Danger Days

10

Frank's' eyes fluttered open. The first thing he noticed was the pain. The left side of his face stung. He raised his fingers, then stopped himself, remembering the Draculoid who had slashed his cheek open when they had run out of ammunition.

Right, Frank thought. I brutally shattered a man's skull with a rock today. A man who was probably just doing what he was told.

He sat up, looking around. Draculoids lay dead in pools of their own blood, spreading through cracked sandy ground. Gerard, Mikey, and Ray, all lay unconscious on the ground around him. Opal was nowhere to be found.

Frank let out a sound. It wasn't a word, it wasn't a cry, it was just a sound. His ability to comprehend what was happening felt compromised.

Frank crawled over to Mikey, who was nearest him. "Mikey? Mikey?" Frank grabbed his shoulder and shook him, wincing in pain when he opened his mouth. He watched drops of his own blood fall into Mikey's blonde hair. "Mikey, wake up, please!"

Mikey squeezed his eyelids together before lifting his hands to his face. "Frank?" he said. "W-Wh... What happened, where are we? Oh, God, your face!"

"Yeah, I know," Frank said breathlessly. "W-We just fought Korse."

"We did fucking what?!"

"Yeah, I know. Maybe you accidentally got hit with some... memory erasing thing or something."

Mikey sat up. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a bandana. "Here," he said. "Put that on your mouth."

Frank took the bandana and held it against his cheek. "Opal's gone," he said.

"What?!" Mikey spun around. When he noticed the Gerard and Ray on the ground, he let out a startled scream. "Where is she?! What's-What's wrong with them?!"

"They took her," Frank said. "Th-They took her away." He looked at the others. "I haven't checked on them yet."

"Oh, fuck," Mikey said. He reached out and grabbed his legs, checking for broken bones.

"I'm going to make sure they're okay," said Frank. Mikey nodded. Frank scrambled across the dirt to Gerard's side. He could see Gerard's chest slowly rising and falling. He sighed with relief and grabbed Gerard's hand. "Gee? Gee, wake up. We need you." Frank shook Gerard's hand, working to get his attention.

Gerard's eyes opened almost immediately. "Frank, you're okay!" he said. Gerard clambered into a sitting position and kissed his cheek. "Oh, what happened? Where's Mikey?"

"He's okay, he's-"

Frank was cut off by a shout from behind him, followed by a louder, shriller scream. He whipped around to find Ray sitting up and grasping at his face, and Mikey sitting in front of him with both hands clasped over his mouth and tears starting to fall from his eyes.

"What's wrong?" Gerard asked.

"I don't know," Frank said. He got to his feet and reached out a hand to help Gerard off the ground. Gerard started to stand, then let out a cry and crumpled to the ground once again.

"Fuck, something's wrong with my leg," Gerard said. "I-I can't stand up."

"O-Okay, I'll go see what's wrong. I'll be right-"

"No, wait!" Gerard reached up and grabbed Frank's hand. "Don't leave me alone. Please?"

Frank nodded and squeezed Gerard's hand. "No, of course not," he said quietly. "Get up on your good leg, I'll help you over there."

Frank helped Gerard up again, this time putting his weight on his left leg. Frank slid an arm around Gerard, and the pair made their way over to the others.