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Some Memories and a Face "Good Heavens!" Stephanie Chen groaned through the pain as she struggled to cast the healing spell on herself. After a string of what were almost (but not quite) expletives, she shouted, "Ack! It hurts!" "Hey, Vince has been injured a lot worse than that," Alice replied. "Yeah, well, he's a Dark Fiend," Robert explained. "He's got, like, extra vitality." Vincent Zeng still knelt on the fragmented concrete, covering his face with his hands. In front of him lay the man with the red demon-hide armor, a knife jammed through his forehead. Steph grunted as she climbed to her feet and walked over to Vince. "Vince," she said as she grabbed his hand. Instead, Vince shifted his other hand so that he would still cover his face. "Vince, I think," Steph began. "I think you should forget about him. I mean, he did try to kill us. If you hadn't fought him, who knows what would have happened to us?" Vince made no reply. "We're going back inside," Alice interrupted as she and Robert headed away. "Come on, Vince," Stephanie pleaded. "At least let's go back inside, too, and check on the children." She tugged on Vince's arm, and for about a minute, he did nothing. Then, he uncovered his face and looked up to her. "All right," he slowly whispered. Gradually, Vince stood upright and walked with Stephanie through the doors, into the large, blue rectangular building. Following the voices of children playing, they headed down the hallway until they arrived at a large room, filled with little boys and girls. Laughter filled the air as children ran around and played, playing with toys, play sets, and little board games. "Hey, the grown-ups are back!" one little boy yelled. The entire room came to an abrupt halt as each and every child turned to face the doorway, staring at Vince and Stephanie and at Alice and Robert who were but a few feet in front of them. Vince noticed a young girl, the one whom he had seen earlier that day in the kitchen, standing in the corner all by herself. She had a look of gloom on her face. In contrast, when Vince looked to the rest of the children, they all wore expectant, hopeful faces. He knew whom they were waiting for, and he couldn't bear to watch any longer. He turned around, walked back to the doorway, and waited. "Where's mommy and daddy?" another kid shouted. "Oh," Alice gasped. She turned and ran to Stephanie. "Steph, you tell them." With a sigh, Stephanie nodded in agreement. Then, she knelt down, closed her eyes, and prayed. A moment later, angel wings sprouted from her back. Some of the children gave cries of wonder and joy. "Look, an angel!" a young girl cried. "Children," Stephanie began with the sweetest, most delicate voice she could find. "Children, I'm sorry to say, but..." Steph thought for a moment. "Bad guys came and took away your mommies and daddies. We don't know how long they'll be gone, but I'm going to send some of my angel friends to go fight the bad guys and bring back your parents. Until then, me and my friends are going to take care of you. It'll be fun! I promise." "Yay!" some children yelled in unison. "And remember," Stephanie added. "Your mommies and daddies will always love you no matter what." As Stephanie stood back up, about half the kids ran at her, shouting "Angel! Angel!" Vince decided he had enough, and he wandered back into the hallway. "Whoa, careful!" Stephanie cried as little kids tugged at her from all sides. "I may be an angel, but I still can't handle all hundred of you at once!" Alice, deciding to help out Stephanie a little, made her way to the children and shouted, "Come on kids! All of you who want to play a really fun game, come with me!" As several of the children left Steph's side and went with Alice, one girl grabbed Stephanie and dragged her back to her corner. "You don't have to lie to me," the girl, Amy, spoke quietly but harshly. "I know my parents are dead. The demons killed them." "I know," Stephanie replied, "but these children are so young. Just imagine how heart-broken they would be if I told them. Sometimes, a sugar-coated oversimplification is better than the truth." "No!" Amy objected. "No lie is ever better than the truth." "It's not a lie," Stephanie interrupted. "These children are too young to understand. I wouldn't want to burden them with the idea of death. They would be traumatized for life!" For a moment, Amy didn't speak. She looked to the ground, as though in thought. At last, she spoke. "Fine, I won't tell them," she said, "but we'll have to tell them eventually. You can't hide this from them forever." "I don't plan to," Stephanie said. "Come on, let's go play with the other kids." She grabbed Amy's