“An assignment, you say? About what?”

Czesch had been sleeping through class again, not noticing that Hawkins had been delivering group assignments. He was lucky that Jan, Lucie and Annie had been there to include him in the 4 man group before any of the girls decided to have their way with him. He knew they were looking in his direction and that unnerved him quite a bit. It was just like the mission briefings in the company all over again…

“Dude, you need to start paying attention… that way, you might not lose so much time asking people afterwards.”

“Haha, sorry, can´t really help it… so, what is the assignment about?”

“Well, thanks to your show the other day, we got a special assignment.”

“… Is that supposed to be bad or…?”

“A high risk-reward situation. We fuck up, Hawkins is going to put us on his shit list. We do amazing work, he´ll put us on a podium in his house.”

“Problem is the assignment in itself: “War in Film: A Study of the Representation of Warfare in the Film Medium”… this stuff sounds like something a college major would do.”

“Probably the reason he gave it to us. With the explanation Czesch gave the other day, no wonder he´d give us that much work.”

“Yeah, but remember that the deadline is until next week!”

“Yeah, another thing to throw down on the list…”

Annie started pondering about what to do, covering her mouth with her right hand and tapping her cheek with the index finger.

 “I have seen a lot of action films, but there aren’t that many that cover war in itself. I guess he wants us to focus on that type, war dramas.”

“True enough, we should look for something that concentrates on telling the story from different sides… what about you Czesch? Know any war movies we could use?”

“Errr… I´m not much of a movie person, so… yeah.”

His 3 companions looked at him with incredulity in their eyes and a hint of anger. It almost seemed like Annie was about to get up and slap him.

“I-I mean, I haven’t seen any war films to date, but I can tell you if a film is doing it right or wrong! Probably the reason he chose the assignment for us.”

“Hmmm, you have a point there. Out of all of us here, Czesch is the one who´d know what is being represented accurately and what not.”

“True… I´m thinking about finding a movie praised for its realism and integrity that´s out now, then dissect the important parts relevant to our study, put them in the bigger spectrum with other films of that kind and create a norm or basis for our assumptions with reviews and such… that way, Hawkins will have his study and we wont have to beat our backs over the weekend.”

“Damn, Anna! You really got it planned out in your head!”

“Someone had to… the question now is, what movie to choose… hmmm…”

“Wait, I got it!”

“What is it, Lucie?”

“Last week, they released a war drama… it was called, errr… “Those Silent, Echoing Nights”! Apparently, it has been well received for its interpretation of the conflict, a review said something about that.”

“Well, what do you know, we got what we were looking for! How about we go out tonight and watch it?”

“I´m sorry, but I can´t… Football club throwing the victory party today.”

“Oh, right, you being the “guest of honor” and all that jazz… not going to be able to fly out of there, are you?”

“I´m afraid not… how about Saturday?”

“Anyone have a problem tomorrow?”

“Nope.”

“Not at all.”

“Then it´s settled. Tomorrow afternoon… let´s say, 6 PM, in front of the cinema… Czesch, you know where that is?”

“Don´t worry, I´ll find it easily.”

“Call me if you´re lost, OK? That place is a little bit hard to find.”

“Will do.”

The next class came… and Czesch went back to his sleeping pattern.

After class, Annie dragged him to check on the Bloody Bastards, since this was the day of the week when all members would be present. He had to cause a good impression, since entrance to the group had to be agreed on by everyone. The fact that he was a friend to Annie would definitely help, but that wouldn’t be enough on its own.

The first introduction to their base of operations was… not thrilling. Old walls about to fall to pieces, covered with graffiti and piss smears, along with a gate whose only protection was a measly lock that a smart man would cut in no time. A fortress like no other… since no one would be daft enough to take shelter there.

“Well, this is the place! A bit wonky on the outside, but inside we have a yard and we can put up stuff in every room we find! It´s all abandoned, so it´s a bit like paradise in hell!

It did look wonky, but it had a certain charm to it. It looked almost like a Middle Ages cottage, but modern enough to fit in with the city.

“You think anyone arrived?”

“Lemme check… Hey!! You wankers, are you asleep or something!? This is the police, we are making a search!”

“Annie, quieten down, will ya!? One of these days, the coppers will come down for real, and it´ll be on yer damn head, ya hear me woman!?”

“That´s Chester… I have the slight suspicion they are in…”

“You don’t say…”

The yard in itself wasn’t massive, but big enough to strike a party in, or, in Czesch´s terms, to fit a full mortar team with sandbag cover and everything. Some people were already inside there, chatting, drinking and doing an assortment of activities that looked relatively entertaining. One of the boys came up to Annie and kissed her, quite passionately too. It certainly surprised the Kid, who hadn’t seen that one coming.

“Pete! What got into you all of a sudden? You are not this playful at this time of day.”

“Well, I thought I´d change my patterns for a while, have some fun… you Annie´s friend? The guy who took that beating at the football game?”

“Yup. Czesch, nice to-“

“Throw that “nice to meet you” trash away from these walls! Here we only accept badass motherfuckers! Lads and gals that have the stuff in them, you understand!?”

That was another member of the group, who had “Tony” written all over his jacket. Czesch had a hard time coming to terms with his hairstyle, since he hadn’t come across the “punk” culture in the least… those spikes looked like cumbersome work to keep up.

“Hmm, I wonder what your name is…”

“It´s Tony, ya dumb fuck! Can´t you see my jacket here!?”

“… and here I thought most Brits understood sarcasm…”

Pete shoved Tony to a side while laughing, then grabbed Czesch by the shoulder and showed him around.

“Don´t mind Tony, Czesch, he just came off like that! The rest of the gang are Allan, Fred, Johnny and John, Chester, Reuben, Djura, Tiff and Big Bo. Most of these fuckers wont even notice you even exist right now, so don’t bother talking to them. They are high as balls!”

“Point noted… wait, did you say “Djura”?

“What about him? Know him from somewhere?”

“… I swear I heard the name somewhere… Arrgh, can´t remember.”

“Well, we are going to have a vote on whether you get to stay or not, let´s get down to it!”

“Wow, you are a lot quicker than the government… I´m liking this place already!”

Annie was the only one that seemed disturbed by the quick process, nudging Pete on the back.

“Come on, Pete. They barely know him… he´s good people, I can tell you that much for a fact.”

“Sorry, love, but rules are meant to be kept. Alright, you laggards!! Time to do the voting… Tony, you don’t because of reasons.”

“Oi, come on!”

“So, who is up for letting Czesch in the group?”

Most people raised their hands, but there were a few that were reluctant.. that or whatever they were smoking was stopping them from raising their hands. One of the men stood up, getting a good look at Czesch from head to toes while moving closer to him. When he got close enough, he began talking in Czech.

“Wait… Czesch… Don’t I know you from somewhere? Have you ever been to Brno?”

Czesch was surprise by the fact he managed to understand him at all. It hadn’t been that long since he had left his homeland, but he hadn’t spoken a lick of Czech in 4 years! He tried his best to respond in the same tongue

“Yeah… did you live in Oslavany? Your face does ring a bell… did you meet a boy falling from a tree near the bank of the Oslava, about 10 years ago?”

The mention of the river immediately send the face of the boy in front of him to sudden realization.

“No way! No bloody way its you! Holy shit, it really is you!”

“You must be Djura… wait… Djura… you have a little brother named Dima, right!?”

“Damn, you remember little D! Jesus, I thought you hadn’t made it out!”

Djura hugged the Kid tightly, as if finding a lost family member who had disappeared from the face of the Earth.

“I did… but I probably got out a little too late… heard you got out safely, though. Passage through Austria must have been tough… man, it´s all coming back to me now! That time we tried stealing from old Hanka at the bakery…”

“Or that other time you showed little D how to skip rocks across the river! Man, that was forever ago… shame to hear that it took so long for you to get here. Must have been hell down there!”

“… You´ve no clue…”

Djura, being ecstatic as he was, took some time to realize that all present, apart from Czesch, hadn’t understood a word they had just uttered. He changed to English from there on out.

“Guys, this fellow right here is one of my old childhood friends! He saved me and my brother´s ass quite a few times back in the day, so try and be nice!!”

He did remember Djura … him and little Dima, his brother. When he wasn’t doing some sort of training exercise, he was playing around with the other kids, including the 2D brothers. Those were simpler times, were having fun was trying out new stuff… and he´d always be up for some of that, no matter what came. It made for perfect training, polishing his skills by testing abilities learned through training. Czesch still remembered how his father got angry at him not for doing reckless things, but by doing them the wrong way. He probably was the only kid in the village who had to deal with that.

“It was nothing like that. I just… was a bit of a punk back then. Always up for a good fight.”

“Well, that´s the kind of attitude we like in here! Come on, guys! I know him, Annie knows him, no reason to leave him out!”

This time, everyone raised their hands, with some reticence from the male portion of the group, who probably wanted some more women to join in. Pete clapped twice and then announced the already quite visible verdict:

“Well, Czesch, welcome to the Bloody Bastards, effective immediate! Make sure to get everyone´s number and get yourself a spot around our base here! We are a brotherhood, with some pretty fine sisters, so make sure you treat everyone as you see fit and have fun!”

“Brotherhood, huh?”

That word brought up people in his mind. People that had once been his brothers and sisters in arms. People whose lives he had valued more than his own. People whose curses he was now carrying.  People… it always came down to that, didn’t it? Belonging to some group or idea, feeling part of something greater… everything came down to it, didn’t it?

“Well, glad to be in! Hope to have fun with you guys!”

They spent the afternoon talking about random nonsense that Czesch wasn’t particularly interested about and speaking to Djura about the years after they left the now defunct Czech Republic. Then he noticed that he had to get in touch with the agents working in his current operations, so he apologized for leaving, with Pete waving off his apology.

“Alright, it´s all good! Most of us have stuff to do from time to time as well, so don’t expect everyone to be in here all of the time! Just remember to be up if we ever go partying or something along those lines.”

“Will do… Catch you all later!”

He returned back home, only to remember that he hadn’t cleaned up at all, adding to his personal paranoias and neurotic behavior. He got his reports, which unveiled… nothing at all. Situations were still in a kind of stable way, including Zimbabwe. His contact with the SAS, Codename “Apollo”, just told him that Zephyros had arrived and that they were planning a favorable position for the exchange.

He left for the party as soon as time allowed. Kieran and the team received him as if he were a hero of sorts and they had a lot of food and drink over the night, with Donnie doing his best impression of the Prime Minister to make them roll around the floor in laughter. Czesch felt really good, laughing with them, showing each other the scars from the game, telling improper jokes he had heard in the past… he left wishing he had the time and mindset to join their club, arriving at his place with a bit of melancholy in his heart.

His phone rang. It was Vivi, probably calling to talk to him about how life was going and all those shenanigans. He understood her concern, but Czesch was handling it just fine and having her constantly on top was annoying.

“Czesch speaking.”

“The day someone else answers your phone, I´ll make sure to act surprised.”

“… What is it, Vivi? I´m busy right now.”

“Busy? Busy with what? Practicing with the piano?”

“Errr, no… Actually, haven’t played that in a while.”

“And you are the guy that shouts at us for not practicing enough… do try to find time for it, OK? Wouldn’t want you getting rusty and for Nate to become the new lead.”

“Making no promises… now, what was it?”

“We got an orange alert, the one you talked about a few months ago?… we might get called into it tomorrow. For the time being, it´s inactive, we only got a hunch and we aren’t even sure if it´s the person you are looking for, so… there´s that”

“Hmmm… do give me a call if it happens… and, in the event it´s “you-know-who”… well, you know who to call first thing.”

“You´ll get called in nonetheless, apparently the boys at Intel are thinking of upping it to a red one if the security checks fail!”

“I thought Mary had put me off the loop for good.”

“Ha, in your dreams! She´s still going to squeeze the shit out of your usefulness.”

“And how am I exactly supposed to cope with leading 2 lives at the same time?”

“He´ll learn to adapt, that´s what she said.”

“Of course she bloody did…”

“Well, just have your phone at hand throughout tomorrow. Alert will most likely be in your area, so we are definitely going to be in close for a pickup.”

“Copy that… in that case, see you tomorrow!”

“You fate-tempting runt…You too, C! Bye Bye!”

Another orange alert. This was the 5th one in 2 months, and it didn’t look as if it were about to stop at any rate. Czesch was getting a little tired over most of these, since they were literally just that: Alerts, warnings, false alarms. But he knew that one day they´d turn out to hide true dangers… and shit would hit the fan. Especially the one he was expecting.

He finished cleaning his apartment, made himself some dinner and went over to bed. He´d have plenty of time tomorrow to think about what to do.

At least he hoped so.

Another night of 30-minute sleeping went by, with more of his dreams to follow. They were becoming so repetitive that it was just like watching the same movie a thousand times. It´s meaning stops hitting you after the 50th time.

Czesch decided to spend most of the morning either shooting his guns or trying to make up a new song with the piano. He had done a bunch of new things as of late and that experience would certainly help him come up with something good… that didn’t happen in the least. It seemed like inspiration would only hit him when he was messed up.

While he was making lunch and regretting not coming up with anything at all, he received a text message.

