Akeldama | lrh

twenty four - persistence

Immediately Ivy rushes over to me, her hand flying to my neck. I can barely make out the worried look on her face, everything is way too hazy. "She's lost too much blood." She says. "Ashton, any ideas?"

It's hard for me to tell, but I think Ashton rips off a large piece of his own shirt. He crouches down next to Ivy, beginning to tie it around my throbbing shoulder, when he stops.

My fears are confirmed when he pulls the capsule full of the milky liquid off of my belt.

"Where did you get this? Why didn't you use it?" Ashton asks incredulously, already starting to open the thing. I manage to lug my arm up to grab his wrist and stop him.

"For L-Luke." I say, and blood trickles out of my mouth. "Save i-it for L-Luke."

"You can't help Luke if you're dead from blood loss." He replies, pushing my arm away. He rips my shirt from the bad shoulder down to my midsection, exposing the wound. I hear him mutter to Ivy about how I probably got it from one of the dead guards. "Besides, with his condition, this wouldn't do shit." He clicks the needle open, preparing the capsule. "This is gonna hurt."

I don't see him inject the stuff into the wound, only feel a horrible burning pain work it's way through my entire upper body. I grit my teeth, forcing myself to stay quiet, my hands balling into fists at my sides. Finally the burning stops, and when my vision clears, the wound is already closed. All that's left of it is a jagged white scar.

Ashton stares in awe at the now half empty bottle of white liquid, shaking his head. "And to think they were using this whole time."

Ivy holds out a hand, and with some difficulty, I grab it and let her pull me to my feet. My shirt is useless now, ripped nearly in half and crusted with blood. I pull it off and toss it to the floor, leaving me just in the plain black sports bra the bunker had in its wardrobe.

My head is already beginning to clear, now that the pain is gone. I still feel weak from the blood loss but that will pass, at least I don't have to worry about it any more.

Ivy suddenly freezes, and I can tell she's heard something. She gestures for all of us to flatten against the wall, and I watch anxiously as she cocks the gun once more and puts her finger on the trigger.

Michael stands beside her, a dagger in his hand. I start to pick up footsteps on the edge of my hearing, and I peak around the corner to try and see who's creating them.

We're positioned right at the curve of the hall, so if we stay far enough to the side, we won't be seen. If I lean far enough forward I can see down the rest of the hallway. At first there is nothing, and then the footsteps get louder and a huge man comes into sight. My breath catches in my throat.

It's Lieutenant Ares.

He looks angry, a grimace on his face as he takes long strides towards one of the doors on the right side, our side. He stops in front of the door to look around a little, his eyebrow raised, and all of us flatten against the wall and hold our breath. Finally, I hear the door open and close, and Ivy immediately turns the corner and starts towards it.

My heart is slamming against my ribcage. On that surveillance tape, Ares was with Luke. Even if he isn't with him now he can definitely lead us to him, with bit of Ivy's 'persuading'. We're going to see Luke.