Chapter 6.5: A Friend And Work
Chapter 6.5: A friend and Work
After checking to see there was no one around to give the others a hard time he gives them a hand signal to the guys below and on roofs that he's in and to start up the plan. They give their own signals to show that they are ready.
He gets to around more closely as bags and crates filled the room up, all either with labels or random stuff on top of them. The smell of gunpowder and rotting wood filling his nose, walking around the room for a second before grabbing the door handle and checking his surrounding area, it was empty of people.
There are two floors to this place, he needed to hit one room on the top floor and another on the first floor. Both with specific thing the client wanted, a person and a file of a buyer.
One would think that would be impossible, taking a whole person without being detected by a guarded building.
However, there was one thing these three always made sure for whatever job they take, give it everything they had into it and make sure not to fuck up anything to a point of no return.
He sees that the distraction is in motion as he moves, the men below being called for a "disturbance" outside. He moves past room after room before making it to the first room he needed to be in, the door locked he grabs a hair clip he keeps as the knob shakes with each twist and turn the clip makes.
A sound of a click tells him its open as he turns the knob and sneaks inside the room. The area he enters is piled with paper upon paper, files with names and dates of each transaction happening between this group and a whole trading railroad of others.
He gets to work as he surfs through the names and dates, digging through each paper for a certain initial given to him during the briefing before this. Moving past a desk and onto a crate with word of "أسلحة".
After finding nothing he stares at the other containers with scraps of useless or important papers they might not even need. He hears the commotion outside is starting to get ramped up as the sound of gunfire and shouts make their way into his ears.
He remembers during the meeting leading up to this heist that the client had said something about a box with a latch or something metal keeping where that file they wanted was in.
He made his way through the crates as he scans each of them for that specific important detail.
"I'll do it." Jake says as Marc eyes rolled back and is in control, it only take him a second but eventually he finds the box with the latch on it. It seemed to have a unique detail on it as there was a red line on the side of it, it just seemed to be more important than the rest.
The latched creaked open as he opens to see whether the contents they need are intact there, there are casing bundles of hay inside, he digs through it. A hard surface meets his glove as he pulls out a plastic suitcase like box that would be used to transport weapons, in this case, however, held files.
Hundreds of them even.
'Why would they hide files here?' The thought followed with creased eyebrows and a confused expression.
He pulls them out and scans them for that initial, something however catches his eye. The initials of something with "AH" with a small marking of the same tattoo that the Timsaeh people had. His left eyebrow lifted at this, it was too much of a coincidence for this to be here.
And in this case nonetheless. Who cared if curiosity killed the cat, a cat had nine lives. He opens the vanilla folder as he checks the contents on why the Timsaeh were even anywhere near this group of people.
From what he could see, there were a small transaction here and there. Weaponry, medical kits, and other materials that were essential for what seemed like survival. It seemed like normal illegal trading from one group to another.
Still, Jake felt something was off. He didn't trust the Timsaeh, never has and never will. He however was on a time crunch and the guys below could only keep the guards, (if you could call them that) occupied for so long. He needed to finish this job, so he instead steals the paper.
He folds the paper and stuffs it into their pocket before moving onto the next files.
He reachs again pulling out another file from inside the crate. They said the file should be here, there was only 5 more files to go through before the sound of footsteps made him stop.
Not wnating to risk it, he puts the files on the desk before making his way behind the door. His hand going towards his pistol ready to pull out in case he is caught.
The steps quicken as he hears the noise behind the wall. The voices sounding confused and frustrated, "هذه الوظيفة هي ألم في المؤخرة." The muffled voice say as a hummed sound of agreement, echos of footsteps keep him there until he knows they are far enough not to hear him. He waits a couple more seconds before leaving the hiding place and going back to the crate.
It was the second to last file where he finally found the file they wanted, the initial of "AM" Show up as he places the file in his jacket, a pocket big enough to hold the file. Putting the other paperwork back and closing up the crate to how it was, he walked towards the door and checked for any guards around, finding them to be in their own world.
He takes the opportunity and leaves to towards another room to hide before closing the door behind him. He makes it towards a window before signaling he grabs the file. One gives him a thumbs up before Jake goes and gets ready to retrieve the next thing on his list of demands.
"Hey, wanna play?" A whispered voice comes out as Katalina puts the comic down after reading it for the 5th time now.
'Okay, maybe she enjoyed the comic than she thought she would.'
It was one of Gena kids.
'Ray was his name, right?'
"Aren't you working?" She asked the boy as he opens the door a little bit more. "No, every week we get a day off." The information getting her attention, maybe they made a good amount to not have to work every day, that's good.
She had heard stories of the before times, people working everyday to meet the bills for their everyday expenses, it never made sense to her.
"So, you wanna play or no?"
She looks down at the comics and then back at the boy. She could read the same story again — but than she would get bored of it and she rather not.
Plus, she was getting bored of being stuck in the room. It's not that she wasn't greatful, but its like being a plant and plants needs sunlight. She had finished her chores for Gena that she had been assigned to her in the morning anyways.
Finally deciding she nods showing a grin on her face as she gets off the bed and puts her shoes on. Fixing the ties into bunny ears and then double knotting it to be sure.
She reaches for her backpack as she started to put her hand through one of the straps before his voice intrupted.
"Don't need it, we aren't going far." He reassures her. A little stunned at first but slowly nods as she puts the backpack back, it sat against the wall before he waits for her in the hallway.
The hallway was open and bright, walking down the hallway she smells the sweet smell of tea, it makes her smile slightly as she sees Gena siting down with her other son Ricky.
"Where you two going?" Gena ask as the two kids looked at her. Katalina looks over at Ray who looks at her than back at hisat his mom.
"Just downstairs, we'll stay in the box area. Promise mom."
