101 Ways to Skin a Hoodie

Chapter 12

I think it's my teeth chattering that wakes me up. Or am I even awake this time? I can't keep track anymore. I'm submerged in a tub of ice, the frigid water lapping gently against my face. I twitch my eyes about, my limbs numb and unmoving. There are no walls or ceiling around this tub, just a vast purple cloud encompassing the air around me.

My hair clings to my back as I jerk up, attempting to raise myself out of the water.

"Whoah, whoah, gentle now." I hand appears on my shoulder, pushing me gently back down. "I'm trying to help you out here."

I struggle to move again but the hand keeps me pressed down. I can't tell if it's attached to anything. I'm starting to freak out. I don't think that this person (if it is one) is particularly malicious, but I certainly don't feel safe.

"Shshsh, come on. Just try to cool down a bit. You bled out the cooling properties from the life-lilies in your little fight. You have to be more careful about stuff like that. I may be watching you but I'm not a guardian angel or anything. In fact you would probably argue that I'm farthest from."

My eyes dart about, searching the misty cloud above my head for any sign of who or what could be talking. They see nothing, instead they just grow heavy. I think the ice bath is kicking into effect; I feel relaxed, my body adjusting to the temperature.

"Wait," I blurt out as my eyes droop, "Who are you?"

"In due time."

A twinge.

I awake to a needle in my left arm, a blue serum being pushed into a vein. The first thing that I notice is that I've cooled off. This stuff really works fast, huh? I get my bearings back and I see that I'm pushed up along a rock outcropping with a crowd of other injured people. In the distance I can see the demon crows still flapping around, trapped underground, creating a squalor.

That's not such a bad start to a poem. I should write it down.

To my left the non-wounded soldiers are finishing up what look like makeshift graves. Ben is among them. He stands up from his work and wipes the sweat off his brow, turning to look at me. Seeing that I'm awake he puts down his shovel as crosses the distance between us, sitting down next to me.

"Was it you who figured out how to stop those things?" Ben gestures across the plain to the teeming mass of intangible birds. "I didn't really notice since I was preoccupied with surviving myself, but I've still got to hand it to you. You can handle yourself in battle." He lets out a weak laugh.

"It was just pure, random chance." I reply, "a lot of things lined up all at once."

"Still, it's thanks to that random chance that we were able to get rid of these things at all."

We gaze off into the distance for a moment.

"Apparently they're all like this."

"What?"

"Well I was talking to Hana after the battle," Ben continues, "apparently every wave of these demons is completely different than the last. In terms of what type of enemies. Like someone is crafting them by hand."

Our heads turn in sync, and we both look in the direction of the giant door-bridge. It's obscured by the void but the air of challenge about it remains. We sit in silence like this as the rest of the patients are being treated, and once they are everyone gets up and we file our way back through the door that leads to nowhere.

As we walk back in Hana comes around to greet each of the survivors personally, giving words of congratulation and encouragement for the battles to come. Only one of the duo that was training with Ben earlier has returned, and these upbeat words don't seem to be taken that well. I can understand. I wouldn't be particularly pleased if Ben had gotten picked off before we succeeded in our noble goal.