"Did... Did you do that?" Ella asked Toivo in shock.
Toivo didn't reply but just kept hobbling away.
"Answer me! What was that?" Ella asked from behind while following Toivo.
"I've been wanting to show you what I can do for a long time. Don't worry about me." Toivo said back and hobbled forward while his foot kept giving out under him.
"Wait! Are you not going to explain anything? Are you hurt? Wait!" Ella shouted back.48Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtkIDsMwtfS
She almost grabbed Toivo by the shoulder but didn't because she was scared of him now.
"It'll be a quick trip and I'll come back!" Toivo shouted back while facing away.
He then walked a little forward and the pain just got worse. He wasn't used to wounds and injuries because he always got them healed up quickly, but not this time. He then stopped and uncovered his shin to look at it. The bandage had already fallen off and his shin was not only wounded, but infected too from the wolf's dirty teeth. Ella cautiously walked up to Toivo and looked at the wound and got even more worried.
"What happened to your foot? You're not going anywhere in that condition!" She said.
"I have to. The longer I take, the more the cops will find out about my family. I have to get them out!" Toivo insisted.
"They were arrested for stealing a bus. Nobody knows where they actually came from. They'll be back. You need to rest. You look tired too." Ella said and wasn't as scared of Toivo anymore, but mostly sympatehtic.48Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuf7aTmVVx1
Toivo was looking at his foot and breathing loudly with his nose.
"Please listen. I don't want you to hurt yourself or do anything stupid." Ella pleaded.
"Fine. I'll stay here for one day. Then I'll go." Toivo said back.
"Well, that's better than nothing. I completely understand why you're worried for your family. I'm worried for them too, but I'm also worried for you. Let's get you inside. You can stay in our house because yours is a little damaged now. Put your arm over my shoulder to make this easier." Ella said.
Toivo did as asked and Ella led him to her home.
"I also need to get Three back at some point. I shouldn't have left her there." Toivo said in pain.
"You do. But we'll worry about that later. She'll take care. She's smart." Ella said back.
Inside the house Ella took Toivo to the living room and let him sit down on the sofa.
"Why is he here now? Doesn't he have his own home?" Ella's father asked upon entering the living room when he heard the sounds.
"My house... Is a little damaged thanks to the cops." Toivo explained.
"And look at this! This wound needs to be taken care of. Get some bandages and whatever you can clean the wound with." Ella told her father.
"That looks bad. Fine. Let him stay here for now. I'll get the first aid kit." Mr. Nyman said and went away.
"Were you bitten by an animal?" Ella asked.
"Some wolves attacked me and one of them bit my shin. I got rid of them before they could do anything else." Toivo answered.
"Wolves? And there were many of them? How did you get rid of them?"
"You saw what I can do. That's how."
"Right. Silly question." Ella said.
"Okay. Here they are. Let's see what we can do." Mr. Nyman said with the first aid kit now in his hand.
He also had a wet towel that he wrapped around Toivo's shin and pressed it against the skin and the wound. Toivo made sounds of pain and gritted his teeth while the towel was on the wound.
"We need to wash the wound before patching it. It hurts but it's better than not washing it." Mr. Nyman explained.
Ella sat next to Toivo and tried to calm him down, but he just ignored her. Mr. Nyman removed the towel and poured soap water on the wound. He then dried it and wrapped a bandage on Toivo's shin.
"There. Don't take it off until it stops hurting. I don't have the right medicines to stop infection but this should help for now at least. But you'll need some antibiotics in case it gets infected." Mr. Nyman explained.
"He was bitten many hours ago. It probably is infected at this point." Ella said and sounded worried.
"Tomorrow I'll go get the antibiotics. You don't need to pay me back for that. This is serious." Mr. Nyman said to Toivo.
"Thank you." Toivo just said back and Mr. Nyman left the living room and left Toivo and Ella alone.
"You better not go anywhere before he gets those things." Ella said.
"I said I'll stay here for one day. Tomorrow night I'll got get my family no matter what." Toivo said back.
"He better get it before then, if that's the case. But tonight you'll sleep on this sofa. You really have no other place to be right now." Ella told Toivo, who was getting less angry all the time.
"Thank you for caring and letting me stay here." He said back.
"Of course! I have to. Why would I not?" Ella said and Toivo was quiet for a moment.
