The Breaking Point

Chapter 20

The taxi parked outside a large warehouse. Its walls were metallic but the roof was painted dark purple. It had large, iron double doors that seemed to be jammed shut. Mark grit his teeth. Garshield wasn't going to get away with locking his friends in this filthy building.

He turned to his companions, who were both asleep. "Come on, guys. We're here." He shook Jordan by the arm and when he sat up, rubbing his eyes, Mark moved on to Byron. "Come on, guys. We're here. Wake up, Byron."

"Alright, Mark. I'm awake. I'm awake," the blond yawned.

Mark hopped out of the car and into the blinding daylight. The sun was so bright that he had to shield his eyes with his hand. He waited for Jordan and Byron to pay and then stumble behind him.

"Now what?" asked Jordan, shielding himself from the light.

"Why is it so hot?" Byron complained.

"Well..........we'll just wait for the rest of the team," Mark responded.

"In the heat?" Byron almost shrieked. "Can't we sit in the taxi till they get here?"

The three instinctively turned towards the car but it was already speeding down the road, at least a mile away.

"What a disaster," the blond striker muttered under his breath.

"We can chase it," Jordan suggested, but one look at the vehicle disappearing into the distance gave them their answer.

They stood under the scorching Sun for three entire hours, sweating and waiting for the remaining members.

The area surrounding the warehouse was very grassy with the exception of a dust trail leading from the street to its doors. The place had such a countryside vibe to it that Mark assumed it was a million miles off of Tokyo. But the airport was apparently closer to it than any of the cities his friends lived in.

Fortunately, once his members started arriving, they did so quite quickly, with not more than two minutes between each arrival. But something was off. The way each one stood alone, perhaps offering Mark a nod or a smile or even a wave, but never really coming too close. There was no interaction at all between the arrivals themselves.

When they were all present, Mark stepped in front of them, his back to the warehouse gates, and took a deep breath. "Alright, guys. I know I didn't give much detail on the phone so I'll explain everything now. We still have to hurry though, so this is gonna be real quick, OK?"

He took their silence as an agreement.

"OK. Garshield kidnapped a bunch of our friends. I don't know how many but we'll find out now.I do know that Steve's one of them, though. Garshield won't take it that we forfeited and wants a rematch. Good news is that whatever the score, he's gonna give 'em back. Also, I think you can all tell that we're missing players. Everyone else didn't pick up."

Mark felt a little guilty not telling them the whole truth but he didn't need to shake his teammates' confidence now. He'd tell them later.

"So we're only going to play with ten players. Byron and Jordan are going to play with us." Everyone glanced at the striker and midfielder then turned back to Mark. "Any questions?"

"Yeah, what happened to your clothes?" asked Scotty, pointing a finger at the torn, bloody outfit Mark was wearing.

"And what's with the bandages?" added Xavier.

"What's wrong with your face?" Kevin chimed in, looking almost disgusted.

Thor shook his head disapprovingly. "We leave him overnight and he gets ten times worst."