The tall T 2

Seconds seemed like hours. He was kneeling in front of this bastard. Amelia was pressed to his crotch, he could see her trembling.

"Come on you little slut, you know what to do."

Amelia looked at the soldier with fear. She shook her head. The man grabbed her hair tighter and gave her a slap on her cheek. Amelia started to cry in pain and fear, but this only seemed to amuse the soldier more. He gave her another slap and one more. Her lip was bleeding and she would get a black eye, that was for sure. When he was about to gave her a blow with the butt of his firearm Rashid couldn't stand it anymore.

"Stop! Please, don't hurt her anymore. Tell me what you want, but don't hurt the girl anymore, please."

The soldier turned to him and put his sunglasses down a little. He looked straight into the cold eyes of the man.

"And 'what' would you have in mind, scumbag?"  

Rashid gave him a little smirk. "I will  blow your....head off."

A loud croak broke the silence and a brown falcon flew through the broken window and landed on one of the plastic chairs. The only one in the room who didn't looked surprised was Rashid. Also the soldier noticed this.

"What does this mean?" He let Amelia go and grabbed Rashids throat "Stop grinning you little piece of shit!"

"What? It's just a falcon. Don't tell me a soldier of the New World Order, is scared because of a bird."

He regret the last sentence,when his back collapsed hard with the wall. Rashid let out a gasp, trying to get the air back in his lungs.

The falcon sat there, only looking at the scene in front of him. When he saw Rashid looking at him he sprat his wings again and with another loud croak he was in front of  the soldiers face. The sunglasses fell to the floor and Rashid could fell the grip soften. His body slid down the wall until he was on the floor, grating his hurting throat. Blood tripped down in front of his feet. He looked up. The falcon was scratching the mans face,  the black balaclava covered with blood and he screamed. Rashid reached for the knife on his tight. A pretty nice one he got from his father. The blade was still shining and blinking after all the years. One moment later the it was covered red with the blood of the man. Another scream. Rashid got on his feet and the falcon landed softly on his shoulder.

"Good boy, Dahab." He scratched the falcons neck, earning a satisfied growl from the animal.

The soldier in front of him was holding his bleeding knee. The wound from his knife was deep, a pool of blood on the floor. Then he looked at Rashid, he gritted his teeth, his left eye was missing, only leaving a bloody hole.

"You...bloody...bastard."

"Didn't I say I will blow your head off?" Rashid looked at his hands, the soldier followed his glance, his eyes widened when he saw that Rashid held his AN 94, slowly lifting the gun.

"He, wait! I...I'm sure we can talk about this!" he looked at Rashid wide eyed.
Rashid just shook his head. "Do you know what the difference between us? I'm not doing this for my own pleasure." Then he shot. The soldier fall back, a hole between his eyes. Rashid looked at him, his expression was cold. He dropped the soldiers weapon and walked through the room to get his own. When he found his AK he made sure that the gun was loaded, that was the moment when he heard the sobs. He slowly recognized why he had done this and looked at the direction the sobs came from.

Amelia sat in the darkest corner, her arms over her head and eyes closed tight.

"Amelia!"

The girl opened her eyes slowly. Lips were quivering. His plan of not scaring her more than necessary went to hell.

"Amelia, it's okay. It's over. Let's find your parents. Everything is gonna be fine."

"But...you...s...said that before and now...."

Rashid bowed his head. "Yes, but I promise you this time. I would rather kill myself than letting them hurt you!" He tried his best to convince her that he wasn't lying to her, and she ran to him the moment he put his gun away and stretched out his hand. He looked straight into her eyes, green
locked on brown, and he picked her up, settling the little girl on his hip as he took another look around to make sure it was safe to move forward. He could fell her trembling and holding back sobs but he didn't really know what to do about that now. This was the first time he found a child who wasn't already dead and dealing with the dead was a lot easier than dealing with the living. He lifted Amelia back up his hands and carried her back to the street again.

"Is this your eagle?" Amelia looked at his companion. The falcon still sitting on his shoulder.

He let out a soft laugh.
"Yes, but it's not an eagle, it's a falcon."

"He is cute!" Dahab starred at the girl with his golden eyes.
A discussion about falcons broke out then. Rashid noticed that her trembling has reduced a bit. He even managed stole a small laugh from her every now and then until they finally reached their destination.

"Here it is!" Amelia shouted. Rashid looked around. Nothing. No one was here.The house seemed empty.  He looked at the girl with a sad look, thinking how to tell that her parents are maybe dead or at least have been cached. She looked away, as if she understood what he wanted to say. That was when a shrill got their attention, and Rashid found himself staring in surprise at a woman running in their direction, screaming out the little girl's name. Amelia didn't waste a minute before jumping away from Rashid's arms and rushing to the woman's embrace. It didn't take much to figure out that she was her mother. His entire body was aching, especially his arms, but the scene unfolding before him made it better somehow. A false sense of peace and tranquility hovered over him, and he figured that maybe this war would end and they would not die.

When Rashid sat on the front steps of the house, smoking the last of his cigarette, he noticed the hope he felt before fading. It's not surprising at all. The people that managed to save themselves where more dead then alive or at least quit hurt. He ruffled Dahabs plumage and sighed.

It was when he throws his cigarette away that he heard someone calling his name again. A high pitched voice, full of innocence. He watched as she runs on small, chubby legs and he wondered what she was doing out here again when he told her to stay inside the house with her mother. It didn't matter if the area seemed empty and safe, trouble is always waiting to be found. But she's here, face still covered in dirt, pink dress ripped and stained, right knee bleeding from the cut she got when she fell while running from danger before he found her.

She stood in front of him with a big smile on her face. He didn't know what to say.
She didn't stop smiling and grabbed his hand. He couldn't help but noticed how tiny her hand was compared to his. She pressed a scarf in his hands. He stared at it for a moment, it was made of some sort of silky cloth and the bright colours were staring right back him. He hadn't seen such a colourful scarf for a long time and when he looked up at her again she told him, "This is my favourite scarf! It's yours now for good luck!

There was nothing left for him to do but chuckle. "Thank you, sweetie."

"Oh, mom's calling me," she said as she saw her mother waving at her from the distance. She looked at Dahab and put a piece of bread in front of him. Then she tried to engulf Rashid in the biggest hug a child could muster. It takes him a moment to hug her back, but he did so with gentleness and she pulled away. "Bye Rashid, by and thank you so much!" and ran back to her mother.

He looked at Dahab and shook his head, a smirk on his face, one that said he couldn't believe what just happened. Then he gave the scarf a second look, one moment of thinking how he could use it best. He made his decision and put it around his hip.

"Looks good, don't you think?" The falcon gave him confused look and Rashid started to laugh and lights up another cigarette.