On a sparrow's wings

Chapter 12 - Debts once paid

  Anastasia dreamt again. But this time the dream was different. There were colors and shapes but nothing seemed like anything. Colors and shapes. A sound or two managed break through the silence from time to time but it didn’t help. She was hovering in the air. Her hand hovered over her face, protecting Anastasia’s eyes from the brightness above her. Her legs didn’t touch the ground and yet she wasn’t falling. Her hair slightly moved up and down as if pulled by tiny invisible stings. And darkness.

  She awoke in the room they rented. The light above her head slightly flickered. She lifted herself off the bed. She saw Michael standing next to the window, smoking and peering at the city and its inhabitants. He heard her sturn in the bed and headed for the door. Anastasia got her backpack and gear and they exited the room.

  They made their way back into the subway and into the Victor’s hideout. He was standing in the spot he had been standing when they first met. Looking at the stalls and merchants, at the people shopping, swearing, laughing, yelling. They were his people, or at least he thought they were. He quickly spun around and faced them. He had a glass of wine in his hand. The tides inside the glass hit it’s walls as Victor’s hand moved around. His smile still hung from his face, under his hooked nose like a bad joke, a cruel one.

  He took a sip from his glass and approached them, “Michael Michael Michael, you never manage to disappoint me, as much as I want to see you do. It’s a bit… boring if I have to be honest. With this tough guy act you seem to be enjoying so much, I half expected you to do something stupid. Now that would have been more exciting, although quite short lived for you I am afraid. Now that you are still here we can have fun for a bit longer. Although I still haven’t had any inspiration, it must be this thick city air. The countryside-”, he paused and shook his head, “Here I go off again. I forgot how busy your schedule is Michael.”, Victor dusted off the shoulders of Michael’s jacket with one hand, “I just wanted to say, good work Michael, very good work.”, he grabbed Michael’s collar, “But don’t forget, this isn’t over, far from it. And someday I will call upon your services again and you will answer.”, Victor pulled at his collar but wasn’t able to move Michael, Victor let go and acted as if it didn’t happen as he went back to his desk and waved them out.

  Michael and Anastasia took their leave and out of the subway and into the streets of the city. Anastasia asked if they were going to look for Ethan now and Michael said they had to go shopping again. They find their way through the cracked streets of the once great city, going past the overturned rusted trash cans rolling slowly on the ground. Going past the sad faces of the survivors that now inhibited. They eventually found themselves in front of a gun store. It was well put together, clean and stable. It fit in with the rest of the places Anastasia had seen in the city. Everything was more put together here than out in the countryside, as if people cared about the appearance more here than out there.

  They entered it and the bell above the door rang for a change. It sounded different than the times she had heard it as a kid, deader, lonelier. The man behind the counter was old. The years hadn’t been very kind to him, not that the past few had been for anyone. But they had left his calm eyes intact, there were no tides inside those eyes only calm blue water.

  Once he heard the bell  he straightened himself and rose from his chair. He placed a pair of small glasses on his nose and went closer to the counter to see his customers. Michael came closer to the counter and the man’s eyes lit up.

“Hi Joe.”, Michael said as he looked the guns that were hanging on the wall over.

“Nice to see you again Michael. I still remember what you did for me, the discount still stands if you are interested.”

Michael nodded and named of things. A shotgun, ten slug shells, twenty cans of food, three bottles of water, an axe, a rope and two boxes of 9mm ammo.

The man put the items on the counter in front of Michael.

  Michael turned to Anastasia who was looking over the items that littered the shelves and displays. All kinds of guns, different sizes, shapes, some looked handmade and some looked as if from the old world, some were shiny and new some dirty or rusty. But the thing that caught her eyes was a display with small devices inside it. One was a small green ball with lid on it and a pin, the other was a long black one and the last a thick long green one.

  “What are these?”, she pressed her finger against the display pointing them out.

“Those are grenades”, Joe moved to the other side of the display.

“Grenades?”, Anastasia peered further in.

“Yes, this one”, he pointed at the green round one, “This is a frag grenade. When the trigger is pressed and the pin removed once you throw it, it explodes and releases the pieces of metal, called shrapnel, that are inside it outwards.”

“Huh. How long does it take to explode?”

“About fifteen seconds.”

“And the others are the same?”

“No.”, Joe pointed at the long black one, “This one is a flash grenade. When this one detonates it releases a very bright light and a very loud sound, practically stunning the people that look at it when it detonates.”, he pointed towards the last one, “And this one is a smoke grenade. When it detonates it emits a thick smoke from it.”

  Michael called Joe over and he went over to finnish Michael’s order. Anastasia kept staring at the grenades. If I get attacked by people this flash grenade could help me escape without hurting them. Anastasia didn’t have eyes for the other things in the shop. She only looked at these small objects that apparently had so much strength in them. She heard Joe tell Michael how much he owed him and moved away from the display. She went over to Michael next to the counter. Michael took out a few packs of cigarettes and was about to give them to Joe when his hand twitched.

He looked at Anastasia, “What the hell. Kid you can pick one thing from the shop and I will buy it.”

  Anastasia’s big eyes lit up and she squeak like only a small girl could. She rushed to look over the items.

“Watch the price. I am not made of money.”

Anastasia rushed over the entire shop at least three times. But she always stopped at the display with the grenades. As if they were calling to her. They were small things and useful, like her. She pointed at the flash grenade and Joe put it on Michael’s tab.

  “You sure?”, Michael was smoking a cigarette as he looked at the small grenade.

“Yeah.”, Anastasia said as she put the grenade in her pocket.

Michael shrugged and paid Joe. After they were done with their shopping they gather the items they bought and went off to the room they rented.