The Fall Of Hollomia

Chapter 4

I stepped outside as the bell rang once more, it had just turned 4pm as I heard synchronised walking at the end of the alley.

Shit.

The army was here as I saw fellow criminals grabbing their necessities and running. We didn't have a choice to run. I ran into the HQ and motioned to mikes to grab the bags and to follow me. We quietly ran to our secret safe area. I pried open the wood plank floor as mikes jumped down into the dark, me following behind him. I placed the plank back as it was before as I heard the door open and synchronised footsteps came in one by one. I sat looking up. We could see much but there were some holes for the light to come through. We just had to be very,very quiet. We can't afford to run at this time. We don't have an exact plan yet. It's going to be improvised i suppose. I signaled to mikes to hush as I pointed up.Nodding in agreement he adjusted his bag slightly, clutching onto it. Suddenly we heard large bangs and thuds. They were trashing the place. We weren't the first to have this happen to, clearly.I held my breath slightly as I heard them step closer to us on the creaking floor boards.

If they find us now, we are screwed. We have no way to escape.

We just have to hope for the best.

After a couple minutes or so they left, we remained stationary for a bit to make sure the air was clear. I went over to the corner of the room and grabbed the stool and stood on it. Opening the floorboard slightly I peered through the floorboards at the area. Jesus. They didn't stop at anything huh. Everything was a mess. I hoisted myself up as I dropped my bag on the floor to help mikes up. Once we were both up we were able to see just the extent of damage. Pages torn,furniture in pieces. It was as if a tornado swept across the area. The Outside was even worse than our place. Lanterns broke causing small fires to start in the rubble. Walls broken and all the vegetation burned. Mikes stood shocked staring at the damage.Our eyes met. We knew what this meant.

There is no possible way we can stay here.They're going to come back to do a thorough sweep of the whole place.There's not much we can do. I sweeped the counter free of rubble and set down my map.

"Mikes" He looked back into our HQ and walked towards me silently. I looked down at the map." We are out of hope, there aren't many places we can stay and we can't stay down here." I look up as our eyes meet. He looks down at the map with a concentrated face. "Well we could stay above ground, maybe at the windmill. No one really uses it right, they only use the farmers hut and farm land. We could stay there for a bit until it's safe to do otherwise." I nodded." Then that's the plan" I folded the map and placed it in my bag as I started to walk towards the sewer exit. It seemed to be getting dark. So we waited for a bit longer. 12 Am. It was dark enough for us to move around without too many people seeing us. We stood in front of the windmill. Looking around to make sure no one was here we started to slowly go up. We got to the top and started to set up camp. I sighed and unfolded a torn blanket and set it down."Goodnight Hullum" Mikes said as he slowly turned to sleep. I stayed up looking at the ceiling figuring out what we can do next.