A/N: Well heres edited chapter 6! which i think is actually a new chapter for all of you, that have read me unedited verson! I'm not quite sure how i feel about this chapter personally it doesn't seem to flow as easily as the others do and strikes as a bit stiff or even a little jumpy.
Please let me know what your thoughts on this chapter are, and let me know if my fears are correct. In other words R&R!
Chapter 6
My name is Tom Leighton and by now I am definitely 10 years 9 months and 4 days old.
JT was perhaps the most stupid and brave person I had ever met. A man already at the age of twelve. Willing to take a phaser shot for the children under his protection. And he almost did take the shot. It happened so fast.
We where fleeing for our lives. I had just reached the trees when suddenly JT bolted past me heading back towards the following guards. I didn't think, I just turned around to follow him but stopped in my tracks; without their guide, the other children also froze and looked around, staring at the approaching guards in the utmost terror.
The guards pointed their phasers at JT, but they never got the chance to fire. With a flying leap J.T. tackled the silvery haired man from earlier to the ground. After that it was a blur. J.T. some how managed to get the phaser from the man and fired at the surrounding guards who were so distracted at trying to get a clear shot of J.T. that they seemed to have forgotten the near
eighty kids standing between the trees. Four out of the ten guards dropped like flies, including the silvery haired man J.T. had been wrestling with.
"Don't move!" J.T. screamed, pointing the stolen phaser at the rest of the guards, with the promised threat of destruction if anyone disobeyed ringing so clear I was sure even the youngest amongst us understood and froze even though I felt sure J.T.'s threat hadn't applied to us. The guards did as told and held perfectly still despite the fact that their six phasers to J.T.'s one was
no competition. They knew by the blaze in J.T.'s eyes and the twitchy trigger finger that at least one more guard would be killed before they could shoot J.T. and none of them seemed willing to be that one.
Slowly J.T. began to back up towards us, his eyes flickering between the guards searching for just that one betraying move that would seal the deal on one of their lives.
"Tom," J.T. said as he drew up beside me, "Take the kids home. Wide loop around the city; I'll be at back for a bit."
His eyes never flickered in my direction as he gave me his orders and he held the phaser as if he'd been born with it in his hands. With blue eyes blazing silver in the midnight light J.T. didn't look like a twelve-year-old boy right then…. oh no he looked exactly how I used to picture a Starfleet captain before all this mess. His chin rose to meet the adults' eyes head on with defiance shimmering in his normally calm eyes like the surface of a puddle disturbed by a falling leaf. His stance was proud and protective as he stood in front of those whom he'd never met, ready to take on the world to get them out of there.
For a second I could do nothing but stare at the boy next to me, feeling admiration bubble in my stomach. This was exactly the kind of person I wanted to be when I grew up. Proud, and strong just like J.T.
That second was broken by J.T. growling my name.
"Tom dang it get to the front of the group and move!" He ordered. And then in lower voice he whispered, "Take them straightforward I'll be around in a bit to change the direction."
With a nod I turned around and quickly pushed my way forward until I was in front of the group whispering now and then to follow me.
Relieved that someone was guiding them again, the kids fell in to step behind me as I moved quickly keeping my eye open for danger.
And that's when I heard it. Two shot so close together that they almost overlapped.
My heart skipped a beat and visions of J.T.'s body laying on the ground flashed through my mind as the kids surged forward in a panic. And then the loud crash of two trees falling. I couldn't help myself; as the kids pushed past me I turned around to see what was going on. J.T. was tearing towards us, phaser still in hand. The two fallen trees behind him blocked the most direct path between us and the guards.
"Everybody follow me!" J.T. shouted over the ruckus of kids screaming and guards cursing. Reaching down, J.T. scooped up the nearest kid next to him and made a fast turn towards me.
His fingers clasped my arm and were dragging me forward before all the movement had even registered in my brain. The other kids, in a blind panic, did the only thing they could: they listened to orders. Following J.T. as he made sharp turns left and right, I could here the guards crashing around behind us.
This is impossible, I thought. We're too big of a group to lose them.
