Echo [Sequel to MATW]

Chapter Six - Pick Up Sticks

Sam

When I woke up, I was laying in a pool of blood.  It was a first, even for me. Except I wasn't sure if it was mine or not. I tried to get up, but my left leg was shot with pain, starting down at my kneecap and traveling all the way up to my hip. I faltered and rested back down. I tried propping myself up with my arms. Shakily, but it worked. I surveyed the area around me the best I could.  

I was in a wide pit only about five feet below ground, but I wasn't alone. There was wreckage around me, obvious remains of a fight. On top of my left leg was a mass of the stuff, wood and wire and flesh. Some kind of translucent white-blue liquid seeped out of a...Oh God was that a head? I gagged and looked away, at the wall of dirt on my right side. I forced myself to look at it. The head was obviously human, and something more. Steel wires protruted from where the neck should be, and it's still-open eyes were completely light blue, and shone with a burned-out kind of energy. Turning back to the wall, I saw my gray helmet sitting on the ground beside my hand, visor and protective plating shattered. It was in no condition for normal use, but I had an idea that might free up my trapped leg.

I snatched up the broken helmet with my right hand, shifting my weight to the left. Without hesitation, I swung it towards the rubble impeding my legs. It shifted the mass pretty well, and another hit with more power into it slid most of it off to the dirt floor beside my left leg. However, with the force of the blow, my helmet shattered, leaving me with two somewhat scoop-shaped helmet plates. I leaned forward, freeing my other arm to hold one piece of the helm, and then used them both to shovel the rest off of me.

Free from that, I discarded what was left of my helmet with a twinge of saddness. Astro and I had designed it ourselves, together, but it was no use now. I examined my leg, and saw that it indeed was injured, not just covered with blood and overexerted. The pants leg had been totally ripped away, along with a section of skin and flesh, almost down to bone. I gagged again, and this time blood and bile came out. I steeled myself and examined further. A close look yielded that the wound was also badly burned, which could be a blessing or a bane. The burn was causing me a lot of pain, on top of the underlying nerve pain, but it had also probably helped to cauterize the bleeding a bit. Which made sense, because I had thought that I had been cut first, then burned. 

Come to think of it, the hole, the wreckage, my wound, everything right now was making it seem like there had been some sort of explosion, in the heat of battle. One so strong that it had helped make this crater. And, judging by the nature of the remains, my opponents had been hollows. Converts, too; even in destruction the wiring looked sloppy. I located a longer fragment of junk, long enough to serve as a walking stick or support. I used it to get me back up to my feet, shakily and putting most of my weight on my less-damaged right leg. I realized with sickening certainty that my support was a length of steel and bone that could only be a spine, belonging to a Hollow. Well, belonged. Past tense.

Beatrice

I rapped my knuckles on the door, and Astro paced anxiously on the balcony behind me. 

"Bee, maybe we should just go back to our hideout in the desert? We don't know for sure if it's safe here..." 

"Shut up, Astro!" I said sharply. "We've taken every precaution and been as sneaky and careful as we could, but we need to do this! We're in Zeus, the city most under the control of the Hollows. But we've gotten word that there's some sort of safe haven in this building. " I gestured behind me at the large gray building we were standing at. It was true, it didn't seem safe. We had snuck into the somewhat intimidating city of Zeus, and when we made camp near the city limits, we woke up to most of our supplies stolen, with almost nothing left of ours. Except there had been a flier of some sort, telling us about a safe haven. Thankfully, we still had my armor and fuel (I had put them in a bag and slept on top of it) and Astro had some of her tech. But with nothing else, and no idea what to do, we decided to go further into the city and find the safe haven.

Now we were here, and Astro was flaking out on me. Since Danny, Sam, and Andrea collectively disappeared, she'd been acting hopeless and pathetic. Now was my chance to show her what needed to be done. The door cracked open, and my head snapped around and I stepped backwards towards Astro, protectively. The door opened wider and a little girl's head poked out. She was short, shorter than either of us, with straight dark brown hair and narrow eyes. She thrust out a hand expectantly. She said nothing, just studied me with her little eyes. Realization came to me and I shuffled in my pocket for the little strip of blue paper. 

"It's an invitation, isn't it?" I said, holding it out to the little girl. She waited a second, and I could tell she was wondering about Astro. She came out of the doorway and took my 'invitation'. Astro shied away from her glance, despite that she was slight and short, and probably only 9 years old. "Your friend. Not her. It's for one." 

It dawned on me that whoever was hiding in there only wanted one of us. And it wasn't Astro. They wanted me here, but they didn't see the point in her.

"No. She is important to me. And we stay together." I said in refusal.

"Beatrice, no. No, it's okay! Leave me, I'll go find Sam, I'll run, I'll-" Astro stammered.

"No."

"Bee, please I just want to-"

"Quiet. One of you stays. One leaves. He doesn't care who." The girl said. I backed up again, on the steps now. I hadn't actually expected this to be a diplomatic experience. Maybe this was more than we could handle, our resistance was much friendlier to new recruits. And that was coming from me, the person who trains them. 

"Fine. Give us a moment." I said gruffly. I beckoned to Astro over to the foot of the stairs, and she obliged quite willingly. "Astro, calm down. I don't think she's dangerous." That much was true, the girl was no danger to us, either of us could take her easily if we needed to, but I wasn't sure about everyone inside the large house.

"Well, ok, but I feel like I'd be safer out there. If I can find some other Resistance members and come back for you, you'll be safe...." She trailed out. 

I held her hands in mine and tried to put on a comforting voice. "No, sorry. I know you're scared of being here, but it makes more sense for me to leave. I'll figure out more about the condition of Zeus." I reasoned. The more I talked, the more it made sense to me in my mind.

"Bu-" My friend protested.

"Plus you'll be more help here to them than I would. You know more about tech and about Hollows then I do, and probably them too. They need you, not me." With that, I let her hands fall, picked up my bag, and left. I was kicking myself over and over on the inside, but this was the right choice. I could hear Astro whimpering quietly as the girl took her hand and led her inside.