About five minutes later, we were quite close to the alleyway leading to the abandoned grocery store. However, Alex’s step was slowing down as his other foot was growing more painful as well. I put my arm under his armpits to support him and continued walking at a much slower pace. He didn’t talk about his pain, but his expression was turning painful. I felt so sorry for him… I wished I could do more for him right now… But all I could do was make sure he got home safely and without new cracks on his feet.

Brother… hurt… my alpha mumbled in distress.

He’ll be fine… I tried to tell it, but it could feel our brother’s pain.

“Almost there…” I muttered to Alex when the alleyway came to our view further down the street. “Just a few more minutes…”

Weird… my alpha whispered, and at first, I thought it was talking about Alex, but it was focusing on something else.

I glanced at whatever it was that my alpha was concerned about and spotted a car driving slowly toward the intersection up ahead. I frowned and turned back to my alpha.

Just a car slowing down… I told my alpha.

No… Follow… Us… it said.

I swiftly glanced at the car again and realized it was indeed matching its speed with our pace. I couldn’t see the driver, but… It looked like they were staring at us… Then, suddenly, it picked up speed and drove away.

I gasped a little when I realized it was a small blue car, just like the one I’d spotted during my first running gig for Lorenzo.

No… No…

“What’s wrong?” Alex asked, his voice timid.

“I… I don’t know…” I muttered back. “Let’s hurry…”

Alex got scared, and quite frankly, I wasn’t feeling any more secure, so I basically dragged Alex to the alley while he tried to keep hopping forward to keep up with me. We both kept looking around, though my alpha couldn’t sense the car or anyone else close by anymore. Even so, we didn’t stop until we were safely in the grocery store with familiar people surrounding us.

“Oww…” Alex breathed out quietly when the door fell closed behind us.

“Come… We’re safe now…” I told him soothingly and continued leading him to our hut.

We were almost there when we heard a familiar voice approaching us.

“Whoa! What happened?”

I glanced over my shoulder to see Simon hurrying to my aid with a worried frown on his face.

“We… We went to see Lorenzo, but…” I muttered and breathed out. “Alex hurt his foot on our way back.”

“I cracked my heel again…” Alex murmured, with tears in his eyes. “It hurts…”

“It’s okay, we got you,” both Simon and I told him soothingly, using the same tone and stressing the same letters, and thankfully, Alex found that amusing.

His little laugh eased my worries and fears…

“I’ll grab your salve,” I told him and gestured to a small wooden box we had pushed against the front wall of our hut. “You should sit down.”

Alex let out a deep, relieved sigh once he was sitting and his weight wasn’t on his feet anymore. Simon started helping him get rid of his shoes and socks, while I went to get our salve and bandages.

“Aww, man…” Simon murmured just when I was crawling back out of our home.

Alex’s bandages were colored red…

“It’s fine…” my brother said, acting brave. “It’s probably not that bad…”

I gave him a reassuring smile, then carefully started peeling off the bandages. I held back a sigh when I saw not one, not even two, but three of his old cracks bleeding again…

“Is it… bad…?” Alex asked quietly.

“It’ll be fine…” I told him soothingly, trying my hardest not to show him my disappointment.

All that progress we’d made was basically gone…

I grabbed a clean cloth and started cleaning the wounds.

“What about… What about that… car…?” Alex asked after a moment, retreating a little.

“What car?” Simon asked sharply and turned to me.

“I don’t know… My alpha was sure there was a car following us… As soon as I tried to see the driver, they drove off,” I told him. “Could be a coincidence, since there was an intersection up ahead.”

He frowned even deeper. “I sense a but.”

I breathed out. “I… may have seen that same car following me before, but that was weeks ago, so maybe it was just a coincidence. The guy looked lost.”

“I mean… If you can remember a car from a month ago, I doubt it was a coincidence,” Simon said.

I shrugged. “I don’t know…”

He breathed out, calming himself, then sat down closer to me.

“I just want you two to be careful, okay? There’s people going around kidnapping kids. Hell, I’ve heard they take everyone who’s under thirty. Slave labor and all that shit…” he muttered.

“That means you have to be careful, too,” I told him.

He smirked and tousled my hair. “I’ll be fine. I’m so smart and strong that no one can kidnap me!”

“Sure,” I said, giving a pointed look at his skinny body.

“Boy, why are you giving me the side-eye, huh?” he asked. “It’s true! I’m super strong! I may not look like it, but I am.”

“Sure…” I repeated slower, grinning.

He snorted at me loudly, while Alex kept giggling quietly.

