I found myself in a puddle of blood, pinned under rubble with no memory of how I got there. A broken wall held me down, uncomfortably heavy. It gave me a small space with air to breathe. Each breath felt dry and suffocating with dust particles. There was almost no light.
Shouting voices and the blare of sirens made her head throb where the wall had hit it. "HELP!" She coughed, throat hoarse and dry. Could anyone even hear her?! She listened desperately, but couldn't hear anyone responding. To conserve oxygen, she fell silent. Testing out her ability to move, one leg hurt too much to move. The other leg was slowly going numb under the pressure of the wall.
She frantically pushed with an arm against rubble under this wall, closest to her face. It slid away slowly, shattered bricks giving way. A dirty waft of air and a beam of light rewarded me. The outside was right within reach if I could just drag myself out! The wall kept my arm in an awkward position, pressing tight up against my shoulder. If she rolled onto her belly or back she wouldn't be able to breathe.
I'm going to die. I'm going to be crushed to death if I don't move now! She slowly dragged herself, fighting the numbing sensation slowly taking over her shoulder. Her fingertips could just reach out through the small gap in the bricks. A warm breeze tickled her fingertips. She touched something wet. "HEY! I found someone!" My hand flinched away from the shouting voice. A fuzzy paw quickly grabbed her hand encouragingly. "They're ALIVE!" Hope warmed my soul! I am saved! "H-Help me!" I wheezed at him. My sides were really starting to hurt. A thunder of footsteps raced over.
"We're coming!" He let go quickly to help begin digging her out. "She's under this wall." A blue glow engulfed the wall, blinding me. The pressure lifted off of me as the wall itself seemed to defy gravity, floating up. Several hands quickly dragged me out of the way so it could be put back down quickly. "T-thanks" I gasped. A short skeleton sighed. "Don't mention it." A bluefish lady patted his shoulder encouragingly. "Don't worry, we'll find him, Sans." A white dog with a giant nose carefully carried me out of a partially collapsed building, towards an ambulance. "Thank you..." I repeated up at the dog man carrying me. He smiled kindly. "No problem human! I'm Arfer with Search and Rescue, and I am happy to help! What is your name?" I got the feeling he was just distracting me from the pain in my leg. "Vicki." I mumbled, he seemed to hear me anyway, "That's a nice name."
"Glass in the leg looks ruff!" Arfer reported to the paramedics as he set me down onto a gurney. "I gotta go now, bye!" Arfer waved as he left. I was rolled up onto an ambulance. There was a large blood-stained shard of glass sticking out of my right leg. "We're going to have to cut these, I need to see how badly you're bleeding." I sighed, my clothes were unsavable. "Go ahead," I told them. One paramedic cut my ruined jeans up one leg to get at the wound underneath without causing further damage.
They didn't remove the glass shard at all, instead of wrapping the leg up to prevent further bleeding.
"What's your name?" I turned my focus away from my leg for now. "Vicki," I answered. Their oxygen mask was a relief on my irritated lungs, sweet clean air! "Any pain when I touch your belly?" I could barely feel him. "ribs.." I winced when he touched the sore spot in the back of my head. "Does it hurt here?" He asked softly. "Just a bit." I confirmed, "Heavy bruising around the ribs." He reported. "How old are you?" He asked. "Thirty-two." I just want to sleep. "We're going to use a bit of magic on you, okay? It should help ease the pain." I quickly passed out under its influence.
The beeping of a heart monitor woke me, there were several people standing around me. I was in a bed. "Ma'am? Vicki, can you hear me?" A doctor-looking figure asked. I gave him a thumbs up with the hand that didn't currently have a finger pulse monitor on it. "You're in a hospital, a building collapsed on you. I don't want you to try to move right now." I blinked and squinted, trying to focus on him. No sitting up then. "Glasses?" I asked. A nurse nearby took them off of a side table and put them on me. There was a crack in one lense. "Vicki, you got banged up pretty good. You have a bump on your head, a puncture wound in this leg, and some bruised ribs. We'll take care of the pain, so you can relax. You could be in and out of it for a little bit, but it's okay." I am SO glad I wasn't awake when they removed the glass from my leg! "Who bombed Portport? Did they catch anyone?" I inquired.
