Once Again

Chapter Thirty-Seven - Stronger

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Stronger

The pill Alyssa brought sent Rogue into a sort of coma, giving his body time to heal itself. Fij claimed it was some sort of healing enhancer, though Echo had a hard time believing that. It was impossible to speed up human regeneration.

Either way, he was relieved Fij knew what he was doing, but he was still terrified. Rogue could still die. He was still bleeding.

Echo and Puppet weren't allowed to see him in Fij's tent, and were required to sit behind a curtain while the healer worked. Surprisingly, Alyssa had an interest in Fij's skill, and he'd taken her as a sort of apprentice. Sure, Echo was glad she found her place in the Raiders, but he wasn't sure he wanted her working on Rogue when she was still learning.

Puppet was anxious, too, but not specifically about Alyssa. Every time one of them took out a garbage bag of blood soaked rags, he tried to persuade them to let him in.

"He's still unconscious," they'd tell him over and over.

"He's never going to wake up!" Puppet suddenly screamed, startling Eco out of his thoughts. He looked up and saw the Raider standing over Fij, fists clenched, shoulders tense, face red.

"Of course he will," the healer said gently, forcing him to sit down. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to check on him. He's finally stopped bleeding."

"Hey, what's going on?" WRLD mumbled for another part of the tent. He moved the curtain separating them and sat up, rubbing his eyes.

"How'd you sleep through that?" Echo asked, slightly impressed.

"Fij's meds," he answered, yawning.

"Rogue fought Tristam today," Puppet said. "It didn't end well."

WRLD's eyes went wide. "Oh, no."

"How are you feeling?" Echo asked, changing the subject before Puppet exploded again.

"Still can't walk very well." WRLD rubbed the back of his neck and winced. "Mostly just sore. But I'm not the one to be worried about." He glanced at the curtain and sighed.

They sat in silence for a long moment. Echo thought about lots of things, reflecting on his experiences at Haven, the things he'd seen, Braken's memories, and then his thoughts drifted to Puppet.

"Hey, Puppet?" he asked. The Raider glanced at him and made a questioning noise. "You said you went back to Haven even after they'd given you your strings. What really happened?"

Puppet didn't answer at first. He stayed silent for at least two or three minutes. Finally, he said, "The strings aren't the only things they gave me." He paused again, taking his coat off and rubbing his shoulder - where metal met flesh. "They're the ones who took my arm."

Echo could hear something, as if underwater or in the background. It was the screaming, terrified voice of a boy - a younger Puppet, pleading to a group of men, begging them to leave him alone. He heard something washing down a hall, like the ocean, and he could hear blood roaring in his ears.

"I don't even remember what I did, but ..." Puppet said softly. "It must've been horrible. They grabbed me, held me up as they sawed their knife across my arm ..."

The younger boy's pleading in the past melted to unintelligible screaming, screaming in agony, screaming in hopelessness. Echo could almost see it. It was right there in front of him, yet all he could see was the curtain, the other Raiders. He could almost taste the terror in the air, feel the blood splashing on the floor.