WDICSM Book 2

Had

(Dylan's POV)

Dave shoved himself in front of me just before the energy was released. He clearly had no idea how powerful these things could be. He was blasted ten feet away by the force of it. With no warning I felt a wave of energy hit my whole body, knocking me backwards. When I managed to sit up, I saw a glassy blue forcefield around me. Amber was just in front of me, visibly shaking, weakly trying to wake Dave up. So that energy blast was the forcefield... cool. I laid an arm over her shoulders. He was still breathing, but barely. She tightened the forcefield so we were outside of it, then raised Dave up with it so he was above the battle until we could help him. When I looked down from where he was, Amber was already off killing people again, much more viciously now. I watched her make her way through to the guy that hurt Dave. She clearly had different plans for him. She didn't just kill him with magic like everyone else. Instead, she pulled out a knife. What happened next I will not describe because I'd rather not, but I will say it ended in a lot of organs and other body parts scattered on the floor, and a lot of blood. If you cut off someone's head, their brain will survive off of the oxygen and blood it currently has until it runs out, which takes around 30 seconds. And Amber knew this. She also knew how to cut someone's head off. This resulted in even more blood and a lot of blunt force trauma with the wall. When he was 100% dead, she whipped around and sprang back into the battle. Her hands were glowing gold through all the blood and her eyes were crimson red, which pretty much meant the power was building up and would explode any second now in the form of a lethal wave of energy, which I almost immediately felt after noticing it, but it didn't kill any of our side. As the GMSA survivors retreated back to their bases, Amber walked dazedly through the field of bodies. I heard a tiny whimper way across the room and Amber immediately started running toward it. She came back with a girl I recognized as Ava from robotics in the same kind of bubble as Dave was in. We brought them both, along with Eva, back to Stockholm.

(Dave's POV)

While I was knocked out, I watched a long slideshow of me and Amber, a combination of memories and things I'd only ever fantasized about while listening to music and letting my mind wander. At the end of it all, everything went dark again. Sound slowly began to fade back in in the form of several voices overlapping.
"Blood pressure 190/137, patient is in hypertensive crisis..."
"Heart rate 146, suffered a small myocardial infarction upon impact..."
"Tonic seizure while unconscious..."
"High risk for stroke..."
"Still in arrhythmia... Can I get a defibrillator?"
Slowly my sense of touch came back. I felt myself being rolled through the hospital and I felt Amber's hand wrapped around mine and I felt the oxygen mask over my face and the air in my lungs. I opened my eyes weakly and looked around.
"Wh... what..." I mumbled.
"It's okay, Dave. Just breathe. You're gonna be fine." Amber told me.
That's not what I was asking. I thought irritatedly. But I'll take it for now.
I gently squeezed her hand and she squeezed mine back. When I was settled in my hospital bed, they shocked me and then left me with Amber and a bunch of meds. I tried to speak but all that came out was gibberish. My vision went all weird and my sense of touch started to go away again in my arms. Next thing I knew, I was being treated for a stroke. When all the drama was finally over, Amber sat down next to my bed and rested her head on her folded arms, looking at me thoughtfully.
"Why'd you do it?" She asked after a while.
"Do what?" I mumbled.
"Take the blow instead." She murmured. "You could've gotten yourself killed."
"You saved me the same way when I could've gotten killed." I reminded her. "Figured the least I could do was try to protect the life you care about the most, 'cause I sure as hell know you couldn't care less about your own. Where is he, anyway?"
"He's with Eva making sure she's okay." She replied.
"And Ava?" I asked hesitantly. "You mentioned she was hurt too."
"What? Oh... yeah, she'll be fine..." She chuckled nervously. "Just a head injury. No big deal..."
"Amber, I know already, remember?" I pointed out.
"I know, I know." She sighed. "I just don't like that you know. You weren't supposed to know. Nobody was. Her family's very anti-everything. Extremely religious. Textbook stereotype religious. They want her to be a nurse or a teacher, go to church every Sunday, marry a biologically male man who has never been even remotely bicurious, have his children, be the perfect wife, blah, blah, blah. She talks about it whenever we work on projects together."
"And what does she want?" I asked.
"She wants to be a robotics engineer, an atheist, married to whoever she happens to fall in love with no matter their gender, have no children or adopt at the most, and work together to be happy." She replied. "But she doesn't tell anyone that. I'm the only one aside from you and her who knows she's pan."
"I should hope you know she's pan." I chuckled.
"Don't be gross." She muttered. "We just work together on robots. That's all. She helped build the hoverboards."
"Is that so?" I grinned. "Well, the memory I saw begs to dif-"
"Shut up." She growled through gritted teeth. "I'm not afraid to pull your f*cking catheter out. I will do it."
"Can't that kill you?" I asked.
"Yes." She nodded.
"So after all this, you're just gonna kill me?" I chuckled.
"By way of pulling a small balloon through a tube that is nowhere near wide enough for it to pass through resulting in excruciatingly painful urethral tearing, yes." She replied.
"Why do I even have a catheter? I'm fully capable of standing up and walking over to the bathroom." I pointed out.
"Oh, you are, are you?" She tilted her head. "Prove it."
I tried to stand up but quickly found I couldn't move my legs.
"You're immobilized." She chuckled. "You'd be too weak to stand if you tried, so they don't let you try so you can't fall and hurt yourself."
"I'm not weak." I muttered. "I could stand if I wanted to."
"No, you most certainly c—"
"Yes, I can!"
She sighed and handed me a 4-kilo weight (~10 lbs). "I want you to hold this up above your head for fifteen seconds."
When she put it in my hand, it took all of my strength and effort to keep it off the bed, never mind lifting it higher.
She saw me struggling and took it back. "Told you."
"Fine. You win." I grumbled. "Just drop it."
"What's up with you?" She jokingly punched me in the arm. "Why're you being so defensive?"
"I don't know." I muttered. "Why don't you answer for me if you're so smart?"
"I think you need to eat, drink and get some sleep." She told me. "It's been a long day."
Not long later, I put the empty plate and cup down on the table next to me and laid down to sleep. Amber was back in the same position as before, her head resting on her arms. She moved one arm a bit to hold my hand. I smiled to myself as I slipped into sleep.