Chapter 4: Recovering The Process
Taking us into a room with four beds, the man who escorted us spoke with a caring tone, “Please, make yourselves comfortable here–from the look of your injuries you will need to take some of these.” Grabbing some pill bottles off from the counter–he poured exactly two white pills onto the palm of his hand and handed to us. “W-What exactly are these..?” Dax questioned, “Pain killers, from the look of your injuries–I’d say these will be enough to somewhat stop the discomfort, though as for you…” The man looked at my head, “You might want to take two doses; I-Is it safe..?” Dax questioned again. The man nodded his head, “It’s the best piece of medicine you can get–besides other worldly means.” Dax and I looked with intrigue and skepticism but before we got to thinking much about it we soon sat down in our beds. With a brief time of silence I then asked a question “So..how long as this clinic been running?” The man turned back from the medicine cabinet and flicked his glasses “Ah, well..” he momentarily paused, “I believe this clinic has been around for almost ten years–the end of this year would be marked as the tenth” Dax tilted his head in curiosity. “Then does that mean this town has been here for almost a decade?” The man turned and put a hand to his chin, “Well that..I’m not too sure–mainly because I’ve only just arrived about five years ago” Dax and I looked at each other then looked back at the man, “Then do you know anyone who worked here for that long?” Dax questioned. The man again thought for a moment before he was interrupted by the loud sound of the wooden door. Toom! “S-Sorry I’m late..I kind of overslept…” With her small stature–the little girl wore a comically oversized doctors coat, but the most noticeable feature the girl had was an intricate shaped horn like stump on the rights side of her forehead. Her appearance distracted me a bit before I realized my staring was standing far more than it needed, the man coughed, “Ahem! Cynthia, aren’t you supposed to be taking time to study the book I gave you?” her attention was quickly directed towards the man. “S-Sorry uncle Berny, I heard about our new patients and I was mainly curious..” her shy face looked with a knowable yet innocent guilt. Berny sighed, “Well, alright–since you’re already learning about the human anatomy–I might as well introduce you to our new patients.” Looking at the both of us–we rose from our beds and stood on the sides, saluting in a professional manner–I spoke first, “I am scouting cadet Linden Coales, my official rank if five hundred fifty–nine; I am scouting cadet Daxton Hills, my official rank is five hundred forty-eight” we both spoke in tandem as if it were practiced a hundred times. “We will do our duty to protect, aid and help the helpless” the little girl, Cynthia looked with intrigue. “But–well..as you can see–with our injuries..we can’t really do much in the meanwhile..” Dax stagnantly exclaimed. Berny nodded and said, “Well, you are welcome to stay as long as you want–you both and your friend are welcomed anytime. With a warmly smile he soon turned to the girl. “Now–I will be going to check up on their friend, be a darling and watch them for a bit won’t you?” Cynthias’ eyes sparked with duty, “Yes uncle Berny!” soon the door closed with a swift yet gentle breeze. Then walking towards a chair–the girl sat down while pulling out a notebook and pencil from the lower drawer. It was then Dax looked at me and his expression of worry combed his face, “Linden, do..do you think Alaine will..” but before he got to finish his sentence I calmingly said, “There’s..no way she’ll not make out alive” I looked with contempt and he, indifferent. “Yeah..Yeah, she’s strong–of course” trying to comfort himself with his own words–I also tried my best to comfort him. “Don’t worry–she’s in the company of good people..” he again looked with skepticism and doubt but said, “Yeah-you’re right” taking a deep breath he soon laid down onto his bed and folded the sheets to get some rest. I too did the same.
