Soul Stitched (book one)

Chapter 89: Cashmere

I put out my hand and helped Aqua up. To my surprise, she hugged me.  I was tense at first, but then I relaxed and hugged her back.

"Thank you." she whispered. I smiled, then pulled away quickly. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"W-what's going to happen." I said. "What's going to happen when we destroy the generator and stop Dr. Shep? Where do we go from there?" I wondered aloud. Aqua knit her eyebrows together and said, "I don't know. But for now, let's just focus on finding Crystal and Mac. Hopefully Wilt will be with them." she said quietly. I nodded.

"Yea, hopefully." I eyed up her blood splattered face and clothes and bit my lip. It was grotesque, the image. Just a girl, covered in something that shouldn't be touched, standing next to a corpse. It was wrong, so wrong. I tucked a strand of my greasy hair behind me ear and turned around. "Let's clear out of here, I don't like being so out and open like this." I stared at the infected on the ground by our feet. Aqua followed my gaze and agreed.

We trudged along, barely able to move. Despite the cold air, we were drenched in sweat. So far we had searched the streets and came up with no signs of our friends.

"Forget us not having powers, your heat dial is on high." Aqua muttered, stepping away from me. I huffed.

"We're just tired, we should rest." I suggested. My throat was dry as was my tongue. I was hungry and really could go for a McDonald's hamburger right now. The sun was almost gone, streaks of pink and dabs of orange was slowly disappearing.

"What about the generator, and Mac, Crystal and Wilt? We've gotta find them." Aqua said. I sighed.

"We should have never split up." I muttered. "This whole charade is stupid! We're wasting valuable time. Why did Wilt have to run off?" I kicked a rock and it shattered against a brick building.

"I know, we'll find them. They've got to be here some-" Suddenly, Aqua was jerked forward, words cut off. He arm was thrust out in front of her and she landed with a graceful face plant of the pavement. "Ow." she growled. I stared at her in confusion. "What the-?" and then she was thrown forward again by some unknown force dragging her away by her right arm, the one with the water engraving.

"Aqua!" I screamed, not caring of any infected near. I ran to her but she was kept moving against her will. She was getting farther and farther away, I would never catch up. I leaned against a building to catch my breath. "Aquaaaa!" I yelled. There was no answer. I looked around, fear jolting through me. I was alone, there was no Aqua, Wilt, Mac, or Crystal. I was defenseless. I backed up into the dreaded shadows and hid there to collect my thoughts. Okay Cashmere, what just happened.

I remembered Crystal talking about something similar that happened to her but that was all fuzzy now...I couldn't remember. If that happened, does that mean my powers are back? I tried but no light, gold or fire appeared. I kicked the wall and a flash of pain flared up in my toes. That was stupid. I slid to the ground, rubbing my forehead. So now I have to find everyone before the infected get to them. I had no clue where they were. This was impossible. Suddenly my hand was pulled forward by some unknown force and I was pulled up to my feet. There was a sharp jabbing pain coming from my sun engraving which was glowing. Then again I was started to be pulled forward and the pain increased. I had no choice but to walk forward. Then the pain wasn't as bad and I was being flung forward like Aqua had been. I walked for hours, going wherever the force was taking me. It was kind of being walked by an invisible leash by the hand. Whenever you went to slow, it pulled. Finally, once the sun was long gone I found her. Aqua. Surrounded in a pool of blood.

"Aqua!" I cried, bending down. I was overwhelmed, not knowing what to do, how to help her. All I could see was the fresh sticky blood seeping from her wounds. "Oh gosh...oh gosh...okay." I pressed my hand to her face. She was unresponsive, not even groaning from pain. It was clear that the invisible leash hadn't been to nice to Aqua, dragging her on the ground, knocking her into buildings. Her flesh was all torn up. "The hospital, I need to get you to the hospital." I said as the idea dawned on me. I was terrified to touch her, scared that I would just rip whatever flesh was left right off. But I overcame my fear and scooped her up in my weak arms and attempted to carry her.

After ten minutes it was clear I couldn't handle it. She wasn't heavy, she was light but I was still so weak from being tortured that I couldn't barely walk myself. I set Aqua down on the dying grass and prayed no infected would smell the blood. I walked over to an old car and found the key were left inside. Clearly someone was in too big of a hurry to run to bring them. I grabbed Aqua and placed her in the back seat and started up the car. It heaved before a low rumble filled my ears. And then I pressed my foot hard against the petal and we took off down the road.

We arrived at the hospital, blood soaked through and into the car seat. I lifted her up and carried her into the hospital. I called for help and a nurse took her off into room. I noticed many people here, all needed attention. I suppose this was one of the only safe places left. I wasn't aloud to see her until morning. A doctor led me into the room, showing me her and telling me about how her injuries weren't as bad, there was just a lot of blood. She should be released the next day but had a serious concussion and needed lots of rest. Sorry doctor, that wasn't going to happen. Aqua was awake and had been every seen 3am. I kneeled by her.

"Hey." I said, brushing a strand of her hair away.

"Hi." she said. "Thanks, I don't know what happened, it was so weird." Aqua looked at the doctor and whispered, "My powers are still gone." I nodded and told her all about how I was being dragged towards her and finding her broken body. Then I told her that I thought she was being dragged to one of our friends but something happened. Aqua agreed with my theory and then I was asked to leave, they needed her to get some rest. So I waited in the waiting room, anxiously wanting to leave and get on with our quest. They have been gone for so long, Wilt, Crystal and Mac. I couldn't even understand what was happening. I guess Wilt was doing whatever  out to do but what about Mac and Crystal? Where were they?

After lying about Aqua's injuries to the doctor, she was released later that day. She seemed wobbly, tired and drained. I wasn't feeling too hot either. But we left the hospital, the generator in search of our friends. As long as they were out there, we would find them.

We only stopped when we almost got hit by a car. A yellow taxi screeched to a halt in front of us, spraying gravel in our faces. My heart sped up and I realized I had thrown Aqua out of the way, ready to take the blow. The cab door opened and a figured came out of the drivers seat. He lifted his head to reveal his face. "You're kidding me. How..." Aqua whispered.

"Dr. Shep." I spat. He smiled at us and said,

"Miss me?"