ethereal | park jimin | ✓

chapter 3 blinded by panic

"My name is Jessie. I'm a paramedic. I am here to help you. We're going to take you to the hospital right now. Please nod if you can hear me."

I suck in a sharp breath as pain lances down my side. I clench my jaw again and suppress a moan. Silent tears roll down my frozen face and drip off the edge of my jawline. "I can hear you," I answered weakly.

A searing white light flashes in my eyes. I squint and tilt my head back against the wet ground. My head is throbbing and my skin is taut with numbness yet the pain of bruising remains imprinted on my skin. I mumble in protest as I feel somebody touch me. I lift my arm into the air, trying to snatch whoever is trying to move me, trying to tell them that it hurts.

The weight on my body is gone.

He's gone.

I turn my head to search around myself as terror leaks into my mind like a drug. I open and close my aching jaw, struggling to form the right words to explain what happened. "I—. I need—, he was here, where did he go? Where is he?"

Jessie casts me a reassuring look. "The hybrid is already on his way to the hospital. You're going to meet with him soon." I feel the paramedics slip their gloved hands underneath my broken body. They lift me with practiced unison and set me on top of a stretcher.

"He was bleeding," I explained in a panicked tone, worried they didn't realize the state he was in. "He was shot, he's very hurt, you have to help him! He's the one you need to be worried about." My body feels unbalanced on the stretcher but it hurts too much to try stabilizing myself.

"We know. Another team is helping him. It's going to be okay. Can you tell me your name?" Jessie asks.

They begin walking the stretcher towards a cluster of flashing red lights. Every flash sends spikes into my brain so I turn my eyes away, wincing. I gasp for breath as a solid mass of panic fills my chest. "He's hurt, he got hurt trying to escape and they shot him. Those men, those men hurt him but they got away—" My eyes widen as paranoia overtakes me, "—they are still out there."

They don't understand what happened. Those men are going to come back for him, for us. These people don't know the whole story, they don't know the danger he is in. They have to keep him safe!

"The SPD are tracking the men as we speak," Jessie reassures. "Both of you are safe now. Can you please tell me your name?"

The top of the stretcher tilts upwards and I panic at the sudden moment, thinking I am going to slide off. I turn my body to catch myself but I realize there are elastic straps around my torso, tying me to the stretcher.

A flicker of doubt appears in my mind but instead of fizzling away, it grows to the size of a wildfire. What if they aren't paramedics? What if they are lying to me and are taking me somewhere to finish me off? What if that man is already dead? I have to find him to be sure! I have to escape before it's too late!

My quickened breaths cause my ribs to ache. My eyes threaten to roll back into my head as dizziness takes over me. I groan in pain as I try to sit up, my strength is failing fast. I shake my head at the paramedics, feebly gesturing at them, "Please don't—, please don't take me. I have to go back..." My gaze turns towards the doors of the ambulance and watches the snow continue to fall against the darkness.

I scan over the interior of the ambulance and realize I am surrounded by three paramedics. Their hands are quick as they gather the proper equipment. My focus lands on the paramedic preparing a clear plastic oxygen mask, coming towards me...

"No I don't want it," I plead, struggling to move without sharp flashes of pain in my ribs. "I don't want it! Let me go! Let me out!" I fight against the strap across my chest and my stomach twists with another wave of nausea.