The women looks at the two, before sighing and giving in.
"Be careful. If you hear any gunfire, you run right back here. Understood?" She reminds her son, and now this girl temporarily put into her care by someone who trusts her to keep this kid safe until he comes back.
The two kids nods as the boy runs towards the door, the girl surprised suddenly runs after the boy and both leave together from the apartment. He runs down the steps as others are walking or talking with each other as they see the kids fly pass then.
"Last one down is a rotten egg!" Ray yells and Katalina takes the challenge as she mentally tells her legs to run faster, soon the two are head to head as they make it down the stairs way.
It's was a close one, but Ray ended up winning as their lungs fought a breath of air to cool them down. Chest hurting but high on adrenaline to really feel it in their lungs as they rested up from what seemed like a marathon to them.
"You went first, that's why you won."
"No, your just slow."
The two kids looked at each before laughing, they sit down at the steps of the entrance to the apartment complex as people came and went. The sun beat down on them, sweaty kids on whatever day it was now.
"Do you wanna play uno again?" Ray asked as Katalina smiled.
"Do you even have to ask." As a shit eating grin appeared on the girls face.
He pulls the card box out and lays it down giving her seven cards and pull seven cards for himself as the two went ahead and played the game.
They played for two hours.
"I'm just gonna beat you again dude, just call it quits, and maybe I'll give you mercy." Katalina mocks as she places down another blue card down.
"No way! I'm gonna beat you, just watch." Ray retorts with as a plastered smirk was on his face as he places down a red card, Katalina was out of red cards.
"Oh come on!" She whines in defeat as she grabs cards from the pile to the left of her.
"I told you I would get you back." He snickered as he watches the girl go from only three cards to eight.
The sound of shot being fired catches their attention. Their smiles dwindle as they stop moving, waiting to make sure they heard correctly. Again, the sound of bullets flying triggers the flight or fight reflex.
They grab whatever they can of the game as they run back inside the building, it seemed like the whole place had somehow gone to war as see people below are running like ants. They keep running as fast as they can back to the apartment.
There already was Gena with the door open.
"Inside, now!" She yells as the two kids rush inside as she slams the door shut behind her. The two drop the cards on the ground as they see both Gena and Ricky moving thing to open places.
Katalina rushes with Gena to cover the door with a cabinet while the boys plug up the window with whatever they could find large enough to, the sound turns from bullets to explosion too quickly as the ground below starts to rumble with each one that went off.
The ground shook as Gena pushes all the kids into another room, it was the one where she had been placed temporarily until the guys came back. Gena pushed the children to a corner as she pulled the wooden panel from below off showing some weapons and money that laid inside the little compartment.
Katalina whinces before covering her ears to not hear the sound of screams and combustion that was happening outside. Gena grabbed her shoulders and pushed her to sit down on ground next to her children who seemed to be holding each for the time being.
The ceiling shook as three kids huddled together for some type of comfort while Gena loads the shotgun with bullets. She points at the door ready to kill whoever comes through the door, her hands seem to be shaking slightly but her eyes were steady and observent.
The fighting continued for what seemed like an eternity before it started to simmer outside, the tense air filled up as the smell of smoke and metal circulated the oxygen they inhaled.
Soon the sound of things moving made them tense as all four people inside the small room seem to have all sense at a all high ready for whatever came. The adrenaline hitting hard for their instinct to kick in whenever.
It was silent before a knock was heard.
"It's me, I promise." A muffled sound comes out as the kids looked at each other.
"Marc?" Gena asked.
"Yeah, it me. Open the door Gena."
He sounded drained, Gena falters before slowly taking off the chair and unlocking the door, the shotgun still point as the door creaked open.
He comes in, grime of ash and blood. Darken eyebags than before with his clothing seemingly ruined and holes littered it. His hands were up in the air to show he wasn't an enemy to them.
The gun is lowered to the ground as the women walked over to him, he lowers his hands as she lead him to one of the twin bed in the room. He groans as he sits down, his black curls were messed up and his body seemed beyond used.
"Ray, Ricky, please go and get me the med-kit. Kat, please go get a rag and a bowl of some warm water." She instructs the kids as they all slowly got up from the floor and off to do what they were asked of.
Living in the place was easy as they didn't have complicated layout, she finds the cabinet where the cups, bowls, and plates were stored. Grabbing a medium size bowl she turns the tap and feels the water for a couple minutes before deeming it warm enough to not burn.
Filling it half way she puts it down before grabbing a rag from another cabinet, pulling a red one as she goes back grabbing the bowl and bringing it back to the room where the other two had already brought the med-kit.
"Here." She tells the lady as she nods and grabs the bowl from her before taking the rag gently from her hand. Marc looks at her, the girl looked fine.
Steven had said to make sure the kid was okay when they came back after the whole battle outside, there had been many casualties but they had managed to get rid of the ones who had started it. She slowly lifts her hand to give a small wave.
Marc just stares at her. He seemed out of it for the most part, his eyes seeming almost empty for the most part. His expression of being stoic being apparent. Her eyebrows are pinched, she looked concern for him, she didn't have to be, it's not her problem.
After a while of staring at each other for a couple seconds before he lowered his head to the ground,he was just tired. They hadn't slept since the job, and it was catching up to them.
"Come on, let my mom help him." Ricky said as he gently grabbed her shoulders and pushed her to move as the three children left the room. Their footsteps with no rhythm as they walked down the corridor again for what seemed like the third time today.
A couple minutes later Gena come out, the sound of her coming gets the children attention as she looks at Katalina.
"He wants to talk with you." Her voice steady as the girl nods and gets up from the chair she had sat on. She felt her hands were sweaty, why was she nervous?
