Chapter 3

Danny was the first to wake. He slowly opened his eyes, mixed thoughts ranging from 'where am I?' to 'Am I really alive?' circled in his head before he calmed down and began to sense all that was around him. It seemed still, calm, tranquil. There was an atmosphere of love and care that made him smile and peacefully sigh, perhaps because it was the first he had ever encountered. His home life was exactly the opposite, or rather, had been. Danny opened his eyes wide, he felt no pain, he thought if he was alive that millions of bullets would have hammered their way into his body, but that didn't seem to be the case. He felt fine. Danny sat up and looked around. He was laying on a small ledge sticking out of a wall. Looking to the back of the building, he saw rows of brown seats, as it got closer towards the front, and to him, he saw an altar, some flowers, blooming magnificently and beautifully, and a little water fountain toward the side, but no water came from it. The stillness of the foundation was saddening to Danny, because it seemed to blemish the spotless atmosphere of tranquillity.

"A church?" Said Danny out loud, his voice echoed all around, he heard footsteps running from the back.

A young woman rushed in from a door behind the flowers and stood over Danny, checking him carefully for cuts or bruises.

"You're okay." She smiled and backed away a little.

"Looks that way." Agreed Danny, he stood up, the woman looked to be in her early twenties, with brown hair tied back in a pony tail that went down to her waist, she was slim, her blue eyes fascinated Danny, there was something strange and enchanting about them.

"What happened to you?" The woman interrupted Danny's thoughts abruptly.

Danny thought back and it all came back to him in a flash.

"We'd escaped from Kalm … got past the guards at the gate…but then there were more of them. They surrounded us and I blacked out as they began to fire."

"When I found you, all the guards were dead." Explained the woman, "you and your friend looked to be dead as well, but I checked you anyhow, as there was no blood around you, and sure enough, you were both alive… I dragged you both back here."

"Must have been quite an effort. Where's Jim?"

The woman pointed behind the flowerbed, he few metres away from the door, Danny saw Jim resting on a slab of concrete sticking out of the wall.

"Thank you, for taking care of us." He nodded

"No problem at all. I'm Aeris, what's your name?"

"Danny Whise… from Kalm…" Danny found himself giving this woman information he really shouldn't be giving. For all he knew she could be some kind of spy for ALIEN. But then again … there was something about her… he noticed he was staring at her again and turned to the church exit.

"Why were the guards firing at you?" She asked, seemingly oblivious.

Danny shrugged. "Well, we're from Kalm, we're rebels… work it out."

"Hey!" Growled Aeris as Danny walked over to Jim. "No need to be rude."

Danny stopped and turned to face Aeris. "Sorry. We're rebelling against ALIEN, if you're smart you'll call the police and get rid of us now."

Aeris gave a smile and put her hand on Danny's shoulder. "The slums is the last place you'll find any enemies. Especially with what you have in mind. Nobody supports ALIEN around here. Nobody is brave enough to go against them, either."

Jim began waking up.

"We're alive?" He said groggily as he saw Danny. He slowly turned his body around so he was sitting up. He checked himself and the look of confusion deepened on his face.

"Yeah, we're fine." Danny grinned and turned to Aeris. "Do you think we can find any help in the slums?"

"I doubt it." Aeris replied. "Too many are frightened by the power and ruthlessness of ALIEN. They don't want to die."

"I suppose not everyone has incentives like ours." Danny growled, remembering the devastation of Kalm.

"My family are here, somewhere. In this city, I'm sure of it." Jim told Danny, standing up.

"It's a big city. It would take us a long time to find them. Time we probably don't have."

"Oh!" Cried Aeris, remembering something, "I have something for you both!"

She turned and walked through a small door at the back of the church. A few minutes later she reappeared with the swords Danny and Jim had been carrying. "You might want these."

"Hey, our swords!" Jim took his and checked it, no damage done.

"Time to finish this, then." Danny said, taking his weapon too and putting it inside his cloak.

Jim nodded. "Time to make them pay for their actions… or at least die trying."

"Where are you going?" Asked Aeris, concern evident in her speech.

"ALIEN headquarters. It'll be tough, getting there, but …we'll damn well try." Danny nodded, trying to sound like a man with resolve.

"Tough?" A new voice, male, said with a chuckle. "More like impossible." From the same back door Aeris had just gone through, a young man appeared. He had short black hair, with a face that was somewhat confident, if not cocky. He had clothes that resembled combat gear closely. He was shorter than Aeris, barely. Probably a few years younger.

"Jerad!" Aeris growled, shaking her head. "This is my brother, Jerad. He and I live here at the moment. The nun who took us in when we were children died not too long ago. She asked we stay in the church and keep it looking beautiful." She motioned to the flowers. "This is the only place in Midgcar where the flowers grow."

Just as Danny was about to say something, Jerad's crude and distrustful voice cut in.

"We don't need troublemakers like you here messing things up!"

Danny and Jim glanced at each other, perplexed as to why Jerad was so defensive.

"You'll have to excuse him." Aeris shook her head. "He's been really angry lately."

Jerad folded his arms and glared straight at Danny. The dislike was evident. Danny didn't know what he had done to provoke such a reaction. Perhaps Aeris had told Jerad about what had happened and he had already drawn his own conclusions. In a way, it was understandable that he perhaps wanted to protect his sister from harm. It was then Danny knew perhaps Jerad was right. They should probably leave … they didn't come to Midgcar to bring trouble to innocent people. If ALIEN found them these two may get caught in the crossfire or arrested.

