Now, God be praised, that to believing souls gives light in darkness, comfort in despair. –William Shakespeare
Dark Comfort
Anwen looked out across the crowd as the hangman put the noose around her neck. She glanced over at Gerald who looked perfectly calm
dispute the cuts and bruises on his body. She on the other hand was having a hard time keeping the tears down. Before she could think of
anything else she felt the trapdoor open. She felt the rope go taut and she started to gasp for air. The last thing she saw was Gerald gasping
for air.
Anwen opened her eyes to find herself in a small, dank cell without any daylight. At first she thought that her strangling was nothing more
than a dark nightmare. She felt her neck and to her horror she the indentations of a rope.
"Where the hell am I?" she thought.
She heard the door open and she saw standing in front of the door was de Leon.
"Well Sleeping Kludge has finally awakened. I felt that you were too precious to waste," he said with an evil grin. The door opened and
several guards and Vasco stepped into her cell. It was then she saw the needle in his hand. The guards held her as Vasco injected her with
something. She let out a scream and kicked Vasco in the knees which resulted in her getting slapped by Vasco. He picked up the dropped
needle and said "Do that again I will personally kill you."
"I dare you too," Anwen replied.
He snapped his fingers and the guards let her go.
"We'll be back to check on you," said Vasco before he and the guards left.
Anwen barely heard the door close as she sank to the floor.
"This is just a horrible dream. I just have to go to sleep here and I'll wake up next to Gerald," she thought over and over.
As she felt her mind drift off her eyes snapped open to find herself in a small, dank and dimly-light cell. Her mind raced over the past
events and her stomach filled with knots when she realized where she was.
"Damn, damn," she thought glumly as she looked around her prison. A low moan brought her attention to a darkened corner of the cell. She
slowly made her way over to the source, and found Seamus's friend, Beka. She could tell that they'd had just put in a tracking chip by the
bright red scar on Beka's forehead.
Anwen bit her lip as she realized that Beka was running a temperature. She looked around and saw a pile of dirty blankets in corner along
with a pail of water. She grimaced in disgust at the sight of the water. She picked the pail and blankets up and set them next to Beka.
She ripped up a blanket into strips and placed them in the water. The rest of the blankets she covered Beka with. She wrung the strips out
and put the Beka's fore head.
Dylan landed the Maru without many problems from the Nietzcheans. Now the hard part was finding Anwen and Beka without raising
suspicion of the locals. Tyr, Rommie, Harper and him walked through the ruins of Boston toward the refugee camp.
"How the hell am I going to find two women in a place like this," thought Dylan as they passed by a ruined building.
The group could see in the distance a barbed wire fence and more ruined homes.
Tyr stopped and pointed to a darkened, abandoned building not far off.
"We're being watched," he said softly.
They quietly made its way to the building being careful not give away the knowledge of being watched. Harper stayed behind Rommie as
they neared the building. Harper remembered playing here with his sister and their cousins when they were young. Suddenly they were
being assaulted with rocks. They appeared to be coming from every direction which forced them to hunker down next to a pile of rubble.
Harper glanced over his shoulder and saw several tattooed women pointing guns at the group.
"Boss, we've got a problem," said Harper as he tapped Dylan on the shoulder.
"I know that Mr. Harper," replied a frustrated Dylan.
"I don't mean that Boss."
"I suggest you drop your weapons or we'll be forced to shot you," ordered a female voice from behind.
They turned around to see several women with tattoos standing over them. One of them shouted something and the rocks stopped being thrown.
"Uber get up," ordered a heavily tattooed raven haired woman.
"Maybe……." Dylan started to say.
"I wasn't talking to you, Traitor," hissed the woman with hate filled eyes.
Before Tyr could comply a voice from the crowd shouted "Seamus Zelazny Harper, you better have a damn good reason for showing your face here!"
Harper scanned the crowd for the source and saw coming toward him was his cousin Sunny. She walked through the group of armed women
and gave him a hug.
"Seamus, it's so good to see you," she said before giving him another hug.
"Sunny, it's so good to see you."
"Aunt Sunny," said a young girl with braided brown hair as she pushed her way to the front. Everyone could see that she had already started
to grow bone blades as she stood in front of Sunny. The woman draped her arms around the child's neck which the child promptly held.
The child eyed Tyr, Dylan and Rommie before asking "Are you my no good Uncle Seamus?"
The crowd tried hard to suppress their laughter but without much success.
"Yes, I'm your Uncle Seamus, and what is your name?" he asked when he reached her eye level.
"I'm Cora Zofia," the child responded proudly. Cora hesitated for a second before wrapping her arms around Harper's neck and planting a
kiss on his cheek. He sat there for a second before returning the hug.
The crowd heard a strange sound and the raven haired woman said "We need to get everyone inside soon. Or they'll kill us."
The crowd started to disperse and soon only left Sunny, Cora, Harper, Rommie, Dylan and Tyr.
"You're invited to stay with us, but I can tell you right now we don't have anything fancy," said Sunny with a glance at Tyr.
"Uncle Seamus, are you going to come with Aunt Sunny and me? I can show you my room," said Cora.
Harper glanced at Dylan before saying "I'd love to but I think I need to stay with my friends."
"Aunt Sunny said they could come with us, even the Nietzchean is welcome," replied Cora.
"We do need to get going," said Sunny anxiously.
"I think we'll take you up on your offer," replied Dylan with a smile. Sunny returned the smile with a cautious one.
"Uncle Harper, you wouldn't mind carrying me?" asked Cora as Sunny started to walk away.
"Uh, sure," replied Harper before picking Cora up in his arms.
His niece laid her head on his shoulder as they walked down the ruined streets of Boston.