Rescue- vt. Save; Deliver; Extricate n. Rescuer; Rescuing

"Wait; turn in here… a Honda… parked two buildings down this lane…." Isaiah had been keeping his eyes wide opened since they entered the neighborhood which was made up crumbling walls and lonesome factories. Stern made a sudden, sharp turn and the passengers in the leading police car swung violently to the left. Isaiah hit his head against the window and he winced.

"I’m sorry, it was too abrupt..." Stern apologized. Isaiah gingerly touched the bandaged part of his head for the first time and raised the free hand to indicate that all was forgiven and he was fine. A police car and an ambulance followed behind, all making the same, abrupt turn Stern did.

"How did you know to turn your eyes this way? Anyone else will have missed this inlet." Stern asked, curiosity still warranting enough attention despite the urgency they were in for him to question. Isaiah smiled and glanced up at the sky.

"Someone’s making sure I succeed."

"Amen…" Lynn added in from behind. She was squashed to one side because though Carl was lean, Iggy was simply too big-sized to give her much of a space.

Stern pulled up behind the white Honda and then, together with the agents, he stepped out of the police car, followed by 3 more plainclothes behind. Isaiah thought there was no need to bring in so many people but he kept his mouth shut, not wanting to waste anytime on unimportant decisions. Elijah’s safety was of utmost concern. Stern motioned for three policemen to cover the backdoor with Carl and Iggy accompanying them. Isaiah, Lynn and Stern himself, covered the front door.

"No shooting unless strictly necessary. We want them all alive, get it?" Stern barked into his walkie-talkie to his men at the back, as well as those with him.

"Roger." Someone gave him a feedback and he tucked the walkie-talkie back onto his utility belt.

They readied themselves with their guns all prepared. Stern stood at one side of the front door, next to the metal gate which was useless to try to open. Isaiah and Lynn stood on the other.

"Ready?" Stern asked. Isaiah nodded slightly.

"All right then…one, two…"

"Help! Someone! Help!" The door flung opened suddenly and Magdalene Ashriel dashed out of the door, her t-shirt and jeans tattered at the ends; smeared with blood. When she saw the police officers, she collapsed on the ground and cried. Lynn bent down to help her up.

"You’re ok… there… who’s inside? How many of them? Where exactly are they?" Lynn asked, gently but swiftly. Magdalene clutched at Lynn’s hands and her answer came out in sputters.

"I don’t know… I think they’re in the basement… I remembered running up some stairs… a man… he’s inside… he saved my life… please… he’s dying… Carter shot him…"

Isaiah fumed, feeling anger surging through him, morphing into heedless impulsion as he dashed inside without waiting for Stern’s cue, as they had agreed upon. Stairs, the girl climbed up stairs. Stepping over rotten planks and overturned, broken chairs, Isaiah found the stairs leading down, next to the one leading up.

He heard hurried footfalls behind him. Those at the back and the front were all joining him. But he went down first, guided by his instincts. Raw instincts.

The damp air in the basement of the factory building reeked of staleness and waste. The only light source was the photons that escaped from underneath the gap between a door and the concrete ground in the farthest end. Light, rushing out as a beacon, cutting through the crisscrossed shadows on the floor. Light, warning of danger and a malice so evil that even light, unobtrusive light, indestructible light, wanted to flee in anyway it could.

Isaiah raced swiftly towards the light source and heard malevolence speaking behind the door.

"Kill him! Stabbed him to death! He shall know our fury!"

"Why did we let Magdalene go?" A familiar female voice asked. "Isn’t she the most important part of our sacrifice?"

"What do you care now? Kill him! We’ll get her later! Go on! He is the interloper, he had intruded on our grounds but we are not defeated! We shall not be defeated…Never mind. He shall taste bullets instead…"

Isaiah kicked the door opened and saw three pairs of startled eyes staring into his.

"Drop it, Carter. Shoot him and you’re dead." Isaiah trained his gun on Carter’s head.

"Oh, so… you’re not dead yet. Isaiah is it? Wonderful name. Salvation of God… I wonder if you can save your brother…" Carter pointed a gun at Elijah’s head which Isaiah recognized to the same make and model as his. Elijah’s gun, the one issued out to all Network agents. Isaiah too noted that Carter was using his left hand to hold the gun and it was wavering a little. His right hand was badly mangled, a mess of blood and trembling digits. Elijah must have managed to do some damage in order to save the girl.

