Just Survive Somehow

Chapter 29 - Slipping Away

Another day had passed and when Dr. Kings gave me permission to get off the cot I'd inhabited for the past 7 days, I jumped it.

I was slow moving at first, stiff and sore from laying for so long but with Jasper, Ahren, and Ahri by my side I was able to make it into the common area.

I was finally able to see what we'd built again. As people walked through the area they all looked at me and smiled. We'd saved them, given them home or just a place to stay. I was ready to get back to doing just that.

These were my people, I'd chosen to step up and take them in. Ahren had been there for them when I couldn't but I was back now. I still needed their help, maybe now more than ever. With threats piling up in the distance, I needed to be on my feet again. I couldn't let it slip away.

"What are things looking like out there?" I ask, turning in the direction of the station exit. I wobble on my feet, Jasper holds me steady.

Ahren hesitates to answer.

"Well?"

"There's been a decline in the weather... winds have been picking up and there appears to be a cloud coming from the East."

"And the men who shot me?"

"We haven't seen them for two days. Maybe they saw the storm and retreated."

I hold my stomach as pain shoots through it.

"Are you okay?" Jasper asks.

I nod, clenching my teeth. "I just... need to sit down."

He nods and takes me to one of the benches.

We sit down, all four of us.

One seriously broken family we make.

"What does it feel like?" Ahri asks, looking at my stomach with a weird expression.

I try to find words to describe the pain but I can't think of anything that matches the feeling.

Jasper speaks up. "Do you remember when I'd been shot in the leg and Sasha fixed me up?"

Ahri nods.

So long ago...

"For me, it felt like someone was scratching my leg but on the inside. It's not a nice feeling." He explained to her.

Yes. That's a good way of putting it. Scratched from the inside...

"Is this going to keep happening?" Ahren asks.

I nod. "It's normal. I just need to move slowly and ease my body into moving again."

"Ahren!"

Trent is jogging through the station towards us.  Ahren gets up.

"What's going on?"

"Sasha, you're up." He half smiles at me.

I nod, standing slowly. Jasper and Ahri help to keep me steady.

"What is it?" I ask.

"The rain started."

I take a deep breath. "We-"

"We need to lock down," Ahren tells him, interrupting me. "Grab Luna and Vega, get the common area ready. Make sure everyone knows what's going on, advise them not to leave." Ahren calmly orders.

I give him a side glance. He really had taken charge while I was gone...

"That's exactly what I was going to say." I tell them, looking to Ahren.