text: Zhaoluo refused to let herself think about what just happened, what that soldier had just done. He let them escape. How...? The Japanese were notorious for never giving up the fight, never backing down... so why? He watched those flames intently, seeming attuned to the crying, so how could he let them just go?
  
  The only answer she had was that he never started a fight to back down from. Which, in some way, seemed scary to her. But it was good to know that there were some good guys out here.
  
  Li was panting beside her, struggling to keep her pace, struggling keep quiet, struggling because she was a little kid caught in hell with no way out. "Zhao, I'm tired."
  
  They were both panting; they had never been used to running or even walking for extended periods of time like Lisong. It was sad, really. Right now, it was fatal. Zhaoluo grunted as she picked up her sister, surprised at her heaviness. How did Li get so chubby? It's not like they had that much food either.
  
  Zhaoluo would let Li rest, if only because Li would keep complaining otherwise. But what were their chances of living like this anyway? Running? They had to get to the safe zone. Or else bad things will happen. Maybe even worse than what probably happened to her parents... And her parents... Will she and Li ever get to confirm what really happened to them? Probably not. There's no turning back now.
  
  As she neared another intersection in the road, she tripped, encumbered by both of their weights and the burden of the knowledge of what likely happened to Lisong and Tanla. Li cried as she spilled onto the dirt and stones; the doll dropping from her fingers and falling limply to the ground.
  
  Soldiers. More sounds. Screaming, laughing. Snapping and barking. Always barking. "LiLi, get up." Zhaoluo could hear the desparate chord in her throat vibrate shakily, and Li whimpered as she heaved her up. Cried as she picked her up again and ran. Li's hands pounded against her as she cried for the lost doll
  
  > keep moving.
  "I'm sorry, LiLi. I can't get it." Zhaoluo muttered with any spare breath she could get. Luckily, the Japanese soldiers missed her as she rounded another corner and zigzagged her way to safety. She needed a breath. The sweat on her skin was an uncomfortable sensation as her clothes pressed against her, warmed with Li's heat.
  
  The stout buildings around her seemed insufficient in hiding them, but at least they wouldn't be a target for bombs. Hopefully. Zhaoluo crept into a space between two small houses, dragging Li along with her.
  
  Dirty streaks—where did the dirt come from?—ran down her stepsister's face, and Li's eyes were bright and red. Zhaoluo sighed heavily, an unfamiliar ache in her chest as she looked down on the lost child. Her own sister.
  
  "LiLi," she began, still wary of her surroundings, "if I went back to get that doll, we might have died or worse."
  
  She was sniffling, but she babbled, "Did worse things happen to Mama and Baba?"
  
  Crap. She had to ask. Zhaoluo hugged the trembling child. "They aren't with us anymore, but I can promise you that your baby brother would have loved to play with you and grow up with you."
  
  Li snuggled into Zhaoluo despite the sweat and mumbled, "Do you love me?"
  
  With a bittersweet smile and a lump in her throat, Zhaoluo replied, "That's a dumb question."
  
  Making a sound between a groan and a laugh, Li shrugged her off. "Alright. What do we do now?"
  
  Zhaoluo honestly didn't expect that kind of response. She just witnessed a mass burning, lost her doll, almost got shot, and was told that her parents and baby brother died and that was her reaction? Li had always been the joyous and happy child every parent wanted, but the sad, empty quiet in her right now bothered her.
  
  "We have to go. Now." And just on time, yelling erupted at the end of the street and with a BANG, wood and stone showered onto them as they were blown off their feet.
  
  She was exhausted. Aching. Burning up. There was a pressure against her back, her legs. She felt heavy. Weary. The wood dust in the air, the stench of smoke. The heat was unbearable. But she couldn't move. She couldn't. She tried to take a deep breath but ended up coughing, her chest barely able to expand under the... the metal frame and wood planks pressing down on her.
  
  She was going to die. Like her mother. Like her father. Like her brother. Tears slid down her face as she realized what was going to happen to her. She was too young. Too young for this. Fire exploded somewhere, and a scorching warmth assaulted her legs, and she alas screamed. Screamed for someone to help her. Where was her sister? Where was she? She didn't want to die like those people in that house. She wasn't ready for it. Where is Zhaoluo? Why can't anybody hear me?
  