J.T. apparently had the same idea and as a small grimace crossed his face, the ever-growing fear in my stomach turned chilly as cold dread seeped into my bones.
That's it we're dead, I thought wondering to myself what Kelsey would do without me.
Almost as if sensing my thoughts, J.T. eyes flickered to mine. The eye contact only lasted a millisecond, but that was all I need to see the raw determination in J.T.'s eyes. And suddenly, despite the chaos around me, despite the guards behind us, I found myself reassured.
J.T. was going to get us out of this or he was going to die trying; but no matter what, he would probably take down the rest of the guards too.
After that I didn't have time to think as I was jerked sharply to the right and suddenly found myself thrown into wide ditch.
"Stay silent," I heard J.T. hiss and then suddenly found my arms full of the little boy that J.T. had been carrying. J.T. quickly herded the rest of the children down after me.
I knew there wasn't enough time to get everyone down here though and I was right.
We barely had ten kids in the ditch before the guards broke through the trees, their phasers charged and ready to fire.
I closed my eyes not wanting to see another massacre and felt the kids that J.T. had been able to get out of sight tremble and press into me seeking comfort I wasn't able to give. Terror cut through me and I tremble myself as images of the square and basement flashed through my mind.
All the blood and bodies, the screams of the unjustly condemned rang in my ears as I waited, not even sure where the memories ended and reality began. Seven rapid-fire shots rang out and I felt little hands clench at my shirt.
Then it was quiet.
I waited for what seemed like forever, but with the blood pounding in my ears and the memories circling in my head, I never realized that no more then seven shots had been fired. Until I felt a gentle hand shaking my shoulder.
"Tom," J.T. whispered beside me, "open you eyes Tom. It's over. The guards are gone."
Slowly I opened my eye and shakily glanced over at J.T. His eyes met mine in a calm reassurance.
For the second time that night a choked sob forced its way out of my throat as I flung my arms around J.T.'s neck and collapsed against him, crying.
For a bit I wasn't sure if any of this was real. I didn't know if the comforting shushes and lyrics of some song I'd never heard before being whispered into my ears were real. I didn't know if the gentle arms rocking me back and forth like mom use to do after a nightmare were real. I didn't know if any of this was real anymore. Things had happened too quick and I was left with the dizzying remains of my once happy life and wondering if I would even make it through tonight alive.
Eventually though, reality sunk in.
I was still alive…. J.T. was still alive, and my left hand resting on J.T.'s shoulder was wet and sticky.
Without thinking I pulled back from J.T. with a sniffle and glanced at my hand. Even in the silver light given off from the nearly full moon, there was no mistaken the dark liquid that covered my hand. For a second all I could do was gape, before my gaze instinctively fell on J.T.'s shoulder.
"You're hurt," I somehow managed to choke out as fear once again roared its ugly head and thoughts of J.T. dying pushed out all other thoughts.
J.T.'s eyes shifted and looked over at his shoulder with a grimace.
"Jerk got in a lucky hit. Don't worry though it's not deep and I've had worse." J.T. reassured.
And for a second all I could do was stare at J.T. like he was crazy. The guy had been shot and he was saying he'd had worse. I opened my mouth to protest but when I caught J.T.'s eyes, I stopped.
There were shadows flickering through his deep blue gaze shadows that warned me now was not the time to ask how J.T. could have possibly had worse injuries. All at once I remembered the little bit of J.T.'s past he had told me.
Had that really only been last night?
Either way I doubted J.T. really wanted to talk about that right now, so instead I turned my attention away from his bloody shoulder and shadowed eyes.
It was at that moment that I realized all the other kids had also made their way down into the ditch where J.T. had hidden as many of us as he could before the guards had shown up.
No one but J.T. looked harmed.
"How is everyone alive," I whispered my emotion wavering between disbelief and giddy relief.
A pained and dark look crossed J.T.'s face.
"I shot the guards before they could shoot us," J.T. whispered, his voice monotonous, and his face going blank, everything but his eyes utterly emotionless. His eye's whispered his regret of the necessity of people having to die and the anguish of having to be the one to pull the trigger. It was clear J.T. didn't like killing but it was also clear that if put into a similar situation he would not have done it any differently.
