Times of Tribulation
Kept in Stitches: Part Four

Ed Archer slipped towards the cafe, his eyes darting about from beneath the shade of his hood. He sidestepped his way out of Quent's path as the crazy careened past and then moved inward.

"What happened to him?" He was addressing Zac who was sitting at a table blowing on his gun as he worked it with the rag.

"No idea." His glance to the hooded man was quick. "How ya been, kid?"

"Fine. Some weirdo outside almost jumped me for not telling my name."

Zac smirked and nodded. "Can't leave well enough alone, can they?"

"No, they cannot."

"So. I can only assume you've seen that girl."

Zac arched a brow "What girl?"

"The one with the talons. Ash's friend."

Another blow upon the gun. "Oh. Yeah." The rag dropped to the table, a button was pushed and the gunmetal gray clip slid into his hand.

"What do you think is wrong with her?" Ed was running out of anything brilliant to say on the subject.

Zac jammed the clip back in and got the familiar click, then looked at Ed
"Damned if I know. But with all that crap floatin' around in the air near the zone, could be rad effects."

"I've never seen anyone glow."

The cold steel was slid back into its sheath. "Nor have I."

"I've seen flesh melt off, but I've never seen it harden."

Zac took up the jerky once more and tore off a bite. Mid chew, he nodded. "Seen a sticky before, kid?"

"Sticky ... no. Can't say that I have."

"Damn ugly things. Huumunn. Droopy eyes. Pod like, sticky hands."

"There are many huumunn monsters."

"I hear ya." Zac shifted with a nod as he talked quietly. "Damn pods will leave some kind of red burns."

"Did you encounter one recently?"

"Yep."

"I feel sorry for the girl outside."

"Red?" It was Zac's nickname for Penny.

"Yes, the red girl."

"Same here."

"I'll see you later, One-eye . . . " Ed backed away towards the door.

Quent skipped back in and over to where Ed and Zac were. "Hi, I got Bitinn."

Ed stopped and looked at Quent. "What bit you?"

"I didn't get bitten silly, I got Bitinn! He's my friend." Quent chuckled and held up a ratty unidentifiable stuffed animal.

"Oh, that is ... good." Ed noticed the stuffed animal and exited without saying another word. Quent waved good bye to him and turned around.

Zac tore another bite from his jerky and chewed languidly. Quent plopped himself into a chair nearby and stuck Bitinn on another chair next to him. Zac allowed a sideways glance to the bear and then smiled a bit.

"Why do you only have one eye?" Quent suddenly asked. He hadn't meant to be rude, he was simply curious.

Zac blinked, not expecting that question. He stopped mid-chew and swallowed while thinking about it for a moment, then figured 'what the heck'. "Shrapnel took it about seven years back."

"Really? So, were you in a war or something?"

"Yeah. You can say that." The man looked around, making sure he was alone with Quent, then nodded.

"Why were you in a war? Were you a soldier?"

Zac tilted his head and thought about it some more. "We all were." He was now avoiding the subject.

"I was?"

Zac smiled and shook his head. "Not you, kid. It was a figure of speech."

"Oh, okay. What made you want to be a soldier?"

"Freedom, kid. Freedom made me want to be."

"Oh, I get it, I killed for freedom once." Quent smiled, proud of himself.

"Oh yeah?" Zac arched a brow and smirked.

"Yeah, my dad."

"You offed yer dad?" A blink.

Quent smiled and pantomimed a stabbing motion. "I killed him good."

Zac snorted silently. "Was he mean to ya?"

"Yeah, he sold me to the Church." Quent nodded, a little less comfortable when he realized what direction the course of the conversation was taking. "They did stuff to me that was bad."

Zac offered a sage nod in reply. "See why I was in the war now? To try and stop what they do." Oddly, he felt comfortable telling Quent parts of his story. He knew no one would believe the crazy man anyway.

"Yeah, I always knew that, but I meant, was there something that happened to you when you were little that made you want to be a killer?"

Zac shook his head. "Never wanted to be a killer, son. Just ended up that way. Course, my pa was killed in the early years of the war." The words kind of drifted silent.

"Oh, I meant ... a soldier?" Quent scrunched up his face. "How'd he die?" Innocent.

"Had nothing left after that." It was more to himself then to Quent.

Quent didn't notice the man's discomfort and asked the question again. "How'd he die?"

Zac blinked and looked at Quent. "Huh? Oh. Don't know. A man in a blue suit came to me one day and said pa was dead."

"Really? I know how both my parents died." A nod of his head. "Both by knives."

Zac arched a brow, then nodded. "Least you knew." He rose from the chair just then and smiled down at Quent.

"You have to go, don't you?" Quent smiled back at him.

Fishing in a pocked for a smoke, Zac popped one into his mouth from the proffered pack, then nodded and rifled for his lighter as he slid the pack away. "Yep."

"Okay, bye." Quent stood and hurried off down to the lobby where he remembered Ash was. He leapt up onto the desk with a light thump and gazed down at Asche and Penny with a smile.

