The Spirit Guardians Book 4: Liberated

Chapter 40

"We're safe to leave now," a few of the soldiers announced down into the prison. Lillian still wasn't sure what had happened herself. Her tattoo had turned icy cold, causing her body to go numb a few minutes. Everyone else had reported the same sensation. 

But now the pain in her foot was back, and she was reminded how desperately in need of a medic she was. It was getting harder to keep her eyes open with her throbbing foot. Plus, she hadn't eaten anything in hours, and her body ached from fatigue.

"Wyatt, could you help Eiji?" Mitsuki asked. "He's still too weak to move well."

"Of course," Wyatt said, offering his arm to the scrawny boy.

Lillian could see a faint smile on Mitsuki's face. She was glad her girlfriend had found at least one of her siblings alive. In all honesty, Lillian wasn't quite sure that Mitsuki was going to find anyone alive down here.

Mitsuki reached her arms down, helping Lillian up slowly. Lillian let out a hiss of pain as a bit of pressure was put on her foot, but she quickly leaned against Mitsuki, relieving the sharp throbbing.

"We'll get you to a medic soon," Mitsuki promised. She turned her head, just to briefly trace her lips over her girlfriend's cheek.

"What did Marc say? He and Cassie were captured?" Lillian murmured as they very slowly began making their way toward an elevator.

"I guess so. We'll try to find him once we get you taken care of. He might be heading toward the medics himself," Mitsuki said.

Lillian hopped beside her into the elevator, feeling more at peace as the elevator ascended. The soldiers that were guarding out front of the prison building were talking about how the other Preserver army had fallen when that bit of pain and numbness went through everyone's body. Some had reported seeing a blue light erupting in the distance, supposedly. Either way, there was no fighting as of now, not with any Preserver barely able to stand on their feet. There was no word about Lynch either.

Lillian winced as they stepped out of the elevator moments later. She had not seen sunlight in a few hours and felt as if were causing her head to throb. Nevertheless, she tightened her grip on Mitsuki and pushed onward, hoping she could get some drugs to numb the pain soon.

"Medic tents to the left and right," soldiers were announcing as the prisoners piled out.

Mitsuki led her to the left, Wyatt and Eiji following behind. Lillian had grown excited to see the red tents and people lifting out bandages and syringes. The fighting was over, or so Lillian hoped.

"Bring your patients this way," a woman said, motioning them forward.

A tarp had been laid out on the ground for the injured to sit on. Mitsuki very slowly sat Lillian down. Lillian squeezed her hand in response, turning to the lady caring for her.

"Injury to the foot, it looks like?" she said, eyeing Lillian's swollen foot.

"I bandaged it and cleaned the wound as best as I could," Mitsuki explained. "But there's a puncture wound, and some bones are clearly broken."

"I'll see what I can do," the woman said.

"My brother is also starving and dehydrated," Mitsuki told her as Wyatt set him down beside Lillian.

"I'll be back," the medic said, stepping away.

Mitsuki pulled out her walkie-talkie and spoke into it, but no response came. She glanced at it in confusion before setting it down.

"No response?" Lillian asked.

"I would have thought at least one person would have heard me, but maybe the signal is poor around here," Mitsuki figured, taking a seat next to her. Lillian leaned her body against Mitsuki's and rested her head on her shoulder, desperately craving a nap. She was beginning to grow nauseous, though perhaps the medic had something to help with that too.

"Don't fall asleep just yet. They still need to give you medication," Mitsuki warned.

"Mitsuki, Lillian, guys!" came a familiar shout that Lillian could only recognize as Marc.

Lillian spun her head around, finding Marc rushing forward with a limp Cassie in his arms. Cherie was standing beside him, her eyes red with tears. Marc seemed calm, somehow, though he was a bit frantic as he handed Cassie off to a medic.

"What happened?!" Lillian exclaimed as Cherie came forward.

"Lynch is dead," Cherie announced. "Cassie stopped him."

"Is Cassie..." Mitsuki's voice trailed off, almost too afraid to ask the question, it seemed.

"She's alive," Cherie said, glancing toward where Marc was impatiently waiting nearby the medic. "She stopped Lynch. Or the Guardians did through her, I suppose. Her body probably couldn't handle them."

"What do you mean?" Wyatt asked.

"The Guardians took ahold of Cassie's body and then took away each Preserver's power. And then the Guardians vanished altogether. You all felt the bit of pain and numbness, didn't you?" Cherie asked.

"The Guardians are gone?!" Mitsuki gasped.

"Temporarily," Cherie answered, taking a seat on the ground next to them.

Marc had returned, sweat plastered to his face in worry.

"Will Cassie be okay?" Lillian asked.

"They're going to hook her up to an I.V. now. Hopefully her heart and breathing rate will pick back up," Marc said, his voice frantic. He gulped, then turned to the others. "Has anyone seen Conny?"

"If he's alive, he's probably with the military," Cherie told Marc. She placed a hand on his shoulder, clearly noticing his stress. "Relax for a second. We'll find him once the others are taken care of."

"Miguel is dead," Marc announced.

Lillian stiffened. "Oh...you saw him?" she asked.

"He tried to kill me, and I...I feel so guilty. I just pulled the trigger."

"You did what you had to do, Marc," Cherie told him, though Lillian could detect some pain in her voice. They had all been like children to Cherie, Irene and Miguel included. "You would have died if you hadn't defended yourself. He had no problem trying to kill you."

Lillian suddenly realized that there was one more face missing among the crowd. She glanced around, not seeing a bit of blonde anywhere. She knew Irene had been in the same unit as Cassie and Marc. Perhaps they had gotten separated in the chaos.

"Marc?" she asked.

He turned toward her, and she began to shiver suddenly.

"Where's Irene?" Lillian asked, the nausea in her stomach growing greater. The pain in her foot was becoming unbearable, and tiny bits of darkness began to invade the corner of her vision.

"She's dead," Marc said quietly.

Lillian let out a bit of a strangled cry, the pain exploding. Mitsuki had suddenly grabbed ahold of her, and she was falling, falling, down into swirling darkness.