Vitality In A Wasteland

17

Ace slowly awoke to the sight of a red-haired woman sleeping upon a bed. He adjusted to a dim light to realise he was laying on a metal floor with a jacket behind his neck for a pillow. When his body could move once more, he stretched his fingers and pulled up.

"Ow!" As soon as he lifted his whole body stung, the point of origin was a bandage covering his lower torso. The red-haired woman shot up.

"Oh, you are awake!" Her accent was foreign, way more different than any he heard in the bunker before. It sounded like those strange languages from old movies. Ace regarded he for a moment and pulled himself up even with the pain across his body, he winced. The woman came up to him and grabbed his shoulder.

"You are hurt," she said. "Lucky to be alive actually."

"What... where am I? Who are..." images of a massive Corvega and how it stomped out a small army of Griefers came flooding to his mind.

"My name is Madeline. Worry not, yes. You are safe now. We are in a Corvega."

Ace could feel the ground slowly rise and fall, gentle but noticeable. "In a Corvega?" He looked around to the small room he was in. "Why am I here?"

"You were hurt. I wanted to help; my companion was a bit unbothered by your injuries, but I insisted that you needed some help. You have a concussion and so many cuts!"

A voice came upon a speaker in the room. "We are stopping, take him outside even if he is still asleep."

Madeline gave a concerned look to Ace, "Sorry... we cannot have you here long but surely I can't let you go out with that heavy bump on your head and all those cuts. Where are you from, masseur?"

"My home is destroyed... I..." Ace looked down and grimaced. "I have been with a man, well sort of, he was helping me."

"Where is this man now?"

"It, he, is probably dead. There was an explosion."

"Oh yes we seen that. What happened?"

Ace shrugged. "He wanted to find parts for..." Ace considered his words closely. Did he really need to share this information? What would it help? And if they knew he was looking for Corvega parts, wouldn't they want them too? Are they raiders like the ones he seen before, out to scavenge? "I'm sure he is dead."

To his surprise Madeline looked genuinely sad. She frowned and watched him with thoughtful eyes, Ace looked away, she was quite attractive but at least a few years old than him.

She said, "Do you know the way back to where you were?"

Ace shook his head, all the Sands looked the same, surely it was impossible to find his way back to Ross' cabin now. And what if he did? What awaited him there? His mission was still set, finding his sister and family at all costs. If he went to Ross' cabin, he could claim it as his own but what purpose would that serve? He was lost in the Wastes; he knew that now. So how could he save his sister? The ones who took here were still out there, those men.

"Do you know of men with an eagle and crossed swords?"

Madeline looked at him quizzically. "Men with an eagle and swords?"

"Like a symbol... they have made my life very difficult, and I need to find them."

"No misseur, sorry. Are these bandits?" Ace thought she was a bandit, but she seemed too innocent, too pure. How could a bandit be so kind so far? Unless it was a trick. She didn't know of the men in robes but was she still an ally?

Ace shook his head. "No, they're really worse."

"I see, masseur. Is there anything I can do to help?"