Zac shrugged his coat higher and then stopped to light his cig. Pushing through the door he stood for a moment then tilted his head to the lighter as he flicked the flint. He lit the cig and then tilted his head upwards, blowing a smoky stream before crossing the tiled floor again.

Quent sat Indian style on the desk, looking back over his shoulder. "Where's the devil-girl?"

"She's here, Quent." Asche replied, her hand resting on Penny's curled form.

Quent slid back a ways, not realizing that Penny had been there.

Zac made his way towards the little group and nodded down at Asche. Asche circled her arm tighter around the girl and gazed back up at Zac.

"Thanks, doc." Zac's fingers reached up, gingerly touching his stitches.

"Get some antibiotics from the pharmacy." Asche said quietly.

There was that blink ... then he turned, the thin trail of bluish gray smoke followed him out the sliding doors.

Merely 14 years old, still thin and light, the black leather bands that encased Penny's body creaked in protest to accommodate her new position as she moved to lean her head against Asche's shoulder. Asche held the girl a little tighter and Penny felt safe for once, her back arching a bit to pull the spikes away to keep them from puncturing the medic.

Quent, from his perch atop the desk, suddenly remembered something and scurried off to run down the hall in the direction of the cafe. He picked up Bitinn and ran back to the lobby at top speed, jumping back to the desk top with another loud thump.

Asher stood several feet to the left of Asche, watching Penny but not making
direct eye contact with her.

"Easy, Quent . . . " Asche said quietly, not needing to look up to know that it was him, she preferred to watch Zac as he left. The one eyed man had made his way past the now dead panel van, slithered into a dark alley and then was gone.

"Oh, sorry. Who're you?" Quent smiled and turned to Asher who had been apparently daydreaming. Asher's head jerked up to look at Quent.

"I'm not anybody."

"Really?" Quent leaned forward and poked him.

Asche closed her eyes, enjoying quiet for once. She was oddly soothed by the girl in her lap. Penny simply sat there and stared, unblinking, at Quent and the others.

Quent giggled and leaned over towards Ash, looking her over as she sat still with the red skinned girl in her lap.

"I'm alive. I'm something. Just not anybody important, or known, a large figure."

"I'm Quentari." Quent turned to Asher with a blink

Asche interjected softly, addressing Asher, though her eyes remained closed. "You got a name."

"How come you think you're better than people?" Quent placed an innocently curious look on his face.

"Oh, I don't think I'm better than people. Simply worth a little courtesy, like everyone else. But better? Oh, not at all." Asher looked at the perching, elfish madman, and then to the woman medic. "I'm Asher."

"Mirandahh Drachenn, but you can call me Asche." She peeled open one blue eye to look at him.

Quent smiled and waved innocently to Penny. It was the first time he'd seen her relaxed. He chuckled to himself and pulled out a notepad and a pen. Quickly, he wrote something to remind himself for later, then slid it back into his orderly's uniform.

Asher looked down at Asche again. "Mirandahh Drachenn. I think I mispronounced that, but it's a pretty name."

Asche winced, "Just Asche. Just call me Asche." She slid her fingers through the odd cut of Penny's hair.

"Perhaps I will call you Asche. A little easier for my uncultured tongue."

"But, why do you tell people stuff about how they should act?" Quent asked Asher.

Asher smiled slightly, a smile which vanished at her wince and Quent's question.
He sat down in a chair and looked at the crazy. "They don't really need to act in any way. But if someone is rude to me, and they don't make any attempt to rectify their action, I get a little angry. Within reason, of course, but still, angry."

In a moment of unselfishness, Quent looked down to Bitinn, then back to Penny. Perhaps she needed the toy more than he did ... but quickly he decided that he could not live without him and quickly stuffed him into a pocket. "But you yelled at the man in the hood because he wouldn't tell you his name."

"That is not why I yelled at him."

"Then why did you yell at him?"

"I yelled at him because of the way he refused to tell me. "A polite person would have said that they didn't want to tell me their name. That they were cautious."

"So you were acting better than him."

"They might even apologize slightly. But he simply said that he would not tell me his name. That's all. Cold and curt. I didn't act better than him. I shouted and got angry."

"He's entitled." Quent replied, his voice a little quieter.

"Oh, I'm sure he is entitled to his privacy. But he was rude. And I told him so."

"Oh, okay. I guess, but you're funny. Because you think people should be nice no matter what," Quent giggled.

"This is huumunnity. Not nice, you dolt. Civilized." Asher sighed. "People should act civilized."

"Huumunnity is changed a lot since the war though, right?" Quent was on the verge of a moment of clarity. "Society as it once was is gone, dead. We are as we began. Animals."

The young man looked at Quent. "Have you ever watched animals, Quentari? Have you ever observed how they act?"

Quent smiled, not remembering what he just said a moment before. "Why?"