-Remember, meeting up at 6 at cinema. Don´t you be late!- A

Concise and to the point. Annie would have made a terrific radio operator, if given the proper training. With his smartphone charged and everything in order, the Kid made his way to accomplish his newest objective, which was… going out to watch a movie. The more he thought about, the more ridiculous it sounded.

The cinema wasn’t exactly choke-full of people, but there was certainly quite a number of them piling at the door, most likely heading to see the newest blockbuster and not their intended target. Czesch knew the place from one of his morning jogs, so he had found his way there without issue. He had arrived 5 minutes early, meeting up with Jan and Lucie.

“Hey, Czesch! Long time no see!”

Jan´s sudden attempt at quirkyness forced Lucie to cover her face in embarrassment.

“You saw him yesterday… seriously, try to come up with better one-liners one of these days.”

“Sorry, slipped out! So, here I thought you would be the one running late instead of Annie.”

“Well, she isn’t technically running late, you know… we are just a bit early.”

“Get used to “5 minutes early” becoming “On time” around here. It´s the only way shit gets done.”

“Yeah, she´s right. Besides, you probably know that Annie has her fair share of issues, so I´m not overly surprised that she aint here.”

“What I´m really surprised by is her taking this stuff seriously… and attending class, for that matter!”

“Yeah… Czesch, you probably didn´t know, but Annie is not exactly in good terms with “The forces of order”, at all.”

“Well, she did tell me once… didn´t pay it much attention, though.”

“Hmmm… the timing is also quite convenient…”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“… Nevermind, it´s a “girls only” thing… you would just call me mad or something.”

“Fine then. Don’t really want to cross that line.”

“Hey, speak of the devil…”

Annie arrived at the scene, gasping and sweating like a US soldier in Afghanistan with full gear on after a 200 meter sprint. She probably had encountered some trouble on the way, and she would have had to run all the way.

“Sorry… oh god, that was… whew… I ran from Butcher Square to here… Cant believe I´m… still breathing… my lungs…”

“That´s almost at the other side of town! What were you doing there?”

“Ah, some… some stuff I… I didn’t really finish doing this… this morning… yeah, that.”

“Whatever the case, let’s get the tickets… hey, check it out! Film summary is over here. Might be a good idea writing it down.”

“Nice one, Lucie! Okay, lets see: “Wars aren’t just fought by men. They are fought by every single person that lives near to them. And for young Michel, this war meant more than country or pride. It was a fight for survival. Join him as he tries his hardest to survive one of the most brutal conflicts in recent years: The-“ Oh… shit.”

Czesch was a bit further away from the group, checking out a pair of policemen armed with sub-machineguns patrolling the streets. They were definitely in the side of town controlled by governmental forces, with a hidden oppressive air that reminded everyone that an accident could happen at any time. While he was pondering about matters way above his pay, Lucie and Annie noticed something was off with Jan.

“What, what is it?”

“I… don’t think it was a good idea to come see this one.”

“What are you talking about, Jan? What is- oh, fuck…”

“What war is it? Come on, you can tell me!”

“… The Czech Civil War…”

Silence. They were all thinking about the same thing: Czesch. He had survived that war. He probably knew best if what was shown on film was real or a bluff, but… would he be willing to watch what were probably some of his darkest memories? Would he be able to handle it?

“Hey, I think this is going to work extremely well!”

They all turned to him, as he had come closer to check the summary as well.

“W-What!?”

“Y-You want to watch it!? A-Are you sure!?”

“Well, I can’t say I´m overly excited on checking something I’ve already been through once, but it could definitely get us that ace report we need. I mean, I don’t mean to brag, but I´m pretty much an expert when it comes to us Czechs killing one another!”

“W-Well, I… If you want to, we could go in… b-but that´s entirely up to you. S-So don´t feel like-”

“Just make sure not to fall asleep too much, alright? You are our reference point here, don’t you forget.”

Jan and Lucie became stunned by how frank Annie´s statement had been. Was she just being hard on him on purpose? What did she gain by pushing him like that? It seemingly didn’t matter to her, as she ordered him around yet again.

“Czesch, can you grab the tickets for all of us? It´s a bit of a pain to go one by one…”

“Copy that… I mean, sure thing!”

Czesch went away to get them, leaving both Czech students to talk to Annie about the situation.

“Anna, look… Czesch is-“

“I already know.”

“Then, why aren´t you saying a thing, huh?”

“You couldn’t have sounded more angsty.”

She covered her mouth and looked to a side, as if realizing a misconduct of sorts.

“Y-You think?... I know it must be hard for him, but he has told me time and time again: The past is in the past. He´s quite eager to check it, so we shouldn’t stop him.”

“I don’t know, that might… trigger some repressed memory or something. Isnt that what war victims go through?”

“Even if that were the case… look, I´ll deal with Czesch, keep him awake and take him out if he needs a breather. You two concentrate on writing down all the info we can get our hands on.”

“And why aren’t you doing the writing?”

That seemed to touch a nerve within her, but she took the frustration out through her mouth and nose with a deep breath.

“Because you two work together better than anyone else in the group. And we will need that information when writing down the assignment more than Czesch´s opinions.”

“You… have a point there.”

“Hard to argue with that logic.”

“With that settled, let’s get ready.”

“Errr, what do you mean by “ready”? Aren´t we right now?”

“Take a piss… movie is 2 hours 40 minutes long, and we need to keep toilet breaks to a minimum.”

“That long!? Argh, shit…

Czesch came back, writing on his phone. He was telling Vivi he´d be operational at 21:00, after the movie had ended. They´d be calling him no matter what, but he´d at least have the decency of keeping her informed.

“Got them all here! Shall we go in?”

“Right on ahead, to the right… but first have a piss. Wouldn’t want you leaving before the good parts.”

“Fair enough.”

After the piss break, they chose their sitting spots. The movie had been running for a while now, so not a lot of people were present in the room, something perfect for them. Jan and Lucie sat up front, taking advantage of the ambient light of the screen to write down their notes. Meanwhile, Czesch and Annie sat at the center, to catch most of what was happening.

The lights went out and the film began rolling.

It started well enough, with a summary behind the start of the war. It had been caused by a ton of economic, political and demographical factors that showed how weak the Czech government really was. This weakness lead to revolts, unrest and, finally, a military coup, that ended in failure. But that military coup had a similar effect to that of the Spanish Civil War, almost a century earlier, in that the coup had so much support that it openly challenged the state and created its own status quo. The revolutionaries versus the loyalists, a tale as old as time itself and, as Annie had thought of once, a perfect demonstration of humanity at its worst.

The main lead, Michel, was likeable enough. A guy into his 20s, working in a workshop with his family, trying to just live well enough to sustain himself and have a future. Insert father concerned about current state of country, insert sibling who is in favor of opposing force, insert love interest, insert climate of unrest. Czesch recognized all of that from the days prior to the coup, and they had been captured quite well on film.

The reel was set in Northern Czech Republic, near the Polish border. That was a bit of a detriment, since Czesch had fought mostly around the Brno area, on the South-East. He had been all around the country, including Prague, but most of his experience came from the fighting at Brno, so mentions of the Battle of Liberec or the Harrachov Exodus were as relatable to him as for the audience.

The start of the conflict was just as he remembered: Distant explosions of howitzer shells, fires in the distance sprawling out of control, panic, distress… but, above all, fear. The fear that those fires would arrive and consume everything and everyone.

Michel´s family gets moved to Poland right before the Polish close the border to stop more people from entering, while he gets recruited to fight for the loyalists. His brother manages to escape and join the revolutionaries, with training that lasts less than a week and then battle near Prague.

The start of the fighting in Prague, as Czesch had heard it, was bloody… incredibly so. Around 100000 died in half a year, and more would join in the following 2. Prague was, by the time Czesch was watching the film, still rebuilding, a shell of its former self, destroyed by the constant fighting of two ideologies that wanted the same thing through different means… control, order, peace… all through the power of gundpowder and lead.

The combat was… all over the place. The sound design was superb, even imitating the supersonic crack of bullets whizzing past the protagonists. Gore was done to a great extent, probably to increase dramatic effect. Explosions were a bit raw and not powerful enough to make them justice and the actors were clearly firing recoilless rifles without bullets, since the knockback felt out of place. Then again, only he was finding issues with that.

The rest of the movie was all about the internal conflicts of the lead and his relationship with those around him. Love interest confesses love, only to get shot the next scene. Incompetent command tries to fight a war of attrition with no resources. Brother discovers that side he supports is not as right as he once thought… etcetera, etcetera… to a normal movie-goer, the movie must have seemed quite bland when compared to others. The only thing going for it was the recent subject-matter, and even that wasn’t that exciting by the Kid´s standards.

Mentions to the infamous “Wolf Pack”, or “Cub Pack” if you were near Brno, were non-existant, to the point where it pissed the Kid off. It was another detail he knew lacked context and information. His group was known by every big and small faction during the conflict, renowned with taking on bigger forces by themselves and screwing with the revolutionaries wish for a quick victory. The fact that their most renowned actions weren’t even mentioned was discouraging at best, but PMCs were more than alluded to during the fight sequences, mostly as shadowy operatives surrounded by mistery and bloodlust.

The romantic parts were quite a drag to go through and Czesch almost fell asleep a couple of times when going through them, only to have Annie shoving her elbow onto him. The shootouts were just like he remembered: Raw, obscene, tasteless and colourless, all what was once gregarious and innocent leaving the space around the so-called “soldiers” only to leave anger and sadism. Even the protagonist fell victim to the battle frenzy at one point, an experience that Czecsh knew all too well.

The 2 hour mark passed and they had done a pretty good job at telling a contained story of the 4 year conflict. 10 minutes later, the war proper was already over. They had gone through the last 2 months quite quickly, since little to nothing happened there other than the systematic destruction of loyalist positions. After the end of the conflict, the witch hunts started, leading to more distress and destruction in an already battered nation.

Czesch felt sleepy again, so he closed his eyes for an instant.

Annie was enjoying the film as best she could, but certain parts were unbearably dull. The whole romantic subplot felt forced at best and the last 10 minutes had been quite the chore to sit through. Now Michel was escaping from the revolutionaries, alone, disguising himself as another random civilian. The lead was quite terrified, but he was trying his best to reach the Polish border and get to his family, having no home to fight for.

The scene took an awkward turn when, out of the blue, a girl showed up. She was probably around 13 years old… and was carrying a sniper rifle on her back. She was looking down, walking aimlessly. Her left arm was bandaged to its entirety, and a spurt of dried blood leaked through her face. It was a surrealist scene, and the meaning behind it was awkward at best.

Both characters started talking, keeping their distance to avoid spooking each other with killing intent. The conversation went something like:

“H-Hey! Are you OK!?”

“…”

“I´m not going to hurt you, I´m one of the good guys! See? No weapons!”

“… There are no good people in a war. Only dumb ones who try their hardest to challenge fate.”

Czesch immediately recognized that sentence. He opened his eyes and, keeping them as wide as plates, he uttered a “no” that was barely audible because of the music.

“I-I guess you have a point… do you need help? Need any food or water?”

“… Looks like you need it more than I do…here!”

The girl threw one of the bags she was carrying, filled with rations and a filled-up water canteen. Michel´s face turned from fear to hope, as he had spent the prior days without food nor rest.

“I-I cant take this! You cant possibly be-“

“I can live out of less. Got taught that much…”

“I cant… I can´t leave a girl like you alone to wander around. Do you want to come with me? We can head to Poland! My family is there, they could-“

“I´m waiting for him… well, not quite. I´m going around so that we come together at some point.”

“Huh?”

“He said we´d find each other again one day if we ever got separated… Told me to make my path to him. And Im going to do that no matter what, because I know he´s doing his best as well.”

“Yes, but-“

“He´s probably really worried. I´d like to… to… could you give him a message if you ever find him?”

“W-Well, I-I guess I could… How is he like?”

“He´s hard to miss. A bit of a knuckle-head, with a heart bigger than his bravado.”

“That… doesn’t really help. I need a name to-”

“Please, tell him that… tell him that I´ll get to him. That I´ll make due on that lie we made to each other, that I´ll be strong for him!”

“A lie? What are you on about?”

“Just say that when you see him, he´ll understand… oh, and that he will probably have to wait for a bit, in case I haven’t reached him by then!”

“Kid, you are making no sense at-“

“Well, I´m off… Good luck getting to your family!”

“W-Wait, I… I… O-Ok… G-Good luck finding that person!”

The scene ended on that note and Annie was more than disgusted by it. It was way too out of left field and set an odd aftertaste for the rest of the film. It was a sad scene for awkward reasons, so she wondered if anyone got sad seeing it, apart from it breaking the movie´s pace. He looked over to Czesch, checking out if he was awake after that creepy scene..

To her surprise… he was crying. It was the first time he had seen a man cry like that. He wasn’t sobbing, it was simply tears coming down from his eyes as he kept the same expression in his face. He was also whispering something so quietly that she could barely make it out.

“… got hurt… she got hurt…fuck… fuck,fuck,fuck… stupid, stupid, stupid…”

“Czesch, you alright?”

“Huh!? Yeah, yeah, I´m… I´m alright… I´m fine…”

He cleared out the tears off of his eyes and focused on the film. He wasn’t noticing himself, but Annie clearly saw how he was biting his lower lip out of frustration.

