Vain (The Seven Deadly 1) - Page 75
I stood and immediately began brushing my teeth while I dressed, spit, rinsed and tied my hair in a ponytail. It was the fastest I’d ever gotten ready, not a stitch of makeup or even a brush through my tangled locks.
I rushed through my door, tucking my shirt into my belted jeans. I reached Charles, Karina and Dingane and bent to tie my boots.
“She can’t,” Karina said, wringing her hands.
“She’ll be okay,” Charles said, soothing his wife. “We’ll need you here to prepare.”
“What’s going on?” I demanded, standing up.
“There’s been an attack on a village two and a half hours from here and there are children who need rescuing still. We’re afraid the LRA will come back for them,” Dingane said.
“Then we go to them,” I said without thinking, surprising myself.
“I cannot send you out to that, Sophie,” Karina added quickly.
“She needs to stay here, Sophie,” Charles explained. “To prepare a small medical ward. We’ve heard it’s many more children than we’re handled to equip on a moment’s whim. She’s the only other one of us trained medically beside myself, but we need at least four in the truck and one of those should be trained. Kate and Ruth are needed here and Mercy cannot be fetched for some time. I’m asking for your help. Can you handle it?” he asked me.
“I can,” I said without hesitation.
“It’s settled then,” Dingane said after examining me for a moment and headed toward the truck after picking up a large container setting at his feet.
Charles rushed off to fetch something and Karina stuck to my side, taking my hands in hers. “The men will not prepare you for this, Sophie, so I feel I must. What you’re about to encounter will revolt you. I’m not exaggerating. I want you to steel yourself. Put all emotion toward the back of your mind. Get in there, get them out and come back in one piece. I’m relying on you.”
“Of course,” I told her, swallowing the knot that had formed so rigidly in my throat.
Karina ran toward the schoolhouse, shouting at everyone who had begun to run around in preparation to receive the children I would be helping bring back. I ran to the truck and Dingane had opened my door for me, allowing me to slide in without a moment to lose. Charles and Solomon jumped in the back, armed to the nines and I almost burst out sobbing. Fear, real fear crept through my body at an alarming rate.
Dingane’s engine rumbled into the otherwise quiet night. and I jumped inside my skin, burying my hands in my lap.
“What’s happened?” I asked as we tumbled through the large gates. I turned around and saw them close behind me.
“They were attacked in the night, unprepared.”
“How many survivors?”
“We’re not really sure. We’ve been told only to hurry and that there may be more than nearby aid may be able to handle.”
I swallowed audibly, turning toward Dingane. His eyes met mine briefly and they were alive, full of anxiety and fear. “I will never be able to forget what I am about to see, am I?”
o;And what if they do?”
“Pray they don’t,” was all he replied.
CHAPTER TEN
“Did you see anything?” Charles asked as we exited the jeep.
Karina came to my side smiling and opened the door for me.
“Yeah, boot prints,” Dingane explained.
Karina’s smile fell but quickly picked back up.
“We’ll have to set watch times then,” Charles said, walking off with Dingane toward his house.
Karina slid her arm through mine.
“Kate and the others will be watching the children at dinner tonight. I thought we’d do something special for your arrival. I’ve made dinner for you myself.”
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