SUPERWORLD

Aditya III

The world was still swimming as Aditya came to, awoken by the rough tongue of Heinrich on his face. Aditya pushed the dog away and tried to sit up, but when he got his head up by a few inches, the spinning became nauseating and he had to lay back down.

Where am I?  Aditya thought, looking around for some clue of his location. I'm not in the apartment anymore, but... the world stood still long enough for him to recognize the leather seats of Kamaljit's transport vehicle.

"Don't move, you'll bleed out." Commanded a voice from the front seat.

Aditya did not need to be told to stay still, the pain he felt in his side when he moved even am in was enough to keep him down.

"Kamal? Where am I?" Aditya asked, his vision still blurry.

"You're in the car. Your father called me and told me to come and get you." Kamal explained.

"Father? Is he....is he..." Aditya probbed

"Yes. Your father has passed. I'm sorry." Kamal said with a great sigh, and an uncharacteristic tremor in his voice.

Aditya already knew, so the heavy tears that came were no surprise, but he was hoping against hope that his memory betrayed him, that his father still lived and that he could apologize for everything.

Now, I'll never get that chance.

"Where are we going?" Aditya asked.

"We need to get that bullet out of you, and I'm not a doctor. We can't take you to any real hospital, but I think I might know someone who can point us in the right direction." Kamal explained.

"Who?" Aditya asked. He got his answer twenty minutes later when they came upon a familiar apartment complex. "What in god's name are we doing here?!" Aditya exclaimed.

"If anyone knows where to find a black market doctor, it's her. I haven't had time to establish any real connections here in New York, she's the best chance we have." Kamal said, unbuckling himself from his seat.

"How do you know that? You only talked to her for about five minutes. Do you really think—" Aditya was cut off.

"Don't move, I'll be right back." Kamal commanded before going up to the building. Aditya sat with Heinrich in the darkness of the back seat, listening to cars go by.

"He's gone, boy, he's really gone. We won't even get to bury him. God, who will take care of Mother?" Aditya wondered to Heinrich, his grief had entered the paralytic stage where he became numb and melancholy, still in disbelief while knowing full well it's true.

He lay there in silence for a good six minutes examining the hole within himself that violence had created before the driver-side and passenger side doors opened and in came Kamaljit and the ugly girl who had tried robbing Aditya the other day.

"Hey squirt, you look like shit." Mary said, looking in the back seat before noticing Heinrich. "Oh! You have a puppy! Hey little fella, who's a good boy?" Mary said, petting Heinrich's head.

Damn traitorous dog.

"I could say the same about you, except I've been shot, what's your excuse?" Aditya countered.

"Don't be such a baby. Your friend here offered me a bunch of money to save your dumbass. Well, not me, Doctor Scarborough. But I'm friends with him, so I'm saving you by extension." She said, before turning back round and buckling up.

"How does a commoner like you know a private doctor?" Aditya asked.

"He's not a private doctor, he's a black market doctor. Her gun has the symbols of the Ghost Dragon Triad on it." Kamal replied.