What the hell was happening? How did that scene make Czesch lose his composure? Did it remind him of something? And what about that “she got hurt” part? Did that girl remind him of someone?

“Annie.”

“Y-Yeah? What is it?”

“Could you… not tell this to those two?… I don’t want to worry them over nothing…”

“A-Are you sure about that? We can leave now if you want, movie is almost over.”

“Nah, I´ll… seat through the rest of it. It´s alright.”

“… Doesn’t look like that to me. You sure you don’t want to talk about it?”

“… One day, Annie… one day. Now is definitely not the right time…”

The movie closed in on a mildly happy note. After all that suffering, all the hardships Michel had been through, he managed to reach and cross the border without being noticed and, since the story was based on true events, that meant that he made it to his family.

Czesch only felt like a wound that had closed a long time ago had just reopened.

The night had taken over and the group decided on having dinner somewhere out. Annie knew a good place near that was still open that late at night and she would be paying for it, since she had barely done a thing herself. That way, they would be able to discuss what they had just seen.

They ordered some coke, apart from Czesch, who had settled for a small pint of beer. He hated the fact that the most bars in the area chose to serve them at room temperature, so he asked if he could have a cold one.

“Well, the film was really good!”

“Yeah, have to agree. It was really interesting to watch.”

“I couldn’t tell… I was too busy keeping Czesch awake.”

“Hey, I only fell asleep twice!!... God, this beer tastes like piss…”

“Serves you right for picking beer here, I told you to just get a coke!”

“Well, lets review… what can we take away from the film?”

“Hmmm… lemme think… motif, story arch, characterization, visual representation, historical accuracy, quirks, clichés, that sort of thing.”

Jan had thought of writing all of that down, but gave up as soon as Annie began her exposition.

“Wow, those are… a lot of topics…”

“There are plenty more, but that´s going to be a good foothold… so, what did you guys think overall?”

“Story was well done, the main was likeable enough, but not really endearing… sceneries looked a bit grey and brown, but I guess that´s just how it was… it was a bit experimental on some points, which I liked… cant say much more.”

“That´s why we brought Czesch in… so, where did they fuck up?”

“OK, ummm… explosions weren’t accurate enough, I guess?”

“Explosions? How come?”

“Well, the blast was there, but they banished way too quickly… a howitzer usually leaves a larger imprint and the smoke cloud stays for more than a minute. The damage to surfaces was also terrible, the scenery didn’t get shredded in any way and I´ve seen wooden houses shredded through and through.”

“OK… anything else?”

“The guns were bloody peashooters. Those things can dislocate a shoulder if not fired properly, and the extras had no bloody clue how to properly fake that recoil. They simply fired on full-automatic without movement at times. It was a tad bit annoying.”

“Noted…”

“And, another point to make and, I know that this may sound weird and I understand the story is presented from a specific point of view, but… the representation of both sides was really off.”

“Meaning?”

“Well, for starters, the revolutionaries were not all soulless bastards-“

He knew that the moment he mentioned that specific theme would be the moment Lucie would slam the table in front of them. Out of all the people he had met, she was the most vocal about her anger against the new rulers of the old Republic.

“Oh, that´s bullshit and you know it!”

“Lucie, calm down!”

“How can you fucking say that, you moron!? Do you have no bloody respect for-“

“I haven’t finished! Most of them were worthless pieces of shit, but a couple were nice people… same goes for the loyalists, most of them were shitstains… sorry if I broke your little dream there, but I´m talking from experience here.”

Her quick fiery rant was quickly extinguished by the Kid´s stare. He looked more annoyed than was his usual, and with very good reason.

“… You´re right… sorry, I… I get worked up about this real quick.”

“I noticed… there are no good people in war. Only dumb fools who try their hardest to challenge fate.”

Silence fell among them for a moment. Annie broke it.

“Anything else comes to mind?”

“The ending, probably… it seemed too… misleading.”

“In what way?”

“It just shows him off to a happy life, back to his family and friends… when in reality that poor bastard is probably still peeing himself every night remembering all of that shit and he most likely still hears the howitzers every time he closes his eyes. If he did half of what it shows right there, then he´s still seeing that horror to this day and all that will come. That´s what happens to those that haven’t gone mad yet.”

“Speak from experience?”

“Anna!”

“Don´t ask him that, you don´t-“

“I got off lucky… that´s all Im going to say about it.”

Annie wanted to know. She was putting the best poker face she knew, but she was genuinely concerned about Czesch… hell, she barely got worried about anyone other than herself and the only feeling she had on him was something beyond pity. She had just seen him cry a river at that scene, which meant that it did affect him more than he really showed. He was clearly trying to hide it away and she knew that doing so would end up hurting him even more… after all, she was an expert at that.

Her attempt was cut short by a call on Czesch´s phone.

“Oh, sorry, I have to take this one! Could you round up the info while I-“

“Yeah, go ahead.”

They started discussing certain ideas, but Annie was eavesdropping on Czesch´s conversation. It sounded important by the tone and his hand gestures.

“Did it happen?... Wait, slow down for a second… what do you mean by faster than you- No… No, there has to be a mistake of sorts!... Double check it!... Are you sure!? Fuck me, this is bad! How did he- Ok... I´m near the Central Station… alright, double time it and pick me up there! Don´t you dare leave without me!”

His expression had changed. When he put down the phone, he was trying to tear out his hair while gritting his teeth, delivering a weird groan while sighing. He returned quickly and finished his beer in one swig.

“Guys, I´m sorry about this, but… I gotta go now, it´s an emergency, will talk to you all later. Bye!”

He left in a rush, dashing around people as he made his way to the station. You could barely get a proper impression of him, since he was going at an extremely fast pace.

“He should join the track team. Probably would help us win this year.”

“He already did with football, so why not? What do you think, Anna?”

“… What is the deal with you…?”

“Anna! Earth calling to Anna!”

“Oh, sorry,  I was… alright, lets get all the info in a bunch and prepare it for tomorrow. We´ll use it as a basis and write along with it.”

“What about Czesch?”

“I´ll… I´ll call him first thing tomorrow morning. He´s not escaping out of this one, emergency or not.”

“What do you think that call was about?”

“Beats me, I´m not psychic.”

“Whatever it was, it sure seemed like a big one.”

The timing had been too perfect. Way too perfect.

He had seen her again on film… well, not quite her. He knew the person on film was an actress, but it hurt the same. Another cruel reminder of his worst mistake… and now the past was coming back to haunt him again.

Czesch and Laria, the girl he left behind, weren’t the only survivors of the Cub Pack, even though most of them had already bitten the dust at the end of the war. Some had managed to escape and Czesch had taken it up to himself to both get information on Laria and end their lives. They had all made an oath and Czesch just hoped that this particular person would remember it.

He reached the station and started scanning for Vivi´s SUV. He found it skidding across the road towards his side, drivers smashing their horns at such reckless driving. The door quickly opened and he darted in quickly, to find the whole SOT at the ready with weapons and ammunition to spare.

“You all could make it? Thought a couple of you might have had some trouble.”

“Well, Vivi basically grabbed us by the ear and forced us in the car… got your change here, weapons and all.”

“Thanks, Buri…”

As Czesch started changing into his gear, with boots and dark clothing melding with his bulletproof vest and balaclava, he noticed how none of the people inside the car were in any way tense. That´s why they were the Special Operations Team. They could laugh and joke during a mission, and still retain their professionalism all the same.

“So, Vivi… this alert… It really is him, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. Called you the moment I looked at the footage… no doubt about it, they say it´s a 100% match.”

“… Just my luck.”

Nate took that small remark as an opening for him to start his “snark marathon”. The others saw it coming from a mile away, yet the Kid was too concerned to pay attention to him.

“How about that, Czesch? You are finally going to meet with one of your childhood friends! Oh, I can already see the emotional encounter!”

“Nate, I hope you didn’t forget that we have to go kill him. The boy is a terrorist.”

“That is no excuse for meeting a long lost friend. I mean, sure, it´s going to be awkward when you tell him that you are there to rip his guts out, but, still…”

Czesch came back to reality, getting the feedback from Nate´s words.

“He´ll understand. He vowed to pull through to the very end.”

He didn’t realize it then, but he had just fed more wood to the fire.

“Really? A vow? Is it the type where you say “I do” and live happily ever after?”

“Dammit, Nate! Czesch told us all about it!”

“Rob, knowing me as well as I do, I´m 90% sure that I was fast asleep… so, what about this vow?”

The Kid groaned, having to explain yet again the unreasonable and outright demential situation they were in.

“After the leader of the group died… Sabrina, that is… we all vowed to one thing at the end of the war: To not allow our curses to bring destruction to an already battered up world. So we formed a system that we knew worked.”

“What´s that system about then?”

“I´m still not 100% sure how my curse works, but I know this for a fact: If I kill another person with a curse, that power is gone forever. If someone else does it, and I happen to find the body, then… well, I absorb it. And trust me, it´s not a pleasant experience.”

“… So you vowed that you would get to kill them all? Seems fair and logical, just like everything you do!”

“Not like that! It would be a… struggle of wills of sorts. A duel to the death and whoever managed to kill the other would get to keep on living his or her life. It was never my right to take their lives, so we had to settle it the best way we knew how to… fighting…”

Vivi took that moment to interced, asking the obvious question.

“… even her?”

“I-I… she would never use hers for that purpose, she… s-she… she almost never used it if she could help it. Only to save my ass.”

Seeing him down again, Nate bumped the Kid with his elbow, a sickly grin plastered on his face.

“Hm, complicated and nonsensical. Checks in with everything else about you.”

“Like that´s a surprise anymore…”

“Alright, enough chit-chat, we arrived at the spot. Sparrow should be landing here, so start lighting the LZ up… you too, Buri, come on!”

“It still is my day off, let me take my time with this at least!”

They got to a deserted clearing outside of town, where they would be picked up by a Little Bird helicopter, callsign Sparrow. The pilot, Bruce, was basically part of the helicopter itself, being able to pull off some impossible moves with it. It was the favourite among the SOT, mainly because the guy knew what he was doing. They all dropped chemlights to signal the drop zone and jumped on board when he touched down.

“Sparrow, update!”

“Briggs´s team has already cut the road where he is bound to come through! Jason and a new guy are taking a sniping position to stop them if they push through!”

“Tell those 2 to not shoot to kill! It´s important they keep him alive until I arrive!”

“I´ll relay it to them! Vivienne, terminal in the back is operative!! Log in and check in yourself!”

“Copy!”

They all got their headsets on and Bruce lifted off of the ground, moving towards the designated overwatch position. Czesch was sitting in one of the bird´s skids next to Buri, feeling the cold wind rushing through him as they flew at top speed. He was extremely glad it wasn’t raining at all, or otherwise they´d be freezing their balls off… not Buri, though. He was used to the cold much more than the Kid would ever be.

“Briggs, this is Vivi, how copy?”

“I read you loud and clear, send traffic.”

“How´s everything at the roadblock?”

“It´s a bit of a mess. It´s bound to make him doubt a bit, but he´s not going to have trouble pushing through if he´s smart enough.”

“Copy that, try to stall him as best you can. We´ll be there in a couple of minutes.”

“Godspeed, Valory, Godspeed. Archangel out.”

Everyone was tense about this situation, especially the company men. The target, codenamed Capri, was a renowned mercenary fighting in revolts around all of Eastern Europe, a madman that was on the spotlight for most Special Operations teams in the globe and who had dismantled several Blue Sparrow ops in the area of the Balkans. They all wanted him dead, but the bastard was, as put by one of the few survivors of his massacres, “tougher than a tank to kill”… and Czesch remembered him that way.

Iosef “The Butcher”. The name brought back all the disgust he once had for the man. He was a sadist and clearly had mental issues deriving from continuous usage of his curse. It gave him the ability to turn his hands into knives, letting him carve on hardened surfaces with his bare hands. Usage of it ranged from breaking out of prisons to tearing people apart. He was despicable, but he still did his job like any other… and his job had been to become the Kid´s rival.

There was a thump in Czesch´s chest that stopped his breathing for a moment. That thumping was his heart telling him that another accursed person was nearby, a way to tell them apart from other people… but the positioning was off. Way off, not anywhere near where they were supposed to be heading. That meant he was closer than they thought…

“Rob, can you see anything on your side?”

“… There´s a passenger train coming through… going a bit slow for some reason.”

“Hmm… something feels off, this isn´t like him at all...there should be gunfire already, he doesn’t like being quiet, unless… Archangel, this is Cyprus, do you have visual confirmation on the target?”

“ Copy, we have eyes on the target vehicle.”

“Can you have the sniper team give me a quick description of the target? If they have eyes on him, that is.”

“Copy, wait one… Jason reports of a male, in his late 20s, fully grown beard on him and wearing a beanie, how copy?”

“Good copy… shit… shit, shit, shit… It´s not him… can´t be…”

“What do you mean its not him?”

Iosef couldn’t grow a beard… he would never be able to grow a beard or wear one for that matter. He hated them with a passion, and not enough time had passed to get that idea out of his head. His 6th sense had been right all along, they were looking in the wrong direction!

