Chaper Two: 5 years later.
Forty two year old Officer Grayson pulled up in his rickety automobile, its steam engine spouting puffs of black smoke across the dashboard. Like most soldiers in the Grand Central military, Grayson was impressive looking. He was tall, brunette, and sturdily built. His hair was cut short and neat under his infantrymen issued hat.
It was going to be another simple transportation mission; just transport the criminal from point A to point B—easy as pie; except, Grayson despised transport missions. They were a pain and he somehow always got stuck with douche-bags like the rat faced Dowley who stood next to him. The guy was annoying; he always had crap to say, and all he talked about were his old cop days before his recruitment into the Grand Central army.
“I was lucky I survived too. It was a freakin’ miracle!” Dowley was saying. “The doctor said tha’ bullet was ‘this’ close” Dowley emphasized the words ‘this close’ with a forefinger and thumb. The nails (on his thumb) were curled and had a faint yellow color. Grayson reached instinctively for his cigarette pack and frowned when he found a case of tooth picks instead. Crap. He forgot he’d decided to quit that morning.
For what wasn’t the first time Grayson began to regret quitting. Sure, it was probably the nicotine talking, but he was also stressed. For starters he was under the threat of being transferred to Northern Headquarters, which meant that he’d be leaving his wife and soon to be born daughter in Grand Central. Of course he’d applied for an extension right away but he was afraid his papers had been turned down. Grayson had given a lot to the military and had served nearly half his full twenty three years. He’d seen a lot of battles because he’d serviced during War of White Roses and he was tired. Tired of battle, tired of stress, and tired of Dowley’s babbling and ready to get the mission over with; in fact, when he entered the cell he almost didn’t care what he saw…almost. To his surprise, the dangerous high class criminal they were supposed to be transporting was a girl—a little girl. She barely looked nine and only stood as high as his waist; yet, was being held in the cell for highly dangerous criminals. This had to be a mistake.
Grayson said to the bailiff “You’ve got to be kidding me. This kid can’t be that dangerous.”
The bailiff was a tall gray haired grim looking man that looked too frail to be guarding dangerous criminals but Grayson knew better. The bailiff was a mage and probably fourth class judging from the stripes on his uniform. Grayson had seen enough mages in the war to know what they were capable of.
“Yeah, I dono,” said the bailiff. “The Merlin just sent the orders. I follow them.”
“Really? And they couldn’t send two Mages to handle it instead?”
The bailiff shrugged. “Evidently not,” he said as he opened the cell. Then he handed Dowley the chain leash linked to her iron cuffs.
“Guess it takes us normal folks to do a Mage’s job.” Dowley said as he tugged on the chain so hard the girl went sprawling towards them.
Grayson and Dowley led their captive out of the building and they all packed into the automobile waiting outside. Automobiles were still new and had a steam engine so it required Grayson to flip up the hood and rip the chord to start it before they could set off down the cobble stone road.
Grand central was as much a military base as it was a huge city. It had many tall square buildings built from stone and more under construction every day, which was ordinary since central was literally the central point of all the bases. The Britta Empire’s military positioned all of its bases in the form of a giant cardinal rose and each base has a General in charge of running them. There’s the Northern Headquarters which defended invaders from the north, Port Zoana with its sea fearing navy in the south, Fort Luxeburg in the east, camp Broxford in the west, and finally Grand Central which is where the Merlin, leader of the Britta Empire, run’s the entire operation. The Generals in the other locations are known as the Mage Generals and they serve as the war council for the Merlin. To Grayson it was all pretty pointless though since the new Merlin they’d just appointed ran things like a dictatorship. Every important decision with the battles had to go through him first and the Generals were pretty much too spoiled with wealth to think for themselves or do any actual “advising,” which reminded Grayson that he hoped his extension papers went through. He’d heard rumors that the Merlin would be sending more soldiers to aid the south, which is constantly being attacked by the nomads and he knew his name would be on the list and with his wife being pregnant and due at any moment he hoped he could at least extend for an extra week so he’d have a chance to see the birth. But all of that was neither here nor there if he didn't to finish his current mission first.
While Dowley continued his dialogue about how tough it was back in his cop days, Officer Grayson looked back and made sure the girl was still sitting quietly in the back.
“Those were some tough times man. It was cut throat. A man could die on the streets and no one would notice until he started stinkin’.”
Grayson nodded very uninterestedly. Despite his suspicions about the girl, Grayson was more concerned about whether he’d last any longer without clouting Dowley in the head and finally shut him up. As Grayson looked back he wondered if the girl had a mother or father somewhere out there. What if he had a girl and she’d been taken away for some strange reason? The girl noticed Gray watching her and before he could look away their eyes locked. Then suddenly a train of thought flickered into his mind like a flower that just suddenly popped into existence.
“Hey, I think she’s gotta pee.” Grayson said, interrupting Dowley in midst of his inspiring tale about a famous young musician he’d saved from going down the wrong path. The girl nodded. “What she can’t hold it?” Dowley asked suspiciously. He didn’t like being interrupted.
“It’ll just be a minute okay?”
Grayson pulled into a small parking lot of a Coffee shop nearby and since automobiles were restricted for military use there wasn’t any competition for parking spots. Grayson tossed a tooth pick between his lips, reveling in the cool taste of peppermint as he walked across the parking lot with the girl in tow. Thirty minutes in the car with Dowley and Grayson already wanted to kill him, also his irritation had him itching for a cigarette. They entered the Café and the sweet aroma of hot coco beans and warm coffee drove into them. The sounds of indistinct chatter muddled in the background beneath the whine of small blender engines.