As I find myself on the brink of a crisis–the burning feelings of malicious and sharp tendencies impaled me as a whole with a striking pain. But before I even got to acknowledge it–I opened my eyes; there in front I see the mystic roads of a city. Then the old sky; its blue polka dotted clouds were cream white. The sun–which never found my vision–still gave me its warmth to comfort my growing skin; the sweet scent was of early autumn. The breeze a tade chilled yet the trees a fiery red and cumulative orange, as the cars passed quickly–their scampering lead into cardinal directions which laid their foundation of life. I waited, waited for the light to turn so I can cross, “But why was I crossing?” then a voice–meek but proud was saying something, I lended my ear. “Den..! Lin..den..!” the voice became more clear but also the pain. “A-Auu..gghh..” I couldn’t breathe, think, move. I could only see, observe–soon the voice faded as my ears deafen–but a figure ran towards me; their hand held high–waving. Their eyes unreadable but kind; the pain was too much–the stroking beats of my heart stopped then I-
“NO!” Shouting, I shot straight up from my bed and in front of me was Cynthia–surprised and shaking in her chair. “A-Ahh..sorry..” realizing my mistake I relaxed my body and quickly took a deep breath. “Y-Yeah..sorry…for scaring you..” she then became more relaxed, “Oh..its okay..I have nightmares too..” with an innocent smile she then opened the bottom drawer from before and took out another notebook. Its red cover was of a leathery cloth–unhandled but sturdy, “Oh..uh..” I questionly mumbled. She soon brung her chair and sat next to the bedside on where I laid, “This belonged to my dad–he found it while going to the bigger city in the north and took it home to give it to me in case I filled up my first one” swaying her legs back and forth without a care in the world her small hand diddled and doodled as she spoke. “Dad always told me I would be a great artist when I grew up–” she then stopped, turned her book and showed me..me? “What do you think?” My figure which laid on the bed was astonishing from the figure and position of my side–along with the close calculative and retrospectively right perspective–this young girl had talent. “Oh..! That’s..actually quite amazing..” I surprisingly exclaimed. “Really?” Her face lite up with a hopeful expression; then a quickly silence flew by before I asked with a curiosity “Say..how old are you?” she then looked and stated, “Well..I think I’m nine–turning ten this year-” I raised an eyebrow and did the math in my head, it was then I concluded that this girl was born as soon as the cataclysm wrecked the world into havoc. “Were your parents..” I paused for a bit–but then before I got to say the anything–Cynthia said, “My parents…My parents–told me stories of how it happened. At the time–they..they weren’t really together, actually they didn’t even live in the same place.” the girl tapped her pencil on the dried paper. “ My mom said she was a manager at a company, something called LateTech or something..” My brows flinched as the corners of my mouth gave way to surprise. “And my dad, he did some work for a guy they used to call Tomber–dad said he was a very bad man but at the time dad said he had no choice but to work for him ” with her hand stopping long before she even began to talk she sat still for a moment before saying, “I think it was a year before the world became scary, and most of the time my dad would always show me pictures of how they met at a ‘restaurant’ before I was born..” Knowing what she meant–I only nodded in understanding. “It wasn’t until my dad went missing for a week–that my mom started to get unwell.” Cynthia was about to state more of her story but then the door interrupted us unexpectedly without a single loud sound. Errk..! “Oh..am I interrupting our bedtime story?” a women in a full doctors coat walked towards us, her hair tied and her posture–relaxed. “Oh..Mom..!” I looked twice. “So..did sharing our bedtime story with someone include our little secret?” Cynthia shook her head. “N-No..I was just talking about how you and dad met..” Feigning her head down to look at the ground–her cheeks puffed with innocent guilt. “Cynthia..you know–the consequences of trying to be too curious..” She nodded her head, “Yes mom..I know…I–I just wanted to know if the man-I mean patient..knew anything about the sky.” I nodded my head sideways in question then realized what Cynthia was trying to do; the two pair looked at each other–then at me, “Ah..I’m sorry for the sudden interruption, I’m Felina–the physician or-so called ‘doctor’ of the town.” She held her arm around Cynthia and said, “This is my daughter–Cynthia, though you might’ve already been introduced to her by my assistant–Berny..somewhat...” I nodded with agreement. “Now may I ask how the three of you found this town? From the look of your faces–I haven’t seen you around before” remembering how this lady was here on the surface all those years ago–especially the days of the catastrophe, I could only tell the truth. “My comrades and I..had came from a bunker known