I couldn't breathe. I couldn't see. The world had collapsed into suffocating darkness.
My limbs wouldn't respond. Every part of my hands and legs were severely torn beyond use.
My memories were blurring, but I could still see them. The ugly creatures that my neighbors, my teachers, my friends had become.
I might turn into one of those beasts any moment now.
This is it. This is how I die. Not in battle, not saving anyone, not having fulfilled my quest to become one of the strongest Shadow Crane members. Just a weak worm fading away in the rubble like trash.
I was slipping away, inch by inch, into cold nothingness.
Then a blue light pierced the darkness. A digital screen hovered before my dying eyes.
[SYSTEM INITIALIZING...]
[CRITICAL ERROR. HOST VITALITY AT 2%]
[SEARCHING FOR COMPATIBLE DNA...]
[MATCH FOUND]
[EMERGENCY PROTOCOL ACTIVATED]
[BEGINNING GENE INTEGRATION...]
And suddenly, the pain was getting worst.
The last thing I heard before consciousness left completely was the system's cold, mechanical voice:
[WELCOME TO THE EVOLUTION SYSTEM, HOST]
[SURVIVAL RATE: 23%]
[GOOD LUCK]
****
"Wake up, Hajidan!" a voice yelled.
That voice... I know that voice.
Who was it?
I forced my eyes open and was greeted by the blue spread of the sky above. It was so achingly beautiful that I forgot my pain for a second. Somehow, impossibly, I was still alive. The white clouds drifting across the surface pulled me back to those rare childhood days when my parents would drive us away from the noise, into the wilderness where we could lie on the grass and watch the clouds drift.
Is this the kind of flashing memory they say comes before death?
"You've got to stay with me!" the voice cried again.
I turned my head slowly, dragging the stiff muscles of my neck to the right. There he was. Ginta, one of the shadow crane. He was still alive.
Thank God. At least I'm not alone in this nightmare.
"Where are the rest..." I tried to speak, but my throat rebelled. I coughed until pain stabbed through my chest, but I pushed through anyway. "Where is Miraza? Is she okay?" I rasped, struggling to sit upright.
"You're bleeding internally," Ginta yelled, pushing me back down so hard I thought I'd pass out from the jolt of fire that rushed through my side. "Don't move or you'll die right here, Hajidan!"
"I'm already halfway to death and you know it, Ginta! Just tell me,where is the crew? Where are the others?"
I watched him freeze. His eyes widened, shifting away from mine, his lips quivering as if the words might physically tear him apart. His fingers shook like leaves caught in a wind too heavy for trees to carry. My gut twisted; I already knew what he was going to say.
*No. No, no, no. Don't say it. Please don't say it.*
"They're gone," he finally whispered, his voice cracking. He slammed his fist into the lamp beside him. "They didn't survive the bite. They... they're mutated now, Hajidan. Everyone we know is gone. I couldn't save them. But I managed to save you, so don't you dare die on my watch! Miraza risked her life to save you, so don't trade her sacrifice for a death wish. You hear me? Hold on tight and live for her."
Miraza. She saved me? But I was supposed to be the one saving them.
I had believed I was the one making the sacrifice when I threw myself into the pit of those ravenous, mutated humans. I thought I was the distraction that gave them time to escape. I thought I had played the hero. In the end, I was just dragged to safety like a sack of potatoes.
"I'm a weak idiot," I cried out, sitting up despite his warnings. Ouch. My nerves felt like a thousand needles dancing on fresh wounds.
*Wait. My arms. My legs. They're still here. How am I still whole?*
I had been beaten badly, and yet... I felt normal. Why am I not a mutant?
"I know what's going on in your head, Hajidan. I was surprised you didn't mutate, too. It's beyond my expectations. Somehow Miraza knew. She told me countless times that you were kind of special," Ginta said, unrolling a bandage and wrapping it tight around my torso.
"Special?" I gasped. I had heard that word before, but from a different person—someone I couldn't picture clearly. I could only hear the conviction in their voice. *What is going on with my memory?*
Special in what sense? Lame? Weak? Or could it be... something else?
