Richard gasped after one of the armed men fired on the ground beside him. He started taking a succession of deep breaths. That was close ... a little too close for his comfort.
"Gago kayo!" he yelled, only to receive a punch on the side of his face. He fell down to the ground and hit his head on one of the rocks. Thankfully, the impact is not strong enough to make him bleed or pass out.
The bags were then removed from their heads the same time their hands got untied. As soon as they were brought back to the room, their captors immediately locked the door.
The four young guys quickly gathered around Richard, he can't stop shaking because of what happened.
"Okay ka lang?" Thomas asked him.
"Brad, sabihin mong okay ka lang please" Kyle begged.
"They're ... they are going to kill us" he replied, still can't move on from the gunshot sound that may have damaged his eardrum.
"Not if the government gives what they want, that's our only chance now" Tommy said, hoping to give at least a bit hope in their seemingly inevitable fate.
"Richard's family is from the military ... they will not let him die" Emmett added, not really helping because he made it sound like Richard is the only one who will get to safety.
"No Emmett, they will stop at nothing until ALL of us are safe" Thomas told him.
"But that can't happen anymore because Nick is dead, Thomas. There's nothing we can do about it" Kyle replied, starting a debacle in the group.
"We still have tonight okay? We'll see what happens" Richard uttered, finally getting the courage to be himself again. Whatever goes down tonight, that will decide what fate they will have.
--
After the gunshot was heard, tons of thoughts started going through their minds, especially Maine's. A part of her thinks Richard got shot, but thankfully her father explained that if terrorists want to get what they have ... they must first abide the rules. What bothers her more is the fact they only showed five hostages instead of six. She played the video over and over again and tried her best to identify each one. And after a through observation, she along with her Dad and Richard's grandpa figured out that Nick is missing.
They wanted to be positive about it but they must also address the worst case scenario that could have happened as to why he wasn't there. The last thing she knew that they did before she went back to the clinic is that they contacted Nick's family and informed them of all the possibilities.
After spending a few hours fixing the meds they'll bring tomorrow, Maine returned to the conference room to check on any new updates about Richard and the others.
"Dad, what's happening?" Maine asked after witnessing the chaos that is going inside the room. Tons of different officers are coming in and out of the door carrying folders after folders of various documents she can't understand.
"They're cramming, mamaya na yung deadline and yet the president still has not signed the release papers for the rebel commander" Mr. Mendoza replied while formulating a graphical simulation of their plan that is supposed to commence tomorrow morning.
"If the stupid President doesn't sign it then it means ..."
"YES Maine, we can't fail in this situation kaya nga ginagawa ko na to para ma kumbinsi siya na pirmahan yung mga papeles" her Dad answered while typing codes at the same time.
The projector screen right in front of them then suddenly opened and a live video call by the President was shown. Maine's heart jumped but thankfully she was able to calm herself right away.
