Haley felt dizzy and scatterbrained. She wobbled slightly where she sat in her bed - a bed. She wasn't really sure where she was. Looking around, she saw walls, doors, and windows, but none of the details would reach her focus. It was as if she wasn't allowed to see them; as if they weren't even there to see. She closed her eyes, squeezed them as tightly as she could, and opened them again, but nothing changed.
She tried to figure out what was going on - what was happening - what had happened. The last thing she remembered…
It was a terrifying truth when Haley realized she couldn't remember anything - not how she got there or what she was doing before she got there. But she knew she was supposed to be hurt, and as she gazed down at her hands and arms, she confusedly found that they were unscathed, and they looked small and young. That didn't feel right.
"Oh, finally, you are awake!" A voice gasped in relief, growing louder to signify that, whoever it was, he or she was moving closer. What the person said didn't sound right to Haley either. She couldn't recall ever waking up - had she ever fallen asleep? She couldn't be sure.
"I was starting to worry." The stranger continued - it sounded like a woman this time, as if Haley was only allowed to notice her gender then, and something told Haley that she knew her. Again, she couldn't be sure. "Are you feeling better?"
Haley's body moved on its own. Stiffly, her head turned towards the person and nodded faintly - a lie, Haley knew somehow. Haley, however, felt her chest and throat tighten in horror immediately. She tried backing away, but her body wouldn't let her. Haley knew, deep down, that she conversed with this person in the past, but just like her surroundings, her mind seemed to keep this truth from her. The woman's face was empty and flat - just a blank shade of skin. Haley felt sick to her stomach at the sight. Though she was still lost in an unknown, she knew faces aren't meant to look like that - they have eyes, a nose, a mouth, and, most of the time, eyebrows as well. And each of those faces attracts someone - a face isn't meant to terrify young children. She was a young child, right? Haley was grateful when her head turned back again, only a couple of seconds later. She didn't want to look into that face again - if it could be called a face.
Despite not having a mouth, the woman continued, "Oh good. Then you should be out of here soon."
Haley's body actually physically jerked as she was shoved back into the right mind. Those words - that empty promise - it was what finally unveiled the reality. She's heard the phrase enough times to recognize it. And so, whatever cloud was enveloping her mind was immediately cleared, while her surroundings kept their undetailed appearance; in fact, the odd world around her helped to realize what was happening.
She was reliving a time in her childhood - one of the times when she was stuck in the hospital. She didn't know which time specifically - there were too many - but she knew it had to be when she was a bit older. Because, it was by that time that she didn't pay enough attention to what was happening around her, or to the people helping her. She had been through the drill too many times. Thus, it was no surprise that her brain couldn't produce most of the details. But somehow, knowing where she was, Haley felt even worse. She never wanted to be back there - ever.
"I got you something." The nurse carried on and Haley felt something heavy rest on her leg.
It was almost blinding to look at the thick book. Unlike everything else, the book's color was bright, its lines were defined, and the detail in the photo on the front was overwhelming. Reaching for it, both in the past and the present, she trail her hand over the cover. "War of the Nerves," by Jonathan B. Tucker.
"I know it's a bit different than the books you usually read, but it's really good." The woman explained, "You can read it at home and tell me what you thought about it when you get back." Though it would sound cruel to most people to hear someone expecting her to get sick again instead of getting better, Haley knew this was her reality. Haley was grateful that the lady made light of it, because it made it lighter on her heart - so why did she feel queasy?
Again, Haley's head turned on its own, a smile moving to her lips. And again, Haley had a bit of a different reaction to her past double: shock. The face of the woman begun to clear up, becoming significant out of all the other nurses and doctors who were all ghosts by now. It was Ellie. Her eyes were less tired and she looked younger, but it was definitely her. In a way, that made sense with the nurse's actions and Ellie's personality, and Haley felt her shock begin to fade. Steadily, her emotions began to fit into the smile on her past self's face, almost like pulling a shirt over one's head. But the feeling in her gut got worse, spreading up to her lungs.