hand and quickly joined Alice, who was sitting in a circle with the kids, already playing a game. Everyone laughed joyfully. Alice seemed to be having a lot of fun. Evidently, she was still a child at heart, content to play children's games. Even at dinner, she spent most of her time talking little children's talk with the little children. Robert interrupted with a few words every now and then, but mostly, it was Alice and the kids. Yes, she certainly seemed to be having fun. "I'm not hungry anymore," Vince said abruptly. "Excuse me." He quickly stood up and left the table, and as soon as he left the room, Stephanie caught up with him. "Vince," she said. "Are you all right?" "Since when was I ever all right?" Vince asked. "Well, since before..." Stephanie chose not to finish her remark. "That's right," Vince said. Then, he simply turned and walked away. "Vince!" Stephanie shouted. "Don't forget, if you ever need to talk to anyone, you can always come to me. I'll listen to you." Vince paused only for a moment, just to say, "I don't need to talk. I need to think." Vincent Zeng reflected on the past. He could see Tina's spirit in his mind, and he remembered her memories. "Thank you, Vince." "No prob, Tina. I always like to help out the little kids, especially if the little kid is my girlfriend's sister and my sister's best friend." "It sucks being so small. I wish I were big so I could defend myself." "Tina, there's nothing wrong with being four foot eleven." "Easy for you to say. You're a foot taller than me." "Well, in any case, if Steve and his Hybrid Alliance ever bother you again, just tell me. I'll handle them for you." Tina collapsed into Vincent's arms, crying. "Vince, they say that if you want Sister to be safe, you need to surrender and turn yourself in. I want Sister to be safe, but I don't want to lose you either, Vince. But you have to go get Sister back! You have to!" Vince held the crying Tina in his arms and comforted her. "Don't worry, Tina. I'll get Steph back, and I'll come back, too. Both of us are going to be safe. I promise." "Um, excuse me. Are you the guy taking Sis--I mean, Stephanie to the dance?" A young girl had approached Vince while he was eating lunch with Robert and a couple of other friends. "Oh, you're taking someone to the Homecoming?" Robert asked. "Who is it?" "Well, I was kinda hoping to keep it quiet," Vince responded. "Um, excuse me," the girl interrupted. "Yeah, I'm going with Stephanie to the dance. You're Alice's friend, aren't you? Um, you're name was Tina?" "Yeah." "So... what was it you wanted?" "Nothing. I just wanted to meet you, that's all. Hey, you're Alice's brother, right?" "Right." Tina clasped her hands together and giggled. "Oh! This is so cool!" Vince turned to his friends, some of whom were snickering. "She's a freshman," he mouthed silently at them. "So do you really like Sister? Or is it just a one time thing?" "Well... umm..." Vince's friends burst into laughter. The explosion sent shockwaves of flame in all directions. Vince knelt down and braced himself, but Tina was standing fully upright at the time. Like an empty shopping bag blown across the parking lot by a stray wind, Tina was tossed into the air and thrown over the edge of the tower. "Tina! No!" She fell, and as she fell, Vince could see her face. Tina had become aware, and she was unhappy. He could feel the disapproval in her eyes. It took forever. Time stopped as Tina fell. She dropped only a few feet every second, then only a few inches. Vince leapt after her. He wanted to catch her, to save her, to hold her in his arms, but she was already gone. Tina slammed into the concrete street below. Upon impact, she grunted and coughed, spilling blood from her mouth and nose. "Tina!!!" Vince realized that as his mind had wandered, so had his feet. He now found himself in a rather dark room. All around were various shapes that Vince assumed were furniture. He could make out a table with some chairs in the middle of the room, as well a sofa on the far-end. He was about to leave when he realized there was someone sleeping on the sofa. Carefully, he crossed the room, dodging the furniture, and made his way to the sleeper. Even in the dark, he recognized her. "Mindy," he whispered. "I knew you were here." "Vince, what are you doing here?" came a young girl's voice from behind him. Vince turned around and saw, in the doorway, Amy's silhouette against the light of the hallway. "This girl," Vince said. "You know her?" Amy asked apathetically. "Of course," Vince replied, as though it were obvious. "Where'd she come from?" "The grown-ups found her in a crashed hovercraft a few days ago," Amy explained. "She's been sleeping ever since." "I see," Vince