Red Light

Dawn:Part 4

With the thin light of pre-dawn, Uncle quietly opened the door and peeked out into his laundromat. No real damage. A cracked window that the tiny bit of insurance he had should cover.

Tears filled his eyes.

Then he looked through the window.

The grocery story had been looted. The door hung from one hinge. Two of the windows had been smashed.

He scrabbled with his keys to unlock the door and drop gate. He scurried across the oddly silent road and pushed the mangled door to the side.

Inside was a disaster. Destruction and theft everywhere he looked. He didn't look long.

Carefully, he went to the back of the store. There was a narrow staircase going up to the apartment on the second floor where the grocer, his wife, and their three children lived.

As fast as he could, he climbed the steps and knocked on the battered door.

Someone had tried to get in.

"It is me. Uncle. Are you safe? Are you okay?" he called softly through the door.

The door cracked open slightly and Uncle was pulled in. The door shut and locked behind him.

Five sets of eyes stared at him.

"We're okay." Zhang Bao said. Uncle didn't believe him. The children's eyes were red from crying and frightened.

He didn't blame them.

"What happened?"

"They said they'd burn us out if I didn't give them money." the man looked at his hands as they trembled. "I don't know why they didn't do it. I had no money to give them."

Uncle looked around. It would be difficult at best to try and get the children out if there was a fire.

"Bring your family to the laundromat. It's ground level but there are two ways out. We'll salvage all we can downstairs and hole up until we know this is over." He looked at the wife holding her youngest. The little girl wasn't even two yet.

The grocer looked at his wife, who nodded.

Uncle smiled at them both.

"Let's get clothes and blankets and toys to take to the laundromat." He smiled at the children. "Then we will help your mother and father save everything we can. Yes?"

The oldest was a sturdy seven year old girl. She put an arm around her little brother.

"We are very big. We can help." The little sniff at the end wrenched his heart.

"Start helping your mother while your father and I go downstairs." He laid a gentle hand on her head. He turned to the wife. "We need to hurry. It is quiet now, but for how long? Bring everything you need for a week. Hopefully, all of this will be over long before that."

Guo Chunhua stood with her toddler tight in her arms. "We'll be packed in an hour." Her voice was firm.

Uncle nodded at the grocer, and they headed down the stairs.

-----

Jiang Yanli wasn't sure what had woken her so early in the morning, but she was wide awake. Her husband lay warmly asleep against her. He looked stressed even as he slept. After yesterday's hellish events, she wasn't surprised.

Habit had her reaching for her phone. Dead. She hadn't thought to charge it last night. Too much crowding her mind. Demanding her attention. A'Xuan's was just as dead.

"Maybe Lan Xichen has a wireless charger?" she mumbled as she crawled from the bed. A soft kiss on her husband's sleeping face, and she headed out with both phones.