She could feel that she wanted to thank Ellie, even back then, but something stopped both of them and it burned like a thousand needles in her chest. It was like fire had been set to her lungs and she could feel something sloshing inside, pushing to be released. Just then, with the pain excruciating, Haley felt like her nausea had a just cause. But, for whatever reason, Haley tightened up every muscle in her body, trying to keep the liquid inside of her. No doubt, she wanted to be healthy - she didn't want to stay in that godforsaken building. But her throat was tickling violently against her wishes. Eventually, her fight was futile. She even tried saving the book in front of her by pushing it away, but she was too late. Haley released a vile cough and watched as blood splashed from her mouth, covering the book in a staining crimson before it fell to the floor. Ellie was already pressing the emergency button by this time, but screamed for help when she witnessed the horrific event.
Again, and again, and again, Haley coughed and the blood never seemed to stop - it was a wonder how she had any left. It felt like she was drowning - she couldn't breath. She could barely move as her body shook in coughs to save itself. "Haley!" Ellie kept screaming, but her voice sounded far away and hollow. She was becoming lightheaded without fresh air. White spots blurred her vision and made her head pound. Inevitably, reality was stolen away by darkness.
Haley woke with a start. Her skin was clammy and her breathing was rapid as her lungs tried desperately to make sure she could breathe again. She still couldn't move, and she couldn't sit up, but at least now she knew why: she was covered in burns. In a way, that was reassuring, rather than the alternative. It's been years since Haley's dreamed about her past from when she was a sickly child, and she felt that it was even more terrifying after living without it for so long. Over time, Haley felt her breathing return to normal, but an aching of her teeth never dissipated, having been exposed to cold air for so long. Haley tried to close her mouth properly, but her burns had pulled her lips up at an angle, revealing her right canine and premolars to anyone weird enough to crave to see them. Trying to relieve some of the pain, Haley trailed her tongue over the exposed teeth, warming them up, and it seemed to help. But with that pain gone, she was finally able to process where she was and her face paled at the actuality. If there was a difference between this room's ceiling and the hospital in Haley's dream, Haley couldn't see it. Instinctively, Haley reached for solace in the last touch she remembers: Luca's hand. But she pointlessly grasped at nothing and panicked. She sat up as fast as she could in her condition and threw her legs over the side of the bed, baring her teeth at the feeling all over her body, akin to that of skin tearing. Moving, it finally allowed the plastic tube to brush against Haley's wrist, and as quickly as she could with her trembling hands, she tore the IV from her hand and tossed it aside in panicky disgust.
She felt sick again, and when the memories came flooding back, it got worse. Haley tried swallowing it back, but, at last, she buckled over and threw up on the tiled floor, gasping for breath afterwards. The taste left on her tongue was vile - acidic and strong - but luckily the wobbling of the room was efficient at distracting her from it. If it hadn't been, she was sure she would have thrown up again.
She could remember now, how she was carried to the Jeep and brough to the city, how all the apes were advised not to follow, how the humans became hysteric at the sight of her and at the story of what happened, how they brought her to this room to take care of her, how they made her comfortable while they undressed her and shaved her the side of her head so they can work - how they told, with dread, how they can't really do anything but clean her and make the pain as minimal as possible until she healed. And they seemed to have succeeded, because, even after she moved, Haley didn't pass out from the pain. Now, she only felt like she'd rather rip off her limb than have it in this condition, which is an improvement from some time earlier. Which begs the question: how long has it been? From the moment Haley was carried away, up until she passed out when they put some ointment on her and wrapped her in gauze, everything was hazy in her head, and so, she had no idea how long she's been unconscious. Was the dam fixed already? Reaching up to scratch her head in frustration, Haley felt reassured that she did, indeed, remember something clearly - there were barely any hair left on her head.
Whichever case, it didn't matter, because now that she could move, however painfully, she can leave. Following her own drug-infused logic, Haley rose groggily from the bed, pulled what she thought was meant to be a white sheet out from under the duvet, and wrapped it around her twice before securing it in a knot. She had no idea how she managed it in her state with one hand, but something she tried worked and she wasn't going to complain. If she was able to pay enough attention, she'd have been impressed by the strange non-electric contraption the humans built for the IV, but now she was stuck on the sickly receiving end of the drugs and their side effects. Swaying on her feet, Haley continued forward, keeping as little weight on her burnt leg as possible, and tried staying on a straight line to the door.
It was like the first freezing hit of morning air when you open the front door - chanting, screaming, and cheers suddenly slapped against Haley's ears. Haley was sure the room she was in wasn't soundproof, but one could easily be fooled.