said. "Alice is gathering everyone to play a game," Amy said. "Are you coming?" "No, that's okay," Vince said. "I'm not in the mood for games right now." "You sure?" "Yes, go ahead without me," Vince answered. "All right," Amy replied as she left. After she was gone, Vince slowly turned to Mindy and examined her face. "You're not Tina," he whispered, "but it's good to see you again." With that, he left Mindy's side and sat in one of the chairs, and he remembered. "Vince," someone spoke softly into his ear as she shook him vigorously. Vince realized that he had fallen asleep in the chair in Mindy's room. "Vince, wake up!" the shaking continued. "Hmm? Steph?" Vince opened his eyes. "Good morning, Steph." "Vince, I'm worried about the money supply," Stephanie informed him. "Again?" Vince asked. "Are we out of food already?" "No, there's lots of food in the storage room," Stephanie explained, "but there are so many kids here, and they all need to eat. I don't think that food is going to last us any longer than a week or so. We need--" She noticed that Vince was obviously not paying attention. "Vince?" Stephanie turned to look where Vince was looking. "Is that Mindy?" "She hasn't moved all night," Vince observed. "Last time I saw, she was sleeping in that position. Today, she's still in the same position." He turned back to face Stephanie. "It makes you wonder whether or not she's going to wake up or not." There was a short pause as Stephanie looked to Mindy, then back to Vince. "So you were saying something about how we were running out of food?" Vince added. "We will," Steph replied. "In a week, unless we do something. Like I was saying, we need a plan or something, a way to get food, or a way to get money to buy food for the kids. I've been thinking about this all night, but I haven't come up with ANYTHING." "Hmm..." Vince said. It was always Stephanie who was worried about money, and rightly so, too. Without money, they couldn't buy food, without food, they couldn't eat, and if they couldn't eat, they would die. However, Steph had brought up the subject so much, that Vince had stopped thinking about it all together. "You know what?" Vince said. "I'm just as clueless as you are. I think we--" "Shit! Shit! Shit!" they heard Alice swearing from the hallway. A frenzied Alice burst into the room. "There you are!" she shouted. "We're under attack! More demons!" Saying no more, she ran from the room. Understanding, Stephanie quickly climbed to her feet. Vince grabbed Mindy and carried her as he followed behind Steph. Alice was several feet ahead of them, but to her left, a hole suddenly broke in the wall. Alice screamed as a couple of demons crawled through. Stephanie cast some spells, and Holy shots tore the demons apart. "Come on, let's go!" Stephanie shouted as she nudged Alice along. Finally, they made it to the common room, where Robert stood in a doorway, shooting down demons with his pistols. "Hey, Robert, careful!" Vince warned. "These guys can break through the walls." "Huh?" Robert replied. He turned to peer into the room, just in time to see a piece of wall collapse and several demons step through. "Kids, get down!" he roared. As most of the kids dove to the floor, Robert fired across the room, blasting away most of the demons. However, one curious little boy did not drop to the floor. Unaware of the dangers around him, he wandered toward one of the demons. Robert swore. "That kid's in the way!" he yelled. As fast as he could, Vince carefully placed Mindy on the floor. Then, he ran for the kid. The Dark Fiend of the Inferno arrived and leapt right over the kid, delivering a burning kick to the demon. As it flew back through the wall, it knocked down a small squadron of charging demons, as though it were a bowling ball hitting a set of pins. "Get all the kids together into one spot!" Vince commanded. "They'll be easier to defend if they're not scattered all over the place." Alice nodded, then ran from group to group, shouting, "Come on kids, go to the middle of the room. All of you, let's see how small of a space we can squeeze into!" Amy followed suit and, too, started directing the children. "Hurry up and get into the middle of the room!" she yelled. "If you don't, bad things will happen! Now!" A fireball hit Robert in the back, and as he skid across the carpeted floor, he swore. From the hallway came a man dressed in blood-red robes and cloak. His hands were stained with Hellfire energy, and his eyes glowed a freakish red. He shot another fireball from his hands, and this time, Stephanie blocked with a shield. "What? Another human?" Vince asked, overcome with shock. From behind the red-cloaked man, another battalion of demons charged down the hall. |