King Me

An Unexpected Ally

Yancey watched, her stomach rolling, at the sight of the four kings pulling Faust up into the building. The stump where his arm used to be had started bleeding again, spraying blood down in squirts upon the ground. They brought him in, Conner lifting a table, clearing the items strewn across it, and slammed the table down for the other three to heave Faust's body onto.

Conner took the lead, "He's lost too much blood, we need to stop the bleeding and do a transfusion. Does anybody have O neg blood?!" He asked as he unlooped his belt from around his waist. He wrapped it around Faust's stump, tightening it down to the point Yancey was sure he must be hurting Faust. But the bleeding stopped. Conner knew what he was doing.

"Yancey, Aurelia, go find medical supplies!" Conner barked, and Aurelia hurried off. Yancey wasn't sure what to do, lost in the chaos, and Conner must have noticed. Instead of repeating himself, he just ignored her, and turned to the other two, "Adoltlin, what proof is your liquor?"

Adoltlin had already pulled it out, knowing exactly where this was going, "150 proof,"

Conner nodded, "That'll damn well do." He took a flask from Adoltlin, pouring it across Faust's arm and next pulling a metal lighter from his pocket, "Hold him!" Conner instructed, and Mr. Sato and Adoltlin piled ontop of Faust. The lighter sparked to life, and Conner set the stump on fire. Yancey was sure Faust couldn't move in his current state, but he tried, releasing a scream and thrashing about. It took all three of the grown men to keep Faust down, the bloodcurdling scream he released sending a shiver down Yancey's spine. Burning flesh, a pungent smell with no equal, filled the air.

She felt sick. That pure sense of disgust overpowered her shock, and she finally got her feet moving. She flipped around and headed into a hallway. She couldn't see, couldn't register her surroundings. All she wanted to do was run. Why would I ever think I'm glad I'm here? How the hell did it wind up like this? I'm not going to live through this. I'm gonna die out here, and nobody's ever going to miss me. I've got no family, no friends-- I hate my life.

Yancey stopped right there, in the middle of the hallway, alone. Earth was trillions of miles away, and she might as well have been on a distant speck of dust alone. She pulled her pistol from her pocket, eyeing the strange alien weapon over. She'd never held a gun before today. And honestly, she knew she'd just picked this one up to keep Aurelia from singling her out. She knew she'd never be able to shoot it at anyone. But she was glad now that she had. She reached it up, placing it against her temple. So close to her ear, she realized it produced a slight hum. It was a strangely pleasant hum, like the kind a mother might produce as they rocked their child too sleep. And that's all she wanted. Sleep.

Yancey jumped at a voice, "Excuse me?" it was one of the insects. Yancey was embarrassed, quickly lowering the weapon from her head. The creature had inhuman black eyes, eight of them, all watching Yancey. She knew it had seen what she was doing, and it extended a bag out to her, "Word reached me of the suffering that befell your ally. We needed most of the supplies for our own, but these tubes are capable of transfusing fluids from one vein to another,"

It had an IV kit, the kind Conner had instructed her to find. She could still do this one thing. Stuffing the weapon into her pocket, she grasped the bag, "Thank you, thank you so much,"

And began to pull away until the insect spoke again, "I am a doctor here. The rules of the tournament prevent me from intervening further, but if you ask for my assistance, I may give it,"

Yancey couldn't believe it. The insect had nothing to gain and literally everything to lose form helping them, "Yes, help us," she stuttered back, and went dashing back down into the main room.

She and the doctor came up to the side of the other three. Faust had stopped thrashing and now lay slack on the table. Conner had taken his black leather coat off, revealing the sickness that had festered in him. Faust's white skin had a green hue to it, his chest rising in slow, rhythmic patterns. Yancey slung the bag onto the table, "I've brought a doctor!" 

Conner glanced at the insect, speaking through his teeth at Yancey, "You brought a roach. They're the enemy,"

"Get over yourself! We don't have time for this," Yancey retorted, and the insect stepped up. Conner balled his fists, staring down at the insect for a moment before stomping off. Yancey turned to her new ally, "What do we need?"

"He needs antibiotics, but the ones I can provide won't help. We'll begin by running the IV. Which of you can give him fluids?"

Conner fumed at this, "We don't know what his blood type is, and nobody knows their blood type! This is all pointless," And yet, he unrolled his sleeve, grasping a nearby chair and slammed it down beside the bed, "We'll have to wing it. I'm A neg, we'll have to hope that'll work,"

Yancey shook her head, unrolling her own sleeve, "No, I'll do it."

"No, Yancey," Conner replied, forcing a soft tone with her, "He's going to need a lot of blood, and you're smaller than me,"

Yancey regardless sat in the seat, and the insect started opening up sealed bags of tubing, "I'm less essential," Conner pulled at his short blond hair, pulling his hands down his face.

"Yancey, you do matter! Look, we'll just--"

"It's settled!" Yancey interrupted, nodding her head to the insect who got to work. He pulled out  needle and Yancey winced as it pierced her vein. Blood pulled down the tube attached to it. The doctor let all the air out before sticking the opposite end into Faust's vein, and Yancey could feel it sucking her blood towards him. Now all they could do was hope that by some miracle Yancey was pumping the right blood into Faust. Yancey pulled her metal phone out, contacting Aurelia,

"Have you found success?" Aurelia asked, and Yancey eyed over the blood fleeting from her vein.

"I found a doctor who helped us set up a transfusion kit. Are you heading back soon?" Yancey asked.

Aurelia sighed with relief, "Good. Yes, I am on my way back now. We've but a handful of minutes before the next team arrives. With Faust down, we may as well get some sleep and take any measure to speed his recovery,"

That sounded perfect. Yancey clicked the device off, imagining herself just fading to sleep here, never to awaken again. Her eyes wandered over towards the old drift king, Ren Sato. He was visibly shaken. He wiped blood off his forehead with a sleeve, staring blankly at it. He shivered, pulling the sleeve out of his sight before staring down upon Faust. She could see more, though. He was scared too. He'd almost wrecked an alien vehicle in the first hour they'd been here. But until she actually paid attention to him, she'd have never known. He wasn't a warrior either, but while he was a daredevil, he likely never imagined himself forced into a death-match.

Yancey pulled out another tissue, handing it to Mr. Sato who smiled and took it graciously. "Thank you, Miss Yancey,"

"I've got more if you need them," She replied, watching Mr. Sato wet the napkin and dab at his forehead. "How did you and Adoltlin get back so quick?" She asked, and Mr. Sato nodded at the doctor.

"We were moving with great speed when a large portion of building dislodged itself from above, blocking our path. One of our friends approached our vehicle, informing me of underground pathways that ran deep underground beneath the entire city,"

The doctor insect spoke, "We are not a malicious people. We've been quite prosperous and lucky in our countless years of history, and that lead us to the study of space travel," Yancey focused her attention on the creature, "We never had want of weapons, for we never waged war. And yet, here we are, standing upon the precipice of darkness, unable to flee." Conner snorted at this, and Yancey shot him a glare. For some reason, he again took her suggestion, and silenced himself.

Mr. Sato spoke up, "We are all standing at the edge, looking down, together. Before I came here, my granddaughter had just been born, and with a blink of the eyes I found myself on the same brink you find yourself upon,"

The bug released a long series of clicks, probably a sigh, "Yes. That is why we help you. We are all different, and yet from above, you could never tell the difference between us until we fall. The end times are here for us all, and I fear that even the victors may yet find themselves at the mercy of the gods, forever trapped within a murderous game while only the dead are truly free."