"They're monsters!" She heard one voice above the other dozens while she pushed herself to move down the halls towards it, using the walls for support, "Look what they did to the girl!"
"It was one ape!" Another person screamed, "They're searching for him-"
"We should have gotten rid of them all a long time ago!"
"They're going to do this to all of us!"
"With what!?"
"We should prepare ourselves for an assault!"
"They're just a bunch of savage animals after all!"
Haley heard more than she wanted to hear, but the more her blood boiled, the more frustrating her situation became, because she couldn't move fast enough to make it end sooner. It felt like she had to listen to them for hours before she finally reached what looked like the top of a fire escape. With all the rubble around it, she couldn't be sure, but just a single level below her, there stood a man with greying dark brown hair and glasses. Haley found it strange how people still felt they needed glasses in these times and wondered if she might need some one day, but that was not the strangest thing that she saw. Gathered like a crowd of militia, people of all ages and genders peered up at the man, shouting whatever they thought, and he didn't do anything to stop them - he didn't even twitch. It didn't seem to matter that he was perfectly capable with the working bullhorn in his hand. But then, thankfully or not, one person noticed Haley, and then another, and then another, and eventually, the room begun to quiet, falling silent once the leader, Haley assumed, also turned and gaped at her. Unlike the bewilderment on the others', he appeared more afraid of her early rise.
"The apes," Haley spoke, but her voice came out lispy and unclear. Just then, she realized that her lips being pulled so strangely will change her speaking, too. So she slowed her words down and spoke with exaggeration, hoping to achieve some clarity, "The apes aren't 'savage animals,' they are my friends. They've never hurt me!"
And the uproar continued.
"They do that to anyone, even their friends!"
"Look at her body - she's covered old scars, too!"
"She's lying to protect them!"
Haley found the last one more amusing than all the other ridiculous statements, because, if they were really hurting her so much, why would she lie to protect them?
But unfortunately, the conversation seemed to end there.
"What are you doing up in your condition?" Came Ellie's frantic voice when she suddenly appeared out of nowhere, her face alert as she motioned Haley back a few steps. Haley's dream came back for a moment and she felt Ellie's concern warm her heart, but she knew she had to focus or else this will only escalate. Or maybe she wasn't as clear headed as she was convincing herself she was and she only wanted to know what the hell was going on.
"Why aren't you stopping this!?" Haley snapped the best she could, "Why are you here!? Where's Malcolm!? Where are the others!? You should be helping with the dam and getting everyone the hell away from our village!" If they stayed there any longer, Haley knew Koba was only going to get worse - he was losing it already. But Ellie wasn't paying attention and simply used her better physical state to practically force Haley back down the halls.
"The dam should be fixed in a few hours. Malcolm and the others are taking care of it." She said calmly, "And don't worry, I'm handling things here, too."
Too vague, Haley thought. "That's what you call handling it!?" She yelled again, but it was something else that drove her this time. She was starting to notice the pain and feeling of her wounds coming back and it was becoming increasingly hard to move, increasing her irritation. As a result, she was about to ask Ellie if they can stop, but there was no point. Without warning, Haley felt her body suddenly getting thrown to the floor with a thud, making her skin throb with a loud boom in her ears. Ahead, she glimpsed Ellie getting thrown, too, and unwillingly heard the empty crack when she collided with the wall and then she fell to the floor, unmoving. No, Haley thought, that's not possible.
It was anticlimactic - no yelp, no plea for help, no dramatic song in the background. Just a vocal break and she was gone. It was almost insulting how exaggerated death was put forward by humans, compared to the truth.
"Ellie?" Haley breathed - no response. "Ellie!" She yelled - no response. She tried pushing herself up to crawl closer, but by this point, the pain was, again, too much for her to move. "Ellie!" She screamed, unbothered by the taste of iron as the burn on her lip tore. And that was the last chance she got. Without warning, a weight crashed into Haley's side, making her flip over and skid over the floor without a say. Immediately, Haley thought she was hallucinating - maybe she was still having a nightmare - but when the figure leapt for her and straddled her body, there was no mistaking it. Two powerful, furry hands clasped around Haley's neck while one milky eye cut into her vision like the sharpest blade in all the cosmos - Koba. His canines were bare and his eyes were frantic - he looked even more insane than Haley remembered. Or maybe he just finally snapped.