Elijah, fallen on the rank, dirty ground. Elijah, his brother.

Carter cocked the gun.

A shot resonated throughout the room and the sound of a gun clattering onto the floor was heard. Carter fell to the ground, writing in pain. His injured right hand was holding on to his left shoulder which Isaiah had shot. Enough. It was enough.

He stood numbly at the entrance and felt bodies brushed pass him to gain access to the room. He saw Alicia dropped her knife and raised her hands in surrender at the small group of law enforcers gathering upon them with trained guns. Ben shook his head, clutching his hair.

"This cannot be! YOU LIED!"

Carter groaned in agony but Isaiah could not be bothered about him. Ben’s wails jolted him awake and he raced towards Elijah, picked up the gun Carter dropped and tried to access his brother’s injuries. Lynn was already kneeling down by Elijah’s side, her hands pressing against Elijah’s waist and her expression grim.

"He’s bleeding very badly."

Isaiah swallowed down a lump, not daring to touch his brother. Elijah hated him. Elijah would not want Isaiah to touch him.

Elijah was breathing, but barely. He was in a daze- his eyes half-opened and losing too much blood. Isaiah took out his own set of walkie-talkie that Stern had given him from his pocket, activated it and spoke somberly into it.

"One man down. Paramedics, to the basement of the building. Now."

"Roger."

Dropping the walkie-talkie onto the floor, Isaiah could only continue staring at Elijah’s body, trembling at intermittent with spasms. He must be in severe pain and Isaiah could not take it away. His vision blurred, either with steaming tears or paralysis owing to helplessness.

"Lijah…" Isaiah whispered, unmindful of the blur of movements around him. With a quivering hand, he touched his brother’s bloodied hair.

"YOU LIED! YOU SAID THE EVIL WILL BE DESTROYED! THAT ALL INFIDELS WILL DIE! YOU LIED!" Ben hollered before he hawked deeply and spat at Carter, struggling in vain against the policeman who was grabbing him and dragging him out of the room. "LIAR!"

Alicia was more compliant. She kept silent the entire her time, her head low, as if in deep thoughts. Carter was handcuffed but he was not moved. The paramedics would have to come to extract him.

Iggy and Carl went over to Isaiah as Stern barked into walkie-talkie to rush the paramedics. Carl took a look at Elijah and shook his head. "How bad?"

Isaiah could not speak, his tears were choking him. Something gripped his heart and would not let go. As Elijah struggled for breath in his semi-conscious state, Isaiah felt like he was the one who was asphyxiating.

"I think he’s in severe shock...I don’t know… he’s not conscious of us…" Lynn answered for Isaiah, still trying her best to staunch the blood flow.

"Shh… don’t talk… you’ll be ok… the paramedics are coming… you’re going to be ok…" Isaiah spoke softly, his hands marked with Elijah’s blood. He did not know if it was a blessing that Elijah was still vaguely aware or not. Those half-opened cerulean eyes were staring at something only their owner could see and Isaiah thought it was the look of someone who was looking at the other side, preparing to cross over.

To cross the bridge between life and death. To the other side. Already, he was garbling songs from the past in his dying reverie.

Carl squeezed Isaiah’s shoulders.

"Don’t worry. He’s tough. He’ll live."

"Lijah… you hear me? You must live… you must… you must… Lijah… I’ll buy you a mocking bird and stupid things… please… Lijah…please…" Isaiah took his brother’s hand, so cold and so limp, into his. Elijah. Lijah.

Elijah’s eyes shot wide open. His body spasm most violently before he stilled.

His eyes closed.

"LIJAH!!!! NO!!!" He felt hands pull him away from Elijah gently. People in white, the paramedics must have come. In front of him, two paramedics had knelt down and were trying to revive Elijah. Lynn had stepped aside for them to do their job.

"Lijah…" He moaned and felt the hands pass him to somebody else. He tasted tears. For the first time in his life, his tears were so salty; so abrasive on the tongue and the throat. The somebody whom he was passed to, held him in a reassuring embrace but he could not be comforted me. Sweet perfume wafted to his nose and the smell pierced through his brains. His solar plexus throbbed as he drowned in his silent tears.

"Saiah…your head’s bleeding…"