hyperion: death thralls

ashes to ashes

We continue to move as we've passed countless bodies. Most of them are infested but I've seen some people...what's left of then anyway. This place isn't what korra expected. It's the city of the dead. Just piles and piles of bodies. Blood and ash from the burnt bodies. "You doing alright kid?" I look up and see ghost slowly backing to me as dulis is ahead. "Your lagging behind to much." I can hear the concern in his voice. "It's the bodies isn't it?" I lower my head again. "Don't worry about it. Most of the bodies out here are from the start. The others are all infested. Noones died over here. Well....anyone from Jericho anyway." I look up and see some fur. It's from someone like me. "We've got a problem." I look up and see dulis has stopped. "I'm seeing signs of a struggle." I look up at ghost as he slowly approuches dulis. He's also looking into the trees. I stop as I see some freash blood all over the trees. It's still dripping. "Echo. Up here. Now." I look twords dulis as I rush up to him and chatch a sour smell. I stop as I turn my head away and cover my nose as the smell is overpowering. "Guess it was a fight. It didn't end very well." I move forward a little more as I look up and see a freash body that was just torn apart. I can see guts everywhere as I don't even know what this person's face looks like. "This didn't even happen and hour ago." Dulis kneels down as he studies the corpse closely. "Look." Ghost steps forward and reaches into the blood and pulls out a clump of fur. "Hair?" Ghost turns twords us as that's hair from someone like me. "To thick. It's fur." Ghost looks at me. "It's from a hybrid." He looks back down at the fur as he rubs his fingers together a little bit. "It's can't be a cat then." Dulis plants his axe into the ground. "Only three kinds that are thick. It's either a exotic or another fox." I hair someone yell as I look forward. "What is it kid?" I hear it again as it's high pitched. "I hear it that time." I look at dulis. "The mall is close. It has to be there." Dulis picks his axe up as Ghost waves his hand to get the blood and fur off. "Stay close." Dulis starts to run as we follow closely behind. "Scout ahead. See if you save anyone." I bolt forward as I jump up and spread my tails and start to glide as I can a large building as I can see infested gathering at the entrince. I channel as much power as I can handle as I push myself forward and lean forward. I ball my fists as I remember I don't have the rope darts anymore. Don't lose control. Don't lose control again. I bolt forward as I land behind the group of infested as I try to make as noise as I can to get thier attention. I straighten up quickly as most of the infested slowly turn to me. "Run!" I look past the ground and see someone fall. I lift my hands and channel my power forward as I dash forward and through alot of the infested as I stop infront of the person who fell down. She holds her arms up to defend herself as she doesn't have any protection. "Hanma!" I whatch as four people like me rush over and grab onto her. "No! Run! Don't let them grab you!" I turn and look as a infested lunges at me. I doudge and grab it's neck as I turn and throw it into the group as a few other infested fall over. "Holy shit! Another hybrid?!" I look and see dulis and ghost running as fast as they can twords us. "Here! Use this!" I turn and see the women is holding up a knife. I grab it and quickly turn around and plung it into a infesteds skull. I push it away away and push another infested away to keep them away from the group. "Stay with me. I won't let them get you." I channel my power and out of pure anger, I push it out as several nearby infested are pushed away as alot more are knocked over from the flying bodies. "What the...." I look down at me hands in disbelief. "Focus kid! Do it again!" I look up as Ghost grabs a infested and leans back, lays down, and kicks it away then gets back up and holds off another infested. "Now!" I snap back as I rush forward and grab the infesteds head and crush it as ghost kicks it away as he pulls out some of his knifes. "No more close calls." He turns and starts to stab as many infested as he can as dulis stops and tries to hold off more infested then I know he can handle. "Come on kid! Don't hold back!" I look at ghost as he gets grabbed. "No!" I turn and see the women is holding back a infested as it bites her arm and tries to