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Chapter 15 - Chapter 14- Children Of Demon Killers

On the other side of the mall, a fisherman looked for Philip and Kent to tell them the good news that they would open the window. Philip and Kent were in the bar talking to Magdy. Philip and Kent went upstairs to adjust their intervention.

A strong breeze came in from the sea when the fishermen opened the three windows. The weather was warm, and the noon sun blazed. The beautiful sparkling gold in the blue water tempted everyone to jump into it. Each took a long breath as they got closer to their freedom. The whole place started to smell of the sea; even on the ground floor, people began to smell that familiar salty aroma. It entered each store from the stairs. They could hear the faint sound of waves dancing softly on the shore, energizing the soul.

Kent gratefully said, "We should be thankful."

Philip was surprised by his statement. He was thankful to be alive, and everyone was safe. Captain Chez smiled at Kent and put his hand on his shoulder while they looked outside the window at the beautiful water. "You know something, son. You have the heart of a fisherman. You are still thankful when you look at the sea and give your back to the world."

"We still have everything: water, electricity, air-conditioning. And we are, in a way, safe behind these doors," Kent said, "except we don't have a way to communicate with the outside world."

"Don't forget the twenty kids and four Freedas missing," Philip said.

"They are safe," Captain Chez promised. "There are two guardian angels for each kid. We will find them soon."

The three windows also overlooked the fountain. The King Markus statue was on top of the fountain. King Markus was always projected as a warrior, standing with a sword in each of his two hands, crossed in an X on top of his head. One sword was standard, and another was flaming.

Philip pondered at the statue of King Markus, the first demon killer. Markus was the second official king of Serena City, and later the city was named after him. Philip thought aloud, "If King Markus was here now, what would he do?"

"He and his soldiers will capture them, and he will behead them and return their bodies to their families with a letter saying, 'You did not raise them, so we raised them for you,'" Conner guessed.

"Hard to believe he was so cruel," Philip marveled.

Captain Chez said, "A long time ago, son, ancient kings and King Markus did not tolerate criminals."

One of the fishermen noted to the three teenagers, "You know this is the place where King Ramon and Maximo killed the water demon Zephara and her husband, Nickjoe?"

"I never heard the story," Kent said, cheering up. "Can you tell us the story? Ramous city's law forbids telling the story of the Demon Killers."

"They want us to forget our history," Ramzy said. "I am also a refugee from Ramous City."

Conner lectured. "That's the saddest thing ever. He never knew about his city's history. I hate Panthera. You know they want to invade Markus City too. We fought them for ten years. General Raymond Reaplingsea and his brave soldiers killed them on Main Street thirty years ago. I shot and killed five of them. I was one of those brave soldiers."

Conner pointed at another man and mocked, "That Billy, the loser over there, killed only four."

"There would be five people if you did not shoot him before me." Billy jumped from the floor and started to argue with Conner.

Charles chided, "Guys, you are glorifying murder. You bragged about how many people you killed. That's sick."

"They killed our people. Why do we have to be cordial to them if they are not cordial to us?" Conner shouted.

Billy quoted, "Respect is a two-way street. If I respect my freedom and life, I will respect your freedom and life."

"I lived under Panthera for twenty years. I agree with them. They killed many Ramians, so why should we not kill Pantheras?" pondered Kent.

"Technically, we are defending ourselves," the historian Ramzy said.

"God said, 'Do not kill,'" Charles quoted.

"God meant, 'Do not murder,'" Conner corrected.

"What's the difference between kill and murder?" Charles asked. Conner asked, "Am I a killer, boy? I work as a fisherman."

Charles answered, "No, you kill fish. It is an animal, not a human."

Billy asked, "Should I get arrested for killing the Panthera, boy?

If I work in the army and protect my city from invaders?"

Charles answered, "No, sir, you worked for the army, which means the government. They cannot arrest you for helping them."

Billy asked another question. "Do you think God will send me to the depths of the inferno for killing those earthly devils, boy?"

"I don't know," Charles reasoned, "it is a gray area. I am not God. You killed four people while protecting your city and its residents."

Conner accused, "If he did not kill them, he would be a peace- monger. The evilest thing in the world is when good and able people don't stop evil."

Captain Chez felt sorry for Charles because of Billy and Conner's team upon him; even so, he agreed with them, but he thought they should be gentle with Charles because he was half their age. Captain Chez explained, "Son, murder is a sin because it takes the life of a person intentionally. Killing is more general in taking a life."