as ‘site Z’ within the inner city..” she looked with an eyebrow raised, “Old Dunbermont?” I nodded, “We were dispatched to find a way or some sort of source of human activity upon the surface–making sure some sort of humanity had survived..” Felina only cocked her head to keep listening. “We were tasked with the mission to find and gather intelligence data from LateTech to figure out a solution to solving the sky problem–as well as getting rid of the sand..” With a more somewhat detailed explanation of our mission–I looked at the lady attentively as to hope that I looked like I was somewhat telling the whole truth. “Well..I suppose it looks like we both have the same goal–you and I” she pondered; I looked with intrigue. “Since you’ve spilled information somewhat freely–it’s only fair to do the same” she paused then looked at Cynthia, “Cynthia, dear–mind a moment for the grown ups to talk a bit?” Cynthia nodded with an understanding then walked out of the room. With a gentle closing of the door–Felina looked back at me. “I’ll be only answer three limited questions–since info isn’t free nowadays..” she reached her hand into her coat pocket and pulled out a chalk white cigarette. “And since I now understand what situation you three are in–what do you want to know?” Ending her sentence off with an expression of relaxation. I pondered a bit before saying, “Well..alright–first question, exactly what transpired here on the surface in the last ten years?..” Felina looked at me then smiled, “Well–since almost everyone on the surface already knows what happened–I’ll let this be a freebee” she then looked to the side–towards Dax and said, “If you’re curious too–I’ll assume you want to hear this as well..” Rising from his sheets–he sat up and stared at her. “Now then..” she proclaimed, “Lets see..about ten years ago–in the aftermath of the falling missiles which hit the city–most of the people that tried to evacuate to the main land got buried under all of the sand that was ejected onto every corner of the streets. At the time I was luckily enough to be in a high building–watching the people flee for their lives..” Dax looked at Felina for a brief moment in contemplation. “The sands gobbled up every living being who was below two flights of stairs..and as for the government–well…most already abandoned the denizens–fleeing to the bunkers throughout the cities and secret passageways..” she paused then puffed a breath of smoke, “Sometime after that–three years or so..survivor camps were placed almost everywhere–to help and protect whoever was left that have survived the initial cataclysm..and as well at the time–I was carrying Cynthia everywhere I went..” she then took another smoke. “It was also during that time–three main factions rose from the chaos..the Hounds, a ragtag group of mainly mercs who accept any type of job that pays well. The Vipers, a group of secretive and rogues who take on missions that are mostly unknown–most of them are unidentifiable so you might have a rough time if you’re their target. Then lastly–the Helms, the political and powerhouse of the three factions” Felina then took in a breath of air instead of nicotine breaths–and stated, “Most people know the rumor that even though there are three factions–the Helms are the ones in power over everything–being controlled by..” she then paused, “Would you like to use a turn..?” she looked at me with a knowing smirk, I nodded my head and declined, “N-No..no..Its fine..” I then turned to Dax and looked with a questioned expression. Dax then nodded and his means of gratitude was given, “What..do you know about these factions?” he questioned; Felina took a moment then said, “Well first, the Hounds are really just made up of anyone who’re willing to join, it doesn’t really matter if you’re old–young or non–gendered, they’ll always welcome you as long as you do work or make them money. You’ll also find the most interesting of people there for a variety of reasons–as well as the leader who makes up the mercenary covenants. As for the Vipers..” she quieted down a bit before saying, “It’s hard to find information on them–as most of their group works in the shadows..all I really know is that most of the group are made up of women–lead by a set of sisters.” She puffed another breath, “Now..about the Helms…” her words pondered off into concentrated thoughts, “Part of their faction is made up of the elites who’re descended or part of nobility–and if you were to cross paths with them, they’d have you dead by the end of the day..” with half of the cigarette in-between the brink of her fingers–the emitted smoke flew heavily, “It is also rumored that the dictator of this whole operation is..the devil himself..” an ominous tone silenced the room–and soon Mrs. Felina put out her fleeting cigarette. “Now then..you only have two questions left..any for the time being?” There was a momentary silence before I said, “The last faction..who makes up for the other half..?” I hesitantly answered. Felina pondered again and nonchalantly said, “The other half are made up of monsters..”
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