pull itself closer to her face. Not again. She kicks it away as I see a massive chunk of her arm come out as she screams. "Echo!" I turn around and see dulis get grabbed. I feel my power swell. I...won't let anyone else die! I dash into the center of the ground and channel all of my power. My power skyrockets as I see sparks come off of my hands as it makes loud noises as I keep my power flowing. I look up as I see infested clawing at me as they are stopped by something I can't see. "Echo! Dont!" I look through the piling bodies as I see dulis whatching me as the infested around him and rushing twords me. "I didn't mean get yourself killed!" I'm sick and tired of being yelled at! I push my power out with all of my strangth as a blast comes out of my body and sends the infested flying away from me. I turn around and see the women holding onto her arm. I turn to her and continue channeling my my power. "No. No, no, no, no! Please! You can't die!" Dulis rushes up to us as he looks at the women's arm. "It's okey, it's okey." The women looks at dulis. "No I'm not! I'm infected!" Dukis chuckles. "No your not. Just calm down." The women looks at her bleeding arm. "What? No! I'm bitten! I'm going to turn into one of those things!" I look at dulis. "It doesn't look work like that lady. These aren't like the zombies from those movies." The women looks at dulis. I reach out and slowly pull her arm out as she screams in pain. "What are you doing?! That hurts alot!" I lift my hand and channel my power as I slowly move my hand over her bite as I the sparks shoot out and onto her arm as her arm slowly starts to weave itself back togeather. "What the hell? What are you doing kid?" I focus as I slowly channel my power to not overwhelm her body with my power. I don't want her to fall asleep like korra did. "God...damn...that hurts." She struggles to keep her screams down. "Whow. Look. He's healing Hanma." I try to keep my focus up as I whatch as her arm stops bleeding. "What the..." I look up at the women as she slowly calms down. "Make sure there's no more infested around." I look back down at her arm as I can see her wound is closed but that part of her arm in caved in. I stop channeling my power. I feel my strantgh drop as I struggle to stay up. "Holy shit." I pull back a little bit as I take a moment to gather myself. "Looks like that blast took out the infested around here." I look up at dulis as he gives me a smile. "Good job kid. Looks like you owe you another one." He holds out his hand. I slowly reach out as he waits for me. I slowly grab onto his hand as he helps me off of the ground. "Looks like the kid just showed us how it's done." I look at ghost as I quickly let go of dulis's hand. "I'm not seeing anything moving anymore. We've got this place to ourselves now." I look at the women as the I see more people like me running over. The women stands up as all of them hug her. "Looks like we've also found a pack." The women looks at her arm as she takes in a few deep breaths. "So...I'm not going to turn into one of those things?" Dulis laughs. "Nope. You got lucky. If echo wasn't here, there's no telling what those infested would have done to you and your little pack here." The women looks at dulis. "What about the other guy? Is he still alive?" I look at dulis. "No. The infested tore him apart." I look at the women as she seems raleaved. "Good." Dulis freezes. "How so?" The women looks at me. "We're from Holtsville. He was our 'escort'. I look at dulis. "What? Why are you all the way out here?" The women starts to shake. "I can't tell you out here. There's more of them out here. Thankfully these are all of the hybrid that were brought out here." Dulis losens up. "That changes everything." Dulis looks at ghost as ghost puts his knifes away. "Damn straight. Let's get some supplies, echos new cloths and get the fuck out of here." Dulis looks at me. "We don't have much time. I need you to stay with them. If anyone comes out, it'll be up to you to hold them off until we're done. You think you can do that?" I look down at my hands. "Hey, don't worry. I know I said we were going to avoid fighting but fight now we have to be quick. If you can avoid it then avoid it. We won't be long." I look up at dulis. "The others are in the forest dealing with more infested. It's a hoard so they won't last long." I look at the women. "How long do you say we have?" The women grabs onto the others. "An hour at most."
