ACE OF HEARTS CHAPTER FOURTEEN: THE BAD MEN ARE COMING
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AS CASSIE WIPED OFF ELEVEN'S face with a piece of cloth, she eliminated all of the dirt from her complexion. Smiling, Eleven turned to the mirror, observing her new appearance. Suddenly, Dustin burst through the door with a look of panic on his face. Furrowing her eyebrows, Cassie asked, "Dustin, what's wrong?"
"It's Lucas!" shouted Dustin. "I think he's in trouble!"
Following Dustin out of the bathroom, the group surrounded the wooden table with a walkie-talkie. Picking up the device, Dustin looked at Mike, "Do you remember how he said he was looking for the gate?"
"Yeah?" replied Mike.
"What if he found it?"
Picking up the screeching device, Mike put it to his ear, listening to Lucas yell words that weren't coming through clearly. "What's he saying?" asked Mike, trying his best to listen.
"I don't know, he's way out of range," said Dustin.
Mike sighed, pressing the button and saying, "Lucas, if you can hear us, slow down. We can't understand you."
Lucas started shouting, only a few words coming clearly. Dustin's eyebrows furrowed, "Mad Hen? Is that a code word or something?"
"The bad men are coming!" shouted Lucas from the other end of the line.
Mike and Cassie both shot up at the same time, repeating in unison, "Bad men."
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Running out the back door, the group grabbed their bikes—trying their best to be as quick as possible before the bad men find them. Eleven knowingly hopped onto the back of Cassie's bike as she helped herself on.
Just as they escaped, a tall man dressed in a suit stalked up to the house—a serious expression plastered on his crinkled face. Him, followed by many others, seemed to be after Eleven.
"Go, go, go, go, go, go!" shouted Dustin, kicking off the grass and peddling as fast as he could.
Cassie followed, flipping the group of men off before following Dustin. The men quickly retreated to their vans as the group of kids peddled through the neighborhood.
"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god," Dustin repeated over and over as he frantically peddled.
Eleven wrapped her arms tighter around Cassie as she made a sharp turn toward Elm and Cherry, where Lucas said he would meet them. As they arrived on the street, a cluster of white vans appeared behind them.
