LOST II

Chapter 91: "Force of an Explosion"

Post your reactions as you read. It's going to be a 💥 chapter.

It happened too quickly for Salma to catch it. One instant she had plummeted a punch at his face and the next, pain shot through her forearm and it forcefully jerked to the outside, almost dislocating her elbow. Then, her gut caught an explosive opposing force and she was knocked off her feet, flying on her back. The impact with door was like a blast that knocked it open. Salma slammed against another body, then crumpled to the floor as they were hammered down by the collision.

The world around her flipped and spun. Salma could vaguely feel her position changing but her surroundings were zooming in and out of focus. Light alternating with darkness at a dizzying pace. Her hearing was filtered by a static silence.

And then everything switched back on suddenly; her vision, her hearing and the excruciating pain in her gut. It made her gasp and wheeze.

"Bee! My God! Bee! What happened -- hey, look at me --"

Salma rolled over on the floor, away from Zayn as he tried to support her against him. She gasped for breath like a dying fish, spluttering and wheezing as storeroom walls kept closing in on her. She needed her voice box to function. Her head was spinning like a top. Where was her phone?

"Bee --!"

"Toryal -- T-Toryal! --"

Her rasp was interrupted by a wave of nausea. Salma retched dryly, making an agonizing pain pierce her gut. She slammed back on the floor, crying in anguish, writhing with pain, and urgency, trying to locate her phone.

"Oh hell no!" She heard Zayn's shocked whisper, as if from a distance.

As her world started getting darker, she caught a glint of light. There! Next to the door, was her phone. Salma tried to crawl towards it. Zayn, seem to have had other plans. He reached for her shoulders and tried to sit her up.

"Come on, we got to get out of here --"

Salma rolled over and pushed away from him.

"Bee, come on! We gotto --"

His voice went in and out of tune. Salma crawled towards her phone. An agonized wince escaped her lips as her gut seared with pain. She grabbed the gadget, the speakers of which were screaming for her.

"Princess! Princess, get back to me --"

"Tor-Toryal, Kaka!" Salma rasped. "He's -- here . . ."

"Dammit! Are you hurt --?"

"My location -- navy blue scrubs and w-white coat --"

"I'm almost there! Hang on, bachey! Stay with Zayn!"

"Surgical mask --" Salma struggled. " He's --"

Her voice was like sandpaper. Salma tried to get the words out. She was aimlessly staring at the end of the corridor, expecting Burak Kaka to appear when her eyes shifted to a sharp focus briefly. She saw Toryal entering the elevator on extreme left, following a bunch of medics. Salma pointed at him helplessly.

"Tor-toryal!"

She heard a gasp nearby and then someone snatched her phone off of her hands.

"Toryal's just entered the elevator! You might want to--"

A coughing fit took over Salma, cutting Zayn's voice off.  However, the pain that shot through her bruised gut with the coughs forced her to keel over in pain. She leaned against the support that had reached for her in a gentle embrace. As Salma struggled against the burning, stabbing pain, she realize Zayn was holding her steady. Her breaths came out in laborious puffs, between cries of pain that she could not quite control.