”Hurry and check Terrian! He might still be alive!” Rhoswen yelled to Anna as she dropped to her knees beside Vartan. He was still conscious, but curled into the fetal position, holding his stomach. Blood was pooling around him. She touched his shoulder, and he seemed to jerk slightly before he looked up at her.

”I believe my wound has reopened,” he said calmly, his voice denying that he was in any pain whatsoever. But sweat rolled down his forehead as he struggled to sit up and he hissed a little as he moved his arms from his abdomen and looked down.

Rhoswen helped him unbutton his jacket and slipped it off his shoulders. The bandages were still there, but they were now soaked with blood. “I have to get these off,” she told him.

”Rhoswen!” Anna cried from across the room, her voice frantic, “I found a pulse! He’s still alive!”

Rhoswen leapt to her feet and ran to where Anna was kneeling beside Terrian’s body. Together they rolled him over onto his back, getting his face out of the puddle of his own blood. His glasses fell off, and a large bruise was becoming visible on his left cheek. Rhoswen figured one of the half-breeds must have punched him through the face with their full strength. Humans had died from less force, so Terrian was lucky to be alive.

The two girls stood up and each grabbed one end of Terrian’s body, lifting him onto the nearest cot. Anna looked desperately at Rhoswen. “What do we do now? I’ve never treated a head injury before! Terrian always did it himself!”

Rhoswen had her hands on her forehead. “I don’t know! Does he have a concussion?!”

”How would I know? What if he has brain damage?! What if he’s in a coma?!”

”Oh, God... I don’t know what to do! I don’t think there’s another doctor in the whole city!”

Anna was crying again. “We can’t just let him die! He’s... he’s all we have!”

Vartan climbed to his feet and limped over to the cot where Terrian laid motionlessly. The girls were both surprised, and stepped back while he looked Terrian over. “I don’t think the injury will cause permanent damage,” he said.

”How do you know that?” Anna practically screamed.

”We’ve been studying the human body for years. I have a little medical knowledge.”

”And you think he’s going to be okay?” Anna asked, a little more calmly.

Vartan nodded. “I’m not certain, but he appears to only be unconscious. The position and color of the bruise indicate that his brain did not receive the majority of the impact. If I’m correct, he should regain consciousness in a couple of hours.”

”But... all that blood...” Rhoswen said, still starting at Terrian.

”Came from his mouth. Three of his teeth are gone,” he replied, pointing to Terrian’s slightly gaped mouth.

Both girls burst into tears, hugging each other and then laughing loudly. They were so relieved that they almost forgot Vartan was there, bleeding and on the verge of passing out. He was leaning against the wall, his hair wet will blood and sweat, hanging messily in his eyes. The girls rushed to his side, allowing him to lean on them as they helped him to the back room, where the medical supplies were.

Once in the room, they sat him down on a stretcher, and he carefully laid back, wincing with every move. They headed over to the counter to get alcohol and thread, when Rhoswen caught Anna’s eye. “Are you okay with this? Helping him?”

Anna smiled to Rhoswen. “He saved us. If he hadn’t gone against them, I don’t even want to think about what would’ve happened. I hate half-breeds, but I owe him. Big time.”

Rhoswen returned the smile, and they ran back to the stretcher to begin sewing Vartan’s wound back up. It took them a little longer than it had Terrian and Rhoswen the first time, and their work was a little more clumsy, but they managed to close the wound and stop the bleeding.

Amazingly, Vartan never screamed once, although he did occasionally grunt when the needle pierced his skin. By the time they were finished, he was exhausted and practically immobile while they bandaged him up. He fell asleep just as Rhoswen looked up to tell him they were finished.

They turned out the lights and quietly left the room, returning to the main patient area to sit by Terrian’s bed. They did their best to ignore the sight of their dead, scattered patients, splattered across the walls and floor. To keep themselves distracted, they talked.

”Why did you come back?” Rhoswen asked Anna.

Anna gave her a weak smile. “I couldn’t leave you and Terrian here. I couldn’t let you deal with that, not alone.”

Rhoswen looked down. “It must have been horrible for you... how close it came to... to what happened before.”

Anna smiled very brightly then. “Yes, it was horrible at the time. But now that it’s over, I’m really happy! I fought back, Rhoswen! Look, I even have that bastard’s blood under my nails where I scratched his face!”

Rhoswen looked at her, surprised. “Yeah... you really did good!”

Anna laughed, then looked at Rhoswen seriously. “Before, I was just a kid. I was thirteen. The minute they came in, they told me not to move a muscle. So I didn’t. I was too terrified to even flinch. And afterward, I was so ashamed. I kept asking myself why I didn’t try to fight back. And I promised myself, that if I was ever put in that position again, I’d fight with everything I have, even if it gets me killed. That’s why I’m really proud of myself today!”

Even though she was smiling again, tears were forming in Anna’s eyes. “I was so scared today, Rhoswen, but I didn’t run away! I fought back! I faced them! I... I made it right.”

Rhoswen stood up and wrapped her arms around Anna. She stroked her friend’s hair as tears fell down her own face. “Yeah, you made it right, Anna. You overcame your past. You’re free now.”

