Quintus Crossings - Story II: Michael - Emergence Arc

Chapter 9: Next in Line

"Everything said, I don't know how we're still alive," a soldier said, standing over the unconscious Mit and Jacki.

Michael didn't respond. The infirmary was filled with injured soldiers and busy medics. Michael looked great compared to the broad and slender soldiers he sat between, but his mind was filled with confusion and fear.

Michael had remained outside the emergency room for an hour before a medic dragged him to the infirmary. He'd wanted to know of Leenna's condition when the surgery had finished, but he wasn't injured badly and he'd been getting in the way, according to the doctors. They'd cleaned him up, bandaged his bleeding head, and gave him a new pair of clothes.

"Are you sure you're not hurt anywhere else?" the medic checking over him had asked. "There's a lot of blood here."

"It's not mine." The memory of blood being splattered through the room, as though by a powerful sprinkler, was fresh. Had he really been doused that badly? "Most of it's not."

Michael had felt numb after the medic left. No. He hadn't felt numb. He'd been terrified; he had to be – his breath was quick, limbs twitchy, and eyes wide. Michael had simply grown accustomed to this fear, like he had to the continual roars of shredding metal and the trembling of the walls and floor. He'd found Mit and Jacki in their beds. They were unconscious, their breathing slow, but Michael's lips gave a quick upwards tug upon seeing them. They were alive.

"You're that kid Alec asked us to protect," a soldier had said a few minutes after Michael sat between Mit and Jacki.

She had looked so familiar. The soldier gazed over her comatose allies with watery eyes and Michael's neck snapped back.

"You're from Squad Seven," Michael had said. "What was your name again?"

"Laine," she grunted. "Yours?"

"Mike. Do you know what happened to Alec?"

She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. "I thought you'd know that better than me." It came out strangled.

Michael's spirits fell. "We lost him, soon after the AS attacked."

"I'll check the... the bodies again," Laine said, eyes shifting over Mit and Jacki again. "It seems they followed his orders," she whispered. "Why? Why did one of the kindest, most caring, most fun men I've ever met want us to keep you safe? Why was he fine to let us risk our lives just to keep yours? What makes you so special?

"Did you help us? Did you somehow lead us to victory over the AS? 'Cause it sure as hell doesn't look like you did."

Her words were a hammer striking a rusty nail into his heart, each sentence delving the toxic metal deeper. What help had he been? He'd stupidly ran into the middle of a warzone. He'd attempted to assist Leenna and Jon as they fought the Leviathan, but he'd only gotten in the way.

If it weren't for me, Jon would be alive. Michael crouched, trying to get as small as possible. And Leenna wouldn't have been stabbed.

"Great." Laine shook her head with disgust. "You don't even know. Then what kind of person are you?"

He was the kind of guy who wanted to impress others, though he did nothing to earn it. He was the kind of guy who would not care about the lives he ended, as long as he was safe. He was the kind of guy who would try to be something he wasn't so he could trick his way to going home, away from the violence that threatened him, the death that terrified him, and end up causing one, if not two, deaths because of it.

Wouldn't anyone else do as he did? Wouldn't anyone else try to get home? So why do I feel so guilty?

The soldier snorted at Michael's silence then turned to her unconscious friends.