  At that thought, something thumped above her, and she could see fading light through her closed eyelids. She latched onto something soft, and somebody was whispering. Well, it seemed like whispering. A soft, gentle, male voice. Not like the Japanese. Nothing like them...
  
  > Ughhh...
  She wasn't on her front anymore, that much she could tell. And that her legs, her feet... they hurt. A throbbing, angry red pain. And she didn't know where she was. Li took in a deep breath as she opened her eyes. "Zhao...?"
  
  The person that sat before her, dozing, was not Zhaoluo. Li immediately shied away, and the person's head lifted to look at her. He looked like someone she knew. He seemed like a somewhat jolly person, but he wasn't smiling. His young face was grim. Older than Zhaoluo, but not by too much. About the same height too. Still much taller than herself.
  
  "Who are you?" she managed to squeak. "Where's Zhaoluo?"
  
  He looked pained at the mention of her sister, but he replied with a gentle voice, "I could not find your sister."
  
  "Why not?"
  
  She had barely asked the question before more foreign noises sounded outside whatever house they were in. Immediately, the man blocked her from whatever could be outside the house and raised two guns, pointing them at the windows. Wha? Where'd he get those?
  
  He crouched there for a moment before someone appeared at the window. And he shot. A small metal piece flew out from the gun and landed on her. She flinched as the windows shattered outward and a bright red liquid spurted into the air. There was a loud groan as the soldier fell backwards, and another person replaced him. However, the soldier shot with his weapon inward, missing the man and landing just to her left. She froze without a gasp, her chest tightening as fear made heat rush through her veins.
  
  And then all that she knew was death and glass as the man released another wave of metal from both guns.
  
  Her eyes shut by themselves, and she instinctively curled herself into a ball, hands on head. Li cried silently, and her tears trickled down onto the floor, merging with dust and dirt.
  
  The sounds stopped. She dropped her arms and lifted her head.
  
  As the man turned around, he slid the gun into the big pockets of his pants. Disappeared, just like that. He fixed a curious gaze on her, and she didn't like his scrutiny. She hated when adults did that. Despised their judgments.
  
  Couldn't forget the yelps of pain from the soldiers—even if they were enemies. Or that red blood.
  
  Li shivered as chilly air began to enter through the openings in the wall that used to be windows.
  
  "Are you okay?" the man asked. He didn't approach, thankfully. She didn't think she'd be ready for that yet. He... killed people.
  
  Li nodded slowly, wrapping her arms around her legs and ducking. She winced as she remembered the pain in her legs and feet. Her eyes watered, but the tears were gone.
  
  His eyes flicked to her legs with worry evident in them, but they remained like that before Li finally spoke.
  
  "Who are you?"
  
  "Zhen." He took a seat, and Li suddenly felt uncomfortable with the man's back to the windows. Unsafe.
  
  "Where's my sister?"
  
  Li toyed with the frayed edges of her pants... where did her skirt go?
  
  Again, he look at where she lifted the edge of her pants. Worried, worried, worried. Just like how Zhaoluo would be when she finds her. "Dead."
  
  She ceased movement. Her next breath caused a spasm of trembles to move through her. Breathing became hard. "What?" What?
  
  "She's gone. The explosion killed her. Do you remember anything?"
  
  Li started to cry, tears exploded as she sniffled the snot that began to form. "All I remember is her hugging me and taking care of me and making sure I was all right—" she knew she was being loud, but she couldn't stop "—and telling me that Mama and Baba and Didi were gone and—" her speech became incomprehensible.
  
  Zhen scooted himself over to her, slowly and cautiously putting an arm around her. Li suddenly felt so much younger now, and she started bawling into him. He gingerly hugged her, unsure of what to do with a crying little girl.
  
  > *Sniffle*
  Eventually, Li's crying died down, and her emotions dulled into a sluggish storm inside her. The fire in her legs spiked again, and she whimpered. "My legs hurt."
  
  Zhen released Li and turned his attention onto her injury, lifting the pant leg up to reveal burn marks all along are legs and the bottom of her bare feet. "You were burned by the bomb. It's a miracle that you're still alive."
  
  "They hurt."
  
  "I know."
  
  Li couldn't take her eyes off the reddish brown burns against her pale skin. "I'm never going to marry, am I?"
  