"They're still investigating. A royal guard would like to ask a few questions about the incident if you feel well enough." I gave him another thumbs up. "Sure." The doctor left, inviting in the short skeleton from before. "Did you find him?" I asked, he looked up at me in surprise. "I remember what she said before Arfer carried me away," I explained with an apologetic smile. "So, whoever he was, did you find him?" I asked again. "Yeah! Actually found him here, helping someone else that had been there. Scared the jeepers outta me, when I found his phone crushed in the rubble I thought..." I nodded. "I'm glad you found him." He slumped in a chair next to my bed tiredly. "So, what do you remember of the incident?" He prompted. "There were protestors outside, as usual, I ignored them. Figured I wouldn't see them much anymore anyway, I'm moving to Carebreeze Harbor." He quickly jotted down some notes. "Name?" I gave him my full name, police reports are important. Royal Guards are like the monster police. "There was a woman having a seizure on the floor when I got through the portal. I hope she's okay!" I commented. "Description of her?" I looked at him curiously. "I wasn't allowed to get too close. She was caucasian, heavily tanned, black hair was done in a fancy braid." The skeleton eye lights went out as if someone had flipped a switch. "Sounds like the lady my brother was helping." He explained when I fell quiet. "Oh, she's alive too then! That's good." I sighed. "I walked off to go get my luggage when the explosions knocked me into a wall." Sans focused on me intently. "Multiple?" I nodded my head. "One way behind me, when I turned to look the other one was close enough that it knocked me into a wall. It must have been in one of the bags on the belt." I concluded. "I don't remember much else, woke up with a wall on top of me." He thanked me, finishing up his notes.
"Hold still." I gave him an unimpressed look as one eyesocket lit up a threatening blue. He was checking my stats and LV. "Dude, that's a huge invasion of privacy. Ask me to dinner first." I joked to break the nervous tension. Was this even legal without consent? Am I a suspect in the investigation? He chuckled a bit, relaxing. "Sorry." He didn't sound sorry at all. "Make it up to you at Grillby's sometime? I'll put it on my tab." He actually WAS asking me to dinner...?! I was joking! "Grillby?" I hadn't heard of the place. He stood up, ready to leave. "It's a nice burger and fries joint with a really hot bartender." He laughed as if he had just told a hilarious joke. I shrugged. "Sure, why not?" I wasn't about to say no to free food. "My stuff is back at PortPort though," I admitted. He looked over his shoulder at me. "I'll let the clean-up crew know." He disappeared. I mean that literally. I blinked, and he was gone. Wait a minute, how is he going to contact me? My cellphone number isn't going to do any good, buried under the rubble! Did I just get ghosted? Oh well. He did save my life.
Getting out of the hospital was going to be trouble. They let me use the hospital phone to call my new roommate. "Chatty! I'm at the hospital, I'm okay! I need you to bring me some clothes. Mine are ruined." I explained quickly. "VICKI! It's all over the News! How badly are you hurt?! I'm glad you're alive! I'll be RIGHT there!" She hung up before I could even answer. Well, let's hope she remembers to bring clothes. In no time at all she arrived, handing me an outfit from her own closet instead of mine. They were more form-fitting than I would have preferred. There was no choice if I wanted to go home. "I can't believe you made me wear a crop top to get out of the hospital."
Chatty just laughed. "You look so good though! We should hit the town!" I shrugged. "No ID, no fun." I sighed. Chatty huffed. "We have to celebrate somewhere after we get your ID back though." I smiled, an idea already forming.
"Have you heard of Grillby's? A skeleton mentioned it at the hospital." I inquired. "Grillby's is a perfect idea!" Chatty grinned fiercely.