31-Day MCSM One Shot Challenge - February Edition 2019

Taken By Surprise

Jesse felt Petra's hand grab her wrist, pulling her along into the dark. She was glad Petra did, her breaths already beginning to heave.

"It can't be much further!" Petra's voice was beginning to become raspy, cracking and breaking throughout her words as she panted.

Jesse didn't get a chance to think about whether or not she had the breath to reply. Something all of a sudden slammed into her back, the whole world going black before she even hit the ground.

And then it was silent.

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The first feeling that came back to Jesse, was pain. Her entire body hurt, pain weakly pulsing down her back. Pressure was building inside her skull, feeling like somebody was trying to physically crush her head between their hands.

She was hot, sweat drenching her clothes and hair, trickling across her burning skin. The air was thick and heavy, making it difficult for Jesse to breathe. She could vaguely taste blood in the back of her mouth.

The more she began waking up, the more things Jesse began to notice. With every inhale, she smelled a vile mixture of dust, ash and even blood. She couldn't hear anything, but her own raspy breathing echoing in her ears.

A cough burst from Jesse's lips, struggling to properly breathe in the thick air. It was immediately followed by the noise of shuffling, and Jesse soon began picking up on another pattern of weak breathing. She felt something resembling the hand of another person on her arm.

"Jesse? Can you hear me?"

Jesse gulped thickly before coughing again, her throat drier than it's possessively ever been. "P-Pe...tra?" She croaked weakly, still fighting to open her eyes.

"It's me, Jesse, I'm here. You okay?" She heard Petra grunt. "Why the hell am I even asking that, of course you're not okay!"

Jesse coughed again, still trying to get her eyes to open. "At least... you sound okay."

"In comparison to you? Yeah."

Groaning softly, Jesse managed to blink open her eyes. At first she saw nothing but a blurry mishmash of colours. But after a few blinks, her vision began to sharpen a tiny bit. Coughing again, Jesse allowed her head to tilt slightly to the side. Immediately she met the two bright blue eyes of Petra.

Jesse's heart dropped at the sight of her friend. Despite looking alert, awake and somewhat panicked, Petra wasn't in fantastic shape. Dry blood was leading down the side of her face, patches of her blue bandanna stained with it. She was hugging one arm to her chest, her wrist bent at an odd angle.

"Petra..." Jesse breathed, fighting her sudden urge to throw up. "You look... terrible."

Petra snorted slightly. "Then you should see yourself. I'm fine."

"What happened?" Jesse asked weakly, coughing again. "We were running..."

"-and the tunnel caved in around us." Petra finished with a sigh. "I don't remember much either, I myself was knocked out pretty hard." She offered a hand to Jesse. "Think you can sit up?"

Jesse gave a small nod, accepting Petra's hand. She struggled, even with her friend's help, her sore body not agreeing with the action in the slightest. Petra was trying her hardest to help Jesse with one hand, keeping her broken wrist to her chest. Finally Jesse managed to upright herself, slumping back against the rock wall. Everything hurt, the world spinning and tilting around her.

"Here." Petra said, holding a waterbottle in front of Jesse's lips. She gratefully accepted the cool, refreshing liquid.

"I don't know how we're getting out of this, though." Petra said when Jesse finish drinking. She glanced around the small space, every side being a wall of rocks. The only light was from a small torch, probably one of the unlit torches in their bag that Petra managed to light.