Chapter #12
I felt my head clearing of the fog that clouded it. I felt like I couldn't move—I had no strength in me at all. I let out a short groan as I felt a wet cloth being laid on my forehead. I opened my eyes slightly to see a blurred figure looking down at me. "Seadra?" I couldn't make out who it was. I felt weak and I closed my eyes again. I was tired. I couldn't remember anything.
The next time I woke up that I could remember, I felt the same way as before. Tired and weak. I felt like I had a rock on my chest and it was very uncomfortable as you could imagine. I didn't feel like I could talk, so once again, I let out a short groan to get some attention. I didn't even know if anyone was there. I couldn't see anyone around me, and even if someone was there, my vision was too blurred to make them out. The air felt cold and damp, like a forest in the morning. Except for one big difference--it wasn't fresh, the air had a horrible stench.
"Why is it you're always the last one to wake up, Seadra?" I heard a muffled voice laugh from my right. I closed my eyes for a moment then opened them. My vision was slowly starting to clear up. I could see someone sitting down on a wooden bench across the dark, concrete room I found myself. I was lying down, but I didn't know where.
I groaned, "Could you get this rock off me?" I asked in a rough tone—my throat was dry. I knew who it was—it was Andy. I could make out her blond bangs and flaming red hair. I was becoming more aware of my surroundings. I was in a small room with concrete walls. It was cold and damp and it had a strange odor. It wasn't until then I remembered what had happened. Andy, Carol, Victoria and I were attacked by Kilindas. Mason had betrayed us and killed Victoria right infront of us all.
Andy got up from the wooden bench and walked over to me. "It ain't no rock." She said in a course tone, "don't touch it—it's a cast." It wasn't until then I noticed my Raichu and her Ninetales sleeping on the bench she was on. I guessed the Kilindas let us keep them for now.
I sighed and closed my eyes again. I remembered the huge; deep cut on my side that nearly made me vomit. My side was hurting really bad a that moment. "Cast?" I asked in a husky voice. My throat felt dry like a barren desert and my stomach was empty.
"The Kilindas bandaged you up," Andy replied as she ran her hands through my hair, "they want to keep us alive." She sighed as she brushed away a few stands of my blond hair from my face.
"Why?" I asked. I thought they would've wanted us dead rather than alive and well. It seemed very odd to me that they would want to keep us alive.
Again, Andy sighed, "Apparently when we used our pokemon abilities, they decided if they found out how we got them, they could use us to help them. They see us as nothing but tools—objects to help them get themselves rich. Kilindas never fail to sicken me." She paused for a short moment, then spoke again, "Oh well Only a Rukonian can survive the power of the Orb of Mew anyways Hopefully they'll just kill themselves trying to get our power"
I decided not to talk about that anymore. I looked around a bit, trying to figure out where Carol was. I could remember her screams and tears she let out as she laid by Victoria's dead body. Thinking about it made my stomach turn. I closed my eyes tightly, releasing a tear from one eye. Victoria was gone. "Where" I started, "where's Carol?" I asked. I couldn't see her anywhere from where I was. I was lying in some sort of bed with a blanket draped over me.
"Witnessing Victoria being killed really got to her" Andy's voice was slightly breaking down. I knew she and Victoria were close. We were all close to Victoria—she was our big sister. "She keeps getting visions of it over and over again... She kept screaming and crying when she was here... So the Kilindas took her out to get her therapy." Andy explained as her Ninetales hopped off the wooden bench and nuzzled up against her leg. "I haven't heard any news on her for two days..." She sighed.
I paused for a moment. I could've sworn I heard Andy say two days'. "What do you mean?" I asked, I attempted to lift myself up, but my side hurt too much to do so, so I had to stay put. "How long have we been here?" I was confused—I remembered waking up a couple times but drifting back to sleep soon after. I felt really thirsty and hungry. I guessed I had been out for more than one day.
Andy looked over to me and smiled slightly, "Oh yeah, you've been out for almost four days now." She said casually as she stroked her Ninetales' fur coat gingerly. "You kept waking up and falling asleep right after. Sometimes you would wake up screaming then be out like a light a second after. You've been delirious, had a bad fever." She explained as her Ninetales returned to my Raichu. It was still sleeping and I wondered if it was hurt at all. "The doctor will be here soon," Andy continued, "He checks on us often. He's just going to see how your wound is healing basically." Andy paused for a moment; "You must be hungry." She said. I had been waiting for her to ask that question for a while.
I nodded, "Yeah" Andy smiled and told me that she would get me some food, but I shouldn't expect anything good. She explained to me that we got cheep sandwiches and plain water and that was it. I didn't care though; I was hungry enough to eat almost anything. I closed my eyes for a moment. My side was hurting like hell still, I could feel the pain on my skin where it was split and inside my body where the knife had cut deep into. It was a horrible feeling. Again, I drifted off to a painful sleep.
I awoke soon after. My cheek was being tapped gently by an elderly man. He had blue eyes, a short mustache and white hair. His face was covered by wrinkles. "Hello," he smiled down at me when I finally opened my eyes. My throat was hurting now from being so dry and I didn't feel like I could talk—so I didn't say anything.
