“Between you, me, and the wall, I don’t know what to do!” The child whispered. He did not look up, or remove his hands from covering his eyes, and continued to bawl quietly.
Distant screams continued to echo off the walls, followed by dust ushered up from wind coming down the hallway. More shots rang out quickly afterwards, with aggravated shouts audibly heard further down. Apart from the child’s crying, this was the only thing audible.
The bodies lining the ground were still but corpses, unmoving and unreacting. The protector wished they would simply disappear, for the sight was grueling, and did not help quell the current situation in any way. The child continued to weep, his shaking hands barely covering his eyes. To have witnessed such an atrocity would bring any mind to a breaking point.
The boy heard the protector’s heavy boots march away for a moment, and the boy curiously moved his fingers slightly to see what was happening.
The protector had moved to a position to stare down the hallway directly. He stood dead-center in front of the entryway, his weapon still holstered. In that waiting moment, the boy realized the sound of two pairs of footsteps were drawing closer.
In the blink of an eye, the protector brought his weapon to bear upon the door and shot twice. The sound nearly deafened the small child, who screamed in fright.
The sound of two heavy objects thumped in the distance, followed by confused shouting even further back. The armored protector diverted his attention from the door back to the boy.
The boy looked upwards again, crying again.
“We go.” The protector said. His form remained imposing, firm. His armor loudly shuffled around as the protector made way outside the room, his weapon still pointed outwards.
The child stared in awe. With a source of newfound inspiration, he weakly stood up and followed, wiping the tears from his cheek.