[TOR] Zakerias

[Zakerias]

Chapter 1
A Fresh Start

"No river can return to its source,
yet all rivers must have a beginning"
~ Native American Proverb

Slipping through the cold, black night, a young man wearing a simple, brown hooded jacket, adjusted the rucksack's thin straps and picked up his pace. Arriving at a small metallic hut, which rested against two other support structures in Coruscant's underworld, he rapped his knuckles softly on the thin metal door, which looked as if it would give way at any moment. With a creak the door opened slowly and an elderly woman stepped out, "We must hurry, there isn't much time, did you bring it?"

Patting the rucksack behind him, the young man nodded, as the woman gave simple instructions, "Good, keep it covered up, it's quite chilly tonight."

The two set off towards the disputed border that had belonged to a number of underground gangs over the last few months, making sure every now and then that they weren't being followed. "How's the misses?" the older woman asked trying to break the awkward silence that permeated between them as they walked.

"She's doing as well as can be expected. I'm sure she'd skin my hide if she knew that we were..."

"Watch your tongue!" The grey-haired woman snapped back cutting the young man off mid-sentence, "Our efforts will be lost if we get caught."

The young man quietly agreed as the checkpoint came into view under their fast pace. The old woman spun around holding her hands out towards the man before her, "Now...let me see."

The young man hesitated as he shifted from foot to foot, "But..."

The woman's eyes glowered down at the man before her, her tone sharpening, "I offered to do what you cannot...should you be searched or discovered, you will raise suspicion. If you want this done, I will have to carry your...package from here," The two stood in silence as the old woman finished her statement, "Without you."

Lowering his eyes to the ground, the young man slung the bag off his shoulders. He held the bag preciously in his hands for a moment before reluctantly handing it to the woman's outstretched arms. "Good. Now go. Or," she turned away pausing to glance over her shoulder, her brow arched mockingly, "did you wish to say goodbye first?"

The young man left without answering leaving the woman to stroll quietly through the Republic checkpoint & into gang territory by herself. The only comment came unsolicited from a bored soldier, "Be careful ma'am, it's dangerous past this gate." She smiled and nodded, "I won't be long, but thank you for your concern."
After navigating the twists and turns, she passed quickly in shadow until she arrived at a group of 'shacks', if they could even be called that. Pieces of metal had been slapped up against more ominous support structures, each one creating one and two story 'houses' in one of the poorer areas in Coruscant's underworld slums. Together they made a sizable community, but still small enough to keep the gang's from caring about them. She slipped through the small alley's created by the nonchalant and hurried manner in which the slabs of metal had been slapped together. Most of these 'communities' were made hastily throughout the streets with Coruscant's great city above. The old woman walked through the 'town' quietly, seen only by the mixture of rodents & small animals which inhabited the streets & alleyways at this early morning hour. She climbed the stairs of the largest building near the opposite edge of town and placed the small bag by the door. Opening the backpack, she inspected her delivery then closed the flap again. She eyed the building one more time, it was actually several 'shacks' which had been altered as one. 'This will do,' she thought to herself, then, with a brisk turn, she quietly left the shantytown never to return.



Leonieth awoke early as she did every morning and quickly began to start breakfast. Opening the front door, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. This was the only time when she would get a few moments alone, the only time when she could collect her thoughts. She went about her usual morning routine by unlocking the donation box a friend had made for them. She rarely found anything worthwhile inside, but she was optimistic and hopeful that someone would be kind enough to share their water or food rations with them. She frowned as she was yet again disappointed, then twirled around halting in her stride as the door shut. Placing the keys on a small table just inside, she turned back to the metallic door and opened it again, assuring herself that whatever she had seen would now be gone. A small gasp escaped her lips when much to her surprise the small brown backpack she had barely glimpsed in her hasty twirl was still laying in a crumpled heap by her door. Leo eyed the wayward package with scrutiny that quickly grew into fear as the rucksack appeared to be...moving. Worried that an unwelcomed animal had crawled into the bag, she hollered upstairs to one of the older boys, "Jorgen! Jorgen! Get down here, I think we have another rat! It's big too!"

The stairs flooded with children bounding down it, each one hoping to get a look at this perilous creature. Jorgen flew past them all and quickly glance outside, "Where?"

"It's in that bag," Leo pointed towards the brown sack on her doorstep. Jorgen watched it wiggle for a moment then smirked, "Aw, it's just a baby. Here."

Jorgen picked up his booted foot as the other children began cheering him on with hoots and hollers while others chanted "Kill it! Kill it!"

The noise quickly filled the hallway and carried out into the street beyond the door until an ear-splitting cry broke over the commotion. Jorgen, his foot primed for a good stomping, stood shocked as the children around began whispering. Slowly lowering his foot to the ground, Jorgen turned to Leo, "Wanna take another guess? That don't sound like no rat."

Leo stared at the bag just as surprised as everyone around her then slowly shook her head, "That's because it isn't." Bending down she lifted the flap of the bag and carefully picked up its contents in her arms, "It's..."

"A baby!" hollered one of the children finishing Leonieth's sentence for her.

"A stinky baby," giggled one of the other children, waving his hand to clear the smell from his nose.

Leo quickly shooed the children back inside and asking the older ones to get some blankets, diapers and a bottle using what milk they had. Meanwhile the younger ones pleaded & begged for a chance to hold it until the question on everyone's mind was bellowed out, "What's his name?"

Several girls were quick to add, "HER name! It's a girl!" while the boys answered back, "It's a boy!"

"Aww...nuts. He's got a thingy..." remarked one of the girls as Leonieth put a fresh diaper and change of clothes on the little baby boy. One of the smaller girls crossed her arms in defeat, "Fine...it's a boy."

"Sayhra, please go make breakfast for everyone, my keys are on the hallway table," Leo requested of one of the older girls.

