Crystal trembled and tears welled up in her eyes. Jax reached out to her and tried to help her.
"Take a deep breath Crys, everything is fine. You saved us," Jax comforted her in a soft voice to nod toward the Umbra that barely moved on the ground.
Crystal had a scratch on her face, it had been harder than she thought. Her beautiful cinnamon skin was now marked from her eyebrow down to her chin, the blood had at least stopped. Her caramel-colored eyes were full of tears and the right one, where she was scratched, could barely open it as it hurt too much. In fact, she wasn't sure she could see through that eye yet.
Jax also had a scratch on his arm or rather a deep wound from which they were only able to stop the bleeding just a few minutes ago. Crystal was crying not only because of the pain but because of the impression left on her after the fight.
Events were flashing through Crystal's mind again. The Umbra complained as she fell on the burning pole and was indeed injured but not enough, its exterior was hard and the stick had not done much damage. Then Jax took his shirt and did the same as Crystal pointing at the Umbra's eyes. This partially blinded her, but since she had so many eyes, there were still several working. Annoyed by the attacks, the Umbra quickly responded by hurting Jax in the left arm and his leg failed him for support, causing Jax to fall with a growl from the deep pain that invaded him. Crystal got up and ran towards the Umbra with the stick on fire and jumped as high as she could, falling on the Umbra's head with difficulty. Then she began to attack the Umbra with the stick and it looked like it had a helmet. But she finally managed to hurt it by attacking one of the eyes and burying the stick in it. A horrible scream came from the Umbra that threw Crystal away with one of its claws and at the same time hurt her face. Now Crystal screamed, screamed loudly, and saw the Umbra rushing towards her with her other eye. Then she did a real madness... she ran toward the Umbra and slipped beneath it. When she pass underneath she notices something chilling... the organs of the Umbra were visible, and their skin seemed almost transparent from below. In addition, there are thousands of eggs inside. But despite the feeling of seeing all this, she noticed that she also had an advantage. Most likely, its lower part was more sensitive. So she got up, sure she was being chased, and ran to the campfire, jumping over it and lying on the other side, trying to ignore the sensation of the burns on her legs. The Umbra ran after her and jumped over the campfire, just as Crys jumped and grabbed one of the branches of the campfire burning her hands and pointing it upwards before the Umbra fell. A scream came from the girl and another from the Umbra. Crystal with her hands burned and the Umbra with the burning branch buried inside. The Umbra then tried to bury one of Crystal's legs in her stomach when she was pushed into the campfire by Jax who had managed to get up in time. The three collapsed on the ground.
"Crys... Crys are you okay?" the sound of his voice brought her back to reality for a moment. Then she observes him for the first time, paying real attention. His face was a work of art, gray eyes... almost white. His white porcelain skin, his cheeks pink probably from the turmoil of the fight and his hair was like snow falling delicately over his bushy eyebrows. And his bright pink lips moved, pronouncing something that at this moment did not seem important. Or so she thought until he shook her violently, making her angry. Why was he so handsome but so dumb? She wondered, coming to her senses and listening to what he said.
"Crys, doll, I need you to concentrate and listen to me," he said as if he was about to tell her the sweetest thing in the world. She blushed and pushed him to look away and scold herself through her teeth... then he saw what Jax meant. The Umbra was rising. Do these things never die?
The two of them got up and did what anyone would do... they ran or at least they tried. Crystal would fall every time she started running, tripping over rocks and branches she couldn't see. And Jax could barely run with his injured leg. Then Crystal had an idea and took Jax's belt, surprising him, tied herself to Jax's left side leaving her good eye on his free side. And Jax's injured leg, in the middle of both of them.
"Have you ever done a three-legged race?" she asked Jax who quickly denied but seeing how she used her necklace to tie his wounded leg to hers he nodded understanding what she meant.
"I've never played this, in fact there were no children to play with where I come from, but it's a good idea doll," replied the boy
"How are there no children where you come from... Hold on... you called me doll, Jax?" she said crossing her arms and frowning
"Excuse me but could we discuss this later, doll?" he replied to which she rolled her eyes and nodded reluctantly
They fell a couple of times but then managed to speed up the pace. It was night when they found an abandoned building in which they decided to rest. Now Crystal knew that she had lost sight in her right eye. And Jax's leg didn't look good at all. It was a small victory to survive but a loss as well. Crystal had lost her coat, her eye, and her home. And Jax would lose his leg and his arm, if they didn't do something quick. Crystal stubborn as always refused to let the Umbras take anything else from them. So she started tending to Jax's leg and arm as soon as they found an old couch in the lobby of what looked like an old hotel. She put Jax on the couch and although he attempted to protest, it was futile, he was very weak and would not win against the headstrong Crystal. She looked at him as a mother would look at her young son to make him understand that he will stay where he was. He just laughed softly and shook his head.
"Hmmm... Stay there Jax. I'm serious," she said, putting her hands at the sides of her hip and denying, serious.
He nodded and she made her way to what used to be the front desk stumbling a little but not falling this time. She searched everywhere for a first aid kit until she found something that looked like an old first aid kit. She pursed her lips when she saw the contents. Almost everything had expired. But she would have to try to use it if she could. It didn't bring a robot to do the job and it didn't bring a holographic manual, so after sighing she decided she would do the same thing she saw in this old medical tv show that her mother watched on Saturday nights.
After an hour and several screams of pain from Jax and scolding from Crystal, Jax's arm had been successfully tended to. Although it is likely that Crystal's bad stitches left a marked scar. But his leg... it was swollen and black. Crystal saw someone like that once and knew that without a tissue reviving machine there would be no choice but to amputate it. She felt like vomiting at the thought of having to do it. She hated the idea of being a doctor because of blood and things like that. But it seemed that she would have no choice. Jax has a fever that knocks him unconscious and his breathing is agitated. She had to make a decision and fast if she wanted to save him.
Crystal worked hard, cried and nearly fainted several times, but she made it and with a laser cauterizer she was finishing her job. She had to do everything without anesthesia. Jax would wake up and scream repeatedly during the procedure. She tried to console him while still working. He was stronger than she realized. He endured the whole procedure, even while screaming and in pain, and at the same time comforted her when she was crying. As soon as she finished, she fell surrendered to the side of the sofa. And finally she let her body and mind rest. Falling into the deepest sleep as she tried to forget what had happened and hoped to wake up back in the bunker with the boys bothering her and her mother scolding her for sleeping so long.
But the reality was different and this would hardly be the beginning of her legend.
