The Children Of Thalia

Storms

"Hey, Theo, you've been coming home a lot lately, is there something wrong?"

"Replace again, I'm training until the afternoon for next month."

"Oh, that? Then practice seriously, not half-heartedly if it's captivated."

It was November 24th last year. I lied. I'm taking extra hours to get a little more pay. I think our father would have known about it later on, but he had never discussed it with me.

"Theo, let's eat, you haven't eaten since lunch, have you?"

"I ate cheap bento at school, after all I rarely feel hungry when I'm working."

"Stay away. You'll get sick if you get used to it. Come eat, I've prepared the curry."

Twelve February last year. At that time our finances were down. I did deliberately not eat in order to provide additional nutrients to Lizzy. But our father had a keen instinct. She probably knew about me forcing her not to eat, so she deliberately cooked to make me feel bad if she refused.

"Theo! That wound... You fought again!?"

"....... Falling down the stairs." I answered while turning my eyes.

That was two years ago, when I was just entering Junior High. Some school delinquent blackmails a student. Upset at it, I tried to defend the boy, but was instead summoned after school to their gathering place. They're the first ones to start punching, so I beat them all up. Luckily the incident happened after school and outside the school environment as well, so there was no official report to the school.

If I remember any more, I lied to the old man a lot. Good-natured old man who extended his hand to a delinquent like me. Though from the beginning I had asked to take care of Lizzy enough, because I was not sure I could take care of her alone. But he accepted me, they accepted me. Val, Ruby, Marc, Michelle, Ariane, and Lee. Although we didn't know each other at first, not bloodily, not from the same region, but they accepted me and Lizzy as their brothers. Although I often wake up late, come home late, often sneak out at night, often hide things, difficult to tell about anything, they still understand it. And it wouldn't have happened if I hadn't met old man Jirca, the father who united us into a brother, a family.

But now, what I saw before my eyes made my chest completely congested all of a sudden. Our father collapsed. His eyes slowly closed. I could see his lips moving slowly muttering something, but my ears could not hear him, only a hum could I hear.

The muzzle was lifted up again, directed at me. The guy's finger pulled the trigger. In the final moments, I felt a strong urge that brought me back to life. My eyes immediately focused on the muzzle of the gun. At a time like this, there's not much I can do, except......

"Gh!!"

My hand quickly grabbed the curtains that separated the living room with a small hallway leading to the family room. I pulled the curtains to block their view, but the gun barked again. A hot sting like being stung by a big wasp I felt in my arms and shoulder blades. There was no time to look at this wound. Soon I ran into the parlor. There's a breaker at the end of the hall. My hand immediately lowered the entire lever as it passed through it. It's just instinct, I don't know if it's profitable or not.

Those guys ran after. Three shots they fired again. Two misses, one scratches my back. May it only be scratched. I turned at the end of the corridor, leading to the top floor, but the men quickly chased and opened fire again. I paused my intention to go straight upstairs and instead ran straight towards the dining room. I took a leap before sliding down the dining table, then got up and turned the table over as shelter. They shot many times, but luckily this table was thick enough for bullets to penetrate.

I grabbed a knife that happened to fall next to me. Wait for the right moment. Their ammunition was infinite, there must have been a time where they had to refill bullets. That's when I'll move.

The shooting stopped for a moment. A good opportunity. I took a breath, held it tight, then ran to the edge. My eyes glanced at them after moving. The guns are back in charge, but they haven't aimed. Perfect, just distract a little.

The knife I threw at the front attacker. I don't know if it's going to hit or not, I've never tried throwing knives before, but after hearing one of them groan in pain while shooting blindly, he said, I know my knife hit the target. The other attackers directly pressed the trigger, but their shot was drastically reduced in this darkness. Good idea shutting down the breaker, myself.

Amidst the hail of bullets hunting me, I rushed towards the kitchen. They used dampers, making the fire from the mouth of their pistols not big. It benefits both sides; they will not provoke attention around by the loud sounds of gunfire, I am also still safe in the darkness as the light from the explosion of their weapons has diminished. However, a gun shot is not something that can be underestimated, so I took a safe path that covered some furniture to minimize the percentage of shots.

Their shooting stopped again. Recharge sometimes sucks, huh? The opportunity came to me again.

What I was after was an object next to the refrigerator, a red tube of light fire extinguishers as a form of father vigilance at the fire incident. It's a little risky, but I don't have a choice.

The fire extinguisher lever restraining pin was lifted, then I quickly ran around the stairs. Their guns spewed fire again. Wait a minute, calm down. Let them panic and be confused. Usually I hate my body which is even smaller than Lee's, but for this time alone, I thank you. They find it hard to see my form moving agilely in the darkness.

After about four shots, they stopped attacking. One of the men behind them gave a flashlight to the three gun holders in front. Heh, so they haven't brought him in since? I was quite disappointed by the ability of these people to estimate many things in the attack at night. Even so, it's my luck. This surprise trick would be more useful if they could see in a limited viewing space.

I moved slowly closer to them. Their focus is on the kitchen. Thanks to the father who likes to cook, the spacious kitchen so it has a lot of places that can be suspected as a hiding place. Thank you also for the stupidity of those who did not split up looking for me in the whole room and instead gathered in one place.

My hand reached for a spoon lying a bit away from the dining table. I carefully threw the spoon across, making them look surprised. They're all approaching that spoon, you idiot.

My heart couldn't stop beating as I sneaked closer to them from behind. Anger, sadness, disappointment, feelings that I didn't know I would ever feel again.

"Hey........"

I said in a deep and hoarse voice. They were surprised, all of them. Their bodies had not completely turned around, their weapons were not ready to shoot. They may be amateurs, or at least not have enough war experience. But it doesn't matter now. They shot dad, they were a threat to the parlour, to Lizzy. If I don't do this, Lizzy will be in danger. Although this method is high risk, I have to do it.

My right hand firmly pressed the fire extinguisher lever full. The chemical ash from inside the tube gushed out creating a heavy white mist that invaded them all like snow. They all screamed, shocked and panicked. Their guns shot in all directions, two shots hit my thighs and arms, but the rest missed. I've read this in one book before, he said fire extinguishers are quite dangerous if sprayed directly on humans. First, if it hits the skin, the chemical powder in it will give the effect of frostbite on the victim. For the eyes, it will provide irritation so they can not see for a moment, and if sucked, it is possible to irritate the throat to make them feel tight. Real nice. Truly an effective impromptu weapon. Hey, dad, the fire department you're preparing isn't just for fire emergencies.

After collapsing while groaning due to eye irritation and tightness, that was enough for me. I don't attack to kill, only to have them incapacitated. For a moment I looked at them with murderous desire, but I didn't. I'll just pare for later. The priority now is to save Lizzy and the others. The enemy is no ordinary bandit. I don't understand their language, but I know which language it is. It was a language I never expected my ears would hear again after so many years had passed.

I quickly ran up the stairs, towards my sisters' room. It hurts, the whole wound on my body suddenly hurts. Why not from earlier? Why should it be now? My eyes also began to twitch. Shit, maybe one of those shots hit a big vein. I had to quickly evacuate them before losing consciousness.

"Sister?"

......* * * * *......