Goodbye Recovery

Paralogue

Her limping didn't make the scraping sounds any quieter. The compound bow barely hanging from her fingers was all that she had left from her previous encounter.

Hours had passed while she was wandering through this place. A ghost town, just like the rest of them. Shattered windows, caved in walls, crushed cars, and potholes could be seen for miles. She could taste the iron in the air and the salt from her sweat. Her pace was uneven and she was starting to become desperate.

The gash in her ankle was bleeding out and the smell was probably starting to attract some unwanted visitors. If she could get out of the open and somehow back to camp, she'd be in the clear. But it was days away and she was running out of options.

She didn't need him. His words kept coming back, 'Your fantasies are going to get you killed,' but she forcefully pushed them away. All she wanted was to find some sort of evidence to prove him wrong.

Atlantis isn't a fantasy.

Her senses came back to her as soon as she noticed figures in the distance. They were moving toward her and fast. One thought came to mind; run.

Stumbling over her own feet, she ran despite the burning pain surging through her leg. A cold chill ran down her back when she realized she was being hunted. Faster, she needed to run faster, but the pursuers were quicker.

Then she violently tumbled to the ground while screaming agony. Her calf was hot and bloodied and she found her hands gripping the flesh around it. She bit her lip and tried to remove the freshly lodged bullet with her fingers. It was hard for her to keep her hands from shaking as she dug into her wound, while at the same time she looked ahead at her pursuers.

There were about four or five of them, all riding motorbikes of some sort. One of them was yelling at the others in the group, "Circle 'round to finish it off!" They all followed the order and surrounded her.

She was wheezing by now and her fingers were covered in blood; it was pointless to try and get the bullet out now. She was going to die.

"Holy shit.... She's human," one of them shouted pulling up next to her.

Glancing up, she could see a young man looking down at her with a concerned expression. Out of desperation she pulled out her knife and swung it towards him, "Stay... Away..."

"Woah, calm down there sister," he said as he dodged the knife, "Hey boss, what should do with her?"

"I don't know, just check her first," a girl ordered as she got off of her motorbike. The other people in the group had also started to crowd her.

The guy that pulled up next to her grabbed her hand that held the knife and twisted it out. She tried to resist, but all of her strength left her at this point.

"Chill miss, I'm not gonna hurt you," he said as he moved her arm and checked her body for any other visible wounds, "Did you get hurt anywhere else, besides our gunshot? Sorry about that by the way."

"I'm fine!" she spat.

He let go of her and stood back up before responding to his leader, "All clean, looks like she sprained an ankle though. Should we take her back with us? Dead if we don't."

"I don't want her blood on my hands," the girl replied.

The man slung her arm around his neck as she was brought to her feet. She grunted in pain.

"Where are you... taking me?" she managed to say.

He smiled reassuringly,  "Somewhere safe."