“Archangel, priority! We have been duped, I say again, HVT is not in the vic!! Probably a suicide bomber, check for explosives, over!”

“Confirmed, Widowmaker unit just detected a large amount of explosive ordnance in the vehicle! Team spreading out to intercept, are we cleared hot?”

“Roger, green light on lethal shots, try to stop that car before it blows sky high!! Sparrow, follow that train, take us to it!”

“You sure, Cyprus!? Are you sure he´s not in the car?”

“I´m 100% sure he´s in the fucking train! Now, double-time it before he actually decides to start work!”

A terror attack most likely. Made sense, striking at 2 locations, blowing up a car to get everyone up on it while you hijack a train and get hostages… or just kill them all to get a message across. And knowing Iosef, the latter was more likely. It seemed his time with the Pack had taught him a trick or two when it came to guerrilla warfare.

“Vivi, how should we approach this?”

“Depends… how many do you think he´s with?”

“Lights on the train are still on… movement down there, looks like they are civvies… he´s definitely working with people, that much I got from Oracle. Considering his previous activity, I´d say around 20 people on plainclothes, SMGs and shotguns at most, lightly trained.”

“Copy… OK, insertion from the top of the train, Buri and Czesch, Team Blue,  take the front, me and Rob, Team Red, take the back, Nate, Green, provides recon from the helicopter. Main objective is to find the HVT and have Czesch engage him. Secondary is to eliminate all opposition and secure civilians. Avoid shooting at civvies and such… quick questions?”

Buri made the obvious one, seeing no one else bothered making it.

“What if the HVT shoots back?”

“Just try to stay alive if that happens, Czesch will rush through and get to him… I guess you could go for a non-lethal-”

“Don´t bother. That´ll only make him even more unpredictable than he already is… bastard loved getting shot at.”

“Copy… everyone ready?”

Every single member of the SOT unlocked their safeties and chambered their first bullets, ready for the firefight to begin.

“As always, boss!”

“Just say the word!”

“Those fuckers are going to regret taking my day off!”

“… Ready, Vivi… Let´s end this, hrdlořez…”

“Mission is a go! Sparrow, drop us at the top of the train!”

“Aye aye, Ma´am!”

The helicopter went in, matching its speed with that of the train. For Bruce, pulling that maneuver was child´s play, but the real kicker was doing so without alerting hostiles. Luckily, the train was soundproof in most parts, so unless they were to look outside the windows, Iosef´s men wouldn’t be able to spot them.

Bruce got the bird on the central wagon, hovering above it while Czesch and Buri jumped. The trains speed was, relatively speaking, a medium one. It was just enough to allow for a man to stand up and walk on top of it. Vivi and Rob got down immediately after, while Nate got on one of the skids and readied his marksman rifle.

“Alright… Blue, push to the front of the train. Red will proceed to the back. Green, update if you see any movement.”

“Roger.”

“Come on, Buri. Nice and quiet.”

Czesch readied his “Lightbringer” and started moving towards one end of the wagon. His rifle was designed as a weapon for any situation, both extreme close quarters and medium distance engagements, with a retractable stock. His CZ-75 was loaded in his holster since, in close quarters, he´d have to end up resorting to it at some point. Buri came up right behind him with his customized Honey Badger, a silenced AR-15 carbine with a shortened barrel.  If anyone in the team knew how to breach an interior, that was Buri, and he was ecstatic about breaching that train in particular.

They came down from the roof and readied themselves at the door of the front wagon, seeing Red team had done their work behind them. Suddenly, gunfire spread across the wagons, mixing with the screams of the civilians.

“Red, Blue is hearing gunfire across the train, have you set them off?”

“Negative, it wasn’t us… Green, give me a report.”

“Looks like they started the party without letting us drink any champagne… they are forcing civilians into the ground now. Doesn’t look like much of a terrorist attack, to be honest. Seems more like a normal hijack.”

“Iosef is not the sort of guy that goes for just the hijacking part… They probably want to blow the train up in a populated area.”

“Blue, double time it. Red is ready to breach.”

“Copy that Red… Buri, how many inside?”

“I count 3. 2 Remingtons and a Glock. Guy with a pistol is at a weird angle, too…”

“Alright, on 3… 1…2… 3!”

Czesch moved the door to a side, allowing Buri to score 2 headshots on the men with shotguns. The 3rd guy, seeing that his buddies had been killed, grabbed a civilian and held him at gunpoint. Buri cursed under his breath and kept the gun pointed at him, knowing that one badly timed step would cause the death of an innocent.

“S-Stay right where you are!! Drop your weapons or he gets it!!”

“Doesn’t work like that, chum. Either you drop the weapon in the next 10 seconds or both of you get a bullet.”

“W-W-What!? Don´t you understand how this goes!?”

 “I do. Thing is, I don’t give a fuck about the person you are holding. And today I´m having a really bad day, so you can either throw your life away or hope that I don’t shoot you when you drop the gun.”

Czesch readied his gun, aiming at the terrorist´s head. He had no time to worry about a hostage situation inside of a hostage situation. He had a person to find and this guy was being a pain.

“9… 8…7…”

“A-Are you being serious right now!? You can´t possibly-“

“5…4…3…2”

The man dropped the pistol and the civilian. He was stuttering and shaking considerably. Buri went over to him and zip-tied his hands together, sighing under his mask. Czesch kept his gun trained on him while Buri finished.

“See? Now you don’t end up like your friends!”

“That was ballsy, C. Try not to do that again, you know I don´t like when you mess with their heads like that. It can go awry really quick.”

“I´ll keep on doing it as long as it keeps on working… alright, people, listen up!! We are taking control of the situation as I speak, so keep your heads down and stay put for the time being, we´ll get you all out of here in a bit!”

The civilians around him were beyond terrified and the guy he had almost shot was pretty mad about the whole “shoot through him” ordeal. Then again, he´d probably be pissed off as well if someone did that to him. He went over to the terrorist to get some information, the poor bastard shaking considerably.

“So… mind telling us where Iosef is?”

“Fuck you! I´m not saying shit!”

“Look… hard way or easy way, it´s that simple. You can go to prison with a broken leg or with both of them intact. And, as I hear it, those places aren´t sunshine and roses anymore.”

“If I tell you, Iosef will-“

“Oh, trust me, I´m making sure that bastard gets his due. So, be a buddy and tell me where he is. That´s all I need.”

The man thought he had misheard at first. Then Czecsh asked the question again, only for the terrorist to look more puzzled than before.

“Y-you just want to know that?”

“What else is there to know?”

“Our contractor, our objective…”

“Someone else will ask you those things. My priority now is him and him alone… unless you want to die in this ride along with that monster.”

“He´s… He´s in the back with the boss, planting the explosives!”

“Hmmm, not good…Anything else up front?”

“You said-“

“I know what I said… now, talk or you lose a testicle. You do want to keep it, right?”

“A couple more of our guys holding the drivers and the other wagons! That´s all I know, I swear!”

“Good… now,stay here and you might see tomorrow after all… Can you believe this, B? They sing more than birds.”

The Estonian didn’t find the pun particularly funny, instead choosing to look at the front.

“Especially with a feeder such as yourself… at least we now know where your friend is.”

“Friend… sounds wrong just by saying it out loud.”

“Well, wasn’t he?”

“A long time ago, yeah… and now I have to make sure he stops breathing…Will you be good?”

“I can deal with the guys up front just fine.”

“Remember V´s number 1”

“Yeah, yeah… never engage alone if you can avoid it… call Reaper for that then.”

“Alright… Red, this is Blue, got info regarding the HVT and an update of the situation.”

“Send it, Blue.”

“HVT is currently in the back of the train with the terrorist leader, break… they are setting explosives as we speak, but we also have a couple more contacts on the front, how copy?”

“Good copy… OK, sending Reaper your way. We have already cleaned up most of the wagons, so just make sure to get here on time. Red out.”

Czesch tapped Buri´s back twice, making sure he knew he was leaving.

“Well… have fun, Kid!”

“I´ll save a couple for you if you want to shoot a bit more.”

“Thanks for the offer, but I think I´ll have enough on my side.”

“Suit yourself.”

Czesch started making his way in the opposite direction, trying to reach Vivi as soon as possible. Knowing Iosef as well as he did, it would be mere moments before he turned his back on his employer and go full-on mass killer on the civilians. That was the way he liked to act back in the war, anyways. Czesch tried to calm the civilians as he went, reassuring them that they had the situation under control.

Time seemed to freeze when, out of the blue, a terrorist that had been hiding in a corner decided to spring his trap. Czesch got perfect view of his M-1911 pistol, engraving and everything on it, as it moved ever so closer to his face. He managed to duck his head just as his assailant pulled the trigger, the bullet whizzing past and going through the wall. Czesch then used his rifle to smack the pistol away, got his AK at point blank and pressed the trigger on full-auto. The poor guy was just wearing light Kevlar and the 6.5mm rounds cared not for such paper-thin protection at close ranges. The guy dropped to the floor, half the wall behind him torn to pieces, much like his innards.

A 2nd man tried to get the jump on him with a knife, but Czesch always remembered to check his back right after a kill. The knife graced him in the chest, the Kevlar vest blocking the blade from doing a cut. The Kid then took his hand off of the gun and proceeded for a quick punch to the throat, which was unprotected. The terrorist took a step back, but retaliated immediately, going for a series of slashes to the Kid´s face, which he managed to either evade or outright block with the rifle.

They both started struggling as the Kid caught the man´s knife with the stock of his AK-12. The man was clearly much stronger than Czesch, but he was managing to keep up by being smarter. He´d let him keep on building strength on their hold, then Czesch would take a step back and shoot him point blank with the sidearm… only problem was that the guy got immediately shot in the head by Rob, who had just made it to the wagon. Czesch saw the bullet entering the man´s head, and kept on watching as he tumbled down to the floor.

“You alright, C!?”

“… Fuck´s sake! I had him!”

“Yeah, say something enough times and it´ll become the truth… is that how it went?”

“What if you had hit me!? At that range, missing could have been easy!”

“I only miss shots on purpose… then again, the train did bounce the moment I took it…”

“God dammit… B is waiting for you, trying to clear out the front.”

“Already on it… do call it in.”

Czesch, still regaining his composure, turned to his radio whilst Rob kicked the corpse of his newest victim.

“Everyone be advised, Cyprus is now on Red, Reaper is now on Blue, moving to respective locations.”

“Green copies, looks like you guys at Blue ought to get ready. See a lot of movement going your way!”

“Blue copies! Reaper, get your ass here pronto, amigo!”

Rob groaned and immediately cursed in his native tongue.

“Still trying to get me to speak it, huh?... On my way, Barrock, just hang on tight!”

He pushed past the way the Kid had come from, not even bothering to give words of encouragement. That was the way Rob did things, after all.

“Valory, I´m closing in, what´s your status?”

“I´m doing just fine, just trying to stay put and- Oh, shit! Made contact with HVT, I say again, made-!!!”

Gunfire was the only thing Czesch needed to hear to force himself to double-time it. He rushed straight through each wagon, pushing people aside every time someone got in the way.

“V, keep talking to me!! V!!”

“Bastard just shot his companion point blank and is firing at me!! Green, can you support!?”

“Setting up already, let me just… shit, guy has an LMG! Sparrow, wave off, wave off!!”

Czesch could almost feel the sound of dozens of bullets fired in the span of a few seconds as they left the train, tracers trying to reach their destination to no avail. Nate had done some quick thinking by pulling off like he did, otherwise Bruce´s Little Bird would have been turned to a shredded piece of metal.

“Sorry, Vivi. Can´t get a good shot with that bastard firing from the windows!”

“It´s alright, I´ve managed to move elsewhere… wait, he has dropped his gun! What the hell is he-? “

The message was cut short… that could only mean one thing.

“V!? V!!! Oh, shit, shit shit shit!!”

Czesch wasn’t trying to open the doors anymore. He was simply kicking them aside, going as quickly as he could. Vivi and Iosef were now at close proximity, and that was an engagement that Vivi, even with her training, couldn’t win. He had fought him in mock battles enough times to know he was probably trying to enjoy the fight as much as possible, so at least he had some time to act.

He had eyes on them now. Vivi was evading Iosef´s knife, the madman smiling as he tried to carve it in her head. They locked each other in a hold, just like Czesch had done with that ambushing terrorist right before. But this was bad news moreso than them dancing around. With the fighting bogged down to that, Iosef could-

“No… no, no no! Don´t you dare say it!! Don´t you fucking dare say it!”

The bastard was activating his curse… slowly, deliberately savoring the moment, a moment that would end up with Vivi turned into chopped ham. Czesch managed to charge through the last door, aiming his rifle at the madman about to butcher his protector.

“Upon Sabrina´s Oath, I challenge you, kunda!!!”

The madman stopped at the last second and turned towards the voice. At first, he didn’t not recognize a thing about the person covered in a balaclava and trying to sound older than he really was. Then he laughed. He laughed like only a person who has lost all glimpse of reality can.

“Oh. My. God!!! It is you, I knew my heart throbbing wasn’t just coincidence! I barely recognized you with all that fancy gear on top, you even look like a proper soldier now! Does it feel good, arogantní!? Feel good to finally get paid for all your hard work!?”

