The Thief War

    Erika laughed as her sister ran with her down the street, dodging around people as the sunlight turned their hair the strange red-gold that stood out among most others in the city.

    The twins were thirteen; old enough to know how they were suppose to be acting in public yet young enough that they honestly didn’t care. They were free from classes and there did not seem any reason that they shouldn’t be enjoying themselves before going home and facing the realities of life.

    Together they slip on the ice as they rounded the corner, barely managing to keep from falling. Without stopping they went into the store and slowed down. While her sister continued towards the back of the store Erika stopped and looked around.

    She couldn’t say exactly what but she knew that there was something wrong here. She wondered how Monika couldn’t sense it.

    A sound like thunder shook the store, almost rattling a few of the jars off of the shelves. Somehow the day seemed to loose some of its brightness even though the sky outside remained clear.

    She looked around at the others in the store, they were people she had known her entire life, people she had always thought to be friends of her family. In each of the faces she now saw they same dark emotion, the same cold stare—the same hate as if her family had suddenly turned into monsters.

    Calmly, Erika walked up to the counter feeling oddly self-consious with everyone watching her. “Mr. Gleeson, my father asked us to come…”

    The store keeper scowled down at her from under his thick, dark eyebrows, “We no longer deal with your kind here.”

    “I’m sorry, sir, but I do not understand.” She looked up at him then down as she fumbled with the money her father had given her, “I have money. I am not asking for credit.”

    “I said, we do not deal with your kind here,” he repeated as if he thought she were stupid. “Now get out before I have you forcibly removed from my store.”

    “Is something wrong?” Monika asked as she joined her sister at the counter and set down the loaf of bread and head of cabbage.

    “We have to go,” Erika took her sister’s hand and pulled her towards the door. “We will have to go to another store.”

    “There isn’t another in the neighborhood thought,” Monika objected though she went with her sister willingly. “We can not reach another store before dark.”

    “I know,” Erika pulled her sister out then watched the door close behind them. Only now did she see the sign forbidding people like them from shopping here. “Let’s go home. Even if we run we can’t reach the other store before they close.”

    The ground rocked with another thunderous explosion. The battle was suppose to be far from even the other side of the city, that was what they had been told in school this morning. Yet it sounded like the explosions were only a few blocks away.

    “We should take the shortcut home,” Monika suggested, her voice high with fear. “I do not like being out here.”

    Erika nodded her agreement and together they broke into a run, after a couple of blocks they turned down an alley then kept running. They made it a few blocks when they stumbled to a stop, both listening to an odd whistling noise that suddenly seemed to be coming from above them.

    “We should keep going,” Erika said and stated running again. She only had time to take two steps when the whistling ended with an explosion very close to them. The building to their left seemed to shake then a mix of bricks and glass was raining down on them…

- - - - - - -

Erica groaned as she started realizing how much every inch of her hurt. Blood was dried to the side of her face and her clothes were still damp with it. She took her time, mentally checking herself over until she was certain that she could feel everything; only then did she try to slowly sit up.

    Rubble fell off of her as she moved, thankfully none of the large boards or wall fragments had found her as they fell.

    “Monika?” she croaked out her sister’s name, startling herself with how loud her voice sounded in the stillness of the alley.

    With an effort she managed to struggle to her feet though she had to steady herself against what was left of the building as the ally suddenly started to spin. When everything settled back to its proper place her eyes fell on a hand and arm extending limply from under a large pile of rubble.

    She fell forward and caught the hand, it was unnaturally stiff. She told herself that it was just because of the cold, everything was stiff when cold. She knew that there was no way she cold uncover her sister on her own, she could barely keep herself upright! Her mind raced to the store—surely there would be someone there who would be willing to help.

    With an effort she forced herself to her feet again and made her way out of the alley, stumbling on the rubble and not giving herself time to for the dizziness to pass.

    When she was out of the alley she realized that the sky was the cold gray color it turned just before the sun rose. That meant she’d been unconscious all night—that meant her sister had been trapped all night.