"No, really. Thank you." Toivo said and sounded thankful.
"Just don't run away. I don't want you to go out there if you're hurt."
"I won't. Stop worrying about it."
"Okay. I believe you. It's late already anyway. Take it easy and rest well. I'll go to sleep myself." Ella said and stood up from the sofa.
"Good night. I'll see you tomorrow." Toivo said back, and lied down on the sofa to think.
"These two have real kindness in their hearts. Why didn't I have the same?" He though with a head full of regret.
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In the morning Toivo woke up before anyone else did. It was somewhat dim outside and inside as well. He was used to waking up early so he didn't mind it. In his dream that night he saw where 32A was and what she did.
"What was that place that I saw? And who were those people? It seems like Three won't be coming back. I guess that's one less thing to worry about. I hope she's well." He said to himself and stayed on the sofa a little while longer until he got impatient.
"Laying here is a waste of time. I feel fine. I need to go. I should have gone last night." He said and tried to stand up from the sofa.
His foot hurt immensely as soon as he put some weight on it and he let it be heard.
"I'm not fine. It's gotten worse. I can't go anywhere like this. Ella was right." He said as he sat back down.
"What are you shouting here? Are you okay?" Ella's voice could be heard from another room.48Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt9NfDmI1h4
Toivo lied back down and pretended like he had been like that all along.
"I think it's gotten worse." Toivo said back as Ella entered the living room and sat down on the other end of the sofa.
"Can I look?" Ella asked.
"If you want to." Toivo said back and Ella looked at the bandaged shin and winced.
"Not good?" Toivo asked.
"Not good." Ella replied.
"Oh."
"But! Now that you're clearly not going anywhere, and dad doesn't seem to be awake yet, that gives me a good opportunity." Ella said suggestively.
"For what?" Toivo asked worriedly.
"To ask questions, of course."
"Oh."
"Where did you get that weird power of yours?"
"I don't know. I've had it for as long as I remember."
"And I find out about it just now?"
"Me and Three agreed to never let anyone know."
"Does Three have the same power?"
"She has a different one."
"What is it?"
"She can repair and heal just about anything, as long as it's not too badly damaged. Including this bite, probably."
"Wow."
"Yep. And that's not the only ability that we have."
"What else do you have?"
"We both have a way of knowing where the other always is."
"How does that work?"
"For both of us it's different. In my dreams I can see what she did the previous day, but only if she's too far away from me. And when I'm too far away from her, she feels painful pulses from my direction."
"Wow. That's probably handy."
"In some way it is. But for Three it's not nice. She's probably in great pain right now."
"Ohh, right. Yeah that must not be nice. But at least she can easily find you if she ever wants to come back."
"I suppose. She made her choice. I hope she changes her mind."
"So. Why didn't you ever tell me?"
"Because for the first ten years of our lives we lived in cells because of these abilities. We didn't want to ever go back into such cells. We feared that if we told anyone, some authorities would come get us and just lock us up again."
"I would have never told anyone."
"Words have a bad habit of spreading around."
"You didn't trust me?"
"I always trusted you, but I promised Three that I wouldn't tell anyone."
"Okay. That's fair. Sure would be handy to have her here now."
"Yeah..."
"But you'll be fine. And so will your family."
"The sooner I can get up, the finer they'll be."
"I know, I know." Ella said and both were quiet for a moment.
"Thank you for not letting me go out there last night. I would be somewhere out there laying in a ditch probably."
"You would be. But once you're all healed up, you'll be unstoppable! But you probably shouldn't cause too much trouble if you go anywhere. As I said earlier, they're already looking for you. And speaking of that. Was it you who made all the lights in that one street break?"
"That was me."
"And was it you who did the minor damage behind your house?"
"That was me too."
"And was it you who broke dad's glasses when he was yelling at me when I was 12?"
"Yes, that was me."
"Wow."
"You already said that."
"Did I?"
"You did."
"Wow." Ella said and started contemplating the new thing she had just learned about her friend.
"Sounds like dad's getting up. I should ask him to go get the medicine as the first thing in the morning so you don't have to wait so long." Ella said when she heard noises coming from another room and then got up and left the living room.
"I feel so useless here. But I also don't want to boss anyone around and tell anyone to hurry up as if I own this place. But I can't wait here all day. I don't even know how long it takes for the medicine to help." Toivo thought to himself.
