Chapter 2
'There is no stability without solidarity and no solidarity without stability.' – Jose Manuel Barrosso
I stared up at the moonlit sky; the obsidian, sun-starved abyss, scattered with kisses of stars from the great frontier beyond. I rolled over in my sleeping bag, the floorboards of the put-me-up home that I resided in dug into my back. I sighed out in discomfort. As I climbed out of my bed I glanced over to Prometheus, my best friend; a Charizard, and when an Umbreon hangs around with a Charizard in this day and age; well, you get looks of disapproval and even mistrusted, often times; you're treated like a raider. I smiled as his tail burned brightly, illuminating the claustrophobic room that encapsulated us. I walked over to him, my paws pressing against the warm, rugged floorboards around him, I laid down next to him and whispered into his ear, which twitched as I spoke. I smiled at this and laid next to him, his wing acted like a soft cushion in which to lay on. His body was warm and his skin was soft, like a pillow. All these luxuries didn't exist when you stayed in abandoned shacks across the Royal Wasteland. This additional comfort allowed me to drift off to sleep.
It was here in the back of my mind, that I was free and happy. Where dreams were created, and viewed like that of a cinema that had surround sound and comfy chairs; very few cinemas were like this anymore though. As I was watching a dream about the time where Prometheus and I had stumbled upon a freezer full of ice-cream that was still edible, I couldn't help but smile at this wonderful relived memory. I closed my eyes, in my dreams, and reminisced, and as I opened them again the cinema's comfort was gone and replaced with the cold, dead world outside. I was back in Sievert, the small shanty town that was built by Pokémon to shelter the local community of Euston Square. It was as though I watched myself from afar. I recognised myself in a crowd of Umbreon, Manectrics, Flareon and even the odd occasional Unfeazants, the Umbreon, however, were stood separate, we were being selected. I looked as my blue-blooded rings glistened through the crowd of ordinary yellow-blooded Umbreon that stifled me as they all called out to the group of Umbreon before them.
"I remember this!" I hissed at myself quietly. I watched the group of uneasy Umbreon that basked in the glow of the crowd's affection. That's when I saw the peculiar, meticulous purple blooded Umbreon step forward.
"If you want to join us in our fight please talk to Light" he gestured to a lightly armoured Umbreon beside them. "But we are only looking for one new member." That's when I saw movement in the crowd, and particularly, my movement; and Prometheus'. I noticed he had a hold of my tail, preventing me from going forward. I could see myself shouting at him, begging him to let go; and that's when the Green-blooded one stepped forward. I could hear her voice echo through me to this day.
"My name is Vauxhall and I wish to join the Umbrage Commandos!" They took her from the crowd and they asked her questions; she never came back to Sievert again, she was accepted and I was denied – by my best friend. I sat in silence for a moment, tears built up at my eyes, creating pressure like steam; my eyes were forced closed.
"Wake up." I heard an omniscient voice that came from nowhere.
"Why?" I asked the voice back. I opened my eyes and I looked up.
"Wake up!" the voice now had a body, a cadaver was more precise.
My heart raced and my mind panicked as it tried to make sense of the scene it just saw. I saw Prometheus stood above me, watching me. He smiled comfortingly at me and shook his head.
"Same dream as before?" he spoke in a soft, amiable tone, as always, he understood me. I nodded with a distant look as I planned out the day. But the thought of where that group of Umbreon were right now and how they were doing, and also how Vauxhall was doing – I checked my wrist. The small watch that sat on my leg was complex by design. It was in sync with my brain waves, allowing me to do whatever my brain desired. It was like a highly complex computer shrunk down and put on a strap. Which was fastened around my wrist. It was as close to a god as you could get. The Nuero-Nav; but I wasn't looking to this watch that behaved like an artificial intelligence, for some scientifically advanced answer, I was looking to it for the simplest reason; the time.
"9 in the morning. Sun's just freshly risen. Much like I." I muttered breathlessly to myself. "We need to head out to the supermarket down the road and try to scavenge as much food as possible." I spoke sullenly; very little emotion slipped through my dry lips.
