find nothing. All of them tried to stay vigilant and as close from each other as possible.
After half an hour walking and following the water stream through ever wider corridors, they finally felt a small breeze which came with an even stronger odour which made Xavier sigh in desperation as tears came to his eyes and they could hear as well the soft sound of a larger water stream.
“It must be the Guaire river! Let's go!” Guillem said visibly excited about finally getting out of that disgusting place.
They finally arrived to the Guaire river, coming out of the drain by one of the tributaries of the river. Guillem immediately went to one of the sides of the river and climbed a small slope. From up there he whispered “Follow me, I know this place!”.
Everyone climbed the slope, as usual Cristobal and Tom were in charge of carrying Roberto's body and then followed a small dirt path on the side of the Guaire, it was still a good couple of meters below the city streets level so they were able to stay easily hidden. The path was just as he remember it, filled with garbage and very narrow, the Guaire odour was getting slightly better as they went upriver, just as he remembered it when he came with his religious group to distribute toys, food and other donations, that was a couple of months ago.
“There it is!,” Guillem said pointing at a bridge crossing above the Guaire a couple dozen meters ahead, the sun was starting to come out so it was not hard to see “below it lives a group of people I know. I came here a few weeks ago to bring some donations from my religious group.”
“So we finally see something good about you belonging to a demonic sect!” Said Cristobal visibly tired, but still trying to smile.
“Good to see you are having fun.”
Everyone else followed him in silence, they could still hear some gun shots and screams coming from the streets just above them.
A couple meters away from the bridge they could finally distinguish a few tiny units built below it using any material scraps they could find, from rusted metal laminates to timber. They could hear children crying from the inside of the units, some of them had a flickering light like the one made by a candle coming through their windows, but most were dark.
“Stay here!” Guillem said as he ran the short distance separating them from the units. “And I mean it! This people do not like intruders.”
As soon as Guillem got under the bridge, he approached a unit that belonged to the family he best got to know the last time he was there and knocked the door to check if somebody was there. He had brought a lot of items for this family, in particular to the children and even shared a meal with them at the time. The family was composed of a single working mother with three children, a 14 year old girl that helped with the smaller children, a 12 year old boy and another one just 5 years old.
“Who is there?” An older feminine voice said from the inside. “There is nothing of value in here. Only me and my children live here, please go away, we do not want any problem.”
“Ms. Ana, This is Guillem. We met sometime ago when me and my religious group came to do a few donations. Please open the door, I need your help.”
A cloth covering one of the windows on the inside moved to a side for a couple of seconds and someone yelled on the inside. “Open the door Wilson! It is Guillem!” the door opened and a short and bony child came out of it and hugged Guillem's leg.
“What did you bring me his time Guillem?” Said the child.
“Come one in! What are you doing here? This is not a good time to be on the street!” Ana said.
“I want to come in, but I have a group of friends waiting close from here. Can they come in too?”
“Of course, you know that my house is tiny, but there is always space for you and your friends in here. Bring them in.”
Guillem went to get the others and guided them to the small unit. As soon as they went in Ana put a thick wooden table blocking the door and left a butcher knife she had in her hand over it.
The unit was barely enough to hold the group. In a corner of the wall opposed to the door was a small table with a tiny electric kitchen and a couple of open packages of harina pan, the kitchen was fed electricity by very thin cable with broken insulation that came through one of the walls. On the same wall, but in the opposite corner there was an old mattress without any bed sheets. On one of the side walls was a slightly larger mattress and on the opposite wall a coffee table with an old television set which had a clothes hanger in the place of the antenna, finally on each side of the door a couple of small tables made of rotten wood. The walls were made of a few rusted metal scraps, but together and it was leaning against a bridge column which doubled as the back wall, the door was a large table attached to a hole in one of the metal laminates and next to it was another square hole which was supposed to be a window, on the outside it had a metal grid welded and on the inside it had a bed sheet as a curtain. The light was produced by a light bulb hanging from the metal scraps composing the ceiling and connected to the same cable that provided energy to the kitchen. There was no bathroom anywhere in the unit.
Ana was a older woman of around 50 years old, very skinny to the point you could see all her ribs, she was wearing a very old and dirty gown. Leslie, was her older daughter, she was short and skinny, very pale, as if sick, but it had always shocked Guillem that she had a look of malice on her eyes that he had only seen on older and experienced woman, she was dressing a dirty gown just like her mother. Wilson was a dark skinned child with African features, obviously son of a different father, the look in his eyes was not so different to that of his sister and finally Truman was the smallest, he was dark skinned as well and still looked like a child with a look of innocence on his face. Wilson and Truman were completely naked.
Cristobal and Tom placed Roberto in one of the beds and Maria, Lucio, Guillem and Xavier sat down in the other, they were finally able to see each other under a more appropriate light and they were covered in a mixture of dirt, faeces and blood. Even under all that dirt Xavier managed to look pale and sick and Maria managed to look sexy as usual.
“What are you guys doing here? This is no place for you.” Ana said. “You should be at home, with your people.”
“We know, we were in the Central University when everything started and we are still trying to get home. We need to rest at least for a couple minutes, we have been through so much in just a few hours.” Guillem answered.
“You guys are going to the east of the city? There are many clashes between Cabristas and the police on that side. Most of the still honest and loyal police is there at this very moment.”
“What do you mean with that? I mean, about the police.” Maria asked.
“Cabrera had bought all the worst elements of the police departments and now have their support. They are covering everything that is happening and trying to frame the people they call the oligarchs about everything they do. An oligarch for them is anyone with money that is not with Cabrera.”
“And why is the army not doing anything?”
“The same, he gained the support of most generals. I guess he had more than a few dirty secrets from his time in the army. The rest is just keeping quiet and waiting.”
“And how do you know all this? I mean, this must be secret and must have been happening from long ago for him to have gained such support.”
“Yes it has. I have heard rumours. Remember that most police officers and soldiers come from the lowest people, a lot of those that are not able to find anything to eat anywhere go and enrol in either the police or the army. I know a lot of them and their families and they have kept us informed.”
“Can we turn on that television?” Maria asked.
“Of course, let's turn it on.” Said Ana as she walked to it.
After a few minutes hitting the television with her hand, Ana managed to get one of the public channels and as it was to be expected there was a news show going on at the moment.
“We keep receiving reports about many violent manifestations all over t
he country after the first speech from Cabrera. So far it is impossible to know how many casualties there have already been, but the calls keep coming to report missing people.” The news presenter was saying as she showed a live feed from Chacaito where many people were breaking into every store and stealing anything they could find, many shootings could be heard in the background as well. “So here be have Helen with a live interview with one of the Cabristas on the street.”
“Good night mister. What are you doing at this time of the night here in Chacaito with all this insecurity?” Said Helen.
“Taking what is mine. What insecurity? Everything is fine here. Why do your people call insecurity when the my people goes out to reclaim their property and call it justice when the empire does the same?”
“But, how is all that stuff yours?” She asked while pointing at a bag the guy had on his hands and the jewellery he had all over his body.
“It was stolen from the people by the oligarchs you see. They took it from our land, stole my people's labour and now they want all the profit for themselves.”
“But whoever worked in making what you are carrying must have been paid for their job. These are just stores selling merchandise they bought, they had nothing to do with how they were made anyway.”
“All of them are together you see, this is a conspiracy. The USA of America is paying