Next chapter up and ready to go! Cloud 9 owns The Tribe, not
me. R/r!!
Chapter 4: The Toll of Technology
There were only two people in the room now, Pride, and Jay who was working on the fire. Pride appeared to be asleep, and even with all the craziness going on, who could blame him for sleeping? The man was near death, no matter how much of a brave face he put on, he was right on the edge. Jay felt so sorry for him, but at the same time he felt incredibly angry and deceived by this act on innocent people. He was supposed to be the general, he was supposed to know about these things, and yet he was kept in the dark. Finally the spark caught and the fire was going.
"Why are you doing this?" Pride asked with his eyes still closed. Jay turned from his kneeling position and looked at the battered soldier.
"I thought you were asleep," he avoided the question, and Pride opened his eyes.
"No, just clearing my thoughts. So why are you doing this?" he repeated his unanswered question.
"I figure that I owe you my life, so I might as well help out," it was the truth, but to the wrong question, which made Pride give a little laugh.
"You know that's not what I meant."
"I thought," Jay began as he stood up and brushed his hands on his pants, "That the Technos were able to do some good for the world, I figured that if I got high enough in ranks that I could sway Ram into making schools, and hospitals, you know things like that," he crossed his arms, "But ever since we came here, I've gotten the impression that the Technos aren't going to do anything positive, and this incident just proved that."
"What about your brother?"
"Ved?" he sighed, "Ved is---he is the type of person who gets really into something, like if he starts a book he won't stop reading it until he is done, not that he reads all that often. He's a good kid, but he is so drastic sometimes."
"But you think this whole thing will bring him over to our side?"
"Maybe, but who can tell with him?" at that moment the rest of the group walked in, all with anxious looks on their faces. Salene moved so that she was on his right, as close to the wall as she could get so that Patch would have room to work.
"You sure about this?" Patch asked as he put on a pair of very thick gloves. Pride simply nodded. "If you say so," with a pair of tongs he took the stone and began to heat it over the fire, "It shouldn't take long," in the void of time in which the rock was heating, everyone knew that somebody should say something, anything, but they just didn't know how to put their fears into words. This was the only way, but it seemed so unnecessarily painful, as if it were a type of torture. Patch took the stone off the fire to reveal a slight redness to it.
"I can't watch this," Ebony stormed out of the room just thinking about what was about to happen.
"I better go make sure she's okay," Jay gave Pride a quick reassuring nod and also left the room.
"Here, bite down on this," Salene handed him a piece of wood wrapped in clean cloth, which he accepted and placed in his mouth. She took his hand, knowing perfectly well that in the midst of this medical tactic he may end up breaking every bone in it.
"Okay, here we go," he carefully lowered the stone onto Prides wound, making his body jolt with the instant pain. Patch took the tongs away and let the flesh burn.
"It'll be okay, it'll be over soon," Salene kept muttering these words to him, though he wasn't listening. The sensation was so unbearable that it was like all his senses were turned off; he couldn't here anything, his eyes were shut tightly so he couldn't see anything, and he couldn't even feel Salene's hand in his due to the suffering that he was enduring. He but down into the wood in his mouth, grateful that is was there, or else he might end up biting off his own tongue. Pride could feel pressure being lightly put on the stone so that it went over all of the injury, he figured it was Patch's doing. He kept expecting it to go away, but it did not, even after the stone was removed the pain lingered, and as the cool air hit it, the pain worsened. Just like a burn that one would sustain from a hot stove top, the pain doesn't fully hit you until after the initial shock of it. The wood dropped from his mouth as the pain lessened, but was replaced by the new pain of the "post operation."
"Isn't there something you can do?!" Amber yelled from the corner as she watched her friends suffer. He had been there during her time of suffering, it was just a shame that she couldn't do the same, she just didn't know how.
"What?" Patch snapped back to life, tearing his gaze away from the blackened part of flesh, "Oh! Yes, of course," he quickly began to rummage through his bag and pulled out two things; one being a syringe, and the other being a small bottle of liquid. "Morphine, it should help with the pain, maybe nock him out," he took Prides arm and found a vain at his elbow.
