What Dreams May Come

Chapter 23: debris

Levi hit the ground hard and it took him several moments to remember where he was and what had just happened. The backup scrubbers were a wind blown pile of debris. Dylan was lying across his lap and he gently pulled her to a sitting position.

"Dylan, we need to go," he said. "It's not safe here."

Her eyes were open, and she seemed to nod, but didn't move on her own. There was blood in her hair, he realized. Further inspection showed she had been hit by some of the debris and her shirt was sticky with blood.

"Dylan, stay awake. I can't carry you, ma belle."

He stood, draping her arm over his shoulders.

"Levi?" she mumbled.

"You're going to be fine," he said, summoning up a false cheerfulness. "Which way to medical?"

"Left," Dylan mumbled, or at least, he thought she mumbled.

Carefully, he shuffled toward the left, though stopping to inspect Dylan's bleeding and then to put a hand around her waist, trying to stanch the bleeding. When this didn't work, he pulled off his shirt to use as a pad, and then continued down the corridor too slow for comfort.

"Hello!" he called.

"s'too loud," Dylan winced.

"Lo siento, ma belle," he replied. "Just a little further."

At a crawling pace the two moved through the hallway. Dylan was breathing erratically and Levi peered into every room they passed looking for help. He didn't dare leave her; he couldn't tell how badly she was injured. Levi heard running down the hall and looked up hopefully. Lully appeared with another man Levi hadn't met.

"We heard...Dylan!"

Lully picked up the girl easily. Levi adjusted his shirt to press against Dylan's side once more.

"I'm going to get her to medical," Lully said, already heading down the hall. "Marcus! Meet us there!"

"Hello, I'm Levi," Levi said, feeling faint now that he wasn't worried about Dylan.

Marcus was a stocky boy with curly hair; Alcott's partner if Levi was remembering correctly. The boy moved to catch Levi as he stumbled and the two followed Lully down the hall.

"What happened?"

"The scrubbers, something went wrong; they were torn to pieces." Levi pointed at the orange lighting above them. "See?"

"Both sets of scrubbers are offline?" Marcus said sharply. He paused in the hallway, pulling out his holo-rib.

"Call Walsh," he stated.

"Calling," the device chirped.

Levi focused on breathing in and out. His legs were shaking and his torso had blood on it, though he couldn't tell if it was Dylan's or his own. He didn't want to inspect further.

"What?" barked a familiar voice.

"The backup scrubbers are offline," Marcus said. "Levi says something happened and they were shredded."

Walsh growled. "Debris from the first set of scrubbers I'd imagine. I should have known Dylan would turn them on immediately. Where is my daughter?"

"Lully took her to medical; both she and Levi are cut up pretty bad."

There was silence on the other end and Marcus snorted.

"He hung up on me. Let's go."

Levi nodded and continued to hobble his way to their destination: a clinical looking room with a couple of padded tables. Dylan was lying across one of these, her curls matted against the table with blood. Lully was standing on one side of the table. Levi moved to her other side, frowning down at her face.