The Day Earth Died

29. The Angel Ally

"How is she?" I asked, eyeing Cygne as she sat on the wheelchair, immobile. Her head and thigh were wrapped in bandages, each of them already soaked through by specks of blood where the bruises were the most severe.

No answer. My gaze floated up to Neith. His arms were sternly crossed, his lips pinched and his head turned away from me. Why can't he understand that I did the right thing? Amell forced himself to fill in the blank, as usual.

"She's still unconscious, obviously. But—uh—if I understood well, her skull was fractured and she needs cranio... cranioplasty," he slowly articulated, a little lost in his own words.

"So, do it?" As soon as the words left my mouth, Neith shot me a short, tart glare.

"He can't. The infirmary is too far. We can't just go rogue right now. That's what he said."

Right, the doors are closed until further notice (which there likely won't be). Senior officers are generally too adamant about rules to let us leave like that, even with a patient in need of treatment. And even if we crossed the doors, we'd be shot right there.

"I'll try to get this done quick then." I left, squeezing through the crowd to reach what I considered to be roughly the middle of the cafeteria.

I climbed onto a table. Some people noticed and watched me, but most didn't pay attention at all. The constant blabbering didn't waver at all. I lodged my little fingers between my teeth, both at opposite sides of my mouth, and blew. A consequent high-pitched warble followed. It reflected off the walls and came back, again and again, each time a mere ghost of the last sound wave; reverb.

At last, the attention was on me.

"I'm Malory Keïta. Some of you have probably seen me participate in boxing matches. I'm the one who sounded the alarms. There's no fire," people started turning away and mumbles of discontentment arose, "But we're all here to discuss an important matter. Away from the governors' supervision. I—"

"Ay! You're that bitch who hit me!" a guy screamed from the crowd.

I squinted my eyes in the direction of his voice. Ah, there he is. His coffee skin swelled purple around his left eye, lips and cheekbones swollen, dried blood under his nose.

"I am." He groaned and shoved his way to me.

Within seconds, he was up on the table and all I could breathe in was his animosity. The crowd cheered, seemingly entertained by the situation. He lunged at me and I swerved. This isn't helping.

"I don't want to fight," I said.

"Should've thought about that before hitting me." He tried to punch me again but I ducked.

"You killed Earl."

"Because it was governors' order. I already told you."

"And you didn't question it?" The officer pounced towards me and I finally struck him across the face, making him lose his balance.

"Would you stop attacking me, damn it!" I took his empty gun out of my belt and pointed it at him.

The officers around the table howled in disapproval, yet did nothing to stop me.

"They said Earl was planning something bad." He shuddered.

"We were going to cut the cameras. Because the murderer who killed Vargas, Pagé and Singh is Yin's younger son."

An apprehensive silence took over the room. I flung the handgun at the officer, sensing he didn't want to annihilate me anymore.

"You keep it, peace offering," I said.