"Wait!" Salene put her free hand on his shoulder, "How do you know how much to use? Couldn't too much kill him?" she remembered hearing this from the doctors when her parents had gotten the virus.
"Well, I suppose that-" he honestly didn't know, he had just planned on estimating.
"You're telling me that you don't know how much to use and you were about to stick that needle into him?!" she was furious that after all this, he would gamble away Pride's life.
"I know how much to use," came Jay's voice as he re entered the room and hastily pushed Patch out of the way.
"I thought you were looking after Ebony?" Amber asked with a hint of jealousy in her voice. He shot her a look and if he were saying 'you know very well this is not the time or place to talk about it.'
"Ebony can take care of herself," he remarked as he stuck the needle into Pride's arm, first taking a little blood and then injecting the medicine. Salene looked away, she had always hated shots, it just seemed so wrong to purposely stick any sharp object into one's self. Almost immediately she felt his hand loosen it's tight grip as he fell into a state of unconsciousness.
"Where did you learn to do that?" questioned a curious Patch.
"Around," Jay answered all too quickly, "He'll be up in a few hours, I didn't give him all that much and s-" he stopped and looked at the raw burn, "That was on purpose I suppose?" he smiled as he asked this question to Salene who gave a weary smile back.
"I thought he would appreciate it," she gently put Pride's hand to his side.
"He will," agreed Amber who had taken a step forward to get a better view.
"More so than what it could look like you mean," it wasn't a question, it was a statement. He turned his attention to Patch, "Can you bandage him up?"
"Sure," Patch seemed unsure of himself once again; when he was playing doctor, Patch was all business, but when he was just himself and given orders, he wasn't very confident. Reaching into his bag, he pulled out the materials that he would need, including a bottle of ointment.
"If you don't mind me asking, "Amber narrowed her eyes suspiciously, "Where did you get all this stuff?" he gave a little smile.
"Sometimes the smallest tribes have the easiest time getting their demands," he said very simply, "Now if you all don't mind," his bit of secrecy renewed some of his vigor, "The patient needs his rest, so out!" Jay and Amber complied, But Salene just stood there, "Salene?"
"Please just let me stay, I promise I won't be a bother," she looked at him with the pleading expression she had used so much in the past two days.
"Fine," he groaned and set to work. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------
Ebony sat in the kitchen as the others came in after being shooed away by Patch. She was staring down into his mug of water, her hands were shaking.
"I never thought you the type to get scared off by something like that," Amber said cruelly as she too sat down. Ebony just looked at her in an unbelieving way.
"Do you really want to get at it now?!" she demanded, "After all of our friends were killed in cold blood?!"
"No," Amber replied quietly, feeling a little ashamed of herself, "You're right."
"Besides," Ebony continued, "I'm not the kind of person to get scared off by gore, if that's what you meant, but I am the type of person to get scared off when somebody is suffering because of something I did."
"What do you mean?" Jay sounded very serious and even a little angry, "What did you do?!"
"I didn't know that this would happen," tears were welding up in her eyes, "I was just trying to convince Ram that I hated the Mall Rats, so I told him about all the things we had done, and that I wasn't really involved. I had no idea that he would-"
"Well you should have!" Jay snapped, "You can't say things like that to Ram, you don't know him like I know him! He must have gotten the idea that the Mall Rats are a threat, and he eliminates threats!" he threw his hands up in frustration and began to walk towards the exit.
"Where are you going?" Ebony was starting to cry.
"To inform Ved and Siva about what's happened, somebody's got to," he slammed the door on the way out.
"Way to go," Amber rose from her seat.
"And you?"