"You mean the Morrisons that's about 2 miles from here?" Prometheus expressed his objections to this idea.
"We have no choice, the closest supermarket from here is picked clean. We have to pack up and move to a location closer to the commercial district." I sighed. I was starting to like this home too. It had a sense of security, and moving closer to the commercial area meant mutants. Lots of them.
About an hour passed as we packed up the bare minimum needed to move. We said our goodbyes to the building that had kept us safe for the last 12 months of our lives, and we began our trek 2 miles to the nearest supermarket. I looked down to my Nuero-Nav and requested a map of London to help us navigate through the winding and, mostly, rubble-littered roads. A holographic display emanated from the Nuero-Nav, presenting me all the local maps of the area, giving me information on all the buildings, I smiled and walked alongside Prometheus checking the maps every so often when a turning presented itself to us. We scouted around the abandoned buildings as we travelled, seeing if there were any buildings that weren't scavenged and picked clean. Our searches were all to no avail.
After about a mile, trouble happened upon us. We could see a pack of Hellions, a term used mainly by the military to describe the dreadful mutation that took the population of Persian, most Persian were calm and only looked ratted and decaying, Hellions was merely the name given to those Persian who's minds had decayed past all reason, thus killing anyone who wasn't a Hellion or a Persian. They were stalking one of the ruins of a cathedral and there was no way of going around.
"Prometheus, we need to handle this together." I whispered to him, he simply nodded and responded with an agitated exasperation of air.
"What do you suggest we do?" his voice hinted a tone of anger, I needed him to remain cool-headed, I couldn't have him run into a crowd of Hellion thrashing about, it'd be suicide. I glanced around us, looking desperately for a solution. That's when I spotted the roof adjacent to the cathedral; looking right into the hole of the foundation of the Cathedral where the Hellion were gathering, and that's when I smirked at Prometheus.
"We have to take them out silently." I whispered again as I looked down to my Nuero-Nav, a silenced scoped rifle would do the trick, as soon as the thought appeared, so did the rifle, emanating from the Nuero-Nav, much like the map. To shoot, all I had to do was think.
"Let me guess Nympheas. You want me to fly you up to that roof, where you will take out the Hellions as I draw them out of the building?" He spoke with a manner that almost sounded questioning.
"Very good Prometheus, now are you in or what?" I held out my paw.
"I never said I wasn't" He bumped my paw with his wing and then scooped me off my legs and swiftly dropped me off on the rooftop with the best view of the building. "Just don't miss a shot" and as fast as he spoke; he was well on his way down to the front of the building moving swift; like a bullet. He grounded and stood before the Hellions, presenting himself, his wings were spread as a precaution. That's when I positioned myself with my leg laid on top of the low-lying wall that encircled the roof. I had a clear line of sight of the whole scene. I just now had to wait for them to take the bait. That's when I saw their red eyes in the dark gloom of the building. That's when I bit my lip and clenched my right eye shut. I started to control my breathing, keeping my heart rate in check. I adjusted my scope for wind direction, which was handily displayed by my Nuero-Nav.
"I'm ready for you" I whispered to nobody. The first Hellion ran out of the building and, as though it were programmed to, the gun shot and then bolted itself. (Oh the handiness of having thought controlled weapons). The next Hellion darted from the murk of the ruined architecture. My mind quickly responded and laced a shot through its skull. The blood sprayed just high enough to be caught by the sun above the buildings' shadows; the blood red gore glistened as it pasted itself against the wall. The gun bolted. That's when I saw 4 more pairs of eyes appear. One by one they ran out and I quickly dispatched them. Their blood splashed across the road as they fell dead to the pavement. I aimed my sights on the final one that lunged at Prometheus, I shot it before its teeth could make contact. That's when I heard him call out in disgust.
After Prometheus pulled me off the roof he complained for the whole mile walk to the Morrisons supermarket. Only about how I covered him in the Hellion's blood though, not complaints about his feet hurting or that he's hungry. Nothing silly.
