Accessory Wars

Chapter 72-Felisa

            The ERT immediately arrested me. I couldn't resist if I wanted to. I had lost so much blood I was about as mobile as a bag of rice. Dozens of helicopters arrived to air lift out the injured. They put me in one and I blacked out before we took to the air. I later woke in the hospital in the middle of surgery. I watched them stitching me back together, my body numb. Someone tried talking to me but I heard nothing. Just static.

I woke up again staring at the ceiling. The room smelled like fresh linens and something soapy. I couldn't feel my body so I ended up staring at the ceiling for the entire day. Or maybe it was a few hours. I couldn't tell. Everything was a blur. I felt more awake the next morning and the nurses tilted my bed up. I checked over my injuries between rounds of questioning from the ERT and medications from the nurses. A doctor stopped by and told me no tournaments for at least four to six months and no practice for two to three. The prospect of hours of bedrest thrilled me as much as the repetitive questions the ERT asked me.

About a week after being admitted, Kami was rolled into my room via wheelchair so we could talk. She wasn't hiding her emotions like she normally did. She looked tired, sad and defeated. I felt the same with an extra helping of guilt. Kami told me the ERT took her footage of the fight and were analyzing it. Footage from other bystanders was already all over the internet and the news. Kami and I tried to watch a few but we both turned them off not long after they started.

The image of Ken's exploding head stayed in my head from the moment I woke up to the moment I went to sleep. It haunted me, replaying over and over. It often distracted me when others were trying to hold a conversation. Kami was patient with me. I could tell she was thinking about it too. From time to time, her eyes would grow distant and turn pink with unshed tears.

We earned a visit from Donna and Valorie one day. My room was full with so many wheelchairs they barely fit inside the space. The girls updated us on their condition. Donna had dozens of broken bones, particularly her ribs, while Valorie was in so much pain she could barely move. Yet she still came to talk and offered us a smile.

"You weren't wrong," Donna stated when there was a lull in the conversation.

I frowned. "What do you mean?"

"About killing Ken." I winced. "He wasn't just a rogue. He was a terrorist. Serenehe, kidnapping Jay, Ki and yourself, tearing apart an entire neighborhood to get back at you for some petty feud."

"We could have arrested him."

"No," Kami protested, taking me by surprise. "You saw the mark on his armor, Felisa. It was the same as those in Bailey. Someone could have come along and set him free."

"If he wasn't executed first," Valorie chipped in. "Had he been caught in Serenhe, they would have executed him then. You don't get away killing people and terrorizing the community with a prison sentence."

"It doesn't make killing right," I protested, tearing up.

"No, it doesn't," Donna agreed. "But sometimes it's the only option. The military make hard decisions like that every day. Kill or watch others get killed. Kill or be killed."

I looked down at my hands. I grew up that way. Fight or be killed, either by a stranger or a cartel.

"We were lucky you two upgraded," Valorie brought up, pulling my attention back. "We weren't able to do anything before that."

"Yeah, what was up with that?" Donna asked. They looked to me but I directed their attention to Kami. She was the one who knew.

"After our upgrade in Liliael, we were five percent away from the next upgrade. I shift from A-class to S-class at thirty five percent," Kami explained. She folded her fingers together in her lap. "For the last few months, I've been trying to open myself up more to synergy. I know the reason we're not upgrading is because I'm resistant. It's in my nature to not be trusting. I've also been trying to encourage you, Felisa, to change your thinking. You get stuck in these ruts and it's hard to get you to see what's going on from other perspectives. The reason we got the upgrade when we did was because you finally changed your thinking to something I'd been thinking since they day we first met. I wanted you to stand up for yourself. To not take shit from people and to not take things lying down. You knew how to fight. You deserved more. It hurt watching you give up when people kicked you down.