I'm Not Dead

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This chapter is dedicated to @KnightofEmpires for being awesome! :D

My ears were ringing.

The sound was distant but sharp.

My head throbbed.

I could smell the blood as it trickled down my face in a jagged line.

Blinking hard in the sudden fog of dust, a groan fell from my dry lips as I rolled onto my side, desperate to get a glimpse of the scene unfolding. I could see them now, the Jokers. They must've been working their way into the streets, right before the bomb hit. If I had looked for a minute more, I would've seen them. They didn't appear to see me though, they were more interested in the people frantically running every way.

Breathing heavy, I looked further down the street. I could see the fire and smoke from the explosion. The bomb had hit a couple of hundred feet away. The force of the impact, however, was devasting. The cars near the impact had been blown up the street and crashed into anything in their path. 

Shadows, Jokers, and people alike darted around me, the screams made my gut shrivel up inside me. Drawing strength from my remaining adrenaline, I started to push myself up, but the rapid pop of gunfire made me drop back down and curl into a ball. Why were they shooting? It was impossible to tell what they were shooting at.

My aching head was in a whirlwind of erratic thought. I couldn't focus on anything, make any assessments of my situation, or push myself to act. I think, if it hadn't been for Eleanor grabbing my arm and tugging on it, I would've stayed down on the ground forever.

"Let's go Rocco! We've got to go!" She shouted, effectively pulling me back into reality as she yanked me up with one hand. Her face was dirty, cut, and bruised. In her other hand she was using the severed hood of a car to shove back a hungry Joker. Growling, he charged her again, only to get the same result, a mouthful of red paint and metal.

Coughing to expel the dirt and smoke from my lungs, I gratefully gripped her forearm and pulled myself up. The force of my body weight made her stumble a little, but she didn't lose her footing. Once I was on my feet, she released my arm and swung the hood at the face of the Joker with all her might. 

As she delivered his final blows, I could see flashes of bloody faces, armed soldiers and families scrambling to find each other. I saw the sick men and woman stumbling around, their jaws unhinged with ravenous desperation to feed. I felt like I was seeing everyone and everything, except the one thing I wanted to see.

The car.

Sucking in a sharp breath, I turned back to El as the dead man finally feel and blood splattered across her face. I would never forget the reflection of the fire in her eyes as every muscle in her body ached to survive. El had no intention of dying out here.

"The blast blew a lot of the cars towards the other sidewalk," she shouted above the mayhem, pointing a dirt crested finger across the street. "Here, take this!" I then watched her grab her bat off the ground and toss it to me.

Catching it, I wrapped my fingers around the aluminum before looking across the street. It wasn't a lot of ground to cover, but it was enough to make pray. I prayed for forgiveness, I prayed for a chance and I prayed for whoever crossed me. "I'm going to get Alice and the others!" I announced, swinging my bat across the head of a Joker who lunged me.

"Go get them! I'll cover your back!" Eleanor yelled back, pulling her shirt over her mouth and nose to protect herself from the dust and smoke. Another Joker charged her, but surprisingly, she held her own with ease, using the hood to block him then put down. "Go Rocco! I'll meet you there!" She insisted, gesturing for me to move forward.