Death of a Dream: A New Awakening
Chapter II: Picking up the Shards
The plate had fallen…all the way this time. Anyone left under the slums, dead or alive…was now worm food. For a good 15 minutes Jessie and I sat in silence until a small moan came from Wedge. He started gurbling incoherently and Jessie went over to him. I kicked an empty bullet shell around for a bit.
"So what now?" I asked. Jessie was busy wiping the blood off of Wedge's forehead.
"There's a hospital in Wall Market. Let's go there. I'm sure one of us has at least a ruptured spleen," she stated. "Get over here…I need some help carrying him."
Wedge made little protest when I put one of his arms over my shoulder and we both hauled him over the debris that littered the playground. I could see 3 sets of footprints in the dust that I knew had to have belonged to our friends. I was still in shock, not from the pain but just mentally. We were probably the only survivors of that accident. No. It wasn't an accident, it was a massacre. They were going to probably blame it on AVALANCHE too. Hn. Well, we aren't that easy to get rid of. It's like trying to get rid of cockroaches by stepping on them.
We made it into Wall Market a few minutes later. The civilians ran up to us, they seemed surprised that we survived. We were led to the hospital by the mob of people. Once inside they took Wedge to their Emergency Room. Jessie and I were lead into separate examination rooms.
The interior of the room wasn't too shabby, considering that it was in the Slums of Wall Market. I suppose out of all the places in the Slums, this had to be the classiest…which wasn't saying much. The physician knocked once then creaked the door open.
Well, stuff happened. He looked me over good then decided that aside from a few cuts and bruises I was fine. That was good to know. I thought I had brain damage for a sec there. He got up from his chair.
"I'm going to go check on your friend next door. Feel free to wait in the waiting room," he said, then walked out the door.
"Alright, thanks." I muttered, then followed him out of the room.
As I sat in the waiting room, I started thinking about things that had happened in the past. Meeting Cloud, the two reactor bombings, the pillar assault, nearly getting killed not once, but twice. Wedge got killed once, but I got there in time to revive him. But now, he could die again and there wasn't a damned thing I could do about it. And what about Jessie? She could have internal injuries. I could lose both of my best friends while I just sit by and watch.
Jessie walked out some time after my train of thought began. She had a slight limp in her left leg. She came over and sat next to me and sighed, her head down.
"So?"
"…Nothing wrong with me. You?"
"Same."
"Good."
Silence. Lots of silence. Oh…blandness.
"Think Wedge'll be okay?" I asked.
"Wouldn't know…" Jessie replied, still looking down.
"…Oh. Okay." I think now would be a good time to shut up. Well, maybe one last thing. I got up. "I'm going to rent us a room at the inn. I'll be back.
"…okay."