The Renegade

Chapter 16: Crash Landing

Belle’s hand retreats to her pounding forehead. Thankfully, it wasn’t bleeding. Belle tried to lift herself up, but utterly failed, thanks to an intense pain in her shoulder. She had hit the ground pretty hard, after all. She looks around. The first thing she spots is a degraded stop sign, now not connected to the ground. She called it. They had placed bombs there. The Govern would do that occasionally, just for shits and giggles. Add to the list of things the Govern will pay for. Belle sees Mike laying on his back and Robby on his stomach on the ground. Belle turns slowly turns around, realizing the explosion came from behind her.
    Belle liked to think of herself as a realist. The explosion came from behind her. And if she had (hopefully, temporarily) lost hearing in one ear, she was scared to see how the others faired. Nikki was writhing in pain. While Shawna and Kenzie… well… they weren’t moving. At all. When Belle finally got a good look at Nikki, she had realized that she was clutching her ankle, screaming for help.
    “Nikki?!” Belle’s voice cracked. “NIKKI!?”
    Belle scrambled to her feet and over to Nikki. On her way over, Belle kept calling her name, but Nikki didn’t seem to have heard her. Nikki didn’t take notice of Belle until she was sitting right next to her. Nikki’s eyes held something along the lines of terror and pain.

    Nikki could see Belle’s mouth moving, but she couldn’t hear anything. She couldn’t even hear a ringing in her ears. Complete. Silence. The only thing was pain. The shooting and terrible pain soaring through her leg. She remembered walking. And she remembered Belle turning. And she remember flying through the air. And she remembered the feeling of her bones in her leg shattering once she hit the ground. But she didn’t hear any of it. And Nikki was afraid.

    Mike had finally picked himself up and ran over to Nikki and Belle. He squatted on the other side of the squirming Nikki. Mike had been perfectly fine. Despite being so close to the bomb, he didn’t sustain much but a headache. Much has changed since the turn of the century. Bombs have –surprisingly- become less of a weapon for terror and more a tool for torture. Depending on the type, it can have different effects after it explodes.

   Robby had walked over to the two placid girls. He places a finger in front of their noses. Nothing. Shit. “Four casualties.” He mumbled to no one in particular. This was one of the older bombs. Still kills, but less effective. More painful. It must have triggered after one of the two stepped on something perhaps?

    Nikki watched Mike approach, and watched Robby walk past. She looks over and sees the limp Shawna and Kenzie, and also sees Robby shake his head. Nikki watched Belle look up, and she watched her face twist and contort after Robby says something. Nikki wanted to say something, Nikki wanted to comfort Belle. But since she was in agonizing pain and she couldn’t ever hear her own voice, there was nothing that she could do.
    Nikki didn’t know how to handle this particular situation. She couldn’t be deaf. Nikki was never good at reading lips, thus exactly why she couldn’t understand her comrades.  But she could read their faces. Concern. 
    Belle pointed to her ear and swiped across her neck. Nikki nodded. Nikki’s lips moved out of instinct, but she couldn’t hear her own words.
    But Mike and Belle could hear her perfectly fine. Well, Belle could only partially hear her. But one ear, for right now, did its job.
    “I-I can’t hear you guys. At… all.”
    By this, their suspicions were confirmed. This wasn’t good. While they had a cure for complete hearing loss, it was only effective immediately after the injury. They didn’t know where the med kit was (Kenzie had had it, last time they checked. But after the explosion, it seems that a lot had been misplaced). And by the time they get back to the base, it would have been too late. And they realized this. Belle placed her hands on Nikki’s ears. She couldn’t imagine what she was going through right now.

    Suddenly, there was a spark. And Nikki yelped. And she could hear it. Nikki’s brows furrowed. What the hell…?
    Belle whimpered, pulling her hands back. The tips of her fingers looked like they had been singed, leaving burn marks on her flesh.
    “What…?” Nikki nearly jumped back. She lifted a hand up to her right ear. She could… hear?
    “Did Belle just…?” Robby says slowly. 
    “Heal me?”