The way to the room seem to stretch forever, she felt like she hadn't even moved at all. Before she knew it she was right there, wiping her hands on the shirt she had on today and grabbing the knob as she turns it.
She sees him, he still sitting on the bed, his face and arms dressed in bandages. He looks up as the switch happened, his once straighten back slouched slightly as he looked at her.
"Steven?"
"Yeah. It's me kiddo, sorry we took so long."
She feels slight relief that it was Steven who had fronted this time, she doesn't know why.
"It's fine. You guys, okay?" She ask as she glances the wounds on his face, they look cleaned but definitely would need to time to heal.
He nods moves a little only to winced at the wounds but tries to hide it for the time being.
"Feel like I got hit by a truck, but I'll live." He says with the best reassuring smile he could muster, his body felt like it was on fire and constant pulsing from the bruises and cuts they had gotten from the past couple of days was killing him.
"So, what now?" That was the big question, she wasn't sure whether they were even in a good condition to even move at all, but it's was up to them nonetheless.
"Well, we managed to get a ride. A little close than what we would have had to walk to get there. It would still take us a week to make it to where our other friend will be." He explains as she listens to him, at least they had a ride. But he was injured, how the hell they would even make it that far was beyond him.
"Do you know when we have to get on this ride?" And he lays down on the bed. "It will be here in two days, give or take." He answers, that's not nearly enough time for them to heal up.
Whether he can takes it or not is the problem, it's the fact that he won't be able to fight as good as he could with all the injuries they have on themselves.
"I don’t know if that's a good idea, not to be rude man but you look like you got the ever lasting shit beaten out of you." She grimace, he definitely is not ready to go.
His jaw tightens as his head turns to look at her. "That's not your problem kid, this might be our only chance to even get anything like this in a while."
Her lips pursed at this.
"Alright." She responds with as she looks at the man, he looked like shit. But he didn't seem to bothered or either was trying his best to make it seem like it.
For the most part she couldn't tell if he was in pain or not, but he won't tell her that.
"We will leave in two days. Have everything you need packed by then." He instructs as he looks at the ceiling and puts his arm in his eyes.
Yay!!! Finally we are getting somewhere with them. I wanted to make this chapter a little longer than before and hopefully I succeeded with that.
Sorry for taking so long. A medical issue was happening, and I was needed, so this had to be postponed while I assisted with what was needed from me. Everything is no worries there👍
Another note to add on is that I don't speak nor write in Arabic, so if there is an error in how it is written—please let me know. It would really help with anything I could improve on in the future of this story!
Thank you for your patience and hope you have a good day, afternoon, and night.
Sky 💜
More Posts from Moonlightguidesky and Others
WARNING: METION OF GUNFIRE, BOMBING, KILLING A MINOR
You have been warned
Chapter 6: A friend and Work
She wakes up to the sound of clanking, groaning before going to rub her eyes. Yawning as she pushed herself to sit up from her sleeping bag, looking around she saw him.
"Estas despierta, good." Jake comments as he closes the lid to the pot.
The warmth of the fire lit make it better as a small whisp of wind came, she doesn't shiver. He gets up before walking to his pack as she pulls the lid of the pot, the sight of a liquid inside of it.
"It's tea." He answers before she can even ask what it was.
Looking up at him before he sights go back to what she know knows is tea, it had a sweet aroma with hints of bitterness as it bubbled.
"You like tea?" She ask as he sighs before giving a half nod as he went back to whatever he was digging from their pack.
She nods to no one as she layed back on her sleeping bag, the ground tough and yet soft all at the same time. It was mostly silent besides the sounds of the fire crackling near her before deciding she was bored. Grabbing her bag as she tries and find the book she still had from the day she left her dorm room in the orphanage.
Back when she was at the QZ all they ever told her was that nothing in the library or whatever that place was would keep her alive. She knew that, but it wasn't for her benefit, it was to keep her sain.
The constant drills of military drilled into her skull the minute she was in that damn orphanage, the beating she took for who knew what the girls would make up about why they did what they did. She just took it before going back to the nurse who just knew from footsteps who was coming to see her.
All she would want to do at the end of the day was listen to any type of background music and pick her book to leave the world for a second. Even just a second to keep her going, the stories filling her brain with ever little knowledge it had to offer her.
She was alone for the most part anyways since her roommate would always leave the minute she got there. She never had friends, not really, just herself, and most times she was okay with it.
But she would yearn for what she had before, mourn the lost of connection with people who just understood, her parents understood.
A cloth was thrown at her face before she could even try to stop it, she's thrown a back by the action as the cloth falls on her lap.
"Ow."
"Tie that in your hair." He instruct as he put on a black newsboy cap, some curls were stick out before he tucked them inside, the little bits of curls hanging from back instead.
She looks at the cloth, it looks like a bandanna, she starts to grab her hair and bundles them up into a pony tail, grabbing as much hair as she could.
She wraps it once before going again, the pony tail tightens as she fixes it the best she can, the wind blowing in the back of neck now that there was more space for it to flow through.
"Ten." He throws another thing at her as this time she is paying attention and grabbing it, it's a hat, not like his. It's a baseball hat with on little symbol on it, a black beetle on it.
Pushing some of her hair back before putting on the cap, it fits snugly, she pulls some of her curls up front. They hang in front of her before she looks back at him.
He had took the little pot off and had two tin cans up, he poured the tea into the cans, the steam coming out the make shift cups before he dumps the rest to the fire as it dies out from the liquid.
He pushs the cup in front of her for her to take.
"Drink it before we leave." She nods before blowing into the tea. He follows before going for it and drinking the brown liquid. He hold it upside down before putting it back into his pack.
She slowly finishes hers before stuffing it into her backpack, they pack up whatever was left and continued walking, the sky start to slowly erupt with colors of orange and yellow.