    Cold wind ripped through her torn clothing to bite at her bruised and cut skin, stabbing into each cut like a thousand pins. At some point it had snowed during the night, the fresh white blanket somehow managed to soften the harsh reality of the ruined buildings. Littering the road were odd mounds in the snow, all scattered at odd intervals and each a different size. Erika told herself that the mounds were only debris from the buildings and tried not to think any more of them.

    Her feet hurt with each step, it was as if each time she set her foot down the motion drove ice up her veins. Even with the pain she took her time to pick her way up the street, trying to avoid the mounds and the occasional puddle as much as she could.

    All around her there was an odd silence; she was use to getting up early so she could walk to school with her sister, but this was different. Normally there would be some people around; this morning she seemed to be the only living person in the city. She was certain that is there were anyone else moving about she would hear it clearly.

    When she was still a block away from the store she looked up from the ground then stopped for the first time since she’d left the alley. There was a hold blasted in the wall of the general store. As she stood there her mind went back to the night before; part of her felt that this was only fair. Mr. Gleeson had known her and her sister since they were babies yet he had threatened to throw them out of his store. Well now he didn’t have a store. Another part of her almost felt sorry for the man.

    She thought of the sign that had been on the door and the pity faded a little. Her father was the same as the storekeeper; they had grown up together, even gone to school together. The only thing that made Monika and her different was that their mother was from a northern country, not from here.

    Tiredly, she continued towards the store. Even if there was no one there she hoped to be able to find bandages, maybe there was still some food in there that she could take.

    She climbed carefully through the hole in the wall, trying to be careful of the glass and sharp edges of the bricks. In spite of her efforts her hands and legs were bleeding by the time she was inside; just before she cleared the rubble her foot slipped into a hole.

    As she fell her scream seemed to echo through the store and streets. The sound brought two men around the store shelves; before she could scramble to her feet they had grabbed her and were pulling her clear of the rubble.

    They ignored her stammered objections as they dragged her towards the back of the store. Even if she hadn’t been hurting and weak she wouldn’t have been able to fight the men off; they were both easily twice her size.

    At the back of the store they released her next to a coal brazier that they had lit then one of them dropped a blanket over her shoulders.

    “Now sit still,” one of the men ordered her as he started picking debris and hair out of a cut on her forehead. The other man stayed behind her, at the first sign of her moving his arms were around her to hold her firmly in place.

    “You are one of Nikias Patterson’s daughters, aren’t you?” the one in front of her asked. “Where is your sister?”

    “An-an alley…” Erika sobbed in pain and fear. “The wall, it fell…”

    “When you are finished I will go check,” the man behind her whispered. “Then we should grab what we can and get out of here.”

    “we worked with your father until the restrictions on those from other countries were laid down. I am from the north, you may call me Ted. Behind you is Ernie, his dark skin has been more then enough for the locals here to make his life miserable. This is going to hurt, are you ready?”

    Erika looked at the bottle of disinfectant in Ted’s hand then closed her eyes and nodded. She knew that she would never be ready but it had to be done. She felt Ernie cover her mouth then the cold liquid was carefully poured over the gash…

* * * * * * * *

    Erika slowly opened her eyes and found herself looking into a crackling fire. Her head was on a folded blanket while two more were wrapped around her.

    “just lay quietly,” Ted spoke from the other side of the fire. “If you sit you will probably regret it.”

    “Where are we?”

    “We are east of the city, well away from any of the fighting.”

    “What about my sister? Your friend—Ernie—said he would check…”

    Ted came around the fire then knelt where she would be able to see his face clearly, “I’m sorry, it was too late. Ernie thinks that she was gone a long time before you even woke.”

    Erika hadn’t really expected any other news, she wasn’t even certain of why she had asked other then to make it certain. She slowly took a deep breath, “What about my father and mother?”

    His face seemed to darken a little more with sorrow as he shook his head, “Ernie went to tell them where you were, so they could come for you or possibly come with us. He said that there was nothing left of the building,” he explained as he gently took her hand. “We could not just leave you, especially not in your condition…”

    As he continued talking Erika couldn’t seem to focus any more on what he said. His words were all lost in a sea of tears as reality swept over her, one revelation after another. She was alone, everyone she knew was gone in one night, stolen from her by the thief that is war.