Chapter 1: Part 1: Survival of the Fittest. The will to live. Part 5

Part 5

The mother looked down in defeat.

There was nothing that she could do to help the situation. If she did anything, she would end up in the same situation as her husband, and that would not have helped their daughter.

There was nothing she could do at the moment.

She sat there helplessly.

"Do you see it now, what this city is doing to us?" the man said in a calm voice. "Under the pretense of bettering ourselves, this city that we call home only exists for the strong. You can earn a great living if you are born with or develop a great power that is useful to the city in whatever their goal is."

The mother raised her head to look at the man kneeling in front of them.

"You know the funny thing is that no matter the level of their ability, they are automatically placed above us; it's like they are the next stage in humanity. We are humans, and they are mutants like the X-MEN. Only the strong survive is the unofficial motto of the city, so tell me, you know by now that we do not have any powers; if we did, this would have gone a lot smoother.

With that sentence, the woman began to feel anger swell up inside her.

"We are a small gang of those that did not have the natural talents or could develop them, so we decided to form a group that would eventually outnumber those that did have powers."

The woman had a worried look on her face.

"Oh, you want to say something."

The man slowly reached his hand to her face and pulled the tape off her mouth.

The woman spoke "If that is your goal, th-then why attack, Why rob us?". The woman wanted answers.

The man sighed.

"You see, the plan we had sounded good on paper; it happens in nature where hundreds of ants would overpower a grasshopper or a praying mantis. It was all about numbers and how they were utilized. That was where we messed up big time. Given the right situation, it is easy to outnumber and overpower someone. The problem was the prey itself; we jumped the shark on that one and went after whoever. The situation had changed, and the gap of power between us was larger than we ever imagined. It wasn't ants and grasshoppers anymore; it was dragons and ants."

The man pulled up his sleeves, and then he lifted his shirt.

The woman's eyes widen as she sees the various scars.

"Yeah, it hurt like a bitch, but despite these ugly scars, I'm one of the lucky ones. My section of our gang only focused on low level reality warpers, but what we had in numbers they had in power, and eventually even their weakest was enough to overpower us by the dozens. There are other sections that attempt to take on the strongest bunch of reality warpers."

The man chuckled.

"Damn idiots, who the hell chose to fight against those that wipe out an entire city with a thought or a wave of their hand? Some of them lost their limbs and some died, they don't even get mentioned, but what can anyone say? Today, several people were critically injured after attempting to gang up on a single reality warper."

The man lowered his sleeves and began to stand up.

"The funny thing is, when this is all over and both sides part ways, we are left injured and barely alive, and we are looked at as the victims. I mean, it's one thing to get overlooked by the city, but to be humiliated like that when we are supposed to be the aggressors, that was the final straw."

The woman began to realize something.

Their plan and their whole ideology were ridiculous. Ordinary humans taking on reality warpers? There is not a single way they can win. Unless a miracle happened, and the odds were heavily in their favor, the hope of beating them was out of reach.

The woman narrowed her eyes on the gun in the man's hand.

It was truly survival of the fittest or survival of those that could adapt. Evolution at its finest, as the world expanded, new threats emerged. The weak have always been prey to animals that were faster, stronger, and more agile, so they created weapons to combat them. As time went on, threats became more resilient, and weapons became more dangerous to use in combat after going through multiple upgrades in the following centuries.

The woman looked at the handgun in the man's hand, it was a practical weapon. It was small but effective. In a robbery, all one would have to do is wave a gun around, and the victim would become very dependent.

The woman began realizing something else.

The idea of using a gun would be useless against reality warpers since their powers exist to challenge and, in some cases, ignore the laws of physics.

(The money) the woman thought to herself. She had assumed that they were here for something, but during the whole ordeal, not one of the men asked for the money or any money at all. The woman focused on the weapons in the man's hands; the man is in possession of weapons that a normal gang would have, such as guns and baseball bats.

The woman began to think.

There was no way that normal weapons could oversee reality warpers, the only chance they had was to upgrade the weapons they were in possession of. Since New York City had a ban on illegal firearms, the men would have to smuggle in the weapons and ammo into the city, and the resources to pull that off were not cheap.

(But we do not have much money) the woman thought. She did not say this out loud; if the men found out that they did not have a lot of money, there was no telling how they would react. But it was true that they did not have a lot. They owned a small corner store, and it only made enough for the family to live on. At the most, inside the cash register and the safe, there would be less than five grand in total; if any of the men had asked where the money was, the woman would have told them. But none of the men had asked.