"I'm just going to check your injury, girl." He said in a soft tone as he removed the blanket from over me. I was hit by the cold air of the room and it startled me. Goosebumps covered my skin where my clothes did not cover. I was in the same clothes I was in when we were attacked by the Kilindas. My baggy blue jeans and my favorite light blue top that failed to cover my stomach.
I looked over to the other side of the room where Andy was. She was holding one of her biceps with a hand. I then noticed a small needle lying on a small wooden box that was beside her. I guessed she just got some sort of shot. Andy was giving the doctor an angry glare, like the one she used to give Mason all the time. She didn't seem to trust anyone, and I couldn't blame her at all.
Suddenly, I felt the bandage around my waist being removed. I winced in pain as I felt the cloth brush against the huge gash on my side. It hurt, but not as badly as some of the other things I had been through before. For example when my wings were severely damaged in the attack. I remembered hearing the bones in my wings snap, the feathers stained with my own red blood and seeing a broken bone penetrate through one of Andy's wings. My wings were hidden under the skin in my back now. He worked quickly and had the long bandage completely removed in no time. I looked down to the wound to find it had been poorly stitched up. It looked almost as if an amateur had done it. The stitches were all spread out and uneven. I could still see some flesh from the areas where the stitching came undone before it healed.
"Seems to be healing well," the doctor announced as he began to fit on a new bandage. It hurt a lot—I felt like screaming in pain. It was way too tight; it hurt my side horribly. I closed my eyes tightly as he continued to wrap the long white cloth around my waist. My hands had curled into tight fists. It was then I realized this man was not a doctor at all. He was probably just assigned to attempt to be a doctor for us. No way a professional doctor would do things the way he was—making sloppy stitches, wrapping bandages too tightly and making a simple shot hurt enough to piss off a teen like Andy.
Once the man was finished bandaging me up, he literally stabbed a needle in my arm and gave me some sort of medicine. When he was done, he got up and picked up his stuff and left. I was relieved he was gone.
Andy got up and looked down at me, "You okay?" She asked with a concerned tone—like the one Victoria used when I first met her. She looked behind her and picked up a small plate with a single sandwich and a glass of water and offered them to me, "Here, have mine. The doctor didn't bring enough for both of us." She explained.
I was starving. I was about to say thanks but my throat was just too dry to even let me try. I lifted one of my gloved hands and gently tapped my throat it with. I hoped Andy would know what I was trying to tell her. She smiled and seemed to know what I was trying to say. She handed me the glass of water. Unfortunately though, I couldn't drink it lying down; I had to sit up. Andy noticed this and with her assistance, I was able to sit up. My side hurt horribly from it, but I had to drink or else I would dehydrate. I quickly drank down the water as it soothed my throat of the dryness it was suffering. I sighed in relief.
"Thanks," I finally managed to say. My throat was free of its drought and I felt a lot better, even though I was still hungry and hadn't even taken a bite out of the sandwich Andy offered to me. I closed my eyes for a moment and when I opened them, I saw Raichu sitting on the small bed infront of me, smiling.
"Rai!" It chirped happily. It seemed relieved to see me awake. I had been out for almost 4 days and whenever I did wake up, I had a high fever and was delirious. It jumped up and hugged me tightly, waving its powerful tail back and forth like a puppy. Unfortunately, its hug got my side and I had to push it away to stop the pain. Raichu paused and looked at me with an expression filled with hurt. "Chu?"
I sighed, "I'm sorry, Raichu. You just hurt me a bit." I spoke in a soft tone to it; I didn't want to seem rude or mean in anyway. Fortunately though, Raichu understood and made sure to be careful around me for the rest of the day. I finally got to eat the sandwich Andy had given me. Though it didn't fill me up completely and I was still hungry, I felt a lot better and thanked her. Of course, she just shrugged as if it were nothing.
As the day went by, Andy explained everything to me. When I blacked out, we were all taken to the basement of the Kilindas' Head Quarters. They put us all in the small cell we were in currently and didn't feed or care for us at all. I was told that Carol's screams and crying had annoyed the men watching us so they would constantly beat her. It wasn't until one of the founders of the clan had decided we were valuable for our powers when Carol was given the attention she needed. She was looked after for her wounds and was given therapy to help her get through witnessing Victoria's death. The Kilindas also attempted to heal my own wounds, but no doctor wanted to help a Rukonian so they got just anyone to do the job. That explained why my side hurt so much, why the stitches were done so poorly and why the man made my bandage so tight. Andy explained to me that one of the main reasons they wanted us for our powers was because they saw us as tools that could help them trick other Rukonians into trusting us, then leading them straight to the Kilindas. I was sickened by it.
Once again, things were changing. Mason had betrayed us, Victoria was dead, Carol was having troubles controlling her psychic powers and now we were looking forward to becoming slaves for the Kilindas. I knew we were lucky to get our pokemon back, but everything else was gone. The book Andy had given me, the necklace Carol had made for Victoria and even Carol's Pikachu doll. I was told by Andy the Kilindas burnt it in a fire. I was enraged by this—now Carol had nothing. Her Pikachu doll was the last thing she had left from her father and Victoria was the only one she ever truly trusted.
Later on that night, a different male came to our cell and gave us a couple sandwiches, some water and cheep food for our pokemon. He never said anything to our faces, but I heard him mutter crude comments about Rukonians under his breath. When he finally left, Andy threw her glass of water against the hard concrete wall, shattering the glass into tiny pieces.