"I found them." Ricky had returned, opened his bag, and got out four tranquilizer guns. He prepared one to point outside the window and waited.

They spotted a Payara member from the right window when he walked toward the fountain. They spied on him behind the walls. He

sat and rested on the fountain tiles. The black-wearing criminal tried to cool off from the scorching sun.

Fishermen who stood on the second floor were quiet and observed the scientist aiming at the resting gang member, noticing the criminal analogy to a hunter targeting his prey.

"Stop!" Charles whispered to Ricky, and he took the tranquilizer gun from his hand. They returned to the room to talk so the lazy gang member could not hear him. The fishermen were surprised by his action and followed them to the back of the room.

"What?" Ricky was surprised by his friend's action. "Why?'

Charles explained, "The last animals we used those darts on were lions, which are twice as big as humans, so it means double the dose. It will kill him. It is God who takes lives, not us."

"Reduce the dose to human size," Philip suggested.

"First, it's harder than you think," Charles explained. "The per- son who prepares the darts is not here. This is a human life, not an animal… Even we care about animals' lives."

"Second, even if we have the right dose, it can take up to ten minutes to take effect," Ricky said.

"Up to ten minutes. I thought it would take a second," Kent said with disappointment. "A lot of things can happen in ten minutes. He can gather all his friends in those ten minutes."

"Even if he did not, they would see his body lying on the floor with a dart sticking out of him," Ramzy said. "Our advantage is that they don't think we plan to attack them. If they see him on the floor, they will attack us."

"I was so happy to end this thing that I forgot about those details," Ricky said.

Captain Chez was disappointed with himself. "It is my fault. The reason we treat them like animals is that they do barbaric acts, burning businesses where people work and earn a living. They are humans, and we should treat them as humans."

Ricky said, "Don't forget, Captain, the most dangerous animal is a human. They want us to treat them as animals."

Ramzy said, "They named themselves Payaras, an animal. We did not call them animals. They named themselves animals."

Outside the mall, the gang member removed his shirt and mask. He dipped his shirt in the fountain and washed his face and hair. Captain Chez looked at him and said, "He does not look Markian to me."

Captain Chez said to his crew, "Get the net. He is small enough." Captain Chez threw a net at him. The guy attempted to yell at his comrade, but Ricky aimed the tranquilizer gun at him to scare him into being quiet. Captain Chez said, "If you scream, he will put two bullets in your head."

The gang member thought the tranquilizer gun was an actual gun. He obeyed them. Philip and Kent pushed the shopping cart to pull the criminal up; they tied him with ropes and took him to the bar.

Billy looked at the clothes of the captured gang members. "He was only dressed in black clothes that you can get from any store."

"What do you mean by that?" Captain Chez looked at him as if he could read his mind. Billy looked around and searched for clothes in Sofie's Boutique's stock. He looked for plain black clothes. Billy changed his clothes. "I am going outside to investigate."

Ramzy tore a blue shirt from the boutique's rails. "Wear this," Ramzy told Billy, giving him part of the shirt and tying it around Billy's leg so they could distinguish him from the others. Billy jumped from the second window and walked as if he were one of the gang members. Conner and Captain Chez prayed for his safe return.

Roman and Eric returned to the three boys with a middle-aged woman carrying a flat, thin piece of meat, a candle, and a lye jug. Philip and Kent were excited that they had captured one.

"Mrs. Martina Bloomflower is a chemist from the Ramous City, and she owns the candle store."

"Captain Chez Plantfulsea." The captain shook Martina's hands. "We need to see this." Kent prompted Philip to go to the bar.

Afterward, Philip and Kent went to the first floor. Captain Chez said, "We are dealing with the Panthera, not the Payara. I

waited for the boys to leave, so they wouldn't get scared."

Ricky said, "Oh great. Tomorrow, the news from DUN will say that the government supports the Panthera, and the government will

stop the grant, and we will get fired. Congratulations, Charles, we've become jobless. Tell Lucy I will be home forever."

Charles said, "Ricky, stop joking. Are we going to kill them?" "I did not kill that boy," Captain Chez said. "He did not give us

a hard time. I can see the fear in his eyes, so I gave him mercy. If any of those animals hurt any person, I will kill him with my own hands."

Ramzy said, "This is why you and your men made the speech about the difference between killing and murdering."

Captain Chez said, "I don't want them to see us as evil people if we killed one of them."

"Evil people make good people do unmentionable acts," Conner said while looking out the window, hoping his friend would be there.

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