Day 52: The long road.

Aria considered it, "Save it. We might need it if someone gets set on fire."
 
Quinn hadn't had enough time to get back inside, so instead he had slunk back into the alleyway.
His pulse was racing and his scarred eye socket was on fire. He was so acutely aware of how defenseless he was that it may as well have been causing him actual, physical pain
The others were off inside the building again, and for the first time he wished he was with them.
Did he run and get caught and possibly flayed alive, or hide and possibly be found and killed in any other kind of brutal way?
 
"Stay there," Aria whispered to Scarlett and Xavier, and went over to Quinn when she noticed he was alone, crawling slowly on the floor, tucking her long sleeve on the burnt hand as it touched the ground, praying she wouldn't get hurt.
 
Quinn grabbed Aria as she got near and pulled her down with him into the fragile sanctuary of Quinn's hiding place.
"We need to move, but we can't get our group out with so many eyes on the place. Got any ideas for a distraction? Maybe that woman has something with her. We just need a lot of noise and a lot of smoke, enough for a head start at least."
Quinn saw the burn on Aria's hand and handed her the bandages and painkillers he had gotten from Scarlett.
"Wrap that up and take one of these. Don't pretend like you don't need it, because you will."
 
a girl appears before Quinn smiling at him "so you wanna get out of here?
 
"well there is no way unless your an amazing acrobat" up is the only way out
 
"Someone might need it more than me," Aria says before taking the pill and wrapping minimum bandage, swallowing the pill in her spit. "I'll do a distraction. I have this," she offers as she holds up the gun, "It doesn't make smoke, but it's loud, and I'm a good runner, not fast enough for the truck, but it must be a wreck."

She turned around, "And what? Abandon our family and friends? No thanks," she said to the girl.
 
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"Who the hell are you?" Quinn snarled. He was not in the mood to accept people coming out of nowhere after the hellish scene that had just literally exploded before his eyes.
Again Quinn hated the fact that he had no weapon, but it also posed an interesting situation.
"You got a spare weapon, mystery girl? If you do, you had best give it to me. I've an interesting theory that you're connected to that carnage down the road, do not give me an excuse to act on it."
 
Aria grinned at the way Quinn was proposing, "All weapons are good, but I'm saving you some of me mercy." The mystery girl was going to ignore her, most likely, but Quinn was sterner and slightly older.
 
There was nothing but silence, only breathing and the subtle breeze accompanied them. Matt felt his sister trembling, the scene had got to everyone and there was no telling if it would happen again. He felt a bead of sweat hang of the tip of his nose. Still nothing and then there was something. Tension, fear, frustration... It could have been all of those or none at all but something snapped. Alaya bolted.

A pathetic yelp left her as she ran for her life, she didn't know why she ran, she was safest with her brother and now she would pay for it. The first bullet missed by an inch, the second hit her in the side and the third in the gut as she turned in shock. All she could do was wait as a man in a radiation suit approached her with a hunting rifle. A butchers knife hung at his belt.

"Who's with you then kid?" The man spoke in a thick Welsh accent, he withdrew a cloth and while another man approached with a large bottle of water. "Who's with you? If you tell us we might let you go, we can end the pain for the lot of you." He crouched next to the girl who looked around desperately.

Alaya knew no help would come, not because nobody wanted to help but because nobody could, they'd be killed before they could do anything. "I'm on my own," she managed to say through the pain. She could hear the hushed commotion and hoped that they would be distracted. "I... I'm not lying to you, what do you think I'd gain." They weren't listening, they just placed the cloth over her mouth and nose while the water was emptied over it. Her frantic, panicked flailing did nothing to stop then nor bring out any of her group. The cloth was removed, she spat and sputtered, drowning on dry land but still gave them nothing. The water was gone so they had to try something new and so did she. Alaya took a long look in to the eyes of the sick men and fell back. She had died. or at least that's what they'd come to believe. For five minutes the men were focused on torture and torment and took no notice of the girls physical state. Though it felt like an eternity they finally left her allowing her to crawl to safety not thinking about the trail of blood she'd leave.
 
Jude almost shot them. Almost. Hitting a little kid like that. She was so pissed off at that moment, she almost screamed at well. Jude was glad Aria wasn't inside, she would have ruined everything, blew their cover. They hurt her, shot her twice and then played with her "dead" body, and it made Jude wretch. The gun cold in her hands begged her to shoot. To avenge Alaya when she couldn't. To avenge Aria, who she hadn't seen since the truck came down. She ran out of breath, she breathed loudly after holding it for a while, and clasped her hand over her mouth.
 
Finally Matt ran to his sister, the men were gone but not before leaving their marks both mentally and physically on a defenseless little girl. Her face had been beaten bloody, the bandages that covered her burns had been removed and her clothes torn. It made him sick, these men had tortured a girl in a way most terrorists are tortured, he put an arm around the girl feeling her tremble so violently made him feel all the more sick. "You're alright, I'm here now..." He held her in his arms as he called out to the rest of the group.
 
