Hypnotise Ultimatum

Travel

"Dinner for everyone!" Nico shouted.
Nico and I started unloading the paper bags full of burgers as Madison and Mr Adams approached us on the sight of food.
"So," Mr Adams started. "This is stolen?"
"Yup," I said, grabbing a cheese burger. "We have no money on us and no way of working for any, so until then we steal our food. It's a new place that we're trying. Let me know how good they are."
Mr Adams frowned at his dinner, but still bit into it, chewing silently.
Madison nodded satisfied and said, "Yeah, they're quite good, but I preferred the previous place."
"Well yeah, because that place was awesome, but we've stolen food there so many times, they'd probably recognize us by now."
"True," Madison said and took another bite.
We ate in silence, exploring in our own thoughts, but all coming to the same conclusion: the unspoken question.
I couldn't leave it unspoken again like I did with Nico in the woods. I finished eating and suddenly spoke.
"What do we do now?"
Everyone shifted their gaze to meet mine.
"That is the question, isn't it?" Mr Adams said coolly.
"Yeah, I guess," Madison said, lowering her finished burger.
Nico looked at us in silence.
"We can't stay here forever," I persisted. "We'll get caught. By the police or by them hunting us."
"I'm just going to put this on the table again," Mr Adams said calmly. "We could all go back home, make up a story for your parents and continue to live our lives."
"Well, we know that's not going to happen," Madison said. "We're going to fix things. At the very least we're going to get Liam back. He's my friend. If nobody else will, I will."
"I'll go with you, no matter what," I said, shooting a glance at Mr Adams.
"I still have a friend stuck in that place," Nico said. "I'm still going back for him."
We all looked at Mr Adams, waiting.
He looked back at us, his eyes traveling over the three of us while he pondered.
"I am still your teacher," he said. "I expect some respect and a big say in the matter." He smirked. "Well, we have a long trip ahead of us to go find your friends."
We all smiled.
It was time to hit back and this time, we will win.

We travelled along the road for many days. Without any transportation or money for it, we had to make the journey on foot.
"So, what's the plan?" I asked Mr Adams.
"We're going to get in again," he replied. "But this time, we're not infiltrating. We're breaking in."
I nodded. We would probably figure out the details when we stopped for the night, so I fell back again to let Mr Adams lead us on our journey.
I walked next to Nico in silence. After a while, I spoke.
"Hey," I said simply, not really knowing what else to say.
"Hey," Nico said.
"Umm, I just wanted to say..." I said hesitantly. "Happy birthday."
Nico looked at me, surprised.
"You know, from when we were being hunted and everything," I explained. "You did say that you birthday was exactly a month after mine, so I kind of counted down the days. Happy birthday, I guess. Sorry I didn't get you a gift or anything, but you know..."
"No, it's fine," Nico interrupted me. "It's fine. I'm just glad that you remembered. That's really great."
Nico smiled broadly at me and I smiled back.
We chatted and laughed as we walked, soon recalling our lives when we were back at school.
"Do you remember when Matt broke his arm during a sport match?" Nico asked me.
"Yeah, my only regret is not being there to see it happen," I replied.
"Oh, it wasn't very pretty," he said.
"Well, what I did get, was the pick up lines Monday back at school," I said. "What was it again?"
"I remember: "Do you know why I broke my arm, Emma?" " Nico mimicked Matt.
" "It's because I fell so hard for you," " I finished, laughing. "That was another interesting one."
"I made that one up," Nico said. "I just gave it to Matt to say. I gave him a lot, actually."
"Oh, so you were behind a lot of those cheesy pick up lines I had to endure?" I said. "Well, thanks a bunch. Remind me to punch you for that."
"We'll see," Nico laughed.