Chapter Three
A sickening scream pierced the silence after the explosion, bringing Nolan back to his senses. He had been temporarily blinded and deafened from the explosion, his head throbbing. Luckily, some of the dim mist was still clinging to the ground, giving him a little light to see by.
Around him he heard the whimpering of dying Shriekers, and cries so terrible they could break a person’s heart. They were human cries of pain.
“Pushing himself up, Nolan put a hand to his forehead, feeling a sticky substance cling to his hand.
Good thing I covered my head, he thought, crawling over in the direction of the screams, pulling a knife out from his belt and dragging it across the ground, his hand over it.
“Hello?” Nolan called, not caring if the Shriekers could hear him. His first priority was to find his companions. He gulped, thinking about what could have happened to Maria.
“Moor? Keith? Ryden? Marm Aya?” Nolan called, hearing a whimper in the dim light.
“Here-“ Maria coughed from the dust from the explosion still floating in the air. “Nole, is that you?”
“Maria? Are you all right?” Nolan called, looking around, his eyesight still not having fully recovered. All he could make our were rough shapes.
“Yeah, I think so, but I might’ve broken an arm! Those damn things were fast, so I didn’t give us much time to get far,” Maria said apologetically.
“I think part of the path collapsed because of me, so that means we’re not getting back through there any time soon,” Nolan could hear the pain in her voice. “Sorry....”
“Moor, stay there, lemme go find Keith and the others,” Nolan replied, wiping the blood seeping from his forehead--he was not exactly sure where the cut was with all the blood and his whole head throbbing--from his eyes with the sleeve of his jacket.
“Keith is here,” Maria said. “He’s out cold though,” she added. “I can’t tell how badly hurt he is, but at least he’s not lying in a puddle of blood.”
“Try not to hurt your arm,” Nolan said. “And try to wake him up. I think I hear something, I’m not sure though, are your ears still ringing too?”
“Yeah, you don’t sound very loud, but I can tell I’m yelling, meaning you probably are too,” Maria said.
“No wonder my throat hurts!” Nolan tried to laugh, but it came out as a cough. “I think I see something Moor, lemme check,” Nolan finished, crawling over in the direction of a heaving body. He hears small, silent cries. Then it looked like part of the body was trying to lift itself up.
So he lunged at it, knocking over something lighter than he expected. For a moment he thought it was a Shrieker, but sighed in relief when he saw the glint of a slightly bloody, bald head.
“Marm Aya?” Nolan asked, sticking his knife in his belt.
“Nolan? You have to help, Ryden- he,” she sniffled.
“What?” Nolan asked, realizing the blood she was covered in was not her own.
“I had managed to cover my ears so I went looking for you and Nolan-“
Nolan concentrated, feeling his eardrums popping. He could hear the sound of breathing--something he should not be able to hear--making him realize the person must be breathing heavily.
“Aurgh-“ Nolan turned to look at the other body, following the sound, making out the rough outline of Ryden a little ways to his left.
His whole lower half was soaked in blood, his hands holding his left knee, looking further down he saw a horrid sight. Suppressing a gag, Nolan let his eyes wander further down.
His leg from below his left knee was gone completely, blown away in the explosion.
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Falling Up
Mystery / Thriller*sequel to Ashes* Sharon has remembered her name, but is still no closer than she was to finding out what happened to her friends, Joshua and Markl, who think they finally have a lead on what Alice wanted them to get for her... but Alice has other t...
