It was free time. Near the exit of the school cafeteria, I sat with my friends. We were discussing a new comic book that came out recently. It was about a guy named Mark, who got summoned into the City of Napis, the kingdom of humans, and his task was to lead the war against the Demon-King with the army of Humans, Elves, Dwarfs, Vampire's, and Nixies/Nix, to save the nation of Vochiaden. He will lead an army of-

At that moment, we heard the loud noise of a police siren and heavy, barging footsteps.

When I turned my head, I saw eight men wearing ski masks covering their faces; They were dressed in pitch-black leather. Among the group, there were gun-toting men who held a bag full of what I assumed was cash.

Immediately, everyone in the cafeteria stood up and abandoned whatever they were doing.

Everyone was cautious. It was not normal to see a dozen or more grown men in ski masks and leather barging into a school cafeteria while police sirens were blaring.

I looked at the window on the other side of the cafeteria. Police cars being parked, and we could see police officers going through the entrance.

One of the thin men from the group aimed a gun at a blond girl sitting next to me and pulled the trigger, surprising me, and we all heard the bang as the girl fell lifelessly on her knees and onto the floor surrounded by a pint of blood.

"That's what happens if you resist." He spoke.

The two girls who used to sit with the dead girl had stunned faces and clutched their lips in an attempt not to scream. Their eyes welled up with tears.

Among my friends, I was closest to the exit since we were all standing near the exit.

There was then a tall, muscular man with scars covering his left and right arms, which I guessed was the boss. As he walked toward me, he grabbed my shirt collar with his left hand and pulled my hair up into my face with his right hand, pointing his gun at me.

'Hey!!,' I barked.

'I spent a long time this morning preparing my hair. I was trying to impress my friends and look cool. Get your hand off now and apologize, you damned bastard.

I tried to sound badass and authoritative.

Alex POV:

Does my best friend have his wits about him at this moment?

You are talking about your hair while someone is literally pointing a gun at your head. No one cares if you copied Levi's for a long time. Is your tone assertive enough to thwart a mafia boss?

While someone is doing something so insane and frightening, you likely are fantasizing about GTA or Call of Duty.

Blake POV:

"Okay boys, just grab some random kiddos, and don't let them go. We need hostages if we want the cops to let us go." Without paying attention to me, he spoke in a raspy, deep voice.

"Yes, boss on it!! You hear that, babies? It's best to stay put." And like he said, no one dared to move. They blocked the escape route, so there was no such thing as running away. Never in my life did I imagine myself seeing a mafia boss.

"If your aim is money, I will give you all we have listed here, so long as you let Blake and everyone else leave." Alex said.

What a good best friend, I thought to myself while trying to remove the man's grip from my hair. The man holding me brought his face down to level with my ear and whispered, "If you try to resist, I'll kill you and just take another hostage."

"We have already robbed more than enough. All that's left is to escape and enjoy the money. The other groups are rob- "one said, stopping mid-sentence, answering the question.

"Hands up!! The police are here." And so, they did.

A group of 14 to 16 police officers and women came armed to the scene, and that's when the mafia boss said, "We've got hostages, so let us go if you don't want to lose more."

Then a police officer came out of the police crowd with a megaphone. He must be the leader of these patrols, I guessed.

"What if we let you go for the student's life and safety?" The police officer said through the megaphone.

What are they doing? Call the FBI helicopter team or something. Corner them. Well, it might not be the best time to dream about GTA police officers arresting crooks?

Even though the police officers had a nice and soothing voice, I knew it was a farce. It was the police's duty to capture crooks.

The boss smirked and said, "That's more like it, cops, but I'm not stupid. As soon as we let the valuable hostages go, you'll arrest us."

Despite his warning, I dared to push the mafia boss away from me one last time because I thought he had let his guard down. Having freed myself from the thug, I attempted to run away. However, he reacted quickly and pointed his gun at me as I ran. I heard a loud bang and feeling something heavy go through my head right at the same time and my eyelids becoming significantly heavier. At that moment, the world became blurry, leaving me numb.