"Zach I'm leaving!" The officer shouted opening the front door and glancing up the stairs. A few seconds later the young blonde bound up to him with a mile wide grin stretched across his face. " What? Why are you giving me that stupid grin?" Damien asked ruffling the boy's hair as the pair leaves the house.
"It's my birthday!" Zachariah laughed climbing in the front seat the police car.
"Oh is that so? And what's so special about that?" The man asked sliding in the car himself and clicking his seatbelt on. The boy crossed his arms over his chest and looked at him with a mock pout on his face.
"You promised we could have dinner at Stella's tonight." The boy exclaimed as they pulled out the driveway and began the short drive from their house to Graden Public School.
"Yeah? Well I guess that's where we're gonna have to head when you get to the station this evening huh?" Damien said flashing a grin at his ward. "You gonna mind if the boys and Kat come along?" Zach made a face at the mention of Katrina but shook his head nonetheless. "Good and I know you don't like Kat much but don't lock up and go silent on me just cause she's there alright?"
"Yeah okay." The boy grumbled as the car rolled to a stop just outside the school building. "Well… I'll see you after school then." He sighed a little more downcast than he was when they first left and getting out the car.
"Hey kid." The officer said making Zach duck his head inside before he shut the door. "I was gonna wait until tonight but hell here ya go. He grinned and tossed a small box to the boy before shutting the door himself and driving away. Not being the most patient of children Zach tore into the colorful paper wrapped around the box and clawed it open. A quiet gasp left his mouth as he stared down at the present.
Glinting softly against the cushion inside was a small pocketknife, namely the one he'd been admiring a few weeks ago when they'd gone into Admiral's Game and Bait Shop. The sharp trilling of the school bell snapped the boy out of his awestruck situation and he fumbled with the zipper on his backpack before carefully tucking the box inside next to his lunch.
"Hey Zach! Happy Birthday!" A boy with dirty blonde hair cried happily running up to him and wrapping his arms around his friend in a hug.
"Ha-ha, Hi Sammy." Zach grinned echoing the other boy's happy cry.
"Boys! Class starts in 5minutes!"The woman at the front doors snapped giving the pair a cold look.
"Reow!" Sam meowed clawing at the air like a cat before grabbing Zach by his shirt sleeve. "Come on lets get to English before Mekenah flips." He rolled his eyes gesturing to the woman at the door before dragging his companion up the steps behind him.
"I'm coming shesh!" Zachariah laughed running to keep up with the other boy.
"Hey Zach!"
"How's it feel little man? 12 that's just one year away from being a teenager."
"Ooh! Our little Zach's growing up so fast!" Katrina squealed running up and pulling the small boy into on of her famous bone crushing hugs. The boy sighed and let his body go slack until she decided she was done with hug and put him down.
"Well, well, if it isn't Little Stelenko." A voice behind Zach rumbled making him turn around to face the speaker. The Chief smiled kindly down at the boy mussing his flaxen blond hair as he moved to walk past. Zach grinned happily and relished in the touch before readjusting his book bag on his back. He glanced around the station for a moment before he spotted Damien chattering to a pair of switchboard operators.
He made his way across the office and stopped beside the man looking up at him expectantly until the man noticed him. "And look at that, speak of the devil." The officer smiled giving him small hug. "Ladies, you know Zach." Officer Stelenko smirked bringing the birthday boy in front of him to be cooed over and coddled by the girls at the switchboard. He grabbed the boy's backpack and carried it away with him to his desk leaving Zachariah to suffer through the women's seemingly endless 'Awws' and cheek pinching.
When he finally managed to slip away, he stomped over to Damien's desk and flopped down into the chair beside him. "How's it goin kid?" The man chuckled as a scowl was sent his way. The clock above his desk ticked on slowly and the two sat in silence, the officer filling out paperwork and the child doing homework, until 6. A loud, collective sigh passed through the station as the workday ended and released them for the weekend. "You ready kiddo?" Damien asked sliding his jacket on, and making Zach jolt and look up from the book he was absorbed in reading. The man chuckled and handed the boy his own jacket before heading for the door.
"We'll see you guy's a Stella's." Damien called out the office as they hit the door and the others inside murmured in agreement. The two set out across the parking lot and were in the car riding down the in a few minutes flat. This much was routine by now. Go to school, walk to the station, do homework at the station, walk to the, head out. All routine.
The fact that they were headed to Stella's Dinner was a special treat; one Damien only let the boy indulge in on special occasions but even so this was also just part of the routine. The police radio in the car crackling to life was not. " Office Stelenko what's you twenty?" One of the switchboard asked suddenly snapping the small boy away from his thoughts of routines and dinner. Damien gave Zach a wary look before picking up that walkie-talkie attached to the radio.
"Headed east down 8th and Fredrick Street, HQ." He replied. The radio was silent again for a minute before a voice broke through once again.