Anna was crying hard again, and Rhoswen held her tightly. “We’re such crybabies today, aren’t we?” Anna asked though her tears, laughing now.

Rhoswen laughed too. “Yeah, we need to chill out.”

”I think you girls need a vacation.”

They both froze, then looked down at Terrian, who was looking up at them with half-open eyes. They practically tackled him, encasing him in the biggest hug they could muster. He laughed, then groaned. “Oh... my mouth hurts,” he said, sitting up.

”One of the half-breeds knocked out a few teeth,” Anna told him, sitting on the bed beside him.

Terrian groaned again, this time louder. Then he looked both girls up and down. “You’re both alright? What happened?”

They looked at each other for a moment. Then Rhoswen sat down on the cot across from Terrian’s. “We came back in to help you, but the half-breeds over-powered us. They were about to kill us when Vartan came in and convinced them to let us go.”

Terrian’s eyes became large and wet. “You mean... you almost died while trying to save me?”

The girls nodded.

He suddenly stood up and pulled them both into his arms. “I knew it,” he said, his voice cracking, “The moment I met you two, I knew you were good girls!”

Anna and Rhoswen blushed a little, but smiled and laughed as Terrian cried. The family was back together. They were all alive and healthy, and that’s all that mattered.

Terrian suddenly stepped back. “Wait, you said Vartan saved us? Where is he now?”

”He’s in the back room, asleep,” Anna said.

”Asleep?”

”They punished him instead of us,” Rhoswen told him, “and his wound reopened. Anna and I stitched it back up, but I think he ended up passing out.”

”I’d better go check him,” Terrian said, walking past them. The girls followed him into the back room and turned the lights on. To their shock, the stretcher Vartan had been laying on was empty, only a crumpled sheet remaining. The back door was open, and the crisp night air drifted in, sending shivers down Rhoswen’s back.

The girls discussed Vartan, explaining to Terrian what had happened to him but leaving out the more embarrassing details of what had occurred while he was knocked out. Neither of them wanted to worry Terrian any more than they already had.

They spent the rest of the evening cleaning up the bodies in the main patient room. The girls were appalled by the bloodshed, but Terrian was an absolute wreck. He loved his patients so dearly, far more so than Rhoswen or Anna could comprehend. They often thought he viewed each and every patient as his own child, no matter their age. It was he who often stayed at the clinic over night, feeding the elderly soup or reading stories to the children. It was he who constantly talked to them, got to know them on a personal level. And it was he who now stood in the center of the room with tears streaming down his face as the girls hurried to wrap the bodies with sheets and carry them to one corner of the room.

Terrian had taken the news that the clinic had been shut down very badly. He didn’t say anything, but the girls could tell he was deeply upset. After they moved the last body to the corner, he told them he wanted to burn it.

”But why? They just told us we can’t take any more patients in,” Anna said, “We don’t have to destroy it! We have so many memories here!”

Terrian looked at her sadly. “I know, but it’s not the place that made the memories, it’s the people. The clinic serves no purpose if we can’t help anyone. And besides,” he said, glancing at the bodies in the corner for the first time, “we have to give them a proper funeral.”

”Funeral?” Rhoswen asked.

”We can’t burry them all. There’s not enough land for that and it would take way too long. So we should burn them.”

The girls were quiet for a moment, then both finally agreed. The three of them cleaned out the back room, boxing up all of the supplies and anything that could possibly be useful to them later. Once it was all done, Terrian poured out a bottle of alcohol onto a sheet in the middle of the main patient room and lit it on fire with a match. They exited the clinic and stood outside on the street, watching it burn.

Terrian turned to the girls. “I’ll be expecting you at my house starting tomorrow. For your new jobs.”

”What new jobs?” Anna asked.

Terrian grinned at them, the first time he had done so in the past few hours. “You’re my new maids!”

Rhoswen and Anna smiled to each other. “We’ll be there, Doctor.”

They parted ways once again, the last time they would ever do so on that particular street, in front of that particular building. It was still burning furiously as Rhoswen walked toward her apartment. It was later than usual, and the streets were fairly quiet. At least the blazing building behind her provided plenty of light.

She wondered about Vartan, why he had left without saying anything and where he had went and why he had really helped them. But most of all, she wondered if she would ever see him again. All but one of their meetings had taken place at the clinic, and it was where he knew to find her. Even if by chance she saw him on the street, he would no doubt be with other half-breeds and she wouldn’t dare approach, no matter what had happened between them.

She shook her head as she unlocked her door. Why did it even matter if she would see him again? He was a half-breed. He was a monster, regardless of what had happened. The female half-breed was probably right, he probably just wanted to have his way with her and then toss her aside. That’s what half-breeds did.

She opened the door and stepped inside. She reached back with her right hand to shut the door behind her, but someone grabbed her wrist. She jerked herself around to see who was there, and found herself face to face with Vartan. His jacket was still unbuttoned from earlier, leaving his chest and bandaged abdomen exposed. His grip on her wrist was firm, but not tight or painful. He seemed tired, weak.

He looked her in the eyes and said flatly “I’m coming in.”