Chapter 9: The First Strike

Because of the destruction they experienced earlier, the residents whose house was broken into pieces are now residing at the evacuation center near the Town's hall. This was unexpected. The people who were busy doing their things were now in here, trying to find out what happened.

But what Kleirra and Jeremiah surprised the most is that the people here only felt the earthquake. They are the only ones who experienced life and death situations like what had happened earlier.

The people in here don't know about the missiles. The fact that they only saw the skies very scarlet like blood, it never occurred to them that there'll be a missile who change its course and land randomly.

Worst, some people might die. It's a good thing that the missile that had hit earlier was quite far from Kleirra and the others. But that doesn't mean that they'll be safe from the after-effects of it.

They were thrown in a somersaulting twirl as the impact of the missile had hit the ground earlier. The wounds and bruises they've got were visible to the naked eye. It is a miracle that they've survived that situation.

But from other's perspectives, it came from the 'earthquake'. of course, the rescuers asked what happened and why they got that bruises and wounds like that. Blood was dripping from Kleirra's arm as they went in here.

The Duciel cousins never bothered to return to their broken houses. It's meaningless since everything surrounding them was in total pieces. Broken things everywhere.

The only thing they got in hand was their respective cellphones, a few snacks, and anything that can be salvage that was currently in their salvage bag before they head off in here. The marks that came from their tight grasp while holding their phone were seen easily.

The youngest of them all was still shaking while clinging to the eldest.

It was that then everyone realized that the youngest, Dexter, was traumatized. He and the others were born in an era without fighting. Well, there were some but it was very far away.

It was a surprise for Kleirra to see dexter shaking like that.

The bruise on his cheeks, the blood was slowly dripping to his cheeks. Every one was quiet. Even the rescuers felt a very awkward aura surrounding them. They wanted to ask what happened, but to see Dexter's reaction like that, prompted them to stop.

Kleirra looked at Dexter who was clinging to Jeremiah. The usual confident and happy-go-lucky kid was now staggering on his feet as he clings to Jeremiah. Those tightly sealed hands that was on Jeremiah shirts shows a little shaking. But the most easily observed was on his feet.

She cannot ignore it any longer.

She throws off her fears as Kleirra walked towards one rescuer and asked for bondage and a first aid kit. How unusual for her to become like this when two of her cousins was currently a nursing student. Just two more years, they're ready to call themselves a Nurse.

Moreover, one of them was already a registered nurse.

But those three were in silent as they recalled involuntarily what had happened earlier. They still feel that somersaulting twirl. If Kleirra hadn't shouted that loudly, maybe some of them were critical.

When one rescuer gave a bondage and a first aid kit to Kleirra, she then proceed in treating dexter's bruise on his cheeks. She unzipped the bag, get a portion of cotton as she put a tint of betadine on it, and wipe it carefully on dexter's wound.

As for Dexter, his body moves further away from him as a defense mechanism, as he was present when kleirra wanted to 'poison' aela during her 19th birthday.

Kleirra apologized suddenly as she spoke, "Sorry…"

Making them look at her with baffled looks. Even dexter who was shaking earlier has stopped as Kleirra said something out of the blue. "If I just yell it louder…"

She was talking about that time. The time when Kleirra realized that one of the missiles changed its course and unfortunately nearly hit them alive. Dexter for some reason, his fear decreases and went towards her.

Kleirra smiled and started tending her wounds. After covering the bruise with betadine, she then proceeds to put a band-aid on the bruise.

"Since your mother is not in here, for now, I'll try my best in being your elder sister for a while." She stated so casually causing dexter to be embarrassed. The shaking of his legs was stopped too.

The youngest had calmed down now. The rescuers were impressed by her. To think she can calm down a kid who was ready to faint in any minutes like that.

Kleirra looked at her cousins beside dexter who was looking at her but avoided her gaze. It's been a while since they've seen Kleirra like that before she'd gone into self-quarantine for an unknown reason. She's not infected yet why did she do that?

Is it a precaution? Well, precaution is better than cure after all.

Kleirra turned around to see her cousins. She looked at them one by one quickly. "Did you calm down now?" Kleirra asked indirectly to all her cousins who were looking at her. The sudden gasp of them was heard afterwards.

"Yes." The eldest, Jeremiah replied while the rest nodded in unison.

On the other hand, Kleirra looked around her. Several people were injured. The staff in here was not enough. She only see five rescuers in here. Then… where's the rest?

"Excuse me, but may I ask where's the rest of your crew?" Kleirra politely asked as she walked towards the nearest rescuer as she brings the first aid kit and bondage on hand.

"The rest of us went to different barangays since it is likely that there'll be more wounded." someone replied as he went in front to answer her questions.

As soon as she heard that, she became concerned. "but there are only five of you." she stated. "That's right." one rescuer replied to her.

Kleirra looked around first before responding.

Many people in here got hurt and there's only five of them to be tending them. Moreover, the rescuers too were a little bit startled of what is going on recently.

And then, she immediately thought of something, "May I ask then if I could help to tend everyone? The majority in here had bruises. Worst, injuries. If we don't start tending them, I do not know what will happen"

Everyone was surprised to hear that from her. For everyone, she was a stranger yet she casually say it like she's used to this. But her cousins who was shocked the most.

Jeremiah and the others notice Kleirra's behavior drastically changes after that happens. She's not getting out of her room afterwards. Moreover, she will only leave her house if there's a celebration. But even if that happened, she will neither go or not.

Is it to reflect what she did to aela? That may be the very reason.

To think that Kleirra is voluntarily helping the rescuers was a shocker to them. They did not know that Kleirra lost an interest in becoming a nurse. But that doesn't mean that she will act not helping them.

" Are you sure? You're injured too." One rescuer stated as he looked at Kleirra's arm. Kleirra just smiled at him and casually say, "it's okay. I'm fine."

But for kenelm, he was furious. "You better not poison them!" he yelled.

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