Chapter 22: Always Be Together

I pulled my gun out of the waistband of my jeans as I fell off the ladder, trying to break my fall as best as I could. I hid behind the table that had some heroin on it and shot twice at the bartender, who shot at me again, but the bullets hit the wall behind me. As he hid behind the bed, I picked up the bottle of antiseptic that was in front of me and held it. The next time I saw the bartender poke his head up, I threw the bottle at his head, and it him on his temple. I heard him hit the floor with a thud.

I ran over to him and kicked his gun, causing it to slide under the couch that was across the room from the bed. Then I took the shackles, handcuffed him to the bed, and quickly ascended the ladder. As I looked up, I saw Gerard's face fill with relief. He must have been terrified when I fell off the ladder, probably thinking the worst after everything he's been through.

"Francis, you're shot."

"It's ok, it's just a flesh wound, let's go. He won't be unconscious forever."

I pondered where to go, and didn't want to say anything out loud because I was uncertain of how loyal the strippers in the brothel were to the bartender. Luckily the strippers who were there were distracted by the customers, and didn't really listen to our conversation. I didn't want any of them reporting our location, so I just looked at Gerard, making sure he was ready to go and then I led him to the building next door. There was a cross hanging on the wall, which in these times, was a comforting symbol. I knocked, and a woman who was modestly dressed with a bandanna around her head came out.

"We need a place to tend to this woman, can we stay at your church?"

"You can stay here, but this is not a church, it is an orphanage."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Thank you."

"It is all right. Oh my goodness, is that woman okay? Is she alive?"

"Yes, she's just sleeping, we rescued her from the brothel."

---

Dmitry and I had been playing hide and seek on the orphanage grounds when two men carrying a woman knocked on the door and then disappeared into the doorway. We looked at each other with surprise, as we ended our game, hiding behind a concrete pillar, while we pondered what was happening inside.

"Do you think that woman was dead? She had blood on her."

"I hope not. I don't like it when people die."

"That guy had blood on him too. I hope he doesn't die either."

"We should go check and see if they're okay."

"No, Bash, I'm scared. What if they're bad men and they hurt us? What if the reason the woman has blood on her is because of those men? That guy with blood, he must have been fighting and usually only bad people fight. We're only kids. What if they hurt Miss Deshi?"

"Then we have to protect her! Miss Deshi is like our mama, we can't let her be hurt!"

I got up off the ground, suddenly filled with panic over what Dmitry said. Miss Deshi was the only grownup I knew, and she was the only one who took care of me, I couldn't let her be hurt. I was a little scared, but I felt better when I heard Dmitry's footsteps behind me. I was glad he had decided to help me and not hide.

---

The woman went upstairs, and motioned for us to follow her. There were some beds along the wall, and Gerard placed Iliana on top of one of them. The woman, who told us her name was Miss Deshi, brought over a tshirt and some sweat pants for Iliana to wear, and Gerard dressed her.  Miss Deshi also brought me a new shirt since mine had blood soaked in it. Gerard looked at my wound and became concerned when he found out the orphanage had no alcohol to sanitize it. Of course, it made complete sense for the orphanage not to have alcohol, because the children couldn't drink, and Miss Deshi chose not to drink, so she said she would try to find something else that would suffice. She had some rubbing alcohol for taking care of the children's wounds, and Gerard used that instead.

"You seem to be lucky, just like I was, the bullet just grazed you. Why did you fall off the ladder?"

"I half fell, half jumped off when I heard the gunshot. I needed to be off the ladder before he could shoot again and actually hit me, and I didn't think I could get all the way up without that happening. Sorry I scared you."

"I'm really glad you're okay, I was so scared you were-"

"I know. Everything's all right now. Am I fixed, Doctor?"

"Yeah, just about."

Gerard finished securing my bandage and I put on the shirt Miss Deshi had given me. I told him I was going to go get the truck and bring it over so we could go back to his house. He wanted to go with me because he was afraid I'd get caught by the military enforcing curfew, but I assured him I would be fine. I had about thirty minutes before 11pm, and I was sure I would be back in time.

---

Hiding by the side of the stairs, Dmitry and I had been watching the men after we had followed them and Miss Deshi. Dmitry seemed less scared now that we had seen one of the men put clothes on the woman and then one man helped the other man clean up the blood on his side.

"See, Dmitry? They're not bad, I don't think bad men would care that the woman was cold."

"I've never seen a naked girl before. Do you think DeeDee looks like that when she's naked?"

"Ew, Dmitry. That's gross. I don't want to think of DeeDee like that. Besides, that woman is a grown up."

"What is wrong with her arms? She has holes in them that are red."

