Upgraded

Log 7

        As the group walked away from the burning building, there was the sound of something cracking, then a high pitch whistling. "Run, the building is going to..." Lux tried to warn them, but it was too late. The building creaked and collapsed in a pile of fire and rubble as the flames roared into the green sky. Like a stampede of cattle, the shock wave flattened the group of teens as it swept their feet from under them, tossing them in the air momentarily before slamming them back down to the hard concrete of the street below.
         The wind rushed around Ryan as the sound assaulted him. His vision went blurry and the ringing in his ears worsened from their normal volume. As he struggled to gain his balance, he watched as the blurry figures also struggled to stand. Like a crash from a cymbal, the ring intensified when Ryan tried to call out to his companions, his voice not even making an appearance. The sound was muffled as the singular ringing multiplied into many new high pitched rings all at differing frequencies.
         He then noticed a frail figure stand and fall holding their ears. For the glimpse of clear vision he had, Ryan saw it was Kristin. She must be in as much pain as I am? If I remember right her brain was partly upgraded. I have to try and help. With whatever balance he had, Ryan tried to make it to Kris. She looked just as bad as he was. She was in fetal position with her hands holding her ears. Her lavender hair around her face and she was crying from the pain in her temples. He stumbled his way to her trying to see if he could help in any way to help her cope with the pain, just as his sister did for him. Sadly, just as he reached out to help her, Ryan fell to the ground next to her and covered his ears, wrenching in pain as he brought his knees to his chest.
       Feeling a shutdown begin, Ryan looked over to Lux who was holding his shoulder and was looking around at the others. Lux had just turned t at the exact second that Ryan completely blacked out and his head hit the ground, "Ryan? Ryan? Hey, Ryan?! Ryan! Shit, guys, Ryan collapsed, we got to get him to wherever you had us going to Fade!" Lux called to the rest as they retained their own scenes. Lux had lifted Ryan's face to see if he was hurt and noticed that when the explosion had happened, Ryan's ears were bleeding slightly and he had a small cut on his forehead from where it hit the ground. Lux sighed and looked over to Kris, who was starting to shake, she looked like hell as well. His gaze went to Fade who was coughing and looking after Cedar who was crying, her knee was scraped and she was scared about what had happened. Able is a dick so Lux didn't want to ask him to help, so he was alone with the white-haired boy in his arms.
       Sighing, Lux tried to help Ryan first and picked him up and draped him over his bruising shoulder. Feeling a pinch and then a pull, Lux dropped Ryan slightly and held his arm, "Lux that looks dislocated, I can pop it back if you want." Fade offered when he stood from helping Cedar. Fade looked at it and sighed, "Fine." he mumbled. Fade walked up and put his hand on Lux's arm and popped his shoulder back in place. "There, I can take Kris if you can grab Ryan." Fade bent down to pick up Kristin holding her bridal style she had gone limp in his arms. "Cedar, can you stand" Fade asked as he touched the small girl's arm. The girl nodded and asked if she could hold his hand, "Hold on to my tailcoat. I have to take care of Kristin, shes hurt real bad."

       "Or I could hold Kris, she is my friend. You only just met her." Able brushed off his clothing as he stalked closer to Fade and Lux. Lux shook his head as he approached them. Fade held Kristin closer to him and told Able that he had it and wasn't hurt as bad as the others. That was a lie, Lux could see that Fade wasn't putting weight on his right leg and the white of his sock was darkening to red. "We just need to get going, I can see the building from here." Fade gestured to a skyscraper that was just about eight blocks away from where they were. "And if we want to not get caught then we better get going, daybreak is in three hours." Lux chimed in as he followed Fade with Ryan draped across his shoulders again.
          Ryan's head was draped over Lux's shoulder as they walked. Lux would look down to see the pale-haired boy start to wake up and regain his marbles. "W-What happened?" Ryan asked as his vision came back to him. "Shockwave from the explosion knocked you on your ass," Lux responded as he walked. Ryan was shocked that he was walking on his own after a shutdown, then he realized that Lux was carrying him. His face grew red and his ears burned, one from his blush and the fact they had betrayed him once again. The last shut down he had was with his sister after their parents had been taken by the Tin-Heads. That one lasted for an hour and was not fun.
         Lux coughed and brushed a piece of his brown hair from his eyes before looking back at Ryan, "Why are you so red? Are you sick or something?" He shifted his hand to touch Ryan's forehead, sending Ryan into overdrive. The ringing in his ears was replaced with the thunder of his heartbeat leaping out of his chest. His breathing started to quicken and he hoped that Lux couldn't tell that he was about to scream. He couldn't find words while he felt Lux's hand on his head. He shifted and stuttered, "N...Uh...No... Just um..."

