Soldier

Chapter 3: Alex

Chapter 3 Alex

I woke to the silence of a medical room. I blinked my eyes to adjust to the light while I sat up. I'm lying in a bed completely unrestrained... guess I made it. I groaned as I took a deep breath. The inside of my chest feels like it split in two. Still not all too well, I guess...

I looked at my cloths. I'm still wearing my uniform. It's completely covered in my blood. I looked up to see my friends and the girl run up to the bed from where they were sitting. Jace held onto a regular sized long-rifle in left his hand. He smiled as he looked at me, before he bear-hugged me tightly. Tight enough I squealed a little before he let go.

"S-Sorry."

Jace took a few steps back. He put his free hand behind his head and laughed a little. Cheerfully he said "Glad you're okay."

Evan grew a small grin, as he looked at me. He gave me a small shake from his head.

"You aren't going to die on us that easily."

He held an assault rifle with both his hands. Anxiously, he kept one eye looking at the door. He cringed. Slowly he returned to his seat and sat down with a slight expression. Jace smirked and said "So the great Evan actually has feelings! Who knew?" He walked up to where Evan sat down to continue his onslaught.

I smiled at them as they argued. They are the same as always. Even after this...

I turned my attention to the girl. Her cloths are still covered in my blood... I studied her curiously. Why had she helped me, why had she? I tried to say something, but the girl smiled before she leaned close to me and kissed me on the cheek. A k-kiss?

I stared at her dazed and blushed. I stared at her with confusion. She looked pleased with my reaction, and said "Shh, its okay. Don't worry about it. It's been a long time, hasn't it?"

I don't understand. She does look familiar now that I can see her clearly, but I can't remember.

"You're lucky, A, that knife missed all of your important organs, and your spine. By a mere fraction of an inch. I knew you would make it though. I just knew you wouldn't die on me..." She put her hand close to her heart. Wait... only one person's ever called me by that name..!

I tried to say something else when she giggled.

"You mean a lot to me. I just couldn't take it if you died on me. That's why I'm going to make sure you never leave me again. You promised didn't you?" her cheeks turned a light pink tinge. I smiled at her, after all this time I finally found her. Yet, the first time we had met in years I, I got stabbed and almost died. That isn't fair to her at all, I'm sorry, Kairi (Kay-ri). You had lost so many people and you almost lost me. You were my only family all those years in that orphanage... I looked down in my guilt, my forgetfulness. I looked at my torn clothing to see a slight bit of bandage through the thin hole in my shirt, surrounded by dried blood near the center of my chest.

I have to say something. I looked up to tell her something, anything at all, only to get pushed gently under the covers by her.

"You don't have to say anything. You're not that hard to read you know. Just rest okay? Everything's going to be fine. We'll talk when you're better. The doctor says that you should heal in a few weeks or so, and I'll be here by your side the whole way." She laid my head on the pillow. I didn't argue with her, I don't have a reason to. She was my only family and now I found her. I slowly closed my eyes to sleep.

I opened my eyes quickly to a loud boom that shook the entire room. The explosion was followed by the crack of gunfire, then another explosion. The entire room shook from the vibrations. I sat up quickly, to see my friends Jace and Evan run and fortify the door. Evan stuffed his chair into the handle, while Jace pointed his rifle at the door. Evan followed in suit as we heard gunshots from beyond the door. They seemed to come closer and closer. Kairi stood at the foot of the bed, with nothing in her hands. She looked straight towards the door. While I feel hopeless. All I can do is lie here with nothing to defend myself.

The gunfire grew louder and louder until it suddenly stopped by the door. The fighting outside still raged on. Anxiously I stared at the door. Am I supposed to wait for something to happen? Suddenly, it slammed open; it hit Jace into the wall, and a hooded figure walked into the doorway. Evan fired off a few shots before the figure grabbed his gun and pointed it towards the ceiling. His gun still fired. Its bullets shot the roof instead, and created sparks that flew in every direction. Quickly the figure punched Evan in his gullet with enough force to knock him into the wall, before he fell onto the ground nearly unconscious.

He stared at Evan until he let out a coughing sound. The figure snickered. He looked back ahead and walked up to Kairi, who stood at the foot of the bed; her arms spread out to protect me, and knocked her to the side in a swift throw of his hand.

I yelled her name at her, to try to get her attention. Yet she only laid against the wall, motionless. The cloaked man reached the side of the bed and said "Oh, you really got it in for you." in his low demonic voice. I turned my attention back to him. It's the man from before, the one who had stabbed me, who held up our class. Again I'm helpless....

In a split second, he grabbed ahold of my neck. He barely squeezed enough that I could hardly breathe. Before he let go and said "Your friends can't save you. But you know what?" he paused so he could slide up his sleeve to show a flesh wound that seeped a faint bloody ooze. The rest of his arm covered by a small metallic skeleton that extends his entire arm and hand.

"You have a good aim, you know that?!"

He slid his sleeve back over his arm, before he yelled to the top of his lungs "Where is it!!!"

"I don't know where it is! You were the one who had it!"

He chuckled at my answer as he gazed at a small object that he held in his other hand. It looks like a small vial, only with an electric battery locked onto it, a thin piece of wire in-between the glass.

"What is that?!" I asked him impulsively. He only laughed a little to himself.

"Oh, this? It's only my... my little friend's, power source. He's going to help me recover what you made me lose." He grabbed me by my jacket collar. He lifted me slightly in the air and said "Okay boy. Before that, I'm going to tell you a little secret." He inched his way closer to me. "Clockworks run on human blood, and they collect it. Sound simple enough for you?"

He thrust me back onto the bed. I hit the white sheets as with the feeling that a wall had suddenly collapsed on me. I grabbed at my chest with my hand. My heart throbs... I coughed out a little blood.

"That's insane...!"

The man mused himself in my torment.

"Oh don't worry. I am not going to kill you, or your friends, just yet. That would be against orders. Besides you-you have the perfect blood for our machines. Yours has a little genetic twist in which the red blood cells repair damage faster. Just like me. So I'm just going to be borrowing a little bit." He slid a small syringe into his hand from his sleeve and grabbed ahold of my arm. I tried to shake off his hand, but his grip was that of a pythons. He stuck the needle into a small vain in my arm with a flinch of pain and pulled back the small handle as my blood poured into it. Once the syringe filled up, he tossed me aside, and laughed happily at his accomplishment. He held the small vial from his other hand and injected it with my blood, as the glass filled crimson red. He turned away and said "Ta-ta! I'll see you in hell." and threw a peace sign behind his back. A dark cloud surrounded him, and then dispersed. He disappeared just like that... he's gone...Sensei ran in the doorway, moments later.