chk—! THUNK!
Ah—! My back—! Gentle, you damn morons!
My body hit something hard. Way too hard. My spine bent unnaturally and my head slammed into something cold—metal...maybe. At this point, it hardly mattered. The impact sent sparks straight behind my eyes, lights bursting and sliding everywhere through the dark like the shifting lights in the night.
"Help me—" The word barely made it out but those weren't coming from me. I couldn't hear what they said next. My ears rang too much for me, the noise around me smearing together into something useless. "Take off her...."
Something like that like that, right?
I wouldn't know.
My torso screamed. No—my whole body screamed, just staying hurt. Every tiny movement sent hundreds of needles straight through my skin, stabbing from the inside out.
But thankfully, the weight on my chest that was my kit was shoved off me.
Thank fuck.
"Wake—hey…"
Stop. Stop shaking me, you dumbass. Can't you see I'm trying not to move?
Every push and pull made my head throb harder, a pressure built behind my eyes until it felt like something might split open. My teeth clenched on instinct while my breath hitched. I tried to stay still, tried to stick myself to whatever I was laying on—
And right when I tried to breath in—"Hk—ngh! K—h!"
"Cough! Cough! What…the hell man?!"
My voice came out with no sweetness to it. My throat felt dry and patchy with every swallow along with the smell that had hit me.
Fuck—what even was that?
Acrid with a dab of a chemical smell that was sharp enough to hurt. It clawed straight up my nose and forced more coughing out of me while my hand flew up to rub my dirty face. My eyes watered instantly.
My eyes forced themselves open—and burned even worse, It felt worse than when I was pepper sprayed. What the fuck did these people put into it?
Yet, I didnt have time to thing when a bright light slammed into my face.
"MY EYES! TURN IT OFF!"
I yelled without thinking, lungs screaming, arms flailing all over the place. My hand caught something—someone's clothes, gear, it didn't matter as long as I continued holding onto it—and I yanked hard, trying to pull them closer just to block the light.
Another grip buried itself onto my shoulder and shoved me back down. Hard.
That only made everything worse.
Confusion flooded my veins, thick and heavy like ink. My eyes fluttered, refusing to stay open or shut. Shapes crowded around me like a blanket of black. Almost everyone wore the same helmet, their racial features obscured.
I fought without direction, shoving back, cursing.
The thick acrylic covering their helmets came into focus in pieces—grime was smeared across it, scorch marks covering part of, others were cracked some some outright shattered. That sight brough me memories whether I wanted them or not.
A few of them didn't even have helmets. Their racial features showed through immediately, I'm sure I'd seen these people somewhere. Was it the clothes they wore or the way they moved about?
Whatever.
I didn't care to listen to what they said.
I tore one arm free and shoved one of them off me with everything I had, using my leg to kick the nearest person in the groin.
My hand came up on instinct, my palm open and shaking while I locked my eyes on the same person. I stared and willed it. Blood rushed to my head, pounding behind my head—yet at the same time, it didn't feel physical at all.
I yanked my hand back toward my chest like pulling a cord.
He—err…whoever it was—jerked forward violently. Their body pitching down like something invisible had grabbed them and slammed them toward the floor. I felt resistance almost immediately, heavy and dense all together.
SNAP!
The acrylic visor fractured with a sharp crackle. Shards broke loose from the helmet and scattered like leaves.
Hands grabbed me again once again. Too many to count and much harsher than before. I twisted and shoved at whoever was holding me.
The struggle seemed to be too much and the table, no—gurney tipped over. Knocking me down like nothing.
My body slid off the edge and slammed into the floor on my side. The impact punched the breath out of me. Pain shot through my ribs and arm all at once, freezing me mid scream, my vision stuttered like a grainy film while I clenched my teeth.
I'm pretty sure a few tears started running down my cheek.
Something screamed, it didn't matter if it was me or just my imagination but a scream non the less.
A sound followed—metal buzzing, every pitch rang clearer now than ever before.
