It All Came Falling Down

eleven

    “Dead?” Hero let go. For a second she stopped breathing and her eyes twitched slightly as tears began to gather within her eyelids. “What… do you mean he’s dead?” her voice shook. She fell to her knees, studying all of the blood on my uniform. 
    “He didn’t escape the town. A patrol caught him,” I sobbed. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry!” 
    “What did you do? What the hell did—” Hero bit her bottom lip and her nose wrinkled with disgust. She grabbed me by the collar and shoved me onto the floor. Sitting on top of me with both hands tightly gripping my neck, she stained her garments with red. 
    “I killed your brother Hero,” I choked in agony. “I had no other choice. He told me to torture him. I killed him! Your brother didn’t say anything except that he loves you.” 
    “Who?!” she asked, squeezing tighter.
    “Kill… me! Just kill me,” I begged, almost out of oxygen. 
    “Who told you to kill my brother?!” Hero questioned again. 
    “Lieutenant… Truxin,” I gasped. 
    “The same bastard who murdered all those people in the town square?” Hero’s eyes burned with anger and desire for vengeance. She let go and began to head to the living room. I took a deep breath of air into my lungs. “Go, Kanston. Get the fuck out of my house! I can’t even look at you!” she yelled. “I knew I could never trust an Esdrusian! Give me one damn reason I shouldn’t kill you right now!”
    “I was only following orders,” I managed to say. I remained on the floor but tried to look at Hero. I was still trying to catch my breath. “I’m not proud of what,” I coughed, “I’ve done.”
    “Kanston, you better get your sorry ass out of my house with your bullshit before I shoot you!” She picked up her pistol and walked back over with it, aiming it down at my face. “Get out!” she cried, her tears dripping off her face and onto the floor.
    “I could help!” I shouted, sliding back with my hands held out in front of me as if they could shield me from a bullet.
    Hero bent over and grabbed my collar again, this time sticking the handgun under my chin. “Tell me, Kanston, what you could possibly fucking do to help!” she screamed. She released me and fell beside me, slamming her fists into the floorboards, and wept. 
    I sat up and attempted to embrace her, but she pushed my arms away. “Listen, I know the quadrants each Esdruscan soldier is assigned to. We usually do patrol duty in pairs. If you can tell me where that trapdoor leads, I can help you find the patrols who captured your brother. Better yet, it’ll clear the area for more escapes!” I told her. 
    “How can I trust you? How do I know you won’t just use this excuse to find our secret passage?” Hero looked at me sceptically, her hand gripping the pistol tighter.
    “You’ll be watching me the whole time. I won’t do anything stupid. And I can help you assassinate Lieutenant Truxin. Do you have weapons? And a map?”
    Hero glared at me longer and finally went into the living room to retrieve a heavy bag. Opening it, she revealed rifles, handguns, grenades and ammunition. “Grab what you need,” she said, pulling out some things for herself. 
    I nodded as she also brought over a map. She pointed out the location of the town to which the escape route leads. The trapdoor in her living room leads to a homemade tunnel that led to a part of the town’s sewage waterway. Following a certain direction and a couple of turns later, the path would then connect to ancient catacombs. The exit led into a section close to the border, where most patrols would ignore or barely even notice. All one had to do was sneak quietly when no soldier was watching. Hero’s brother was unlucky, and I didn’t even start to imagine what could’ve happened to their mother. 
    “You’re going to need new clothes. Where’s my partner’s body? The woman I shot here earlier,” I said. Hero lifted the rug and opened the trapdoor. She pointed down, and sure enough, Dewa Valslian’s body was there. “Good. Grab weapons and go change into her uniform.” 
    Hero took the lead climbing down the ladder. Immediately, she stripped off her stained garments and unclothed the corpse; I turned away. When she was finished assembling the trousers, belt, and boots, she threw on the coat and helmet and patted me on the back. “You’re going first,” she told me. I felt the muzzle of her weapon dig into my spine for a second. “Don’t try to grab your weapons,” she said, indicating the rifle that was slung over my shoulder and the knife in my belt. 
    Through a large hole in the wall, I entered first. With Hero behind me and guiding my direction, we walked until we had reached an intersection with the sewage system. There was a slippery path to the side of the dirty, feculent stream of water that we followed after turning left into the damp and humid environment with a foul stench. I really didn’t need her guidance, since there were lanterns that hung on the walls on the path we were following anyway. Before long and two alternating turns later, we had finally reached the dusty, eerie catacombs, where I could see countless skeletons and cobwebs, once beautiful arches and columns, and ancient paintings that were wearing away. We walked straight through without saving time to study or admire our surroundings. Finally, we arrived at a stone stairway, which led up to the surface of the earth. A subtle wooden board was there to cover the opening. 
    “Alright, Hero. You can stop pointing the gun at me now and trust me. Tip your helmet down more to better conceal your face,” I told her, not afraid to turn around and face her rifle. Unslinging my firearm, I walked up the steps and shoved off the wooden cover. I gave Hero a hand when I was out in the dark night. She followed after me, but as soon as she stood still on the ground, she froze. Slowly, I turned my head back up front and saw two soldiers pointing their guns at us with fingers itching to pull the trigger.