"Damn." Dulis looks at ghost. "I'll go for the cloths and grab anything I can in my way out. You go in and grab anything we can use. Meet back here in 30 minutes." Ghost folds his arms. "Not much time. I'll grab the essentials." Ghost runs to the mall. "Wait here kid. Make sure nothing gets near or in." I look at dulis as he runs to the mall. "Are you okey hanma?" I turn and look into the forest. I'm not seeing any movement. "I'm fine Sara. If that guys right, I'll be just fine." I look around more as I see the infested spread out as their not moving. "But why didn't you do what I told you to do?" I turn and look at the women as the others are still holding onto her. "Oh I can't be mad at you guys. I'm just happy non of you got hurt." They all pulls themselves closer to her. "And who do I have to thank for saving us?" The women looks at me. She waits for me talk as I turn away. "What's wrong?" I look around more. "Is he okey hanma?" I'm still not seeing any movement. I feel something grab my hand as I instantly pull away. I move to my right a little bit and see one of the hybrids pulling away. "I...I'm sorry! I didn't mean to scare you." She lifts her hands as she lowers her ears and looks down. "Hey, hey, it's okey. It's okey." The women rushes over to her and hugs her. "I'm sorry." The women pulls away. "It's fine. Don't worry about it." She looks up at the women. "R-really?" I turn around and continue to look around. "Don't worry about it. Let's just focus on staying alive until we can get somewhere safe." I'm not seeing anything. I'm not hearing...or sensing anything. Nothing. I don't like this. "I don't like being out here. It's really scary." I channel my power and push it out more as I focus on what in the forest. I can feel...something small. Sevral things...but not big enough to be infested or another human. I push out more and still...nothing. "We'll be fine. Just stay close to me." I start to feel something different. It's shifting. Trying to hide. I turn around and see the women is holding onto the small group of hybrids. She's hiding something. I don't like it. "What's going to happen? Are we going to die?" Somethings moving. I turn back around as I can't tell where it's comming from. "Your not going to die. Not while I'm here." I try to focus on what's moving but the more I focus on it...the more my focus shifts behind me. "Do you feel that?" I turn around as I put my full focus on the mall. Dulis...ghost. where are they? It hasn't even been that long. I move twords the mall to block the group from whatever is going come out. I can feel...countless. no. Not again. The door is knocked down as ghost and dulis run out as fast as they can. "RUN!" Dulis rushes past me as ghost slows down to chatch his breath. "It's a trap! Bastered set a trap for us!" Ghost is losing strangth. "LETS GO! THERES TO MANY!" I look past ghost as I see infested pouring out of the mall. "Fuck...I got grabbed. My ankles fucked." Ghost lifts his foot as it hangs. "Go. I'll hold them off." He turns around as I snap back. I grab ghost as I pull him away as I channel all of my power. I turn and grab onto one of the hybrids as I channel my power around us as we lift off of the ground as I push forward. "Hang on!" Dulis stops and turns around as he jumps up and ghost catches him. "Don't fuckin stop! Get us to Jericho now!" I jump up and push my power down to keep up floughting. "Holy shit kid...you sure do know how to plan an exit." I turn my head and look down to see more infested pouring out of the mall as they are following us. I look forward again as I one of the hybrids are whimpering. "Damn. That's one hellva drop." I adjust as I keep my focus on keeping us moving. "Holy shit!" I look behind as I see ghost holding onto dulis tightly. "Don't drop me! Whatever you do! Do not drop me!" Dulis chuckles. "Don't worry. I got you." He pulls ghost as gets a better grip. "Don't fucking do that!" Dulis laughs. "For someone who's supposed to be a ghost, you sure scream like a bitch!" Is dulis calling him a scardy cat? "Fuck off!" Dulis laughs again. "Your killing me man!" Dulis continues to laugh as I struggle to keep my power flowing. I'm losing strangth. We're falling quickly already. "What's going on?! Why are we falling?!" I feel my strangth leave me as I struggle to keep my eyes open. "Echo!" My body goes numb as I can't keep this up. My eyes force themselves closed as I feel myself falling quickly. "Echo! What happened?! Wake up!" I try to force my eyes open as I can't get them open very much. I have to push everything out to try and keep us from getting hurt. "Help!" I channel with whats left of my strangth as I manage to get