Escape

Chapter 16

Karkat reached up, feeling his stitches. He panicked slightly, not liking the feeling. "No! No...mmm..." He knew that whatever he said no one would understand.

"No! No! Karkat! Calm down!" Rufioh hugged Karkat, rocking him gently. "It's okay..nothing's wrong. It's fine...it's okay..."

Karkat slowly calmed down, looking around the tent. He hid his face in Rufioh's chest again, crying.

"Nothing about his eye removal was clean. There was no care and it looked very painful." The doctor gently tapped Karkat's shoulder to get him to look up. "How did this happened?"

Karkat looked up at Rufioh in confusion. Rufioh pointed to his eye. "Your eye?"

Karkat pointed to his own missing eye. "I eye..."

"My." Rufioh corrected him.

"My eye...?" Karkat asked.

"Gestapo?" Rufioh asked.

"Oh...yes." Karkat nodded. He looked around until he saw a knife. He point at it. "My eye." He sat up, reenacting what happened. He didn't speak, just showed how it went. He pretended to grab someone and forced their eye open, taking the knife and cutting in a  circle. He pulled out the fake eye and put it in his pocket. He then acted like he went over to someone else and showed them the eye, slitting their throat after.

The doctor and Rufioh watched in shock as Karkat showed them watch happened to his dad and him. "Karkat, come here..." Rufioh picked him up, holding him close to his chest. "Oh god...I'm sorry...I won't let you see anymore of that..." He swayed back and forth, gently rocking him.

"Kid, I think you should take him and get some rest." The doctor instructed. "What's your name by the way? So we can inform your base. You're from the hideout in France?"

"Yeah... My name's Rufioh Nitram, sir." He answered, taking Karkat to a small bed and climbing in. The two of them were asleep within minutes.

They slept until the next morning, waking up around six. Rufioh looked at Karkat, who was sitting up and watching the soldiers wonder around. "Whatcha doin bud?" Rufioh sat up, hugging him.

Karkat pointed at the soldiers who were running around and doing things. "Um?" He said, not able to find the words.

"I'll ask." Rufioh ruffled Karkat's hair. He got up and asked one of the soldiers what they were doing. "Is something wrong?"

"It's just standard protocol. Do you need to leave?" The soldier asked Rufioh. "We've radioed your base that you were here. They said to report back."

"We'll leave as soon as we can. I should be fine until we get back to base, but I need to make sure he's okay..."  Rufioh pointed at Karkat, who was looking down at his feet.

"Sure thing. Just let us know when you're leaving." The soldier nodded, grabbing something and leaving the tent.

Rufioh wandered back over to Karkat. "Are you okay?" He asked slowly. Karkat nodded. "We need to get back to France. Where it's safe... Are you ready to leave?" Karkat nodded again. "Let me see your chest, first." Rufioh pointed to Karkat's chest. Karkat nodded and raised his shirt, it didn't stick this time. The large scars that spelled out Jew were still open, they had a slight yellow to them. Rufioh sighed. "Let me get something." He grabbed some peroxide and cotton balls. He poured the peroxide and gently dabbed them onto Karkat's chest. Karkat cringed and wiggled. "Sorry, I know it hurts..."

"Hurts!" Karkat repeated, pushing Rufioh's hand away. "Hurts!" He said again.

"It'll get infected if I don't. I know it hurts, Karkat. Just a little more..." Rufioh sighed, dabbing the peroxide on Karkat more. He then grabbed some bandages and wrapped Karkat's chest. "There...all done."

"Done." Karkat repeated, putting his shirt down. "Leave?" He pointed out the door. "France...?"

"Yeah, we're leaving." Rufioh tried to pick Karkat up, but he refused. The child hopped down, taking Rufioh's hand instead. The two found one of the soldiers and told them that they were off.

Rufioh and Karkat walked to the closest train station. Rufioh told the ticket booth that it was military business. They let them both on the train. Rufioh hoped there wouldn't be anymore run ins this time. He didn't know how much he could protect Karkat this time around. Still, they boarded the train and tried to enjoy the ride. Karkat was silent, staring out the window. Rufioh was talking to him, letting him listen to English and try to understand. Karkat was leaning against his arm, the other one still crushed, face close to the cold window. He saw the small grave which Rufioh and Cronus dug. There was a small sign that Karkat made "Kankri vantas" it read. Karkat let out a loud sigh. Rufioh looked over and sighed as well.

Seven hours later the train arrived. Rufioh took Karkat's hand and lead him off of the train. The two of them walked in the city it stopped in for a while. Rufioh, ironically, knew French. He was speaking to all of the people that wanted to talk, they were pleased to talk. Rufioh smiled at them and introduced them to Karkat. He shied away from them, hiding his eye. "No, it's okay Karkat...I don't have a finger, remember? They don't mind." Rufioh held up his hand, showing his missing ring finger. Karkat nodded and looked up at the people. He waved. "He doesn't speak French, or English very well." Rufioh said in French. No one seemed to mind. They said hello to Karkat and one gave him a cookie. "You can take it, she says its okay." Rufioh smiled. Karkat took the small cookie, nodding as to say thank you.