"Good news. He intended to go to the town early in the morning anyway because that's when there's less traffic and supervision. He has some things to sell in the dark market anyway. Maybe an hour and we'll have the medicine." Ella said when she came back to the living room.
"That's good to hear." Toivo said back.
"And while we're alone here, you'll show me your powers."
"How?"
"Just crack a few eggs."
"Here in the living room?"
"Yeah, why not? I'll get the eggs. You stay here." Ella said and left the living room again.
Toivo could hear the sound of a car getting started outside and driving away. Ella came back to the living room with a carton of eggs and a frying pan. She took an egg out and held it above the pan.
"Okay. Break this egg from there with your mind power thing." Ella ordered.
"This is childish." Toivo stated.
"Quiet. Do it." Ella insisted.
Toivo did as told. He focused on the egg that Ella held between her fingers and made a crack in the shell to let everything leak on the frying pan.
"Wow. Do it again." Ella said.
"What does this accomplish?" Toivo asked.
"I'll make them into a breakfast for you if you just break a couple more. You'll get a chance to eat actual food instead of a drinkable breakfast."
"Okay. That's a good reason." Toivo said and broke another egg at Ella's command, then a second one, then a third one.
"That's so amazing." Ella said.
"Was that enough?" Toivo asked.
"That was enough. I'll do what I promised. Stay there."
"I really have no choice." Toivo said but Ella was already leaving.
Toivo was once again alone in the living room. He looked at the stack of newspapers on the table next to the sofa. He took the top one and looked at the front page but saw only things that he saw as pointless nonsense. He took two other papers and didn't see anything interesting on the front pages of those either. He then took the next one from the stack and did see something interesting.
"INTERVIEWING DEFENCE MINISTER GRANLUND: I HAVE A SOLUTION!"
"After two and a half decades of twiddling thumbs and arguing with UNP officials about the disease carriers, defence minister Granlund has had enough. "The old policy of arresting suspected disease carriers on any sighting or report has not worked. They remain a public menace and for the sake of the nation's safety, we need to plug the leak for good." Were the words of the defense minister on his speech yesterday." Toivo read from the paper before being interrupted.
"What are you reading here? Old news?" Ella asked when she came to the living room carrying two plates, each plate having two fried eggs on them.
"Nothing interesting really." Toivo answered.
"Well. Enjoy reading. Here's your breakfast. This will probably be the last time you eat real food until next Christmas." Ella said and handed the plate to Toivo.
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After two hours in the living room, the sound of a car pulling up outside could be heard. The front door opened and Ella's father walked in carrying a big and full backpack.
"Did you get it?" Ella shouted from the living room.
"It's in here somewhere."
"Well, get it in here!"
"Fine, fine." Mr. Nyman said and came to the living room before even taking his hat off.
He dug out a bottle of antibiotics from the backpack and tossed it at Ella who caught it.
"What is that?" Toivo asked.
"This should be the thing. You just swallow some of these and it should ease the pain and make the infection go away if you do it every day." Ella anwered.
"Is it that easy?"
"The wonders of modern medicine. At least that's how they say this thing works." Ella said and handed the bottle to Toivo, and then got up from the sofa.
"You should also apply this." Mr. Nyman said and tossed a tube of an antibacterial ointment to Toivo who barely caught it.
"What is this?" Toivo asked.
"It should reduce the risk of an infection." Mr. Nyman said and left the living room with Ella.
Toivo took the bandage off his shin and applied the ointment on it. It felt like he was shoving his foot in a paper shredder. He winced and cringed while applying it, but still rubbed it all over the area that looked like it needed it. After that he put a new clean bandage on his shin and sat down. It didn't take long for the pain to ease. After some more waiting, he stood up and even though it hurt, he could at least stand.
"Okay. It's good. Time to go." Toivo said alone in the living room and went to make his way outside.
"Hey, are you going already?" Ella shouted when she heard Toivo's stepping.
"I'm fine now. I have to get going." Toivo said and walked to the front door.
Then a knock could be heard from the front door. Everybody in the house froze in place. Toivo peeked through the lens in the door and saw two police officers with badges on their chests.
"Who is it?" Ella whispered loudly.
"It's the police." Toivo whispered loudly back.
"How did we not hear them come here?" Ella asked.
"They probably want to talk to me. You two go somewhere else." Mr. Nyman added.
