Find Henry V

When the addicts attacked last time, while Derrick was gone and there were patients to take care of, Lety had felt assured by the Priest's presence, but it made her think about what she should do if a disaster hit the church when the Priest was absent. She had recently moved into the church, but now that she had started to lay the foundation for her intelligence-gathering network, it would be a shame to lose this place. As long as the Priest was still in the city, there was hope that they could reassemble one day, but until then, they would surely scatter.

The lives of Derrick and herself were naturally at the top of her priorities, but if possible she didn't want to let these men destroy the church.

"Brother, support me!"

Once she decided to make her move, Lety ran to the table that was used for sharing food and started pushing it towards the door. After a moment of confusion, Derrick followed her and helped push the table. The other children watched them, without offering any support or resistance. Some of them scoffed at their efforts, but it was better than nothing.

Once they got the table in front of the door, the shaking visibly weakened, but then a crack appeared on the door's upper right corner. It was a small crack barely big enough to see through, but it was proof of their precarious situation.

"Everyone! We need to push the furniture in front of the door."

"Why don't you do it yourself? You and Derrick already started."

"Yeah! I still plan to escape!"

"That's right! Do it yourself if you want!"

"You little brats!"

Derrick shouted at the shameless children while Lety grimaced. If it was Carolyn, then even if she couldn't convince the other children, she would probably manage to barricade the door by herself, but Lety could tell that she and Derrick wouldn't be able to move fast enough. As she wondered if she should keep trying or think of something else, she heard someone shouting with concern.

"Bryan! You need to lie down!"

The voice gathered everyone's eyes on the dusty brown-haired boy struggling to get up. His symptoms were on the lighter side, but he was still suffering from the withdrawal effects of eating drugged food, and he had vomited everything that was in his stomach, so it was doubtful that he had much energy. Still, he gritted his teeth and managed to stand up by grabbing a chair and using it as support.

"Bryan! What are you doing?"

The one to rush to his assistance was a girl with short black hair. She was one of the more eager volunteers in treating the sick children and was close friends with Bryan. Though they weren't the oldest, the pair were well-liked because they often helped other slum children struggling to survive inside the slums. Even the drugged food that Bryan received was shared with another child, an act that he deeply regretted.

"This church, is our home. I won't let some, stinking adults, ruin it!"

Those words reminded the girl supporting him, Lena, about an episode of their shared past. The two weren't originally relatives or neighbours; they simply met each other while wandering around the slums. Neither of them had parents; Lena's were captured and sold to pay for their debt, while Bryan's mother was killed by his father, and his father was killed by a gang. They hadn't been as close initially; they simply recognised the merits of working together.

Lena would collapse on a fairly empty street in the mixed district while Bryan would pick the pockets of distracted onlookers. They couldn't always succeed, but they earned enough on average to stay alive.

One faithful day, they attracted a well-dressed young man wearing a monocle over his right eye. Eager to make him a victim, Lena put on her most convincing act while Bryan carefully watched the young man from nearby. When the young man slowly stretched out his hand to assist Lena, Bryan made his move. However, he was the one who fell for the trap.

"Caught you."

Once his hand was grabbed by the young man, Bryan struggled to escape while Lena got up and tried to help him. The young man's iron grip kept hold of Bryan, while his other hand held Lena at bay.

"Calm down. I'm not here to harm you two. I just have some questions to ask."

That was their turning point. After reluctantly answering his questions and expecting to never see him again, they then found the young man frequenting the slums district. When they asked him what he was doing, he said he was renovating the church.

That church had been occupied by a small gang since the last priest left, but the gang disappeared soon after the young man arrived. They didn't know why he wanted to fix the church here of all places, but they doubted he would get far. Still, they found themselves checking on his progress from time to time. At first, it was out of scornful curiosity; they were sure he would give up or get kicked out and waited for that day so that they could laugh at him. However, even after being harassed both directly and indirectly, the young man did not stop.

Eventually, the other residents gave up on interfering with him. Perhaps they found his efforts futile, or maybe they couldn't overcome his determination. Seeing the once old and tattered church begin to resemble a proper shelter, Bryan asked him,

"Why are you putting in all this effort to fix the church? If you had gone somewhere else, you'd probably be done already."

"'The Goddess does not seek the worship of man. They who call themselves her faithful must first care for their brethren before turning their eyes to the heavens.'"

It was only recently that Bryan and Lena learnt what this saying meant and that it was taken from the holy scriptures. Nonetheless, at that time they could somewhat grasp what the young man, no, what the Priest said. They had never worshipped the Goddess before, but they found themselves drawn by the young man's charisma and began helping him restore the church.

It had only been a few months since the renovation of the church was complete and children started gathering here, but this church was special to Bryan. Even though it could be fixed once again, he hated the idea of having to abandon the place that held his hopes for a future.

As they watched Bryan push a chair towards the door while Lena supported him, the atmosphere of the room changed, and Lety detected it. She grabbed another chair and placed it on top of the table in front of the door.

"Bryan's right. We stayed in different places before, but we all came to the church because we wanted to. No one forced us to stay here. Even if we can't do anything about how we were born, if we can't at least protect our home, we'll never be able to keep anything!"

With a bit of her true feelings seeped in, Lety addressed the hesitant children. She had never tried persuading a group before, so she bet on the hope that they shared the same feelings as her about the church. She didn't think saying anything else would have much of an impact, so she worked with Bryan, Lena and Derrick to barricade the door. They didn't have many chairs, so they soon resorted to using wooden planks, broken furniture and cookware from the kitchen to fill the gaps. While heading back for another wooden plank, Lety saw some of the children begin to help the cause. She didn't know if the barricade would stop those outside even if it was completed, but it would at least buy them some time.

'Priest, Carol. Please, come back!'

Although all of the healthy children, and a few of the ill ones other than Bryan, started helping with the barricade, the door's collapse hastened before they could finish. There were a few holes in the upper half of the door, and there were arms pushed through each of them. The arms were too high to touch the children, but they could push the top of the hastily put-together barricade.

"Hold them back!"

No one knew who shouted that, but they immediately grouped together and tried to push back against the forces beating down the door and the barricade. With Lety's strength there was little she could do to help, but she didn't let that stop her from joining the children.

It was hard to tell the passage of time, but at some point, they stopped hearing the pounding, and the arms that had pushed through the holes in the door were gone.

"Are they gone?"

Cautiously, the children started backing away one by one, but nothing happened. Still, it was hard to dissipate the gathered tension. One of them was going to check the window, but then the voice that eased their minds came from the other side of the door.

"My apologies for taking so long. Is everyone alright?"

The Priest had returned to the church.