They make it a two miles from the borders of Libya before he stops. She stops behind him as he turns to her with a serious expression which made her confused.
"Tenemos que hablar de reglas antes de llegar a Libya." He states.
"Rules?"
"Yes."
Then he starts and lays out the rules for this whole thing. He talked about it with Marc and Steven, they both knew what can happen in other places and how bad something can get. They need to make sure she wasn't a victim to whatever was pulled until they get to one of Jake contacts.
"One, if anybody offers you something, you don't take it."
"Okay, so stranger danger type of stuff then." She remarks before he nods. "I know that stuff already, anything else?" She inquires.
"Don't tell anybody about your-" He stops before look at her shoulder where her bite mark is engraved into her skin. "Condition, you show it or tell anybody they will kill you. No hesitation."
She nods as she knows the risk that she was in, any slight could end with her brains being blown out because of instinct to the sight.
"Finalmente, you do what we say when we say it. Me entiendes." He said not as a question but a statement. She gives a nod.
It's not enough, she needs to understand.
"Repeat it."
"Whatever you guys say goes." He sighs but take the responds as he nods before they continue in the territory from the borders of Egypt passing into Libya.
Sellers and Auctions were happening everywhere, this was a place where a majority of trading and Smugglers would gather to sell and take what they could from this market.
She gazed at everything she saw, photos, books, jewelry, food and drinks of all kind that could be thought of was there. Conversation of the ton were being held as he pushed forward to keep going through the crowds that bundle and wouldn't let up.
The smells of spices and burning rubber was strong in the air, yet still felt dry as they walked through this makeshift market Jake had taken them to.
He guides her through the place as people were grouped trying to make deals with other sellers. She looked at almost everything that was being shown, the amount of objects she wished she could touch out of reach since he kept her going in certain direction.
Many turns from left and rights lead them to one stall, the articles of objects that the stall contained were all types that dangled infront of it like beads and clothing as the seller look at Jake with his best charming grin he can make.
A way to lower any type of wall the man might have.
"!قميص للفتاة يا سيدي"
The man spoke as he pushs forward a shirt, it was in pretty good condition, the orange shirt littered with butterflies and bees. She looks at it with curiosity as she hadn't seen that design before, she was use to graphic tees or plain shirts and not patterned ones.
Jake looks at the shirt with the upmost disinterest.
"قميص جميل لفتاة جميلة"
The man compliments but Jake being Jake doesn't care before giving his answer of "She's good." Saying this all makes the man falter before he sees him pulling out a coin, the man looks at the coin, his face turning into a more composed and calm expression as to not look suspicious. He scans them before giving his nod of approval as he tilts his head slightly.
Jake nods in return as he pushes back the bright yellow cloth from the stall to show an allyway, "Stay close." He instruct as they move through other people who found themselves in this system of pathways.
She noticed all the different types of people that walked through, all with coverings she probably would need at some point if she doesn't want skin cancer anytime soon.
God, she would rather get a heat stroke than, well, anything that's worse than that.
A camel comes into sight and immediately she awes at animal.
"Camel." she mutters as she looked at the two humped mammal, she loved camels, she loved animals in general but she really liked camel, they were just so cool.
Thought they were beyond useful and were pretty self sustaining on their own. There was barely any animals in the QZ, but when she did see one she wanted nothing more than to learn about the animal.
How did they live? What do they eat? How long do they last for? Can you train them?
All the questions consumed her before she remembers that she is literally in an unknown and place and she has a higher chance of getting lost or kidnapped again here if she doesn't stick with the guy. So she makes it her mission to keep up with him, like she was suppose to.
Her face meet a harden muscle surface as she is shoved back, she falls back and lands on her ass. Looking up she see who exactly she "collided" with.
" !شاهد هذه"
A grating voice grabs her attention before she pushes herself up as she looks at who it was that she had smashed into and immediately felt a chill go down her spine.
The guy was freakishly tall, the color of his hair pepper and salt as it looked greasy to the touch, she notices small amount of blood on his face, he looked pissed.
Of course she she manages to upset a God damn giant while she's at it.
"Sorry." The mutter apology is all she can out as the guy snarls at her as she notices his first starting to form into a fist, his knuckles turning white and nails digging into his palm.
"I just apologized!" The girl defends herself as the man could give two fuck whether she did or not. He was provoked by a damn 14 year who just happen to be going in the same direction as him.
This causes her to back up even more as she looks at the ground to make herself smaller, maybe then he'll leave her alone if he doesn't see her as a threat to whatever stride he had going on in that thick skull of him.
The sound a familiar of heavy footsteps gets both attention as Jake stops a little way close to the man. He looked irritated, his jaw clenched and his eyes bore into the man.
The words that came out his mouth were firm as he stood his ground ".قالت إنها آسف." The two men look at each other and neither would move. Jake gestures the girl to move and with the message received she goes behind him as Jake made sure there was a space between her and the man twice her size.
The man looks ready to test his luck and try to get a hit at Jake and then the girl.
Jake stares the man down, his eyes lifeless and with obvious intent to not back down what the man wanted. Before he could he sees a cresnt symbol on Jake, his ring. He hears a scoff as the man's fiat slowly decompressed from their enlarged state, "راقبها." The man hissed at Jake before walking away while mumbling under his breath.
They watch as the man walks away before Jake looks back at the girl. "Watch where your going." He reprimand as she wants to retaliate, it wasn't her fault that guy didn't see her.
If anything, it was that asshole who should have apologized, he pushed her.
"He didn't see me, I wasn't even in his way." She defends herself as the Jake just scoffs at her words. He shakes his head, he doesn't have time for this.
"These people don't care whether your young or old, girl or boy, they will kill you." He chides her as she looked deep into his eyes, he tells the harsh real truth. Some people wouldn't care if she was a kid or not, they would do what they believe she deserves.