Dowley took the girl to the back to find a bathroom and Gray didn’t mind. In fact, he was more than relieved to have a few moments away from Dowley’s constant drivel; albeit, he felt a little concerned for the girl.
Dowley led the girl into the woman’s bathroom. He didn’t allow her to go in alone; although, he did give her privacy when she went into the stall.
“Five minutes,” he said.
Dowley waited outside the door and once the countdown of his internal clock reached its climax he pounded the door and said “Your time’s up.”
But there was no answer.
“Look, I’m not playing this shit with you. Come out.”
“W-well, I’m not moving,” the girl replied.
Dowley couldn’t believe what he was hearing. This little girl does not know who she’s messing with, he thought. “I’ll only count to five. One…Two…Three… Four…Five. Come out.”
Dowley banged on the stall door and the girl kicked the door open, which sent him sprawling back for a second. The girl pounced, kicking and scratching at him but Dowley over powered her with ease and knocked her to the ground. She rolled over sprang and kicked at him. Dowley stepped aside grabbed her hair and tugged. The girl went down immediately and landed square on her back.
“I didn’t want to do this,” Dowley said pinning her on the ground with his hand, “but you left me no choice--.”
Before Dowley could finish the girl squirmed and kicked with all her might, hitting him square in the crotch. Dowley doubled over in pain and the girl seized her chance by placing the palms of her hands onto his temples and stared into his eyes. Dowley tried to resist but a strange power took over him, his pupils turned black, and finally he lay still. The girl sighed and got off Dowley’s chest.
“Stand up,” she instructed and Dowley stood. “Good. Now help me escape.”
*****
Grayson relaxed in the Café enjoying the exotic smells of coffees that floated by with customers. Dowley and the girl had been gone for a long time, and he started to wonder what was taking them so long when he saw Dowley come back with the girl.
“Hey, what took you so long?” Grayson asked as he approached. “Come on lets go.” Dowley looked at him without saying anything but had a strange expression on his face.
“Hey what are you…” that’s when Grayson noticed Dowley’s gun was out. If Grayson had been any later noticing Dowley’s bullet probably would’ve hit its mark, straight into his heart, but Grayson dodged left at the last second and instead took a hit in his shoulder. Chaos took over immediately when all of the civilians heard the shot and suddenly people were all over as they tried find a place to hide because the only exit was blocked by Dowley.
Grayson stayed down and saw the girl sneak out the door behind Dowley. Had Dowley suddenly gone mad? Why was he helping the girl, a second ago he hated her guts. A woman who’d been carrying three coffees dropped her tray and they all spilled onto the floor. Dowley turned to her with the gun pointed and the woman shrieked.
“Please, Please don’t kill me,” she pleaded. “I have a daughter.” Dowley smiled crookedly and and his trigger finger twitched.
“Wait!”
Dowley hesitated and then a shot rang off. He’d forgotten where he was, all he felt was the burning sensation in his stomach, which his fingers touched instinctively. Dowley looked at his left hand and then looked at Grayson who had his gun raised with it’s barrel smoking on the end.
“So this is it?” Dowley asked before the light left his eyes and he fell to the ground.
Still panting Officer Grayson lowered his gun. His senses were still buzzing from the adrenaline rush and he immediately fan out the café and searched for any sign of the girl, but found none.
The girl turned off the main road and down a back alley the moment she got a chance. She couldn’t take a chance of being seen by anyone else that might be looking for her. She didn’t no why but for some reason the alley way’s felt familiar to her, as if she’d been through them several times before. As a matter of fact, she didn’t have many other memories other than after she’d been taken out of the facility and placed into the cell. She didn’t know her name either and all she had to go with was the number ten on her wrist-band so she decided to go by the name ten.
Ten followed the alley ways and took a couple of back streets until she was sure she’d made it as far as she could possibly be from a main road, which eventually lead her to an empty street with busted buildings.
Oddly enough though she was sure she’d never been down this street in her life, she felt as if she knew the place; everything looked familiar and even the busted fountain with the statue of a baby angel missing a head that looked old as dirt, seemed familiar to her as if she’d seen it when it was brand new only the other day.
Ten stepped closer to examine the statue’s rust covered wings, when she discovered an old abandoned church right across from it. Without a second thought she entered the church’s dusty, cobwebbed sanctuary. The pews were made of rotten wood, and the windows were covered in dust. She had expected the church to be empty but was surprised when she found a man praying on a pew in the very front.
Ten walked down the aisle careful not to disturb any cobwebs and sat next to the man. He kept praying and didn’t look like he noticed her. Ten awkwardly dropped to her knees, like him, and began to pray also. They stayed that way for a couple of minutes and then the man said “Most people come to a church when they need help. I assume that’s what you’re here for also.”
Ten nodded and then realized he probably wasn’t looking at her so she said out loud “Yes, help is what I need.”
“Then God shall help you child.” The man stood and walked to the back of the church. Ten waited at first un-sure but then followed.
[ End]
I appreciate it. I'll revise this chapter with your tips in mind. Also, I revised the first chapter from since you last saw it. If you could give me your opinion whenever you have time to read it I'd really be greatful. 