The hum crawled from my near my hip outward, echoing through the space around me.
And then—
KR—RNNN—g…!
All at once.
Every sound hit me together.
The entire room slammed into my ears in a single, overwhelming surge, It was something that left me distorted...disoriented.
"hff—hff—HFF!"
Was I always breathing this hard?
"Ar...ood...see? Al...good?"
I lifted my head toward the voice inching closer. The blurry face peeled away in uneven patches until the figure sharpened enough to make my eye twitch.
Lucus.
Yeah. It was every bit of that annoying prick. Blueand white hair plastered to his head in clumped strands, sticking out like branches. The usual grin he wore was long gone, what replaced it looked worse—grime smeared across his face, the sweat cut pale lines through it all with exhaustion weighing his eyes down.
"Say something you fool. And, put your hand down." He said, his voice low and exhausted.
Huh? I'm not a fool you dumbass, you are.
"Some...t-thing. Hehe-argh...fuu."
The moment I tried to pull in a deeper breath, my chest burned with white hot pain. I looked down and finally noticed the back of hand—covered in band-aids, my grip tight around my casting device. So hard the little screen on its so-called ass flickered on and off.
Slowly, I loosen my grip on it, lowering my shaking hand and connecting it to my belt with difficultly.
Lucas inches closer with caution until he right in front of me. Everyone else seemed to calm down and promptly fucked off somewhere.
I forced my fingers to loosen, slowly of course. My hand trembled while I lowered it, fumbling at my belt and clipping the device back in with clumsy fingers that fought me.
Lucus edged closer and carefully, until he stood right in front of me. The others faded out, backing away once they realized I wasn't about to start swinging again.
"It reeks in here." I muttered. "Sulfur…smoke?"
The smell clawed into my lungs the moment I breathed again.
"Just stay still, will you?" Lucus said. "I can't mend your ribs if you keep movin' like that."
I ignored him and pushed myself upright anyway, reaching behind to brace my back against the fallen gurney. The metal felt harsh through my clothes.
Lucus clicked his tongue and shot me a glare sharp enough to cut nothing.
That's right. Stay mad.
He dropped his pack beside him and yanked it open, digging around before pulling out something shaped like an insulin pen. One that was mostly blue with a cap bright green.
I didn't even have time to protest before he popped the cap off and jammed it into my side. "Wait—!"
A sound tore out of my throat—something I would rather not describe, for the sake of my reputation.
"H—hk—! F-fuck—Luc—!"
The pain only last a few short seconds and soon, a pleasant numbing feeling came across my side. Spreading to all the place that hurted, a sigh of relief escaped my lips.
He slipped back into action, doing whatever it was medics did. He unhooked a battered fanny pack from his backpack, popped it open, and started laying things out on a rag that looked mostly clean. I stopped watching him halfway through and tilted my head back, fixing my eyes on anything that wasn't a tired face.
Groans and curses passed through the space before someone yelled, only for someone else to yell even louder. Harsh but concerned words followed—medical jargon is that it sounded like, probably.
My memory felt chewed up. I couldn't piece together how it all spiraled this bad.
And above everything—
Rain.
Not a drizzle, no. Not a light sprinkle either—it was pouring. I could hear it now, hammering down somewhere above us. The air felt thick and damp, my clothes clung to my skin that only weighed me even more.
A moment later, I lifted my hand enough where I could clearly see it. The bracelet around my wrist glowed softly, the small screen lighting up with the current time of—
I twisted my wrist, the same way you'd turn the keys to your home and a screen materialized into view.
Nothing like a video game, that'd just look stupid if a blue box appeared out of nowhere. It was an opaque display into with softened edges, my usual background settled faintly behind it.
I dragged a finger through the air like I was scrolling, then pulled up the map which took a few long seconds to load.
What greeted me was the city rendering itself from the bottom up. The place I was at snapped into the center automatically.
