THE REBELLIOUS LUNA

THE MAN IN THE MASK

The sun burned down on Roy's back, even though he had a shirt on. His jaws clattered against themselves as though with a cold, albeit the summer's heat was unbearable.

His eyes were filled with shed and unshed tears. His mother had put a lot of trust in him. Diane, too. They trusted his speed, his loyalty. His focus.

Now here he was, receiving a stupid lecture about something he knew nothing about.

What if Diane had had an attack? Or was having? Roy had a strong feeling she was. The train station was notorious for its dusty environment, and for Diane, it was a death trap. Her inhaler was her only chance of scaling through that dust hole.

Something had to be done.

He looked around, and saw that no fiend was looking in his direction. He scanned the closest escape route. A little space between two houses. Go for it, he told himself, and without hesitation, he jumped up and ran.

"What —" Darock shouted. "Shoot that boy!"

There was a sudden deafening clap and the trash can just close to Roy was pierced through by a bullet. He leaped across a car and turned another corner.

He was running the opposite direction from the train station, but it was his only way to escape the men, who were now hot on his heels, shouting that he should stop.

"You have no idea the s**t you're in!" they hollered.

But Roy ran on and on. But as he was about to turn another corner, a pair of hands covered his mouth and grasped his torso.

He struggled and pulled, but he couldn't match the strength. He was pulled into a house and the man shut the door with his leg.

Just then, Roy heard the soldiers running by, still firing guns in front of them.

After about a minute, the man set him down and placed a finger on his lips.

"If you're going to survive this," he said, "you must be quiet until I ask you a question."

Roy was still shivering. The room was not bright enough to show the man's face.

"Who are you?" he asked, "and why are those men after you?"

"I was on my way to get this inhaler for my sister." Roy reached into his pocket and took out a broken inhaler. "Oh my God," he gasped.

"Where's your sister?" the man asked. "She's got asthma, I believe."

"Yes. She's in the train station. I'm afraid she might have had an attack."

The man looked away from him and Roy saw how tall and muscular he looked. He was in shorts and a netty singlet. Who was he? Roy's eyes darted to a corner to see an axe, a dame g*n and a samurai sword.

He was seized with more fear. Has he run from the soldiers' guns to a butcher murderer?

"Who are you, sir?" Roy managed to ask. "You saved me. Why?"

He scoffed. "That shouldn't be your problem now. We have to get the inhaler to your sister."

"But it's broken."

He fumbled in his pocket and some coins fell out. He groaned and abandoned them on the ground. He went to a drawer and pulled out two bills from a thick wad of cash.

Roy's mouth fell open. Billionaire? But why was he living in such a lowly one-room house? Was he running from someone?

"No, I'm not running from anyone," the man said. "Instead, I'm preventing other people from running from me."

Roy gaped. Had he just read his mind?

"Call me G," the man said and pulled a black coat over his back.

Roy could stilln't see his face. Only silhouettes against the little light coming from the window. He watched as he put on black gloves, leather shoes and finally a nose mask that covered all but his eyes. He poised a hat over his head and grabbed a bunch of keys from the table.

"We don't have all the time," he said and headed out."

Roy promptly followed. They went across the quiet street, with Roy's heart in his mouth. G lifted a kind of underground garage door. A circular platform appeared with numbers and a small screen on it.

"Turn away," he said to Roy, before he punched in a kind of passcode.

A lever moved and before Roy's eyes, a power bike rolled out from the very room they had come from. G got into it.

"C'mon, boy, stop staring like a sloth and get on."

Roy climbed behind him and after seconds of revving the power bike's engine, the strange man puffed away down the road. Roy had to grab his waist to avoid falling. The breeze with a beat across his ear reminded him of the possibility of falling off and breaking all his bones if he didn't hold on tight.

When they got to a pharmacist's store, he stopped the bike and leapt off, leaving Roy there. He spoke with the counter girl and then returned.

"Give me the broken one," he said, and went back to the girl with it.

Roy watched as the girl's face suddenly lit up, but it was not because of the inhaler, but because of the cash G pulled out.

"The Prince?" Roy heard her coo, and he went still. Who was the Prince?

"Give me the f*****g inhaler!" G snapped and took two steps towards the exit door. The girl had to press her hand over her mouth to keep her exhilaration in. G snatched the device from her, and threw on the table bills that were worth more than a hundred inhalers.

When he returned to the bike and started off, he asked Roy, "Am I the Prince?"

"I guess, sir," Roy stammered.

"Wrong answer." He made a swift tilt of the bike which almost sent Roy flying off. "Am I the Prince?"

"No, sir, you're not."

"Good. Don't believe everything you hear."

Roy was frightened to silence. After a minute, they arrived at the train station. Confirming Roy's fear, a crowd had gathered, and the train was huffing impatiently.

"There she is!" Roy yelped and ran to the middle. "Diane, it's me, Roy. I brought your inhaler."

G watched with concern as the boy tore open the object and shoved it into her mouth. A fulfilled smile appeared under his mask.

His phone beeped.

A message from "f****d up Uncle".

"You saved a boy who violated me," the text r******w you'll have to make me stop a whole train journey. And how about I send you back to your wheelchair where you belong?"

A panic clutched at G's heart. If the Monarch arrived here, it was going to be hell on Earth. G still couldn't fathom how the Monarch was always able to track him, no matter how stealthy he was.

He looked around. The young lady seemed to have recovered. Good.

"Listen to me everyone," he said to the scattered passengers. "I want everyone on the train. Now!"

They just stared at him.

"Who the hell are you, with all that cowboy hat and boots?" one man shouted. "Pathetic," another scoffed.

G blinked rapidly as the words crashed into his ears. He felt in his pockets and touched the cold body of a pistol. Who was this man to think he could talk to him like that?