The Road to Masiaka

[Jay Carpenter]

If Folami's jabs were the best he had, he sorely needed a lesson in proper put-downs. Twenty-four hours into infantry school and he'd been flayed alive by his CO. Before then, he'd never considered himself an easy goad - after all, Carp was the one that goaded everyone else - but soon enough every single one of his soft and squishy spots were filled in with slabs of aching muscle. The ones that remained didn't show up until years later, and luckily, Folami was no where near one. Particularly because they had nothing to do with anything this backward 3rd world asswipe could say. And what was that word? Pan-jew? Now that was just downright anti-Semitic.

But Folami did have one good point. The Legion was backing out. He used the proclamation as an excuse to survey their surroundings. Legionnaires were withdrawing, check. Jacques seemed to keep a leash on Natalie, thank God. No sight of anyone skipping out on the kids, good. That red-head reporter seemed to have disappeared, shame, but probably best for her sake. "You are absolutely right. Let's go Azu."
He squeezed the teacher's shoulder like a brotherly pat and turned him away from the hopped up gorillas. Ayo, nudged with the toe of his boot to follow. "Come on."


He couldn't leave them there. That was certain. They may not be lost kittens he could fit in his pocket, but Jay wasn't going to leave them there to be trampled.

But Jacques' orders didn't take them into consideration. So with the CEO distracted with doing all his chief executive officer'ing, Jay pointed out a place for them to huddle in the back of a truck. Azu could hold Ayo in his lap, and the man was already small, Jay imagined he could fold himself up to be the size of any old ruck sack.

Eventually, he had to part ways. Whether or not the man complied or ignored Folami and actually climbed on board, Jay couldn't make him. When standing between a firm order and making people want to save themselves, he had to go with orders. That's all he could do. He lowered his voice and met the man's somber gaze, "Come on, Azu. Try to fight back. For her sake."


One last moment and he left Azu behind to his fate. He climbed in the vehicle with Jacques and Natalie with relative agility despite the dull throb of pain behind his knee. Inside, he was quiet, and watched the world passing by through gaps in the windows. He made himself avoid looking at Natalie - and Jacques for that matter, but his jaw was tight. Nothing about this day sat well with him.

But who was he to judge? It wasn't his operation.