A Distant Reverie

Chapter 7

"V-Vesper?!" Suisei rushed to catch the falling librarian. Her arms protested in pain as Vesper's unconscious body nearly dragged her to the ground. Despite his thin and pale complexion, the librarian was surprisingly heavier than he looked. Setting him down, Suisei quickly checked Vesper's purse—his heart was beating incessantly fast, but the rhythm was regular, much to her relief. With her limited medical knowledge, she could only hope that the librarian just passed out from exhaustion.

"Shit," she cursed out loud, dropping her cutesy façade. She was alone. Both of her companions were passed out cold, oblivious to the monsters still rampaging in the valley below. Suisei didn't dare take a look. The continuous tremors of the ground told her everything she wanted to know. Instead, she laid her hands over her chest, trying to calm her raging heart. Escaping the horde had been too close for comfort. They were mere seconds from death, from being trampled senselessly into piles of flesh. It had been an insane gamble to try and rescue Marine, but they managed to survive thanks to Vesper's competence as a spellcaster.

Did I go insane?!

She didn't understand why she tried to save the incapacitated pirate. It was stupid. Beyond stupid. She basically tossed her life away for nothing. Objectively speaking, Marine was a lost cause. The horde was just a few seconds away, and Suisei wasn't aware of what Vesper was capable of yet. But for some reason, she felt compelled to rescue her. When Marine fell, Suisei's body moved on its own, ignoring whatever calculations or hesitations that might have otherwise inhibited her. Either way, it ended up working out, but Suisei reminded herself to not be so rash again in the future.

Sitting down, she took a deep breath to analyze her situation. They were stuck atop of the cliff overseeing the valley. The monster horde was beneath them. The three of them were safe for now, but for how long? Suisei didn't know how to fight, much less defend herself and her two incapacitated companions. Suisei's body trembled. Something invisible weighed down on her shoulders. Her stomach sunk as she realized the bleakness of their situation.

Something cold and sticky suddenly brushed against her fingers. Suisei flinched—the foreign sensation knocked her out of her daze. She glanced down, staring at her wet hands. They were coated in a red liquid. It took her a few second to realize what it was.

Blood. From Marine. The pirate was still bleeding from the open gash across her forehead—so much so that it had begun to pool onto the earth around her.

"Ah, fuck, fuck!" Suisei cursed at herself for forgetting about Marine's injury. She wiped her bloody fingers against her plaid coat while forcing her mind to think. She had some basic first aid training from high school. What were the steps again? She paced around in a panic, trying to recall the vague details.

"I have to stop the bleeding." She suddenly realized she was not prepared at all. She had no wound dressing. No alcohol to sterilize the wound. No bandages.

Bandages? Forget everything else, she just needed bandages for now. Something to seal the wound and prevent further blood loss. Where would she get them? She was trapped on top of a cliff with nowhere to go. Where the hell would she find bandages? Suddenly, she glanced down, staring at the sleeves of her plaid jacket, partially torn from running through the woods.

Rip!

Suisei immediately bit into the fabric, tearing into the hems of her sleeves. Her teeth sunk into the threads, grotesquely shredding the cloth into long strips. Then, resting Marine's head gently on her lap, she carefully wrapped the makeshift bandages around the nasty gash. The strips of blue checkered plaid quickly soaked into a crimson red.