Ad Maiora Semper

No Time for Caution

"Do you think she'll wake up?" A whisper flew into Merry's ears.

"She isn't dead," A male voice said nonchalantly. It sounded irritated and singed with anger. Merry's heart thumped loudly. A sudden panic grasped her heart and she almost threw away her covers.

There were people in her room.

Probably the doctor was checking on her?

She eased a bit and pretended to sleep. The hospital bed provided little comfort to her aching body and she was aware of the sweaty scrubs that clung to her thighs. But she was too tired to complain about it. All she wanted was to sleep, to let all the pain slip away.

"We should take her now," the whisper returned and this time Merry recognized it as a feminine voice. A low grunt sounded somewhere in the room.

"What's the hurry? Maybe we should let them think she's dead," The man in the room said confidently. Merry's head started hurting, a low throb that built in her temple and spread all throughout her skull. A warm wave washed over her and even though she couldn't recognize the voice, she felt a sense of familiarity with it. It was a thick accent, like water crashing on the shores, grinding the rocks.

"If we leave her here, she'll certainly die," The sound came between clenched teeth." Just look at her!"

Merry tried to imagine what she looked like right now. Disheveled brown hair falling over a sweaty forehead and a flushed face wrinkled in pain. She made a low noise in her throat and pried her eyes open, curious about her intruders.

The hospital lights blinded her at first but all settled down within a few minutes.

She was lying in her bed, the various monitors beeping and making weird noises around her. She moved her head and was met with a pair of blue eyes, wide open in shock. A girl stood beside her, dark hair tied in a tight braid that fell below her waist. She had smooth olive skin with a beautifully curved body. She wore something like a jacket over her shoulders while her perfectly shaped legs were clad in pants and thick boots.

"Blaize's pants!" It was the man, standing in clothes that matched the girls but feature so strikingly different from her that Merry couldn't take her eyes off him for a while. He had skin as pale as ice and there were thick blue-green lines running all along his bare arms like someone had painted him with a brush. His eyes were pale too, with no particular color to them. He looked at her directly in the eyes, a smile curving his lips.

"Look who's awake," he said, amusement dripping from his words.

"Who are you?" Merry managed to say with her throaty voice. She wanted to sound confident but her voice didn't carry even a single bit of her will. Her whole situation crashed upon her and she felt disappointed in herself. She had missed her concert, her tour and her birthday.

Her big break. She had lost it.

She felt tears well up in her eyes but she refused to cry in front of strangers.

"Who are you?" She asked again with a little authority in her voice.

The girl approached her as if she was a mad dog, with her hand stretched out. What did she expect?

"WHO ARE YOU?" Merry said again, this time both louder and clearer. Her throat hurt and she felt her energy seeping out of her body but her heart was beating louder now and she sat a bit straighter.

The girl took a step back and a smile tugged at her lips too.

"I'm Zelda and this is Rus," the girl pointed at both of them. Merry couldn't care less about their names.

"So?" she said, her voice breaking. A shiver ran down her spine and she brought the covers close to her.

"We are here to take you home," Zelda said, taking another step forward.

Merry chuckled and waited for it to end. A second passed and then another but no one moved or said anything.

"What?" Merry asked, a little puzzled. She thought they were joking. That they were sent by Vanessa to make her feel good. Or maybe not.

"You have to come with us," Zelda said as if she was chiding an ignorant child. Rus stared at her with his queer eyes. Zelda took another step and held her forearm. Merry leaped out of her reach, but the former was stronger.

"Don't touch me!" Merry yelled at them.

Zelda quickly removed her hand and stood in attention. Her eyes widened a second later and she looked at Rus. "Did she.." she didn't finish but Rus nodded at whatever it was. Merry couldn't make head nor tail of it but instinct had kicked in and she was on her fight or flight mode. Even though her legs were weak, she ran to the door, trying to open it. The other two simply stared at her futile attempts of flight.

Merry turned back to look at them but they were deep in conversation, their voices lowered.

Rus nodded again at whatever Zelda said and made his way to her. "Stop right there. Don't come near me!" Merry yelled again and banged the door. Rus stood where he was. His left leg stretched in front of him. He was frozen like a statue, unable to move. Zelda kicked him in the back and he fell, his face wrinkled in pain.

"She's stronger. Don't let her get away," he groaned, curling into a ball. Zelda avoided Merry's eyes and tackled her to the ground. It was a jumble of arms and legs as the two women fought on the ground, one yelling and the other groaning. Zelda grabbed her hands and straddled the other's legs but made the mistake of looking into her eyes.

"Get away!" Merry said again. Zelda threw herself away from her as if someone had forced her away. Rus didn't waste time and caught Merry from behind, wrapping his thick arms around her waist.

"Shut up," he said through clenched teeth and hit her hard on the head. Merry felt her legs turn to jelly as her vision blurred. The last thing she remembered was how cool the floor was.
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