The Drowning

Chapter 2: Shock and awe

I help Maya to her feet, she had a few cuts and bruises on her arms and cheeks and every time I glanced at them I felt bad that I wasn't there sooner, but at least nothing got stolen from her. There was a some what large cut going down the right side of her forehead and a outward arcing-pattern blood spatter on the brick wall and I cringe slightly at the thought of her head hitting that wall. I go back to get my bag and ask her where she is going and she says that she was going out to the other markets to get a few other things and I tell her that she should get her head looked at and get the cut sutured and she looks at me in question and touches to wound and flinches in pain. She didn't look very awake and when we walked she moved like she was tired and fatigued, I was starting to worry about her. We all been through horrible shit,but I think that hit really got her.

We walked and walked and tried my best to slow down and watch her carefully and she muscled on, but I wish the clinic wasn't so far because her head wound started bleeding a few times. She wasn't very lively. I stop to check my bag for anything to tie her head with, the last little rag was blood soaked and she needed a change. I look through my bag and something catches my ear and I look to where the sound came and I see Maya lying on the ground unconscious. I swear,grab my bag and run over to her trying to get her up without losing my bag. I tell Maya that I got her on my back and run to the clinic, several blocks from where we are. I run through crowds and crowds of people, her breath tickling my neck and her blood dropping from the cut,"I'm not going to let you die Maya,I don't know how bad that cut is, but your not going to die." I push myself to run even faster than I should have been.

I arrive at the clinic barely able to speak but I manage to tell them about her head injury and that she went unconscious less than ten minutes ago.

It took a long while before a nurse told me that she would be okay for the most part but she would need constant care and supervision. Maya had a nasty concussion that would take a considerable amount of time to heal. I acknowledge her and get caught up in my own thoughts but I am ripped out of them by the nurse's voice asking my name.

"Sir,what is your name,I need to catalog you in the report." She asks in a voice of lavender

"It won't matter...." I tell her in a remorsful tone

"Sir I need to know your name,please." She says,her voice was airy and innocent

"My name is Parker Salazar."

"Thank you, sir..I-" she was cut off by me

"My name won't show up on any legal documents or anything you try, I technically don't exist, miss."

"O-oh...what happened...if I'm not intruding..."she shied from the question slightly

"I dont know...really,all I've been told is that my parents had died during the Great Evacuation."I said

"I'm sorry for you loss and misfortune, Parker" she said my name softly

"It's alright, their gone and there is nothing I can do about it. I simply live on." I said bluntly

We talk and talk but our conversation seemed to get nowhere. I never got her name. Eventually the Surgeon General and a real doctor came. And they told me that it is possible that she could slip into a coma, and that her head was hit just right. I talked to them in a calm and collected tone, but my gut churned and twisted at the thought of losing Maya to a coma. It wasn't about love, she was the closest thing to a sister I ever had and we had been though nearly everything together. She was a big part of my heart.

i sat back on the worn metal chair, collecting my thoughts and trying to stay positive. a news bulletin blares through the barely able-working television.

"reporting above the market streets of North Port, a massive explosion has erupted in the Northern section. It appears that a large riot has broke out, the reason from this is still unknown." she says, rather panicked as another explosion rocks their helicopter. Seeing this stunned me as my heart sank; North Port was Luna's housing area.