Battle Scars

“Boss expects us back with the new batch of kids in 10 minutes,” Goon One said. Tommy gets thrown into the back of a truck with a blindfold on. As Tommy sat in silence somebody touched his head he flinched. 

“It’s Ok, I just want to take the blindfold off,” The person said. After a couple minutes of the person trying, he finally managed to get it. Tommy turned around really fast to see who was behind him. 

“Hi, I’m Damien,” He said. Tommy seemed scared, so Damien put his hand on Tommy’s shoulder. 

“You don’t have to talk if you don’t want to,” he said. Tommy just looked at him with a blank face. 

“H-...Hi,” Tommy said. Damien just stared at him for a minute, kind of making Tommy feel a little uncomfortable. Damien knew from this day their lives are going to change in a drastic way and from the way the boy looks, he kind of knows too, but it doesn’t seem like he knows how drastic their lives are going to change. He already knows how harsh these guys are from trying to defend himself and get away, his leg is now badly hurt from the fight. 

“Um...Why are you staring at me?” Tommy said, nervously. 

“It’s ok, there's no reason,” Damien said. 

“When we get to wherever we’re going, don't fight them,” Damien said, in a serious tone. 

“O-...Ok,” Tommy said, now a little scared. Damien looked at him again and thought ‘Oh fudge I scared him’. Tommy kept glancing over at Damien who was just sitting patiently, Tommy can’t believe that something like this was happening to him of all people. Tommy never does anything wrong. He's a shy kid and only talks to his mom, but now he may never see her again. It made Tommy want to cry. Eventually the vehicle came to a stop. After 2 minutes of sitting there in silence, the doors finally opened. Tommy and Damien saw three guys holding military grade weapons. The weapons didn’t really scare Damien because he sees them all the time, Damien's dad is a respected military officer, he keeps a gun case full of weapons in the basement of his house. Before Damien could check on that boy they were pulling him out of the truck. Damien had to fight the urge to attack that guy. 

“Lets go you brats,” Goon One said. They started to drag Damien and Tommy into a building that looks like it might collapse any minute now. Damien tried to look and see what they were doing to that boy. It just finally dawned on Damien that he didn’t learn that boys name, unfortunately it looks like he won’t get to. They brought the boy in an opposite direction then Damien. 

“How old is this boy?” A goon asked the other goon. 

“I think 10,” The one guy said. 

“Shouldn’t he be going with the other boy then?” He asked. 

“This room is 15-17,” He said. 

“Ok sir,” he said. Damien wasn’t paying too much attention to the conversation but he did hear it. Damien's worried about looking for escape routes. Luckily his dad taught him how to defend himself and escape from most forms a restraint. They continued to drag Damien, which made it hard for Damien to look at potential escape routes. Damien felt a sharp pain in his ankle, that's when he realized that he was thrown into a room and landed on his ankle. 

“Ow,” Damien said. The goon just looked at him and walked away, didn’t even bother to apologize. Damien didn’t even care that the guy threw him, he has a high pain tolerance, but it still hurts. Damien decided he shouldn't just sit here, so he got up and started to look for possible ways to escape. After about five minutes of nothing the door opened. He went closer to see who it was, but something heavy knocked him to the ground. 

“What the heck?” Damien yelled. Damien went to push it off, but he realized it was human. Whoever is on Damien is cold, wet, and shivering. 

“Hey,” Damien said. 

“I...I’m c...c...cold,” Tommy said, in between shivers. Tommy felt so cold, he couldn’t believe what happened. Why didn’t they help him sooner? Shouldn’t you help somebody who fell into below freezing water? Why did they wait and just laugh? 

“Hey, Kid?” Damien asked. Damien didn’t know what to do and it scared him. He thinks this boy is going to die. He has no clue how to help him. Luckily Damien snapped out of his panic attack and carried Tommy to the cot. Damien immediately started to remove the wet clothing from the boy in hopes that he’ll be able to warm up, but Damien had a feeling that won’t be the case. Luckily he had training from his dad on what to do. Damien wrapped him in the blanket that was in the cell, he also took off his hoodie and covered the boy with it. Damien knew it wasn't enough though. Damien decided to lay in the bed with him, using his body heat to warm him up. Damien finally fell asleep, he fell asleep holding Tommy. 