Simon entertained Alex while I treated his feet, and Alex told him all about the drawing he was planning for Lorenzo. I was glad they were preoccupied, since Alex’s other foot was even worse… I was so tired of fighting his condition… I was so tired of cleaning blood off his skin… I was so… so… devastated that he had to endure this… And I was mad that such a short little walk could ruin our progress so easily…

I just…

I wanted this to end… I wanted us to be happy… I wanted us to get to be teenagers… I wanted to be a teenager! I wanted to do teenager things! I had my own passions! I had my own interests! But no… My life was this… Blood and bandages and cars following us around…

I really wanted to go see Zach already…

*****

Alex’s feet got just as bad as I’d feared. Even after two days of soaking in salve and careful bandaging didn’t do anything to reverse any of the damage our short walk to Lorenzo’s had caused. I was so mad and frustrated… But at least Alex stayed in a good mood. He had his new drawing project, after all. I was so unbelievably grateful to the pizzeria owner… My brother was so happy about his very first art commission that he hardly remembered his feet were bleeding again.

And he was very much willing to sit still and draw. We brought him one of those sun loungers outside under the roof by our bonfire. No one had used it since one of the legs was broken, but Simon and his friends quickly fixed it with duct tape and a brick. We made a nest for my brother using blankets and a pillow Simon had bought for him, and he even bought him a tray he could use as a surface for drawing.

My little brother was being treated like a king… Of course he was happy to stay seated and draw his next masterpiece while his feet healed. And I, of course, was happy about that.

Just… If we had a real home… He wouldn’t have to suffer like this… And the worst part was that he was supposed to have a real home right now… if it wasn’t for me… 

If I hadn’t ruined it for him…

I looked away from him and let out a quiet sigh. It was quite cloudy and chilly for a summer day. It was especially cold under the roof, in the shadows as the quiet wind blew past us. I didn’t mind, and Alex was wrapped deep in his blankets, so this was fine. We would soon light up the bonfire, anyway. It was just the two of us for now, since Simon and his friends were getting food for us.

I was a little bored… I just watched a group of young kids playing with their bikes in the store’s parking lot nearby. They’d used plywood to build small ramps, and they took turns cycling through the small course, jumping past the obstacles. It… It looked really fun… I wished I could buy a bike of my own… But those were so expensive…

I hated my life so much…

If only my parents weren’t dead…

I glanced at Alex, who was still happily smiling and drawing next to me. My soul immediately calmed, and I smiled. At least I had him. No matter how selfish I was… At least I still had him.

“Can I see it?” I asked.

His smile turned into a shy smirk, and he hugged the tray with the drawing against his chest.

“It’s not ready yet!” he chirped.

I laughed as well. “But I’d like to see it.”

“Hmmmh…” he hummed, biting his lower lip as he squinted his eyes at me. “Okay! You can see it.”

I grinned and leaned closer when he put the tray back down, letting me see the drawing. It was far from finished, yes, but he had already drawn the knights on horses, one dressed in black, one in white, ready to fight each other. They were holding real lances, not breadsticks like Alex had planned. He had also sketched the background with forests on the sides, and a huge, pointy mountain with a snowy top in the middle at the very back of the picture. 

I smiled at it… We’d talked about visiting different countries several times, and Japan was one of Alex’s dream destinations, so I assumed the mountain was Mount Fuji.

“What happened to their weapons?” I asked with a grin. “Weren’t they supposed to be breadsticks?”

“They… I…” he blushed a little. “They looked like adult toys… I couldn’t unsee it anymore…”

I burst out laughing, making him blush even harder. I tried to stop, but I failed a little. At least he started chuckling as well…

“Sorry,” I muttered, wiping my cheeks dry. “It already looks amazing! I think I have to hide it so I can keep it to myself.”

He gave me a happy smile, but then he got a little concerned. “Do you think Lorenzo will like this?”

“Of course he will! You are so talented! Besides, if he won’t take it, I’ll gladly keep it,” I said, and leaned back closer to see it. “They could be us.”

He smiled softly at me. “Yeah… That is us. This is you,” he said, pointing at the knight in black armor, on a black horse, then moved his finger on top of the knight in white. “And this is me.”

“Thought so,” I said, patting his arm. “Except that we would never fight like that.”

“Yup,” he said, grinning, and turned back to his drawing.

Soon, he had that soft, happy smile on his face again… He was clearly happy that I liked the drawing. And honestly, I kind of wanted to keep it… It was really cool, after all, but Alex deserved this opportunity to let people see his work, even if it was just in a small pizzeria.

And one day… Once this world was saved… He would have his own gallery.

I swore to do anything to make that happen.