I was confused. Even I found the word strange. But the weird thing was that I still had my arms and legs. I thought they had been ripped from my body by those vicious beasts. I could have sworn I remembered it happening. *The pain was so real. The tearing. The blood. Was it all in my head?* Maybe it was a dream, or a terrifying illusion brought on by the crash.
It had started one night when a fire-burning rock fell from the sky and crashed into the remote forest of Jonakvi City.
"What about my parents? And my little sister?" I asked, searching his eyes for answers.
*Please tell me they made it out. Please.*
"I have no information about them. But by the looks of things, the city is nothing but a slaughterhouse cluttered with beasts."
*A slaughterhouse. My home. My family.*
"How long was I out?"
"Nine days."
"Nine days?" I blinked, the shock momentarily numbing the pain. "I can't believe I've been unconscious for nine days without water or medicine. I should be dead."
"Like I said," Ginta muttered, tightening the bandage. "Special."
*There's that word again. What does it mean? What am I?*
"I want to know what those things are. I want to know if people are still out there needing our help!"
"Hajidan, listen to me! A loser like you can't do anything at this moment. You aren't skilled enough to tackle two of those beasts, let alone a swarm! You're lying there as helpless as a wounded mouse. Are you out of your mind? Even the scientists who went to investigate the chaos didn't make it out of the forest alive."
*He's right. I'm weak. I've always been weak. But what else can I do? Just give up?*
"Then what are we supposed to do? Hide forever?" I shot back, struggling against the pain. "You want me to lie here while our city burns?"
"Our world has already burned. There's nothing left to fight for."
"You can't be sure."
"I'm not a hundred percent sure, but..."
"No 'buts'. There's no purpose in being alive if we admit failure and accept the victory of whatever turned our people into mindless creatures. If you're not going to do anything, I will."
"You want to run out there now? In this state? You wouldn't last a minute!" Ginta snapped. "I already risked everything to drag you here. Don't throw it away with your stubbornness."
As he spoke, he turned his head, and my eyes darted to a tattoo on his neck.
"Code 012," I mumbled, reading the ink.
*Code 012? What does that mean? Since when does Ginta have tattoos?*
His eyes narrowed. He quickly yanked his hoodie up to cover it.
"When did you tattoo your skin?" I asked.
"That's none of your business!" he shouted.
*Why is he so defensive? It's just a tattoo... isn't it?*
"Relax, dude. Why are you getting all worked up just because I asked about a tattoo?"
"Drop it, Hajidan! There are things you shouldn't be asking," he replied, his voice turning cold.
The tone sent a chill down my spine that had nothing to do with my injuries. *Something's wrong. Something's different about him.*
"Where is this place?" I asked, scanning the area properly for the first time.
"It's anywhere that isn't the city. I don't even know the name of this place. And to be precise... we might be the only survivors in this region."
"Only survivors?" My voice cracked. "You can't mean that, Ginta. Out of an entire city, you think it's just us?"
He wouldn't meet my eyes. "You didn't see what I saw, Hajidan. The streets were rivers of blood. The screams never stopped. By the time I carried you away, it was too late to save anyone else."
"You should've left me," I whispered, though I hated myself for saying it. "You could've saved someone stronger, someone who could actually fight."
Ginta slammed the ground with his fist again. "Stop saying that! I didn't drag you out of hell just to hear you spit garbage at yourself. You think strength is swinging a blade or punching harder? It's not. Miraza believed you were more than any of us, and I won't lie and say that I believe it too, even I doubt you, but since it Miraza, I'm forced to believe.
"Why cover that tattoo? Why look at me like I've asked the one question I should never ask?"
His jaw clenched. "Because, Hajidan, if I told you, it would crush you before the beasts even got the chance."
"Let me decide what I can handle," I shot back, struggling to push myself up my feet, but fall back in pain. "I've already lost everything, what else is there to fear? Unless you're hiding something worse than death."