"Damien there's been a report of a domestic disturbance in an alley near there, just beside the Robin's Bakery and the Southern bank. Please go check it out."
This time Damien wasted no time replying to the woman." Janice you do realize I've got Zach in the car, a civilian. Just let me drop him at Stella's. "
"The Chief says no go, just leave him in the car and deal with the situation now. Over and out." The radio ceased its crackling and the man clenched the steering wheel so tight his knuckles turned white.
"Damn it Chief. I don't want the kid to get hurt." He hissed as though he had forgot Zachariah was still in the car.
"I'll be alright." Zach squeaked quietly looking down at his shoes. The were blue and white tennis shoes Katrina had taken him to pick out a few days ago and the still looked brand new.
"Hmm." The officer almost growled pulling the car into a parking space at the location the switchboard woman had given him. He looked over at Zach and sighed. "I'm sorry kid, hopefully this'll only take a few minutes. Just stay put and keep quiet." Damien smiled halfheartedly as he took off his seatbelt and got out of the car. He locked the doors and threw the keys into the blonde's lap before slamming the door shut and making his way over to the alley.
Zach waited quietly just as Officer Stelenko had told him to. He moved his feet around this way and that way and watched them. The loud crack of a gunshot startled the boy and he looked up just in time to see three figures in black sprinting out of the alley he watched Damien enter. He watched the opening of the alley, waiting for the officer to reemerge, but after a few minutes of waiting Zach felt the icy chill of panic gripping him. He slid his book bag of his lap and unto the floor before opening the car door. He climbed out and shut it quietly behind him before cautiously making his way over to the alley.
At first the boy saw nothing. Nothing out of place, just a few crates scatter here and there and a dumpster set back against one wall but the sound of soft panting, someone breathing raggedly caught his attention and he scrambled into the alley. Leaning against one of the walls behind a stack of crates was Officer Stelenko or at least it looked like him. The man in the blue uniform leaning against the wall had blood pouring from his head and as Zach moved closer he could see the man clutching a wound in his side that cover both his hands in blood.
"D-damien?" Zach whispered in a quiet voice and he felt his eyes begin to water as the figure gazed up at him.
"Zach?" The man croaked in a broken voice filled with disbelief. "I told you to wait in the car." The boy let the tears pooling up in hid eyes fall as he got on his knees and crawled over to where the man sat. His small arms wrapped around the man's shoulders and he could feel every breath man struggled to take. "Go. Radio. HQ. Zach." Damien said punctuating every word with a deep, ragged breath.
The boy nodded wiping his tear-stained face and hurried as fast as his small feet would carry him back to the car. He grabbed the walkie-talkie in both shaking hands and pressed the button to talk. "Hello?" He cried noticing now how the tears still shook him and made his voice quiver. "Help! Anybody! Officer Stelenko's hurt! He's hurt real bad and he's stuck in and alley!" He sobbed into the walkie-talkie before letting it fall into the seat. It didn't take more than a minute for the radio to sputter back to life and the Chief's voice replied to him.
"Stay put Zach I've called an ambulance and we're on our way their now." Without waiting for any further instructions, Zach hopped out of the car and ran back to the alley where he'd left the man. His breathing was shallower now and his eyes opening and closer slowly, as if he were fighting off sleep. The blonde sniffled as he made his way back over to Damien and sat down next to him, pressing his hands against the man's.
"I-I got ahold of the Chief. H-he said they're sending an ambulance here. Right away." Zach hiccupped as he kept looking for the man to entrance of the alley.
"That's-great-Zachariah. You did-a-good job." The wounded officer wheezed focusing his gaze on the wall in front of him as his eyelid began staying closed for longer and longer.
A little while later the whirring sound of the ambulance's siren bounced off the walls of the alley and a small group of paramedics ran in carrying a stretch between them.
"Jake, grab the kid he's covered in blood." One of them ordered as the he and the rest of the paramedics lifted the limp officer onto the stretcher. A younger man with dark hair like Damien's lifted Zach off the ground and carried him bridal style back to the ambulance. A woman inside hopped down and began looking him all over before she turned to the man with a small smile.
"Well there's some good news. The kid's not hurt. None of that's his blood." She said pulling a hospital blanket from someplace behind Zach and wrapping it around his shoulders. "I'll take him over to Katrina and the others." The man nodded and climbed up inside the van with the other two. "Come on sweetie let's go see Miss Katrina and the others." She said holing out her hand for him to take and leading the blood-soaked child over to the Chief.
"I'm sorry Kat…we did the best we could but he just lost so much blood." The woman said with a tired sigh as her friend wept on her shoulder.
"Tell the boys. We'll have a proper for him burial set up by Monday." The Chief grunted to one of the officers at his side.
"Yes sir." The man replied in a tired voice. " And Zachariah? What're we going to do about him?"
"Send him to Allenwood."