His English hadn’t changed in all that time… still with that heavy accent, still trying to find ways to piss him off.

“Just shut the fuck up and take the challenge!! Otherwise, I´ll just end it all with a bullet!”

The Butcher considered it for a second, then turned his sight to Vivi, who had her sidearm already loaded and aimed directly at him, much like Czesch had intended to do with his previous engagement. Both the Kid and her turned to that technique in such extreme close quarters… and Iosef seemed to enjoy that fighting spirit a bit too much.

“Hmmm… she´s a friend of yours, huh? What if I want to kill her?”

“Do it and you don’t get a chance to earn your life.”

His eyes turned back on his old brother in arms, still filled with a hatred that no words could describe.

“How do you know I wont backstab you? I´ve done it before and I enjoyed it way more than our fights!”

“Because I know this much: Our count was 63 to 62. This is your one chance to get even before going down to hell.”

Iosef chuckled at that comment… then immediately broke the lock with Vivi, who kept on aiming at him, weary of his intentions. Czesch pulled both his primary weapon and sidearm to a side, leaving only his knife. The same case went for Iosef, his cackling laugh coming from a face of pure, child-like delight.

“V, head on to the back and disable the explosives.”

“No need to worry about that, Czesch! Already done it myself!”

Iosef´s statement came off as unnecessary. He was clearly lying about the bombs, so why would he bother doing so if he knew that much?

“… Why?”

“Come on!! I´m having way too much fun to waste it dying in a train explosion! I´m a fun guy to be around because I don’t blow my parties up until I´m gone!”

“… V, just check it out in case they came back online.”

She began making her way to the back, keeping her eye more on the Kid than on the psychopath between them.

“You sure you are going to be fine?”

His response came out at the same as his combat knife from its hilt.

“It´s my fight. Anyone gets involved, they will be welcomed to Tartarus early.”

“Oohh, you got an education and everything!! I just hope it didn’t turn you into a neužitečný… Alright! Let´s do this up on top! I would like my death to be of epic proportions, and I´m guessing you wouldn’t be against it!”

“… Lead on and try not to swallow your own shit on the way. It wouldn’t be the first time either.”

“Aaahhh, I missed this so much!”

Both fighters reached the top of the train. The wind gusts were an added difficulty to make the fight a more balanced one. Czesch was the better fighter overall, but Iosef was more accustomed to fighting in close quarters under terrible conditions. Czesch could strike better, but fewer times, while Iosef would simply have to keep his balance and strike as much as possible.

They both looked at each other, knives drawn and breaths almost in sync. Czesch had been trying to mentally prepare himself for a moment like that for a long time. In the past, he had fought with him, both in friendly duels to test their skill and on the battlefield proper , through fire and brimstone… now, they were both mortal enemies, dead set on ending the other man´s life. The cruel wheel of fate, ever so encroaching on those accursed like them.

“I must say… I´m liking the look on your eyes a lot better now! It´s almost as if you are actually here, doing the killing! What, are you finally starting to have fun!?”

That struck a nerve that hadn’t been touched in quite some time. The Kid swallowed his pride and decided to start business before fighting.

“Before we start, I have a question to make!! And I think you´ll have no problem answering it!!”

“Sure thing!! Either of us will be dead in a minute, so it´s only fair!! A question for a question!!”

“… Where is she!?”

That was his biggest mistake, the reason he had taken Vivi´s tutelage and ended up fighting on top of a moving train. If there was someone that could help him out in finding her, it would be him.

“Your sweet Laria!? Beats me!! I haven´t seen her since you decided to vanish out of thin air!!... now, my question!!”

“… Alright, ask ahead!!”

“What happened to you after you got captured!?”

A shiver went through Czesch´s body. His mouth could only taste water and his eyes started blinking incessantly… which gave Iosef an opportunity to land a preventive strike. Czesch simply pulled back upon seeing the attack, getting back to his norm.

“Well, I didn’t need an answer anyway!! Come on, soudruh!! Show me your teeth after all these years!!”

That was cheeky, but it was only natural of Iosef to start off that way. His mindset was the type that told him that trying to fight fair only gets others killed. So, trying to get every single advantage possible was the way to go, even if that meant playing dirty. Czesch had nothing against that train of thought, but he preferred to fight fair under those circumstances.

The Butcher began by closing the gap between the two, forcing Czesch to move around in a shorter space than he was used to. It didn’t surprise the Kid one bit, that Iosef had prepared himself for a fight between them by taking into account Czesch´s fighting style. Dáz Prikhenka was based on a constant flow of movement of varying rythms, so an opponent that understood that fighting style only had to limit the space to restrict the fighter´s options. Choosing the roof of the train AND moving in close… some things had changed, it seemed.

It was hard for the Kid to not struggle evading his blows whilst remembering their previous encounters. If Jusuk had been like an older collected brother and Sabi a cool and crazy old sister, Iosef could pass as the friend he didn’t get along, but whom he played with nonetheless. He was 4 years older than Czesch, and yet acted as a bigger child than him, with their brawls often ending up with one of the Pack forcing them to apologize to the other.

There would be no apologizing this time, as one of Iosef´s strikes almost connected with Czesch´s right cheek. He retaliated with a kick to the Butcher´s leg, which he merely took in as he swung his weapon yet again, this time sticking to the Kid´s Kevlar vest. The stab still had enough power to hurt him, but the Kid managed to swipe his knife to force him back, making a light cut on his brow. Iosef touched it for a moment and, without a second though, shrugged it off and closed the gap yet again.

“Come on!! It isn’t fun if you don´t take this seriously!!”

One of his old tactics, rilying up the opponent so that they made a mistake. Czesch had suffered it so many times it didn’t have its intended result anymore. Instead, it only served to make the Butcher´s openings more obvious, helping him make a strategy… it would end the fight fairly quick, but it was time sensitive and quite risky. If he didn’t react in time, Iosef would have enough time to cut his stomach wide open. He just needed to find an opening… a reoccurring move Iosef had used time and time again in the past.

He got his chance soon enough, as Iosef went for a fake strike, the sort that is only done to throw the opponent off-balance to then properly finish them. Czesch surprised him by taking the hit directly in his right leg, then immediately changing knife  hands and using his now freed up hand to hold his arm in place . The pain in his leg was a soaring one, but he knew that the next hit would be fatal. Czesch knew one particular thing about Iosef´s curse… and that was that after each use, his bones became particularly fragile. Not actually realizing it from his bloodlust, he had actually activated it, a thing Czesch realized the moment he saw his eyes change color and his knife slowly drip blood.

Czesch carved his Glock knife inside the belly of his once brother in arms, pushing it deeper into his stomach and spine. Iosef could do nothing but cough up blood as his innards were pushed in two separate directions. Czesch quickly removed both his knife and Iosef´s, reeling back from the pain.

Iosef, who was trying to retain his organs inside of him and noticing how instead he was carving deeper into his chest, started walking towards the edge of the train, in an attempt to throw himself from it. Czesch wouldn’t allow it. He was in pain and the bastard was trying to cheat on the rules of the fight… so, in other words, he was rightly pissed.

He quickly caught up with his ex-companion and grabbed him by the neck, Iosef´s head turning to a side as bone started to crack, stopping him from moving onward.

“How do you fucking dare, Kus Hovna!?!? You are not getting away like this!!!”

“Can´t… y-you t-take… a joke? Heh… you- you… cough… haven´t changed much… still going by the book, huh?”

It was time to finish the job. But Czesch had one more thing to do. A ritual of his, an eulogy for the dead… and an oath that he had to remember to keep. He whispered it at Iosef´s ear, hoping that he would have listened. The cackling laugh followed by the coughing of blood reassured him of that.

“Haha-cough-hahaha!! I´ll make sure to… cough… to save you a seat!! Go forth, svůdník, and fuck off!!”

Czesch had already done his part. His knife was carved into  Iosef´s neck and, putting all of the Kid´s strength behind it, managing to separate Iosef´s head from the rest of his body. The headless corpse then fell on top of the train, while the head flew off onto the ground below. He took a few seconds to himself, ragged breaths  and a queasiness that hadn’t showed during the fight finally being center stage. He grabbed his left shoulder… it didn’t burn in the leats. He had done it.

Everything came back … the noise of the tracks, the real pain of the wound, the light of the helicopter shining on him, the radio chatter from his squad… even that sensation from Iosef´s last question, that drowning feeling. Repressed anger, desperation and regret that hadn’t appeared in such a long time suddenly wanted to pop back into existence… and Czesch´s body, for a full minute, stopped responding to him.

All The Kid managed to do was fall to his knees and shout with all his strength at the night.

The fact that certain workers from an unspecified Private Security Company saved the train from a terrorist attack was reported on every single TV and radio channel in the country. What they forgot to mention was Blue Sparrow´s involvement, since their actions during this operation in particular weren´t  directly sanctioned by the British government and if they were found out then they would be severely impaired from properly operating in-country. So, Mary and the Board of Directors of the company decided against making their participation in the operation a public one.

Of course, the operation was sanctioned by the company itself. They had alerts for that kind of situation continuously and it was the job for the Intelligence Department to differentiate the fake ones from the actual threats, handling the latter through external contacts to minimize damage done by them. However, sometimes certain situations came out of their control, which required the participation of in-country teams or, in the case of the train incident, the involvement of the SOT.

Sparrow managed to pull off just as the police and news helicopters arrived at the scene. They recorded some of Czesch´s fight with Iosef, but there was not a single clue in the footage revealing his connection to Blue Sparrow, nor his identity. Likewise, the civilians on the ground got no relevant information regarding the team of operatives that saved them, plus Briggs and his men got away from the scene as soon as they dealt with the explosive car.

Czesch got dropped off at the company HQ at Hereford, filled up the required paperwork for the operation and took a cab back to Harville, since all train traffic had been stopped due to the incident. Vivi asked him if he needed any help apart from Rob´s medical treatment, but he reassured her that everything was fine on his end. Even with her skeptical look, she would let that one pass, since informing Mary was a task that required careful coordination and an unperturbed mind.

Of course, not everything was fine. He had been so close… deep inside, he had hoped Iosef would have known something related with Laria. It was a close bet, but he had staked on it knowingly. Now he was back at square one, not knowing where the hell she was.

Was he leading a hopeless search? For the last 4 years he had been looking for any leads regarding her location and for 4 years he had got nothing. Was she simply dead? And what would finding her actually accomplish? Should he give up his new life and go out to find her?

No, he had to stop thinking that way. He owed her that much, he had to keep on trying, keep on pushing for any lead, no matter how flickery or baseless, anything that would lead him one step closer to meeting up… then… then he´d think on what to do.

He had seen her in the film. For a moment, he hadn’t seen the actress, but instead his childhood friend, his one true companion, the person that he treasured most. And he had been reminded of how badly he failed her. He wasn’t directly responsible for it, but… the guilt was still there, a knife encroaching on a wound that was festering and filled with pus.

He reached Harville and paid the cab driver quite a hefty amount for a job well done. Czesch then arrived at his flat and, exhausted and still in pain, threw himself at the bed, hoping to actually catch some sleep.

And the nightmares came back, as they always did.

Another night of 30 minute intervals happened, which lead Czesch to believe that he would never be able to fully sleep like a normal human being again. He was already used to it, but sometimes he still wished it wasn’t at all like that.

His awakening was brought up further by hunger, for he had eaten nothing since the day before. It was also followed by an early call from Annie.

“Czesch speaking.”

“Where the fuck were you!?!?”

He immediately separated the phone from his ears. It was bad enough the wound in his leg was still hurting, but now he had to deal with ringing ears.

“Woah, easy there! What do you mean by that?”

“Don´t you follow the news!? There was a kidnapping at one of the night-time trains! A terrorist attack of sorts!”

“Oh, really? I guess I ´m not much of a news person, I haven´t got a clue.”

“It´s been on every channel since 4 AM and police have been driving around town all night… they say it´s a national security threat and all!”

The media machine, always trying to hype threats for the sake of selling a few more views. His friend Gaz had been right about that one.

“Hmmm… Still don’t know much about it.”

“I called you, like, 10 times!! You said you had an emergency of sorts and suddenly this shit happens! I was worried sick!”

“Errr, why did you assume my emergency had anything to do with that?”

“What was your emergency about then!? You said nothing when you left, what was I supposed to think!?”

He scratched the back of his neck. She did have a point, it had been quite awkward. He then sighed, trying to come up with a good enough excuse… as always, he relied on his usual.

“I was… helping out my big sis with some work. Guy that usually does a certain thing for her called in sick, so she had to call me in to give her a hand, since Im the only guy apart from that one that knows how to do that particular thing. And it was all during a busy day, so they really needed me there.”

Saying that he was helping Vivi out was the closest thing to the truth that he could say without compromising his integrity. He was lying enough already, adding more to the least wouldn’t help him in any way, shape or form.

“O-Oh… I see…”

“Sorry for not saying much, but I´ve been busy all night. I was too tired to hear a thing about a “terrorist kidnapping” or whatever you are talking about… I still am.”

“… Makes sense…Wait, you have a sister!?”

“It´s… It´s complicated…”

“Is anything easy with you?”

“If I plan on sticking around, you´ll have to get used to it.”