"I don't know. Maybe someone poked her when they were hurting her."

"What are you two idiots doing?"

A shrill voice broke through Dmitry and I's quiet atmosphere, annoying us, as we were trying not to bother the men who were trying to do their own thing. Of course, it was DeeDee, who had just woken up and was standing at the top of the stairway, probably to get something to eat.

"Quiet, DeeDee. We're hiding."

"Why? I walked right past those guys, they don't care that you're here. They know that other people live here. You guys are so stupid all the time."

"Why did you get up if you were in bed anyway? It's night time."

"Why aren't you in bed?"

"We're waiting for those guys to leave."

DeeDee scoffed and rubbed her stomach.

"I was hungry, Stupid."

---

As I exited the orphanage, I looked around to see if the military patrols were anywhere near. When the coast was clear, I ran towards the community parking lot. If I could cross the large patch of grass that separated the orphanage from the other part of town, then it would be easy for me to get to the car. My mission was successful, and I got to the car in no time, checking the time on the dash, and it read 10:45. I quickly started the car and drove towards the orphanage, parking the car on the side of the building, so that the brothel was out of sight. I didn't want to take the chance of the bartender seeing us with Iliana. I ran back in, and saw that Gerard had come down to the front door with Iliana. We put her in the back seat of my truck and laid a blanket over her, then drove back to Gerard's house.

When we stepped into his house, both of us breathed a sigh of relief. After everything we'd been through, we were finally successful at our rescue mission. Gerard let me stay in his guest room since it was after curfew and I'd be in trouble if I tried to go anywhere. He gave me some pajamas to wear and then left to go to to bed. The room had a television, and I turned it on as I got ready for bed. I changed into the pajamas, wincing from the dull pain in my side when I took my shirt off.

"New developments are being built upon the mayor's orders in a new part of town. These beautiful new houses are designed to be a great step in rebuilding our society after the chemical attack. The mayor is excited to be making progress, and he had a few words to say at the ribbon cutting today."

Looking at the houses, I scoffed when I saw that they were basically cookie cutter looking things, except for a few different colored trim pieces. It figured that the city government would be cutting corners to make things cheaper by ordering hundreds of the same pieces of material that they could just divide between the houses. I was saddened that they were giving up character with the rebuilding of our society, wasn't that the good part of society that we needed to remember and treasure? We had a chance to start over, those of us who weren't killed in the chemical attack, so why were we building our society into some sort of drone like police state?

Mayor: "I'm proud to announce today that we are opening these brand new houses to the public. They will be on the market for purchase. Just come to City Hall for more information. No chemical attack is going to keep us down! Our society will come back stronger than ever!"

"These residential areas are going to replace those houses which were closest to Ground Zero, while we are decontaminating that area. The mayor has high hopes for these developments to bring up the morale of society."

I sat on the bed, looking at the footage of the houses, unsure whether I should be suspicious of this area or not. With the way they bugged the land line phones, I wouldn't put it past them to do something in those new houses that violated some other form of privacy, like subjecting people to random searches or something. No doubt they would be installing land lines in all those houses, so there was always that. I kind of hated that I was so paranoid and suspicious all the time, but I had seen my fair share of corruption, even in the police department, and I hated that the people trusted to enforce the law were some of the ones who were breaking it. I wasn't sure if the mayor was corrupt at all, but I knew that I wouldn't be surprised if he was.

---

After the two men and the hurt woman left, Dmitry and I sat on my bed, talking before we went to sleep. I didn't know what to think about what had happened that day, but I was sad for the woman. I wondered why she had gotten hurt so much. Was she a bad woman who was also fighting with people?

"This has been a wierd night, Bash. Where do you think those people went?"

"I don't know, they're grownups so they probably have their own house, unlike us. I wish I was a grownup. Then I could have my own house to go to that's bigger than this place."

"Do you not like Miss Deshi and our home?"

"I do, I just miss my house I lived in with my daddy. Someday I want a house like that for myself. But I have to be a grownup first."

"Would you leave me all alone, Bash?"

Dmitry got a sad look on his face, so I scooted closer to him because I felt bad for making him think I would ever abandon him.

"No, Dmitry. No way. We'll always be friends, and we'll always be together."

In the blink of an eye...

Four lives were changed..

One man gained a friend,
One husband and wife were reunited,

...and one little boy's life was saved.

---

IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE: Blink of an Eye is not over. I just wanted to clarify that since I started the story with a poem, and this chapter has sort of a "closing" poem, that it might give people the wrong idea. I'm dividing the story into segments, so this poem just marks the end of the first segment. The second segment of Blink of an Eye will be back. :) Thanks for reading! I love you all!  ~LateKnightSimmer~