Asher laughed a little, "They are courteous. They bow to each other. Know their places. When there is an argument, it is settled in one way or another."

"Yeah, but some of them do stuff like fight for position and stuff."

"Yes, they do. If we were animals, things would run more smoothly."

"We fight for survival and stuff, just like a Phlupp, we scrounge for our food."

"Humanity without organization is a place where everyone is equal, so we must maintain relations with each other safely, without ruling of one another. Mutual courtesy is the key to those relations."

"But, when two dominant people meet, just like in nature they fight, they clash."

"But when they are in a place of safety, they know how to act. Submission, domination. Yes. That's in nature, in competition. But this is the Hospital, a place of safety. Where no competition exists. Everyone is equal and so opposed to domination and submission, mutual courtesy occurs."

"No we're not. Have you been to where I sleep?" Quent giggled.

"No. I sleep outside. In the rubble."

Quent pointed at Penny, "Have you been to where she sleeps? I once lived in the rubble like you, enjoy that freedom."

"No. I haven't seen the places where people sleep."

"I sleep in a cage. They deemed me defective and put me in a cage. Because like a scared animal I defended myself."

"Why don't you run outside? Escape?"

"I said earlier that Huumunnity is like the animals, I was wrong, we are beneath them. Because of our jealousy which advances us we are worse. I can leave now, but I no longer wish to. I wish to help others as I was helped, this is my family now."

"All right. And the more violent the culture, the more bound by courtesy it must become."

"Huumunn nature separates us, makes us better and worse, you need to just live with it. It's gone, and I feel a little dirty."

"I am living with it, Quentari. But courtesy is how huumunnity survives, among other things."

"And food." Quent chuckled, not sure why the man was talking to him. He held out his hand, "My name's Quentari, what's yours?"

"You're tiring, Quentari." Asher laughed.

Quent glanced down at his hand, wiped off the crust that had accumulated on it, then held it out toward Asher again. "My doctor says I'm insane, is that the same thing?"

Asher stood slowly and placed his headgear atop his black hair, not taking Quent's hand.

Quent turned to Asche and pointed at Asher. "What's his name?"

"He told you, Quent. Try to remember."

Quent closed his eyes and scrunched up his face, sifting through his memories ... Chukk, Bifill, Jonn, Asher, Ed, Zac, Bitinn, ASHER, that was it. "That is it." He pointed excitedly. "Your name's Asher!"

"I bid you all, good night." Was Asher's only reply as he adjusted the old riding goggles over his eyes and led the burnoose flow down over his arms.

"Bye bye." Quent waved.

"G'night, Asher." Asche said quietly.

"Asche, Quentari. And if she could hear me, I would tell her the same." He motioned to the red skinned girl, drew the robes around himself and walked out.

Quent ran off to the Psych ward.

Penny's stare turned down to her clawed hands and to her clothing. She hoped Asche doesn't mind the stew and copious amount of dried blood that still clung to them.

Asche's eyes closed and she began to rock the girl slowly, gently, not minding in the least because tomorrow the concept of bathing will be introduced. Quent hadn't been to the showers in at least a week and had the smell to prove it. She made a mental not to reintroduce him to the concept as well.

As Penny's gaze finally rose back to Asche's face, she noticed that a few of the worry lines that marked the older woman's face have vanished in the wake of relaxation, though many more still remained clustered at the corners of her mouth and eyes. She was catnapping, taking sleep when she could get it, her breath shallow though her embrace about the girl had not wavered.

Penny reached up and tried to playfully, gently pinch Asche's nose. Asche scrunched her nose, smiling despite herself. "What are you doing?"

As Penny saw the smile, she believed it was all okay and let go, shifting in Asche's lap to more fully face her. Asche was still smiling and she tilted her head, adjusting the embrace to allow the girl room to move. Penny again curled up, this time facing Asche and placing her face very close to hers ... nose to nose. Asche found herself forced to look deeply into Penny's eyes or go cross-eyed herself. Curiously enough, she noticed that Penny never, ever blinked.

"What do you see out of those eyes, little sister?"

Again, Penny's clawed hand moved up, reaching to try and touch Asche's cheek. Asche bravely allowed the touch, turning her cheek slightly toward the talons. Penny's head tilted a bit, as if trying to figure Asche out, then she leaned away a bit, staring.

Asche was trying to do the same thing with Penny, figure her out. She was glad the girl had turned her head, if only to save her eyesight, when all of a sudden Penny's cheeks puff out, full of air. Asche was startled by that and tensed, to which Penny flinched slightly, cheeks still puffed.

The medic leaned back just a bit, calming down in seconds and puffing out her cheeks in mimic of the girl. Penny tilted her head again as she saw that, her own cheeks deflating. She took a moment to stare then looked to the meat in her hand, holding it out to Asche.

Asche let loose the air in her own cheeks, then took the meat. A bite was taken and she handed it back to Penny, whose brow furrowed. Penny received the meat back, a smile formed. Asche could be taught!.