The Phoenix Project

Chapter Six

Chapter Six

February 19th, 2038

James Garret

Pain. Throbbing, thick, pain. A pain that coursed through his skull and pounded into his brain, his vision a flash of white light as his lungs screamed for him to breathe. Breathe. An easy thing to do- so why was it so hard for him to do it now?

            His breath came to him slowly, and the screaming of voices around him echoed into his head slowly…

            “James…!”…whose voice was that?...A female…but who…?

            “He’s waking up…” Another voice…it was all so blurry, what had happened..? James could hardly remember it…He showed up for training with Lillian and then it all was fuzzy from there. A newer sensation splashed across his skin. A burning sensation, emanating from his cheek—

            “Wake up, you idiot!”

            “Let him alone, give him some space!”

            The voices continued to echo around him blurrily, his chest heaving for air…slowly…oh-so slowly…his vision cleared up. The whiteness faded to just his peripherals. The bright blue sky met his gaze, and then everything cleared up completely as he gasped for air, coughing and sputtering as he sat up. He coughed heavily, a heavy hand slapping him on the back with laughter.

            “Well, boy, you had us scared for a minute!” the familiar voice of Sergeant Jackson pounded into his head mercilessly. James sputtered out a bit, before wiping at his face with his sleeves and curling up as he regained his breath.

            “Holy hell...”…Sarah’s voice, now he could pinpoint it. “Richard, you knocked the fuck out of him.” She said, surprised and confused simultaneously.

            “…Is..Is that what happened…” came a low groan from the boy curled into a protective position.

            “I didn’t mean to,” was Richard’s cautious reply. “Sergeant said to fight, so I hit him.”

            “Hit, not crush.” The sergeant shook his head, sighing. “Thompson and Jones, you’re up next.”

            Lillian shifted forward and gently pat James on the shoulder, leaning down and whispering to him as she shook him…

            “Come on...Richard can’t hit that hard…” she assured him gently, as Sarah crouched down to help her disentangle the shaky boy and get him to rise up. He did rise up slowly, and with much protest. Groans and whimpers seemed to be the only things he could actually say at this point, but his breathing had evened out and the color was returning to his cheeks. The two girls pulled him off to the side, before sitting him down in a chair. They both seemed torn between caring for him and watching the next ‘fight’ to take place…

            “I’m…I’m fine…” he gasped out. It wasn’t very convincing, but his pseudo-smile seemed to reassure the girls enough for them to stop fretting over his every groan and twitch. He tried to sit up straighter and winced, leaning against Lillian and giving her an apologetic smile. She returned the smile with her ever mirthful grin and winked…

            “Look, Richard’ll do to Paul what he did to you. It’ll make you relive the pain.”

            “…I hate you, I hope you know this…” he whispered back, before just clutching his chest as he tucked his legs up against his chest and leaned on his sister…grateful, for once, that they were the same height.