CHAPTER FOUR: BOOM-BOOM BORYA

Recap: And, for some reason, I believe he just might have.

Zoro's POV

Morning crept up through the windows far sooner than I had hoped. I felt like I had barely slept, and my stomach was growling in protest to the lack of food. Sanji still snoozed beside me, his head resting slightly on my shoulder. I was the only one awake at that point, but it would take hell and high water to keep it that way.

I stood, making sure Sanji didn't fall over, and walked over to the darker headed girl. I prodded her sharply with the butt of her gun, and she groaned in protest to the wake up call. I then gave the other blonde a kick in the shin, and he cried out in pain. That, effectively, woke everyone else.

I felt very satisfied for getting every body up in such a fashion. The girl on the cot gave me a look that instantly made any satisfied feelings I had disappear very fast. The older blonde stood, and he almost towered over me at his full height. He must have been slouching a lot before because I never remember him being that tall. He had hate in his eyes.

"Borya! No time for that!" The darker headed lady was speaking franticly, and everyone else was standing and beginning toward the door.

"Why? I just want to throw him out the window. I haven't thrown anyone since that time with Little Klaus and that was an accident!" Borya complained loudly.

"Yes, Borya. Just throw him to the Tiger tank out there that doesn't know we are here. Then let's all stand and wait for the roof to cave in when it fires on us." The darker headed girl spat, taking his arm and dragging him to the door. I followed, catching up with Sanji, who was staring out the window. A huge metal object with a long slender tube attached to it was slowly crawling its way toward the building. I looked back quickly and Borya gave me an ugly look. I ran to catch up with him and the rest of the group, and a loud bang echoed around the building from outside. Bits of stone and cement rained down on us from above.

"Nice going, you blockhead!" The shorter girl shouted to Borya. "Now they know we are here. If this caves in on us I'm blaming you." She shoved him once, lightly, in warning. He stepped back, watching everyone else run past him. I was last in line and he grabbed me by my shirt.

"Look, carrot boy. We'll finish this later." Borya spat on my shoe when he said this, before tossing me softly back and running out the door. I followed quickly after, the gravel from the ceiling growing more consistent with every bang of the metal thing outside. I made it outside and tripped over a fallen body, landing at Sanji's feet. He was in the middle of helping me up when the building suddenly shook violently. I scrambled to my feet and the group raced for cover behind a mangled piece of metal. We watched in horror as a good portion of the building fell in on itself, turning to nothing but rubble.

A wave of smoke washed over us, making it hard to breathe. The smoke was scalding hot and I could feel it begin to burn my skin. It was impossible to see your hand in front of your face, and I could barely tell up from down.

I was mid-cough, choking on the clouded air, when I felt a large hand on my back. I was shoved down close to the ground very roughly, and I swore something awful to the bulky body in the dust above me. The air was less cloudy down near the ground, and I was able to breathe again. I glanced up at the bulky shadow above me, ready to swear the crap out of him for shoving me, but before I could speak the mysterious shadow shoved a white cloth over my mouth and gestured toward other rushing shadows.

I ran toward the rest of the group and almost slammed into Sanji. Everyone was gathered in a huddle near the outer edge of the smoke, waiting. I noticed that the younger girl and Borya were missing. I saw pieces of flaming wood and debris through the thick black smoke and had a feeling that something bad was about to happen. The older girl approached Sanji, placing a tentative hand on his shoulder. I could see tears in her eyes.

"Sanji… we can't wait any longer. They don't have much of a chance. If they aren't already dead they will be soon. That Tiger tank is going to plow through here and they will be either shot or run over. I-I'm sorry but we have to leave now or we'll die as well." She spoke grimly, her grip tightening on Sanji's shoulder. I saw him tense under her grip and grabbed him around the shoulders before he could run off into that mess of metal and fire.

"No!" He shouted, struggling against me as I held him back. "I'm not leaving Alina in there! She's… She's my friend and I'm not leaving her to die! You're cowards! All of you! YOU WON'T EVEN SAVE YOUR OWN FRIEND!" He was angry with her and his words hit a nerve. Hard. She fumed for a moment and before I could speak she slapped Sanji as hard as she could.

"Coward? COWARD?!" She shouted, tears flowing down her grimy cheeks. "How DARE YOU! Alina is the closest thing I have to a family and if I knew she was still within bounds of saving I would risk everything to do so! But rushing in there now would be suicide! ALINA WOULD NOT WANT US TO SACRIFICE OURSELVES FOR HER SAKE!" Her voice rose to a higher level to be heard over the beginning of something Sanji had to say. After a second of silence, the older girl continued.

"She wouldn't be able to live with herself if you ran in there and died for her. She would… She would shoot herself before she could even think of living with it. You don't know her, boy. You don't understand what she's been through. If she were alive she'd…" The elder girl cut off her sentence, overcome with sobbing. That Salamander boy came running from nowhere and stopped, panting. He counted us, and upon noticed that the younger girl was missing, he wrapped the older girl in a hug. She sobbed into his shirt, the high-pitched noise she was making seeming out of place. I felt Sanji relax into my arms slightly, his own sobs wracking his frame. I held onto him for a moment, burying my head into his hair.

