Sharp, white hot pain.
It tore through you before you could even understand it. A quiet scream slips from your open mouth while your knee slams into the ground.
Your vision tighten, widened. Back and forth, the edges of your vision blackening.
You wrench your hand out of the man's pocket.
His phone and wallet come out with the pull, dragged free in the same motion. You lean back hard, your spine knocking awkwardly against your piece. Then, you yank the remaining medical supplies off his chest.
They lift from your grip the instant you will it.
You hook your fingers under your top and drag it up. your gloves come off next second, dropping without care to the dirty floor. Lifting your hood off next.
You press two fingers gently along the wound, a pained gasp leaves your mouth as you cover the length of the wound.
You will it again.
The medical bag splits apart midair without warning. Individual packages, smeared in blood, hover in front of you. A thin film of water forms around them—first a sheen, then a harsh clear layer. It pulls the blood away, washing it in swirling ribbons until the plastic turns mostly clean.
You open your palm and water thickens above it, coagulating into a trembling mass before spilling down your fingers.
You wash your hands the best you can.
You tear one floating package open with your teeth and yank the gauze free, stuffing it into your side. A bottle of saline solution uncapped itself and washed the surroundings skin, soaking down your attire and painting your clothes pink.
The lighting over you draped the mans outline in a dull amber.
Above you, the amber light drapes the man's outline in a dull light. The machinery hums somewhere outside, drowning out your thoughts.
For every inch pressed in, it stung, your ribs protesting every touch, forcing you to take shallow breaths.
More.
And more.
Until a pad was pressed over the wound, wrapping it with cloth around your waist and taking in deep breathes, keeping the pressure constant and firm.
Your hands, painted in red. Contracting the black minerals across your fingers and backhand.
You take a moment to catch your breath before ripping out a cleaner strip of cloth. Using it on yourself down, finding yourself shivering from the cold.
You reach to your right side, inside a stuffed white pouch. Two bright blood pills rise into the air from the pouch, hovering in front of you.
The lingering taste of copper and salt permeated your senses, so you wipe your lips with the back of your glove, the metal plate stitched on smearing with the scent of decay.
As you toss them in your mouth, the dull flavor pulled at your taste buds.
You lift up your left hand and see your silver bracelet bouncing the broken light. The time and date glow white across the small screen.
You cup your hands and water fills it up from the bottom, a kneading sensation coming and going behind your eyes until the bowl was full.
glup!—Hahh...
Water spills from your mouth and runs down your chin, soaking into your top.
You close your eyes for a moment, you head leaning back.
The empty medical packaging ignite into flames mid-fall before collapsing inward, snuffing into black tar that splats against the ground.
You shake your head and open your eyes once more, throwing a glance to the entrance. Leaning forward, you take the phone and rummage through the wallet to find nothing of value inside.
A sigh leaves your mouth and you seize for his hand, using his pointer finger and pressing it against the home button.
Nothing. Three more times until you swipe up and punch in a random assortment of numbers.
It worked.
tap...tap tap.
The lock screen dissolves and the home screen slides into place, it's background glaring at you.
You shift through the apps for several seconds, sending everything you could to your bracelet. A small red bell ringing on the bracelets screen for each transferred file.
Ding~!
A notification drops from the top.
Hesitantly, you tap the message and a group chat takes over.
Another message or, notice in this case.
「XXX has left the chat.」
A cluster of nine people hovered near the top, losing one the next moment, then again.
Not even a second later, a small time code appeared above the phone inside a red box, the counter ticking up.
00:00:03
00:00:04
00:00:05
It was you, recording just in case.
whummm…
The group conversation faded away, leaving you alone with your though while you scrolled up. Again, the fans bearings stifled, drowning out the depot and your breathing.
「Change of plans. We're meeting at XXX instead.」
Your finger paused at the past message, tracing the address with cold eyes.
Ding~!
A new message slid in.
「Chat unavailable.」
You switch apps and open the map. You punch in the location and watch the route calculate, noting the distance and the turns you'd need to take from the main street.
whummm…
You stay seated for a few more seconds, listening for footsteps, anything and everything. Meanwhile, every remaining file transferred to your bracelet until the red bell went silent.
With everything set and done, you plant a hand on the ground and push yourself up, pocketing the phone.
Only to stumble up for a moment.
A second becomes several, and those bled into three long minutes.
In the far corner, away from the scattered supplies, the fallen laid beneath a harsh tarp. Damaged crates and rusted bent rods were dragged over them in a crude attempt at concealment.
The air returned to its stale past, dust floating in the air.
You throw one last look at them, then you turn and walk the way you came.
With a small flick of your fingers, your piece slides back to your side. You glance at it once and its outline blurs. The obscured silhouette begins to shimmer—more and more, warping like heatwaves in a summer day.
And.
When you crossed the door frame.
tzrraak!
Lightning splits the sky.
Rain crashes down in sheets.
cold water droplets slid down your hood, souring your mood and weighing down your clothes against your skin.
Garbage litters the pavement in soggy heaps—plastic bags torn open near bibs, paper flattened into pulp on the sidewalk. A shopping cart laid on its side near the curb, one wheel spinning lazily from the wind.