He then walked to the front door. Ella gestured Toivo to follow her. The two of them went into the cellar while Mr. Nyman went to open the front door.
"Is this Anders Nyman?" One officer asked.
"I am."
"Is that boat yours?"
"It is not."
"Do you know whose it is?"
"It belongs to the same people who were arrested in that house over there yesterday."
"It wasn't there yesterday."
"Fine. I admit it. It belongs to me."
"One case of lying to the police then. The people who were arrested yesterday were interrogated and investigated. We found out that there is no record of any of them in the govenment records. They refused to say where they came from and what their names are."
"What are you getting at and why did you come to tell me this?"
"You have been living close to these people. Perhaps you'd know something about them."
"I barely ever even talked with them."
"But do you know where they came from?"
"No idea."
"Are you sure. You already lied to us once. Telling the truth now might just get that crime erased from your record." The officer said to Mr. Nyman, and Ella and Toivo heard every word from the cellar.
"Don't tell them. Don't tell them." Toivo was quietly saying, but the words couldn't be heard outside the cellar.
"I don't know where they came from." Mr. Nyman told the officers.
"Then maybe we need to get it out of you some other way." One officer said and then they both grabbed Mr. Nyman.
"We have a theory. Tell us how close it is to the truth. The people who we arrested are from the no-contact zone. When you left the town today, the detector at the border noticed that your car was lighter when it left than when it came in, and the trailer that you were dragging had been emptied while you were in the city. You're getting people from the no-contact zone with your boat and bringing them here and then sneaking them into the city where they can spread their disease." One officer theorized.
"What? That's nonsense." Mr. Nyman said back.
"Let's see. Are you the only one who lives in this house?"
"I'm not. My daughter also lives here."
"Tell her to come out here."
"What does she have to do with this?"
"Just tell her to come here and this will be easier for all of us." The officer insisted.
Mr. Nyman shouted inside the house and told Ella to come outside. He then saw that the people who lived in the other two houses in the small community were being dragged towards him by other officers. Ella came outside the house and she was also grabbed by an officer.
"We asked the people of these other houses if they're hiding anyone. They all insisted that this is all of them and that there are no other people in their houses." One officer shouted while coming closer from the direction of the other houses.
"So they insist that their houses are empty of people now?" The officer holding Mr. Nyman asked.
"There is nobody else in my house. I live there with my family who you all have here." One neighbor assured.
"Well, since we don't have a search warrant, we're legally not allowed to make sure if that's true. But if your house is indeed empty now, you shouldn't mind if we do this. Get the launcher!" The officer said, and ordered one of the other officers.
"Launcher? What?" The neighbor asked in confusion.
One officer walked into the car that was parked somewhat far away returned with a rocket launcher.
"Wait! What is that?" The neighbor shouted.
"As I said. We're not allowed to search the house, and our footsteps are monitored so we can't step inside. This is the best way to make sure if there are any disease carriers hiding in your house." The officer explained while looking at the launcher.
"There are none! What are you doing?"
"One of you people lied to us once already. We can't just take your word." The officer said and aimed with the scope that was at the side of the launcher.
He fired a rocket at the neighbors' house. It hit perfectly and the house was destroyed completely from the side where the rocket hit.
"If there was anybody hiding in there, they're not a problem anymore. Now. Anders Nyman. Is there anybody hiding in your house? If there is, they better come out now or we'll find out the hard way." The officer with the launcher asked.
Ella looked into house with great worry. She wasn't sure what to say in this situation.
"You're really looking like neither of you want to answer. I don't like that." The officer with the launcher said.
Two officers were holding Ella and her father and made them unable to move anywhere. The officer aimed at the house but before he could pull the trigger, the launcher in his hands broke and became useless.
"What? Now? Are you serious?" The officer complained.
Then the knee of the officer who held Ella was shattered into pieces. The officer let go of Ella, but the other officers pulled out their handguns.
"We have a sharpshooter here! Take cover!" One of them shouted, but then all of the wrists of the armed officers broke and they dropped their weapons.
The officer holding Mr. Nyman had his shoulder shattered into pieces and he also let go.
"Now! Get out of there!" Toivo's voice could be heard shouting from afar.
Ella and her father looked at where the shout came from. They saw Toivo running towards where the police car was parked and also ran to the same direction.
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