The Way it Was

Chapter 2 -- Jo

Hey guys!!! So I guess I should mention that my chapters aren't always "chapters," since most of them are only separated because of the perspective change. This chapter is the rest of the first one, only it's from a third person limited narration for Jo rather than Miles. Thanks for reading, and be sure to review!!!!!!!!!!  - Lillie

Jo opened her mouth to spit a rebuttal, but as the words danced to the end of her tongue and stretched to glance past her lips, Ransom Billodeaux slipped collapsed against the archway beside Jo, panting heavily as sweat beaded and rained from his forehead. His pupils were dangerously dilated.

Jo stared, confused and startled, watching the stream of blood trailing from Ransom's parched lips, and the way his trembling hand rose and fell against his chest, where it was grasping aimlessly. She stepped to the side an inch to avoid making contact with his knees, which were bent at strange angles against the damp stone floor.

Miles wasted no time. He jumped from his seat, dropping his tool, and limped over to Ransom's tremorous body. His human right arm slipped beneath the man's shoulders, and he dragged him to his feet, laying him silently on his work table.

Jo watched in terror and awe. She knew this was a normal thing for Bolts, but it'd never happened to her, and she'd never seen Miles work like this before. His movements were quick, precise, intricately selecting different pieces of scrap metals from a large wooden crate he kept in the corner. The expression on his face hadn't wavered since Ransom had shown up: determined, yet calm.

After he had picked out three large scraps, Miles reached for a syringe on his desk. The needle found its way into Ransom's neck, and Jo observed the body's panicked heaving slowly falter until nothing remained but a steady strum of breaths.

The first thing Miles did, the first thing he ever did when it came to these projects, was taking his favorite purple marker and drawing over the human skin of the body. Jo often came into their nook to find her roommate covered in purple ink and holding a scalpel to his leg. That was his on-going project; ever since that explosion took out the feeling in his right knee and below that, he'd almost completely replaced the limb with scrap metal and wires. It worked even better than it had before, but according to him, there was always room for improvement.

Purple circles now wrapped around Ransom's limp wrist, each with its own number and corresponding metal piece and wire. Miles pulled out a dagger, carefully tracing each circle, brushing away the blood as it came out. He wouldn't need it anyway; that was a perk of being a Bolt. Bleeding wasn't much of a problem, as long as metal implants shortly followed.

For two hours Jo watched Miles work, carving Ransom's flesh and pressing metal below and over his skin. Once, when Jo had moved only slightly to sit on her cot, Miles glanced over at her and offered a small smirk. Other than that, he remained flat and busy.

Ransom stirred at the mark of the third hour, and Miles finished just in time. He stood from his swivel work chair and stretched as his patient slowly sat up, studying his new wristpiece. "It's good as a watch, a compass, and a transmitter/receiver. It should help you on missions," Miles explained with a short smile. Jo could tell it was forced, though she wasn't sure if it was from his exhaustion of working or his argument with her that made it that way.

"Thank you, sir," Ransom said, climbing down from the table and exiting the room, not before nodding in Jo's. It was still strange being addressed as such by adults when Jo and Miles were still only 19 and 21, respectively. But she supposed they had earned the title.

Or, at least Miles had.