CHAPTER 19

Jasmine watched as Veronica dropped the soldier she held onto the ground. Her face and body were full of bullets that had failed to penetrate the skin, and they slowly fell out of her, plunking onto the floor. Jasmine calmed her breathing and sunk back down, turning invisible, gun in hand. At least she wouldn’t have to worry about being quiet, seeing as how loud the room was. She stayed low to avoid getting hit by stray bullets.

The girl made her way up the stairs as the flying man whizzed past her. He rammed into Veronica and slammed her into the wall. She held out her gun, aimed for one of the nonpowered soldiers, and squeezed the trigger after a split second of hesitation. She hit one of the men in the throat and heard him gurgle. Jasmine winced and looked away as the man drowned in his own blood.

Agnes, Franz, and the others were still hiding and staying down. Sepp and Nick had to run to avoid being collateral damage in the fight between the flier and Veronica. Jasmine aimed again, this time at the man in the air. She steadied herself— this would be her last try before she couldn’t hold her breath anymore. Jasmine emptied her entire magazine but barely missed him. They were moving in the air, Veronica was punching as hard as she could, still smiling. Jasmine cursed and leaped into the row of chairs— next to a dead senator. He had been hit.

The girl recuperated while she looked into the air. The flying man was winning, if restraining Veronica was what could be counted as a victory, but that meant he was also occupied. Jasmine fumbled at her new clip, struggling to reload. She heard another crash, this time in the ceiling. Debris was falling all around her, heavily damaging the chamber. She took a deep breath.

Calm down.

It was easier said than done, but Jasmine managed to reload and held her breath again. She looked up just in time to see a fourth man get shot by Sepp, going down with a thud. She got ready to hit the last MSA soldier when his body turned into sand. She froze for a split second and shot— the bullets went through him. It was Harvey Palmer, and he looked right toward her.

Sand fell to the ground and slithered in her general direction. Her gun would be useless here, so Jasmine ran back to her group to warn them. She glanced backward and relaxed slightly when she saw that the sand was moving slowly. The girl jumped down the stairs and stumbled as Angela pointed a gun at her.

“It’s me! Jasmine!” She screeched as she reappeared. “There’s—”

“The sand metahuman, yeah, I noticed.” Angela said. The gunshots were mainly subdued now.

“We need to get the fuck out of here and fast. The flier’s distracted.” Agnes hissed. Jasmine could see the fear in her eyes.

“Palmer’s on his way here, but he’s slow. We need to move regardless—” Jasmine started.

An outburst of sand flew toward them, rapidly forming into a humanoid shape. He jerked his hand forward, and the sand extended toward them. They all crawled backward while Jasmine shot him a few times with no effect. He was getting closer.

Veronica landed hard on the podium, going through the foundation and destroying it. She still stood back up, unaffected. The flying man screamed in frustration and decided to abandon fighting her, quickly making his way toward Gessner.

“Run! Run! Get the fuck out!” Noah said. Jasmine had almost forgotten the agent’s name.

He pushed Gessner out of the way as the flier crashed into him, blocking Jasmine off. A pillow of dust erupted around them. Jasmine heard her group run away,

Jasmine attempted to jump over the row of chairs, but sand solidified around her right foot. She looked back, seeing— feeling sand crawl all over her. The girl closed her mouth and eyes, but it got inside of her through her nose. She coughed, shaking her head violently and thrashing around, desperately trying to breathe. The girl screamed for help, but none came. Was this it? Would she die drowning in living sand?

She felt a tug, and then a pull, freeing her legs. It startled her and made her jolt her eyes open. It was Veronica. She threw Jasmine away from Harvey and the flier up a few rows. She landed wrong, hurting her shoulderblade, but there was no time even to register the pain. Adrenaline was pumping through her. Jasmine looked back down as she ran and saw Noah’s mangled body, crumpled and broken. Veronica grabbed the flier in a chokehold and he flew into the air again, crashing into the walls trying to get her off of him. Harvey Palmer was closely following, this time in a more physical form— sandstone.

She barely made it back to the entrance, with him right on her tail. Sepp was sitting and clutching his shoulder with Nicholas kneeling at his side. Jasmine suppressed a gasp and dashed toward them.

“What happened?!” She asked urgently.

“What does it look like, metahuman? He got shot! I—” Nicholas turned toward her and scowled. “You brought him to us! Protect Sepp!” He said as he shot up.

“No, this is my responsability. Stay put.” Jasmine said, sounding more confident than she was. She turned and faced her enemy.

“You fuckin’ idiots.” Sepp groaned. “Either fight him together or take me and run. My entire body hurts like a bitch.”

The sandman chuckled— it sounded more like stones grinding against each other. He said something that Jasmine couldn’t quite make out, because his form was affecting his speech. The girl got into position, ready to face him. She shot him in the head, but the bullets only chipped him.

“The gun’s not powerful enough. We have to restain him.” Nicholas said as he walked next to her.

“Restrain him how? He’s too slippery.” She asked.

The man paused for a second, and that’s all it took. Sand burst forth from his hands toward them as they each ran in opposite directions to dodge. Jasmine shot three times to slow him down while Nicholas approached. He latched onto his arm and pulled him forward, then grabbed his neck, putting him into a chokehold. Harvey’s entire body started dissolving into sand to escape his hold.

Jasmine yelled out. “Stop! He’ll drown you!”

Nicholas instantly let go— just as sand started slipping into the corners of his mouth. Harvey reformed into his sandstone form.

“We can’t win. We’d need a bomb or something.” Jasmine said, exhaling hard. She noticed Gessner and the others in the corner of her eyes. They were almost here.

