AN: Sorry it took so long for this chapter. I had a mild case of writer's block. Anyway, here's chapter 4!
Race
Things were piling up fast.
We now had three newsies injured at the lodging house, one of them most likely to die within the hour. Spot and Skittery had been taken captive. Things just weren't looking good, but at least Specs's presence in a German uniform kept curious German officers out; all he had to do was salute and they passed on by.
Jack hadn't moved from Itey's side the whole time, holding his hand, keeping him awake, or at least trying. Itey had been slipping in and out of consciousness for the last thirty minutes. I hated to say it, but I thought we were going to lose him.
Specs walked inside, followed closely by Snitch and Spot and…a German officer?!
"Guys, calm down. He's a friend." Spot said, and we reluctantly let him in.
Snitch was crying. Sobbing hysterically, rather. He collapsed against the wall, and I turned to Spot.
"What's wrong with Snitch?"
Spot avoided the question, and Gunter answered me in clear, fluid English.
"They killed Skittery."
The entire room fell silent. I looked right at Bumlets, and he met my gaze with tears in his eyes. We'd been the last to see him alive.
"I have a plan, if anyone is willing to help." Gunter said after a few moments.
Jack looked skeptical. "What kind of plan?"
"With your help, we can blow up their arms storage. They would run out of ammunition, and they'd be defenseless."
Mush's eyes widened, and he tried to sit up, but failed. "Blow it up?"
"All it would take is one match."
"But…what about Itey? And Mush and Blink?" I asked.
Gunter looked at the injured newsies, and then he walked over to Itey. Itey was unconscious once again, his breathing hitched and irregular.
"Someone will have to stay behind with them. But I don't think-"
He was certainly about that finish up saying that Itey wouldn't make it, but Jack gave him a deadly look, and he cut the sentence short.
Jack turned to David. "You stay. You've been through enough today already."
"But-"
"No buts. You're staying."
Blink looked reluctant to stay as well. He got to his feet quickly, but wavered slightly, grabbing onto the table beside him. "Jack, I'm fine. I can help!"
"No. You'd pass out on the first step out that door."
So just a few minutes later, Snitch, Specs, Gunter, Jack, Bumlets and me set out for the arms storage, ready to put up our last-ditch effort.
Skittery
I wondered what exactly Dutchy was planning to do with this German guy. I knew he wasn't getting a doctor for one of the German soldiers- one of the other newsies had to have been injured.
I got my answer when we arrived at the doctor's office- Dutchy backed his horse up to talk to the German, and then he hit him over the head. I had no idea Dutchy had that much strength behind his fist. The unconscious man dropped off his horse, and Dutchy and I quickly cuffed him with his own handcuffs and threw him into a nearby open basement window.
We walked into the doctor's office, and my heart sank. The place had been ransacked, and there was blood all over. Which most likely meant that the doctor was dead.
A muffled sob from behind the counter suddenly caught my attention, and I walked around it to find a nurse curled up with her knees to her chest, crying but trying to make no sound.
"Ma'am?"
"Get away! Get away!" she yelled, holding out a scalpel as if she would stab me with it. A scalpel. Yeah.
"Ma'am, I'm American. I'm not German. We need your help."
I guess it was the fact that I didn't have a German accent that convinced her, and she gave Dutchy and I a quick look over and told us that her name was Jessica.
"It's not us that's hurt. We have a friend who got stabbed." Dutchy explained.
"Where is he?"
"At the newsboys lodging house."
She bit her lip nervously, and then she walked across the room and began digging through the wrecked cabinets, finally producing a small black bag.
"Take me there."
So we did. Dutchy simply yelled one word in German at any officers her passed, probably saying 'Medic' or something like that. And we didn't get stopped on the way there.
David's eyes got absolutely huge when I walked in behind Dutchy.
"Skittery! You're DEAD!!!"
I looked at Dutchy, raising an eyebrow. "Really? I wish people would tell me these things."
Dutchy snickered. "Hey, don't look at me. I didn't know."
"Oh dear god…this poor boy." Jessica said, setting to work on Itey.
"Where is everyone?" Dutchy asked.
"Just going out to blow things up. You know, the normal stuff." Blink said with a shrug of his shoulders.
"What?!Where?"
"The German arms storage. I don't know where it is. Their German friend was going to show them."
I walked up and looked over Jessica's shoulder, wincing at the sight of so much blood from one person dripping off the table onto the floor. "Is he gonna be okay?"
She sighed in frustration. "Maybe. I don't know. It depends."
Dutchy laid a hand on my shoulder. "Let's go."
We had a show to get to.
AN: I know, it was really short. The next chapter is going to be a blast…literally…