"I'm going to check on Mouse, tell her that Pride's all right," she shot Ebony a glare before disappearing out of her sight. Ebony buried her head in her hands and wept. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------
A few hours later, Salene sat in Pride's room, where Patch's bag had been earlier and held Pride's hand once more. The lights in the room had been turned off, dimming the room a little, but natural sunlight still seemed to seep it's was in. Patch had left her alone after he finished the bandaging; it wasn't much, but it would work. She was so sleepy, this whole experience had exhausted her. Even in the little time she had slept, she wasn't truly sleeping, because her mind was running a mile a minute worrying about Pride. It was her fault that he was in this position; no matter how much anybody tried to convince her otherwise, it was her fault. If she had been faster, she would have made it out with Mouse, and then Jay and Ebony would have come to the rescue as Pride and Amber fought them off, and everything would be okay. He took the blast for her, and this made her so sad, but then again, he took the blast for her, because he loved her---It was weird to think, he loved her, and she loved him more than she had anyone else. She would always play second fiddle to Amber though, she kept thinking over and over again, but then something occurred to her; both Pride and Amber were fighting, and they were both at risk for getting zapped, and yet not once did he go to her rescue; not once did he take a hit for her; could it be that Salene was playing second fiddle to nobody? It certainly seemed that way, and yet look where it got them.
"Hey," came a sleepy voice from the bed. He was awake and looking right at her, how long had he been staring like that?
"Hey," she smiled, "How are you feeling?" it took him a moment to answer, as if he were assessing himself.
"Numb," he finally replied. Pride tried to sit up, but immediately found out that sitting sup wasn't the best idea. She couldn't help but give a little giggle.
"You never learn do you?" but just to spite her, he managed to sit up after a minute of struggling, "I'm impressed."
"What that I proved you wrong?" he gave a little smirk.
"No, I'm impressed that after having been severely burned, and then shot up with Morphine, that you were able to be in the state of mind to prove me wrong," it was just a complicated way of saying 'yes, but I'm not admitting it.'
"I recover very quickly," he assured her.
"Uh huh," she laughed again, "And when the medicine finally does lose its effect, you probably won't remember a word of this conversation."
"You sure about that, when did you become a doctor anyway?" he was teasing! Of all the times to be a teasing flirt, he does it when he doesn't even know what the hell he's saying!
"I'm more of a nurse I think," she thought it best to humor him.
"You know I really did like you're idea about leaving," he was beginning to fall back to sleep again, "Just you and me in nature, maybe we could bring Mouse along."
"That sounds wonderful," she stood up and drew the covers back up, they had slipped when he was struggling to sit up.
"One big," his eyes were closing slowly, "One big happy family," with that he fell asleep once more, but his words had effect on her. Pride may have been completely out of it, but it was sort of like when a person is drunk: the truth comes out. Perhaps it was the same case here, and if so, then he wanted to settle down, with her. Salene kissed him on the forehead and decided to leave the room, something told her that he would be just fine. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------
Salene entered the kitchen, but was surprised by the two added faces amongst the crowd. There was Siva crying her eyes out and being comforted by Ebony of all people! They were sisters, and perhaps it just took a tragedy like this to remind them. The second person was Ved, but he wasn't crying, or looking for comfort, he just sat there staring off into space. He had the face of a boy, but behind that mask there wasn't a boy, no there was a man who had been forced to grow up too quickly. He looked utterly destroyed and defeated, and Salene could have guessed that he wouldn't at all mind being reunited with Cloe in death. Jay was leaning against the refrigerator, with the same distant look as his brother. Patch, and Amber were nowhere to be seen.
"He woke up a moment ago," Salene informed them quietly. She didn't know how to console them, what to say to ease the pain, she decided to leave that to their family. She remembered that when she was young, and her parents were still alive, what they would do to help her, and though it sounded stupid, it always did, so she got to work on making some hot tea. The silence as this process was happening was simply eerie, but was broken:
"I always knew there was no difference between Technos and Virts," Ved said still looking off into the distance, everyone was no looking at him and Siva had stopped crying for a moment, "But for a while I convinced myself that we were better," he paused, "To Ram, these are just deleted files. Oh god where did we go wrong?"
To Be Continued
Now I bet you're wondering, "What was up with the burn? Why will Pride appreciate it?" Well, I was going to put it in this chapter, but changed my mind mwhaha. Sorry if any of it doesn't make sense, it is 1:57am, but r/r anyway please.