my eyes open enough to see the ground. I let everyone go as I turn and ralease all of my gathered power before we could hit the ground. I push it forward to slow them down as I feel a sharp pain in my back. I struggle to breath as I slowly manage to flip onto my stumic. I can't open my eyes. I can't move. The pain in my body grows as it hits like waves through my body. I can hear my heart again. It's slowing down quickly. I slow my breathing down and take in deep breaths to try and get my breathing under control. The pain quickly fades away as I slowly manage to open my eyes. "Damnit! Echo!" I feel like I was hit countless times. My stumic has a sharp pain that's going through to my back. I try to move as I manage to get my arms under my chest as I try to push myself off of the ground but fail as the pain grows again. My body...it's freaking out. My muscles are twitching and I can't stop it. "Fuck! Is he alive?!" I feel pressure on my back as it's warm. "He's breathing at least." I flipped onto my back as I slowly open my eyes to see dulis. "Damnit...you okey? Can you breath?" I can't move. "Dulis. He's bleeding." Dulis looks down as I slowly pick up my head with all of my strangth to see my shirt is ripped and my stumic can be seen. "What the fuck..." dulis wipes away some blood as I can see a gash in my stumic. "How the hell did that? He wasn't grabbed or bitten." My head falls as I struggle to keep my eyes open. "Looks like he was sewed up. This happened before he came out here." Happened...before? I remeber...the train. I was hurt. Worse than this. "The stitches came apart. Whatever happened to him...it fucked him up big time." My breathing speeds up again as I struggle to slow it down. "Echo. Echo!" Dulis holds me down as I can't stop twitching again. I can't feel my body. "Water. Now! And see if you have something to cover that!" I cant...breath. "damnit Echo...stay with me. You'll be okey." I try and focus on slowing my breathing down as I slowly manage to take in deeper and deeper breaths. "There you go. Breath. Big deep breaths." My body slowly stops twitching as I manage to take in a few deep breaths. "There you go. Breath." Dulis slowly lifts my head as the pain grows again. I can't move anything. My whole body is limp and in pain. Ghost comes up to my left and kneels down as he covers my stumic. I instantly reel in pain as I reach up and grab his arm. "God damn!" Ghost pulls away as the raleaf is amazing. "Holy fuck...nearly...broke my wrist." Dulis grabs my other hand and lifts it. "His body is tense. I can bearly move his arm." Dulis slowly moves my arm as I start to get feeling in it again as it slowly spreads to my shoulder. "Here." The women hands dulis a water bottle as he quickly opens it. "Here you go. Were not moving until your better." Dulis brings the water bottle to my limps as he slowly pours some water into my mouth. I let it run down my through as I feel the warm water slowly go down into my stumic. "He's freezing. It's like he's completely frozen." Dulis lifts the shirt off of my stumic as he looks at my body closely. "Looks like he got more than that gash. Look...he's been torn apart." Ghost looks closely as I see his eyes widen. "Looks like he was blown up three times over. How is he still alive?" Ghost grabs the shirt and slowly lays it back onto my stumic. He lays his hand on my stumic as the pain comes back. I lift my arm but ghost moves slowly as my arm quickly falls back down. "Looks like the bleeding stopped already." Dulis pours more water into my mouth. "From the looks of it...he doesn't have much left. Whatever did this to him...it drained him. Look at his ribs. You can't even see his muscles. There's nothing on him." Ghost looks up at dulis. "That explains the seizure. The fact he's still breathing is a god damn miracle." Dulis chuckles. "Damn straight. When we get back, we'll have to give him special care. He won't last much longer if he pulls these kinds of stunts again." The pain slowly fades as I start to regain strangth. "There's only one explanation here." Everyone looks at the women. The hybrids are huddled near dulis insteed of clinging onto her. "There was a colony in New Hampshire. It was filled with scientists and military personnel who went AWOL. From what I've heard...they experimented on hybrids." The women approuches me and kneels down infront of me. I don't want her near me. I'm starting to feel everyone's emotions again and she isn't worried or scared like everyone else. She's focuses. Like the bad people. "How do you know this? What the fuck happened to him?!" Dulis shifts as he slowly starts to block the women. "There was a group of people who