Experiment VII

Chapter Thirty-Eight: When the Dust Settles

     I crack one eye open, squinting as dust and smoke swarm my vision. I struggle to blink back the haze clouding my eyes. A throbbing immediately makes itself known in my lower leg when I try to get up. I grunt as I attempt to push it to the back of my mind. My hands fumble over to the nearest chunk of debris to support my body weight while I get to my feet. When I do manage to stand up, an overly loud groan leaves my lips as a sharp pain shoots up my left leg.

My eyes swiftly drop downwards to find a thick metal pipe-like object sticking right through the back of my calf and protruding out the other side. I grimace at the sight of my leg's gruesome state.

"A-Axel?" I a voice faintly calls out from somewhere behind me. The voice is soon followed by a groan.

I instantly recognize the voice to be Ellie's as I shed my gaze from my bloodied leg to the piles of rubble littering the ground around me.

"El?" I call back, now in a state of full alarm. I turn on my heel, swivelling around, but instantly regret it.

"Damn it!" I hiss as a familiar pain flares through my leg once again.

My gaze struggles to penetrate through the layers of smoke lingering in the air. Another groan from Ellie redirects my eyes over to the left, where she lays, sprawled out atop the ground. I quickly stumble my way over to her and kneel down beside her. Her torso is a bloody mess. The same chunk of debris firmly embedded in her side is now bleeding profusely, but that is clearly not the only extent of Ellie's injures. Her body is riddled with an assortment of cuts and gashes, some serious, others not so.

I let out a shaky breath as I try to stop myself from panicking. My eyes widen as her's slowly begin to fall closed. I grab her shoulders, lightly shaking her in an attempt to retain her consciousness. "Come on El. You gotta stay awake!"

Ellie's eyes briefly flutter open, only to close against soon after.

I catch a glimpse of movement in my peripheral. My head shoots up, quickly trying to identify what caused it. A large figure steps out from the smoke, revealing none other than Rychner.

"I've been lookin' all over for you! What-" he immediately cuts himself off when he notices Ellie on the ground.

He quickly scurries over and briefly assesses the situation. "The last transport is leaving here in a few short minutes. We gotta get to it now," Rychner explains. His attention suddenly turns to my busted leg. "Hey, can you walk on that?"

"Uh, yeah." I wrap my arm around Ellie, pulling her upright.

Rychner appears doubtful but gives a curt nod nonetheless. He then proceeds to grab Ellie's other arm and together we manage to hoist her off the ground.

The pain in my leg worsens significantly with each agonizing step we take. I bit down hard on my lip to keep from making any kind of noise.

"There's the transport truck, just up ahead!" Rychner points towards a grimy-looking black truck not too far away, in the distance.

I almost breathe a sigh of relief when I lay eyes on it. Our pace quickens exponentially just at the sight of it.

Gemma suddenly bursts out from the back of the truck. Her eyes widen as she catches sight of us. Relief flashes over her face, soon followed by worry, then panic. She stands there for a moment before wordlessly rushing to help us get inside the vehicle.

We lay Ellie down on the floor as gently as we can before shifting over to let Gemma passed.

"What happened?" Gemma demands as she unzips a brown bag of medical supplies.

"Well..." I take a second to gather my bearings. "We fell down the side of the building...what happened to her before that, I don't know."

"Right..." Gemma sighs as she kneels down beside Ellie. "I'm going to need some room, please."

I nod numbly as I peel my eyes away from Ellie and limp on over to an empty seat as the truck begins to move. I do not know where we are going and I don't much care. I let out an exasperated sigh as I sink into the seat, easing the weight off my wounded leg.

"That doesn't look good." Chester, who I was not even aware was there until now, shoots me a mildly concerned glance.

"It's fine," I grumble. I close my eyes and wince as I lean back on my seat and allow my mind to wander in an attempt to distract myself from the small beam protruding through my calf.

How has it come to this? How can so much go wrong in such a short amount of time? My thoughts take a dark turn as I ponder the events that have taken place in just the short few hours previous. I shudder as images of Daesung's and Rilo's brutal deaths flash before my mind. My stomach churns at the thought of the mess of Rilo's blood and brains spewing out of his head and onto the wall behind him, coating me in his blood along the way. I try to stop my line of thinking from venturing further, but Daesung's violent end does not fail to slip my mind. I am painfully awoken to the knowledge that such thoughts will forever be etched into the very fabric of my mind.

"Come on, we're here," Rychner's gravelly voice announces and a firm hand grabs my shoulder, giving me a shake.

"What? Where?"

"The safehouse."

A/N: Thanks for reading! Let me know what you thought of this chapter I actually had quite a bit of fun writing that last bit, although I am aware it was a bit dark.

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