  The question was so ridiculous to Zhen that he was snapped out of his worried daze. "What?"
  
  "Baba always said that we had to be scarless and snow white and proper and everything." Li frowned at what this could mean for her.
  
  Zhen frowned at what this could mean for her tolerance of destruction. And stuff like that. "Can I ask your name?"
  
  "Li Maoxing."
  
  "Alright, Li. This is how it's going to be. Because you're, ah, sister is gone, I'll help you. You're just a little kid." His prod was intentional, but it gave him the reaction he wanted.
  
  "I'm not little!" Li scowled at him.
  
  "We'll see about that." Zhen moved on to the more important matter. "You have to get to the safe zone."
  
  "What about you?" Li looked up at him with those large, childlike eyes. "Are you going to go there too?"
  
  "Ah, sure," he lied, and he hated himself for it. The kid just lost everything, and he had an uncomfortable feeling that she was going to latch onto him next. But he couldn't have just left her to die in the fire.
  
  Li gave him a smile, full of hope but also hinting at despair. Emotions were two-sided like that. "Thank you, Mr. Zhen."
  
  He gave her a curious look but didn't push it. "Alright..."
  
  "Oh, just one more thing, sir."
  
  "Hmm?"
  
  "Where'd you get the guns?"
  
  Surprised that she remembered those—well, not surprised, really—he stammered, "Er, stole them. From some Japs."
  
  > Continue.
  Wood showered upon them as something thumped on the roof.
  
  "Shit." Zhen scooped Li into his arms, surprised at her weight. She was chubby but lighter than he expected.
  
  "What's—" As Zhen leaped out of the door, which had been swaying on its hinges, the building exploded. Li finally got to see the destruction the bombs inflicted. Red fire and grey smoke burst the building apart with its great plumes, adding to the ashes in the air.
  
  Zhen grunted and stumbled a bit; she looked down and yelped. It was... a dead body. Burnt beyond recognition. "Arson."
  
  She shivered. She was very, very scared of fire. "Are they close by?"
  
  "The Japs? Probably. We need to be under cover though. Stable cover. To hide from planes and soldiers. Like a bridge." Zhen darted under another building, which had one of its walls blown off and two dead bodies inside, bleeding and already beginning to rot.
  
  "Bridge?" Staring at the bodies with wide eyes, Li thought about bridges. She didn't think that would work. It seemed too open.
  
  "Yeah. They need those bridges too. I doubt they'd bomb them."
  
  "Oh." He set her down, and she turned away from the two bodies, their faces heavy-looking with an expression of open panic.
  
  "We need to get your own burns patched up otherwise it might get infected." He unbuttoned his jacket to reveal a small amount of supplies attached inside. Li stared in wonder at the various little containers and pressed rectangles of bandages.
  
  Who is he?
  
  "Alright." He removed a vial of clear liquid from its attaching loop and proceeded to clean her wounds. It was mesmerizing to watch as he removed the burned skin, dirt, and dried blood caking the wounds from the back of her legs. It was odd to let somebody other than Zhaoluo or even her mother touch her, but that didn't matter at the moment.
  
  What mattered was that he was pulling out a square of white bandages and applying them to her wound. What mattered was that in Zhen's jacket was a small circle with words printed around it. What mattered was that those words weren't Chinese.
  
  Li didn't know what to do. This guy was... Japanese. She hadn't looked at him closely enough—it was improper—to tell the difference, and his Chinese was impeccable. If Zhaoluo were here...
  
  Zhaoluo could be alive for all she knew. Zhen could've lied.
  
  Her foot stung again as he applied fresh disinfectant, but Li couldn't rid herself of the image of the circle and those foreign letters. As he slid the pant leg down over the sinfully clean bandages, Zhen spoke.
  
  "You need to get to the safe zone. But..." Zhen's eyes drifted outside, and Li followed them. Smoke was starting to cloud up the sky, but even without it, it was getting dark.
  
  Li blinked, drowsily sitting up and rubbing her eyes. Where were they? It didn't seem bright outside, but it was winter... and there was smoke. She remembered... remembered... but she wasn't inside the building she fell asleep in. That house didn't have a wall; this building was perfectly normal on the inside—table, bed, cooking counter, etc. Li scanned the ground. Where was Zhen?
  
