Irradiated

Chapter 6: Transferred

After Norman released me, I went over to help them up. "Come on, lean on me. I've got to get you guys out of here." One of my arms hooked around Angeli's back while my other did the same to Derrick's. I hauled them up into a standing position and let them lean on me as I slowly started to walk with them on either side of me. Derrick was pulling through, but Angeli didn't seem too great. After a while of walking, her head rolled onto my shoulder, where she started to breathe unevenly.

"Wait..." Norman stopped walking and looked back at me. "Can you help Derrick for me? I think she needs my help more than he does." Norman looked at me gingerly for a few seconds.

"You are really something, you know that, Mathias?" He didn't wait for me to answer and held on to Derrick, helping him walk. I quickly looked down at Angeli, whose hair shielded her face. I reached out a trembling hand and brushed away her hair, tucking it behind her ear.

"Angeli? Can you hear me?" She groaned slightly, as if confirming that she could. "I'm gonna need you to get onto my back, ok? You can't walk, right?" She nodded curtly and looked up at me with pained eyes. It struck my heart as I looked back at her. "You'll be fine. And this time, I do promise." Her lips curved up into a faint smile, accepting another one of my promises.

Crouching down in front of her, she wrapped her arms around my neck from behind and I lifted myself up, along with her on my back, and held onto her legs. "There. Better, huh?" She nodded from behind me and I quickened my pace to catch up with Derrick and Norman. Once I was beside them, Norman gave me a questioning look.

"A piggy-back ride? Really? How cliché." I laughed at the way his accent sounded when he said cliché. Norman realized how weird it sounded too and started laughing along with me.

I felt Angeli's arms tighten around my neck and I looked back at her. "What's wrong?" She looked up at me, a bit sick and it caused me to want to walk faster. "Pick up the pace, Norman! I can't afford to lose her!" I hadn't realized the words that came out of my mouth at the time, but looking back on it, I seriously didn't care. I was panicking for her life!

I made it back to my chamber before Norman did. "Hurry!" I screamed, looking back at Angeli. She flinched at my loud voice. Maybe I should have realized that my back was suddenly soaked with blood, but I was too busy worrying about getting her to lie down. Then again, like I said, I was starting to panic.

It was only until I set Angeli down that I noticed that she was bleeding intensely. "Nineteen, use this." Surprisingly, Norman passed me the same backpack I had when we were first caught by the Moderate ambush.

"Thanks," I muttered and looked over at Derrick. "I'll tend to you after Angeli, ok?" He nodded, a deep understanding in his eyes. I knew that in order to tend to the open wound on what I guessed was her side, I would have to remove her shirt. Don't get me wrong. I don't take advantages of "opportunities" like other guys would. However, if it meant it would help her, I had to. Luckily, she was wearing another covering underneath the torn-up rag that used to be her shirt.

"Here, can you sit up?" She lifted herself onto her forearm and sat up against the wall of the chamber. She was losing a lot of blood, and was losing it fast.

There was no time to waste. I tore off the pieces from her shirt and threw it aside, where she was now only wearing a see-through tank top. My eyes wouldn't wander, so I was honest in saying that I saw absolutely nothing. Nothing, but I still had to lift her tank up in order to get to the wound.

"You can lie down now, on your other side." She did as told and exposed a deep gash on her left side. "How did this happen?" I asked, shocked.

Her voice was enveloped in a thick hatred. "The Beast seriously doesn't take no for an answer. He stuck a dagger in my side and never treated it."