"It's just a bit of blood Prometheus, you've had it on you before." I giggled at his complaints.
"Yeah! Yours!" I sighed as he reminded me of the time I had my foot caught in a toothed clamp trap.
"That was only once Prometheus and besides, blood's blood." After that he had nothing to say, that's when I saw the movement at Angel station. Then I heard the shots and saw the flashes of light erupt out of the station's foyer. "Get behind something" I hissed at Prometheus behind me. We dived behind a ruined window frame, the glass was replaced with nothing but a large hole in the stone foundations. I peered through it, my wrist wrested on the windowsill, my rifle's scopes aimed at the train station.
My heart rose to my throat when I saw what I did. It wasn't bandits or Royalists. All I saw was a heavily bandaged Umbreon on the back of another Umbreon accompanied by another. As soon as the wounded Pokémon was dropped by the one carrying them, I saw the carrier's green rings and my heart raced.
"Vauxhall" I whispered to myself.
"What?!" Prometheus shouted with a hushed voice. I didn't say anything else, I was taken aback by seeing her again, watching her shooting Hellions with the Yellow-blooded Umbreon. I watched as they held off until dawn. I even watched as they laughed with each other throughout the early morning. I smiled knowing an old friend has become someone who is powerful and capable of helping themselves.
"Come on. We should probably find somewhere to rest." I slapped Prometheus awake as I spoke. He grunted and I took that as him agreeing. I smiled and my rifle became the holomap again.
We walked for a good 20 minutes before finding suitable accommodation at a tiny apartment building. It wasn't huge, nor was it much to look at. But it was sure inviting. I allowed Prometheus to lead. After we decided the building was clear, we set up our sleeping bags and settled down for a nap.
My night was dreamless, the theatre that was my mind was closed and my night was not quite restless but it was far from refreshing. Prometheus snored loudly to the right of me as I sat up to greet the rising sun. Today was the day we were going to go scavenge what food we could from the Morrisons nearby. I budged Prometheus with my paw and hissed at him softly. "Prometheus, get up. We need to get an early start just in case there's-" that's when he grabbed my mouth with his hand, silencing me.
"Would you keep quiet. I'm trying to-" he sat up, "Do you hear that?" He flattened his ear against the wall.
"No, I do not." I said bluntly.
"Shush!" He hissed at me and peered out around the window next to the wall he had his ear flattened against. "Oh sweet oak!" he exclaimed with a whisper.
"What? Hellion?" I bluntly replied. I grew more impatient as this charade went on.
"Worse." His angst made me stir. I'd never seen him so anxious. "You know those Umbreon we saw last night?"
"What about them?" I spoke with a more urgent tone, trying to get him to speak.
"I don't think they're gonna be with the living much longer." As he spoke I could feel worry rising inside of me, stirring the contents of my stomach and mixing all my feelings together; ultimately creating a numb feeling across my body. I shoved him out of the way and peered out of the window myself. I gasped as I saw the heavily wounded Umbreon from last night being drowned slowly in a pothole as Vauxhall ran off across a lifeless field and finally the yellow-blooded one being pinned against the wall.
"We have to help them!" I shouted at Prometheus, begging him to rush out there ruthlessly, wanting desperately to help them.
"Why? They're just stragglers. They'd just slow us down and hold us back if we helped them." His condescending tone crushed me a little on the inside, "Besides, why do you care so much? It's not like you know them." His blatant tone took me aback. Why did I care? I recognised Vauxhall, but she's not in trouble. So why do I want to help those two? I didn't know them, no, but something was recognisable about them. I just couldn't quite put my paw on it. That's when I heard the gunshot. I poked my head out of the window and saw the heavily bandaged one pull himself up from the pothole. Then I saw the rifle spawn from out of nowhere. My jaw dropped and as the pipe came down onto his head a bandage fell off of his leg, and the Purple ring shone through.