"Fine, asshole." She grumbles as she stormed forward from him in annoyance, he exhales a breath before before grumbling under his breath "Escuincla."
He walks and reaches her before passing as she reluctantly follows behind, they finally reached a space between five different allyways connected into one space. It's crowded with meetings and negotiations away from the public areas of the others who just past by.
Some stop and look at them before hushed whispers that echoed out in the air, she feels chicken skin beginning to surface. Yet, she doesn't show it.
'Strong.'
The word pops in her head before her face changes to a stoic expression, they keep looking before going back to their own conversations again.
He waits for her to move but she doesn't and stay still.
He firmly grabs her shoulders causing her to flinch for a second but they relaxed as he turned her to the left into a red overgrown building. They walked up the stairs as she sees the cracks and bullet holes slowly start to fade with each step up.
People were in the hallways, kids running before going around them as Jake put her in front, leading her who knew where.
"Where are we going?" She questions before an abrupt stop came, she turns and see it. It looked like a restaurant or something similar to it, it was small but seemed to be functioning well.
"Come on." Jake says already inside, there are men and women either sitting or at the counter making food and taking orders, it seem peaceful. "Gena!" He shouts out before a woman turns around from behind the counter and her eyes widen.
"Jake?" She mumbles before moving pass the other employees with a small smile on her face. She looks surprised but more than anything relief of seeing him.
"It's been long, huh?" Jake says as he puts his hand out to shake and she shakes it, both showing respect for another. "It has." She answers as she looked at him.
He had this look in this eye. She knew what it meant even after years of seeing each other now.
"Let go talk somewhere a little more private." She suggest as Jake nods before looking at the girl, he needs to do something about her. "Hold on." He ask Gena as she nods.
"Comes algo aquí. Don't move from here, got it." Jake said as he handed her some ration cards and watched as Katalina could only eye the paper before walking up to the counter and ordering food for herself. Once she sat down in a corner of the place he went to where Gena was waiting.
"Ray, Ricky!" Gena calls over two young boys who stop cleaning off some tables that had yet be clean up, putting the rag down and walked over to her, "yeah?" They both said as they looked at their mother.
"Keep an eye on her, alright?" She ask then as she points to Katalina who is playing with her hair, she parts a strand of her hair into smaller strands with her fingers. They curl at her fingertips before she let's it falls and starts the process again.
They nod as they go back to their task at hand, Jake opens the door for Gena as they both walked into another room.
Katalina waits for what she ordered as she sees the guy and lady he shook hands with enter another room to talk to each other, not sure about what since the guy didn't tell her much.
The inside of this place was almost a harsh noise, but she didn't mind it all that much. She felt the vibration of the sounds bouncing off the walls and into seemingly nowhere, it took a second to get accustomed to but eventually the ringing stopped and all she heard was noise.
The chatter had fizzled to the sound of ambiance of plates clanking and words spoken from the people who wished to speak.
A plate is set down which catches her by surprise, the urge to grab her knife kicked in as she looks up at who had spooked her. Dark brown eyes meet her's as he put down utensils and a foam cup with the sound of the liquid sloshing inside taking her attention instead.
The words of "استمتع بطعامك" come out as she nods and he leaves to where ever else he is needed. Looking down at the food she hears her stomach growl, a slight warmth reaches her face as she heard the noise.
The dish filled her nose with all types of smells of spices, nothing overdone and just the right amount. Perfection one might even say. She could feel her mouth water from it, she hasn't had cooked food in who knew how long—it's been years is all she knows.
She doesn't hesitate as she digs into the food, she eat's it all as her belly fills while she begins to questions what exactly they plan on getting help from in a restaurant. She suppose some connections can come from a place where people group or meet up but it didn't seem like the place.
Maybe that's why she isn't convinced that the guy didn't have much connection as she thought or really had much of plan to even get on whatever boat Khonshu had told them to get to.
She keeps eating as two guys, both seeming almost the same age as her, maybe one a year or two older than her glance at her every once in a while as she ate She feels their stares, not of malice but it was just weird.
She stares at them back which leads to them finally letting up and go back to their work.
'Weirdos,' She thinks.
Jake and Gena arrive into another room in the building, it looked like the remaining of a office, a table and couch being the real thing that took up the room. Gena closes the door behind her before she looks at Jake and begins her investigation on why he's here and with a child no less. "So, what brings you back here Jake?"
He sits down as he takes off his cap, his curls falling down before looking back up at the women. "I need your help." He starts off with.
She hums at this before crossing her arms against her chest, "And that girl, she yours?" She questions him as he scoffed a chuckle.
"That brat. No." His tone laced with slight annoyance.
"Alright then, who is she, Jake?" She asks him, and her gaze, drilling into his.
"Some girl we need to take somewhere."
"Where?" Her eyebrow lifts at the very abstract information she's getting from him. He knew why she was questioning him, it was rare to even be seen near children, much less bring one with him.
She is important if he had brought her here, Jake knew that Gena knew this.
"That's why we came here, we your help. We need to find Crawley."He finally comes out and says, she stand still for a second, the air tense. "Are you sure? He hasn't been himself in a while since, you know."
She caution him, the man they both knew hasn't been the same since his son died being chased by some gang members before falling to his death in hopes of escaping them. Crawley left after that by himself and only kept contact by radio and other sources of people whispers who were the messengers for him.
Other than that, he was off the map. Completely wiped from the face of the earth.
"Yes. lo necesitamos." Jake insisted as Gena eyes flickered with his before sighing and putting her hands on her hips. Her gaze lowers to the ground as she thinks about this. After coming to a conclusion she sighs before nodding "Alright. Give me a second to find one of his communicator."
