Intoxicate [❌]

3 - Memories

[Tonix]

My eyes snapped open as I shot upright. My chest rose and fell rapidly with my panicked breathing.

I wasn't in the alleyway anymore. The sounds were more distant, they didn't make my head pound like a jackhammer in my skull. Thank goodness for that, too. Any more, and I would have just let himself die.

I wanted to die. But something kept me grasping for life, keeping me from passing on.

I coughed, and let out a strained cry as I leaned over the bed I lay in. Blood rose from my throat, feeling like it was burning holes in my organs as I vomited.

I... I need to stand... need to walk, I reminded myself..

It had been like this for years, ten full years I'd been like this. With the blood, the agony, the torture of watching everyone around me die. It was the explosion.

The explosion I caused.

The sun outside that shone through the window blinded me as I stood and turned. Tears glistened at the edge of my vision, nausea took over me as I remembered that night. The body, the body of my friend, ravaged and shredded by the force of the impact. The feeling of the radiation released into the atmosphere, burning my skin, the pain as what felt like acid filled my bloodstream...

My claws clenched, and I let out a screech as I angrily dragged my hands against the wall. Two deep claw marks carved into it, jagged and exposing the drywall underneath the paint.

Another memory, a weak, flashing memory that came on and off, like a glitching TV. That girl, that girl that had found me in the alley last night. She had walked with me, led me away, brought me into a door before I had collapsed on the ground.

This must be where she had taken me. I stared at the wall for a moment before letting out a long sigh and leaving the small room. I groaned as my head bumped against the top of the doorframe.

I slowly stumbled down the hall, feeling like some kind of drunkard as I nearly tripped over myself trying to get into the living room. It was bad this time, the sickening feeling. It always came after I blacked out like I had. I would feel better later.

Hopefully...

The girl, she was there. She was bent over the sink, her breathing heavy as she clutched something in her hand. A bottle of some kind. Slowly, she stood back straighter, putting the white cap on the bottle as she stuck it in the cabinet. Its contents made a rattling sound as she put it up.

"Hello...?" I rasped, my voice dry from sleep. The girl didn't jump or anything, but seemed surprised by my sudden entrance. Her head snapped to me, and she cleared her throat.

"H-hi," She said awkwardly, "Sorry, I... kinda forgot I brought you here."

"Nah, It's fine," I said.

I had a million questions. Who is this girl? Why was she helping me?

"How... are you not dead?" I asked.

The girl shrugged. "You tell me. I still have no idea why you're so worried about me dying because I'm within whatever personal bubble you've set for yourself."

I wanted to say something else, but that's when I noticed her eyes. I hadn't really processed that radioactive green glow that came from her pupils last night.

"You're... like me," I whispered.

"What?" She queried.

I didn't reply for a second. I stared, stared at that glow.

She was another lucky - or should I say, unlucky, if she's anything like me - survivor.

That's... impossible.