Darkness Beyond Darkness [A MCSM Fanfiction]

Chapter 22

   The pain woke her up. Throbbing through her whole body, making any movement unbearable. It vanished and came back, sharp and burning one moment, dull and insisting the other.

It felt like someone had beaten her up or like she had fallen down a sharp rocky slope. Bruises seemingly covered her from head to toe, the warm liquid she felt stick in her clothes had to be blood.

All she remembered was jumping into a dense black cloud. She had been trying to save someone.

She had been trying to save Jesse.

She hadn't.

The smoke had choked and blinded her. Gasping and coughing, she had collapsed. Her nape had hit the ground, surging a wave of pain through her whole body. She had lost sense of her limbs and then everything had faded to black.

And now she was here.

Wherever this was.

Her eyes refused to focus and she couldn't make out even the vaguest of shapes. All she saw was orange, brown and black.

The air was hot and dry, drenched with the stench of sulphur and scratched at her throat with every breath.

- Jesse! - she called, her voice rather a hoarse whimper than the yell she intended to let out.

- Jesse! - it came out much louder this time, but still got the same response.

None.

The others had to be close. Even if they had decided to leave her behind, there was Entity 303, looking pretty eager to chop them to pieces.

Unless he had already killed them all, or everyone, except her. He had probably figured she could be of good use with her powers and had decided to keep her alive.

- Big mistake, cloak boy - she muttered under her breath, glaring around at the blurred surroundings with frustration. Couldn't her eyes just focus for a second?

She tried to get up.

The ground beneath her felt as stable as slime on water. Her body protested against this sudden exertion and sent a wave of pain after another through her. Her intestines turned upside down and she doubled over, dropping on her knees.

She grasped the ground with her fingers to keep balance, if what she had at the moment could be called balance.

- Jesse! - she tried to call again as soon as her breath and enough of her mind were back.

Nothing.

Petra grunted in frustration, hoping to smother the terrifying thoughts away.

Jesse wasn't dead. He couldn't be.

Couldn't he?

Had she failed? What if she was the only one remaining from the whole group? What if everyone else, Lukas, Olivia, Radar, had died? How was she even sure SHE was alive? At this point, Petra sincerely hoped she wasn't. That would be the most sensible way out, wouldn't it? The fight was over. They had lost. What to do, except surrender and end it all?

"Urgh, stop!"

She had to stop thinking this way. She had to stop thinking at all. The others weren't dead. She wouldn't believe the opposite until she had solid proof of it.

She had to find them.

How she didn't care. She had no plan. There was nothing to plan. Just go and search. It's all about survival. If we make it, we make it. It doesn't matter anymore.