He nods of gratitude as she leaves the room living him behind.
He sense a werid sensation before looking at his hat and deciding that he wants to out it back on, he fixes his hair before putting back the cap he had back on his head as he waits for Gena to return.
"Jake." A voice comes out and he looks around, he eventually finds the mirror and finds Marc and Steven, the two looking at him one concerned and the other more impatient.
"Qué?"
"Where is the girl?" Steven eyebrows were creased as he looked at the alter, Jake thinks if he did that anymore that his face would get stuck like that.
Why does he keep worrying about the mocosa? It been 30 min at best since they left her alone.
"She's fine Steven, Gena niños are watching her for now." He assures him as Steven sighs not completely satisfied with the answer but knows its what he's gonna get from the alter.
"What did Gena say then, she know where Crawley is?" It was Marc time to talk to him now. His arms crossed against his chest as he looks at Jake for answers.
"Ella está recibiendo la información ahorita." He answer as Marc nods and looks at Steven who can on look at the door to the outside of the restaurant. He sighs before he decides to get up and look from the blinds to give Steven a peace of mind.
He pulls down the blind slightly to look outside, he doesn't need much time before he finds her, it seems like she finished her food. Gena two sons are sitting with her at the table.
They seem to be talking about something, he can't read the lips of the kids from there but he sees cards on the table as they all seemed to have some cards in their hands. Her having two and the boys with five and seven cards.
"Uno?" Marc questions as he looks over and see the colorful cards, he hasn't seen those playing cards in who knows how long.
Marc and Randall would play Uno once he got older when Marc and his dad would play it on the table after dinner. The dining table was cleared as the smell of the dinner would still linger in the air as he would get the cards from a red box where other games were placed.
The room would be dimmed in a yellowish glow from the lamps and ceiling fan that would be turn on as a slight cold air would swirl them, not cold enough to make him shiver but to keep him awake.
It would always be on a Friday when his dad had a chance, if not him then Wendy would, but only a few rounds before tending back to baby Roro. When him and dad would play however, Wendy would watch as Randall babble as he and his dad would compete to win the fastest.
Most of time he won, but he thinks his dad let him.
He feels his eyes and nose burn, he wants to be numb, he wish there was some type of whisky around. Maybe they could buy some before they leave from here, drink while the kid is asleep so that she wouldn't know, not like she didn't already.
He wasn't exactly hiding the bottles he had on the table when they had to take her to their apartment at the beginning of this. He hated whatever this was still.
'Wait, why did he care if the kid saw him drunk? It's not like he's trying to be a good role model for the kid, it would make Steven and sometimes Jake upset if he did though.'
Jake let's go of the blinds and goes back to sit down and wait for Gena, it doesn't take long as she walks in with a piece of paper in hand. She puts it down for him to see, it's from latitude to longitude, opening a desk she pulls out a map and pencil.
"He should be about 23° 43' 8.112'' North and 44° 39' 47.3436'' East from here." She points out as she makes a line to a place called Sabhā close to the border of Algeria. He hums at this, that would make things easier, close they were to where they need to go and get maybe car or vehicle to make the trip faster would help from Crawley at the same time, two birds with one stone.
"Aww come on!" A groaned complain was heard as the two adults look at each other before going to the door and opening. The kid had a shit eating grin on her face as the two boys look completely defeated.
"What’s going on?" Gena asked the kids as her kids looked at their mom. "How does she keep beating us, she's never even played before?!" The two whined as Jake looks at the kid who just shrugs her shoulders.
There was a small notepad with the letters of the kids first initial and it seemed like Katalina had been winning since the second time they played together. He can hear a small chuckle as he looks around for a reflection with a Steven covering his mouth with his hand as his eyes were wrinkled at each end.
The kids got a knack for Uno it seemed. Jake felt a small twitch at the end of his lips before realizing it and suppressing it before anyone noticed.
"Alright you two, back to work before you get beat by her again." Gena says as the two sulked and got up from the chair before handing the girl two objects, it was a pin and hairclip.
The hairclip was of a dragonfly, it's wings made of silver with little spots of rust, but the hairclip never lost its shape even with the small bits of rist that covered its wings and body.
She grabs her bag as she puts the hairclip in her bag before grabbing the pin in the shape of a beetle and stuck it to her backpack. The sound of a click makes her let go and puts the bag back on the floor.
They make their way towards her as she hears their footsteps and looks up to see them.
"So. Did you get what you needed from here?" The girl asked as he nods.
"What now?"
"One last thing I need to ask her before we leave." He says before looking at her plate. She's eaten the entire soup without problem. She looks much more awake than she had in the past couple of days of walking they had to do.
She cringes at this before deciding to put her head down on the table. It was the waiting game again, she doesn't mind but she was on a roll with her the game andnwas winning before they came over and took her new competitors away. He rolls his eyes as he sees the girl putting her head down.
'Teenagers.'
Jake can feel the moment his eyes rolled to the back and he was once again in the mind space as Steven took over. He blinks a couple times before looking at the girl.
He looks at the table with the empty bowl and cup .
She's been fed, good.
"Don't worry, it'll only take a sec." He tries to reassure her.
"Steven?" She ask in surprise of the British man appearance.
"Yeah?"
"Don't take long. We might have to stay here for the night if we do, the day has been more than halfway done now." She informs him, her eyebrows knitted in concern.
From what she has seen, it might not be a good idea to wonder during the night.
He looks at the window to see that the sun was starting to go down, the hues of blue and orange are starting to warn them that probably need to hurry up soon with this.
He nods as he goes over to where he last saw Gena. She turns and looks at him. "Needed something else?"
"Yeah, Marc asked if there was a way to get a ride to get closer to Crowly location? It would take us a while to get to where he is and where we are." Steven points out.