I nodded to show I understood and glanced around at all the people we had managed to get out. A few of them I actually recognized; there were kids my age and some so much younger. They all sat in the ditch huddle together various looks of terror, shock, and grief on each of their faces.
Nobody seemed older then J.T. but maybe that was because at that moment they all looked so young and scared while J.T. moved like a parent away from me to go and comfort the youngest of children. I watched as he went to each of the rescued children one by one and slowly got them relax.
It was nearly dawn when J.T. stopped making rounds and told me we need to get back to the cave and that there was probably already more guards looking for those that escaped. I nodded and stood up. After a couple moments of dizziness I managed to gain at least enough strength to put one foot in front of the other as J.T. led us through the ditch saying it connected to an area not far
from where the cave was.
It was still hours though before we managed to find our way back and by that time J.T. was once again holding the same little boy that he'd picked up when we where running.
The kid seemed to be the youngest out of this group, only four, and it was apparent that the sickly looking kid just didn't have the strength to make it back on his own.
It was a relief to all of us when J.T. finally stopped and handed me the little guy so he could climb out of the ditch and then reached down to start pulling us out. After we were all out of the ditch, it was just another turn around the thick group of trees to see the mouth of the cave.
The second my eye caught sight of it I ran… my only thought now was making sure my sister was still safely inside. When I got in there I was relieved to see her curled up near Kevin, asleep. She didn't wake until J.T. and the others started walking in behind me. I watched her sit up and rub the sleep out of her eyes and then watched as said eyes widened when she saw how many people we were coming in with. I laughed in relief as I ran to her and dropped to my knees to hug her.
"Oh Kelsey you have no idea how glad I am to see you," I heard myself whisper in a slightly hysterical laugh. At this she turned a curious gaze on me instead of the kids.
"Tommy who are all these people?" she asked looking slightly frightened.
"Just kids that need a place to stay, Kelly," J.T. answered before I could, as he sat the boy he'd been carrying almost the entire way on the ground next to Kevin. The kid was out cold.
And honestly it looked like the others weren't far behind him as each of them found the most comfortable piece of ground they could, as far away from the cave entrance as possible and seemed to just curl into themselves and pass out one by one from pure exhaustion.
I could sympathize with that. I felt tired enough to just sleep for the next decade, but J.T. was still bleeding. His shoulder injury had to have been aggravated when he had pulled all the kids out of the ditch. And he probably needed some help fixing that up.
And almost as if my thoughts had drawn her attention to it, Kelsey suddenly exclaimed, "J.T. your hurt!" before bouncing out of my arms to grab J.T.'s shoulder and examine it closer. Her sudden exclamation had caused several kids nearby to sit up in startled alarm, clearly still a little nervous from the event of the previous night.
"It's okay guys," J.T. whispered gently, "you're safe here; go back to sleep."
They gave him doubtful looks, but slowly laid back down to go back to sleep.
"Kelsey, I'm fine, it's just a scratch," J.T. gave her a reassuring grin before patting her head. She didn't look convinced and leaned over and gently pressed her lips to tattered remains of the shoulder of J.T.'s black t-shirt.
"There," Kelsey grinned looking satisfied with herself, "A kiss to make it feel better!"
I raised an eyebrow at her before turning to look at J.T. just in time to catch the choked up, touched, and incredibly surprised look that flashed quickly across his face.
"Thank you Kelsey," J.T. rasped, voice husky and sort of strangled. "It does feel better now."
Kelsey beamed at him as if he'd just given her the greatest of gifts by saying that.
J.T. returned the grin. "You know I've never had someone kiss my booboo before. I've thought people were crazy when they said that they healed all wounds. Thanks for proving me wrong," J.T. said, tweaking Kelsey's nose.
At that however Kelsey frowned. "You've never had someone kiss your booboos before? But what about your mommy? Didn't she pick you up and kiss your scraped knee or scratched hand?" she asked puzzled.
J.T. froze, what he had inadvertently revealed just now registering.
Clearing his throat, J.T. just plastered a grin onto his face. "My mommy was a little bit different then yours Kelly."
