The thin plexiglass gave way under my blast much easier than I had expected. Fueled by adrenaline and sheer excitement that holy crap I'm almost free, I looked at the ground once, stepped back a few steps, and jumped.
My feet, encased in nothing but thin socks, sailed through the air, and for a moment I was around in midair, I saw that the guards had finally, finally started moving again. One of them yelled at the other in some language I didn't understand, and they both started shooting.
The bullets seemed to move in slow motion, and I was able to throw up a shield that they pinged harmlessly off of before my back smacked against the ground with a great thud.
My chest seemed to pulse once, and the shield fizzled out as I realized what was happening.
The magic was giving me its own strength.
In mere seconds, I was left with nothing but a dull headache. Seconds more, and I was perfectly healed again.
The men started shooting at me again, and more spilled from the hospital's front entryway, all of them opening fire towards me. I put up another shield, this one considerably duller than the last, and pushed myself to my feet as I tried to move closer to the hospital.
Maintaining a magic shield with one hand was hard, but attempting to conjure and properly shoot balls of the same magic with the other was definitely impossible.
I decided to start running, the orb in my right hand fizzing out as I ran to my left, circling around the hospital with a wide berth. The soldiers followed, but I was running in zig-zags and they all seemed more scared of losing their lives than their jobs, and I'm sure none of them were great aims anyways.
When I finally reached the back of the hospital, I watched the violet glow condense into the palms of both my hands and form a pretty decent-sized death ball.
Perfect for my current needs.
Launching it through the back door, I immediately formed another shield to cover my body, blocking the heavy gunfire that was now landing dangerously close to me now that I was stationary. After a few seconds, I started running again, my almost-bare feet pounding against the cement as I raced toward one of the ambulances in the parking lot. I got lucky again, the keys were already in the ignition and it had no alarms.
Having absolutely no idea how to drive, I slammed on the first pedal my foot touched and was sent flying forwards, the vehicle leaping over a curb and veering unsteadily on the road.
I had no idea what to do, no idea where to go, and there were no doubts I had a bounty on my head. Taking a moment to relax and realize I still needed to put on my seatbelt, I noticed the marking on my arm where I had injected the cure. Purple light coalesced around the small hole, a tiny bruise already beginning to form from the intensity of which the needle went in.
I sped up a bit, my foot pressing the pedal down as far as it would go and laughing when my heart began to beat wildly.
I glanced into the rearview mirror for the first time, my hands immediately clenching on the steering wheel at the sight that greeted me.
It was a girl who looked ghastly pale and thin, with vibrant glowing purple eyes and hair that were fading to brown and black by the second. It took me a moment to realize she was me, and by that time I had begun to veer off the road badly.
Yanking the steering wheel back on course, I released a hand to run it through my wildly off-color hair. My fingers snagged on tangles, and I started trying to comb through it for a few minutes before realizing it was pointless.
My mouth hung open stupidly, the glowing purple eyes of the girl that couldn't have been me staring back every time I blinked. My stomach began to growl dangerously, as if I hadn't eaten in days.
I stayed on the road like that for a few minutes before seeming to finally snap out of it, and then I slowed to a stop on the side of the dull, cracked asphalt.
This was an ambulance, after all- it probably had some kind of food in it. And a hairbrush, somewhere. Any maybe shoes.
I opened as many compartments as I could find, looting the front seat for supplies before moving to the back compartment, where a patient would be kept. The doors swung open after a little tugging, and I managed to find a small plastic container of different types of granola bars, a couple gallons of water, a bag of disposable combs, and an E.M.T. suit that looked a couple sizes too big on me but would work with a belt and rolled-up cuffs.
Fifteen minutes later and I was back on the road, this time with clean clothes, tangle-free hair, and a full stomach. The initial adrenaline from breaking out of the hospital and stealing an ambulance was beginning to wear off, and I found it harder and harder to stay awake. It wasn't like driving was helping me much, since the road and all its surroundings were the exact same, so I took it upon myself to start up a one-person game of I Spy.
I spy something brown.
Is it the road?
You guessed it! It's the road.
The game quickly ended once I realized I was extremely limited in things I can spy.
I sighed, shaking the leg that wasn't pressed on the gas pedal and tapping my fingers against the steering wheel.
It was going to be a long drive.