Lacy Adam

I hear a man's voice shouting from the front door. I get up to see what's happening, and the rest of the boys follow me. By the time we reach the door the guy that shouted is gone, but we see Afanasi on the ground.

I run over to him, and make sure he's alive. He is. I search his body for a wound or something. There is one, and it seems pretty serious. I yell at Afanasi to keep his eyes open.

Tears build in my eyes. Who did this? I try to put pressure on the wound but it's not working. Then all of a sudden Pasha pushes me out of the way. He starts cleaning the wound, and then sewing it up.

I can't believe how good he is at this medical stuff. I look up from Afanasi's still body, and notice James was crying. Aaron stood of to the side with a blank look. Even though the two hated each other, I know Aaron didn't do this. A  I watch him I notice a twinge of sadness in his eyes, but it was gone before I could blink again.

I stand up, and tower over the two Russians. My hands and lower arms were covered in blood.

“Pasha, is he going to make it?" My voice cracks, and leaves me dead quiet waiting for the inevitable answer. It took Pasha a few seconds to think of what he wanted to say.

“Well, he um... Loose lots of blood. But, he will be good." I smile and hug Pasha as he stands. “Thank you." I whisper.

Then we hauled Afanasi into the house and into the kitchen. The dog greeted us, with licks and a wagging tail. When we set Afanasi down the dog curled up next to him.

I sat down and watched Afanasi intensely, praying that he'll be okay. We need to leave within a couple of hours if he's awake or not.

Pasha came in and crushed up some pain killers and forced them down Afanaisi's throat with some water. Aaron was cooking some kind of meat, kinda like spam over the stove after he searched the outside for the guy that hurt Afanasi. And poor little James was seated in a corner. He had an empty, expressionless face, and streaks down his face where the tears whipped away the dirt.

I put my head down on the kitchen table, and slowly let myself drift away into my own world. If I'm going to be driving for who knows how long, I'm going to need some sleep. And with the sizzle and pop of the weird meat in the background I fell asleep.