Element Rebirth

7. Cry

The first sight I saw was familiar dark eyes blinking down at me, dark circles hanging beneath them. She smiled tiredly, her olive skin looking pale and a sheet of sweat coated her brow. “You’re awake.”

“Y-Yeah,” I mumbled incoherently and squeezed my eyes shut, trying to recall what’d happened. The mine, Kyle, the crystal and Nellie – Nellie! My eyes fluttered open in a flash, allowing me to fixate my gaze on my friend. “Nell, I can explain everything –”

“Not now,” she said in hushed tones and kept her face impassive though the burning curiosity in her eyes was evident. “Just wait until I get you back to the huts. Then we can talk and you can tell me about your relationship with Kyle and what happened.”

I swallowed nervously, nodding slowly and felt my neck rub against something scratchy and rough. “Where am I?”

“Infirmary. The slaves’ one of course.”

I silently nodded, remembering my one trip here when I’d burned my hands in the furnace by accident as a child. “What about people trapped in the mines? Did everybody get out all right?”

“Terra, there were hundreds of humans in there, surrounded by flammable rock within a large fire that raged on for fifteen minutes.” She sounded exasperated, like I should have known the answer I was too afraid to come to terms with. “Not everybody could get out you know.”

The truth was clear from the start, from the moment I recalled the hazy visions of limp, angry red stumps of flesh I’d tripped over in my venture into the mines. But so many innocent people . . . how could such a disaster have started in the first place?

“Most of the older adults couldn’t get out in time. The kids are having to double their shifts, including us. Our break time’s been cut and we get food before we go to sleep for two hours. That’s all we get, Terra. This is bad.”

“We’re barely surviving as it is,” I whispered, slowly wriggling into a sitting position and muffled a groan at my aching muscles. “Are there any supervising Hunters?”

“They’re too busy whipping the slaves they think look suspicious of causing the fire,” she said with a shrug. Her face was dimly illuminated by the dancing firelight in the corners of the damp, musty, underground infirmary. “So no. They’re only keeping guard outside.”

The thought of those repellent Hunters made my blood boil hotter than the coal mines. I could feel my knuckles rubbing up against my skin, fingernails digging into my palms. “It’s despicable, really.”

“Tell me about it.” Nellie seemed almost hesitant, the way she regarded me, like I’d throw some sort of tantrum any minute. “So . . . so how are you feeling?”

“Fine,” I replied in an equally cautious tone. It took everything I had not to let a look of sheer panic cross my face as I realised that I couldn’t feel the crystal’s familiar presence pushed up anywhere near my body. “Have you seen –?”

“It’s under your pillow,” she replied quietly, casting her gaze to the ground and fiddled with her hands.

Just a glimpse of those dirtied bandages had my heart stuttering nervously. “Nell, what happened to your hands?”

“I went in to save my sister but she’d already gotten out.” There was a painful tone of relief in her voice. “I tried getting out once I figured out that she already did. When I did, I burned my hands. Let me tell you, it hurts.”

“I know,” I muttered dryly. “Remember?” I gestured to the faintly remaining scars lining my hands from previous burn marks and felt the ghost of a smile linger on my lips. “So when can I go back?”