Their goal was to challenge the strongest, but with the weapons they had access to, the men did not have a chance. Their only chance was to even the playing field; if the gang had more money, they could afford better weapons. The woman started to realize the robbery part of their plan: to support their group, they would need the money to do so. Since the group was made of humans with no powers, from the city they would receive the bare minimum in income, which was enough to live on, so the goal was money.

But none of the men in the store had asked for the money.

(There goal was something else) The woman thought.

She had assumed that the gang would rob small corner stores, avoiding the larger scale robberies to stay under the radar of local authorities, but they could not hit multiple stores in rapid succession without tipping off the authorities.

With enough resources, one can challenge the strongest, and resources cost money. Since none of the men had asked for any money, they could not get the funds for the resources that they needed, and since they did not have the resources, they needed, they could not challenge the strongest.

Once the woman came to that conclusion, she raised her head, and in her eyes was anger. She said, "What are you here for? You did not come for the money; why are you here? You ambushed us and shot my husband, WHAT THE HELL COULD YOU POSSIBLY WANT?!". She yelled at the men.

The man turned around.

"I told you, didn't I, that my section of the group oversees low-level reality warpers, After multiple attempts, we realized that we had no chance of ever winning. So, my section decided to do things a little differently."

The man walks to the tied-up family.

"There is a law of nature in which everything relies on one another for balance. One species is prey to another, while the same species that preyed upon them is prey to another. It is a perfect system of predator and prey out there. If one species falls out of place, then the whole system collapses on itself."

Slowly, they began to understand what the man was saying.

"We also understood something else as well."

(They were not here for the money we had.)

"What we learned was simple, and that was...."

(They stopped aiming high since they could win against those who were stronger).

"Despite how big the list was, no matter what your place was on that list,..."

(And when they could not get any higher, they...)

"There was always someone who was weaker than you, someone who was beneath you on that list."

(Choose to target those weaker than them, those that could not fight back.)

The situation was clear to her now. The reason they were targeted was because they were weaker. The people in the room had no powers whatsoever, but because the gang had weapons, they were stronger.

"To tell you the truth, I was quite relieved when I came to that conclusion. I could take the humiliation of those who looked down upon me, as long as I could give that same feeling to those below me. We will rise up by pushing everyone below us down"

CRASH!

There was a loud sound that startled everyone in the room.

The sound of broken glass filled the room.

THUD!

Something heavy was dropped on the floor.

The man began to slowly walk toward the source of the sound. He stops when he sees the large man on the floor, bloodied and bruised.

"What the..."

From the broken window, the man heard footsteps approaching the front door.

The sound of broken glass echoed through the small corner store.

Suddenly, there was a ding from the bell as the corner store door opened.

Everyone's eyes focused on the door as it opened.

The door fully opened.

In a situation like this, in the moment when things seemed the darkest, there was a person who stood at the door. After the incident outside, the person at the door beat down the large man on the lookout.

The person was clearly the enemy of the four men dressed in black in the corner store.

To the woman tied up on the floor, the person at the door was a single glimpse of hope.

The person took a step into the store.

Everyone's eyes were focused on the door.

To take down a large man, one would have to be large, if not larger than the said man.

The person who stepped through the door was a teen.

After several steps inside the store, the teen was completely in the store, and with that, disbelief filled the room.

In short, he did not look like someone who could have taken down the large man.

The teen stood there.

Scuffed up.

"Can I get sausage, egg, and cheese on a hero toasted lightly with butter and mayo on the bread?"

Silence.

There was silence in the store.

Everyone was in disbelief.

Ha, you almost had me worried for a moment, kid".

The man walked toward the teen, gun in hand.

The man was a few inches taller than the teen. The teen looked up; his light blue eyes peaked through the bangs covering them. He had bags under his eyes from just waking up. They stood there in front of each other.

The man grabbed the teen’s jacket.

"So, kid, what can you do?"

Hmmm, not much, but probably this." The teen replied.

With the tip of this shoe, the teen kicked the man in the knee. The man's leg jerked as he lost his balance and landed on his hands and knees.

The teen kicked the gun out of the man's hand and over the counter.

The man looked up and was pissed.

The teen was standing over the man.

"You little bastar-"

His sentence was cut off because the teen had kicked the man in the face. The man fell back on top of a tower of cans and boxes.

