Scribbles and Drabbles

Notebook Drabble 6

Written: 2016 ish

A cold sense of dread washed over Oswin as he came face to face with the kitten. He was only supposed to be a look out for the man who had tried to rob the house and now he was going to die because they had picked the wrong one. One of the dead men on the floor groaned, giving Oswin his chance to bolt.

The gun went of again behind him. A bullet whizzing through the air next to his ear. He squealed and dove to the side, crawling backwards on his hands until the wall stopped him.

The man walked over to him and looked down darkly at him. "You're young for an assassin," he said coldly, put the gun away.

"They said..."

"Whatever they said, I'm sure they had no intention of giving you what they promised. Not that they can any more," he commented, his hair blowing in the wind.

"You don't know that..."

"You're a homeless streetrat from the looks of you. They picked you because you are disposable," the killer mused, crouching down next to Oswin, studying his face. "You already have Yrolis eyes."

Yrolis eyes was a side affect of being in a city in the war. The pollution and toxins in the air meant that anyone who wasn't living in a sealed environment that clear signs of being affected. The whites of people's eyes turned black and the colour of their irises turned into an almost neon verision, with brown eyes looking red or orange depending on the verision. Oswin had one had blue-grey eyes but now they were purple.

Before Oswin could react to this comment sirens started up. The man hissed before grabbing Oswin by his armpits and throwing him over his shoulder. The man ran back into his house, over the dead bodies and downstairs into the basement.

"The damn purge always comes at bad times," he hissed as he put Oswin down to open a steel door. Oswin looked at him confused but after the killer hit him over the head Oswin obeyed the implied order and ran down the stairs into an ever deep level of the hose. The stairs led into a metal box. It was clearly a shelter for air raids and the killer followed through, locking the door. There was a hiss as the airlock sealed and Oswin quickly curled on the floor in the corner as the ma started typing on a computer.

"Who are you?" Oswin breathed as video's of outside appeared on the walls.

" Someone with powerful friends," the man said simply. "What's you name child?" He asked, looking at Oswin directly again.

"Oswin," Oswin breathed.

"Do you want to live, Oswin?" He asked, the ground trembling as the bombs started to fall. Oswin watched as the only landscape he had ever know started to burn. As it had so many times seen the war had started. Already he could see the statue of the god of the city burning. So far it had survived but apparently, not passed that night. "Oswin!" The man barked, forcing his attention back on the killer. "Do you want to live?"

"Yes, I do," Oswin whispered, hugging his arms to his chest. "I want to live."

The man smirked, the only real expression which had appeared on his face. "Then stick with me, Oswin." The world trembled again as another bomb was dropped nearby.

"What's your name" Oswin whispered.

"Just call me Josef," the man stated, turning back to the screen to watch the bombs. "Might be worth trying to sleep. The intelligence this time was that it was going to be a big attack."

Oswin shivered before nodding slowly. He didn't know why the man was helping him when he ad killed the others, but he wasn't going to complain. Instead he just looked at the single bed in the room and then at the floor. Josef turned slightly and blinked.

"You can use the bed," he offered gently.

Oswin blushed before scrambling up on the bed. It was soft. Oswin had been sleeping mostly on the ground since his parents died. He walked on the bed and closed his eyes. The shudders that ran through the room gently rocking him to sleep.

When he woke up, things had changed greatly. Something had crashed through the roof of the shelter and there was fire burning. Josef was collapsed over him, half his face black from the explosion. Oswin whispered but quickly checked his pulse. The man was still alive.

"Josef!" A voice hissed from somewhere. "Josef, come in!"

Oswin started but crawled out from under the man. The fire    was in the corner of the room but water was also raining down. A system to try to reduce the fire, he mused dimly as he grabbed the device which was calling for Josef.

"Hello?" Oswi offered, not sure what to expect. "Josef is injured at the moment,'

'Are you in his safe room?" Came the reply, the voice a touch gentler than before. Oswin could hear murmuring in the background, distorted about why a kid was answering in he background.

"Yes, but it's on fire and the roof has cave in," Oswin said.

"How old are you, kid?"

"Eleven,"Oswin sad hestiately, confused by the question before coughing as the smoke from the fire started to get stronger.

"Okay. We have people on the way to you. Stay and get Josef outside if you can. Or at least away from the fire. Can you do that?" The voice asked.

"I can try," Oswin stumbled.

"Good boy!" The voice praised.

Oswin moved back to the killer, and looked for a way to move him without hurting him move Oswin pushed him onto his back and began to drag him by his armpits to where the stairs were. He had to pause several times but managed it. Getting the full grown man up the stairs was a harder job to do.   He coughed heavily, crouching down on the ground and looking for anything he could use.

Suddenly ands were around his waist and he was picked up by a masked man. Another man was carrying Josef in a fireman hold up the stairs. Oswin passed out still coughing.