Chapter 4: The Toll of Technology
There were only two people in the room now, Pride, and Jay who was working on the fire. Pride appeared to be asleep, and even with all the craziness going on, who could blame him for sleeping? The man was near death, no matter how much of a brave face he put on, he was right on the edge. Jay felt so sorry for him, but at the same time he felt incredibly angry and deceived by this act on innocent people. He was supposed to be the general, he was supposed to know about these things, and yet he was kept in the dark. Finally the spark caught and the fire was going.
"Why are you doing this?" Pride asked with his eyes still closed. Jay turned from his kneeling position and looked at the battered soldier.
"I thought you were asleep," he avoided the question, and Pride opened his eyes.
"No, just clearing my thoughts. So why are you doing this?" he repeated his unanswered question.
"I figure that I owe you my life, so I might as well help out," it was the truth, but to the wrong question, which made Pride give a little laugh.
"You know that's not what I meant."
"I thought," Jay began as he stood up and brushed his hands on his pants, "That the Technos were able to do some good for the world, I figured that if I got high enough in ranks that I could sway Ram into making schools, and hospitals, you know things like that," he crossed his arms, "But ever since we came here, I've gotten the impression that the Technos aren't going to do anything positive, and this incident just proved that."
"What about your brother?"
"Ved?" he sighed, "Ved is---he is the type of person who gets really into something, like if he starts a book he won't stop reading it until he is done, not that he reads all that often. He's a good kid, but he is so drastic sometimes."
"But you think this whole thing will bring him over to our side?"
"Maybe, but who can tell with him?" at that moment the rest of the group walked in, all with anxious looks on their faces. Salene moved so that she was on his right, as close to the wall as she could get so that Patch would have room to work.
"You sure about this?" Patch asked as he put on a pair of very thick gloves. Pride simply nodded. "If you say so," with a pair of tongs he took the stone and began to heat it over the fire, "It shouldn't take long," in the void of time in which the rock was heating, everyone knew that somebody should say something, anything, but they just didn't know how to put their fears into words. This was the only way, but it seemed so unnecessarily painful, as if it were a type of torture. Patch took the stone off the fire to reveal a slight redness to it.
"I can't watch this," Ebony stormed out of the room just thinking about what was about to happen.
"I better go make sure she's okay," Jay gave Pride a quick reassuring nod and also left the room.
"Here, bite down on this," Salene handed him a piece of wood wrapped in clean cloth, which he accepted and placed in his mouth. She took his hand, knowing perfectly well that in the midst of this medical tactic he may end up breaking every bone in it.
"Okay, here we go," he carefully lowered the stone onto Prides wound, making his body jolt with the instant pain. Patch took the tongs away and let the flesh burn.
"It'll be okay, it'll be over soon," Salene kept muttering these words to him, though he wasn't listening. The sensation was so unbearable that it was like all his senses were turned off; he couldn't here anything, his eyes were shut tightly so he couldn't see anything, and he couldn't even feel Salene's hand in his due to the suffering that he was enduring. He but down into the wood in his mouth, grateful that is was there, or else he might end up biting off his own tongue. Pride could feel pressure being lightly put on the stone so that it went over all of the injury, he figured it was Patch's doing. He kept expecting it to go away, but it did not, even after the stone was removed the pain lingered, and as the cool air hit it, the pain worsened. Just like a burn that one would sustain from a hot stove top, the pain doesn't fully hit you until after the initial shock of it. The wood dropped from his mouth as the pain lessened, but was replaced by the new pain of the "post operation."
"Isn't there something you can do?!" Amber yelled from the corner as she watched her friends suffer. He had been there during her time of suffering, it was just a shame that she couldn't do the same, she just didn't know how.
"What?" Patch snapped back to life, tearing his gaze away from the blackened part of flesh, "Oh! Yes, of course," he quickly began to rummage through his bag and pulled out two things; one being a syringe, and the other being a small bottle of liquid. "Morphine, it should help with the pain, maybe nock him out," he took Prides arm and found a vain at his elbow.