The man holding his nose staggered, attempted to pull himself up, but struggled.

Everyone in the room watched the whole ordeal unfold. The man, with his nose bleeding, looked at his crew members and brought his hand to his nose to stop the bleeding.

Boss!" one of the men shouted out.

"What the hell are you clowns waiting for? an invitation, Get HIM!"

The other three men began to converge towards his location, and since the men had outnumbered the teen 3 to 1, taking them all together was out of the question since he could see that the men had weapons.

His best chance at staying alive was to take them on individually.

The teen had yawned as he placed his hand on his head and closed his eyes.

(The one time I try to go to school early and I walk in on whatever the hell this is. I mean, sure, I have been late to high school every day of the known school year, but no one ever got hurt over it.)

Since the men were wearing boots, the teen had heard their footsteps getting closer and closer.

(Well, this is the last time I listen to someone.)

The teen opened his eyes, lowered his hand to his side, and smirked.

"Alrightly, then come".

The teen quickly adjusted his eyesight to the person running towards him; an object in the man's right hand reflected in the ceiling light. The teen could see the glare.

A knife.

If one could take down someone with their bare hands, they would not need a weapon. Since the teen could see the weapon, all he would have to do was focus not only on the weapon but also on the part holding the weapon: the arm.

The man swung his right arm with the knife, slightly cutting the teen across his left check and his hood as the teen barely dodged the attack.

Having dodged the attack, the man attempted to punch the teen with his left fist, but the teen ducked under the arm and soon uppercut the man.

"Ugh"

The man staggers back. Dazed, the man thrust his right arm forward.

With both hands, the teen grabbed the man's right arm and kneed him in the stomach. With his right arm, the teen elbowed the man on the side of his head. By sliding his forward foot across the floor and knocking the man off balance, the teen grabbed a handful of the man's hair and slammed the man's head face first onto the ground.

Blood was pouring from the man's forehead as it hit the ground. The man was unconscious. The teen looked up and saw the other man coming. The man had grabbed the teen by the collar of his jacket.

(Seriously, what the hell? why do they keep grabbing the jacket?)

The teen was being pushed back; the man was not that large but very muscular, so he had overpowered the teen. The muscular man was pushing the teen toward a wall, and the teen knew that because of his size, if the man had his back against the wall, the whole fight would be over.

The teen had grabbed the man's arm and let himself fall back. Since he could not overpower the man, he would use the man's size and strength against him. He fell on the floor, raised his leg to catch the man as he fell on top of him, and pushed the man headfirst into a wall.

The man got off the teen and rolled over, groaning as he held his head, As the teen got up, he was immediately hit on the side of the arm with a baseball bat.

The teen fell against the wall, holding his arm.

The man swung the bat horizontally, and the teen spun around to dodge the hit of the bat. Since the bat was a weapon that was an extension of oneself, the teen had to keep his distance to avoid being hit.

The man tried to close the gap between them and began to swing wildly in an attempt to hit the teen.

The teen dodges the hits by spinning around, ducking, and rolling around the area the man had cornered the teen into.

Whoa, that was close."

The teen knew that he could not keep this up forever, as he would tire himself out.

The teen needs to get the man into a small area where he cannot swing the bat around so wildly.

The sound of broken glass filled the room as the man began to hit various objects to get to the teen.

As the man swung the bat to the teen's midsection, the teen raised his left arm to catch the bat. The bat had hit the teen in the waist as he caught it, and it took everything for the teen not to roll over in pain.

Now holding on to the bat in between his arm and waist, the teen punched the man in the nose, hoping that the punch would cause the man to lose his hold of the bat.

The teen kept punching his face.

The teen tightened his hold on the bat and swung the man around into a corner.

The man had hit the teen in the ribs with the butt of the bat. The teen had kneed over, and the man had kneed him in the face to get the teen in a standing position, one where he could hit the teen in the head with the bat.

The man had swung the bat in a horizontal direction, and the teen ducked and spun around the man. The teen had performed a backward leg sweep to trip the man. On the floor, the man had swung the bat, catching the teen on the side of his knee.

As the teen fell down, the man was back to his feet, trying to kick the teen's head off.

The teen had rolled out of the way to create some distance between them.

Fighting him head on was a terrible mistake, he had to think of something.

The teen started to run.

He was not surrendering, but finding a closed environment to fight in. Inside the store, the teen ran towards a small corner. It was not big, but one would not be able to swing a bat freely. A glass bottle was thrown at the teen, and he barely managed to dodge it.

