“You just have to be yourself and that will be enough.”
Number Twenty-Six
Abcidee heard the bullet as it whistled through the air, and before she could react, Cecilia had thrown her down to the ground. She felt her body went stiff on top of her.
“Cecilia? Cecilia!”
When she raised her hand, all she saw was red.
Her eyes widened in horror as she pushed her around and saw the pool of blood and the red-stained dress. Another bullet was fired at them, and it was only through luck that she evaded it – it managed to graze her left cheek.
As quick as she could, she dragged her injured companion to one of the fallen buildings. Her hands quickly roamed Cecilia’s body, and found the fresh wound just above the woman’s pelvic bones.
It probably hit her right lung.
“Oh my god,” she cried to her fists. “You shouldn’t have – why did you do that? You didn’t have to –”
“That bullet would have killed you,” sighed the woman who watched her with her left eye.
“Oh god…”
Cecilia laughed weakly as she tried to sit up properly.
“No, don’t move –“
“The floor is cold.” Cecilia winced as she leaned sideways against the wall. “The future has become chaotic. I can’t keep up. At least I’ve kept you safe…”
Why was everyone so keen on keeping her safe?
“You can see the future?” Abcidee’s hands were shaking as she dug through her bag to retrieve a roll of bandages. She took one deep breathe to calm herself. So much blood… her head was swimming. Get a grip! she chastised herself. She needed to be composed. Do not think, just act!
“It’s my Gift, sweet one.” Cecilia pushed her hands away when she reached out to her. Her breaths were quickening, shallow. “Not here. The Light…coming for us. Tunnel... Underground.”
“Where? How?” There was an underground tunnel? “Is that place safe?”
“Basement,” Cecilia wheezed, slowly rising despite the pain etched on her face. Abcidee quickly tore the hem of her pants and bundled it so that Cecilia could use it to stop the bleeding. The woman gave her a grateful smile. She quickly looped her arms around the woman and helped her down the stairs at the corner of the hall.
“Wouldn’t it be bad to go there at this moment?” she asked as soon as they reached the bottom step. “With the bombs, the tunnels may have collapsed. Or what if there are enemies there as well?”
Cecilia grimaced as she took a wrong step. Blood was dripping heavily from her hand, the gunshot wound ripping further despite the cloth covering it. “Locked down... Empty…”
“The bombs – “
“Safe... Don’t worry…”
“I’m not worried about me. I need you to save my dad.”
“Be yourself,” Cecilia weakly whimpered. “I’m not necessary. Not at all…”
Her heart clenched at the pain in the woman’s voice. It was more than just physical pain – it sounded like she had lost something great, had willingly given up her most precious possession for something bigger than her.
She could feel it deep down in her bones.
The woman was fighting, but clearly losing, emotions marring her sweat-covered face as her eyes dilated.
“Cecilia?”
A tear fled her left eye. A tear of blood.
“I don’t… wanna die…” her voice broke. Cecilia sounded like she confessed to the most abhorrent crime in all history of men. She was trembling, and it was not due to the temperature. She was a helpless child seeking for comfort. A girl crying out for someone, anyone, to hold onto her.
“I won’t let you die,” Abcidee reassured her, knowing full well that she might die trying, that she might as well be lying. She terribly wanted to believe herself. In this world where nothing made sense, those words felt right. “You will not die, not until you’re gray and wrinkled...Okay?”
She meant it. She would do everything to keep this woman alive.
Even though they just met, there was something eerily familiar about her. Like she should have known her. It was the exact feeling she had when she met Krad for the first time. That mind-numbing shock, that unconscious pull that she could neither explain nor ignore.
This woman… who was she to her?
She wanted to ask, but she couldn’t risk it. Not when Cecilia was already having trouble breathing.
Why did they have to meet under these circumstances? Like with Krad, she had questions, so many questions, but this was hardly the time to ask them. Not when their lives were on the line.
“Thank you for saving me,” she told her as they reached a huge empty basement filled with dust. It was pitch black, and if it weren’t for her cellphone, they would be blind in the dark.
“How do we go underground?” She let her eyes roam. There were no other doors aside from the one that lead upstairs.
Cecilia mumbled something incoherent, before her eyes fluttered close.
“Cecilia? Hey, wake up! Please, wake up!” Abcidee feared that the woman was already dead. But as she laid her down the dirty floor, she realized that the woman had only passed out. “I don’t know what to do!”
Her ears caught the sounds of footsteps above them, and her heartbeat seemed to stop.
They’re coming.
Hastily, she groped around for any secret doors or levers or buttons on the walls and the floor. She knocked on them like she had seen people do in movies, but there was no hollow sound. They were trapped in metal and concrete. There was no way other way out.
If there was only a hole… even an air vent…
She was small enough to fit, and Cecilia was also just her size –
She could hear voices approaching.
Before she could even think twice, she dragged Cecilia to the furthermost corner and hid her cellphone, hoping that the darkness would be enough to hide them.
“There’s a trail of blood here, and it’s fresh!” she heard a man yell.
Oh no!
Her fear reached a new time high. And then she realized, this was exactly how Cecilia felt. Out of control. Vulnerable. Utterly, absolutely terrified.
Help.
Anyone, please.
I don’t want to die!
Suddenly, everything around her turned white hot. She felt pain, intolerable pain, like fire, like ice, like everything and nothing was exploding from within her. A prickly throbbing and swelling presence inside her burst forth, just as she saw the first forms of the enemies entering the basement.
There was an impact of air. A thunder without sound.
… and then she fell, clutching Cecilia, down and down into the abyss.
Boom! An update. Finally. What'cha think? Another update soon. I promise.