Amnesia

Herd

We drove away as fast as we could once everyone came to their senses. Johnny drives while the rest of us sit in silence. We don't have a set destination, but we need to get away from the neighborhood.

My mind runs back to the events that took place today. I killed people today. I physically stabbed a breathing man in the temple and watched him sink to the ground. I left another one there to die and then turn. I'm a cruel human being now, almost no better then they are.

But what keeps replaying in my head is the way the guys approached me. They didn't try to kill me, they tried to detain me. They had a main goal to keep me just like they did with Kim. Now that's cruel.

Kim hasn't said a word yet. She didn't say a single thing to Chris. After getting settled next to Chris and I in the van she's done nothing but stare out the window. Her eyes don't connect with anything from the outside world, she just stares vacantly ahead.

Anne sits in the passenger seat, also silent. Jose groans from the backseat, his hand pressed against the wound.

"We need to stop," I say. "We need to tend to our wounds."

"Who's got what injuries?" Johnny asks as he presses the breaks.

We learn that Anne has a bullet graze wound and cuts, Jose has a possibly broken hand and gunshot wound to the shoulder, Brenda has deep cuts, and I have glass in my shoulder and most likely a bruised rib. Kim doesn't say anything about her injuries. In fact she looks almost unharmed besides the bruising on her body and face.

I know mentally she's destroyed. I can't imagine what she went through with those men, but they didn't kill her and didn't have her for too long.

Suddenly Kim says something, but none of us can understand her. We sit parked on the road in silence, looking at her and waiting for her to repeat herself. She does.

"Why'd you leave me?" Kim's words are barely audible but they make my heart sink in sadness.

"It was one hell of a night for all of us," Jose says trough clenched teeth.

"Dawn died," she whispers.

Chris puts his hand on her leg to comfort her but she jerks back in fright at the simple gesture. She curls herself into a ball by holding her knees to her chest. She stares straight forward again and doesn't break the gaze. We all decide to ignore it and start to trickle out of the van.

"Why are we stopping?" Shayla asks.

"We need to get everyone's wounds treated so no one suffers from an infection," Jose replies. Everyone stands around silently as Naoto goes down the line treating the worst injuries first. He has to go into the van to start helping Kim. I peek in to see him inspecting her bloodied wrists, expecting her to be slapping him away. Instead she sits in the same position, frozen like a statue.

"Was she tied down?" Naoto says, acknowledging my presence.

"Yes," I say. "So was Anne, though that was only a short amount of time."

"She's in shock," he says. "I don't know how long it'll last. Everyone will have to let her be. We have to wait it out, she'll snap out of it soon."

"No major injuries?" I ask. "Broken bones?"

"She didn't appear to be limping too much when I saw her come out. But she's badly beaten." Naoto continues to inspect her closely. "Just a lot of bruising. We'll have to worry about her in a mental state rather than physical."

"She's  been through a traumatic experience," I say. "I can only guess some of the things they did. We got lucky we got her out."

"Gained one but lost one," he says quietly with a sigh.