"They're the Umbrage Commando's." I said all too matter-of-factly.
"That group of paramilitary Umbreon that came to Sievert a week before we left?" he intuitively quizzed me. "I guess if Vauxhall were with them then I'd see why you'd care. But she's not. So we're not risking life and limb for some strangers." I stared at the floor as I knew he was right. I didn't enjoy the feeling of being so intelligently irrational. It felt weird being reckless and being contained; I was normally the one who contained Prometheus' recklessness, but suddenly the tables had turned.
After an hour passed and the Machamp, the army of Frozen souls, had dragged off the 2 helpless Umbreon to Arceus knows where, we decided to head out to the Morrisons we had come to Angel to scavenge from.
The whole half-a-mile walk to the archaic supermarket was riddled with dreading prophecies of what happened to the Umbrage Commandos. Were they killed? Are they the next meal for the Army of Frozen souls? Where were they taken? The more I thought of it the less responsive my Nuero-Nav was. Prometheus stopped at the entrance to the supermarket, something seemed off about it. It felt cold, looked dead and definitely did not seem inviting.
"Wait here Nymph. I'm going to poke my head through the door and see if the coast is clear." He spoke with confidence. I watched as he poked his head around the door and slowly proceeded his way back over to me. "Do you want the good news or the bad news first?"
"What's the bad news?" I asked, confused and wondering what could be lurking in that supermarket.
"The coast isn't clear." His smile that followed looked hollow and hoaxed.
"The good news? Lemme guess, raiders? Giant Caterpie? What is it?" I quizzed him.
"We're going to save that paramilitary group after all." His smile definitely seemed forced after those words, "yay." The lack of enthusiasm that Prometheus was showing had now answered my question. The Machamp are holed up in the Morrisons.
I woke from my concussed slumber. The room danced across my vision, colour was faded and the lack of it disorientated me. The smell of iron penetrated my nose. I wrinkled my face up at it. I pondered on where the smell could be originating from. I saw a bag next to me, I was about to pull the lip of the bag down to see what was inside of it, when I saw movement next to me. I glanced down at Light who had been trying to regain her sense of direction and sight.
"Light? Are you okay? Where are we?" I asked her with an almost inaudible whisper.
"I'm unsure. The last thing I remember is the Frozen attacking us." I thought back to that moment, and then the pain of my head rang back through me. I clutched at the back of my head and felt the cut across the top of my neck. I cursed under my breath as the pain of it was unbearable.
"What's that smell?" Light asked as she sniffed at the air.
"I don't know for sure, all I know is that it's emanating from this bag." I wrinkled my nose as the metallic scent attacked my senses. I put my paw on the bag, it was cold and wet to the touch, I started to slide the lip of the bag down when I heard the heavy footsteps outside the door. "Light, play dead." I hissed at her as I flattened myself across the floor silently, she followed as I instructed. I felt her paw touch mine, it sent a pulsating wave of emotions down my body; they occupied every limb of my body. I felt confused and lost for a moment, but I was pulled back to reality as I heard the screaming enter the room.
"Put me down! Help! Someone help me!" I heard the instruments on the table rattle as the origins of the voice was slammed down onto it – hard. The voice cried out in pain.
"Please don't kill me! Please! I have a family!" the voice begged and pleaded with its captor. "Please! I don't want to die! I don't-" the voice was silenced in a matter of seconds. I felt something roll to my feet and I cringed as I forced my body not to react.
When the captor, which I could only presume was the Frozen, left the room I sat up to inspect the item that tapped my paw. It was a head. Not just any head; it was the head of Holborn. I wanted to scream out in fear, but knew I couldn't. Not if I wanted to live. In desperation I pulled back the lip of the back to find lumps of meat – red, bloody, raw. I gagged; as did Light. The most distinguishing feature of the meat was not the blood that dripped from the freshly butchered meat, but instead it was the black fur that was still on the carrion. The yellow ring that lay, dim and lifeless on the meat, the yellow blood inside of it leaking out across the meat. It was enough to make anyone vomit instantaneously.
