APOCALYPSE

Chapter Four

I walked to the front of the arcade's door and kicked it opened, making the others scream in surprise. "Shit what happened?" Cleo asked, her eyes widening when she noticed my bloody shoulder from the knife wound and the yellow blood from the alien.  "Killed a alien." I calmly answered, slamming the door shut harshly. The LED that hung on the ceiling shook from the force. "what about your shoulder? Did you get hurt?"  Cleo hurried over to me in worry, she put her hand on top of my wound to prevent any blood from pouring out"No, stabbed myself" I admitted with a smile plastered on my face "Why would you stab yourself?" Cleo questioned me, she trailed after me as I walked to the small chair and sat down. "It's a long story."

"Shawn!" Cleo urgently yelled his name. Shawn ran to Cleo's shouting voice, his once clear gloves were now stained with bright blood "She stabbed herself, can you clean her up?" Cleo pleaded to the young adult, he nodded before taking off his bloody gloves and throwing it in the trash bin near the wall.  "Bethany should be okay" Shawn informed Cleo "okay that's good" She nodded her head "Now, Ella go with Shawn. He'll take care of you." I rose from my chair, following Shawn as he led me to a small room.

The room filled with a variety of medical supplies such as bandages,  and needles. "Sit there" Shawn pat on the  leathery examination table with white paper on top. "Did you steal this?" I asked him, I wondered why he randomly had a doctor's table in an arcade. The man chuckled before giving me an answer "No, I used to be a doctor; this happened to be in my room." He took out a brand new set of clear gloves that fit his hands perfectly "you were a doctor?" I asked him as I placed my knife down on the table, near my thigh.

"Before all this madness began? Yeah, I was. A great one too; I earned two awards at the solid age of twenty." Pride filled his voice when he spoke about his big achievement. In his right hand was a bottle of alcohol and the left was a big roll of white bandages. Placing the bandages on the table near me, he unscrewed the alcohol cap with struggle since the cap was on tight "Take off your shirt, I need to see how bad the wound is." He instructed me. 

I complied, I took off my black hoodie only to reveal a white tank top that showed my deep, blood cut.  "Oh" Shawn sucked his teeth "That's deep, I think you need stitches" He said before he poured the alcohol on a cloth "this will  hurt... a lot." He warned before he placed the cloth directly on my stab, I shut my eyes tightly, my jaws clenched and held in my breath. The pain was unbearable, it felt as if you had lava dripping on your flesh as it painfully burnt through your skin.

"You took that better than any of my other patients." He said, amazed at my bravery. "I've got cut a lot. I'm used to it." I said, he put the soaked cloth on the table, picking up the bandages. I reached over to the alcohol bottle, maybe it could help the burning pain on my shoulder get numb "Looks like you want alcohol. Sorry but, seventeen year olds can't drink." He snatched it from my hands before placing it on the ground, a place where I couldn't reach. 

"Why does it matter? The Earth population is under six" I retorted, I was frustrated. The Earth is dying with aliens roaming around, it wouldn't matter whether I drank or not. Shawn focused as he stitched my shoulder with black stitches, he wanted it to be perfect so it could heal properly. "you can't be drunk when aliens are attacking us" Shaw scolded. 

Carefully wrapping my shoulder, Leo entered  the room "Bethany needs you" He informed the doctor in the group "Hold on.." Shawn's tongue was out of the corner of his mouth as he concentrated on cutting the bandage, "woah is that whiskey?" Leo licked his lips when he saw the glass bottle. "yeah and you're not drinking it." Shawn got up from the chair that had wheels on the bottom "what did Bethany need help with?" Shawn asked the pale boy while throwing the gloves in the red bin "She said shes in pain" Leo shrugged his shoulder "I'll be back" Shawn went to the door frame before looking back at the two teens "You two- don't drink the whiskey." He ordered before walking away.

