"What exactly will this accomplish?"
He hadn't moved a single inch from his position when the question came. His face was still relaxed.
He smiled, "You need not fret. They are not targetting you, they are simply doing something they'll regret a hundred times over."
"Talk to me ya fuckin faggot!" He yelled at him, spit flying out of his mouth.
Thomas turned.
He looked at him, ready to fire.
Molly clocked the gun she had snatched from Johann, her hands moved slowly, tracing every single one of Thomas's movements.
The man was terrified, he held onto the sides of the chair and tears were flowing from his eyes.
"What the fuck did ya just tell him? Don' fuckin' lie to me, don't ya dare!"
"Calm down Nicholas, I simply told him that I would secure him and his family a viable future."
"DON' MESS WITH ME!" He thrust the gun to the Thomas's temple.
Thomas didn't say anything, he simply turned to Johann.
"Am I lying Mr. Everett."
Lying? No. He wasn't lying. He was manipulating the man. He would lie to him then kill him outside the home, that was what Johann wanted to yell out, for Nicholas to pull the trigger and yet,
"No."
Nicholas's eyes shot both of them daggers, he clicked his tongue and jerked backwards, Molly soon followed and her eyes that had narrowed returned back to their original position.
"What the hell do ya wan' to do with the man." Nicholas demanded, grabbing Thomas by the collar.
"Barbaric means are far too outlandish, even for you Nicholas. Do not make me have a bed perception of you, one worse than I already do."
He freed himself from his grasp with ease and turned to the man.
"It seems we have frightened you, I apologize sincerely for my partner's, 'impulsivity'. Now. Where was I? Oh yes, about the schemes....oh my. Are you crying? I am so sorry."
"This...this happened when I was a child! They....burned me after I was born! It's not my fault! Please don't kill me!"
Nicholas twisted to face Johann, who was still processing the entire ordeal.
"We are not here to harm you or your family. What I meant from all of this, is for you to have a better life."
"...Huh?" He was weeping.
"We will shift you to a place, not far from here. You will meet with others just like you. Families who fled here after the way living in these, 'slums', farming their food and laying their feces out in the open. We will help you. We will get all of you an identity. You would call yourself a Marlen and be proud of it. We will give you food and water when you needed it, get your children to school, and take care of their health."
He was now standing, getting closer to the man yet stopping at a distance, not daring to come any closer, as if an invisible wall of fire would burn him if he did so.
"I met a person like you. She was a woman, born of a rape victim and had an elephant mark on his shoulder, the mark even older than yours! You know what happened to him?"
He didn't wait for an answer, "He was found on one of the streets, his head was split open and the fleshy meat of his brain were lying there on the street and no one dared to come close. All because he had been fighting for food with his brother. We never found the other man...And we never will allow such a thing to happen, ever again."
Then he turned back to Nicholas, whose eyes still raged with fury and his hand had yet not fully relaxed. He was prepared to shoot Thomas at any moment.
Thomas shifted back to the traditional Marlen language and said, "That is why we must take him and his family to the community houses, where this entire community would be safe until we get them recognized by the nation, after which we will send all of them back home. The end."
He gave Nicholas a mocking smile, he tried to turn back but Nicholas stopped him.
"Whatever ya are tryna do it ain' happening." He threatened him.
"Oh it is happening Nicholas, whether you wish for it or not."
"I ain' trusting your ass."
"Neither do I, but look, you would settle for someone else's words if not mine right? A man who holds even greater scorn for me than you. Isn't that right Mr. Everett?"
"Wha-"
"Do not try to reason out of his Mr. Everett. Do you believe I am not aware of the silent profanities you mutter under your breath? Every time you wish for my death?"
Shit.
"Aye? Johann...You gotta listen to me! This man! He's fuckin crazy!" He was almost pleading, "You can' let him have his way! He can't get away with this!"
"Get away with what?" He raised his voice and it filled the entire room, "With doing something you shall never be able to for a family of the poor? Beat it. You shall not listen to me. So tell me Mr. Everett...shall we proceed with this?"
What?
Why...were they asking him?
He saw the pleading look in Nicholas's eyes and he wanted to agree with him. To shout to the world just how terrific of a creature this shameless monster in human skin was.
"I-"
His voice cracked.
He wanted to incriminate Thomas as well, hell, every single time he'd been here, he had contemplated how he'd shoot Thomas on impulsive when he attempted to kill the man.
Oh sweet mercy. Where had that confidence gone?
The brazen nature of that thought vanished.
His mouth slowly moved like prying open a rusted door.
He made his decision at last.
"No....Mr. Trivola is correct. We can't let the man...be here...We must take him...and everyone else."
He closed his eyes when he said this, he couldn't even bear the thought of looking into Nicholas's eyes. The meagre trust he had in Johann over their shared camaraderie after such a short time. He was sure that Nicholas believed in him, even if only subsconciously, that he of all people would make the correct decision when it came to Thomas.
But he didn't.
All because Thomas knew.
Thomas knew that name.
Thomas knew where his family was.
Thomas knew everything about him.
He would track him down.
Hunt him.
Gut his body and his family's.
He needed to live. He wanted to live for his family. Even if it meant he had to forsake the life of his own kind.
"You have made the correct choice Mr. Everett." He smiled childishly.