Red stared at the scene in disbelief and got up. Oh how those people were going to pay. She took her katana off her hip and began to cross roofs following the trails. Finally when she sees the men she smirks putting her hood up. She lowers herself down into an allyway between two buildings. She then circles around finding a blind spot she immediately runs in stabbing 1 man in the stomach. He then starts to spit out blood. She pulls the sword out of his back his body falling limp. As the others are stunned she grabs her pistol and shoots them one at a time. "Perfect."
 
"I- I would've helped Alaya...I swear. I-I-" Jude tried to explain what was going through her mind as that happened, "I was scared they'd hurt you more for lying."

Aria heard voices leave and gestured to Quinn she was going back inside. "What happened? I heard a truck... What did they do?"
"Aria?"
"Yeah?"
"Don't do that again. I thought you were dead."
"What's with the guys on fire?" Aria repeated.
 
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Quinn nodded as Aria took her leave. It was risky, some would say even stupid, but she had gone to him to try and help while he was on his own.
He owed her one for that, but that wasn't important right now.
Quinn rushed over to Matt and Alaya.
"She needs medical attention. I used to be a paramedic, I can help her," Quinn had seen this man cradle that little girl like she was the last great treasure of the world, and as far as he was concerned she may as well be. Quinn wanted desperately to help, having himself been sickened beyond reproach by her cruel, unthinkable treatment, but he had to know he had Matt's full cooperation.
 
"Everyone else is alright, yeah?" Matt sat with a calm expression as he soothed the girl. Is this what the world had done to them? An innocent girl is attacked and tortured mentally and physically and all anyone can do for fear of themselves is watch and wait for it all to end. He sighed before looking up at Aria, "Bandits, don't know why and to be fucking honest I don't give a fuck. As soon as the cunts stop burning we need to check it out, take what we can and get out of there." He looked at Quinn and nodded, the chances of Alaya's survival were slim at best without any supplies, she'd be awake the entire time and most of the procadure would be makeshift but this was better than nothing at all.

Alaya looked at Quinn, her sky blue eyes empty and fearful, "Wil...will it hurt?
 
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It was enough to almost bring tears to his eyes, but he bit them back. He wasn't allowed to break down, he forbade it of himself.
He knelt down and looked at her eyes, "I can't lie to you sweetheart, it will hurt. But I promise you once I'm finished the hurt will start to go away. You'll feel a whole lot better and then maybe we can find you a new house to stay in, where I can do even more."
It seemed like such a lifetime ago when Quinn was on the job, working long nights and growing more weary and exhausted. But at the end of the shift, he knew he was doing something good.
Now it seemed like he was going in the opposite direction. He'd taken more lives than he'd saved recently and each death stung his heart a little deeper.
Not this time...even if it's all I can do, I'm not going to let her go like this.
 
Aria clenched her fist, "Those, I'm gonna...oh, who am I kidding...Jude, you go shoot them for me or something."
"This is not the time, Aria." She turned towards Alaya, "I swear I would've done something. But I'll do something else," she ventured out the broken building. She hasn't been to the place she was going for a long time, even though it was a few minutes walk away. To be honest, Jude wished she had.

The glass of the jars lay on the floor, and Jude's colder heart was melted in there, despite cobwebs and such. She reached towards the tile she knew did something she couldn't tell Aria, and she went into the storeroom of the sweatshop. There wasn't proper food, but she knew the humbugs were here somewhere, and she knew they helped pain often. Her shifts here really helped. Sometimes she'd come here to cry, and today she would've normally, but there was something else to do.

"I'll be a nurse or something. I did CPR in middle school," Aria suggested to Quinn. She could hold stuff. And the bad-girl outside was easily knocked down, and comfort and encouragement were things Aria could give.
 
Quinn nodded at her, "Thanks."
He didn't think he could do this on his own, even though he used to do it for a living.
He set to work, and it quickly came back to him in a bittersweet way. The things he used to do for a living that left him feeling satisfied at the end of were put to use today in a desperate bid to save an innocent girls life, and Quinn's efforts were marred by doubt.

It wasn't easy, it wasn't pleasant and it wasn't quick, but eventually the little girl was put in a stable condition...for the time being.
Quinn had managed to set her broken limbs roughly, disinfected her wounds with the iodine and bandaged them up as well as he could. He gave her a painkiller, but couldn't risk overdosing her, and with no way to put her under anaesthetic she was still going to hurt.
He sat back, grateful for Aria's help, but dissatisfied with the end result. It was all her could do, and he'd just have to keep telling himself that.
"I'm sorry I couldn't do more," he said in a soft, low voice, "If we can get her to the hospital I might be able to get her something better but I...I can't make any promises."
 
"Well, we should go to the hospital, then. Anyone who wants to should. Anyone considering should meet us there," Aria said, giving the girl a smile, "I tell you, if I was there, I wouldn't just be pointing a gun like I did outside. It'd be in the back of their heads."

Jude comes in with humbugs, not many but enough to fill a small plastic bag. "Hey, I got some humbugs from the sweet shop I used to work at. Suck them, they'll help with the pain." She smiles, holding them out to Alaya. The twins are doing identical smiles yet you can see differences. Aria looks angry. Jude looks sad. They both look friendly. They both know inside they won't be forever.