"Damn that's deep" Leo remarked as he approached me, staring at the bloody tissues "I stabbed myself, so yes, it's a deep cut." I rolled my blue eyes "what's that on your knife?" Leo got a closer look at the yellow knife, he was hesitant to touch it, not knowing the substance. "alien blood" I explained to the boy. I put my palms on the table, in an attempt to get off of the table despite the stinging pain. "Shit!" I cursed loudly as the pain got worse. Leo decided it would be a good idea to drink the whiskey; he unscrewed the tight lid and took a long swing, his eyes shut closed "Hoo damn!" He rapidly shook his head when he gulped the burning drink.

"You weren't supposed to drink that"  I chided.  "Let me guess," He placed the glass bottle on the white tile floor "You're gonna tell Shawn."  I raised my eyebrow from the boy "not if you help me get off this" I shifted my body to ease the pain "Why?" Leo dramatically sighed and rolled his dark eyes "You're seventeen, I'm pretty sure you can get off a table" His foot impatiently tapped against the tiles, a small thud came out each time his shoe hit the ground.

"Can you not see my bloody shoulder?" I pointed to the bandages, that were slowly turning into a crimson red color "fine" He sighed "But you better not tell Shawn I drank the whiskey" He took a step closer to the medical table "If you do, i'll drag you out of her" He threatened me, looking straight in my eyes, fingers tapping the table. "alright" I agreed. 

With that being said, Leo grabbed my side with his hand, he grabbed my injured limb around his shoulder, I gritted my teeth when the pain shot through my body again. To my surprise, the annoying teen was gentle as he guided me off the table, I thought he would've been careless. "great, now I need to clean my whole body from touching you" Leo mumbled in disgust while waving his hands in the air, soon after he left the room, leaving me alone. 

I reached for my knife that had alien blood on the tip, I needed to clean it. I walked out from the room with medical supplies, to the room where everyone else was. I tapped Cleo's shoulder "Is there a sink around?" The curly headed girl turned around and faced me "Yeah, it's in the bathroom" She calmly answered, her mouth upturned in a smile. I nodded my head before walking to the bathroom area. 

I made my way to the bathroom brown door and opened it, inside were multiple stalls, sinks and lights on the white ceiling. I walked to the sink that was the closest to the doors so I could get out quicker. 

I turned on the faucet, letting the hot water flow before I added the white bubbly soap on my knife, carefully scrubbing the sharp blades. After the soap was rubbed on, I held the knife under the hot water with steam coming out, the soap washed away quickly. 

The sound of the toilet flushing filled the restroom with a faint sound of shoes tapping the floor. I turned the water faucet off, it would be easier to hear if the loud sound of water is turned off. I turned around to the stall door that opened swiftly "oh hi" The girl greeted me, it was the girl who was previously attacked by the alien that I had killed. "hi." I responded to her before turning around to the paper towel dispenser, I pushed down on the lever, a brown piece came out.

"I want to say thank you for saving me from that alien" Bethany expressed her gratitude while she put the soap on her white skin "you're welcome" I said, glancing at her.  "I nearly died" She chuckled, trying to make the situation better, even though it wasn't a good thing at all. "Well, it's teeth were sharp." I tucked my knife inside my pant pockets. 

Suddenly, Bethany reached in her bag and got out a light yellow and white beaded bracelet "Uh- I wanted to give you this as a gift" Bethany wore a warm smile on her face as she handed my the thoughtful gift. 

"Did you just make this?" I asked the girl, I inspected the bracelet. It was cleaned, no dirt or blood on or inside the beads. "No, uh, it was made before you know.." She scratched the back of her neck  "It's yellow for your hair color" Her eyes stared at my bright hair color. Bethany was the type of girl to bring brightness in a world full of darkness, she didn't care about all the bad things- she just wanted people to be happy. 

"It's nice, I wish it were darker though," I commented, even though it wasn't exactly my style, I still put the bracelet around my wrist, it fit perfectly. "I can make you a new bracelet if you want me to... but it'll take a while" Bethany offered "it's fine" I declined her kind offer. 

The strawberry blonde flashed a toothy smile "I'm going to play video games" She informed me "Bye!" She skipped her way out of the bathroom, simply happy for being alive.