"There might, but of course everything comes with a price. You guys up for it?" Gena ask the man as he looks at the pot to a Marc and Jake who nod and he sighs.
"What's the job?" He ask.
"Follow every rule that Gena ask of you, I'll be back in a day or two." Marc tells the girl as she looks at him in disbelief.
"Why do you even need to do this job?" She questions as he packs his bag with what he thinks this job might need. He can't bring the kid cause it'll be too dangerous for her to even be near the damn place. He also trust that Gena will protect her while he leaves for this job.
"We might be able to get a ride to our next location." He explains.
"Why can't I come?"
"It's too dangerous and I don't trust you to not get killed."
"I can help though!" She protest.
"This isn't up for discussion kid." His statement absolute. He wasn't taking her anywhere that had a sure chance she would get killed in the process.
It would reckless and impulsive, they knew better than that.
Not to mention he didn't exactly trust who it was he had to do this job for, but it would help cut the time from a month and a half trip into just about a month. It had already been a month with the kid in their protection.
He could only hope these guys don't skrew them with this. He doesn't want to get his hand any more dirty than they were about to be.
She's upset but better that than dead.
"Marc, can you give her the thing we found." Steven whispered as he looks at the mirror in the room that Gena had given them for three nights now. They had to pay her back for this at some point, he make a mental note of this.
With a heavy sigh he digs through the backpack, the feeling of slightly ripped flimsy paper is finally felt as he pulls it out of the hold the bag had on it. They had found it while scavenging for some supplies, Steven said to take for the kid.
Marc and Jake said it was a waste of perfectly good space dor other important things but Steven wouldn't take no for an answer on it.
"Here. To keep you entertained." He says as he toss three comic books in her direction, the sound of the comics grabbing her attention as she looked at them. The front page filled with faded color but the image perfect to still make out it shape. Bottom part was ripped but didn't take away from its artistic style only adding more to it.
She doesn't utter of word, not even a noise.
'They got this, for her?'
Marc waits for anything from the kid but nothing really happens, only her shoulders stopped looking tense from her previous upset state. More than anything she looks surprised, or maybe taken aback of gift given to her.
He finally loses patience to wait for a responds as he sees the sun the stars starting to shine soon, a faded light of the moon glimmered afar to reminding him he needs to hurry up or he will be late to the site he needs to be at right now.
"We'll be back. Don't get into any trouble." He says as grabs his stuffed pack before grabbing the pistol on top of the drawer checking one last time that it was filled and ready in case of anything were to go wrong. The pistol slids in the holster on the side of his tigh. He doesn't look back at the girl as he walks towards the door.
"Okay." A sullen voice is heard, without hesitation he colses the behind him as he walked towards the location of the meeting with the client and a group of others hired to do this job.
The sound of the door closing causes her to look up and find that he had left, the sound of the room silent as the softer noise of people outside took over. She was left behind for safety reasons, she knew she would just be a burden. But she at least wanted to show she could learn how to not be one, but with the tone he used — he would never consider it.
Looking at the comics Marc had left for her, she stares at it for a second before she reaches for the comics. She feels how fragile they seem as she carefully feels the now slightly rough cover. Wrinkles and small tear on the corners from years of sitting on the shelf and possible being consider to take only to be left behind again.
Still, it looked in good condition to read.
"Ultimate Comics Spider-man." She reads out at she feels the comic, the front cover showing someone in a costume with a web design and a red outline on a spider on their chest as they looked to be swinging by white rope coming out their wrist.
'That looks tight, no? Would it be hard to breathe in?'
She questions as she opens the first page and starts to read what was left behind for her.
The night was cold as he went through alley after alley, vendors voices of the night in the background as he eventually made it to the deepest part of the town. The feeling of a cold wind coming as he finally reaches the start point of the job.
"إنه هنا "
A voice calling him out as he is the last one to arrive, he sees a group of men all with their own weapons and dress up for this Mission. He walks over with his own get up, leather gloves the way Lockly liked, a mask with wrapping on it making it more breathable and comfortable than the plastic ones the other men were wearing.
His outfit consisting of a white hoodie, grey shirt, and blue jeans. Simple and flexible, their curls were combed back requested by Jake and Marc since it always seemed to cover thier eyesight sometimes. The pack they carried on their shoulder full of weapons or any equipment they might need.
At the corner of his eye he sees one of the members reaching in a box, grabbing what seemed like a vest of some sort. It's thrown at his direction, with fast reflex he catches it mid air before clicking the vest into place. One of the men scowled at him before the one next to him nudged him harshly earning him a glare.
"حسنًا ، نحن جميعًا هنا."
A man with a mask covering his lower half of his face turns to face all the men gathered for this job and speaks to them. "أنت تعرف موقفك ، اذهب" they all nod as the men are spread out to get the supplies from another group that had been ripping people off with their "deals".
He climbs up one of the ladders that had been placed there for him as he jumps from roof to roof to where the location had been located a couple days ago. Once he arrives and in position, he sees two other men go onto the side of other roofs around the building to get a clear shot of anybody who could interfere with their plan.
Any guards or allies being in the line of shot by the two who had bows and a sniper ready at the mark.
Finally he gets the signal to keep going inside, a small sound of whisp let's him know that anyone in a close radius to spot him were gone, he jumps on the roof and looks down. The building was filled with people, a fire pit being the only thing light up the place.
He looks around for the opening and finds a window, it's open so he with light steps he walks over and steady himself. Sitting down on the ledge before grabbing the edges and letting himself drop slightly towards the window edge. With a small grunt he gets inside and waits a second to make secure the room he was in.
🎀 Charity Drive 🎀
A $5 donation will net you a $5 discount code for any bundle in our shop! Just contribute to any verified Gaza gofundme. More details below!
