

As the abductors approached the building, Raquel looked at Felix and said, "On my three. We do not attack, only defend." Felix nodded, although he was really scared. But he wanted to live, so he would do anything to stay that way.

Suddenly a robotic voice from outside the door said, "We know you are in there and we don't want to hurt anyone, we just want to talk to the woman they call Penelope Richer." Raquel listened to the voices, they seemed to want to negotiate.

Now she began to wonder if the abductors were really evil. Because that was what they had learned from generation to generation, but no one really talked about what they wanted. Raquel looked at Felix and said, "You have to trust me, OK?" Felix said, "You're asking that now, of course I trust you, Ana.

Raquel and Felix came out of the building and saw about sixty people or aliens in suits. "I'll talk on one condition, my brother and I stay alive and safe no matter what." Felix looked up at her, did she just call him her brother? Raquel knew that Felix was not her brother, but she did not want to lose another 'brother'.

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Ps: Im trying to reach the 10k limit words.

Cool, thanks! And best of luck in your goal!

———

Felix had no idea who Penelope Richer was. Did Ana know, or was she just bluffing? Felix gulped and decided to just go with the flow.

“Right then. This way.”

The people— beings? —ushered them through a deserted street and away from the camp. Felix didn’t risk a glance backwards— who know what they might do if they knew about the camp? Or maybe they knew already and were just biding their time… Felix shuddered and focused on the dusty ground in front of him.

The beings, although they hadn’t explicitly promised, didn’t harm the two of them as they were marched through the hills. Still, Felix couldn’t relax.

Raquel walked before Felix to make sure they were safe. Raquel did not really know who Penelope Richer was, but she had heard some rumours that Penelope had stolen something from the Abductors and betrayed them when they asked for shelter on Earth from their enemies. But Penelope took advantage of the enemy of my enemy is my friend and lied to them.

After some time of walking silently, Felix saw small drops of blood dripping from Raquel's hand. But he did not know why and how, so he decided to play dumb and asked Raquel, "So Ana, any chance of stopping for a toilet break, we have been walking for two hours?" Raquel said, "Feniks. Remember Coloured Looks, the film we watched where Franklin plays in. Remember I told you that the blood they used in the film was ketchup? And Franklin used it to make sandwiches for everyone he could find[/i]. Including us, I told you right, because you did not want to eat your dinner, right".

One of the aliens asked, "What film is this? I know Benjamen Franklin was a politician, I did not know he made films". Raquel said, "You're right, it was an actor who played him, my brother calls the actor Franklin, that's why". The alien laughed and said, "Well, that's clever. Felix understood what she was trying to say.

He put it all together in his head, it was a code from the book that Ben gave to Felix when he entered camp, thank God he had read it all!
Feniks was Felix.
Coloured Looks was obviously Code Language,
Franklin was Benjamen, so she meant Ben Harkoff.
Blood, the blood dripping from her hand,
everyone Franklin could find, including them, that was them, him and Raquel.

So Raquel was leaving a trail for Ben to find them.

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"Right," Felix said, hiding a tremor of nervousness. "The ketchup sandwiches. I eat dinner fine now, though." He tried a small laugh. Subtly, he shifted between Ana and a nearby being to hide her dripping hand. That was a clever idea-- now all there was to do was hope someone would find them in time.

"Where are we going?" Felix asked.

"Someplace we can question you," one of them replied.

They'd been walking for a little under an hour, it seemed to Felix, and the landscape was changing slightly. The ground was becoming flatter, the grasses shorter.

The beings stopped abruptly. "Here is fine." With a flick of one's wrist, a tent-like structure shimmered into existence, shielding them from the morning sun.

The alien leader entered and Raquel and Felix were led into the tent. "Start talking, your name and age first?" Raquel took a deep breath and said, "Anastasia Marley, twenty-three years old." "Good." The alien said again in his robot voice. "Now where is this Penelope Richer you were talking about?"

Raquel smiled and said, "She will be here. We just have to wait." The alien became impatient and said, "Listen woman, if I find out you are playing me for a fool. You are..." "Feniks, you were thirsty, weren't you?" Felix shook his head, but Raquel went on, "Can we have some water, please?" The Alien was furious, he gave Raquel a disgusted look and sneered at her. Raquel smiled at him and said, "You want me to talk, right? So if I were you I would treat me as a guest and with respect".

"Give them something to drink," he ordered some of his guards, "quickly, we don't want them to die of thirst before they start talking now, do we?"

Two of the aliens walked out of the tent with the leader. After a few minutes of silence, Raquel took out a knife and said to Felix. "Hey Felix, everything's going to be all right." Felix nodded and said, "It looks so disgusting with such a big head and it seems so wet as if its brains are on the outside".

Raquel smiled and said, "Come quickly, help me." Felix came over to her and she handed him the knife. "On my back, just above my left shoulder, you will see a small black dot. Cut it open." Felix shuddered, "First you give me a gun, now you want me to cut you?" Raquel said, "Hey, I know your scared, but listen, you have to do it before Slimey comes back. There is a tracker in there, I need to activate it so Ben can find us quicker. You never know if some wild animal has picked up the blood trail."

Felix swallowed and shivered with the knife in his hand.

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