There’s no one walking down the broken road. This was good for the one blonde boy. He looked down the dark alley he wanted to go through. He held his messenger bag close to his chest. He didn’t want to get caught for stealing food. It was clear to go. He ran down the street, splashing in the puddles from last night’s rain. His hood from his army green jacket flew off his head.

He slowed in front of a burnt building and ducked inside the door. He gave three short whistles. He waited until he heard the same three notes. His smile on his face grew.

“Eli, I’m back,” he said, walking into a small room. It had one full size bed and a small desk.

“How was it today, Kevin?” Eli asked. He was sitting on one side of the bed.

“It wasn’t bad but I’ve done better,” Kevin shrugged. “How’s your leg?” He looked at his brother’s leg. The Army tried to capture them a few days earlier. Eli dove into some boards and got a deep gash on his thigh. The man chasing them was about to grab Eli to take him away, but Kevin intervened.

“Please!” Kevin begged. “Don’t take him! He’s the only family I have left.” Kevin held some gold coins he had saved for years, “Take my money. I know it’s not much, but it’s all I have!” Tears were forming in his eyes. The man, being greedy, took the coins and left.

Eli’s voice brought Kevin out of his thoughts. “It still hurts a little. I’m sorry I can’t help out more.” Eli felt extremely useless to his brother. “So what were you able to get?” he asked, changing the subject quickly.

Kevin, with a sad smile, took out an apple and some water. “Sorry I couldn’t get more. The army was swarming the city today. They must need more orphans to kill.”

“It’s fine. We can split the apple,” Eli suggested.

“No, no! I already ate mine on the way back,” Kevin lied. He didn’t eat a thing all day, but his brother needed it more than him if he wanted to get better.

Eli knew his brother was lying, but he didn’t want to argue with him. Eli started eating alone. They were both silent until Kevin spoke up.

“Sorry I couldn’t get any medical stuff for your wound.”

“Kevin, it’s okay.” Eli reassured him. It didn’t hurt that much when it wasn’t touched and it stopped bleeding.

“I know but I don’t want you to get sick and die from it.” Kevin looked down at his feet. He didn’t like the idea of being left alone.

“Hey, it’ll take a lot more than that to kill me.” Eli just wanted this to be over. Luckily it was. They heard three short whistles. They looked at each other and grinned.

Kevin sent them back then yelled, “Key! We’re in the bedroom!” Kevin got up off the bed and ran out the door. “Do you have the stuff?” Kevin whispered to Key.

“I could only get gauze and Vodka but I couldn’t get any antibiotics. Sorry.” He said. He handed Kevin his bag.

“Its okay, this will help so much.” Kevin hugged Key. “Do you think you could help me? I have a feeling he won’t stay still.”

Key nodded and smiled; even though he was an orphan he always had clean brown hair and a white smile. They walked back to Eli.

“Hey, what’s up?” Eli greeted him.

“Not much. I’m here to help clean out your wound.” Key said. He held up the gauze and the bottle of Vodka. “I’m sorry in advance if it hurts, but we don’t want an infection.” Key walked over to Eli.

“Fine” Eli scoffed. He stood to take his sweatpants off to reveal his gash. It was bright red and puffy.

“How is that not hurting?” Kevin asked. Eli never really did let him see it.

“Kevin, chill, it doesn’t hurt.” Kevin went over and poked it. “Son of a-. That hurt.” Eli screamed tears were forming his eyes.

“See, I knew it was hurting. There must be puss in there,” Kevin said sadly. “Key, are you ready?” he asked. Key nodded. “Good. Can you get some of the rags? We have to get the puss out.” Key nodded again and left the room. “Eli, sit back down so we can do this.” Eli sat down and straightened his legs. Kevin sat next to him. He started to push on Eli’s wound. Eli hissed from the pain.

“If I have enough energy when you get done, I’m gonna punch you!” Eli threatened.

“Okay,” Kevin laughed. He pushed down again, breaking the skin. This produced another scream from Eli. “Sorry, but I have to do this to get the infection out.” Kevin couldn’t help his sorrow. He hated inflicting pain on anyone. Key rushed back into the room with an armful of fabric scraps.

“Here this is all I could find.” Key dropped them on the bed next to Kevin. “Where do you want me?” Key asked.

“Can you take the puss off as I squeeze it out?” Kevin asked. Key nodded. He picked up one of the rags and got in position. Kevin started squeezing. White puss and blood came out of the wound. Eli clenched his teeth and grabbed fistfuls of the blanket under him. He didn’t want to scream anymore. That would only draw attention to the people that passed by. Eli knew he had tears running down his face, but he didn’t care at the moment. Kevin pushed on the wound again. The pain was so great that Eli passed out.

“Eli?” Kevin looked up when he felt his brother’s body suddenly relax. Eli’s body was totally limp. Kevin started to panic. He moved closer to Eli’s face. “Eli? Eli! Eli, wake up. Please” Kevin was lightly slapping his face.

“Kevin. Kevin.” Kevin looked at Key. He had tears running down his face. “He’s fine, just passed out that’s all. It’s better that he did. He won’t feel it when we pour the Vodka to clean it.” Kevin calmed down when Key said that he only passed out not died. “Let’s do this quickly. I don’t know how long he’ll stay out,” Key said.

Kevin nodded and wiped his tears, “Yeah, you’re right.” They worked quickly removing as much as they could. They had him cleaned and bandaged well before Eli even stirred.

“Thanks for the help.” Kevin said. He hugged Key. “I don’t think I could have done that alone.”

“Anytime.” Key smiled, “I’ll come over tomorrow to see him, okay?”

Kevin hummed in approval, “Come when ever you want. Bye and be safe alright?”

“I will. See ya later.” They hugged again and Key walked down the street. Kevin walked back to his brother. Eli was starting to wake up. “Hey, how do you feel?” Kevin asked.

“Like I’ve been ran over.” Eli replied. “What happened? I remember a lot of pain in my leg from you then nothing.”

“You passed out from the pain. We worked during that time to finish,” Kevin said. He walked over to his brother and hugged him. “I thought you died on me.” Kevin started crying.

“Shh. Shh. It’s okay Kevin. Everything will be fine.” Eli comforted his brother. “Let’s go to sleep already. I’m to drain to do anything,” he yawned. Kevin changed and got ready for bed. “Good night Kevin.”

“Good Night Eli,” Kevin yawned.

Early the next morning, Kevin woke up to start his day finding food. He put on his army green jacket and walked out the door. For an orphan, the day started early because the Army was still sleeping. He walked down to the normal hang out for most of the orphans in the city. It was where you could trade and gossip about the latest kid taken. Kevin usually didn’t get into all the gossip because most of the time it wasn’t someone he really knew or liked, but today was a different story. He overheard some of them saying Key was taken last night for stealing Vodka and gauze from an Army pack.

“What did you say?” Kevin asked them.

“Key was taken into the Army last night. I thought you would have been the first to know seeing he came from your house.” The girl spoke up. “What was he doing with that stuff anyways?”

“He was helping my brother. His wound got infected so I asked if he could help me. I didn’t think he would get caught.” Kevin ran back home as fast as he could. He didn’t even do the secret call to Eli. He just busted through the door. “Eli!” Kevin flopped on the bed. “Key was taken last night!” He shook Eli awake.

“What?” Eli asked sleepily.

“Key was taken by the Army last night after he left here. Oh, Eli this is all my fault! If I didn’t ask him to help me he would still be here!” Kevin broke down. He never wanted to lose a close friend, but this was his life now. He had to except it.