"We have to get out of here Light. Before this happens to us"
"Agreed." She answered quickly and with a quaver of fear ringing in her voice.
I peered my head out of the peeling doorway and studied the area we were in. I saw rows of shelves in a dimly lit, open area. "It looks like we're in a scavenger-centre" I spoke softly and quietly so that our presence wouldn't be made immediate to the Frozen.
"What time of day does it look like from the filtration of the light through the window?" Light asked me, mimicking my soft tone.
"Late; about mid-afternoon - early evening." She nodded to my response.
"So that means we could slip out of here undetected. The Frozen sleep in the evening."
"But is it that late in the afternoon Light? Or is it closing in on that time, meaning that they could still be up and wandering around?" She wrinkled her whole facial expression at my question. It threw her plan out of the window.
We snuck out of the room we were contained in and hid behind a counter. I peered through one of the holes in the wood and saw one of the Frozen pacing; he had a rifle strapped across his shoulder. I relayed this information to Light and she had no words to speak. I saw more of the Frozen spread out across the room. Most were sleeping, it looks like it might be soon that all the Frozen sleep for the night, but obviously there's some sort of hierarchy in this infamous community. Some slept earlier than others. I saw two of them talking in the corner of the room – next to our only immediate exit.
"Dammit. They're blocking the exit." I cursed under my breath. "What do you suggest Light?"
"We could just try our luck and try and shoot our way out?" she sounded unsure of herself, as if the final moments of Holborn's life was still eating at her psyche.
"Too risky. There's at least 30 of them and 2 of us. We'd be killed." And as though some omnipotent being had heard and seen our predicament the glass on the east window shattered and one of the heads of the Frozen guards exploded across the wall. I watched in disbelief and amazement as another shot was fired, resulting in another fatality on the Frozen's part. That's when they started shooting back, they flooded out of the building, leaving us a perfect opportunity for escape.
I took a step out from behind the counter and darted across the aisles. As I slid across the dusty laminated floor I saw something glowing faintly from the end of one of the aisles. I stopped myself. Peered around the corner and saw Keeves. He was bound and stuffed at the end of the aisle near an open fire. I darted down the aisle and un-bound him.
"Razz! Oh in the name of Arceus am I glad to see you! Where's Light!?" he paused for a moment as he saw her reveal her whereabouts from behind the shelving unit. "Light! You're alive! Good. That means Razz isn't as incompetent as I thought." In any other instance I would've bit back at his bait. But as I untied him I saw burn marks, bite marks, huge gashes of flesh missing from his body. Instead of anger and hatred; I felt sympathy for him.
"Keeves, I need you to stop moving and talking." I covered his wounds with some binding I found on the shelf; right next to us. "You need to reserve your energy or you're going to die" Light and I lifted him, pulling his weight onto both of our shoulders. I hadn't realised but the firing had stopped. The silence was misery. I could hear Keeves whine in agony as we moved him out the front door.
To my amazement we weren't shot by Frozen soldiers; no, they were all dead. Fire burned across the street in front of us and bullet holes riddled the corpses of the fallen enemy soldiers. I jumped when I heard a familiar voice.
"You need to follow us! We can get your friend patched up!" the bearer of the mysterious voice was a blue-blooded Umbreon stood beside a shadow that shifted off before I could identify it. The Umbreon had ran off ahead of us. Light and I started to try to catch up as we hauled Keeves agonisingly down the road. That's when a Charizard had pulled Keeves onto their back and followed the blue-blooded Umbreon. Light and I shrugged at each other and broke off into a sprint; following our mysterious saviours, whom we owed our lives to.
After several hours of on-and-off running, our group of pick-'n'-mix saviours decided to camp us all down inside of a musty home with crusted wallpaper, charred hard-wood flooring and windows that were open, even when closed. But it was high off the ground, which meant we would know if someone was coming for us, partly because the stairs were a task in themselves to climb, let alone silently sneak up. The blue-blooded Umbreon, who I had deduced as the leader of these two, shifted her eyes across Light, Keeves and I. She spoke finally.
