Brothers in Arms

Eclipse: Anxiety, Anger, and Andrews

Dear Chaos, please be alright. I hurry along behind a rushed gurney, having refused to be carried. My hearts are pounding, head buzzing with adrenaline, exhaustion, and terror. I am drenched in Shadow's blood, which serves as a constant reminder of the situation, and every nerve in my body is on fire.

Please don't die, I think frantically, unable to fully wrap my head around the fact that Shadow's injured, that Shadow's dying. I cannot believe just how scared that makes me, after everything he has done, but I feel like the world is listing dangerously beneath my feet all the same. I have to fight back tears for the second time today, and it is all I can do not to lose myself in the panic of the moment.

The nurses and I sprint by random groups of soldiers, who gape at me and make startled exclamations. I give them no attention, completely focused on the unconscious hedgehog on the bed in front of me. Sometimes, the nurses have to shout to make way, and it is all I can do not to add my voice to the urgent din, but I know I might not be able to hold myself together if I let even a sound escape.

Instead, I fretfully make a list of all the injuries I noticed, wanting to be ready to answer whatever they need to know to treat him. I try to form a description of the various weapons, too, although I do not know how important it is to know what type of gun did the damage.

The few minutes it takes to get from the entrance to the medical wing feel like hours, and I nearly weep in relief when we finally arrive. I am too busy controlling my breathing to let myself, though, and, when the main doctor asks his first question, I nearly talk over him trying to answer it.

"How was he injure--?"

"Bullets! He has a Chaos inhibitor on," I clamour, trying not to shout at him.

"Where was he shot?"

"Mostly legs. Possibly elsewhere, I don't know." I clamp my mouth shut to stop the panicked ramble from coming out. The doctor nods, hurrying away to the room that Shadow was just wheeled into. I take a step forward to follow, stop myself, and stand there, completely unsure what to do.

Was that it? I think dumbly, shaking slightly. Can't I tell them more? Give him blood? Something? That can't be all I can do! I feel my breaths starting to gasp, and I consciously restrain them again. However, before I can entirely regain control, a nurse appears behind me, clipboard in his hand. Without warning, he clips a Chaos controlling bracelet on my arm, and I stagger slightly as my powers leave me, nearly blacking out with the change.

"Come with me, alright? I have some questions for you," he says calmly when I scrub the spots out of my vision, gesturing to a door, and I instantly decide that I hate forced tranquility in emergency situations. Two sentences, and it is all I can do not to claw his face off.

I suppose that is why he put the bracelet on first.

I glare daggers at him, hands flexing with anger, but I shove down the emotion and make my legs follow him, for Shadow's sake.

"I want you to tell me exactly what happened," he says in a similarly tranquil tone, and I feel my patience all but snap. Taking a forced deep breath, I explain through gritted teeth how Shadow was attacked and what weapons I saw, as well as how long it took to get here. The man takes notes throughout, nodding noncommittally from time to time, and I find my loathing for him growing considerably.

You are the epitome of what I hate, I think, teeth bared as I finish relaying the story. You are uncaring, removed, judging, and--

"The doctors will do everything they can, and they'll tell you if there's a way you can assist. For now, you can stay in the waiting room. The door is over there, to the left." The man's words surprise me, and I feel my dislike of him lifting ever so slightly.