  Her fears and doubts came rushing back at that. Did he sell her out to the Japanese? Was he really part of the Japanese? What was she doing in this building? What was going to happen to her?
  
  > Investigate.
  Li was wrapped in a somewhat coarse blanket, and she slipped out of it, placing two feet onto the cold wooden floors. There was a tin on the table, but the room was otherwise bare. No sign of Zhen.
  
  She made her way over to the tin and had to stretch to get it. It wasn't fair that Zhaoluo could be so tall... It wasn't fair at all. She tried to open the tin with her fingers, but that didn't work, so she placed it back. The house is dusty, she noted to herself and felt the urdent need to clean it. She didn't feel safe at all... but she didn't feel endangered.
  
  Suddenly, the door opened, and Li froze like a bird in trauma, staring at Zhen's smile with shock. He wasn't carrying anything. It was like... he was just on a walk. His jacket almost seemed to flutter, and Li gaped.
  
  "Li, what's wrong?" The smile disappeared. She must've looked frightened.
  
  "I thought you were a Japanese soldier!" she cried, taking a seat on the floor to relax.
  
  Zhen rounded the table and kneeled beside her. "I'm not."
  
  Right... "Hmp." Li glared at him, clearly mad and scared. "Where are we?"
  
  "It wasn't safe last night to stay in that house, so I moved you here." He shrugged. "The Japanese rushed up at us."
  
  And you killed them, didn't you? ... But can I believe that of you? You did kill them before, but that was just in front of me. "I want to get to the safe zone as soon as possible." Li started to cry, and Zhen, again, felt uncomfortable.
  
  Why do kids randomly cry? He patted her on the back, and she started to blabber. "Mama and Baba are gone, and they probably got Didi too, and he never lived any, and Mama was so nice, and Baba refused to leave her, and Zhaoluo dragged me off when the Japanese invaded, and I don't really know what happened to them. And now Zhaoluo's dead, and I don't know what to do. She said I had to get somewhere safe, but she's dead. They're all dead. All of them. My family. I lost Chichi yesterday. I have nothing."
  
  "I'll get you to the safe zone. Maybe you'll find someone to help you." He certainly couldn't himself. He couldn't even stay in the safe zone.
  
  Whatever she said became a lot of breaths and sniffling, so Zhen just picked her up, wrapped the blanket loosely around her, and carried them out the house, which is sure to be plundered soon.
  
  As he walked, the girl fell asleep again, and Zhen wondered how many times he'd have to carry her around. She wasn't exactly a burden, but she was still something. Like time-consuming. He didn't hate children... but... she was so young. Lost in the city.
  
  The city where half the buildings on the streets were destroyed, a pile of rubble. The city where the dusty streets were ever changing by the wind that blew. The city where civilians hid in buildings, hopping, or simply running to be safe and get to the safe zone. Those were the survivors. The ones that left the roads red with Chinese blood... those were dead.
  
  A cry from nearby snapped him out of his thoughts. A woman was crying for help, and the Japanese soldiers were shouting for her to stop. Zhen ducked behind the wreckage of a building and several broken up crates, clearly pillaged of whatever could've been in there.
  
  Two women were coming up the street now; both where normal robes and we probably unmarried, seeing how their hair hung in part as braids and in part loosely down their backs. Right now, that hair jumped into the air with every step. One woman stumbled on a prone body, and she screamed and yelled, "Help me! Help me!"
  
  But the other woman did not turn back. She kept running. Of course, the Japanese soldiers quickly managed to pull the fallen woman up, laughing as they did so. They were shouting at her and prodding her, and Zhen looked down as they ripped open the front of her robe. Li's eyes stared up at him.
  
  "Mr. Zhen, what's happening?" Her voice was scared, but quiet, as if knowing the consequences of speaking loudly.
  
  "They're doing bad things to her, Li." Zhen's voice sounded powerless even to himself.
  
  Li's eyes were wide, but she knew it wasn't the time to ask. "Oh."
  
  The woman was begging now, and Li, knowing almost every word she said, felt silent tears run down her face. Zhen began to pick his way away from the woman, who probably never did anything bad enough to deserve something like that. He felt like he should go back to help her. He helped Li. Twice.
  
