Athyyah

Chapter Nineteen Night terrors

Valerie groaned.

She was lying in her battle suit on the ground. When she tried to get up the suit wouldn't respond. It would move a little then just give out. One leg wouldn't reply at all. She felt trap when the machine could move, now she was in panic mode. It wouldn't budge, which by default, meant she couldn't either. It was like being in a body cast, completely immobilized. Only her entire body wasn't broken.

Valerie's breathing grew erratic at the thought of being trapped inside the suit and dieing inside it from lack of food or water. She tried desperately to remember how Alex had opened them up and hoped that it would still work so she could get out. After a minute or two she calmed down as she remembered that there was a way to get out of the thing. She bent her middle and index finger in and twisted her wrist. She was extremely grateful right now that the hand at least was responding properly. With a click there was a hiss and the back of the suit split open. The method of getting the suit open from the inside was interesting; it literally responded to hand signals. She wondered how Alex managed to figure it out so quickly by chance. It made her wonder. If doing a motion you wouldn't normally do caused the machine to trigger the unlocking mechanism, then were there other motions you could do to activate a system or something? This was something she'd have to try. With one of the other suits of course, for this one was completely totaled.

Valerie lifted herself out of the machine. As she tried to stand up though she found that it hadn't opened properly, so she was still stuck somewhat. The section over her back and her head parted part of the way. It was a tight squeeze, but Valerie managed to fit through and she slowly wriggled her arms up the suit. With every inch of her arm that she got out, the more she could pull herself up. When she had gotten her right arm out completely, she felt a wave of relief with the freedom of her limb. With it she was able to prop herself up properly and get her left hand free. The sense of claustrophobia began to pass and her heart began to slow.

After a moment to just relax and take in a few breaths, she dragged herself forward, pulling her legs through the metal pants. Once she was completely out, she stood up, pulled down and straightened her skirt. It felt good to be out of the thing. Though her legs felt wobbly and her chest hurt a bit. The suits were obviously not designed for humans, which by the skeleton she saw, suggested that they were taller and thinner. Or maybe it was just because it didn' like her more fiminine figure. Though she suspected that there might be others more appropriate for a woman figure. She wondered how much different the women were from the men?

She had to shake herself. Regardless of the trivial details, she was out, felt like jell-o, but she could move again. Being trapped in the suit, unable to move was unnerving. She wondered if that's what it was like to be paralyzed. If so, it made her shudder. The knowing that you body is capable of moving, but won't no matter how hard you tried was frightening. She had a whole new appreciation for those who were confined to their wheelchairs.

After a moment for her legs to sturdy themselves she looked around. The area she was in didn't help her out much. Everywhere looked the same to her. She could be anywhere within the several hour walk from there to the town. She wasn't even entirely sure which way she needed to go, but with the thick forest behind her, she guessed that it was probably not that way. When she looked up at the sky she noticed that it was nearly sunset. Only then did she realize that she must have been unconscious for some time. Just how long, she didn't know. Valerie ran her hands through her hair and found that her head was bleeding. Even with the tight padded confines of the armor she seemed to have hurt herself in the fall. She didn't even want to think about the force involved in the tumble.

Valerie quickly ignored her injury, as it did not seem to be to bad, for there was one thing that worried her. It was that she didn't know where the vorlixx might be and without the suit, she had no way of escaping or fighting them. Without her previous protection, she wouldn't have any chance of getting away alive.