"What is it then? Your face feels hot."

Your face is HOT! NO Ryan you can't say that he is a criminal and we already established he is off limits.
"You... Are...no.. um.. I think I can... um... I think... Thank..."

"You shouldn't be talking, you hit your head pretty hard, that might be what is causing your face to be so red."

Yeah, totally that's why my face is red... not the fact that you are literally two inches away from my face. 
"Right, but... um, thank you for... carrying me."

"Don't thank me yet, we still need to get you and Kris to where ever Fade is taking us."

     "Is she ok?" Ryan asked looking up to see her limp hand dangling from Fade's arms. He answered his own question in seeing her like that. He scrunched his mouth to one side of his face, an often quirk that he did when he was thinking, "Why are you making that face?" Lux broke him from his daze. "Just thinking, did I do anything to help her when she went down?"

"I don't think so. I didn't see much, I looked over and you were both down. Shit, you are heavy." Lux shifted Ryan to his other shoulder. Feeling both offended and flattered, Ryan smiled and tried to shift around. He noticed how Lux smelled. He smelt like the sea, salty and fresh. Why do I care that he smells good? What the hell is wrong with me? Ryan took a deep breath and felt Lux's breathing under him and felt his own breathing trying to match it as it went. Failing completely, for he was too hyped up on weird feelings. Ryan shifted so he could see more of Lux's face, finding himself lost in the greenness of his eyes. Wow, his eyes are like emeralds that were stuck on to a tan, strong, kind, handsome, guy who... Suddenly Lux's shoulder gave out and he dropped Ryan as he held it cursing. "Oh my God! Did I do that? All my life I was told I was underweight, but now I guess I hurt you. I am so sorry, I didn't mean to do that. Itsjustthatiwantedtohelpandicouldntbecauseofthesestupidearupgradesandwheni and I..."
        "I'm going to stop your annoying rambling now. You didn't do this, the damn explosion did. I dislocated my shoulder when I hit the ground. You weigh nothing, but on a bum shoulder and shaken legs then you are heavy. SO QUIT YOUR RAMBLING!" Lux raised his voice slightly from irritation. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to I started doing that again and I just didn't know what to do and I apologize for everything." Ryan started rambling again as Lux glared between the stands of brown hair. "I thought I told you to stop rambling?"
"I'm sorry." Ryan shrunk slightly as he looked up at this guy in pain. He had seen people hurt but Lux looked like he was in so much more pain that he was letting Ryan see. Then it hit him, "That's the arm you were you were shot." Ryan noticed the arm he was holding then remembered from when he first in his hotel room, "I'm so..."
       "If you say sorry one more time I'm going to throw you off a cliff! God, phhhhh... Dammit." he hissed as his emerald green eyes closed as he held it. Ryan could see that his shoulder was swollen and bruised from under the cream shirt he was wearing.
       His chest rose and fell as he slowly calmed down. Biting his lip Ryan mumbled, "Please don't throw me off a cliff. I didn't mean to." Lux looked over at him and straightened up. His green eyes blinked a few times before he shook his head. He looked saddened by Ryan's expression. Lux let his arm dangle by his side as he walked closer to Ryan looking down at him.
       "I'm the one who should apologize. It's been a long day and I lost my temper. With me getting shot by a family member, then this. I didn't mean to yell at ya." He smiled slightly. Ryan tilted his head again, "You were shot by a family member? Who, if...if you don't mind..." Ryan played with the hem of his shirt, a nervous tick he had developed. "My brother. That ass-hat, shot me when I got past the border. Here I thought he'd be on my side, not a damn pig." He glanced back to the fire.
        Ryan followed his gaze and saw a man who looked exactly like Lux grinning like a Cheshire cat as the fire burned. The only difference between Lux and his brother was how they wore their hair; Lux's was long and in ringlets around his neck and his brother's was cut short on top of his head in a tight mess of curls. Ryan wanted to say something but was cut off by Able walking up to Lux and patting his shoulder, "Good on ya bud. You single-handedly... AHH!" Lux had tossed Able over his good arm and gritted his teeth. Wow, Lux is a badass. He just flipped Able. How did he not hurt himself again? I wonder if the pain was so fast that he didn't think? Ryan starred in shock as he watched Lux walk off. Following quickly he caught up to him as he walked stoically to catch up with Fade, leaving Able in the ground.
       Looking like a child who had just met his hero, Ryan turned his blue-grey eyes up to the taller boy's face. He's really good at hiding pain. He's so cool. BUT OFF LIMITS! Criminals are not to date how many times do I have to tell myself this simple thing!?