"Is this it from your group?"
"Yeah, I mean, originally there were only 3 of us… but one of our original group abandoned us and then that's when we found Keeves…Who…" I was interrupted before I could ask who they were.
"They abandoned you? The green Umbreon I saw with you guys at the angel station?!" she interrupted.
"Where?" I stared at her, confused as to what she was talking about. Angel station? Clearly she meant a subway station. But I don't remember it. That's when Light spoke.
"She means the station that we nearly died outside of a couple of days ago." She sighed.
"Vauxhall abandoned you guys?!" I stared at this Blue-blooded stranger in disbelief.
"You know Vauxhall's name?" I questioned. "How?!" My weak state left me cautious of everyone, especially strangers who know my friend's name; I manifested a pistol.
"Razz! What are you doing?!" Light shouted at me, but as much as she shoved my body into the wall, grazing me, I did not drop my Umbrage.
"Speak!" I cocked the weapon. Light bit into my back, trying to make my concentration waver to destroy the Umbrage. I flinched and felt my blood dribble down my back.
"I was her friend in Sievert! You were there, looking for someone to join your cause!" the blue-blood had her eyes closed, she was cowered in a corner. I lowered my Umbrage as the answer satisfied me. That's when I feel Light's teeth slide out of my flesh. I flinched as my blood started to cascade down my back. I bite my lip and expressed, to Light, my lack of appreciation of her biting me.
"Sorry Razz. You were being irrational." She flattened her ears against her neck and began fiddling through her pack for the bandages.
"I'm sorry; I still don't know your name" I paused as I struggled to put pressure on my now bleeding back. "It might help me talk to you without this social stigma between us"
"The name's Nympheas, but you can call me Nymph" she spoke indifferently.
"Nymph…gotcha." I had no need for anymore words, not only did my body scream at me to stop working so hard and to take a break, but my throat was growing dry and my stomach growled.
After we ate our tinned peaches, we settled down for the night, on the cold hard-wood floor. My back cried at me as the wood dug into both my spine and the fresh bite wound Light left. I bit my lip and soldiered through the night, cold and uncomfortable, though it was.
I was awoken the next morning by the prominent and obnoxious sound of thunder rolling over the small suburban town we were holed up in. The rain slapped the concrete outside and bombarded the roof of the building we had slept in. I sat up and glanced through the small window just behind Nymph and the Charizard, whose name I am still unfamiliar with. I watched the sky crying above us, the flashes of lightning lit up the darkened world, the thunder became comfortably ambient, roaring every few minutes. I put my paw out the window and allowed the rain to slap my leg. I heard someone stirring awake behind me, mumbling and yawning as they stretched the 6 hours of sleep out of their bodies. I slowly reeled my paw in and turned to see Light sat up watching me, her normally alert eyes looked tired and old.
"Thunder wake you up?" She spoke with a soft innocent tone.
"It was that or the pain of splintered wooden floorboards keeping my bite wounds open" I muttered to her as she walked towards me. As soon as she was close enough, she placed a paw on my back and inspected my wounds.
"These bandages need changing Razz"
"If I didn't know any better Light, I would say you were worried about me" I chuckled as I bit my lip, her paw so close to my wounds sent surges of pain through my body. My body shook from it. "So I've been torn to shreds by Hellion, had my skull bashed in by the Frozen, as well as nearly drowned in a puddle, and I've been grazed, bruised and bitten by you. All in a matter of two days. Huh?" she shoved me away from her gently and giggled softly, but her smile changed to a look of remorse.
"I'm sorry Razz…" she whispered under a breath.
"What for? Biting me?" I tilted my head and took up a look of confusion "you don't need to be sorry for that."
"Not for that" she paused. "Well yes okay, for that. But for lots of other things." She stared out the window as she spoke.
"Like what Light?" I was now more confused than ever. She sighed before speaking.
