The Games

Chapter 6

Ash

Something wasn't right, Ash could sense it. Xavier hadn't come back for four hours now; which wasn't like him. If he'd have known he would be more than an hour he would inform Ash first. Nothing made sense at the minute. Surely the mistake of having out of date files wouldn't take four hours to remedy. Becoming anxious, Ash left the room in look for his Alpha. 

Following the route to where Damien ought to be, Ash caught sight of seven girls on top of stretchers, while one walked meekly behind, tucking herself inwards as best she could. Curious, Ash stopped the entourage of guards and the girls. "What happened?" he asked, leaving no room for refusal to answer. 

The two guards bowed their heads slightly in an act of respect. "Beta Ashford. If you'll please walk with us on the way to the medical wing while we explain. These girls are in need of urgent medical attention." as the guard began to push the stretcher, the girl atop of it began to spasm, her limbs convulsing in odd ways Ash had never seen before. It was as if her body wanted to contort to wolf form while in human skin. "What's happening to her?" he couldn't mask the anxiousness in his voice. "She tried to kill it." the girl walking with the group quietly replied, her voice soft with a slight shiver. "I told her not to. Told her to hide, that it was the only way to stay alive. She shouldn't have tried to kill it, and now she dying from the inside." 

Ash looked at the crown of the girl's lowered head. She was on the smaller side, frail limbs and dark skin. Her deep black hair, full with curls that seemed to be an unruly mess. The group began to move with more haste, Ash's mission to find his superior becoming second on the priority list. Shortening his strides, he fell into rhythm with the young woman's quick steps. Her stance became more rigid, as if her whole body, except her legs,  was under the influence of petrification. Ash waited as minutes crawled by for her to relax, but to no avail. 

"What exactly were you hiding from?" he asked quietly, trying to help keep her anxiety under control. From how she'd spoken earlier, Ash knew her frightened mindset wasn't from male presence, but from whatever ordeal she had just witnessed. 

"Wendigos. Three...maybe two. It was hard to count because they move so fast. They.....They-" Choked sobs started erupting from the her mouth, drowning out the grunts and moans of pain from the dying girls on the stretchers.

"They overpowered them, tore their psyches apart." Ash finished, looking at the stretchers. Only four girls were now moving, three pairs of soulless eyes stared off in different directions, the bodies they belonged to now limp and unmoving. Ash resumed looking at the girl walking beside him. "What's your name?" his curiosity peaked at how such a frail being was still standing, walking even, with only a few mild scratches and quite a gnarly gash at the edge of her shoulder, peaking through the black fabric of the conventional uniform that all the girl's seemed to be wearing. 

"Azura," her reply was meek, her body not wavering from it's submissive posture. "And how are you-" he couldn't seem to find the right words to finish his question. 

"Alive? Walking?" Azura's head shook, more in shame and guilt than anything else. "I listened... I .... I - I should have fought harder, to convince them to hide I mean..." her voice lowered to a whisper. "They didn't believe me when I said we couldn't win against them. That we had to- needed to hide so we'd live. And now they're dying in front of me." 

The skin between Ash's brows became scrunched in confusion. Her reply hadn't given him much information. Although her explanation had removed the burning question about how she was almost perfectly fine in comparison to the others, Ash was now left with another  scalding question. What, or more than likely who, had she listened to?

One of the girls began to panic, calling out sporadically. "Azura! Azura! Az- " her body once again began to convulse into startling angles. Azura rushed t the girl's side, holding her right arm tightly as she cried out in pure agony. Noticing the presence of the one she'd called for, the young girl, Wendy, clutched to Azura for dear life. "Sarah, where's Sarah?!" her breathing was erratic, becoming even lighter as time went on. Rounding one last corner, the last four remaining girls were rushed into the medical bay. But it wasn't much use. Piles upon piles of girls were already there. Everywhere Ash looked there seemed to be three or four girls to one bed, most ended up laying on the floor for some sort of comfort, something standing up didn't grant them.

White gausses now stained crimson were scattered everywhere, the overload of patients left little time for sanitised space.  The air stank of fear and death. He could see body bags, piled high in the far corner of the large room, being moved without the stretchers, which had been turned into makeshift beds. Bile rose to his mouth for the second time that day, but he somehow kept it in. 

He had never seen such a thing in his eight years as Beta, not once. Women who had wounds that were hastily bandaged were scurrying around with the medical staff to those who hadn't been seen to. It seemed as every minute went by, three more bodies were dragged to the pile for every one that was taken through the back door. 

Snapping out of his daze, Ash caught sight of the woman who'd greeted him at the landing strip; Sheila. She was racing round girls and staff, not stopping for updates on patients' conditions or her staffs pleas for more supplies, only seeming to shakily reply back "every wing is in short demand, wash the old gausses, clean the used scalpels and make do!" 

He then turned to see those he came in with were already gone, the men and Azura taking up the jobs of either washing said supplies as best they could or to help with tending to the wounded. If war was worse than this, he never wanted to become apart of one. 

Over the screams and groans of the girls, Sheila spotted the Beta standing in the entrance. Marching over, she pulled his arm, not caring in that moment of the consequences of such disrespect. Her girls needed help. 

Pulling what looked to be tags of three different colours from one of the side tables, Sheila shoved the into the man's hands. "Give the girls who are good to go a green tag. Any girl who's still needing attention, give them red. And the black...." she paused, not wanting to mutter the words that would condemn too many. 

"The black?..." Ash was barely registering what had just happened, but he wouldn't fight the woman on this. He had no medical knowledge and yet she was still roping anyone in who could ease the burden on those who did. 

Sheila sighed, "If the blood doesn't stop, and the wounds won't heal, give them black."