Black Market Merchant

Hanna looked at Lisa's outstretched hand and suddenly tears blurred her vision. She couldn't hold them back anymore. Finally, someone that might help her!

"Awe, don't cry." Lisa said getting down on her knees and hugged the crying wet girl. "What's the matter? You are safe now."

Hanna continued to sob in Lisa's arms, unable to speak. The morning air was cold and after walking all night then falling into that nasty puddle, Hanna started to shiver. Seeing this, Lisa took off her heavy coffin once again, while also slipped off her leather jacket. Lisa then draped the jacket tenderly over Hanna's shoulders.

"Goodness, you are soaking wet. Let's go get you something dry to put on and you'll want some food too I bet." Lisa said standing up. Looking down at the little girl, Lisa noticed that Hanna wasn't wearing any shoes. Little cuts and bruises were all over her tinny feet and toes. Lisa could feel a slight ping in her heart seeing the pitiful state that Hanna was in.

"No shoes? Something bad must have happened then. Even orphans these days have some kind of shoes." Lisa said to herself. Then she said aloud, "Come along now. I'll carry you."

Hanna nodded and Lisa lifted her up with ease. Luckily, Hanna wasn't very big, in fact she was rather small for her age. It also helped that Lisa was over two meters tall, so carrying such a small girl was by no means difficult. Then she slung one strap from the coffin over her other shoulder and was ready to leave.

She turned towards the tavern to see if she could get some food to go, but saw the bartender closing the door and shaking his head at her. He looked a bit afraid and after seeing the whole fight, he was probably worried that the gangs would return to cause more problems. It probably wasn't the best idea to stay near here anyway.

Lisa sighed. "Let's find somewhere else then." She turned towards the market area to leave the fight scene behind them. Following her nose, Lisa soon found a stall making small pancakes. She bought two for each of them. Hanna munched on one quietly and seemed to have calmed down a bit. At least her tears had stopped.

Lisa spotted a vendor selling some dry children's clothes and quickly picked out a purple shirt and jeans. Also, a pair of shoes that were just a bit too big, but nothing two pairs of socks couldn't fix. Lisa carried Hanna to a nearby alley, where an electrically powered car had crashed long ago, blocking the view from the street.

"Now, can you go change over here really quick? Don't worry, I won't let anyone see." Lisa said reassuringly. Hanna nodded timidly and, in a few moments, she was changed and finally mostly dry. Lisa took her old wet cloths and placed them in the crack of her coffins lid to air dry.

"Now, tell me what's your name?" Lisa asked as they walked together slowly down the street away from the crowded market.

"H-Hanna Marshal." She replied quietly.

"Well then Hanna, can you tell me where you live, so I can take you home? I'm sure your parents are looking for you." Lisa said looking down at Hanna with concern. She noticed that upon mentioning Hanna's parents' tears started to show in the little girls red rimed eyes again.

"T-they are g-gone." Hanna managed to say.

"Gone where? Did they abandon you?" Lisa said stopping and squatting down to look at Hanna face to face.

"No." Hanna said wiping a hot tear away. "Yesterday, after I went to bed, some scary men broke into our house and took us away. I-I didn't see where, because they put something over my mouth, and I fell asleep." Hanna explained, her lip quivered every time she took a breath.

Lisa thought to herself, "Sounds like Chloroform, these guys aren't regular assailants." She then said gently, "Go on, you can tell me the rest."

Hanna continued holding back her sadness some, "When I woke up, my mom and I were tied up in a room too some chairs. Then a big man came in and took me away into another room. My dad was there, and four guys were yelling at him. They were saying that they needed some blueprints or something about a dam. I'm not sure."

Hanna paused for a second and then spoke much quieter. Clearly what she was going to say next was very traumatic. "My dad got the computer turned on, but he couldn't find the thing they wanted. A scary guy with a yellow shirt put a g-gun to my head and told my dad to hurry. He then shot right by my ears; it was so loud! Then the big guy brought in my mom and the scary guy put the gun to her h-head."

Hanna was crying heavily now and Lisa rubbed Hanna’s arms gently to try and comfort her. The next part Hanna said made Lisa very mad.

"Then my dad said he found it. They s-shot my m-mom, t-then my d-dad! There was s-so much blood!" Hanna's voice faded from all the emotion and abruptly stopped.

Lisa reached down and hugged her tenderly. Not only to show her concern, but to hide her angry expression from the suffering child. This was such a traumatic event that it was a wonder that Hanna was able to retell what happened so well. Those terrible people must pay!

"I am so sorry Hanna. I don't know what to say!" Though she spoke kindly Lisa's face nearly betrayed her true feeling of rage. Luckily, she hid it before Hanna noticed. "Can you finish your story? How did you end up getting away and ending up here?" Lisa asked after a few moments of consoling Hanna.