Harvey Palmer rushed toward them, taking Jasmine by surprise. The girl slipped into her invisibility but it was too late. The man caught her wrist hard, sending waves of pain down her arm. She screamed in agony as she attempted to grab her gun with her free hand. Nicholas kicked him in the leg, but it was ineffective. The sandman squeezed, and Jasmine felt her wrist break into mush. She stared at him in disbelief— before he headbutted her.

Jasmine felt hot. She couldn’t even register the agony for the first few seconds as blood streamed down the sides of her face. Her vision was obscured— pain pulsed through her entire body as she spasmed. She had no more energy. There was no way she was getting up. Jasmine heard muffled voices around her. It looked like the others had made it here. She felt someone pull her by the arms and managed to get words out.

“My wrist…” She groaned.

“...head…Franz…here!” Jasmine figured out it was Agnes, but she could only make out some words.

“...up!” A male voice said.

Overhead, the flier stood— or floated. Veronica was no longer with him. He rushed down, making a beeline toward Gessner. Angela, Franz, and Nicholas aimed at him and shot. The man zigzagged and then took a hard turn before crashing on the ground. Had he been hit?

Jasmine heard a few other voices— the remaining Senators— and then they left, dragging her out of the chamber. She felt her body being lifted up and then carried. Right out of the door, the girl squinted and saw Veronica going head to head with Palmer. Eventually, they made it out of the building which had now been surrounded by police and media crews. The screams— no, they were just people talking loudly— made Jasmine’s head hurt. By the time they managed to wrangle their way back to the cars, she had already passed out.

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Jasmine woke up, her vision misty and with her hearing still muffled. She attempted sitting up using her arms, and white-hot pain in her right wrist jolted her awake. She looked down at her hand and saw a black cast around it, as well as bandages wrapping around her forearm up to her shoulder. Jasmine laid there for a few seconds, completely still, before looking around.

First things first, she was on a bed. That much was obvious. The girl strained to turn her neck and was blinded by sunlight. The walls were all white— white enough to remind her of the research center. Jasmine glanced down at herself and noticed a blue hospital gown, and then it clicked.

She was in a hospital.

Her breathing quickened as her eyes darted around the room. Memories flooded back into her head. The National Assembly, the fight in the chamber, and the sandman— Harvey Palmer crushing her wrist and headbutting her. She caressed her forehead with her unaffected hand to see the amount of damage and felt bandages.

Jasmine coughed and called for someone— anyone. There was no answer.

She looked in the top right, where a television hung from the corner of the room. A news channel was playing, showing footage of the attacks, but the volume was off— no way of gathering information. Jasmine sighed as she resigned to her fate, but she couldn’t help herself from thinking the worst.

What happened after she passed out? Had the MSA given chase and if so, had all of her friends made it? A ball formed in her throat as she imagined Agnes’ lifeless lacerated body sitting in the chamber, just like what had happened to Noah. And Sepp had been shot! She hadn’t known him long but—

A woman opened the door to her room. Judging from her clothes, she was a doctor. She wore blue scrubs along with a white coat, similar to what Biermann wore. She looked middle-aged— maybe in her later forties. The woman offered Jasmine a soft smile.

“How are you feeling, Jasmine?” She asked gently. “I’m Doctor Sorge, I just came to check up on you.”

“What’s going on? Are my friends ok?” Jasmine replied with anguish.

“I’m here to talk about you, Jasmine. I can tell you that you were brought with two other people, but they are both doing well.” Sorge said, still gently.

Two people? Sepp and who?

“Can I know their names?” She added. She noticed the Doctor’s look. “Please.”

“That would be a breach of confidentiality. All I am allowed to say is that they’re doing well, for now, we need to worry about you. How’s your wrist?”

“I’m fine. I have a friend who can help me with that.” Jasmine said, injecting frustration into her tone. Unless Franz was the one who had been hurt?

“I know which friend you’re talking about, Jasmine. Marshal Gessner was clear on that fact, but you might need surgery before the boy can mend your bones. Your wrist was crushed and you have a comminuted fracture.”

“A fracture? Can’t you just set the bone and call him here?” She asked with a defiant stare.

“No, you need surgery to put your bone fragments back in place. Your Radius and your Ulna— your wrist bones were broken into multiple pieces.”

Jasmine’s stare turned into a timid look toward the ground. “How long was I out? Can you at least tell me that?”

“Around five hours. We would have given you the surgery already but I need your consent. Any legal guardian you can contact for that?”

“No.” Jasmine felt a sharp pain in her heart.

“Alright. The operation would put you under general anesthesia but there are virtually no risks of death. I’ve done it multiple times, sometimes even worse cases than yours. You have nothing to worry about.”

“I’ll have the surgery. How long do I have to stay in the hospital?” She replied. Her mouth felt dry.

“Great!” The Doctor beamed. “If everything looks good, you’ll be able to leave tomorrow. Marshal Gessner told me he would send someone to pick you up. Do you have any more questions? I have an operation in one hour and I’d like to get ready.”

“Wait, you’re not doing mine now? I thought—”

“Oh, I am so sorry. I mislead you, your operation will be at six-thirty this evening.” Sorge apologized, sounding very genuine. “Anything else?”

“What is this hospital? You know Gessner… personally?” She asked cautiously.

“This is Esslingen hospital. We have… ties to him, but I wouldn’t say I know him no. That’s all I can say. If that’s it, I’ll be out of your hair. If you need anything, you can press the button on the side of your bedside table.” She said, pointing at it. Jasmine nodded.

Doctor Sorge left the room in a hurry just as Jasmine pressed the button. She was thirsty.