Kelsey didn't seem satisfied though and crossed her arms determinedly over her tiny chest.
"Well that is just wrong of her but don't worry J.T., when you get a booboo I'll kiss it to make it feel better!" Kelsey stated matter-of-factly.
J.T. chuckled and reached over to smooth her hair down. "Thanks Kelly, that's very nice of you."
"Tom," He said suddenly turning his attention to me from where I'd been watching, "get some sleep; God knows you're still recovering. Sleep and a decent meal will be able to help with that, and seeing as it looks like a meal might be unlikely for the next few hours, it's a good idea for us to do what we still can."
I cleared my throat, "Uh, J.T. aren't you going to need some help with your shoulder?" I whispered, half because it probably wouldn't do Kelsey any good to know her magic kiss probably hadn't helped at all, and half because my voice didn't seem capable of producing anything louder than a whisper right now.
"No, like I said Tom, I've had worse and have treated worse; this won't be a big deal, I'll just boil some water, clean the cut, and use the ripped pieces of my shirt to bandage it until I can get my hands on some gauze or better yet a dermal regenerator." J.T. whispered back, his eyes tracking Kelsey's movements so she wouldn't accidentally overhear us.
"Are you sure I can't help? It probably isn't a good to be moving your shoulder too much." I protested, even as I found myself already lying down and my eyes dropping closed from the weight of exhaustion.
I barely heard J.T. snort off his sarcastic comment that he couldn't be moving it anymore boiling water then when he was pulling everyone out of the ditch. If I hadn't fallen asleep at that moment, I might have reminded him he had restarted the bleeding by pulling everyone out of said ditch.
As it was though I simply passed out. It was only a couple minutes later when I found myself being dragged back to consciousness. There was a sticky feeling through the cave and it was silent enough that I could hear the crackle of a fire and the bubbling of water. I turned my head towards the sound and with some effort opened my eye to see who had started a fire when it was midday in the middle of summer. When I saw J.T. crouching next to the beat up old pot, which J.T. had told me he'd stolen along with the medical supplies needed to fix my face, I was reminded of what had happened last night.
The pot sat balanced precariously on a couple of rocks that J.T. had set in the middle of the fire pit a small bit of space between each rock that aloud the fire to creep its way in between the cracks to warm the pot.
I watched him add a little bit of Tarsus natural salt to the pot and stirred it with the bent fork we had been using the day before to eat tuna with; by this time I was starting to feel a little confused. Was he cooking? While else would he need salt? Then J.T. let out a long-suffering sigh, which caused shivers to crawl down my spine. That was the sigh of someone who was about to do something they really didn't enjoy.
J.T. glanced around as if to make sure no one was watching him and I felt a little guilty when he didn't notice me. I also briefly wondered where Kelsey was but guessed that J.T. probably knew, and that he wouldn't just be sitting there if she were in danger.
Then to my surprise J.T. pulled of his shirt. What I saw almost made me gasp, which would have given me away, since it was silent enough that even a the quietest sound would carry.
Along with the dried blood that had been running down both sides of J.T.'s body from his injury, there was also a littering of scars that stood out in sharp contrast with the rest of the his pale skin, and dang I knew J.T. was skinny, but even I still had enough meat on my bones that not all of my ribs where jutting out. Each of J.T.'s were clearly visible. What had this kid been through? With dermal regenerators, scars where rare enough that it took a very serious accident to leave even a faint trace, so the only way to have that many scars and still be alive… either the incidents had been so severe that, even with modern medicine, it had still left a trace, or he had never had the injuries treated.
That, along with his overly thin body was yet another sign that this kid had not had the loving family Kelsey and I did.
I watched in silent horror as J.T. picked up a weird shaped rock that had an almost bowl like quality to it and put it to the boiling hot salt mixture he had just made. I couldn't believe my eye when J.T. brought the bowl-rock up with one hand and with barely a sign of hesitation dumped it right onto to the still slightly bleeding wound. I nearly yelled out in horror for him to stop, especially when I saw his facial expression twist itself into to a look of silent agony, and heard the small gasp of pain. But I found I couldn't get my throat to make any sound at all.