“Damien?” Tommy questioned. Damien looked over at the boy, he's not sure what time it is but from the light outside he knew it’s morning. 

“Yes it’s me,” Damien replied. 

“My name is Tommy,” Tommy said. Damien was surprised. Tommy seemed like the kind of kid who would never talk to a stranger. If Damien was being honest with himself, he’s still a stranger to the boy. Even though he was a stranger Damien still felt the need to protect this boy. Maybe it's because they were locked in a room together or the fact that Tommy reminded him of somebody from his past, but it doesn’t matter now because that night when he was trying to warm him up, wanted nothing more than to call Tommy his younger brother. 

A few days have passed and they are still trapped at this place. Damien has no clue what to do! He tried to escape with Tommy multiple times but they always caught them. Today is Damien's final attempt; his plan has to be fool proof. On the bright side after everything they went through and all the torture, Damien managed to protect Tommy from all of it. Damien took the blame for all of it, he didn’t care that he got hurt, all he cared about was that Tommy didn’t. 

“Tommy?” Damien whispered. 

“Yes,” Tommy whispered. 

“We got to go now,” Damien said. Damien got onto his feet and went to the door, he pulled out a paperclip from his pocket and reached his hand out so he could pick the lock. It took Damien 5 minutes to get it open. Once he had it open, he proceeded to check the hall for guards. Once he saw there are no guards, he signaled Tommy that it was fine to come out. They made their way down the hall to a door that said control room, Damien proceeded to open the door slightly to check for guards. Again once he confirmed it’s empty, he walked in with a very scared Tommy behind him. 

“What do we do now?” Tommy asked. Damien walked up to the monitor and pulled up all cameras. 

“We check for unused halls and exits,” He replied. Damien noticed something weird, but before he could select to view that hall, somebody barged into the room. 

“Ahhhh,” Tommy screamed, Damien quickly spun around. What he saw was somebody aiming a gun at Tommy. Damien went to make a move. 

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” The guy said. Damien backed down and stayed still. 

“Let’s go back to your cell,” the guy said. But before they could get moving there was a loud bang. 

“Run,” Damien yelled. Damien was running behind Tommy and they were out of sight of that enemy, but another guy appeared in front of them and shot Tommy. Damien watched as Tommy dropped to the ground, Damien ran up to catch him. 

“Tommy Please don’t die,” Damien said crying. 

“Tommy, stay awake please,” Damien said, in between sobs. Damien didn’t realize but the men from his dad's unit ran around the corner with his father, but Damien was too focused on his dying little brother. Damien watched as Tommy’s eyes closed. 

“TOMMY,” Damien yelled. Next thing Damien knew was a guy pulling him away from Tommy and another dude picking Tommy up. Damien tried to get free from the people holding him back, he was punching and kicking them. Eventually they decided to knock him out. 

~Skip 3 hours~ 

Damien woke up in a hospital bed. 

“TOMMY,” Damien yelled, a guy in a gray suit with a minion tie walked in with a nurse, wearing a white jacket with a name tag that said “Peralla”. The guy hugged Damien. 

“Dad?” Damien questioned. 

“You're safe now Damien,” his dad replied. 

“Tommy, Where is Tommy,” Damien asked. 

“Tommy is in critical condition, but the doctors are confident he’ll be ok,” his dad replied. 

“Can I go see him?” Damien asked. 

“Not yet,” his dad answered, Damien sighed.

“Ok,” Damien replied. 

“Why don’t you get some more rest,” His dad said. 

“Ok, dad I will,” Damien said. Damien lay back down on his side and his dad put a blanket over him.

~Skip One Day~ 

Damien walked into the room Tommy was in and when he saw Tommy laying there watching TV he ran as fast as he could to him. 

“I was so worried,” Damien said. Tommy just smiled and nodded. Damien and Tommy sat together and talked about Baseball and Football, but Damien soon found out that the sport Tommy loved the most is Basketball. The boys then made and played with paper airplanes. Damien and Tommy sat and talked/Played for hours with no end anytime soon. They are just happy that the events that happened are over and they can live their lives as Brothers.