FALTER

CHAPTER 50: Beginning of the end.

Ari bit her lip as her breath fogged on the window to the hospital room. Inside, Imti stooped over his unmoving sister. Tubes and machines were hooked up to her body, but her face remained encased in a seal of plaster and bandages. She looked ghostly in her hospital robes, seeming almost to float on the sterile bed.

The only splash of colour in the room was the sordid looking red-and-gold Drive laying on Deepti's lap. Judging from Imti's grip on it, he was trying his best to not hurl it.

The doctor on the opposite side of the bed, with a grave expression, said something to Imti. Ari saw his curly hair shake with anger as he talked back. No, they were arguing, she realized as she heard the window slightly rattle underneath her metal fingertips.

A blink later, the door swung open with a bang and Imti stormed past them and out. The doctor walked through as well, now looking more pained than ever. He looked at Marci, who was staring in the direction Imti had gone, before returning the doctor's gaze. She put all her questions into her eyes and the doctor shook his head.

Marci reached up and put her hand on Ari's shoulder, who wrenched herself away from the window. She let Marci trail her fingers down to Ari's own. The two woman held each other like that for a few moments before Marci nodded towards the door. Ari knew what she meant and gently stepped away, took a deep breath and pushed through the cabin doors.

There was pandemonium on every inch of the hospital. The treatment rooms were so full that victims sat anywhere they could in the halls, some holding ice packs to minor wounds but most wincing or even howling in pain as they nursed bloody wounds.

Ari gingerly stepped through the crowd, her sneakers quietly clattering among the cacophony of panic. She slid past nurses and physicians treating the injured with a grim concentration. As she strolled through the winding hallway towards the stairs, she couldn't help but steal a few glances into the wards. She saw families huddled around curtained beds, and people covered in dried, bloody bandages.

A smattering of people had built up around the elevator. Ari stood there for a few seconds, realized it was taking an awfully long time to stop on each floor, and decided to journey down the stairs instead.

As she descended, her legs grew heavier and her pulse thumped louder in her ears. She was glad to drown out the drone of depression permeating through the building. The monotonous movement, however, resulted in her focus sharpening to the events of the morning.Electric signals fired all the way down her prosthetic until her artificial fingers were digging into the palm as deeply as her nails were into her own flesh. She refused to think about it, because thinking about it meant acknowledging that her own selfishness had resulted in all this and- She took a step too much, not realizing she had reached the ground floor, almost tripping into another person. Looking up to apologize, her voice went out as soon as she caught a glimpse of who she had bumped into.

The man in front of her was wearing a leather jacket which had been burnt so terribly it was almost melded to his skin. Ari was so close to him that the awful smell that hit her almost forced her guts to evict their contents. She stepped back, letting her eyes travel up his charred body, and up to his face. As expected, black veins were visible under his skin; his eyes were glassy and tearful; and a dark, oily liquid leaked out of the same wounds that was allowing him to bleed out. Ari moved past him, not wanting to see the horrifying sight anymore.