“Leaving that aside… I´ve talked with Jan and Lucie, we are supposed to be meeting this afternoon to prepare the assignment in essay form. You are coming and there´s nothing you can do to get away this time!”

That cocky tone seemed much more in tone with her, forcing a chuckle out of the Kid.

“Wasn´t planning to…”

“It´s settled then! 5 PM, Jan´s place… do you know where that is?”

The prolongued silence was enough of an answer in it of itself.

 “It´s alright, I have the address here.  I´ll send it your way”

“Thanks... aaand, got it.”

“Great… by the way, about… about the thing at the movie…”

“What thing?”

“You know… the moment you started tearing a full river…”

“Oh, that…”

“You sure you don’t want to talk about it?”

“…Another day, Annie… another day…”

“Alright… see you at 5.”

“Bye bye.”

Czesch hung the phone feeling as if the company related issue was of miniscule proportions compared to this. Annie was catching way too much stuff about him. It was starting to become dangerous to even talk to her, since she would end up finding out something else.

His life was in some murky waters in terms of publicity. He could reveal certain parts to some people and telling some key points had helped him cope more than anything. But there were certain facts he hadn’t revealed even to his closest… even to Vivi, one of the people he valued most. Some secrets he had to keep just to himself.

But why had he revealed so much to Annie in particular? What did she have apart from the rest of the people he had met? Well, for one, she was smarter… well, maybe smarter wasn’t the right word to use. She had a thirst for knowledge that he hadn’t seen in another person before, and she was cocky enough to remind him of the best parts from the people he knew as a kid. Above else, she was a fun person to be around.

Was Annie some sort of spy sent in to monitor his activity? No, he had to stop thinking that way. He wasn’t some sort of witness in a protection programme and he had no reason to start becoming paranoid. She was just a concerned friend,  that was all.

He checked his phone again. True enough, more than 10 calls from her, which made Czesch realize that either A: She was really bored and had nothing better to be doing, or B: She was genuinely concerned about him. Was he that gloomy when they exited the cinema? Had he really cried that much from that scene alone?

He went to his firing range and took some test shots again to get those thoughts out of his mind. He was starting to feel more comfortable with the 45.ACP round… and the SCAR was becoming more and more adaptable with use. No wonder FN had designed such an amazing weapon… a shame he already had a favourite one.

He made breakfast quickly, wondering how things were going down at Hereford.

“Are you sure you´ve told me everything, Vivi?”

“Everything is in the report. If you have questions about anything else, just give me a call, OK?”

“Alright… just remember you can take a leave any time you want. Wouldn’t want you to get overburdened by this nonsense. Have the Kid do it if it gets too tough…”

“Relax!! I´ll just push through! Have a nice evening, Mary!”

“You too, V… try getting some sleep, there´s still a hidden beauty you have to keep.”

“Noted!”

Vivi left the room with a pounding heart and shaking hands. She sighed after closing the door behind her, trying to let her emotions flow back into her body, closing her eyes, trying to get her thoughts in order. It hadn’t been as dangerous as other times, but that direct report had been a lot more tense than usual.

The report was as truthful as it could be, but it did hide certain details that would make it look absurd. They had filed Iosef as a war criminal of sorts, which wasn’t far from the truth, but the report didn’t cover his relation with Czesch and the subject of the “curses”. Which meant that the operation had been carried out in a less than efficient manner.

Only the SOT had knowledge about the curses themselves, since Czesch had to use them for certain occasions. He had been extremely thorough in documenting each one of them and putting them in correlation with their previous users, creating a compilation that made the unexplainable a little easier on the human mind. They were, in a sense, like superpowers, only that they caused some extreme damage to body and/or mind afterwards. Luckily, curse users also enjoyed benefits like enhanced body structure and regeneration, which meant that a wound would take hours to heal and not weeks. It, however, created a higher pain threshold, which meant the accursed would have to handle more pain before passing out, as well as a screwed up sleeping schedule.

Telling Mary that Czesch was a sort of super-soldier would just earn him harder assignments, both for him and the rest of the team, and the Kid had reiterately been against that idea. So, it was the SOT´s secret asset, the one that they couldn’t reveal for his sake… and they had tried their hardest for the past 4 years with success.

Vivi went over to her room in the HQ, tired and in need of coffee. Everyone had one of those in the building, even though most operatives lived elsewhere. Czesch was probably one of the few people who was a permanent resident… before his latest assignment, that is.

It was a Spartan-like room, without much furniture or valuables in there. The most expensive things in the room were probably the personal computer and the biometric scanner on the wall. Vivi hated that room, but she actually thought the shower wasn’t half bad and, right then, it was the only thing she was happy about.

10 minutes and a very relaxing shower later, she heard a knock on the door and it sliding open right after. She had just finished and felt a little annoyed at the fact that some asshole had just entered without a second thought. She was not in the mood for trespassers… then again, being in one of the most secure places in-country, one had to wonder what fool with clearance thought it a good time to pay her a visit.

“Who is it?”

“It´s me, came over to bring you some papers… they look like bills, but I haven’t a clue.”

Nate´s voice calmed her back to normal, and so she walked back into the room. Nate and her went way back, so she didn’t have an issue with him seeing her naked for a moment. He was already dating someone and he was more family than anything else.

“Oh, didn’t know you were showering.”

“What, you wanted to keep me company in there? I wouldn’t have minded.”

Her winking face made him gag as a result.

“Arrgh, no! That´s just… argh, so wrong!”

“Hehe, just kidding.”

“Don´t joke with that! Jesus, Sarah would kill me if I even thought about it.”

“Now I see who´s taking the lead… Sally really knows how to rein you in like no other…”

“Oh, shut up… left them on the table for your night time read.”

“Thanks. Do you want a drink?”

“Got any beer? I´m thirstier than a camel.”

“Beer aint going to help. Here, have a coke.”

“Thanks, “mom”.”

Nate hated coke, and Vivi knew it perfectly well. She just handed him a bottle of water, which he took with a bit of scorn.

“How did things go with Mary?”

“Smooth.”

“So, she doesn´t-?”

“Not yet.”

“Good… you know, she´s going to find out some day. And I´m going to laugh when it happens.”

“Then let´s hope that it takes her more than we hope, having you win this one would be the end of the world as we know it.”

“Yeah, yeah… by the way, how is baby brother hanging?”

The sudden change in topic caught her when her guard was lowest. She cleared her throat and composed herself.

“Baby brother has reached Iran without a hitch… he´s in a support company, so he wont see much combat.”

“Which makes Big Sis not worry as much?”

“You wish. I´m worried sick about him.”

“Did you tell him to put on his sweater before going out with his pals? It gets cold during those desert nights, you know.”

“Nate, please don’t joke about that. Please.”

“Sorry, sorry… he´s going to be fine, you know that.”

“Fuck, I know, but… I know him better than he knows himself, I… I just hope he doesn’t do anything rash.”

“Mmmmhhmmm… changing the subject, have you heard about how C is doing?”

“He didn’t say much, he was dead set on catching his old buddy.”

“Well, a little bird told me he played in a football game against a bunch of assholes. Got his ass beat, but they still won the game.”

“Oh really? He didn’t say much about that.”

“Must be because he used a curse at the end of the game.”

“… He did WHAT!?”

Nate jumped back a bit at Vivi´s overreaction, while chuckling at having touched her nerve on purpose. When it came down to family, Vivi was always like that, which made any of Czesch´s shenanigans a joy to inform to her. She had always kept the Kid on a tight leash, so seeing her reaction when he was away from home would be worth it.

“You heard me right. Last shot, according to one of the people watching, was an impossible one. Rob checked his leg and found he had a bandage on… you know what that one means…”

“So he used that one… motherfucker, that´s why he kept it for himself!”

“Oh man, this is going to be good… what do you want to do with him?”

“I´m going to… to…”

She hesitated. She was angry, furious, pent up on stress and aggression. She had to calm down, think properly, get the proper course of action in that head of hers.

“… I don’t know… I don’t actually know what to do.”

“Hmmm… yeah, I think it´s best if we leave it at that.”

“You think? If your girlfriend was doing something stupid, wouldn’t you stop her before she hurt herself even more?”

“Well… you are comparing Sarah, a very down-to-earth person, with Czesch.  The norm aint going to work with the latter… I doubt anything works with that little monster.”

“True… we´ll leave it at that then.”

She started feeling like she had to let some steam out or she would lose her mind, given all the secrecy going around. Nate was the perfect person to do it with, someone that flapped his mouth only to joke about whatever he had on his mind at the time. He didn’t have any major problems going down, so he would probably take it well.

“Can I ask you something, Nate?”

“Go ahead, you´ve never bothered asking before.”

“Do you… think I´m doing well? With Czesch, I mean.”

“In what sense? He hasn’t managed to get us killed yet, so… that?”

“You know…bringing him up, teaching him good from wrong… protecting him…”

“Huh? I thought you had left that whole “mother-son” business and stuck with the “brother-sister” thing. You agreed to it, for his sake.”

“…He did. I never said I´d follow through with it…”

Nathan dropped the sarcastic act for a moment and saw something dangerous had developing under his nose.

“Urghhh… Dammit, Vivi…you know that´s-“

“Wrong? Of course I do… he´ll never accept me as her mother… I don´t blame him for that. I mean, I´m pretty horrible as a sister already…”

“Vivi, you know I didn’t mean it like that. That type of thinking will only get us all into trouble down the line. You need to… I don’t know, let it rest for a while.”

“I… I can´t let it rest, OK!? I won´t ever let it go! I dragged that bloody kid from that hellhole, you have no idea what sort of baggage he´s carrying, I… I can´t…”

“Vivi, calm down… take a deep breath… we´ve been through this already, just let it out.”

“…I-I want to keep him safe, and yet… Dammit, Nate, he believes that he´s alright, but one wrong move and he´ll start a massacre or worse. His mind has been through more than enough, he´s carrying all of his dead around with all the guilt and pain and he´s still trying to push through. One day, he´s going to drop and… and… God, I don´t…”

“Hey, come on… sit down, you should be standing up for this.”

Vivi hated having to cry in front of people, but with Nate it was different. He understood her better than most, which was quite difficult to understand considering how much of an asshole he usually was. That just shows, sometimes the biggest of assholes often have the biggest hearts.

“… What do you think I should do? Keep things as they are? What if he is going down the drain?”

“Look, I haven’t seen anyone giving as much of a shit as you have for Czesch. You are already doing a lot to keep him afloat, and I find your approach is the best. Stay there with him, but on a second layer. Be on top of him and he´ll start to hate you… and I´m guessing you don’t want that.”

“… You are starting to sound like him…”

“He´s not without reason, you know. He´s a really smart lad, we should listen to him more often. And, trust me, if he finds himself in a pickle, he´ll be calling you first.”

“You think?”

“Come on, you are a bloody angel for him! He knows you´ll be there if he finds himself between a gun and a hard place! So, if you want to truly keep him, just make sure to be there. That´ll be enough for him.”

“… Fuck me, when you put it like that… makes me look like a bit of an idiot.”

“Well, you are quite the idiot… makes you wonder why you are leading the team.”

“Oh, fuck you!”

“I´ll leave you to whatever you like doing when you throw me out… oh, if you speak to your brother, tell him that he owes me those drinks from the last time we met. I never forget when someone owes me something!”

“I´ll be sure to tell him, just go! That´s your bloody problem, you can´t stay lovely and sweet, you have to fuck it up at the end!”

“And you love me for it! Catch ya later, V!”

Nate left the room, leaving a Vivi who had just been given a bit of relief after a hard week. Her last of her family had left, maybe never to return, and the person she wanted to protect above all else was fighting all alone in a war that he hadn´t fight before. And Nate, the least likely of candidates, had given her some hope for the future.

She went over to her PC. Maybe writing some reports would let it all sink in.

“You think we did good? I mean, Hawkins looked pleased.”

Czesch was glad that the last class on Monday was over. He had slept through most of it, but some of the teachers had forced him to actually participate, and so he did… giving awkward statements that just made the class laugh and made him look like an idiot.

“I hope he´s fucking pleased. Spent 3 bloody hours writing that report and going through it, got a massive headache because of it! If he finds any nitpicks, I´ll murder him!”

That was Annie´s other side, the vengeful one she had shown when they first met.

“Talk about anger management…”

“You slept through most of that! I still cant believe you do that.”

“I still cant believe you didn’t wake me up more than that… I need some bloody stimuli to remain awake and sitting still doesn’t work for me.”

“Next time, I´ll have you run laps around the place. That´s bound to work… argh, let´s go home, I´m beat!”

“Yeah, I can relate to-“

“Don´t. You. Dare.”

They were about to leave the class, but then a girl approached them, calling out to Czesch. She didn’t look like one of their classmates and, when she approached, Annie made a small growling sound only he heard. He could only guess as to why she would act that way…

“Hmm? What is it?”

The girl was a huge bundle of nevers joined together, trying her hardest to not faint by the stress on her.

“Err, I- I mean, umm- Alice wants to see you!”

“Alice?”

“She´s waiting at the back, p-please go there!”

She went off running, leaving a very puzzled Czesch, who was looking at Annie in the hopes of an actual explanation. Annie simply sighed.

