(A/N: Thank you for reading! This is my first story and sorry if it isn't too exciting at the very beginning.. but I compel you to read on! :D it does pick up in very near chapters)
Anne was breathing heavy. Her swollen belly seemed to make everything difficult, especially running. She wrapped her arms around her unborn child as she approached the door. "Gloria!" She called desperately from outside her friend's room. The door opened to reveal a slightly plump young woman, barely more than a teenager, with disheveled auburn curls.
"Goodness, Anne, what is it at this hour? Why, what a state you're in! Are you okay?" The other woman's dark hair was tangled, her young eyes wide, and her apron was covered in dirt.
"Gloria," the pregnant woman rasped, "My baby, they're gonna kill my baby." Anne slumped forward and Gloria caught her. When Anne regained her balance she whispered, " I've got to escape, Glor, I can't stay. If I hurry I might just make it to the closest village." There was shouting from downstairs, and the front door opened.
"Quick, Anne, hide!" Gloria assisted her friend in getting under the bed, where she hoped she'd be safe. Gloria quickly clambered back into her bed, pretending to be asleep. "She couldn't of gotten far!" Two men began searching the rooms, but Gloria continued to breath slowly. When they had left she helped Anne out from under the bed. She hurried her down the stairs, handed her a bag of food, and ushered her out the door. "If you go straight through the forrest you'll come to a road, follow it to the next village. Hurry, Anne. I'll cover for you." Anne sprinted forward and into the cover of the trees. Gloria hoped she would make it alright, but she was sad to see her best friend go. Tears ran down her face silently as she watched to spot of trees where her friend had just been.
A gunshot startled her and she ran back to her room, praying with all her might that it wasn't Anne who was shot at.
...
It was the middle of summer, and the heat was unbearable. Maids were falling from heat stroke everyday. Capricorn's henchmen were itching to do something, anything, besides sitting and melting. It was too hot to smoke, too hot to set fire to things, too hot to rampage, and too hot to mess with the maids. Even the rubbled buildings seemed to melt under the sun's hot rays.
Basta hated waiting in lines with the other man; it lowered him to their level. After all, he was the master's righthand man, he should get some sort of higher respect: standing up on the steps of the red church to look over the ones below, maybe a bow of greeting from all the other men, standing loyally next to his master when he gave orders, being able to give orders himself, maybe even full access to the maids. It's what he deserves...
He thought like this silently to himself as the other men roughhoused, joked, and complained of all the time they spend waiting in lines like these.
Capricorn entered through the main entrance, a trail of solemn and evil following him in like one of perfume, and all was silent. The henchmen faltered mid complaint, the jokes stopped mid-punchline, the roughhousers stopped mid-punch, and all, even Basta, stood at attention. Without even seeing with your eyes, you could tell Capricorn had arrived. Your heart could tell; like his pale, cold hand had closed tightly around it.
Capricorn walked through the church to the top of his steps and paused to look them over. He was amused that just the sight of himself scared his men to silence. That was one of the only things he liked about them, though. So many flaws he could pick out, just by briefly glancing over them.
Basta stepped forward out of the line. "Master," he greeted Capricorn with a nod, deep adoration in his voice, "what are our assignments for today."
Capricorn gave him a look of disapproval for speaking when not spoken to that sent a now flushed Basta back in line with his tail between his legs. Capricorn was amused again. Capricorn clasped his hands together and cast his eyes serenely over his men. Every time his eyes met one of his henchmen their eyes would dart away nervously. "Your orders," he started, the men looked up at him expectedly, the way a child might when offered ice-cream, "Are to stay indoors and help Mortola and the maids with the chores." The heat was in fact very unbearable outside and he didn't need to lose more men than he had to. Of course, he would never tell them that they mattered to him, even a little bit.
For the next minute, groans, "Come on"s, and grunts of disgust bounced of the red walls of the church.
Capricorn sighed. Finally fed up, he held up a hand and yet again, silence. An ashamed silence. That amused look again. He dismissed them with a wave,"Check in with Mortola for your chore assignment." A stampede of slouching rifles and black clothes slugged out the door.
Basta was the last to sulk out. It wasn't fair that he have to do what the other men had to do.
...
"Come on, you oaf!" Basta called to Flatnose from across the parking lot of the village. He needed someone to drive him in the event that his hands were otherwise occupied. Flatnose blundered on at a quicker pace through the excruciating heat as Basta slithered into the passenger seat of the van. Flatnose started the vehicle and waited, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel. "So, uh, where to?" he said awkwardly.
"Closest village with decent woman."