He was in a van. The men with the vampire masks. They were all around him. His head hurt. He couldn't hear anything over the pounding of his heart in his head. He wondered where the rest of his group was, if Combat Baby was okay.
He felt a needle being thrust into his arm. He blacked out.
When he woke up, he was running. He didn't know how he'd gotten there. He didn't know where he was. He didn't know who he was. His chest hurt, and so did his back and his arm. He clutched at his arm, looking down and feeling his stomach twist at all the blood. His blood. Somehow he knew it was his blood. The heartbeat in his head slowed. The heat bore down on him, making him dazed and confused.
He collapsed.
When he woke up for a second time, he was in a bed, a thin sheet covering his bandaged chest. Weakly sitting up, he looked around the room, at the dusty interior and the cluttered corners. He almost missed the man standing in the corner, but the man's bright red hair had made him impossible to miss. He was leaning against the wall, his arms crossed, staring at him with a curious expression.
"Hi," he tried to say, but his throat was too dry and he just ended up choking on his words and coughing.
Hurriedly, the man reached over to the desk beside him, grabbing a half-empty bottle of water. He crossed the small room in two quick strides and handed the bottle to the boy, who gratefully gulped the water down.
"Thanks," he managed to croak in a cracked whisper.
The man just nodded, turned, and left the room, leaving the boy very confused. He looked around again, trying to figure out where he was. Then came the question of how he'd gotten there.
After a minute, a girl entered the room. Her expression was wary, and he just offered a small wave. It would be rude to scare her off.
"How are you feeling?" she asked in a small voice.
He just looked at her and said, "I've been better."
This actually made her smile, though he saw how she tried to keep a straight face as she moved to his bedside.
"I know it seems a bit soon, after just waking up and all," she mindlessly picked at a loose thread on the sheets, "but what happened?"
He shook his head, "I don't understand."
"How did you get on the side of the road? And how did you get-" she hesitated before pointing to his chest, "that?"
He too looked down at his bandaged chest. Looking back up at her, he just shrugged.
"I have no clue."
Oddly enough, she didn't look surprised. The tiniest realization hit her eyes as she nodded, mostly to herself. He noted with an almost childlike fascination that she had pretty eyes. Very mature, a contrast to the rest of her face.
"So do you know who you are?"
He thought long and hard. He knew he had to have a name. He had to come from somewhere. He just had no memory at all. He shook his head wordlessly again.
"Okay." She nodded again, a confirmation to herself, before turning to leave the room. Before leaving, she looked back at him.
"If you need anything," she said with a small smile, "just ask for Diamond."
He gave a small smile at her before she left.
He decided then that she was his favorite.
The others were nice, too. There were a lot of them in the small house. At least, he thought it was a house. He hadn't left his room after a few days of being there.
