Reapers - Thirteen Brothers

XXXXIX - Rosario (2 of 2)

The Ethereals' blue forms shot from the trees like a swarm of angry bees. Their juvenile laughter made my skin crawl. Like thousands of fingernails against a chalkboard to my ears.

They must have come as soon as they heard me scream like a sissy girl. No idea if it was a good thing though.

Conrad looked up and jumped to his feet before I could even say Boo! Hurriedly, he pulled his weapon off my chest. Then he scrambled his way through the trees. A count to ten and he was gone.

Not so tough now, was he?

Silently, I cursed him for still being able to run away. Me and Rosario? We were dead meat. Literally.

One of my lungs must have been punctured. No matter how hard I tried to inhale, it felt like there wasn't enough air coming in. Once again, I was drowning. So I just satisfied myself with watching the Ethereals flit like blue radiant butterflies, though in reality, they were more like vultures.

I kept still and closed my eyes as the creatures swooped over us. I was hoping the lack of sensation all over my body would be enough so that I wouldn't feel it when the Ethereals tear me apart.

All I could was wait. My head was spinning with the noise. Still, I could not feel a thing. I thought I was dead. In next to no time, the shrieks of Ethereals faded into nothingness. Maybe I was indeed dead. I just didn't know it yet.

When I tried to move my fingers, a knife seemed to twist inside my chest below the collar bone.

Pain. I wasn't dead after all. Tch.

Gasping for air, I opened my eyes. A dull haze covered my sight.

A few Ethereals still lingered overhead but they didn't seem to show any interest in us. After a while, they flew away to the course Conrad had taken.

A part of my mind was kind of hoping that they find him and tear him to pieces. He deserved to die watching himself being slowly ripped apart.

With great effort, I rolled over to my stomach and dug my fingers into the ground to drag myself forward. I began crawling painfully with one arm at a snail's pace.

"Rosario," I moaned through the shallow spastic breaths. Just a few feet more and she was almost within my reach.

Her fingers twitched. She was still alive.

When I finally got to her, I pushed myself up, propping myself on my left arm. Frantically, I pressed a hand on her gushing wound.

Rosario was wide-eyed, her chest jerking as she gasped for breath. Her hand searched blindly for my arm. She gave it a frail squeeze. Her hand moved up to my chest, to the part where I was stabbed.

"T-too slow," she choked out in a non-existent voice. Even in a life and death situation, she really knew how to get me all worked up. Like always.

"I know," I whispered back. "Vincent's gonna come and find us, okay?"

"Vin-cent..." Rosario repeated the name as though it was the only thing that mattered.

"Y-yes... Vincent."

"Save him..." she mouthed helplessly.

"We, Rosario. We'll save-"

Suddenly, a million little lights started flickering on top of the trees. I thought the Ethereals were coming back for us. But then, the incandescent lights drifted closer to us in a swirling motion. The fireflies floated up and down in a procession, forming a giant spiral from above the treetops, enveloping us in a giant glittering tower.