Had you ever seen one of those professional 3D animations? It looked just like that—clean and absurdly detailed. A park sat in the center, its greenery rendered so detailed it almost felt real, it's named hovered some distance above like a label.
There I was, looking down at it through a screen, at an angled like some camera floating overhead.
To the side sat a simple white circular outline with two dots inside for eyes. Thin white streaks—rain, apparently—hammered into it nonstop.
Why was it that in moments like this, I always fixated on the most useless shit?
I shook my head and dragged my finger upward. The ground level lifted away, peeling back to reveal what sat beneath—A parking lot.
Three different entrances connecting us to the surrounding street.
"Done." Lucas said at last, his voice cut through the noise after what felt like minutes. He packed his things quickly. Hands moved on autopilot then glanced up and met my eyes.
"It wasn't that bad." he added. "You shouldn't feel hungry for a while."
He stood and hauled me up by the arm, settling me back onto the fallen gurney before looking down at it with a tired, defeated sigh.
"You broke it, you idiot."
I froze, like a beast in headlights.
"Wait." I stretched my spine upward, buying myself a few centimeters. "Where's my guy at?"
Lucus didn't answer right away. The look that crossed his face was small—gone almost immediately, but it was enough to make my stomach feel empty.
He pointed somewhere without looking...and a bad feeling crawled up my spine.
I followed the direction of his hand, my eyes searching through the mess slowly—until they landed on a body on the ground. The torso and face were covered beneath a ripped tarp, it's edges darkened and stiff.
…Oh.
That was my answer.
Perhaps it was just the weather, maybe it was just the few scattered light bars that barely illuminated the parking lot.
But everything felt very warm, my clothes, my face. My chest.
Whatever Lucus was saying, his voice might as well have been underwater. I shoved his face out of the way and forced myself upright on my own, nearly pitching forward when my legs failed to listen.
I stared, then stared some more. I took a few steps toward him while Lucus tried to grab me, trying to say something, anything—to knock sense into me.
Honestly…what was I even going to do?
Before I knew it, I was kneeling in front of him, my knees hit the ground hard enough that I should've felt but didn't.
I grabbed the edge of the tarp and yanked it off in one rough pull, tossing it aside without looking.
His face was dirty—caked with grime, streaked with dried sweat and shallow cuts. Despite that, his expression was strangely calm, too calm. Like he'd just laid down and decided to rest.
I lifted my head and stared.
Then I shut my eyes.
My stomach twisted so hard it felt like it might fold in on itself. I lurched forward and opened my eyes again—only to find my reflection staring back at me.
"Gh—hk—gh—!"
My chest heaved uncontrollably over the sink, every breath scraping on the way in and burning on the way out. My hands clenched around the counter, my fingers digging in hard enough to hurt— really the only thing keeping me upright.
My skin was damp with cold sweat, my shirt felt disgusting against me, like I shouldn't even be wearing it.
We stayed like that for a while, me and the person in the mirror—until our breathing slowed just enough for us body to remember how to stand on its own.
Hah...I need a shower.
Fuck it, I'm just jumping in.
I stripped out of my clothes and tossed them into a small, careless pile on the floor before stepping into it. I turned the knobs until the temperature felt right—and then the water hit my face all at once.
I closed my eyes and let out a long breath.
My hands moved on their own, rubbing and kneading at the tight knots buried under my skin. The steam sank through my soreness, loosening the muscles that had been stiffened for who knew how long.
I twisted my wrist and brought up a screen, my fingers scrolled through the air before tapping the music icon, my playlist bled into the bathroom, vibrating against the tile and glass.
My hair was a mess. A nightmare was what it was.
Too hard…too tangled…there!—hahhh, finally.
That took way longer than it should've.
And my feathered tufts were no better, even they needed some attention. A young woman should at least groom her feathers, you know?
I worked my fingers through them in small circles, slow and careful, loosening the grime and whatever else had clung to them. I rinsed, rubbed over and over, until they finally felt like new—clean enough I could breath through them...
Yeah…
I'm fine.
Swear.