The man came running towards the teen.

The teen breathed as he began to get himself ready for this close-quarter combat session.

As soon as the man was in range, the teen grabbed the man's shirt collar and threw him into a corner of the pipe.

The teen had combo'ed the man with punches and jabs. The man had pushed the teen away with his foot, causing the teen to fall back onto the floor. The man had swung the bat downward to hit the teen.

"CLANG"

The bat had hit something; it was not the teen, but the bat had hit something.

The way the man had swung the bat caused it to get stuck in between the row of pipes attached to the ceiling.

The teen had smirked.

The man was trying to free the bat from the ceiling.

Wasting no time, the teen stumbled to his feet and started to chuckle to himself.

"Well, what do we have here? It looks like the situation has been reversed."

"Wha-" The man was silenced by the teen's fist slamming into his face.

The man had fallen to the floor and did not move.

The sound of the teen panting filled the room. The teen began to walk out of the room, holding his arm, panting.

"STOP."

Someone had yelled out, and following the yell was the scream of a woman.

Standing there was the man with the gun, and in his arm was the woman he had taken hostage, as he was holding a gun to her head.

"Don't move!" the man had yelled to the teen as he stepped out of the small room.

The teen looked at the man.

"Your power"

"What"

"Your power; explain it now."

"What in the blue hell makes you think I have a power?"

The man started to get really annoyed.

"Wha-what are you talking about? You took down my men with little effort; you must have a power. With the way you fought, and man handled my men in hand-to-hand combat, precognition or telepathic perception ability So, which is it?"

The teen places his hand on this side of his head.

"Precognition or telepathic perception Two interesting abilities, but they will not do much in a life-or-death situation. Precognition is the ability to foresee future events, and telepathic perception is the ability to read another thought."

"What are you going on about?"

"Oh, nothing really; it's just that you motioned some interesting theories about me having a power. So, I will entertain you by saying that I did have a precognition ability. To some, the ability to see into the future does really seem cool, but you can't choose which vision you would get to see; it can be good or bad, and with the vision, you can only make a choice."

The teen snapped his fingers.

"Case in point, if you knew about an event that would happen depending on the vision itself, you only had two choices: To change it or to accept it. If one wants to change their 'fate, it would not be that easy because you do not know how to prepare for that said event. The same can be said for a person with telepathic perception abilities. Sure, reading one’s mind is great and all; in a fight, it would allow you to dodge an attack, but if you don't know how to dodge, then it's pointless. More than just moving out of the way, you would have to train your body and mind for something like that"?

"What are you saying?"

"You asked if I had an ability like that; it is logical that I would, but, I have to say I don't have either. Well, let me rephrase that: I don't have any ability of the sort."

"Neither?"

The man could not process the teen's answer.

"But your fighting ability"

"Just training and really, really good reflexes."

"You talked about ability during a life-or-death situation. You mean to tell me that you took the time to learn to fight. What good is your fighting skill against reality warpers? if anything, that would make you a hypocrite."

"I am not being a hypocrite; I am just saying that those two abilities would be useless in a fight. On the other hand, with hand-to-hand combat, you can at least sway the battle in your favor."

"Then join us."

"Huh?"

"Hear me out; according to the city, someone of your nonexistent level of power is not even worth mentioning, so your only logical choice is to join someone who is the same as you. Gangs start out when society treats them like crap, and then they try to justify their existence. Surely you must have felt the injustice this city dished out to us, would it not feel great to dish out this same feeling to those less than you?"

The teen looked down.

"I am the same as you guys; I have no power to show there are no lies about that, except that I don't go around waving a gun at people in a poor attempt to justify my existence. Don't you ever, in your pathetic excuse for a life, compare me to you. You're weaker than the people you push around".

The teen raised his head; his eyes were now focused. He placed his right thumb in the center of his chest.

"I might be weak compared to the overpowered reality warpers, but I still have my pride as a nobody."

The man was surprised by the teen’s answer.

"That is your answer?"

"Of course, and I don’t regret it".

The man raised his arm to point the gun at the teen.

"Well then, kid, let's see where your training and reflexes get you now."

The gun was now set on the teen.

Despite how good his hand-to-hand combat was, there was no way he could outrun a bullet, especially in a small space.

"Do not blame me for your death, kid; blame yourself for your own weakness. I will give you credit where it is due; despite your weakness and total recklessness, you tried your best to save this family, but it seems that fate is smiling down upon me."

