Monster (Ryeji)

Consequences laid in dust pt.1

Ryujin shivered in her hospital gown. It had an open back that was only held together by a single piece of fabric knotting the two flaps together. It was large and airy, falling slightly off her shoulder and only reached down to just above her ankles. She wrapped her arms tightly around herself, her throat hurting as she breathed in the cold night air, and looked wearily down at her bare feet. It was somehow all so familiar. The feeling of vulnerability, frailty, and isolation, with nothing to call her own, not even the clothes she had been put into. She could almost hear their voices floating past her in the wind, as if they were breathing down the back of her neck again.

"You are a soldier of the revolution."

"You belong to us."

"We are your family now."

"Trust no one."

She shook her head to try and rid herself of her memories before suddenly a bundle of clothes was presented in front of her. Ryujin blinked and looked up only to see Yeji and behind her, the body of the man they'd killed in only his underclothes.

"Put these on. You'll freeze." The older girl said, pushing the clothes to Ryujin's chest. Ryujin took them and automatically started to dress herself before suddenly remembering her right arm was all but useless. She clenched her jaw and squeezed her gown with her left hand.

"Yeji." She asked quietly, the girl turning from where she had been keeping watch. "Could you... um... I need some help." In any other situation it would have embarrassed Ryujin to ask. But this was Yeji, who, gently and with understanding, picked up the pair of trousers from where Ryujin had dropped them and came over.

Together, they both dressed Ryujin in clothes that were slightly too big for her, the jacket dwarfing Ryujin's frame and the shirt still vaguely warm. For some reason, Yeji decided to lay Ryujin's hospital gown over the dead man, like some sort of shroud. Perhaps she was trying to hide him for as long as possible. Ryujin didn't know. Until finally, they got into the truck and Yeji turned the ignition key, giving Ryujin a final look of reassurance, before driving off.

The thrum of the engine humming below Ryujin soon made her feel groggy again as she sat in the passenger seat, eyes fluttering open and closed. She vaguely heard Yeji exchange a few words with a lady next to a barrier, and prayed they wouldn't have to fight their way out again like they always seemed to. But fortunately luck, or perhaps skill on Yeji's part, was on their side and their exit from the hospital gates was surprisingly smooth. So far they'd heard no sirens nor gunshots, which indicated no one was yet aware of the dead person lying haphazardly in their parking lot. Hopefully it would stay that way until morning, Ryujin thought sleepily.

"I.... Don't know where I'm going." She heard Yeji mumble sheepishly from beside her.

Ryujin yawned but shook her head, "Doesn't matter I trust you..." she said, slowly drifting off to sleep.

"You have to trust me!" She heard Yeji calling out to her, her muddy hand reaching out to a young Ryujin desperately. "You need to jump!"

"I... I can't!" Ryujin wailed. The gorge was too deep, the gap too far, she'd fall and die.

"Ryujin please, 'if you fall behind, you're left behind'!" She quoted their commanding officer. It was the training squadron's motto. A chilling sentence that racked Ryujin's nightmares whenever Yeji was off on night duties.

Her foot slipped and the loose tree roots holding the rocks under her feet grew more loose by the second.

"I can't." Ryujin cried, "I'm not strong enough."

"You don't have to be!" Yeji shouted, "I'll catch you."

Ryujin shifted slightly, her fear easing fractionally. She attempted to reposition her feet in order to jump, but a few of the smaller rocks gave way, causing her to fling herself back against the gorge's walls. Leaving her in a worse place than before. She glanced downwards again and the small stream at the bottom of the gorge seemed to spiral into a vortex below her.

"Just... just leave!" She trembled, staring at Yeji through her unbroken tears. "The Captain likes you, if you leave now he might not punish you!"

"No!" Yeji moved and reached out even further. "I don't care about the Captain or any of that. I care about you. It's my fault you fell. I'm getting you out of here. But you have to jump. Do you trust me?!"

A small whisper left Ryujin's lips. "I do."

And she jumped.

The next few seconds seemed to stretch hours as she felt herself detached from everything around her, the crushing weight of gravity pulling her downwards. Her eyes squeezed shut.

She flailed, trying to reach Yeji's outstretched hand, but just as their fingers grazed each other's, Ryujin's arm disappeared. She gasped, the air being sucked from her lungs as a burning sensation fizzled in her shoulder while she fell. Further and further down, the sight of Yeji screaming getting smaller and smaller until...

"Ryujin!"

Ryujin snapped awake. Her twisted memories fading into her view of the interior of a truck, with Yeji sitting looking troubled behind it.

"Ryujin are you alright?" Yeji was gently gripping her thigh. "You were calling for me."

"I'm... I'm fine." She sat up and looked around to see them moving through a vast war torn landscape, an empty road in front of them, dawn just peeking over a ridge line in the distance. "I just had a dream about that time I got stuck in..." she petered off her short term memory immediately overpowering her imagination. "My... my arm." Ryujin glanced down at the swath of bandages pressing against her chest down to her wrist. "My arm was gone..." she mumbled, touching the outside of said bandages.

"It's ok, Ryujin. You're ok." Yeji tried to reassure her, though her tone was apprehensive as she immediately pulled the truck over to the side of the road and stopped.

Ryujin automatically began peeling back and unwinding the layers of white cloth covering her skin.

"I think you should leave it till we get somewhere safe." Yeji tapped her worriedly.

"I need to see. I need to know if... if..."