My Sister's Keeper: Chapter nine [NaNoWriMo]

This is the sixth installment of my NaNoWriMo challenge: My Sister's Keeper, chapter nine.
With this chapter I have uploaded a total of approx 11,800 words. Total written to date is 15,200 words.

Chapters One and Two (Part One)
Chapters Three and Four (Part Two)
Chapters Five and Six (Part Three)
Chapter Seven (Part Four)
Chapter Eight (Part Five)

CHAPTER NINE

The group now found itself getting close to the city of Kirban. Not as large as the city Ruby grew up in, but it was still a sizable urban area. At least it once was. Anastasia had been growing more and more uneasy the closer they were to the city. Ruby sensed a general feeling of unease through most of those in her group. Something wasn't right.

Ruby looked around, at the changing landscape. There was less countryside now. But even more grey. Clouds of smoke rose from many places around her. She noticed bodies laying, half covered by debris. The fighters have been here, Ruby told herself. No wonder everyone looks so scared. She turned to Emerald, fear in her eyes.

“Don't be scared,” Emma reassured Ruby. She held her hand tightly. “I won't let you go.”

Anastasia turned to Ruby, sensing the child's apprehension. “We need to get to the charity's supply centre. We can rest up there. Take stock of what has happened here.” Anastasia tried her best to be a source of strength for Ruby, but the child could see what was happening. She observed the truth all around her. The city had been destroyed within the last few days.

The group stopped for a moment; Anastasia spoke with several others about where to find the supply centre. Whilst she did, Ruby sat with Emerald, unsure of how bad the situation really was.

“Do you know what is happening?” Ruby asked Emerald.

“They're working out where to find the supply centre. The city looks different now, with all the destruction. They're a little confused.” Emerald explained.

“Are you scared, Emma?” Ruby asked.

“A little bit. Because I can sense it in the others. I'm trying not to be.”

Ruby believed that Emerald was never scared. She's just saying that to make me feel better about feeling scared. But nothing seems to bother her. That's why momma asked her to look after me. Not the other way around. It's her gift, it's what she's good at. Ruby tried to reassure herself; she didn't know how but she knew Emerald would make everything work out for the better.

Anastasia walked back to Ruby. “The centre isn't too far from here,” she told her. “I've only been to this place once before. It was all so different then. It's hard to navigate a city when everything is just in piles of rubble.”

“Will the centre still be there?” Ruby asked.

“They never touch the charity buildings. It'll be there.” Anastasia offered, completely unsure of the validity of her statement.

“What happened to all the people here? Do you think they are at the camps also?”

“I really don't know, Ruby.” Anastasia answered. “I hope they all managed to escape.” She looked around, at all the destruction. A lot of people used to live here. Yet there's nothing left now, she told herself. If the people weren't able to escape then the death count here would be unheard of. It would amount to genocide. Anastasia felt her heart start racing at the thought. She started to realise that they were all walking through a mass burial site. Somewhere, someone ordered this death and destruction. These acts do not occur randomly, she reminded herself, as her anger levels increased. Ruby felt Anastasia's grip on her hand tighten.

“You're hurting,” Ruby told her.

Anastasia's thought stream was broken. “Oh, I'm so sorry. Are you okay?” she asked Ruby.

“It's okay Anastasia, you were just squeezing my hand very tight. You scared me.”

“I didn't mean to scare you. I was lost in my thoughts.” she explained.

“What were you thinking about?” Ruby asked her.

“This place. And what happened here.” She didn't want to say any more. Ruby has seen enough. Too much for a child, she told herself. Don't fill her head with more than she can handle.

Ruby looked at Anastasia and knew she wasn't telling her everything. She could see what had happened all around her. She had already observed dozens of bodies; humans and animals laying where they last knew life. No one to bury them and say their goodbyes. She's trying to protect me, because I'm just a child, she told herself. But who protects her?

---

The group reached the building that had been the charity's supply centre. It had experienced less destruction than most other buildings. But it hadn't been spared; not completely. Ruby stood silently, looking to Anastasia to understand whether this was good news or not.

There's no one here, she thought. No activity anywhere. Did they all die too? Ruby couldn't smell death like she had earlier. Maybe they all escaped – I hope so, she told herself.

They waited outside whilst several of the men ventured into the building. Half of it was still standing, but it had clearly received substantial damage. The bombs had rained down on the city sparing no one. Did they aim for the charity building, and all the people helping inside? Ruby wondered. Were they trying to hurt all these people also? Ruby thought back to the charity's centre in her home city. Where she met Anastasia. It had been left alone the whole time she had been there. Was it being targeted too? What about Demetrius? Ruby started to show the fear and concern all over her face.

“What's wrong, Ruby?” Anastasia asked, noticing her expression.

“Did the fighter's destroy this place too?” she asked.

“I think so. They've spared no part of this city, it seems.” Anastasia told her.

“What about home? Do you think they would destroy the supply centre there?”

Anastasia thought about Ruby's question. It was entirely possible. She wouldn't have believed such a thing before seeing this destruction here in front of her. There were supposed to be rules, she thought. They weren't supposed to touch the charities. She laughed to herself as she contemplated what was the greatest oxymoron – rules in warfare. War is nothing but death, destruction, and the wholesale violation of people's human rights, she told herself. It simply doesn't lend itself to operating within the confines of a set of rules. That's all for show, obviously. “I hope they're all okay,” she told Ruby. “I really don't know what they're all going through right now. We were meant to get in touch with them here, but I don't know if there will be any chance of making contact from here.”

Anastasia went over to talk with them men as they appeared from the building. She noticed them discussing things for several minutes, pointing here and there. Anastasia pointed back to the group, towards Ruby. I wonder what she's saying, Ruby wondered. They all look terrified, no matter how much they try to hide it. It's not just me, she reminded herself.

“There's enough building left here for us to stay the night,” Anastasia told Ruby.

“Is there anyone still here?” Ruby asked here.

“It doesn't appear so.”

“Did they all escape? Like us?”

“I hope they all got out. We have to believe they did. The guys didn't see any bodies inside. So they must be making the trek to the coast as well,” Anastasia explained.

---

As they settled down for the night, under the roof of what had previously been the city's supply centre, Ruby noticed some of the other adults discussing things in an animated manner. They're pointing at us again, she noticed.

“Why do they point at us,” she asked Emerald. “Do you know?”

“They're scared about what happened here, in this city.” Emerald answered.

“But they keep looking at us,” Ruby said.

“Adults blame those who are different when things go wrong,” she explained.

“But we're not different,” Ruby offered.

“We are,” Emerald said. “You just don't realise it.”

Anastasia turned to Ruby and held her, sensing the child's awareness of what was developing. Her discussion with the men when they emerged from the building had involved Ruby. And what they called her possessed state. She had reassured them that Ruby was not possessed, just a scared child who resorted to an over active imagination to calm her fears. But they have their superstitions, and in these times those old beliefs offer comfort and guidance. All the destruction that had greeted them in Kirban was Ruby's fault they believed. The child had been rejected by God and now they all paid the price. Anastasia wouldn't let them hurt Ruby, but she feared they would all be abandoned, and left to find their own way forward.

“Am I different?” Ruby whispered to Anastasia.

“The difference lies elsewhere,” she explained. “Not with you.”

Ruby sensed that something was developing, and it involved her. "Sleep now, we will discuss this in the morning," Anastasia told her, as they settled down for the night.

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This fiction is my own work, written for Steemit
Image Credit: Unsplash.com

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