Finally, the long awaited prologue to the teaser I released a few weeks ago. I have a few asks to get through, but then I should be able to devote my attention to this.
To Save a Life- Prologue
Daniel collapses behind the dumpster in the alleyway, chest heaving as he fights for air. He braces one hand against the wall as the other muffles his desperate, ragged coughs. Slumping, he tucks his knees in against his chest, breathing through his mouth as his head spins. Daniel wipes his chin, frowning down at the blood smeared across the back of his hands. His ears ring from the ricochet of the sirens from the police vehicles chasing after him.
"Well, that certainly isn't good," he murmurs, rubbing the blood off his hand onto the thin material of the hospital gown (which was actually a thin spare robe the two-room inn/hospital had). He shivers despite the sickeningly sticky heat of summer, arms wrapping around his abdomen as the urge to vomit hits him in another wave. Daniel swallows tightly, the ghost taste of the bitter rat poison lingering on the back of his tongue.
A tornado of light (red blue red blue red blue) courtesy of the town's single police vehicle flies past him. Daniel exhales shakily, slumping against the cool brick of the rustic building beside him. He twists to rest his back against the wall, chest heaving as he drinks in lungfuls of oxygen. He coughs helplessly, gripping his robe as his heart seems to speed up just to spite him. The fit passes and Daniel relaxes, exhaustion pressing at the corners of his mind. He tilts his head back, trying to make some semblance of a plan.
First, real clothing. Preferably in the pristine white that Zeemug demanded, in order that he may more easily reflect the particles of negativity the sun tried to beat into his skin and soak into his psyche. But beggars can't be choosers, so if he has to settle for something a little darker, he is willing to do so temporarily.
Secondly, he must evade capture until he can get revenge on that ruddy little camp. Not even the camp. More specifically, he needs to find that nihilistic child that pointed that overly-cheerful buffoon towards Daniel's deeds. The oblivious idiot wouldn't have noticed anything was amiss until the children had already reached their ascension, including the brat that had so stupidly brainwashed himself. But he can't go back to the camp, not now. The forces here, as incompetent as they can be, would still expect him to head back to finish the job. So he needs another route of movement.
Daniel sighs and groans as another tremor shakes his frame.
His own thoughts are worrying, even to himself. The internal musings are riddled with negativity. He needs to lead another group to their ascension in order to cleanse himself, lest he fall by the wayside. That… "Camp Camp" would have done nicely and sated the burning negativity that threatened his way of life until he had escaped the state and integrated himself as a new member of society and found himself another group of children to lead. Until then, the negativity would continue to permeate his mentality, leading him further back to that depressed shell of a person he had once been.
He refuses to return to that person.
Which means, first, he must rid himself of the mistakes of his past, beginning with the kid and his counselor.
A shame, really. David would have made a wonderful convert to Zeemug's clan, had he not been so devoted to his children. Yet it would have been that same devotion that would have made him such an asset, potentially in more ways than one. Daniel has been considering finding a partner for spreading Zeemug's philosophy for some time now. David would have been perfect. He hardly had any negativity even before a cleansing.
Oh, well. Win some, lose some, he supposes. David would be quite a loss, but there are other opportunities for gain in other places.
Daniel rests his head back and closes his eyes, narrowing down his senses to listen for the old police car rattling along the roads. The town isn't very large, so Daniel can safely assume they will scan through it quickly and move to scouring the back roads, undoubtedly assuming that he would try to escape rather quickly. Daniel smiles and glances at the general store across the street.
The townsfolk here are idiots, that much Daniel knows. If he simply changed his hair color he could probably get away with hiding in plain sight for a few weeks, at least. Then he could go on ahead to the city the kid lives in (gathered from the on-file information available from his short visit to the camp), and scout out the area before he returned. If he recalls correctly, the counselor also lived nearby. Daniel, after some careful prodding, had managed to get David to babble excitedly about the greenery in the area and how he had known Max from a young age, having met him at the neighborhood park a few years prior. So if he finds one, he finds the other.
Perfect.
Daniel shivers as a frigid night wind blows through once more.
But first he needs to find a change of clothing. Then he can work out the details of the plan.