"No, Jerad is right to be suspicious. We'll leave." Danny said, turning to the door.

"No!" Aeris grabbed Danny's arm. "You're going to stay here!"

Danny tried to pull his arm away but she was stronger than she looked. Jerad growled and put his hand on Aeris's shoulder firmly.

"He wants to go … let him leave."

"He doesn't want to go! You're making him leave!"

"Aeris, it's okay. I can understand your brother's reasons for wanting us to go." Danny said.

"As can I." Jim agreed. "We don't want to get you guys hurt. This is our affair, we have to deal with it alone."

Danny was glad Jim was thinking along the same lines as himself and nodded sagely.

"Where are you going to stay, huh?" Aeris replied instantly. "Do you have any money? Any idea where to go?"

"We shall manage." Danny told her with a shrug.

"No!" Aeris shook her head. "You are staying here. We won't chuck you out."

"Aeris!" Jerad's anger was rising.

"Shut up, Jerad! You hate everyone! These two are here to fight against the organisation that are oppressing hundreds of people in our slums and millions all over the world! If anything we should be welcoming them!"

"They're trouble! All I want is some peace!"

"Yeah, well I want revenge. I remember mum, unlike you."

Jerad went silent. Danny and Jim cast another glance at each other. Jim mouthed the word 'mum?' and Danny simply shrugged. It seemed Aeris had won whatever the battle was, because Jerad had folded his arms and turned his back to her.

"That settles it then. You're staying."

"Do you have spare rooms?" Jim asked.

"Sleep on the seats." Jerad said in a low voice, resigned to the fact they were staying.

"The seats aren't comfortable… besides, if ALIEN guards came in at night they might get jumped. No, you can both sleep in my room." Aeris nodded.

"What?" Danny raised his eyebrow. "Are you sure? We don't want to be an inconvenience."

"Of course I'm sure. Wouldn't want either of you stuck in a room with Jerad. You guys don't seem like perverts either." She giggled.

"Of course we aren't. But… if we left…"

"If you left you'd die. And I'm not letting that happen." She walked over to the church doors and slammed them shut. "Besides, it's night time. A lot of strange people come out at night."

"Like us." Jim whispered, giving his first smile. Danny smiled back and stretched. There wasn't much they could do if they were forced to stay. Besides, the actually didn't know where they were, where they were going, who they were up against … they probably couldn't be traced back to this place, so for now, it seemed staying here was for the best. Jerad had disappeared.

"Sorry about upsetting your brother." Said Danny.

"Don't worry about him." She replied, walking over and tending to the flowers humming to herself. After a few minutes she stood up and turned to them.

"I'll go find you both a mattress. There's an old one around here." She smiled at them and exited through the door she'd appeared from not too long before. Danny and Jim waited a few moments before speaking.

"She's nice." Jim said, starting the conversation casually, knowing they had much bigger things to discuss.

"Yeah. We were lucky she found us." He turned to look at Jim. "Do you think we should stay here? We could leave right now…"

"Nah." Jim shook his head. "As she said, we don't know where we are or anything like that. Surely it can't hurt to stay for a day or two. ALIEN won't find us that quickly."

Danny slowly nodded and glanced over to the flowers. They were beautiful, there was a hole in the church floor where they grew, and it was quite a large patch too. It stuck out against the dreary stone walls and certainly brightened up the atmosphere inside the holy structure. Danny assumed that this church wasn't in use anymore, as the floors and seats were extremely dusty. Religion had died a quiet death as the age of technology excelled.

"Can't wait to get back on the road to revenge." Danny gave a slight grin. The fires of hatred within were still burning strongly, his heart felt like it had been set ablaze every time he remembered his hometown and the devastation that had been wreaked upon it.

"Me either." Jim's eyes told Danny he had an identical feeling to his own. He'd never considered himself patriotic, but now, he realised he was. Perhaps he hadn't understood what the word meant before… before he'd thought of men marching in uniforms, fighting for a city or town that was only using them for material gain. Now, as he reflected sadly, he saw it in a different light. Your town, the ones you love and who love you… they are the fuel that ignites your passion to fight and survive. That's patriotism, defending the ones you love and defending the town or city you love… it didn't matter what the city thought of you, it was what you thought of the city. Suddenly, both men no longer felt like talking, and the next few minutes passed in silence before Aeris returned.

"Okay guys, I found the mattress… it's getting kinda late, so I'm going to get to bed. I'll leave my door unlocked for you, but be sure to lock it when you come up. We've had people come into the church before at night… Jerad's dealt with them, but, if he's asleep and they try my room first…"

Danny nodded. "Got it. Where is your room?"

She pointed to the door. "Through that door is a set of stairs, go up the stairs, and my room is the second door on the left. Jerad's is the first, the door on the right is a cupboard."

"Alright." Danny nodded to her. "You don't have anything to worry about, by the way, we're perfectly normal guys, really."

"I wouldn't have defended you if I'd suspected you were crazy." She giggled and cleared up the area around the flowers, being careful not to drop anything on them.

"We really appreciate it. It's very kind of you." Jim added.

"Well…" She looked over at them. "At least this way I can feel like I'm somehow contributing to the rebellion." After picking up a few more items, she bid them goodnight and went to bed.