  > go back to help.
  Zhen made a noise that meant he knew nothing good would come out of it as he set Li down on two feet. "Stay here." He didn't look to see her reaction. He dashed back toward the woman on the other street, avoiding a body half-hidden by charred wood and ash. He pressed himself against the wall of the charred building, grateful some parts of the walls were still attached—and last night's rain—and looked over the corner. The woman was hopelessly vulnerable, her white flesh dirtied by the Japanese soldiers' hands. Zhen bit his lip. He didn't want to acciently shoot the woman. With a single gun, he aimed at the dusty ground before them, a spot untouched by the humiliations of war. He let the bullet loose.
  
  That was all he could do for the woman because right now, he needed to run before those angry soldiers found them. When he saw Li between the two thing and broken walls of the surrounding houses, the fading morning light shining like a spoltlight on her, he also saw the soldiers coming in from the other, darker end.
  
  They barked and raised their guns at Li. Zhen sprinted forward and lifted his two guns, shooting two soldiers (though not dealing anything fatal). They four left looked up, raising their own guns to point at him. He hated it when guns were pointed at him.
  
  "Li! RUN!"
  
  Her head jerked up; how had she not noticed him nor the soldiers? How could she not be alert at the moment? The city could be swarming with Japanese troops. He saw why.
  
  Li was standing up, but her pant leg was rolled up. The bandage wasn't fresh anymore, but she had begun peeling it off. Underneath, there was an unsightly infection.
  
  "RUN, YOU IDIOT!" Zhen yelled, and he could hear himself being surrounded by the Japanese. Li ran. She ran into the side of the broken building to his left, through that building, and was gone.
  
  He let loose several shots, determined to take down as many of his persecutors. They had already fired back, and in that storm of bullets, he held onto his last secret.
  
  > Running...
  Li didn't know where she was going. It just had to be away from the fighting. Away from her rescuer, who could be teaming back up with his buddies by now. She had nothing on her. Her thin slippers had already lost themselves somewhere, and the boring pink robe was somewhat stiff from sweat or dirt or tears. But she was alone. She didn't know where she was. What she was doing anymore. Nobody was there to guide her. Where was her sister? Parents? Zhen?
  
  She felt like the little girl she was running through that street, eyes wide at the loud sounds of war behind her. Knowing in a way she would have not known before that... Zhen is dead. Everyone's dead. Almost crying by now (her thirst not allowing), she kept sprinting away.
  
  Her soft feet hurt against the dirt, which was laced with pieces of metal and wood and stone. What was she doing? She heard more sounds to her right, and she ran from that too. Through the cracked streets... until... Li blinked carefully and looked at her surroundings. These houses weren't bombed or destroyed or broken yet. The planks were perfectly in place, and the windows weren't shattered. When she turned back, she couldn't witness the destruction, but she could hear it in the wind and see it in the smoke.
  
  She turned back toward the street of houses before her. They were going to come here soon, which meant...
  
  > She had to get supplies as soon as she could.
  Frightened of surprises, Li entered the closest house through the unlocked door. What was the point of locking it? The Japanese would just break the door if it were locked.
  
  Inside, she found little to nothing. Yes, a few clean, but thin, robes were folded into a small chest at the corner, but that was all she could find that seemed useful. Li changed into the bigger clothes after rubbing down, tying and folding at the right places to make it fit her. Zhaoluo would be proud of her.
  
  Suddenly, she heard the snuffling of people nearby. It was somewhat bright outside—as bright as winter can be—and she could see figures outside as she peeked out. The figures looked into the building, and she ducked. They probably saw me, Li thought, fear pumping into her veins as she backed behind the bed. She was paralyzed. They saw me, they saw me.
  
  The door banged open, and she heard the men laugh. They saw her. Her eyes were wide, but she shut them. She was going to die. She was going to die.
  
  They pulled her up and yelled at her, so loud, so roughly.
  
  And Li didn't die yet. What happened was worse. So much worse. Everything hurt, and she was bleeding from head to toe by the time they were done with her. The blood was warm, and her infection was stinging, and everything hurt.
  
  End me. Li couldn't take it. She cried. She wanted Mama and Baba and Zhaoluo. She even wanted Zhen. They made her feel safe. They made her feel like the person she's supposed to be right now—a young girl. She wanted to live, oh, she wanted to live.
  
  Someone was gripping their hands around her head, and she heard something crack but couldn't register it as everything blinked out.