Once Upon A Time... In The Underworld

Chapter 4: The Escapee

“No language can express the power and beauty and heroism of a mother's love.”

— Edwin Hubbell Chapin

It was late at night when the mother looked out of the small slit of the slightly opened door which looked out to the front porch and the roads in front of their home. The path was clear but that didn't mean that it was safe.

The mother quickly signals the child to come out after she stepped out. She walks towards the second car they owned, a small black hatchback car which was at least a few years old. They get in the car and the mother immediately starts the car and drives into the road. In the risky journey they took to reach the train station which felt like their only salvation from an imminent death, they were hypervigilant. Each car, each bike and each person who walked by their car was seen as a potential threat as even the law enforcement were taking sides of crime. This made them trust no one but themselves.

Mid journey , they were caught in traffic. This caused the mother to be afraid as she remembered reading a few articles written by her husband which highlighted many of the political and high profile assassinations which were carried out to send a message were done publicly. She remembers looking at the pictures of the victims who faced this fate. It was a gruesome way to go. Suddenly, while having this episode of paranoia. They saw something.

Red and blue lights behind them, flashing but it was silent. The mother's instincts kicked it as she thought it was a Police Commando Vehicle. These vehicles were usually dispatched to take care of high level threats as well as high speed criminal chases. She suddenly changes gears and slams her feet into the accelerate and speeds, breaking the red light. She swerved through the traffic and maintained a high speed but eventually the vehicle with strobing red and blue eventually caught up to them but to their surprise, it was merely just an ambulance which was carrying a corpse. They were relieved but that relief was short-lived.

The reckless driving and over speeding caught the attention of traffic authorities who were monitoring these roads. They were in the payroll of the Mafia. The traffic officers confirmed the identities of the occupants of the car by running the registration number of the car in the system. The incharge of the monitoring unit takes out his phone and calls someone. The call is answered.

"Sir, we have found the targets. They're heading over towards the train station" the officer said.

"Good... We shall take care of the rest. You shall be paid well for this" The voice in the phone answers back. It was the same voice which belonged to the man in black who spoke in the recording which was all over the news. The voice which belonged to the man who killed the woman's husband and the boy's father. He was now ready to hunt them down too. To remove the remaining essence of resistance against the rule of the Mafias.

After a few hours, the car with the mother and child reached the train station's parking. They left car with their luggages in their hands and they take tickets for two sleeper berths for the Vltava International Sleeper Express which operated for special night travels from Prague to Moscow. They both head towards the platform. The train was waiting. 15 minutes more before the train left. The mother thought that they are finally going to be away from harm's way and she can give a new life to her son in a different country without worrying about losing him. She was finally happy but Fate had other plans.

It was only a two more minutes before the train left. The mother thought of buying her son a bar of chocolate to cheer him up, so she walks towards the store opposite to the tracks to buy some chocolates. She let her guard down that moment.

As she was paying. Suddenly, men dressed in black tactical police uniforms walked towards her and grabs her from behind, locking her hands behind her back by holding them. The mother was confused for a moment but she instinctively tried to break free. During the struggle, the mother senses something was off about the lingo that the officers spoke in as well as the uniform. The way they spoke seems off for a police officer as well as certain parts of their uniforms seemed incomplete or messy. She realised they were not police officers but they were Berdych gang members who were known to carry out their gang operations in the guise of police officers. It was one of their tropes.

The mother looks for her child and she sees him. The boy was too afraid and stunned that he couldn't even move or think. The mother yells.

"GO INSIDE THE TRAIN NOW!"

The boy was reluctant and was not willing to enter the train without his mother. One of the gangsters who held the mother spots him. As the gangster heads his way to subdue the boy, the mother takes the opportunity to rush towards the man and charges him down to the floor. The boy saw it as a sign and rushed inside the train. The mother looks at the boy again. "GO! NOW!!! G-..!"

The mother's yells were silenced, the screaming turned into the sound of leaking and gurgling. Struggle whimpers. One of the men stabbed her in the neck with a knife.

The door closes just a moment before the men could reach the boy who was inside the train. They banged and punched their fists against the train door in a desperate attempt to get the boy. The boy was not bothered by the men or the commotions caused by them. His eyes were fixed on only one thing. The caring eyes of his mother which life was slowly fading out of. Her reaching hand which sought to hold her child's hand one more time stopped. Her fingers still reaching out towards him.

The train leaves. The pounding against the door fades as the brutes could not keep up with the speed of the train. The last thing the boy sees is bar of chocolate, which was inches away from his mother's fingertips. Now covered in her blood.

A tear falls from the man's eye as he grips the railing of his balcony even firmly than ever.

The one person that made him feel safe. Was gone.