“She´s one of the most popular girls in school. Boys all over her and she toys with them as she pleases.  She must have heard of your little victory the other day, and wants to see if you are worth it. Not sure if she´s still with her last one, probably dumped him already, so… bad luck, I guess.”

She gave him a pity tap on the shoulder, as they both continued through the corridors.

“You think it´s worth a visit?”

“I´m afraid you don’t have much of a choice… you refuse her, she´ll make your life here almost impossible.  And she can round up quite the number of idiots, so even you´d have trouble.”

“Man, I do love this vast array of choices on display!”

“Snark wont work too well with her, so try to dial it down a bit… scratch that, a lot. She´s not known for her culture or smarts.”

The Kid crossed his fingers on both hands, smiling as he did so.

“Wont make promises.”

“Just call me when you are done and I´ll see what you should do in the aftermath … I´m afraid I can´t be of much help when it comes to dealing with our... classmate…”

“You two that close?”

Annie clicked her tongue, the notion of them being friends probably too digusting to process.

“If by close you mean “I want to claw your eyes out” close, then yeah… pretty fucking close.”

“Well, I shouldn’t keep her waiting any longer… have fun!”

“Try not to listen to her too much!! Those braincells still have work to do!”

Czesch somehow felt like he was wasting his time. He had enough women controlling his every move, the last thing he needed was another one on top, especially at school. This “Alice” was bound to cause trouble, whether he did as told or not. He´d just have to roll with it and hope for the best… a train of thought he knew all too well.

To define Alice as “gorgeous” would be to make a disservice to her. She was stunning, even more so than Karen. She kept on this gleeful smile, even while waiting for him to arrive. She was truly giving away the image of “cheerful idol girl”. Why she was interested in him, he´d probably never fully understand.

“There you are!! What took you so long, handsome?”

Just by listening to the tone of her voice, the snark machine turned itself on without his consent.

“There´s this thing called “stairs” and I believe that they have this condition that you have to go through them to get places.”

“Hehehe, you are so funny!”

The machine immediately turned itself off, surprised by the existence of a being incapable of understanding his thought process.

“… And now you´ve completely lost me.”

“I wanted to meet you in person! We are in different classes, but the girls told me about you!”

“And what did they tell you?”

“They told me of a good looking transfer student that helped the football team win an impossible game… and, girl, they were right on the cutie part!”

Cutie? An impossibility. Well, he could be way more disfigured, but he was in no way the stalwart defender of good-looks. He´d give himself a 6 out of 10, a 7 if you stretched things. He was in no way a model, neither he was pretending to be one.

“I take it to myself to show transfer students around, since I work at the council! So sorry for reaching you so late, I had a ton of trouble last week and no one passed me the memo!”

He scratched the back of his neck, realizing that she had been most likely not doing much at all and only bothered with him the moment he did something outlandish.

“Yeah, right… well, I think I made my way around pretty easily, so I don’t want to take more of your time for-“

“Oh, no no no! You are not taking time away from my schedule! It´s my duty to show you around, so that way you can end up with the right people. Our town is very beautiful and kind, but it doesn’t have the best of the best.”

Aside from her lack of smarts, she clearly had one or two ideas straight.

“I´ve already made friends and such, so… yeah, a bit late for that. Also, school´s over for today. Don´t think you have to take your “council duties” so seriously after class.”

She began pondering… well, appeared to ponder. She was clearly just doing theatrics to paint an image that was already watered down.

“Hmmm… How about we do this? I have to go out shopping this afternoon and I need help carrying the bags around, so… you help with that and I´ll rub your back, give you tips for school life. I´ll even treat you to coffee,  how´s that?”

Coffee sounded good… hell, it sounded better than anything she had said beforehand!

“Errr… if it´s before 7 PM then I´m good. Have some work to do then.”

“Oh, you have a job!? You have to tell me all about it while we go out together!”

He stopped his train of thought for a second. Go out… those words had just come out of her mouth. Going out… as in a date. Czesch was trying to process this new info with the info he´d received from Annie. Was she trying to-

“Come on, let´s go!”

She grabbed him from the arm and carried him over and out to the sprawling city, firing all sorts of alarms inside Czesch´s head. That girl was dangerous, and Czesch´s 6th sense was telling him that only bad things would happen during this venture.

But he went onward, curiosity getting the better of him.

What the fuck am I doing here?... those words kept on repeating for the following 3 hours inside Czesch´s head. He went over with Alice to every single bloody shop in the city and, of course, she only bought stuff in half of them. The weight between his arms was nothing compared with the soul crushing one inside his mind. This was a new type of internal death that he had never been able to experience… and Czesch believed this wouldn’t be the last time feeling it.

They sat down at a café after she got tired of window shopping. She ordered some freaky drink made of 20 others, while Czesch ordered a jumbo cup. He´d need the caffeine to resist the temptation of killing.

“Well, that was fun, wasn’t it?”

“Huh, here I thought that having “fun” meant “not feeling dead inside”

“At least you were in perfect company! Look at the bright side!”

She had kind of a point. He was next to an extremely popular and gorgeous girl, whose main problem was the personality… and the bloody laugh. An ear screeching laugh that made flashbang damage look menial in comparison. That was one joke he had to share with Buri and Nate.

“Bright sides have suddenly turned quite dark…”

“You speak in a funny way, has anyone ever told you that?”

“It´s a mixture of lack of sleep and human desperation, mixed in with hopelessness and the fact that my existence is nothing more than a mistake based upon the whims of a being that is beyond my comprehension and one which will ultimately end with my demise.”

… Just from that outburst alone, he realized this “shopping” business brought up a side of him that clearly didn’t need any fresh air. Alice took as just some random rambling, choosing to laugh at it instead.

“Hehehe… so, you´ve already made friends in class? Who are they, if I may know?”

“Errr… Jan, Lucie, Kieran… and Annie as well”

She winced upon the last name, something he had seen coming from a mile away.

“Annie? You mean Anna? You made friends with that bi- I mean, girl?”

“She doesn’t seem like much of a bitch to me…”

“She really is. She likes to toy with people, whether they like it or not, and uses them for whatever purpose she wants… you see, she does this thing called “Reverse Psychology”.

“Oh really? And what is that “Reverse Psychology” you speak of?”

Of course he knew what it was. He just wanted to humor her to get some more info on Annie.

“She acts all disinterested, angry and aggressive at people to get the opposite reaction. That´s how she gets people to pay her attention. Luckily, she barely shows up to class… and when she does, she just acts like a punk and stirs up trouble.”

“Huh, never saw it that way.”

“I cant allow such a gallant knight like yourself be attracted to that sort of crowd! You are way better than that, right?”

The amount of irony in that sentence alone made him giggle for a few seconds. It was weird, getting told that he shouldn’t hang around a “wrong” crowd.

“Maybe I´m not…”

“You are an amazing guy, I can just tell by looking at you! Don´t concentrate on those troublemakers and hang out with my people! We are going to have lots of fun with you around, I assure you!”

“You are actually trying to sell me that? I´m impressed.”

“What do you mean? You can be with the cool kids! You´ll be friends with everyone at school!”

“I don´t think I really want that, to be honest.”

“Who wouldn’t want to be the center of attention?”

He stopped the snark. He stopped both that and his breathing. That sentence… had just turned a gear that shouldn’t have been approached. The exact wording from a companion that was long gone, even though he came after the Pack.

“W-What did you… what did you just say?”

“I… Who wouldn’t want to be the center of attention? You get to meet everyone, talk with them , enjoy their-“

He stopped listening. Czesch wasn´t there anymore, both in time and space. His mind went back 2 years and the space before his eyes transformed into a bombed out café in Italy, not overly different to the one he was sitting on in the present. He saw himself, standing there, watching the flames die out around the bodies of the people he had been charged with protecting. 7 people died because of his ineptitude, because he had let his guard down for 2 damn minutes. 5 adults and 2 children who had received the blast of an RPG, a shot he should have stopped. Deaths that wouldn’t be on him, had he simply remained aware. And then he had fallen on his knees and cried, adding yet more trauma to his already accursed existance.

He returned to the present, to the annoying girl, to the jumbo coffee, to shaky hands and legs, to clattering teeth, to blinking eyes… you are still in control, he kept on telling himself, you are still in control… don´t lose it… don´t lose it…

“Chess, are you listening to me?”

Getting called in a wrongful manner was definitely not helping.

“…Kind of busy right now…”

“Busy? You are just looking at me like I´ve something on my nose or- Oh shit! That´s my-“

He turned his view to match hers, getting eyes on a boy with muscles that seemed much bigger than his brain, just from checking out his face. A random assortment of tattoos and a “modern” hairstyle only served to reinforce the Kid´s belief that this was one of the “cool kids” she had mentioned… and that immediately stopped any existing want to be associated with them.

“Alice? The fuck are you doing!? Are you cheating on me with this twerp!?”

It wasn´t enough he just had a déjà vu moment, but he also had an idiot misinterpreting a scene. Maybe Alice would-

“Maybe I am… I mean, he´s stronger and smarter than you. Then again, you could prove me wrong. I´d love to see you try that.”

A bitch. That´s how Czesch would define Alice at the moment, as he raised from his seat, still trying to retain his wits. They were certainly not making it easy…

“Look, mate, your girlfriend here is playing us fools both, in different ways. You see, she-“

Punch to the jaw, nice knockback to it. Czesch retaliated back, feeling his jaw come a little loose from the hit. Anger built up, but he kept it in check, massaging the area hit.

“If you let me finish, I can explain how-“

“You are not talking your way out of this one, asshole!!”

Another punch, face again. This guy was really trying to get him to show his fangs, but the punches didn’t carry much strength behind them. Still, they were annoying enough… and Czesch started losing his patience.

“Mate, you don’t want to do it again. Giving you one last-“

Last punch. The last punch Czesch would take and, this time, it went for the stomach. This time, he wouldn’t let the anger build up any longer. This time… he was pissed.

The boyfriend went for another hit, but only found his arm about to be twisted on a wrong direction as Czesch danced around him and locked his arm behind his back. His puzzled face immediately turned to pain and agony.

“Told you it was a bloody bad idea!!... Say, you like your arm, huh!? You like it!?”

“Arrrgghhhhh, fuuuck!! Let go, man! Let go!!”

“Told you to keep it cool, but nooooo!! You had to play it tough! So, guess what!?... come on!”

“What!? WHAT!?”

“You got yourself a week of rest at the hospital!! Have fun with that!!”

The twist was a perfect one, no opposing force making the contraction a more damaging one. A quick break followed by a sharp scream of pain. He would be amazed by his handiwork if a man wasn’t on his knees, crying in pain. Czesch quickly took out his phone and called for an ambulance, explaining that some random assailant had struck a man down. Upon finishing the call, Alice got up, glee and excitement forming up in a face that didn’t realize the inherent danger she was in.

“Hah!! Figured a wimp like you couldn’t take on a guy like Czesch… Unlike you, he knows what he´s doing.”

There was lust in her eyes, an absurd amount that was being misdirected by a being too annoyed at the world to make due on it.

“If you want to join him, keep on talking… I´m feeling generous today!”

“Err…. W-what!? Czesch, you are scaring me.”

He was done playing nice with the harlot. He´d speak his mind and she would listen.

“Listen up well, because I´m not going to repeat myself… I know your bloody kind. I´ve seen them litter the streets, selling their bodies to the strongest man they can find to taste a bit of their power and to feel powerful themselves. You lust for control over every single person and you will use any tool on your arsenal for a leash on every person you find. Well, guess what… you can´t put a leash on this one. It´s like trying to leash a wolf… you´ll end up losing an arm in his case. So, to give you a version even you´ll understand… try to fuck with me, try to play around and screw me over again… and I swear I´ll come for you… and the screams of this poor fellow will sound like lullabies when Im done with you…”

He left after his ultimatum, leaving a girl who had thought that she was in control shitting herself from something she hadn’t felt before. Rain started falling in the streets, a godsend to calm him down to his normal and another reason to take a shower.

He was amazed by 3 things: The fact that he had kept a killing spree from occuring, how lucky he was that he wouldn’t have to carry around more bags and how suave and movie-like that last threat had sounded in his head. Then again, he would have wished to not do that at all. There was no genuine thrill about making void threats like that and he despised having to solve problems like that through violence alone.

He suddenly remembered he had to call Annie. It was 18:10, so he would be able to talk with her on his way home. She was quick to answer, clearly expecting to receive a call like that and not having much to do.

“Wow, you sure took your time.”

“I… I got a little busy with her. Finally managed to get ride of her.”

He could hear the chuckle at the other side of the line.

“And? How did it go?”

“I scared her shitless, I can only be so patient with people.”

“Wait, what!?”

“She had me run around half of town carrying her fuckin laundry list of clothing, then she starts talking shit about you, ticks me off the wrong way, boyfriend shows up, I try to explain the situation while he tries to attack me, I get pissed off and scare them both shitless… I guess that´s a nice summary.”

“I still don’t get the “scared shitless” part. What did you exactly do?”

“Oh, I… I may… have actually broken the guys arm by mistake… aaaannddd… may have threatened to do worse to her if she pisses me off more, sooo…”

Another bout of awkward silence. Annie sighed at the other end to break it.

