...

Why does my hea-where's Red?

Red

I have to find Red.

Pushing myself off the ground despite my head throbbing I scan the dust-filled hall. The first person I see is him.

"Fuckin' crazy BITCH! Did you really think I wouldn't fire it if you got close to me?" He looked to be disoriented but without major injury.

I should have enough time before he's able to recover. If he's over there then Red should be...

"Red?..."

Placing my still unstable legs firmly on the ground I commanded them to move, If they let me down now I'll cut them off! I do my best to sprint to Red but only manage a haphazard jog.

Scared to move her head, I plead with her, "Red, wake up, Red you're fine, right?" She's Red, she has to be fine.

She was covered in blood but it wasn't hers, it was just the evidence of her ripping through the agents who had tried to stand in her way. What was hers, was the blood coming from her nose and ears, plus the burns across her body.

No reaction, dammit! I place my hand on her chest to shake her body without moving her head too much. After some moderate shaking, she opens her eyes. Those beautiful windows found their way to me, but what surrounded them wasn't white, it was dark red. If she had started to cry I have no doubt it would be tears of blood.

"Are you okay?"

She looked at me smiling. She reached out to grabbed my hand and said, "..." She tried to speak but didn't seem able to produce any sound. Her smile quickly changed to that of confusion and frustration as she tried again, and again to speak. She sat up and instantly started shaking, her whole body was tremoring. I witnessed the fear grow on her face as she realized she couldn't stop it.

"Come on, take..." My hands ripped through my pockets searching for it. The vile, where is, no, no, FUCK. I gave it back to Veronica! "Red, we have to find Veronica and get you all healed."

While trying to help her up to her feet, the once-powerful legs gave out and she fell to the floor before I realized what had happened. Red's forehead had struck the hard floor and I quickly pulled her back up to make sure she was okay.

"Red... Your forehead." Blood ran down her face from the spot that struck the floor.

Her power isn't working, no, our powers aren't working. I should have been able to notice her falling and stop it before she did. But why aren't they working?

Doesn't matter, I have to get her to Veronica.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Looking over my shoulder I see that mother fucker who did this to Red. How is he up already, he had to at least take some of the blast that Red took.

His upper body collapses down, curling forward, and he almost falls over before grabbing his knife off the ground and slowly lifting up his body back to a standing position.

Fuck, fuck, FUCK! I can't just walk away and ignore him, he'll kill us while we're trying to get away for sure. Dammit, I'm sorry Red.

I place Red on the ground against a wall. "I'll be back as soon as I can, please hold on until then, please, if I can't go out like a bitch then neither can you!"

Stepping away from her I finally addressed the chain that I had been dragging around this whole time. It was wrapped around my arm so even when I had let go of it, it hadn't fallen away. Pulling one end to me I grabbed the knife and unwrapped it from around my arm so I could whip the other end to me.

"So she isn't as tough as she looks then. That's good to know, I was worried there for a second." He spoke, trying to antagonize me while gouging a line on his forearm with his knife. He seemed to be steadier after finishing the cut, so I did the same. The pain rushed through my body and help me clear my mind.

"I don't care if your blood, all you did was fuck my mom and leave her anyways. That won't stop me from killing you!"

"My mistake wasn't leaving her, it was giving her you instead of making her pick one out, and I'll pay for that mistake after everyone's dead."

Focusing I could feel my perception coming back, but not completely. I'll just have to work with what I have.

Whip!

Snap!

Crack!

My knife swung around the hall striking at his legs. I don't have to kill him, just immobilize, so I can get Red help.

Not working, no choice but to close the distance. I whip my chain up, the knife on the end sticking into the ceiling above us, then I charge him. Now close enough I throw a punch with my arm holding the other end of the chain. He steps back and it misses, but the chain doesn't stop moving. The end stuck in the ceiling was yanked out and I duck as it comes flying from behind me and at him. He was using the one knife he had to attack me, so he couldn't block mine with it.

Stab! The knife was completely through his open hand.

NO! He sacrificed his hand to stop the attack.

I bring my arm to my side just before his knife stabs me. His attack also goes completely through, but it was my bicep, and it dug a few centimeters into my side that I had used my arm to cover.

I'm fine, it's just my arm, it doesn't feel like he was able to puncture anything.

He uses the hand with the knife stabbed in it to wrap the chain around my throat as I analyze my injuries. My chain has a knife on both ends, I use the one in my hand to stab him in his thigh, twisting and turning it as he began to strangle me with the chain around my neck.

If I had gone for a fatal attack he might have focused on blocking it, and with as good as he's been so far, he could have. But, since I went for a leg he must have decided to ignore it and focus on strangling me. He shouldn't be able to keep up with us now, so all I have to do is get away and grab... Red...

My vision began to tunnel and tried to fade out. He's not letting up at all from the pain in his leg! He should be...

I rip the knife out of his leg and stabbed the arm that was choking me. It finally starts to buckle and I kick away from him. However, I can feel he hasn't let go of the chain so I spin my body to unwrap it from around my neck. That's when I saw Red. She was still leaned up against the wall but her head had fallen forward, her body looked completely limp.

I stopped spinning when I saw her and jumped towards her. Any slack in the chain was gone as I pulled straight against it, towards Red. He was strong and he had a leash around my neck, but I wasn't the same skinny kid who arrived at this prison. The muscles from my toes, to my fingers, I gave them no other options but to move forward. With my airway squeezed closed, I quickly felt all my veins come to the surface. My body screamed to stop, the skin on my neck being pinched and ripped off by the chain squeezing it. I leaned forward and dug my feet into the floor. The message from my brain didn't change, MOVE!!

The force holding me back gave out, the chain loosened around my neck, and something stabbed into my back, but I, MOVED forward.