The man squeezed his arm around the woman's neck, causing her to wince in pain.

As the man said that the man that the teen slammed into the wall began to come to his feet, On the other side of the room, the man in the small room began to walk out with the bat in hand.

"Let’s end this, shall we?"

In a second, the woman had bitten the man's hand.

The man had let you scream, and with that, the situation in the room had changed.

The teen rushed forward.

"You little bitc-"

The man was silenced by the teen punching him in the face.

The man fell back onto the wall. The teen had run up to the man, and with his foot, he kicked the gun out of his hands again.

"Damn you"

The man grabbed the teen and threw him into the wine cellar.

The man rushed in.

As the man entered, he tried to punch the teen; his arm was grabbed, and the man was spun around until he hit a wall.

The sound of wine bottles crashing on the floor filled the entire room.

The man swung his right arm, and the teen blocked with his left arm. The teen started to repeatedly punch the man in the gut. The teen elbowed the man in the face.

"Raaaaagh"

The voice surprised the teen.

The teen turned around and saw a man running towards him.

He sighed as he dodged and let the man, he was attacking fall over.

He walked down the wine cellar towards the approaching man. The man attempted to punch the teen with his right hand, but the teen ducked and spun around a full 360 to kick the man in the gut. As the man knelt over, the teen slammed his right elbow into the man's face.

Soon after, the man with the bat came rushing into the room, ready to swing.

The teen began to pick himself up.

While running, the man swung the bat left, and the teen dodged the hit by ducking. With his left elbow, the teen hit the man in the back of his head, causing him to slump over the glass.

Suddenly, the teen was caught in a reverse bear hug grapple.

Da-Damnit," The teen said, trying to free himself.

The teen was picked up off the ground.

Struggling, the teen placed his foot on the glass wall of the cellar and pushed himself back, causing the man to crash into rows of wine bottles. Pressed up against the wall, the teen slammed the back of his head into the man's nose.

"Ugh, stay still you little bastard" the man said as he tightens his grip on the teen.

"I’m not little, I’m a good 5’10-11’ on a good day."

Still off his feet, the teen bends his leg to attack the man's groin. The man had released his grip on the teen a little, enough for him to slip through his arms.

Still facing the opposite direction of the man, the teen grabbed the back of the man's head, jumped into the air, and kicked the other man, pressed against the glass wall, in the face.

As the teen landed back on his feet, he elbowed the man behind him repeatedly in the gut and in the chin.

The man with the metal bat swung low to hit the teen's leg, and the teen raised his left leg to dodge the swing. As he did, the teen kicked the man in the side of his face.

The teen yanked the man up by his collar and spun him around so that he was lined up with the man pressed against the glass wall.

The teen placed his foot on the man's stomach and, with all his weight, tried to push the two men through the glass wall—to no avail.

Instead, the teen was pushed back into the wall behind him, bumping into the wine bottle hanging on the rack, causing the bottles to fall crashing onto him and the floor.

Leaning up against the wall, the teen ran towards the two men. Halfway into the run, the teen leaped forward into the air and rammed his knee into the man's face.

The glass wall behind the two men shattered at the force of the attack, and both men fell to the floor. The men were knocked unconscious by the attack as they were lying across the floor.

The teen stood there as he tried to catch his breath.

"Look Out!"

The voice came from the mother.

There was a loud thud as he was slammed into the ground. The leader grabbed the teen's jacket collar and punched him in the jaw.

"Enough of this."

With that statement, the leader began to strangle the teen. The wine cellar became filled with gasping sounds as the teen struggled to breathe. As he was clawing and scratching at the man's hands.

Struggling on the floor, the teen began sliding his hand across the floor and cutting his hand due to the broken shards of glass on the floor.

Without the teen looking, he grabbed a long-broken shard of glass, and without a second thought, the teen stabbed the man in the shoulder. There was a slight twitch in the man's upper body as he removed his hand from the teen's throat. The teen started taking deep breaths. As the man tried to pull the glass shard out of his shoulder, the teen grabbed the man's jacket collar and headbutted him in the nose.

GAHHHHH," the man said as he backed up, his nose bleeding.

With his foot, the teen pushes the glass deep into the shoulder, and with his other foot, the teen pushes the man by kicking him in the chest. Both men had rolled away to the opposite side of the room.

Both men were panting.