"I-I screamed when it happened," Hanna slowly stammered, "But someone hit me, and I felt sick. They tossed me outside and there were some dogs too. The scary guy with the gun told me to run, but I was so scared, I couldn't even run. He started to count to ten and then the dogs attacked me. I jumped in a pipe and some fuzzy thing jumped out when I did. I think the dogs ate it. I don't know how long I was in there, but when I came out it was dark. I didn't know where I was and just wandered until those people tripped me into the water." Hanna paused and looked at Lisa with red teary eyes. "What should I do now?"

Lisa wasn't sure what to say at all. Dealing with small children was not within her expertise. Compared to fighting in the military and understanding marketing techniques, this was much more difficult for her to figure out.

"Umm, well let's see." Lisa stammered. "Let's get you home first and then find someone to take care of you. Do you know anyone that is your family or that your parents trusted?"

Hanna thought for a moment, "My neighbors were always over, and my parents liked them." She answered a bit unsure and wiped another tear away. "I d-don't have any other family."

"Ok then, well at least that's a start. Now which way is home?" Lisa said standing up. Hanna nodded and held on to Lisa's hand as she led her home.

They walked through the town passing many winding streets. The area changed from the small downtown area, where the marketplace was, to a more residential area. The houses here were either burned down or in near complete ruins. It looked like some bombs had been dropped here years ago, which wasn't all surprising considering the whole country was undergoing a revolution.

They then turned down another wide road and the houses here were more intact. Lisa could see that several homes still had residence living in them. Many yards were littered with trash, rusting cars lay wasted in driveways and burn piles left black scars in the once quant yards. Doors and windows were barely hanging on by their hinges and paint pealed from every home's siding. From some of these home's windows, every now and then a person would stare out at the two walking down the street in silence. The already gloomy morning was even more gloomier seeing the deplorable state of which the residents lived.

Lisa sighed to herself, "How could this great country that I remember so fondly, fall into such disarray? Wasn't the future supposed to be full of light and hope?"

The last street they turned down was a short cal-de-sac. The house here seemed to be in slightly better shape. At least here the yards were cleaned up and doors were looking secure.

"Which house is yours?" Lisa asked.

Hanna stared with a look of surprise and pointed at a house on the center street’s right; however, it appeared to have just been burned down! Smoke was still rising slowly, undisturbed from a lack of wind and its beams still glowed dark red in the ashes. They walked slowly closer, unsure what to do next when a woman's voice called out to them.

"Hanna?! Hanna you're alright!" A short round woman yelled jogging urgently towards them. She looked like she could have been in her forties. "We had no idea where you all went. Last night your home was on fire, but we couldn't find you or your parents. What happened?" She grabbed Hanna by the shoulders looking her over to see if she was alright.

"What's going on?" A man called following the woman. He was a tall thin man with shaggy blond hair and beard. He saw Hanna and appeared to be relieved some but seeing the strange woman with a coffin on her back, his expression became serious.

"Who are you?" He said to Lisa while furrowing his brow.

"My name is Lisa Cunningham." She replied fully expecting his reaction. "I found Hanna wandering in the streets and brought her home. Hanna, are these the neighbors you mentioned?"

Hanna nodded, "Yes, they are."

"Please come inside, both of you. You look exhausted." The woman said to the two ladies.

"Honey, we don't know this woman…" The man said at first, but she cut him off.

"Oh hush! She brought Hanna back. She can't be a bad person." The lady said ushering Hanna to their house next door.

Over the next hour Lisa explained to the two neighbors what happened to Hanna in the living room. Hanna was sent straight to bed to rest up on the second floor, so the adults could talk. When Lisa finished the story the man and lady, whose names were John and Mary Weathers, were shocked.

"How terrible!" Mary said getting off the couch she and her husband were sitting on. "I am going to check on Hanna right now."

John appeared to be thinking for a moment before speaking to Lisa. "Blueprints of the dam? Computer? What would gangsters need with those?"

"Not a clue." Lisa replied shrugging.

"Wait. Hanna probably was taken to the north police station. Her father and I used to be police officers, back before this town was abandoned by the government." He said while thinking aloud. "We need to get over there right away to see what happened ourselves and what the gangsters were up to." He said looking at Lisa while standing up.

"Me too?" Lisa said surprised.

"Yes, you are too. I can see from the way you can carry that coffin and from those scratches on your knees that you might have robotic legs. You clearly have some good strength." John said quickly. He then leaned over and opened a case on the small table next to him. He pulled out a pistol and loaded a cartridge, then tucked it into the back part of his pants.

Lisa looked down at her knees and sure enough the skin colored paint had been scratched up reviling their true metallic color. She sighed, "Well alright. I don't like what they did to Hanna or her parents. So, I'll help out." Then she smiled thoughtfully, "Plus, I want to see what is so important about these blueprints. I smell a potential money opportunity."