Someone trotted over to him and handed him the gun, their face wasn't smiling anymore, it was hateful. It held anger for the decision Johann had made.
"Molly...Don' bother him...C'mere." Nicholas managed, "What now?"
"Now...." He reached for the door handle, "We take our leave until the next week, I have handed him a cheque that he will redeem from the bank in the nearby town of Lekernum. That will sustain him for the time being."
The four of them made their way out, when all of them had exited, Thomas tilted his hat and said, "It has been a pleasure seeing you Galloway, cheers to when we meet again. I hope the best for you and your family."
And Johann could hardly make out the final words, his view being the back of Thomas's head.
"El de moir."
※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※
The fluid from his brain had leaked out and it was flowing intermittently through his ears. The loud ringing noise had not stopped ever since he had stepped outside of the house and everything else went by in a daze of shame and regret.
Nicholas didn't bother looking, let alone talk to him.
How could he? He had doomed a man, knowingly, to his own death. He didn't even know that this was his final days alive.
Johann very quickly lost count of how many houses they had entered, the same scene of shitty wood work and haphazardly applied cement all over their small sheds.
The places that did have people living in larger homes were found out to be stolen, their original owners rotting underneath the floorboards.
Thomas hadn't touched a single one of them, he had been offered things countless times and yet all he did was smile and make an excuse about how he dare not impose on them in such an occasion.
Once, a little girl came running to him trying to offer him water and she had almost touched his arm. He leaped back to the other end of the room, claiming that it was his military instincts that made him too perceptible to such fits.
Nicholas's demands to hear what the families had to say lessened more and more to the point where he would stand outside the house and just gawk at the people who had came out of their homes, anxious yet excited for all that they were promised.
Molly had always stood by his side, her smile faded and she tried to be serious, kicking the rocks under her feet yet it didn't last very long. She found herself with the other people of the village they had visited, kids of ten, twelve, only six to four years older than her yet the same height as her started to play with her and she gave in too quickly.
Johann was observing every single one of the meetings, like a prisoner behind bars seeing someone be casted to their death, yet being unable to help them as the walls prevented him from crying out.
He hated Thomas just as the next person—if the next person knew who Thomas was—but it was also true his livelihood still stood because of this man.
He knew that name. He knew of the murder too. So exposing Johann would be no big deal and casting him to prison for a lifetime as his family gave way to depression.
He was sure that Anastasia would easily support the kids herself, but he was also aware just how much it would mentally destroy her.
"Young Tho'." An old cranky woman, sat next to a bed called him, "See! I told my husband and he's smiling! He hasn't moved in over a month....young Tho'.....you blessed us." She jumped as joyfully as a woman of eighty could and held the bony hand of her husband whose skin, it appeared, could peel off any moment. He had but one or two white hair on his square head and the bags under his eyes would weigh more than his will to live.
"It is not me who has done this. Our country has done this." He shook his head, "I shall call for the vehicles soon, so that both of you can make your way to the community houses."
"Young Tho'" She called out as they were walking out, "Thank you."
The environment. The fake smiles. The sincere gratitude.
He hid from the smell, burying his face in his sleeve.
While Thomas smiled at her dearly and closed the door.
Outside, the four of them met, Nicholas was leaning against the wall and Molly was by his side with her hands behind her back as she looked dreamily off into the distance.
Thomas rubbed his feet on the dirt ground vigorously, trying to get everything off.
"Must we return now? I suppose the other brigades have also successfully succeeded in their tasks."
"Mr. Trivola...just how many people have we taken in?"
He was punching numbers into the transmitter when the question came and he stopped completely. After a while his hands resumed and he remarked, "For this week, over eight hundred."
"Eight hundred Aaergalians?" Asked Nicholas.
"Eight hundred thousand."
"What?" Johann's jaw dropped
"I ain' even surprised at this point."
"Oh really Nicholas? Well, with that droopy face of yours I thought you'd at least be a little more stunned." He tried to put his hand on his shoulder. Nicholas instantly yanked it away.
"Oh? What was the reason for that? I believe there is no reason for you to be this angry is there? Have I done something, 'unreasonable'?"
"Do what ya fuckin want." he grabbed Molly's hand and dragged his foot out of the village.
"Such eagerness to reach home. Is he homesick Mr. Everett?"
"I...am not aware of that Mr. Everett."
"Is that so?" He watched on casually, like seeing cars passing on the street, "Well then." He looked at his watch, "I ought to go, it is nearly time."
"Time...?"
"I must talk to you later Mr. Everett. Please follow those soldiers back to the cart and say my goodbye to Nicholas as well. Do remind him that we'll meet again or he might get the wrong idea!" He laughed.
"Where....are you going?"
"Where I must go Mr. Everett."
"wh..?"
"I'm obviously joking!" Thomas patted him on the shoulder repeatedly, "I'm off to the border for the routinely check."
"Oh."
"Well then, safe travels Mr. Everett. Any parting words?"
Stop and go jump off a cliff.
"No."
You deserve to be hung.
"Very well then."
Hell is waiting for you.
He walked until he seated himself in a car, the driver was a man fully clad with black clothing and wearing sunglasses.
It was when the window was shut and car drove off on the rocky, uneven road when Johann registered that the car had been a red Pontiac.