The teen wiped the blood from his lips. The man pulled the glass shard from his shoulder; his entire left arm was covered in blood. Slowly, the man began to make a fist with his injured arm, wincing in pain.

They both look at each other.

Then it happened:

Both men had run towards each other. With his right arm, the man swung his arm to punch the teen. The teen ducked under to spin around and elbowed the man in the face.

He backed up and stumbled as the teen walked forward.

Calmly.

Both the man and the teen stood there.

The man attempted to kick the teen with his right leg, which the teen blocked with his left leg. As their legs met, the teen dragged his leg down along with the man's leg. The teen kicked the man in the chest, causing him to stumble back.

The teen then flips, with his foot crashing into the man's face.

There was a "Thud" as the man fell to the floor.

The teen looked at the man lying out on the floor.

The teenager looked at the man lying on the ground and walked away towards the exit of the wine cellar.

"Five against one."

The teen hobbled across the unconscious bodies on the floor.

"It's been a while since I had to fight like that. I think I've gotten a little rusty.

The teen started stretching.

This battle was his, and this victory was his; no one denied that. He walked out of the hole in the broken glass wall, and the sound of glass crunching under his foot filled the room.

Despite still being in the store, it felt like a wave of fresh air hit the teen as he walked out of the cellar. The teen looked around the store.

The store was a mess.

Broken glass and spilled cans everywhere.

The teen grabbed a water bottle and poured its contents on his cut hand to wash away the blood.

"Ummmmmm"

Still licking his hand, the teen looked over to the family sitting there in the corner.

"Can you please help us?"

"Ye-yeah"

As the teen walked over to the family, he wrapped a loose rag around his hand and rolled the father on to his back.

"If you do not mind me asking what happened to him.

"He was hit in the head with the gun.

The teen parted the man's hair aside.

The teen looked at the woman.

"I’ll take a look at him; you should probably deal with the little one."

The mother left to untie her daughter.

The teen turned to the father.

"How are you holding up?"

"I’m good, I think."

The father was up against the wall.

"Just a little beat up."

"You sure"

The teen looked at the father.

"No headaches, no nausea, no blurry vision; you are not hearing any ringing in your ears.

The father looked at the teen.

"Just a headache right now."

"Oh, this was something I read about in one of my aunt's medical books."

"Don't try to move too much, alright; you may or may not have a concussion.

The teen stood up.

"Tha-thank you."

"Huh"

"Thank you for stopping the men and saving us"

"It's not that I don't have powers of my own; believe me, if I did have any powers of my own, I would've still come to save you.

"Why?"

The father looked at the teen.

NEO New York City had one goal: To understand the larger universe, and to do that, they would need someone who stood at the top, the strongest. Someone who understands the vast universe and can manipulate said universe. It was a mad scramble to the top of the throne; one could call it a dog-eat-dog world where everyone looks out for themselves.

"I don't like bullies. I did not train my skills to hone my martial arts skills to beat down bullies; that would make me no different from them. I do not want to hurt anyone, I guess I cannot turn my back on people in need. Sometimes those two cross paths with each other, but since you guys are safe, someone will be able to smile when this is all over. I guess this is what you would say, 'The end justifies the means' huh?"

"Your hurt"

"It's alright, this isn’t so bad; besides, if I can save others, then my fate is unimportant."

The teen looked at the clock. It was almost seven, and soon had to leave for school. The teen looked at the mother.

"...the hell is taking them so long. It was supposed to be a quick job, in and out. This is the place, right?"

The teen jerked his head to the broken window near the front door as he heard noise outside.

Hey, quick question: beside the front door, is there another way out of the store."

"Yes, there is an exit back door for deliveries," the mother replied.

The teen kept his focus on the broken glass window and turned his attention to the father.

Look, the window is broken. Do not tell me they have gotten crazy inside".

The teen helps the father up.

"Let's just head inside to see what the holdup is."

The teen could hear the voices of multiple men; he looked back to the mother.

"Take him and your daughter and go through the back. The first chance you have is to call emergency services.

But," the mother replied, but was cut off by the teen turning to her.

"He is going to need help, and this may be the only chance he can get it. Take the back exit, leave, and don’t look back.

"Alright"

The family trio hobbled together and proceeded towards the back door exit.

The mother opened the door.

The teen turned towards the broken window.

With her husband and daughter out of the door.

The mother looked back.

The last thing she saw was the teen facing the window before the exit door closed.