The commotion of the morning died down as breakfast was served, but the conversation was quick to turn back to the new baby.

"What's his name?" one girl asked.
"He can have my name, I don't like it very much," another boy offered.
"No give him my name!" said another boy.
"Does this mean we can't get a dog now?" pouted another girl.
"Can I be his mommy?" offered one of the youngest girls.
"Where'd he come from?" asked one inquisitive boy.

The questions stacked up quickly, one over the other before Leo raised her arms to quiet everyone, "One at a time please, and you four, stop talking with your mouth full. It's rude."

The group fell silent until the question was asked again, "What's his name?"

"I don't know," answered Leo.

"Well we can't just call him 'Baby', I think he'd resent us for that later on," Jorgen joked.

"What about Daisy?" one of the other girls questioned.
"Can't name him after yer dead dog!" scolded a boy around her age.
"Why not? It's a people name too," she asked.
"That's a girls name, he's a boy!" protested another boy.

Turning to Leo, the little girl began to plead, "Puh-lease?"

Leo thought for a moment before, "That's a fine name for a girl, but Janiel is right, it's a girl's name."

"Aww...He's stayin'?" asked one of the other children warily.

"Didn't you?" Jorgen shot back.

"So what we gonna call 'im?" asked one of the older girls.

Leo paused for a moment then replied, "How about..."



"Zak," replied a young boy perched on a box in an alleyway, his legs dangled over the edge and his attention focused on his mirror image created by a pool of water on the ground.

"Zak what?" the strange man continued to probe as he worked to fix the broken pipe.

"Zak nuffin'," the little boy grunted back.

The man nodded, "Well Zak Nuffin, whatcha..."

"No!" Zak bellowed irritated. "It's Zak, just Zak. Nuffin' else."

The man eyed the boy confused, "Ya' ain't got no name?"

"Yes I do! It's Zak...nuffin' else," he stood to face the man even more annoyed than before.

"What kinda kid ain't got no name?" the man asked innocently.

Zak narrowed his eyes as his jaw tightened & he clenched his hands into tiny fists. Frustrated, he then took off running back to the largest building near the opposite edge of town, which he had been left at so many years before, angry at the ones who had left him behind without a name.

[Zakerias]

Chapter 2
Silent Intruder

Each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
~Edgar Allan Poe

Stepping lightly along the worn floors beneath her frail toes; she curled her wispy fingers around the metal banister. She slowly drifted upwards towards the scent she was hunting, careful not to touch the delicate boards that might creak in their age giving her presence away. Reaching the top, she twirled like a twisted ballerina in her excitement. With a hint of a smile she wafted darkly towards the door on her left; one of many that lined the hallway. Pressing herself against it, she could smell her prey, these younglings however were just beyond her reach, but attainable. Kneeling down, she sent forth a shapeless, shadowy army. She would remain...perched and ready to pounce... waiting with quiet anticipation for the very moment when her prey would try to escape her choking grasp.



Zak had been sent to bed early that night, in trouble for something insignificant enough that he would never again remember why after this night. He lay asleep as young children do, sideways...with his head bent backwards slightly as it hung off the bed's edge. Hours later he could feel the slight prickle of an intruder against his nose; soon it began to sting his throat. They turned to a sharp burning sensation, which quickly became unbearable enough to wake him. Annoyed, irritated, and cranky he rubbed his eyes and tried to clear his throat of this invading force; meanwhile the shadowy intruder continued to billow into the room. He searched for the foul smell that could no longer be ignored and sure enough, the other boys he shared this room with were stirring for the same reason.

Zak climbed from his bed, one sock covered foot touching the worn floor, one bare foot joining it moments later. He slowly began turning around in circles, but the cloudy substance had filled the entire room, disorienting him. He was soon joined by several of the other boys; the sounds of quiet sobbing could be heard all around him. But not Zak of course, he never cried. Never.

Zak could see a small light growing brighter and brighter against the makeshift window adjacent to the door; even through the thick smoke it was bright. The moment he turned around to find the door, a loud crash came from the direction of the light source and the room began to quickly go up in flames. The impact knocked Zak to the ground, knocking the wind out of him. Still he didn't cry, despite the racket he could hear just beyond that door to his room; that door which was now blocked by what Zak would later claim as a raging inferno.

Stunned, Zak remained where he had fallen; the door blocked, he wasn't sure what to do. So there he sat, trapped as the fire raged around him, believing that at any moment, Leo would come find him. He could hear the crackling of the fire's intrusion and as his space grew smaller and smaller his hope of rescue diminishing equally.



Leo had been rushing in and out several times to make sure all the children under her care had made it out of the fiery blaze. Standing a fair distance away from the town, she quickly began counting, "Eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen..." Keeping a mental tally on all the children, "Fifteen...Ronal! Where's your brother?"

Ronal eyed her questioningly then began craning his neck to quickly look for his twin brother, "I-I...I dunno?!?"

Quickly taking attendance she muttered, "Six...I'm missing six..." after a moment she realized which room she missed, "Zak?!?"

She waited silently for an answer but when none came she turned to the oldest and snapped, "Why did you let him wander off?!?"

They all turned to one another, and then eyed Leo as one replied, "We haven't seen 'im come out..."

Leo turned back to eye the blaze as the flames glinted across the rooftops of not just the orphanage, but the rest of the town as well; smoke pouring upwards towards Coruscant's great city above.



High above, she danced atop as flames licked at her heels. She was happy, the feeding frenzy of twisted metal and more organic meals below made her swell with pride. She felt high, buzzed, whatever they called it, she could feel herself being lifted high above and it was maddening, sensational! Her black hair billowed down her shapeless body as she threw her head back and let her frenzied cackling be carried as far as it would reach.