"Don't worry Razz" She watched the rain and the lightning outside. I was going to press the conversation more, but as I opened my mouth I heard Nympheas stirring awake and stretching the night out of her muscles.
"Prometheus. What's the time?" she spoke through the groan of a stretch. That's when the Charizard (that I now presumed is called Prometheus) spoke.
"Does it matter Nymph, there's a storm." I chortled under my breath. But that's when I realise that Prometheus had woke up and been awake without me realising. A good skill to have, when you're someone of his size, is to be quiet and, apparently, he is.
The day passed as the storm raged on outside. We were stuck in the shelter of the house with no food, a diminishing water supply and a deck of cards that led to the least creative game of go-fish ever played.
"Ugh…I hate being stuck inside." Nympheus was complaining again about the confinement of the house and the stifling, stale air that hung around us, slowly trying to choke us on dust and our own moulting fur.
"Well sadly, I don't like being out in storms when most of the rain is highly acidic due to the radioactivity in the clouds" Prometheus' response to her complaints got nothing more than a disgruntled mumble of agreement. I sniggered at the lack of rebellion to his response. As soon as I realised that no-one was going to spark up an intriguing conversation I started to change the bandages covering my wounds, mainly from the still-open-wounds from the attack that Light, Vauxhall and I experienced in the underground tunnels.
As I tied off the last clean bandage and fastened it with a safety pin, I heard gunshots echo outside. I peered my head out the window to see a small group ducking behind ruins and loosing off shots down the street. Before my head was pulled back inside I could make out a Flareon and that's when it clicked.
"That's The Royalists!" I whispered harshly
"Who are they shooting at then?!" Light responded with the same harsh whisper.
"I don't know…The New Parliamentarians?" I shrugged.
"Possibly…wait; listen." We stopped talking and listened.
"I don't hear anything" I was confused the gunfire literally stopped at a moment's notice.
"Exactly" Light continued, "Where did they go? And why have they stopped?" That's when we heard the footsteps coming up the stairs that led to the room we were hiding in. I bit my lip as there was nowhere for us to hide. We were cornered by Royalists or by who they were shooting at. I formed an Umbrage Rifle to make one last desperate attempt to live just a little bit longer. That's when I saw Vauxhall limp around the corner and collapse in the doorway. I lowered my weapon and peered out the window to find all The Royalists dead. I dragged Vauxhall in and, with our last few bandages, patched her wounds up and pulled the bullet out of her leg, she was fairly resistant to my aid, especially as I had Light pin her down so I could get the knife into the wound and behind the bullet to pop it out of her flesh and muscle. As she cried out in pain I pricked her with a syrette of precious morphine to quench her pain.
Hours passed after Vauxhall passed out, her green ring on her leg glowed dimly in the night as the ring was punctured by the bullet, the green blood in the ring mixed with the red blood that circulated her body. I sat with her, checking her condition. She came too when I spoke softly to myself.
"What luck I have." She spoke weakly and quietly to me. "I came up here expecting to bleed and die. Not have a knife plunged into my wound and have a bullet extracted from me." This got a chuckle from me.
"Yeah? Well, you're lucky to not have been shot and killed by those Royalists." She placed her paw on mine as she began slipping from consciousness.
"I didn't want to abandon you guys…I just didn't know what else there was for me to do. You were being drowned in a puddle, Light was being choked out…" she stopped talking as a lump formed in her throat. "You don't hate me do you?" I shook my head.
"No. I don't hate you Vauxhall. I don't blame you for running. Why have us all die right?" She smiled at my response.
"Thanks Razz" she sat up and kissed me on the cheek and fell asleep, hugging my leg. I raised my brow and waved the kiss off as her being drugged up on morphine still. I slowly and reluctantly made my way to my sleeping bag and curled up, watching the moon, almost feeling its light kissing my body better. I smiled and slowly slipped into an almost comatose state of sleep, though at the back of my mind, that kiss from Vauxhall began playing and toying with me.