“… You really have fucking issues, you know that?”

“Yup…not my shiniest moment…”

“Still, good riddance… hell, good job! People like that need that sort of treatment! You did amazing, considering the circumstances!”

“Really? Not feeling too proud now, just… glad it´s all over.”

“I can imagine that she was probably quite annoying, but you know how to keep your cool. What tipped you off at the end?”

He couldn’t be completely honest about it. Couldn’t discuss the details of THAT contract, so he went with a secondary reason, which was as good and believable as any.

“Well, she called you a bitch… and… and I didn’t particulary like that.”

“Err… r-really? That was it?”

The hint of surprise clearly didn’t go unnoticed. That meant she wasn’t used to people defending her like that.

“Well, duh! I´m not going to stand idly like an idiot if people are talking shit about you! No one talks shit about my friends.”

“That… that´s actually really sweet of you… t-thanks…”

“She had driven me to the breaking point, so it is no wonder that saying that would break the floodgates… girl also had a hyena´s laugh… uuurrghh, just thinking about it makes me shiver”

“Most people would just take it in and let it slide… you are made out of different stuff, it seems… I´m glad… oh, before I forget! Got a call from Pete, told me to ask you as well!”

“Hmm? What is it?”

“We are going over to the lake on Saturday. Pete wanted you to come over as well, have some fun with the gang… you up for it?”

Something outside of school life that actually sounded exciting? He was more than ready for some of that.

“Always! Well, as long as work doesn’t pop up…”

“Relax, we´ll just be there for Saturday. If we stay in our spot any longer than that, the coppers will just drive us out, so we´ll just pack up and go before nightfall.”

“Huh, seems you have it settled already.”

“It ain´t our first time there… oh, I have to go! Talk to you later!”

“Alright, see ya tomorrow!”

He hung up right as he arrived home. Home… it was weird, calling it that. Still, it somehow felt right to do after the initial “getting used to” week.

What didn’t feel alright was filling up the reports yet again. And so he did, against better judgement, since there were no updates to make. He simply copy pasted previous info and called it a day, only updating dates and punctual data.

Such are the best parts of bureaucracy.

The following days were calmer in the sense that there wasn’t much to do. He received no more news from Alice, so his threat had probably sunk in quite well, certainly news to be happy about. He overheard some people talking about her evading his class, which only served to further cement his belief.

By Wednesday, Hawkins had already read their report… and he wanted the group to make a presentation about it and show it live. Apparently, it had been THAT good to garner the attendance of every single person at school, be it teachers or students. According to him, it was such an extremely well-documented and researched topic that the preparation of such an act was the least he could do to make it justice. As Jan explained it, with sweat forming in his forehead, he finished with one final remark.

“Worst part is Jack went ahead with it and made it a school event.”

“And is forcing all classes with or without Hawkins to come… he really wants us stoned, doesn’t he?”

It was tradition at that school that all presentations done would be rated by students themselves. A good presentation would get a pass, a bad one… well, let´s just say wasting the time of that many people had consequences.

“Well, nothing we can do now to sway them. Our only option is to charge through.”

“Czesch has a point there, they aren’t going to back down… besides, we have 2 weeks to get it into working condition. That´s plenty of time.”

Annie seemed to back in “chief” mode, grasping her face while ideas rolled out one by one.

“Might be plenty for you, but this is presentation we are talking about! We are going to need reading cards and-“

Annie raised her hand, stopping Lucie´s train of thought.

“No cards or sheets. That´s my number one rule when doing this sort of thing.”

“What, you expect us to learn it by heart, Anna?”

“That´s exactly what I´m saying.”

“You have to be kidding…”

Czesch saw the mounting tension and decided to intervene, clearing his throat.

“Hey, Annie is right. Nobody likes seeing a guy showcasing something while looking at his feet. It´s way better when the person is presenting the topic in a more humane way… a bit like how Jack and Hawkins do their lessons, it being always moving, always active.”

“Exactly. The moment the flow stops is the moment everyone will want to tear out our throats. We keep it simple and we keep it snappy… we aren’t doing a year-end college project, so lets go with serviceable instead of masterful for this one.”

“If it were that simple… we have a ton of info to boil down. Besides, I don’t know about Jan, but I´m terrible at presenting stuff.”

“Yeah, I get nervous and forget about half the stuff I have to say… how about you, Anna? Haven´t seen you do many of them.”

“I manage just fine… and Czesch here is really good at it, so I believe it´s possible. Any tips you may want to give?”

Czesch thought about it. In the past, he had to give out instructions and training regimes to army units in different countries, with the added impairment that he was a teenager talking with adults about waging war. Every time he had done it, he came out amazed by the fact that he hadn’t been mocked openly. Maybe he did sound that secure when doing so, but he doubted that was a deciding factor.

“The main thing is probably confidence… scratch that, just sounding confident is enough. Learn the most vital parts of the info you are supposed to deliver and expand as appropriate with what you remember. Never give out filler unless you think it´s interesting to spend a few more seconds on topic… above all, don’t panic. If you do, take a couple of seconds to calm down and start again.”

He had done it again, using his martial experience to deliver that information, with all those present looking straight at him with wonder. He scratched the back of his neck yet again, looking to a side in embarrassment.

“Dude, you sound like an expert in doing that.”

“Practice makes perfect, that´s what they keep on telling me.”

Annie called them to a halt and, after some deliberation, she snapped her fingers.

“We still have plenty of time… you know what? Let´s try something out. Lucie, try and find pictures about war movies, impactful stuff, as many as you can find… Jan, you can help her out with that, while also looking for movie clips we could use. Definitely more interesting if we make it a bit more visual.”

“If I were one of the guys watching, I´d want a bit more action going on screen, I guess.”

“And since we are talking about war in film, we can get plenty of moments… Czesch, you are in charge of the script.”

He was immediately by the sudden change of heart in Annie´s preparation procedure.

“Script? Thought we agreed on not resorting to that.”

Annie sighed in frustration, looking at him with anguish.

“Not a reading script, idiot! I´m talking about a proper one, like in plays! We can just fumble in there without knowing who says what. You are in charge of giving each of us a part to speak about.”

“… Alright, I´ll see what I can do. And what about you?”

“I´ll spend some sleepless nights trying to build a everything up with your material. Try not to send it on one sitting, otherwise it´ll completely break my workflow.”

“Well, seems like we got everything set.”

“Deadline for the info is this weekend. Next one we´ll have to start practicing, or else the entire school will try to burn us at some random stake… and there are plenty of places to do it too.”

Seeing that they were already done preparing, he sat back down on his table and took another quick nap, not before spouting the first thing that came to mind… whether it was good or bad.

“Sounds good to me… love it when you act like this, seriously, makes you look on fire…”

The other 3 looked at Czesch, surprised by his comment. Jan and Lucie tried to act disinterested afterwards, while Annie just attempted to keep her cool by brushing her hair to a side.

“O-Okay then!! Always good to… to know what to do, right!?”

“Oh, s-sure!”

“D-Definitely!”

He was already asleep, so they didn’t even bother asking him about it.

“He… he just fell asleep after that…”

“I think he just likes being random for the sake of it.”

“Probably loves seeing us react to shit like that.”

“Teacher´s coming in… Substitute one!”

It was time for art class, which Czesch despised greatly because of his inability to conjure up anything artistic. His art was war and the best drawings he knew how to make where those on a topographic map, discussing attack venues or patrols. His incompetence at drawing anything had taken a toll on him, so he tried his best to avoid such lessons to avoid unnecessary stress.

This class would be different though, for they would be analizing pictures instead of making them, another part of the artistic process. Due to the anniversary of the end of the Czech Civil War and the fact that several members of the class were of Czech origin, the teacher decided to use photographs taken during the conflict, completely disregarding any safety protocol in regard of those directly or indirectly correlated with the event in question (Lucie, for the latter).

Annie was certainly glad that Czesch was asleep for this one. She had seen firsthand his reaction to the film and that had only been an adaptation. How would he react to images he may remember more closely? She would find out soon enough, as the teacher called over to him to get his input.

“Ermm, Mr Travaly! May I have your attention, please?”

“zzzz…. Hmmm!? I´m awake, I´m awake!”

This triggered a quick burst of girly laughter. Then came silence.

“I noticed. Are you aware of the purpose of this lesson?”

He rubbed his eyes, trying to get them back to working condition. He began checking the images displayed by the projector and formed a theory in his head.

“You want to find artsy stuff in photographs, am I right?”

“In essence, yes. Thought you might want to help, considering your lack of part-“

“Hey, that´s Brno! Yeah, the clocktower on the western part of town, I remember that spot!”

“I´m glad you do, but we need to find something “inspiratory” from it… anything insightful might be good.”

He pondered for a few seconds… then turned to Buri´s advice on the matter. As he put it, “To describe art, you just have to find closest thing to it and add a word you´d use in a song of yours!”… as simple as could be.

“I dunno, err… the inevitable passage of time?”

The substitute was clearly surprised by his input, as well as the rest of the class. He was starting to act more like in Hawkins´ lessons than in the other subjects..

“Very good, very good! Try the next one, please!”

“Ummm, let´s see… that sure looks like the treeline around Bukovinka…  those people walking through it, shows grief, loss, lack of will, that sort of thing… poor bastards spent almost 3 days walking without any food in their stomachs, no wonder they aren’t exactly thrilled…”

“I think you may be getting the hang of it! Try the next one, please.”

“Okay…  that´s the lake west of Karlov… yeah, refugees used to drink from that water a lot, even though it made them vomit afterwards… seeing anxiousness, despair, but also respite… it was way better to test their luck than not try at all.”

“Good, good! Last one and we shall move on… I think this will be a bit more heartwarming than the others!”

“Let´s see… I-Wait, what? How- Wha- How in the-?”

Annie watched the picture… then looked back at Czesch… then back at the picture. There was a boy in it, smiling, extending out his hand to a little girl around his age, crying on the ground. The boy looked, in a sense, like a younger version of Czesch. Not by looks, mind you, but by general demeanor. That and the fact that he was clenching his fists were dead giveaways to the protagonists in the photo.

“Mr Travaly? Can you tell me anything about this one?”

Too many times in a single week. If he kept on seeing Laria everywhere, he was bound to do something stupid.

“I… I´m not… I think I… no?... Yes?... Maybe… Jesus, someone took a-”

“Well then… does this image bring anything up?”

He collected himself, taking a deep breath and finding whatever fit the bill.

“…Fucking hell… Hopelessness and Hope… Disparity and duality in the same mesh…”

“Care explaining for the rest of the class where that idea comes from?”

Seeing him struggle to even speak the words out, Annie decided it was time to finally intervene. There was no pleasure in seeing him suffering like that.

“Miss, could someone else answer this one? I think-“

“It´s fine, Annie… I´ll answer it.”

Annie acted believing that Czesch would be having a hard time just grasping the image, but his reaction and the way he looked basically said “Thanks for worrying, but I´m dealing with it myself”. She sat down again, waiting on his explanation.

“…You see that girl, grasping her bloody fingers, crying to herself… she has seen everything that she once held dear vanish in the glimpse of a second and believes it to be the end of her story… The boy, also in a bit of a pinch himself… he has been through a similar ordeal, witnessing some heavy things on his way and knowing that his death will bother no one.”

He took a deep breath before continuing, some classmates even tearing up at the sadness behind his explanation.

“The girl represents the “I´ve lost everything” notion, the end of the line, the dying of the light, that mumbo-jumbo… the boy, on the other hand, charges through the moment with the “I´ve nothing to lose” idea, the knowledge that nothing will be lost from trying, the drive to continue on, not to rebuild, but to create something entirely new… having been through the same, the boy has decided to grit his teeth and pull a smile, hoping to get the girl to see the same as him. He reaches his hand so that she… so that she may take it… and help each other out on the way.

He now noticed he had stood up, with most of the class trying their damn hardest to hide their faces, the teacher included. He sat back down again, making an audible enough sound so that the teacher would resume the lesson, a few tears still in her eyes.

“That… was an interesting theory behind the image…”

He muttered under his breath, still bitter at the sudden showcase.

“… if only…”

“Did you say something else, Mr Travaly?”

“Oh, no! Sorry, Miss, just… thinking aloud, that´s all”

“Okay… I understand the subject matter was quite hard, but I have to say you managed nicely… more than that, actually! I´ll make sure to tell Miss Beaum about it.”

“Thank you, Ma´am… I mean, Miss!”

“…Alright, let´s go over to the next one…”

Annie could actually feel Czesch sighing in relief after that, while also noticing how his left leg was twitching furiously. He wasn’t sleeping, he just looked forward… immersed in his own thoughts. As if he was there only in body, his mind drifting somewhere else where he would be able to think in peace.

Too many questions, little to no answers. And she knew pressing him would bear no result. The guy was quite stubborn when he wanted, and for that particular subject he was bound to not be very talkative. She´d get him one day, she figured that much.

Yet…There was something she did wonder: Was the girl in the picture in a way related to that of the film? If so, what kind of relationship did she have with Czesch?

The only thing she really knew was this: The girl had been important to him. Very much so.

Next Chapter: Chapter III: The Drowner, The Exile and The Fake Musician