Was Once There, Too

by Amelia

Revenge is sweet, or so goes the old saying. But the truth of it, it just leaves you cold and empty. Though the punishment is dealt out and justice served and paid, it don't change what happened, what was lost. That's the truth.”

Six men listened to the words as they were spoken over the open comm, that the seventh was saying to someone they couldn't see, but all of them had heard the click of a gun being cocked.

It all started out just to be a recon job. Vin had gone into the old warehouse district blending in with the other homeless squatters that live there. He drifted from one warehouse to the next of three that were joined, hoping to either see or hear something about the large shipment of AK 217 automatics that a snitch had informed Ezra about, supposedly being stashed in one of the warehouses.

Vin had only been inside for a little over an hour when suddenly the recon for information went to a more dangerous situation.

The six men outside in the van didn't see what the seventh did. The only information they had on the situation was what they were hearing. There had been no warning nor a hint of what he was suddenly caught in. Though they were tense, they stayed put, though it was hard to do. They waited for a signal from Vin if they should come in to help.

Vin kept his eyes on the young man who held the gun aimed with shaking hands. He had walked through one of the hallways into a room and straight into the confrontation of a teenage boy standing in front of his mother, whose black eyes were already telling the story of why the boy was pointing the gun at a drunk, burly man.

Vin had told the boy those words with all the truth in his voice. He eased slowly up to the kid, hoping to prevent a tragedy he'd always carry with him after what his mother had already lived through. When Vin got close enough, he moved his hands slowly up, finally taking the gun out of the trembling hands.

"It's all right, I know you were only trying to take care of your mama. Don't you worry about this trash, I have some friends outside. I'm sure one of them will come in and collect him for assault. And there is another friend out there that helps run a shelter. I'm sure he can get you two into it starting tonight," Vin told the teenager, while at the same time letting the guys know that Josiah should come in and get the drunk and the little family.

"Why you willing to help us?" the boy asked with hope and suspicion both in his voice as he helped his mother up.

"Because I know where you are. I was once there, too." Vin said softly, looking up after he had the drunk man kneeling down and had handcuffed him.