went out to New Hampshire. About a dozen went out. Only 2 came back and they looks like they were attacked by gorilla fighters. One of them died shortly after they came back but the last guy...he told horror stories about that place before he had a seizure that killed him. They also looked like him when they came back." Dulis looks down at me with a worried look. He's scared. "Echo looks like he was tourchured. These cuts and scars don't just appear in a few days." I keep my focus on the women. The more I look at her...the more she seems fremilier. "They left with a months worth of rations and water. They were also some of the best fighters we had. The injuries they had littarly left them husks with just enough blood to survive. They also didn't have any cloths. What was left of them was torn fabric that bearly covered thier bodies." She knows more. I can feel it. "How do you know so much?" Dulis looks at the women as I can feel his anger rising quickly. "Becuase I was the only person who manages to wake him up long enough to get awnsers from him." Ghost stands up. "So you weren't just one of their 'paid' interns. You were a fuckin slaver!" The women quickly stands up. "The hell I was! They forced me to stay there! To make sure the hybrids I was in charge of didn't step out of line! If anything did, we would get whipped! Some of the people got shot or were tourchured to death becuase they failed!" She acting scared but I can feel that she's completely calm. "How do we know your telling the truth?!" The women points at the huddled hybrids. "I got bit protecting them didn't I?! What kind of slaver do you know would do that?!" Ghost calms down as he believes her. "I would never treat them like animals! They living breathing people! They know what's right and what's wrong! They can think and make choices on their own!" Her act...it's making me so angry. "Keep taking in deep breaths Echo. Try and stay calm." I look up at dulis as he seems to note something. "Who the fuck are you to try and pit something like that on me?! How dare you treat me like I'm some child predator who treats these people like objects?!" Dulis goes from worried to mad. "Enough!" His voice echos all around us. He looks up at the women. "Just becuase you helped a few hybrids doesn't mean you have your own agenda. We will interview you when we get back and we will find out who you are." Dulis looks at ghost as ghost kneels back down. "And you ghost. I get that your used to working alone, you have for as long as I've known you but this isn't how we do things and you know that. Screaming at the top of your lungs outside the walls like this?" Ghost reached out to grab the shirt. "Come on. This isn't like you. You've always been the silent soldier who did what he thought was right." Ghost grabs the shirt and pulls it off of me. I slowly manage to sit up on my own as I can feel my strangth returning. "Take it easy kid. You punish yourself even more." Ghost gives me a concerned look. "Ghost." He looks up at dulis as he's focused again. "Drop it. We need to get the kids to jerico." Dulis gives him a stern look. "I know. Let's make sure we're safe before we pop a fuse again." Ghost looks to his left. "Your right. This isn't the place for a screaming match." Ghost stands up as he walks behind me as I slowly turn and see him approuching the hybrids. "We've got people to take care of right now." Ghost turns around and looks at dulis. "Let's at least get them back where we know it's safe and hash it out then." Dulis takes in a deep breath. "Alright." Dulis looks back at the women. "We are for from done." Dulis looks back at me. "And you." He smiles as he holds out his hand. "No more playing games." I grab his hand as he helps me to my feet slowly. "If I knew about your injuries before comming out here, I wouldn't have let you come out like this." His smile quickly fades as I let his hand go. "I would have never suggested you becoming a scout until you recovered properly." I give him a smile showing that I'm okey. "Good. Now let's gets you kids back. We don't have much time before that storm hits." Dulis grabs his axe and starts to walk twords the ghost. Ghost is shielding the hybrids of the women as the huddle around him now. "Let's get moving. I don't want anything else poping out and giving us a good time." Dulis focused again. Like he was when we first left. I take a step forward as my power starts to flow slowly again. Why was my failing me again? I wasn't near half of my strangth and my body still failed. What's happening? This isn't normal for me. I wonder what will happen if my body keeps failing like this. I wonder...when it will happen again...