Levels

Prepareations

Dayl woke up. The first thing he felt, was the stinging pain at the right side of his belly as he tried to move up. Slowly he gathered his body up to the wall behind the bed while the little shockwaves flowed through his body. After a few seconds of confusion, he sorted his memories and pulled his thoughts together.

He was still alive. Though his body felt still uncommon from everything he had to endure, he felt better now. And nevertheless his wound still hurt, at least the bleeding had stopped while he was asleep.

The small room came into his vision and he could make out the little sink at the opposite at the corner of the wall. He put his hands to his head, trying to remember something, a distant memory, or was it a dream? He remembered a warm comfortable feeling, a warm body next to him, numbing the pain of his injury.

Was Allessa lying next to him? Suddenly he remembered her tears dripping on his face, the despair in her eyes as she watched him suffer under the pain the bullet had inflicted on him. Now he felt bad for her, knowing how much she really cared and how much sorrow it caused her seeing him lying on the ground struggling to stay alive.

In shame, he turned his eyes to the ground, maintaining his glance for a few seconds, until Allessa walked straight through the door.

Surprise and relive filled her eyes as she glanced up at Dayl, a huge smiley on her face.

"You are finally awake!"

"You know Allessa, this sort of feels like a Deja vu, only thing is, last time I was standing at the other side."

At his words, Allessa grin got even bigger.

"Hopefully it'll be the last Deja vu we have."

Dayl gave her a nice little wink and smiled at her. "Promise."

"So, how are you feeling? How is your injury?"

"Could be better, but since I was on the verge of leaving this world, I'll have to say I'm pretty good. Still hurts, but I'll get over it. Nothing time can't heal." Dayl answered in a more cheering voice.

"By the way, how long have we... I.. been sleeping?"

Dayl was so lost in thoughts that he instantly assumed that she had been sleeping next to him the whole time. Slightly embarrassed he was hoping that she didn't notice.

"Ah...about 8 hours, so that leaves us still with 10 hours to get prepared." Allessas cheeks turned bright red as the memory of her sleeping on his chest returned to her mind.

"Well, then, time to get ready I guess." Dayl heaved his fractured body out of bed, pain itching through him at every move he made. Allessa hurried to his side to support him. He laid his arm around her shoulder, his face a few inches next to hers.

Halfway to the bathroom, another gush of pain burst right through him and a muffled moan escaped his mouth.

"Are you all right?" Allessa asked, as she turned her head towards his, leaving their faces incredibly close to each other.

Once they made it to the bathroom, Allessa released Dayl from her grip and made sure he could stand up right.

"Will you be alright? Be careful not to fall down."

"Yeah, would be pretty bad if you died because I slipped in the shower hu?" Dayl put it like he was dead serious, but then, his face eased and he began to laugh.

"You know what I meant, idiot." Allessa said in a somber tone, but immediately after, started to giggle too.

After he was finished, Allessa rewrapped his bandages and cleaned his wound from any dirt.

Both where sitting at next to each other at the little table in their room.

"We have 6 hours left. And you really are in no condition to go anywhere, so how are we going to handle this?" Allessa seemed worried, as she looked at Dayl.

"I don't know, I've been thinking about it too."

"You know, I noticed something. Do you remember the time when I first came on the ship? At first there was nothing for me to wear, because intentionally it was your ship. But suddenly women clothing just appeared in some of the drawers. Perhaps, the ship provides us with something that could help you with your injury."

"Well...that's an unlikely thing to bet on, but I guess it leaves us with no choice..." Dayl wanted to distract from the subject so he started with something else:

"Anyway, what's up with the key we found back in the maze?"

Allessa pulled the tiny golden key out of her pocket and placed it neatly on the table.

"I don't know, maybe it has no purpose at all?"

"Hm..."

Dayls expression turned to a sudden idea. "What if it fits in some lock at the ship?"

"Highly unlikely but, if so, don't you think we would've found it already?"

"Yeah probably...but what if..."

Dayl snatched the key from the table and hobbled out of the supply room and turned to the wall at the right side.

The wall he had turned golden, at the time he had shown his powers to Allessa.

He limped around the wall scrutinizing every inch of it.

"What exactly are you doing Dayl?"

"I figured, that perhaps the ship really provides us with the right things, so the logical assumption would be a golden key put into a golden lock, don't you think?"

"Yeah, but I don't really think it works like—"

"HA! Got it!" Dayl was pushing the key through a golden lock that had just suddenly appeared as he touched the wall with it.

It fit. He turned it around. Ones, Twice... POP.

The golden part of the wall, suddenly flapped open like an opening door leaf.

"You. Are. Just. Unbelievable."

Dayl and Allessa were staring at the things hidden behind it. The cache revealed itself to be a huge store of all sorts of things.

Guns, armours, grenades, blades and many other things were placed on the wall, behind the golden layer.

The astonishment not leaving their faces they spotted something that locked like a support device that fit perfectly around Dayls waist, aiding his wound so the pain would be endurable while he moved.

There was one hour left until Level 3.

They packed in everything they needed, loading themselves with new equipment. There even was one of the finest blades Allessa had ever seen, forged from the most flawless materials. Allessa immediately took it for her own and strapped it around her waist.

Dayl took the nearest rifle he could find and strapped it around his back.

"You sure you can handle a gun?" Allessa asked sardonically.

Once again, they stepped on the starting platform.

"Of course I can, let's do this."