Strandline

Strandline - Episode 12: Triage

For a few moments Naveen thought he was at the hot springs with Maira. They’d been flirting all night at the party. When she dared him to sneak into the resort with her, how could he say no? So they’d slipped out, hopped the fence, and slunk over to one of the smaller pools. With only a stand of bamboo hiding them from resort patrons and staff, knowing that someone might walk in on them made their shedding of clothes all the more erotic.

Maira slipped into the water first. Moonlight gave her black hair a blueish tint and highlighted her curves. The long look he got of her nude body and her smoldering eyes helped Naveen get over the last of his nerves. She didn’t know that, at 21 years of age, he still hadn’t popped his cherry. He’d do his best and was more than willing to learn.

Naveen stepped into the waist-deep, almost too hot water. Maira’s slick skin felt just as hot and infinitely more delicious. They tasted each other and moved together. Sensation set his nerves on fire, building until ecstasy exploded for a few delirious seconds…

…unlike this time. Tingling pleasure thrummed through his body, gradually tapering from its dizzying peak. Naveen felt lightheaded, maybe because it was too hot. Although he was wet, it didn’t feel like the hot springs. It was too dark and cramped.

Eventually Naveen realized that his lungs were aching. He shoved at whatever was all around him, instinctively climbing up and through. He surfaced and gulped down cool, foul-smelling air. God, it smelled bad. Like locker-room bad plus the coppery tang of blood. The remaining tingles kept Naveen from being too bothered by it.

“Naveen!”

Kristin, he realized, and the nightmare of the past few minutes came rushing back. His head snapped up, and he saw the tangle of bodies all around him. Soldiers formed a perimeter a few dozen feet away. One of them held back Craig and Kristin, who both stared open-mouthed at him.

A soldier reached a meaty hand up toward Naveen. “Got another one!” he shouted over his shoulder. To Naveen he said, “Sir! Sir, can you hear me?”

“Yeah,” Naveen replied, grabbing the soldier’s hand. It was–no, he was–slippery, but he held on tight and squirmed out of the human detritus. The last ripple of pleasure had faded, and he knew he should be horrified, but he wasn’t. Instead he felt oddly disconnected as he stumbled down the pile of bodies. Better that than puking everywhere, he supposed.

The soldier, whose nametag read “Sponzler,” looked him up and down. “Can you walk?”

Naveen nodded. “What happened?” He knew he’d gotten inside the monster thanks to Petra, that bitch, but wanted to know where the giant had come from.

“Damned if I know,” Sponzler said, waving another solider over. “Sarge said the trouble started near Aloha Tower.” The other solider, a solidly-built woman who looked a little like Maira, trotted up. “Get him to triage,” Sponzler told her.

“Yes, sir.”

Not-Maira led Naveen to a tent that had been erected one block to the north. A handful of cops and soldiers joined them along the way. Each escorted other gore-covered survivors who weren’t badly injured. Some limped or cradled an arm. A few sobbed hysterically. Naveen didn’t blame them one bit.

He and not-Maira were about to enter the tent when Kristin came galloping up behind them. “Naveen!” He turned and found Craig beside her. Both looked worried sick.

“Friends?” not-Maira asked. Naveen nodded. The soldier told them, “He needs to get checked out. You can come in. Just stay out of the way.” Craig and Kristin agreed and followed them inside.