Chapter 62 - Weapon Down, Vitello

"How long would we have to walk?" Persephone asked. 

"I don't know. I have never been to this part of the country," Santiago answered. "But we can't stop until we see any sign of civilization. The forest is on the bank of the river. So, it's clear that we will find humans sooner and later." 

Three of them were walking for about six hours but still, there was no sign of human civilization anywhere. Worst of all, the forest didn't appear to end somewhere. If you ask Persephone she would say that it wasn't a forest but a maze. All the paths were leading to nowhere. 

"Miss Persephone, we can't rest," Emanuel said anxiously as he saw a huffing and exhausted Persephone sitting in the middle of the path. She was taking deep breaths, her legs and waist were aching like never before, and not to mention, her feet were stiff and throbbing. 

It was very difficult for her to walk a long distance because she wasn't the one to cultivate her body with the necessary exercises. She would rather sleep until 11o o'clock than run early in the morning. 

"Miss Persephone, stand up and walk, " Emanuel said again as Persephone laid on the ground. 

Santiago, who was walking ahead of them, turned back to find her spread on the ground. 

"What happened?" He immediately asked. 

Persephone held up her hand to gesture to him to keep walking and she was just tired. 

As Santiago was about to help her to stand on her feet, they heard a gunshot. 

She stood up instantly and hid behind the huge tree near her. As per Villain's orders, if they were abruptly attacked, she had to hide if she couldn't assist them in fighting. Emanuel and Villain took their positions behind the rocks which served as bunkers for them. 

The first round of gun fires ensued for half an hour. When they made sure all of them were taken down, they immediately ran from that place. Before running from there, they checked their bodies to find something useful on them. They found some compass, ammunition, maps, first aid, etc with them. 

"We have to tread carefully," Santiago said to both of them and they nodded in return. 

Persephone glanced at Santiago who was sweating badly. She realized that his left arm was bleeding. 

"Don't worry. The bullet just passed through it. Nothing serious," Santiago said as if hearing her thoughts. 

Persephone just nodded. She had no words to say to him. 

Looking at Emanuel, she found him walking limply. "Are you alright, Emanuel?"

"I will be, Miss Persephone," Emanuel beamed. "The main road is just two kilometers from here." 

They carefully treaded according to maps. And as per those maps, they reached the road. 

But if they thought it was the end of their long journey, then they were wrong, very much wrong. 

"Hello, Love birds."

Santiago and Persephone found at least twenty people surrounding the exit of the forest. This was the only way to come out of the forest and if the kidnappers guessed it right, they would surely try to follow the maps stolen from their men. And look, their mind-blowing brain had guessed it all right. 

Persephone gasped as she saw the pointed weapons at them. 

She looked back to find that Emanuel had yet to come out. So, she purposefully shouted, "Why do you want to capture us? What wrong have we done to you?" 

Santiago's ears hurt hearing her shrieking like a madwoman in the middle of nowhere. But of course, he understood what she was trying to do. It was good that Emanuel was left out of it. He was innocent in this matter. 

"Someone shut her mouth. She screams like a madwoman," the leader of the group who was leaning against the black range rover lazily said. 

"What do you want?" Santiago questions them.

The leader's lackey sneered, "Do you think we need something from the likes of you?"

"Perhaps, you do," Persephone thoughtfully said. 

"Boss, this woman needs to be taught a lesson. She doesn't know that she shouldn't talk between two men," The leader's lackey, who was dressed in an awful yellow jacket and red pants, said. 

Persephone blinked her eyes feigning innocence, "You are a man?"She then gasped and turned to look at Villain with an expression that said she was genuinely surprised. " Villain, look he says that he is a man." 

"Yeah, it looks like it," Santiago lazily replied as he looked at armed men and then at the crazy girl beside him. 

"Boss! Look, they are insulting us!" The clown in bright yellow and blood-red stomped his feet on the ground dramatically and complained to his boss with a pout. 

"How cute!" Persephone clapped. 

"Boss…" The clown cried once again. 

Persephone moved ahead and looked at the clown and excitedly asked, "Hey, cutie, what's your name?"

The supposed cutie turned his face to throw a tantrum. To be honest, he was a kid in a man's body. 

Persephone poked his arm and asked, "Tell me cutie, what's your name?" 

"Covrado," He said after a while. 

Persephone had a thoughtful expression on her face. Looking at Corrado and his boss, she again asked, "Covrado like Avocado?" 

The boss was getting irritated with Covrado's childish behavior. If he could, he would have shot him a long time ago. He was already vexed by the fact that all their men who had entered the forest had not come out alive. And now they were left with only twenty people. There was also some news that due to the worsening conditions in the capital, the city would be experiencing a curfew soon. So, only they had twenty people to capture these two, which didn't seem to be a big problem. 

As for the real big problem, that was this clown bickering with the girl was more of a problem than capturing those two. 

Santiago watched how the armed men were distracted by Persephone and Covrado's bickering. He slowly and carefully took a smoke bomb out of his musette bag. 

It didn't even take him to throw the smoke bomb where the group of armed men was standing. 

When Persephone was walking ahead to stand near Covrado and his boss, she had counted the number of steps it would take to go back to Santiago's side. Holding back her breath, she immediately stepped back just how she walked ahead in the first place. 

Santiago grasped her hand tightly and ran back into the forest. It would take at least a few minutes before the smoke would disappear. Until then, they would take their positions to protect themselves from their attack. 

Inside the forest, the view was a little clearer. Turning to Persephone, Santiago said, "Climb on the tree." 

"What?" She asked him. 

"I will help you climb the tree. Hide there. No Matter what happens. Don't come down or get caught, do you get me?" Santiago asked her. 

Persephone had no choice but to agree with him. 

As Santiago was about to help her to hide on the tree, he heard her say. 

"Wait." 

He looked up to see a peck landing on his cheek. "Defeat the fuckers." 

He nodded. "Don't come out even if I get caught, okay?" 

Persephone seemed to hesitate a bit but nodded in the end. 

The army of lazy boss infiltrated the forest. Santiago, who was hiding within the trees, shot every single person that came into his view. Since he was hidden from them, it was easy for him to shoot them. Moreover, it wasn't the first time he was getting hunted by an army of skilled and armed people. 

He had hunted almost fifteen men of the enemy. As he was about to shot another one, he felt the coldness of a revolver against his neck. Since he was hiding behind the trees, not on them, he was discovered by the boss. 

"Weapon down, Vitello," The man's voice was lazy and soft. He sounded as if he was sent here forcibly. His languid body language and expressions were making him more scary. "I have to admit that your woman is quite smart. Maybe, too smart to be good." 

"Tell her to come out and we will spare you," He then added. 

Santiago sneered. "Since you know my name, you would have at least heard about my reputation."

Boss aka the lazy man chuckled and Santiago wondered how could a man chuckle so lazily? "You are nothing but a psychopathic motherfucker who is given the honor of a national hero. You and your there dogs are worshiped by the ignorant and innocent public. If they know the jobs that you carry for another psychopath that they know as their King, trust me they would kill you before me." 

Santiago snorted coldly. "What lessons did Joseph teach you? Democracy and shit? Did he even know what it actually means? You all are stepping stones for him to ultimately capture the throne. Fools.. All of you are fools."