"Wait!" Salene put her free hand on his shoulder, "How do you know how much to use? Couldn't too much kill him?" she remembered hearing this from the doctors when her parents had gotten the virus.
"Well, I suppose that-" he honestly didn't know, he had just planned on estimating.
"You're telling me that you don't know how much to use and you were about to stick that needle into him?!" she was furious that after all this, he would gamble away Pride's life.
"I know how much to use," came Jay's voice as he re entered the room and hastily pushed Patch out of the way.
"I thought you were looking after Ebony?" Amber asked with a hint of jealousy in her voice. He shot her a look and if he were saying 'you know very well this is not the time or place to talk about it.'
"Ebony can take care of herself," he remarked as he stuck the needle into Pride's arm, first taking a little blood and then injecting the medicine. Salene looked away, she had always hated shots, it just seemed so wrong to purposely stick any sharp object into one's self. Almost immediately she felt his hand loosen it's tight grip as he fell into a state of unconsciousness.
"Where did you learn to do that?" questioned a curious Patch.
"Around," Jay answered all too quickly, "He'll be up in a few hours, I didn't give him all that much and s-" he stopped and looked at the raw burn, "That was on purpose I suppose?" he smiled as he asked this question to Salene who gave a weary smile back.
"I thought he would appreciate it," she gently put Pride's hand to his side.
"He will," agreed Amber who had taken a step forward to get a better view.
"More so than what it could look like you mean," it wasn't a question, it was a statement. He turned his attention to Patch, "Can you bandage him up?"
"Sure," Patch seemed unsure of himself once again; when he was playing doctor, Patch was all business, but when he was just himself and given orders, he wasn't very confident. Reaching into his bag, he pulled out the materials that he would need, including a bottle of ointment.
"If you don't mind me asking, "Amber narrowed her eyes suspiciously, "Where did you get all this stuff?" he gave a little smile.
"Sometimes the smallest tribes have the easiest time getting their demands," he said very simply, "Now if you all don't mind," his bit of secrecy renewed some of his vigor, "The patient needs his rest, so out!" Jay and Amber complied, But Salene just stood there, "Salene?"
"Please just let me stay, I promise I won't be a bother," she looked at him with the pleading expression she had used so much in the past two days.
"Fine," he groaned and set to work. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------
Ebony sat in the kitchen as the others came in after being shooed away by Patch. She was staring down into his mug of water, her hands were shaking.
"I never thought you the type to get scared off by something like that," Amber said cruelly as she too sat down. Ebony just looked at her in an unbelieving way.
"Do you really want to get at it now?!" she demanded, "After all of our friends were killed in cold blood?!"
"No," Amber replied quietly, feeling a little ashamed of herself, "You're right."
"Besides," Ebony continued, "I'm not the kind of person to get scared off by gore, if that's what you meant, but I am the type of person to get scared off when somebody is suffering because of something I did."
"What do you mean?" Jay sounded very serious and even a little angry, "What did you do?!"
"I didn't know that this would happen," tears were welding up in her eyes, "I was just trying to convince Ram that I hated the Mall Rats, so I told him about all the things we had done, and that I wasn't really involved. I had no idea that he would-"
"Well you should have!" Jay snapped, "You can't say things like that to Ram, you don't know him like I know him! He must have gotten the idea that the Mall Rats are a threat, and he eliminates threats!" he threw his hands up in frustration and began to walk towards the exit.
"Where are you going?" Ebony was starting to cry.
"To inform Ved and Siva about what's happened, somebody's got to," he slammed the door on the way out.
"Way to go," Amber rose from her seat.
"And you?"