After a moment, we all started off toward another building, two of us still sobbing. I was holding onto Sanji, supporting him as he walked. The older girl was walking ahead of us with Salamander holding onto her. I felt like there was a large hole in our group now, a large black spot where Borya and the younger girl would have been.

We were missing that smile Borya would always have on his face that could cheer up a room full of unhappy people. We were missing the sarcastic anger and almost funny smirk that younger girl would have used against Borya's smile. We were missing the arguing, the chasing, and the simple silliness that they brought into our little circle of mismatched people. We were missing the light hearted, free spiriting man called Borya, whom I had just realized was the one who saved my life even though he wasn't too happy with me. And we were missing the snarky, sarcastic wit of the invincible girl who always got mad at him.

I felt tears begin to well up behind my eyes and I fought them back. I was not going to cry, not now, not in front of Sanji. I was not going to act like a sissy. I barely knew these people yet I felt like I had known them for years.

We entered the next building and made our way to the second floor silently, nothing stopping us. Salamander and the older girl sat down across from the windows and we sat down across from them, facing the door.

"Tanya, Tanya… It's alright. Alina was a brave woman, and she died with honor in her heart." Salamander cooed to his distressed female partner. Tanya suddenly began sobbing into his front again, louder and harder than ever before. I felt Sanji stand beside me, and I watched him go over to her. He gave her a pat on the back and she latched onto him like he was the only one who understood. Salamander stood and walked over to sit by me as Sanji and Tanya cried together.

"Alina was all she had." Salamander told me. "They lived in the same village, right next door to each other. Alina was all she had left that she could call family. But now she's… she's… she's gone." He stifled a sob himself. Suddenly, I heard the most sarcastic voice coming from the doorway and I felt my heart do a tailspin. All our heads turned toward the open door.

"Who said I was gone, hm?" Alina was leaning on the doorframe, smiling. Her voice had a harsh rasp to it, like it had dried in the sun, and she was covered with soot and ash. Her boots looked melted around the soles and she had a hole burnt into her sleeve. Her bandages were charred cinders and she was burned on every patch of skin she had showing.

"Alina!" Tanya hopped up without another word and swept the battered girl into a hug. "My goodness, you look awful! What happened?!" Tanya held Alina by the shoulders, looking her over at arm's length.

"I got lost and fell into a flaming hole full of crap. I've had better days, trust me." Alina shrugged. Her wit was no worse for wear. Tanya stepped aside and let Sanji past her. He gave Alina a hug and she hugged him back tightly. Salamander didn't get up for a hug, and neither did I.

"Tanya, why didn't you wait for me?" Alina asked, a hint of hurt in her voice. Tanya turned a rather dark shade of red.

"We… I thought you were dead, Alina. I'm sorry." Tanya muttered softly. The silence was thick as the smoke she had just escaped from.

"Where's Borya?" Salamander asked, finally breaking the silence.

"Yes, where is he? He should have been back by now…" Tanya pondered. "He's not one to be late, either…" She glanced over at me and gave me a sarcastic, accusing stare. "You didn't hurt him, now, did you?" She asked me, almost laughing. I shook my head no, a smile spreading on my face. I could almost see Borya smiling at that joke.

No matter how much I hate that man, he still grew on me.

"Borya was captured by the Germans." Alina shattered any hope of happiness we were trying to have. "He's being held for questioning. I heard them notice his badge. He's being taken to a safe-house not far from here." She looked about to cry, but kept her face straight.

"So, we're going to help you rescue him, eh? Or are you planning to do it alone?" Tanya asked, putting an arm around Alina gently. They did actually look like sisters… at a distance… and only if you squinted your eyes shut almost all the way.

"I thought about doing it solo but then I realized something. What was the fun in that?" Alina grinned, and everyone laughed. Even I started laughing. Damn contagious laughter.

"So, let's get this over with. It's getting colder by the minute and if we don't get there by nightfall we'll all freeze to death. Why does it half to be so cold?" Salamander commented. He rushed over to a closet on the other side of the room and fetched out six thick brown coats with fluffy inner stuffing, six big brown hats with ear covers and fluffy lining, and six pairs of big brown boots with the same fluffy lining.

"Salamander, why such big fluffy stuff? It's not that cold." I stated, holding up a coat. He kinda looked at me like I was crazy for a second, and then he smiled.

"It's going to be by the time we leave. And my name is Aleksandr. Pronounced Al-ik-sand-er. I'm not a newt." He chuckled to himself as he helped Tanya get her coat on. I felt a cold wind blow through the windows and shivered, watching the ground begin to turn white with snow.

"So, when do we leave?"