Dividing Up Into Two Teams
Aroon glanced at the kid and somehow he saw himself in it. Being weak and small didn't mean he shouldn't be worried over his family.
"Go," Aroon rubbed the ten years kid's head, "make sure they get all the medical help they need."
The kid firmly nodded with a face stained with dark spots and some dried blood.
"I didn't know you can be so kind to others," Cheryl stood by his side while watching the small family being escorted by many people around.
He glanced at her and said nothing. He knew he secluded himself from others, from the entire world and he didn't blame himself for doing so.
After all, what he experienced during the past year wasn't that easy for him.
"Do you know if there are other places that need help around here?" Aroon turned to ask a few of the grown ups who remained behind.
"Yes, yes sir," one of them nodded in a nervous way while pointing to some spots around, "there, there, and there… all have families…"
The man couldn't continue his words and his eyes became instantly reddened. Arora moved to him as she reached the man's shoulder level.
"Don't worry," she patted on his shoulders, "we will save them all."
The man had his words of gratitude choked in his throat while starting to weep. He even couldn't stand straight while Aroon watched this with pain in his heart.
He simply turned around and started walking towards one of the spots the man mentioned.
"Arora go with Anna towards another spot," he said in deep tone, "Cheryl will come with me. We need to help those people fast."
"But neither of us have that absurd strength of yours!" Anna's words were aggressive as usual.
"You can ask people around to help," Aroon simply said, "we don't have time to waste here. I don't want the day to end before we help all the trapped people."
Anna was still conflicted about the weird actions of Mark, and it was pretty obvious on her face especially after hearing what Aroon said.
"Leave it to us," Arora had to speak up for her while giving her a deep and meaningful glance.
"Let's go," Arora led the way while Anna moved with heavy steps behind.
"May I ask you something?"
Just as the two helped a trapped family under one fallen building, Anna couldn't stand the thoughts in her mind and asked one of the people around.
"Did you see a group of fallens passing from the camp early this morning?" she asked and Arora gave her a weird glance.
"They did pass in the early hours of the morning," one of those standing around answered.
"And?" Anna wasn't satisfied with such an answer, "didn't they stop to help? Didn't you ask them to?"
"We…" The man seemed hesitant while glancing at others around. It was known how fallens were treated here. Like any town like this one, they were the kings and queens over everyone else.
"We shouted," one man said in deep anger and much hatred, "I even ran to one of them, their leader. I asked him to help."
Anna had an expected look over her face but the next words smashed all the hope she held.
"But he simply pushed me away like I was garbage and continued on his walk like he never saw me!"
"Smith, they must have a far more serious task to do," one of those standing around shouted in a warning tone while his eyes motioned him towards the two girls.
After all, the town wasn't that big and everyone knew the handful of lords living among them.
"They should know what their leader did," Smith seemed to be out of control, "a leader who should come to our aid at times of distress ran away to look for fantasy. A fallen loser is leading a few girls to help… Is this what a fallen person should do? Should a leader of the fallens behave?"
Smith's voice was loud but luckily Aroon and Cheryl were far and pretty busy saving another spot.
"Let's go," Arora grabbed the arm of her friend but Anna shook her grip away.
"What fantasy?" she asked in faint anger, yet her tone wasn't that loud.
"Humph, he wanted to look for that rumored mecha," Smith sneered.
"He is seeking our own good," another man stepped up, grabbing Smith from the torn collar of his tattered brown coat. "finding someone so strong will help to shield us from more attacks."
Smith was dragged away while Arora gave instructions to help the family of two sisters and one father at the central camp.
"He must be caring about the next attack," Arora stood in front of Anna while saying this to her.
"This is a lie," Anna's voice was so calm that gave Arora shivers down her spine at this moment. "You know why he is looking for him."
Anna pushed her friend aside before walking towards the last spot. "Let's go, we have an entire town to rescue with only the four of us."
Arora glanced at the back of her friend while sighing. "Things… is going to get more complicated," she muttered to herself before heading to help her friend.
Aroon led the other three girls around for a couple of hours. During this time he met weeping faces, dark faces, even bloodied faces all over the places he visited.
Each face he saw reminded him of the old memory he tried best to avoid. And that turned his mood sour.
"Let's take a break," Cheryl said after saving a husband and a wife from one building, "we need to eat."
"I'd pay anything for a cup of coffee now," Arora stretched out her arms while feeling exhausted.
During the rescue mission here, Aroon and Anna took the main work to remove the damaged buildings while Cheryl and Arora only helped those trapped inside.
Despite that, the latter girls felt more exhausted than the former.
Aroon glanced around. "We took a few hours to just clear almost one tenth of the town…" he slowly said while the girls were sitting around him, eating from their own lunch boxes.
Arora seemed to bring a backpack like Aroon, and the latter had to share some of his food with Cheryl.
"The task isn't meant for four to do," Cheryl said while giving Anna a side glance.