“Selina, this way!” Jiro exclaimed, feeling panicky.

“Jiro, do you think Arron and Hebe are okay?” She asked in woozy tone.

“Yeah, I guess. Are YOU okay? You sound drowsy.”

No reply.

“Selina?” Jiro called out, didn’t have the urge to look back. “Selina?” This time, he turned behind. Surprisingly, Selina was gone. Jiro heard a scream trailing off from below. He looked down in haste.

“Selina!”

-

Arron swooped down and slowly landed behind the bush. He curled in his wings and slowly placed Hebe on the ground. Hebe got off Arron and sat on the grass. She folded her right sleeve to her shoulders and winced in pain as she felt her forearm. Arron realized an almost-bleeding bulge on Hebe’s arm and tore a small piece of cloth from his shirt and gently wrapped it around her arm.

“Hebe, how did this happen? Why can’t you move?” He asked in concern.

“I don’t know… I feel numb…” She replied softly.

“Did the life-threatening maniacs at The Institution inject you with medicines of some sort, by any chance?”

“I don’t know… I don’t remember… Arron, I’m scared… I’m scared that they may…”

“They may what? Never mind about it, Hebe. It’s okay. Everything will be alright.” He convinced her.

“But, Arron…”

“Shhhhh…” He quieted her down by putting his forefinger on her lips. “You will be alright. I’m here to protect you. I’ll never let you off my sight…” He whispered.

She was lost of words. Thanks, was all she said with tears rolling down her cheeks. She was indeed, touched by Arron’s words.

“Now, don’t cry, okay? Everything will be fine, I assure you.” Arron comforted her with a worried face. Everything, obviously won’t be fine. In fact, now they’ve escaped, he had no idea what to do or where to go next. Arron just added a slight smile to his sentence to give her some confidence. She nodded, wiping away her tears.

Arron stood up and gazed at the sky. ‘Jiro, where are you?...’

“I’m here, Arron.” Arron turned behind. He saw a frowned Jiro, with Selina in his arms.

“Jiro, what’s wrong?”

“Something’s wrong with Selina. She lost her altitude and almost crashed down from the sky when we were escaping just now. Luckily, I caught her. She was then complaining about a piercing pain in her arm. I checked it and there I saw, a humongous swell on her forearm. Somehow, it made her whole body numb and prevented her from moving or flying.” Jiro explained as he looked at Selina.

“Are you serious? Hebe too has the same problem. Here, put Selina beside Hebe.” Arron replied in bombshell. Jiro slowly placed Selina on the grass, beside Hebe.

“Selina, are you okay? Do you remember how did you get the swell?” Hebe asked.

“I think I’m fine. I have no idea what happened. I don’t remember anything. But, I do feel something planted in my skin, right where it hurts. Do you?”

“Yeah. It badly hurts.”

“Erm… Do you girls need help or anything?” The anxious Jiro and Arron offered to help.

“It’s okay, guys.” One of the girls mumbled.

“Yeah, we will be fine. We just need to rest, I think.” The other one added.

“Okay… If you say so. Arron and I will go on a food search while you girls take rest, alright?” Jiro asked politely.

“Alright. Thanks.”

-

“Oh god. We’ve been through this forest for two hours and we still haven’t got any food to eat.” Jiro complained as he and Arron skimmed through the thick, tall trees and bushes.

“Exactly. What are we going to do now?” Arron asked, frustrated. “I haven’t really thought about what to do, you know, once when we’ve escaped The Institution.”

“Oh. So… have you got any plans now?”

“Erm... No? I’m too frustrated to think, Jiro.”

“Why are you?”

“It’s because we left two conscious less girls alone in the middle of the forest where there’s 99.9% of chance that they might get attacked or to be in trouble.” Arron rolled his eyes.

Jiro paused as he gave it a thought for a moment. “Good point.”

“Erm… I think we should go back. I have a feel-”

“Yeah, me too. Let’s just go back.” Jiro replied abruptly. Before they took each a step to proceed back, they heard loud noises. Cracking and crunching noises. They stood back-to-back in alarm. They scanned the area in anxiety.

“Going somewhere?” A low, shrilling voice came in a sudden. Arron and Jiro turned behind. Their eyes widened in horror as they saw a group of men, approximately ten of them, armed with guns and rifles.

‘Uh-oh. Jiro… Do you think we could take all of them down?’

‘It’s impossible… They’re armed, Arron.’

‘In that case…’ Arron slowly stepped back. ‘Run!’ Their point of ‘run’ is to fly, so Jiro and Arron stretched out their wings and flapped away from the gang in the speed of lightning. The men fired toward Jiro and Arron, but too bad, they missed their shots as the both Arron and Jiro avoided them in a swift.

“Who… are… these people?!” Arron tried hard to speak as the wind was gushing through him and trees were frantically passing between them in full speed.

“I have… no idea. We need to… get the girls… and get out… of here… fast. It’s not… safe here!”

They soared up high to the sky, disappearing in the ray of the sunlight.

-

“Let-us-go!” Selina squealed, struggling hard to get free from the strong figure who was clinching her arms to her back. Hebe, on the other hand was unconscious as another guy smothered her with ammonia.

“Jiro… Help…”

“Hey, girl! Shut up and follow me! Or else you’ll pay…” A guy threatened her, his eyes showed full malevolence toward her.

“I’ll never, you maniac!” She shouted weakly.

“Oh really?” He cocked up his eyebrows while smirking, as his hands made their way to her blouse’s buttons.