Red Skies | The Prime Archives #1 ✓

thirty-six

Emily's head shot up from her pillow. Her entire body trembled, partially from the cold air swirling around her and the intense nightmare she just experienced. One of her hands flew to her mouth, trying to see if it was bleeding.

It wasn't, as it never was in the first place.

She rubbed her eyes, trying to get them to adjust to the darkness that encased her room. Her face was damp and cold with sweat. She took a shaky breath, rubbing her eyes again.

That felt so real. She shuddered, the fleeting images of her dream branding into her brain. Too real.

Sighing, she dropped her head back down onto her pillow. A scowled found its way to her lips. She never got nightmares. It wasn't a thing that happened to her. In fact, she couldn't recall the last time she dreamed.

Closing her eyes, she willed sleep to take her again. But the images of the day's earlier battle kept bobbing in the sea of her consciousness. The gunfire, the blood. She saw Cutter's body being tossed into the ravine again. Andre's severed arm. All the dead bodies—Kismet and Atlas alike.

Groaning in frustration, she sat up again. She looked down at her legs, her purple cotton shorts only reaching up to the middle of her skinny yet muscled thighs. Good thing my mother isn't here. The woman would probably scold her daughter for showing too much skin, even though no one was around to see.

She smiled at the vague memory of her mother. She couldn't tell if she missed the woman or not. Deep down, she knew she did, as she missed the rest of her family.

She cast a look at her legs and frowned. Bruises varying from deep purple to bright yellow discolored her pale skin. Her body ached slightly but she could bear the pain. The cut on her shoulder that she received from an ice shard, courtesy of Frost, stopped throbbing a while ago after the medics stitched it up.

Her fingers touched the sticky gauze and she winced, a sharp feeling shooting up her arm. She was lucky to have gotten out of that battle with only a couple of bruises and cuts. Andre and Chase, on the other hand, weren't so lucky.

When the rest of the group arrived back at the facility, Director Shaw informed them that Chase was in critical condition. He had lost a lot of blood and suffered a lot of internal damage. Even with his advanced healing factor, there was no telling if he would make it. Stella had been a pathetic mess ever since.

Though, she felt for the girl. She really cared for Chase. Emily hoped she'd find a girl who cared about her in the same way.

On a lighter note, Andre was reported to be in stable condition. Emily overheard that Archie and some other Atlas engineers had already started development on a prosthetic arm.

She laid back down and grabbed her pillow, pressing it over her ears as she squeezed her eyelids shut.

It was going to be a long night.

#

Emily and her friends sat in Director Shaw's, waiting for the man to walk in and start their meeting. She slouched in her seat as she rested her cheek on her palm, looking out of the large window to her side.

The sky was cloudy and gray, resembling the mood around the room. Snow lined the leaves of the trees of the forest outside. It was nearing the end of February and it was still winter. She blamed that damned groundhog and his wretched shadow.

She couldn't believe that it had been almost five months since she and her friends had been at The Acropolis. So much had changed since their fateful night in the quarry.