Bleed, Patch, And Keep Moving - An Apex Legends Story

Chapter 15 - Winning Can Be Painful

Ajay was the first off the transport ship and into the hanger. Her pace was swift through the building as everyone else lingered behind her. Her victory was a narrow one, in fact it almost felt like a loss. Ajay just wanted to get to the conference room and get debriefing over with so that she could go home. She didn't feel like celebrating and it didn't seem like anyone else did either.

The tension in the transport ship had been thick and it didn't seem like anyone wanted to even approach the new Legend. She still didn't even know what his real name was or even what his arena name was. She would have to ask Makoa or Bloodhound when she got around to it. At the moment she really didn't care what his name was. She more or less just cared about what he did to her. Maybe she was just overreacting and it was just the arena screwing up.

The debriefing didn't take long; it usually didn't for her anyway. Ajay quickly changed back into here civilian clothes via the clothing screen. She wore black baggy pants, a black tank, and a black loose fitting hoodie with the hood pulled over her head. She grabbed her backpack, making sure D.O.C. was secured in the bag, before throwing the backpack over her shoulder. She made a quiet exit from HQ, avoiding everyone on the way out.

Her body shivered as the cool night air rushed against her face. She was glad to have warm clothing on. She clutched her left side as she hurried down the street to the liquor store. She seemed to know exactly where all of the liquor stores were located in the city. She left the liquor store with the largest bottle of rum that she could find.

As she neared her apartment her head began to spin. She pushed forward and managed to make it to her apartment door where she pounded her passcode into the pin pad. The numeric pad for the passcode wasn't necessarily tricky to navigate but when everything was spinning it did become a challenge. Ajay put her code in several times before she finally got it right. She flung the door open as she got inside.

She released D.O.C. to roam the apartment while she took two pills out of her pill bottle and tossed her backpack down on the floor next to the door. She kicked off her shoes by the door and started towards her bedroom with her pills in one hand and her bottle of rum in the other. She stopped for a moment as the dark hallway looked longer than it should of. She closed her eyes and leaned against the wall as she pried the bottle of rum open. She tossed the pills into her mouth and washed them down with a gulp of the delicious rum.

Her free hand found the wall and used it to balance and guide her to her bedroom. She was able to take a few more sips of rum before she made it to her room. Glaring light filled the room as she flipped the switch on for the lights. Her head pounded as she willed her body to make it to the corner of the room where she dropped to the floor in front of a body length mirror. She took another drink of rum before setting the bottle down and crawling over to her bed.

The wood floor was cold beneath her and sent chills across her body as she laid down on her stomach and reached underneath the bed. She pulled out a first aid kit and pushed it over to the bottle of rum by the mirror. She shimmied out of her pants and crawled back over to the mirror where sat down in front of it in only her hoodie and her panties. She grabbed the bottle of rum and took a long drink before setting the bottle back down. She sighed and pulled her hoodie off. She then began the rigorous process of removing her tank top from body.

The blood soaked tank top proved difficult to remove as she peeled it away from her skin. She held back tears as she finally got the semi-dried fabric off of her body. She peered in the mirror over her body as she sat in just black lace panties and black bra, which was partially soaked in blood. On the left side of her chest, just above her 7th and 8th rib, was the source of her bleeding. She knew that the arena could leave physical wounds but this particular laceration was large and would require stitches.