Three years ago…
The young 16-year-old teenager came home from his school only to be welcomed with the sound of crashing plates. He walked faster toward the source of the fallen plates only to see his younger sister laid on the corner of the wall with bruises on her neck and arm. He realized the little girl sprained wrist.
Her sprained wrist is also the cause of the plates falling from her grasp.
"Oh my God! Are you alright!?" the boy rushed to his younger sister's aid.
The younger sister sits on the floor, a look of concern stays on her face.
"Oh, I broke mum's favorite plate" she stuttered horrified.
The boy knows how much their mother favors that one particular plate. It's a gift from her new lover. The boy dragged his younger sister to the living room since there's no space left in the kitchen. The old-dusty apartment they're staying in is now filled with junks, plastic bottles, tattered papers.
The foul smell penetrated their nose, the smell of junks, the smell of alcohol was seeping inside the non-ventilated living room. The older brother opened the small window near the cubical small-screen television so that the smell would go away. He picked the small first aid kit box that was placed neatly next to the TV.
He massaged his younger sister's wrist gently, seeing how bad it is. Maybe he should spend his pocket money on his younger sister's injuries.
"Big brother, I'm fine" she tried to hold her sob but it's no use.
He knows who caused those bruises and injuries on her younger sister's body, he knows, and yet there's nothing he could do to prevent the injuries from coming if he's outside the house.
* * *
(Present day)
-Tristan POV-
Ender's wound reopened, he's putting too much strain on his body. I have to tend his wounds properly or else he'll get infected. I need to steal some aid kits, to tend his wounds. It's a risky move, but I have to do it. Otherwise, his condition will get worse as time passes by. Ender has been biting his handkerchief so that he could muffle his pain.
We're still on the rooftop, no one spotted us yet. I have to steal their supplies to tend to this man's wound or I could just ask. I don't know which one I should choose. I'm risking the partnership between Aria and this camp. She must have planned something, she's smart. If I ruined her plan, I wouldn't hear the end of her complaints.
"Ugh, I don't know! I should go fetch him something! But this is not a mere sprain! Nor it's a small scar!" my mind circling in panic.
There's nothing I could do if I just sit here doing nothing while Ender's bleeding. It's time for the great Tristan to sneak in and become the hero of the story. Tristan looked down from the window into the archive room to check whether someone was there.
"Alright, no one's here" I grinned.
I opened the window as quietly as possible and sneaked inside.
"Phew, that went well!" I sighed in relief.
Maybe I should try to ask for their help? In case his condition gets worse that is. I exited the archive room, making a detour by blending myself with the bushes and the building around the base. This place looks like a factory or an experiment facility, to be honest. The fact that this camp was occupied by a bunch of teenagers is quite strange.
When I bounced from one building to another, I saw a latticed window from afar. It looks interesting, maybe the room contains what I need. However, instead of what I need I encountered Joel and Kallen locked inside. My eyes peered through the bars, Kallen laid on the barren floor sleeping.
Joel, on the other hand, staring into the walls like he's bored to death.
"Hey! Psst! Joel! Big bro!" I whispered to Joel.
Joel brightened up when he saw my familiar face.
"Oh, Tristan! Where have you been!?" His smile went wider.
"Hey! Not so loud!" I groaned. "I need help! Ender sneaked in here and he still hasn't recovered from the heavy wounds!".
"What the heck!? He's so reckless, alright do you have any plans?' Joel asked me.
"Huh? I'm here to ask whether you guys had a plan" I pouted.
"Huh? Of course not" Joel giggled as if he just said something funny.
He doesn't understand that Ender is in a dire situation, I feel guilty leaving him alone on the rooftop. He's bleeding badly, he could die of blood loss.
"Seriously! Help me out! Or else he's going to-".
Joel nodded in confirmation, he gave me a thumbs up out of nowhere. After that, he calmly unlocked the door with a key he got from his back pocket.
"Wait, what-".
He made his escape and locked the door again, leaving the sleeping Kallen inside. He walked closer to me with a relieved sigh.
"Phew, this key is useful" he laughed awkwardly.
"Where did you get that?".
"When Kallen fought those boys, one of them dropped the keys," Joel grinned. "I just snatched it away before anyone noticed".
So, he had the keys all the time but he didn't even make an effort to escape. It looks like he didn't tell Kallen about it as well, I wonder why. Joel looks pretty different now, he's still indecisive and somewhat an airhead. However, I've seen him trying to think of initiatives, instead of leaving everything else to other people.
"I don't know what to feel with big brother Joel's changes" I mumbled to myself.
Joel poked my shoulder, with his serious aquamarine gaze.
"So let's steal," he added.
"Yeah, let's" I nodded.
There are lots of buildings around here, sometimes I'm confused about how they guard their base if their base is too wide.
"Which building is it?" I asked Joel.
"Which building?" he asked me.
"The one that has a first aid kid, dummy" I groaned.
Joel is still an airhead, but there are parts of him changed. However, when we were about to walk, a hand tapped my shoulder. I turned around only to see an unfamiliar face with an angry look.
"Intruders" the young boy looked at me with a sharp gaze.
We're busted from the get-go.