"I'm going to check on Mouse, tell her that Pride's all right," she shot Ebony a glare before disappearing out of her sight. Ebony buried her head in her hands and wept. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------
A few hours later, Salene sat in Pride's room, where Patch's bag had been earlier and held Pride's hand once more. The lights in the room had been turned off, dimming the room a little, but natural sunlight still seemed to seep it's was in. Patch had left her alone after he finished the bandaging; it wasn't much, but it would work. She was so sleepy, this whole experience had exhausted her. Even in the little time she had slept, she wasn't truly sleeping, because her mind was running a mile a minute worrying about Pride. It was her fault that he was in this position; no matter how much anybody tried to convince her otherwise, it was her fault. If she had been faster, she would have made it out with Mouse, and then Jay and Ebony would have come to the rescue as Pride and Amber fought them off, and everything would be okay. He took the blast for her, and this made her so sad, but then again, he took the blast for her, because he loved her---It was weird to think, he loved her, and she loved him more than she had anyone else. She would always play second fiddle to Amber though, she kept thinking over and over again, but then something occurred to her; both Pride and Amber were fighting, and they were both at risk for getting zapped, and yet not once did he go to her rescue; not once did he take a hit for her; could it be that Salene was playing second fiddle to nobody? It certainly seemed that way, and yet look where it got them.
"Hey," came a sleepy voice from the bed. He was awake and looking right at her, how long had he been staring like that?
"Hey," she smiled, "How are you feeling?" it took him a moment to answer, as if he were assessing himself.
"Numb," he finally replied. Pride tried to sit up, but immediately found out that sitting sup wasn't the best idea. She couldn't help but give a little giggle.
"You never learn do you?" but just to spite her, he managed to sit up after a minute of struggling, "I'm impressed."
"What that I proved you wrong?" he gave a little smirk.
"No, I'm impressed that after having been severely burned, and then shot up with Morphine, that you were able to be in the state of mind to prove me wrong," it was just a complicated way of saying 'yes, but I'm not admitting it.'
"I recover very quickly," he assured her.
"Uh huh," she laughed again, "And when the medicine finally does lose its effect, you probably won't remember a word of this conversation."
"You sure about that, when did you become a doctor anyway?" he was teasing! Of all the times to be a teasing flirt, he does it when he doesn't even know what the hell he's saying!
"I'm more of a nurse I think," she thought it best to humor him.
"You know I really did like you're idea about leaving," he was beginning to fall back to sleep again, "Just you and me in nature, maybe we could bring Mouse along."
"That sounds wonderful," she stood up and drew the covers back up, they had slipped when he was struggling to sit up.
"One big," his eyes were closing slowly, "One big happy family," with that he fell asleep once more, but his words had effect on her. Pride may have been completely out of it, but it was sort of like when a person is drunk: the truth comes out. Perhaps it was the same case here, and if so, then he wanted to settle down, with her. Salene kissed him on the forehead and decided to leave the room, something told her that he would be just fine. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------
Salene entered the kitchen, but was surprised by the two added faces amongst the crowd. There was Siva crying her eyes out and being comforted by Ebony of all people! They were sisters, and perhaps it just took a tragedy like this to remind them. The second person was Ved, but he wasn't crying, or looking for comfort, he just sat there staring off into space. He had the face of a boy, but behind that mask there wasn't a boy, no there was a man who had been forced to grow up too quickly. He looked utterly destroyed and defeated, and Salene could have guessed that he wouldn't at all mind being reunited with Cloe in death. Jay was leaning against the refrigerator, with the same distant look as his brother. Patch, and Amber were nowhere to be seen.
"He woke up a moment ago," Salene informed them quietly. She didn't know how to console them, what to say to ease the pain, she decided to leave that to their family. She remembered that when she was young, and her parents were still alive, what they would do to help her, and though it sounded stupid, it always did, so she got to work on making some hot tea. The silence as this process was happening was simply eerie, but was broken:
"I always knew there was no difference between Technos and Virts," Ved said still looking off into the distance, everyone was no looking at him and Siva had stopped crying for a moment, "But for a while I convinced myself that we were better," he paused, "To Ram, these are just deleted files. Oh god where did we go wrong?"
To Be Continued
Now I bet you're wondering, "What was up with the burn? Why will Pride appreciate it?" Well, I was going to put it in this chapter, but changed my mind mwhaha. Sorry if any of it doesn't make sense, it is 1:57am, but r/r anyway please.