1) Donate $5 or more to a verified Palestine GoFundMe & submit proof of donation here https://forms.gle/ZJG8Y2HkAneH3if37. 2) Receive a discount code of $5 off any bundle!
Full info: https://tinyurl.com/3kpapnvr
Pre-order here: https://kikisdeliveryzine.bigcartel.com/
The absolute joy a citizen in Northern Gaza felt after he managed to secure a bag of flour..
it's absolutely heartbreaking to see that their biggest dream is to get a bag of flour when any of us could walk into a store, buy one, & feel nothing about it..
I am Mohammed Alanqer married from Enas Majed we have 3 children
Amidst the ongoing war in Gaza, we find ourselves as a family trapped between walls of fear and despair. I, Mohammed, a father of three children and a husband to a woman in her eighth month of pregnancy, live in an environment filled with threats and risks.
My technology startup, which I built with dedication and hard work, was destroyed during this war, leading to the loss of our livelihood. My children, Layan, Sarah, and Adam, no longer have the opportunity for education due to the destruction of schools, posing a significant threat to their future.
- "A souvenir photo of my startup company."-
My wife, Enas, lives in constant anxiety due to her advanced pregnancy and the destruction of hospitals in the area. After losing my job and source of income, I find myself in a severe financial crisis, unable to provide for the needs and safety of my family.
- "Me and my wife Enas majed "
Our family home was destroyed due to the war, forcing us to flee and move multiple times, leaving us homeless. Everything has become difficult now; we cannot provide a safe place to live, nor can we afford clean clothes and food for our children. Additionally, our children have been afflicted with diseases such as measles, and our son Adam has been diagnosed with viral hepatitis.
-" layan & sara & adam in the war" -
Our only hope now is to escape from this ongoing hell and find a safe haven for our family. However, this requires exorbitant financial costs, with the coordination fee for crossing borders amounting to $5000 per adult and $2500 per child, a sum I cannot afford alone.
- "My home before the war "-
We urgently appeal for your moral and financial assistance to cover the necessary costs for escaping to a safe environment, where we can build a better future for our children and ensure the safety of our family
Thank you for your attention and support, and we hope you can help us in these difficult circumstances.
Thanks 😊@nabulsi 🙏❤️
ok last thing. but what people fundamentally need to get through their heads is the significance of gaza fundraisers not being the same as like mutual aid when you're helping someone get groceries, because it is a genocide. there is insane deliberate scarcity and prices are unmanageable, because there is nowhere nearly enough for everyone, so only people who can pay can eat. and what positioning individual fundraisers as the only course of action does is quite simply give a tiny percentage of random people whose fundraisers take off the ability to pay those prices while thousands of others can't. and every one of those thousands of people without a fundraiser is suffering through the same inconceivably horrific reality. it is giving a few completely desperate people out of hundreds of thousands a slightly more favorable position in a horrific war economy of imposed scarcity. and what grassroots community kitchens do is try to mitigate in some small way that inconceivable hierarchy of who can pay and who can't, by stretching ingredients as far as they can last to cook meals at large scale and give them out at no cost. and obviously people are still going to send money to their friends and families because this is hell what else are we supposed to do but please just think about that before promoting endless individual fundraisers as somehow the most ethical way to help
🍉If I must die, let it bring hope. Let it be a tale 🪁
DONATE:
Buy an eSim for someone in Gaza
Care for Gaza, a grassroots organisiation in Gaza that gives care packages to Gazan families
United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees
The Palestine Children's Relief Fund IG: @thepcrf
Sulala Animal Rescue IG: @sulalaanimalrescue
GET INVOLVED:
Join your local rallies!
Australia Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN) Twitter: @APAN4Palestine IG: @apan4palestine
Justice for Palestine Magan-djin (Brisbane) FB: justiceforpalestinebrisbane IG: justiceforpalestine.magandjin
Justice for Palestine Melbourne FB: FreePalestineMelbourne IG: freepalestinemelb
Wage Peace, Disrupt War (Australia) IG: disruptwars
BOYCOTTS:
Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions
Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions Australia
LEARN:
Decolonise Palestine
If you have any additional resources or funds that aren't listed, let me know and I will endeavor to add them on.
170 hours later and this behemoth project is completed. After being moved to tears three times by Dr. Alareer's poem, I needed to create something. Hopefully this honours his memory.
Hoping to get some funding from local orgs to get this printed into a physical booklet for distribution.
From the river, to the sea!
this ramadan we pray for peace and aid for the people of palestine. this ramadan we remember the previous ramadans, where thousands of palestinians were massacred. this ramadan we honour palestine, and may we see a free palestine next ramadan
Please help Julia and her family! She is only 3 years old and her older brother is only 4. They deserve to grow up safe and happy with full bellies and a loving home, not deprived of basic human rights. Please do whatever is in your power to help!
💌 DONATE HERE -> tinyurl.com/HelpJuliaFamily
🕊 Currently at €20,313 / €55k -> 35% of the goal. Let's push so they may reach 50% soon!!
🌷 If you've ever wanted an art commission from me, im also holding a raffle that you can enter if you donate to this family - more info here if you're interested!
Being me needs to have a warning label on it.
URGENT UPDATE!
Due to the heavy rains in Gaza, many camps are experiencing flooding! To counter this, people have begun digging canals between the camps to try and keep the water away from the tents.
Unfortunately, there isn't much else we can do about this other than digging waterways. Wood is in limited supply and used mostly for cooking and boiling water so they can't build platforms for the tents.
Please donate today. Hussam has said he is trying to put together menstrual hygiene care packages to aid the women and girls who are experiencing such limited supplies!
All your donations go directly to people in need with NO middle man in between! Please consider donating or spreading this link around!
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