Fang Junkie

7. Surprise

7                    Surprise

Claudio carried me outside, even though I woke up and could walk. At least I hoped I could. We were both covered in blood, faces and various other parts of the body were swollen and colouring black and blue. The fight appeared to be over and there were no more vampires in sight.

"Marie." I croaked when realization hit me. My head was throbbing, but there were more parts of my body that hurt. My shoulder stung.

"She's gone." Claudio said dejectedly. He gently lowered me onto the gravel and I used my bike to support myself. Claudio hovered, ready to catch me if my injuries turned out to be too serious.

Raskin approached us and a few of our other agents stumbled outside after us, but our numbers certainly didn't reach twenty-two anymore. "How many?" I asked him. He shook his head.

"I'll brief everyone when we're back at headquarters. Now we need to clear out. There's already a truck on the way to get the bikes." He said. And the bodies. He didn't have to say it.

"I told you she shouldn't have come." I said menacingly to Raskin, only my posture couldn't back me up. He narrowed his eyes at me.

"And I knew I shouldn't have let you come along either." He said calmly. "We'll talk this out privately in my office." He looked at Claudio. "Take her back. You all don't look too good." Raskin wasn't unharmed either. There was a lot of blood seeping through his clothes and he had a big cut on his forehead. He threw his car keys and sent three other agents with us. Claudio wrapped an arm around me and dragged me to the car, but I never stopped looking at Raskin until we pulled out of the parking lot and were out of sight. No one said a word. Everyone was filthy and injured.

By the time we arrived at P.A.S, the adrenaline had made place for the pain to sink in. My head was killing me, I could barely see any more besides a red darkness. When the car door opened, I found out I could barely use my right leg and one of my wrists hurt too much to even open the door. The wound by my shoulder, on my collar bone wouldn't stop bleeding and my ribs felt like they were bent in two. One of my eyes was swollen shut while the other was trying to follow its example. My cheeks were thick and sore and my nose was probably broken. It could've been worse though.

"How many did you see?" I asked no one in particular, as the five of us limped to the elevator shaft. Claudio supported me all the way. Even though I could do without him, I accepted his company and sought comfort in his constant presence.

"'Couldn't count 'em." One of the three other agents replied solemnly. "But if it makes anything better, we killed easily as many of them and we probably have some prisoners as well."

"They have at least one prisoner as well." I replied, sending everyone into silence.

"We'll get her back." Claudio said eventually.

"How?" I asked. He knew what I meant. In what condition would she be by the time we had her back? He didn't have an answer to that question and pressed his lips together instead. We arrived at the elevator shaft and Claudio let the other three agents go first. Then he turned to me.

"Can you climb?"

"I don't know." I replied. None of us knew how deep the shaft was, but it was safe to say that the bottom was far away enough to kill. He nodded, then took a few steps back, ran and jumped. He hissed in pain when he landed on the ladder. I didn't know where he was injured. He climbed down and waited.

"Come on." He said, twisting his head to look at me. I could see the nervous sparkle in his eyes, but I was confident enough I could make it. I pressed my teeth together and started running. I leaped. Both hands and both feet landed on the ladder safely, but a nearly inhuman sound escaped through my closed lips.