AFFLICTION.

Chapter 29

With his rifle in his hand and rucksack on his back, Harry pulled me down the war-torn streets of Namur.

"Wait! Harry!" I called as he dragged me along, but he didn't answer. "Harry!" I screamed louder. Still no answer. "W-we have to go back! Daisy is still---" I was interrupted by a sudden reign of gunfire from the sky. We ran into a nearby alleyway to seek shelter. Harry pressed me up against the cool brick wall, shielding my body with his own. His hands went to either side of my head as he pressed his body tight against mine, pushing me into the brick wall. His body towered over mine as I positioned my head into the crook of his neck, my broken arm began to throb under his weight.

"Stay still," Harry muttered, gunfire still pelting down from the skies above. My eyes darted to the opening of the alleyway, where a young boy with shaggy hair and grazed skin hobbled towards us. Harry reached his hand out to pull the boy towards us, but as he approached a bullet skimmed down the walls of the alley and hit him in the chest, sending him flying back. Harry flinched and I cried out, he pressed me into the wall harder, further shielding my body with his. After several seconds, Harry pulled away from me and ran to the boy, he pressed his fingers against his neck and waited. Blood spurted from the wound and a pool of red now surrounded the boy. He was dead.

Harry ran back to me with a frown etched into his features. Without a word, he pressed himself against me yet again and shut his eyes. We stayed this way for two hours. The gunfire stopped but Harry didn't move. I shifted under his weight and he pulled back. I felt dizzy and both my arms were numb.

"Are you okay?" I muttered, looking up into his green eyes. They looked blank.

Harry nodded. "Are you?" He asked and proceeded to pull me out of the alleyway.

"No.." I whispered under my breath as we passed the young boy who had been shot earlier. He lay on the concrete floor, still and lifeless. His eyes were open and I bent down to shut them, he looked younger up close. No older than 16 or 17.

"Come on, we have to leave.." Harry turned to me and reached out his hand. "Now, Lianna." He spoke calmly.

We exited the alleyway with our hands intertwined. Despite the absence of gunfire or enemy planes, people still ran up and down the streets of Namur frantic and panicked. We passed several bodies on the sidewalk, all of them dead. All of a sudden, Daisy's call popped into my mind. She had disappeared during the German attack and before I could reach her Harry had dragged me down the street and away from enemy fire.

"Oh, my god! Harry!" I almost sobbed. "D-daisy, she was here! N-near the bakery." I stuttered. "We have to go back, we have to look for her!" I pleaded.

Harry gripped my hand tighter as we made unsteady strides down the street and towards the bakery, this time I pulled him along. I hadn't realized how far we had run from the bakery until my legs began to ache. The streets and people looked broken and battered. Buildings crumbled and the smoke fire still rose from the explosion.

"Daisy!?" I cried out, hoping, just hoping that she'd answer back.

"Daisy?" Harry called.

I turned to my left were several dead bodies rested on the sidewalk.

I saw a middle-aged woman clawing at the body of a dead girl. She pulled at her shoes and searched in her rucksack.

"Hey! Get off of her!" I spoke in English but the women didn't move.

"Leave her alone! Stop it!" I spoke in French and the women moved, running down the street with the dead girl's shoes in her right hand and her rucksack in the other.