"Koba?" Haley croaked his name in shock, forcing a bit of sound pass his choking hold, but that was all she could muster. Just like in her dream, Haley quickly felt herself becoming light headed as she drowned without water. Again, her eyes began to burn and white spots decorated the world. Maybe it was this lack of clarity that blurred her pain away, but the burns on her skin soon stopped mattering - this time, Haley couldn't allow herself to submit. It was either fight or die - life or death. There was no, 'sit back and survive' - no, not this time.
So, with all the strength she could muster, Haley swung her fist up at Koba's head and felt great satisfaction when he yelped at the contact and fell off of her waist. With the chance, she quickly reached for whatever was close and was gifted with a piece of rebar, concrete still stuck to it. Sometimes, a broken building wasn't such a bad thing after all. Haley rose and swung the makeshift weapon at Koba as soon as she could and as hard as she could - hard enough that the rebar actually tore from her hand, and she didn't waste time to see that he was charging at her. Haley always thought Koba was a hardhead, and she was proven right when the old concrete shattered against his skull and sent him colliding with the wall, just like Ellie had. But, to Haley's dismay, his body was stronger and he somehow stayed on his feet. Still, remembering what he had done, Haley's veins burned with anger. She charged at him, no time to hear human footsteps starting to charge closer their way.
But Haley couldn't get close enough. She could barely take a step before a loud screech sounded and an ape's arms suddenly hooking around her neck, choking her yet again. She jabbed at the faceless ape's ribs with her elbow, but he wouldn't let go. Soon, Koba was getting ready again, clutching his bleeding face while he tried balancing himself on his unsteady legs. It took time, but he was soon strong enough to step closer, and Haley could hear his heavy, furious breaths as he got ready to land another blow. Desperate to survive, Haley pushed through her faltering consciousness and kicked against Koba with all her might before he had the chance, also using the leverage to send her and the second ape falling back. Crushed under Haley's weight, the ape finally loosened his grasp and Haley pushed free, but only basked in her freedom by gasping for breath on the floor next to him. Now uncaged, Haley looked back to see who was helping Koba, but she wondered why she ever bothered - she should have known it was Grey.
Seeing them getting back up, Haley's panic reappeared and she rose and ran with all the strength she had left - she knew she couldn't defeat both of them. Not in her state, not without her weapon.
But then, just as she passed the corner and thought she was going to get away, the world flashed white with a loud pop. Haley felt a pain shoot through her body that was unlike any other she's known before, and she fell right back down to the floor. She panted heavily, holding her bleeding shoulder, and turned, but only to flinch back in fear. There, already just a few inches from the rip of her nose, the barrel of a gun burned hot with the shot it had just taken. Koba sneered down at Haley behind the old rifle, and for a moment, she thought it was all over - she thought he was actually going to shoot her square between the eyes - but then the humans grew close enough to interrupt and he growled. It was a blur when haley was hit with the back of the gun and was sent falling back, and with her loss of blood, she couldn't even brace her fall and just trembled where she lay. Seconds later, Koba loomed back over her.
She watched, her adrenaline diminished, as Koba bent down and tore a bundle of her hair from her scalp, making her cry out weakly. And then, even worse, she felt her hand get slapped away from her new wound before he pressed her hair harshly onto the bullet hole, wiggling some of it inside with one of his fingers. Haley writhed, whimpered, and cried wordlessly for it to end, but she saw no reaction from Koba. Neither could she see Grey's face contort at the sound of her voice and look away with guilt slowly setting in. Finally, Koba backed away and remained perfectly silent as he clambered onto the window sill with Grey, one bloody blonde dreadlock in his hand. Exactly like that, the two of them stayed for a while, listening for something. Haley didn't know what they were waiting for, maybe too tired to think clearly, but after more gunshots were exchanged and after she heard a hazy, "Holy shit, they have guns," Koba left by climbing up the building's exterior. And after giving Haley a significant look, so did Grey, but only moments before Haley blacked out.
She never was able to read that book.
I already started writing the next chapter for WT, so that should be done next week! ^^ Also, do remember, if you want, go check out my YouTube channel: Geeky Fanatic. I definitely recommend it if you like Transformers Prime.
And please don't forget to leave a comment if you feel like you want to! ^^ Anything is welcome!
Oh! And a special thanks to Mauryn, everyone! I wouldn't have been able to upload today if she didn't help out!