I watched as J.T. dumped the hot water over his skin again and again. It seemed like an eternity before J.T. finally stopped torturing himself, and when that was finished he reached for his shirt and ripped both sleeves off. He then proceeded to rip both down one seam, and tied them together. Then, with an awkward movement, he tried to tie the ripped pieces around his shoulder. I watched him try and fail a few times before I couldn't take it anymore and stood up. J.T. didn't even jump at my sudden movement and it made me question if he'd known I'd been watching the entire time.
I waited a moment for a slight dizzy spell to pass, before making my way over to where J.T. had frozen in his attempt to tie together his homemade bandage. Without saying a word I knelt down beside him reached for the two ends of tattered shirt; in a couple of seconds I had tied it as tight as possible against J.T. shoulder. I sat back on my heels and watched J.T. just sitting there staring determinedly at the ground. He hadn't spoken a word while I was tying his bandages, hadn't even glanced once at me. A heavy sigh escaped my lips.
"J.T.," I rasped, "What are we going to do now?"
For a long while there was only silence and for the first time, I was sure J.T. wasn't going to answer me. I unconsciously found myself leaning around to look into J.T.'s eyes, unknowingly seeking the comfort I had begun to associate with his gaze. And then a sigh of his own erupted from his lips and his blood-shot, exhausted, blue eyes finally met mine. Even puffy and red, his eyes still shone with the determination of a natural survivor, and strength most would kill for. It was the biggest relief and the most chilling feeling when I finally caught his eyes.
"We find food…I'll give these guys a day to recover and then tomorrow night I'm going to pick five of the biggest of them and we're going to go out to the eastern part of town where all the big shots are, and steal as much food as we can…if they're anything like my uncle's house was, they have plenty they can spare," J.T. whispered, sitting back on his heels and giving a one shouldered shrug, "we'll also pick up any and every first aid kit we can get our hands on, and any medication we can find… extra blankets, if we're lucky, pillows and maybe even some soap and bathing supplies… maybe even board games for the younger children to play. But those will come after the things we really need and right now, food and medical supplies are at the top of the list."
I could do nothing but gap at the older boy for a several of minutes, unable to believe how nonchalantly he was talking about this.
"J.T. that doesn't sound easy at all!" I choked out before I could stop myself. I had unfortunately spoken a little more loudly then I probably should have in a cave, and as a result my voice bounced around for a couple of seconds causing some of the other kids to stir, but thankfully, no one woke up.
"Shh," J.T. hushed finger snapping up to cover his lips in the universal sign to be quiet.
"I know it doesn't sound easy Tom, but there really isn't another option: the fungus makes it impossible to grow anything, and the animals around here won't be any fatter then you or I."
It was at that moment when J.T. seemed to remember that he was still shirtless and he quickly remedied that, pulling on his now sleeveless shirt.
My eyes flickered down and caught one last sight of pale scared skin before the fabric once again covered it from view. I didn't think it was possible for anything to be as skinny as J.T.
My gaze caught J.T.'s, and for the first time in what felt like forever, the intense fear that had taken up residence in my life was absent.
"I'll keep everyone safe Tom, I promise," J.T. whispered…. and I believed him. His eyes were too sincere and to determined for me to do anything but believe that J.T. would keep us safe.
We sat in silence for a while, until the exhaustion began to creep back up on me. My eye's dropped closed and a giant yawn overpowered me.
I heard J.T. chuckle. "Get some sleep Tom. I'll keep watch tonight," he whispered gently, putting his hand on my shoulder and leaning me back against the wall of the cavern.
Relieved to finally be able to get some sort of sleep, I just nodded. After a couple of seconds, a smoky smell filled the cave, letting me know that J.T. had extinguished the fire.
My last thought before I passed out was 'I promise J.T., you won't have to take care of us alone. I'll be there with you through everything. That's how I'll pay you back for what you've done for Kelsey and me'.
The only promise I ever broke was my promise to make sure J.T. never did anything alone while trying to take care of us. But in the end, he was the only one strong enough to do what would need to be done in the near future to make sure everyone survived.
End Chapter 6