Super Glitches 5: The Soldier's Vow

Sleepy Time

I thudded to the floor and immediately flew backwards from the bomb blast. It exploded on impact and threw both me and Shaade away.

I lay on the ground, winded, eyes still stinging. Shaade was beside me, back arched in pain. He groaned softly and within seconds I was sat up, checking for a pulse, trying to see if he were still breathing.

"Shaade?" I said anxiously. "Shaade? Shaade!"

"I'm alive," his weak voice replied. "Just very, very hurt."

"Is there anything I can do?"

"You can stop panicking, for a start." He moaned and sat up, me helping him upright. He rested his head on my shoulder and I hugged him, trying not to break any more bones.

"How come I'm okay and you're not?" I whispered. Shaade grunted and nestled further into my shoulder.

"I picked you up with shadows," he murmured, closing his eyes. "Now please, let me sleep."

I was content to let him rest until I remembered something from the little First Aid training I had.

"Oh no, you're not sleeping," I said suddenly, forcing Shaade to his feet and dragging him a few metres. "If you sleep you die and if you die, I die."

"No..." Shaade said sadly. "Not you..."

"Sorry, but you are not allowed to sleep." I grabbed the back of his collar and the waistband of his trousers and I threw him as far as I could. He face-planted the ground and curled into a ball, white light covering him like a blanket. I sighed and tapped my foot on the ground, folding my arms.

"Lazy sod," I muttered grumpily. "Hey, Shaade, get up."

"No-o-o-o..."

I marched over and pulled the demon to his feet. He wrapped his arms around my neck and yawned, preparing once more for sleep. He relaxed and his full weight bore down on my right side. I tried desperately not to stagger, gesturing for help. Georgina appeared out of nowhere and gave me a hand, picking Shaade off me and dragging him to shelter. He giggled feverishly and his head lolled uselessly.

"Hell, what's happening?" I said, raking my hands through my hair. Georgina shrugged and regarded Shaade with a look of despair.

"Shaade, stop being a prat and sit up," she ordered. There was no reply.

"Hmm. That usually works," she said thoughtfully. I sighed and sat on the ground, eyes closing from pure exhaustion.

"I need sleep," I said, stifling a yawn behind my hand. Shaade made a peculiar squeaking noise of content next to me and he curled into a ball, smiling in his sleep. A soft smile spread across my own face as I rested my head on top of Shaade's. My eyes shut a final time, my sunglasses slid off my nose and I drifted into the warm embrace of sleep.

*

When I awoke again I was lying on top of grey bed sheets on top of a white four poster bed. I sat up and looked around. The entire room was a blurry mix of green and grey.

Blurry?

My hands sprang to my face. My sunglasses were gone and if it weren't for the curtains being shut I would be blind. I glanced about anxiously, searching for my darkened glasses.

"Damn it, damn it, damn it," I muttered, hands scrabbling across the small bedside table next to me. I knelt up and my eyes widened.

"Gone?" I whispered, trembling hands slowly going up to cover my mouth. I shook my head, trying to deny the truth. My sunglasses were gone, vanished, and my sight was wrecked.

I stood up and checked once more that the curtains were closed. I breathed a sigh of relief and went to the door. The handle rattled but wouldn't turn. I frowned and tugged at it harder, pushing and pulling with all my might. To my horror the brass object came off in my hand.

I swore and hit my head on the doorframe. It loosened and I realised that it wasn't locked in the first place. Kicking myself for my stupidity I wandered back over to the bed, trainers sinking into the raggedy carpet.

The bedsheets were like chainmail to the touch and I winced as I lowered myself onto it. I was still exhausted, tiredness and fatigue coursing through my veins. I needed sleep like a fish needs water.

I rested my head on the pillow and wrinkled my nose in distaste. I hadn't realised before but everything smelt of damp, including me. My clothes were sticking to my skin and my hair was slowly becoming less and less spiky...

I shut my eyes and tried to breathe deeply, in, out, in, out. I wanted to sleep but my surroundings continued to distract me and my brain wouldn't stop whirring. Where were the others? Had Rebecca and Sophie survived? Was Shaade okay? Where was I? What had happened? Who had moved me?

A yawn arose in my throat and I relaxed, letting it out, mouth stretching. I rolled onto my side and curled up, grabbing a pillow and using it as a blanket. I didn't trust the metal-cotton material beneath me and so decided using what resembled a wet towel was a better idea.

After a lot of grumbling, turning, rolling over and sighing I finally fell asleep for the second time that day.

*

My eyes flew open yet I didn't move. Something was wrong; I wasn't alone.

A shadow shifted in the corner of my room and I stared at it in shock. A few seconds and no more motion later I relaxed, thinking that there was nothing, it was just my imagination.

Footsteps reverberated across the floor and I froze. My heart thundered in my ears and my breathing was quick and fast. I was covered in a cold sweat, tears of utter panic forming in my eyes. 

The figure rasped a horrible cry and I screamed. They had passed under the narrow strip of light coming from the side of my curtains and I finally realised who - or what - they really were. A walking corpse, flesh rotting, maggots crawling out of various holes in its flesh. It looked to be female wearing an old-fashioned, Victorian maid's uniform. She - it - wailed and the mouth fell open to reveal only half a tongue, brown teeth that were broken and chipped and a hole straight out of the back of its throat. Shot in the head, suicide or murder? I didn't know but I knew one thing.

It was moving towards me incredibly swiftly and had blood on the brain; my blood.