DIFFERENT WORLD

Chapter 10: HATE YOU

Chapter
X
Hate You

***

This time, he thought as he appeared at his next collection, he knew what was coming.

Throughout time, the human race has exhibited such fortitude and sacrifice. Their ability to love and persevere was, quite honestly, miraculous. Sadly so was their ability to hurt one another.

Zhang Qi Ling walked into the hospital, not through the door, but through a hole that had been blown into the side of the building. Screams and sirens echoed throughout while emergency workers scrambled to stabilized the side of the building. Looking up, Zhang Qi Ling could see that the first three floors were open to the elements.

Dotted throughout the debris and victims of the attack, were several Gods. They didn't look at each other, each clutching a list, and instead moved from person to person, collecting those whose time it was. There were so many...

Zhang Qi Ling's fingers curled around his own list. He didn't need to look at it. He'd read all the names before he'd arrived, but could only remember the first name. That knowledge, coupled with raw pain slamming into him from Wu Xie's Call, was all he needed to know that this would be his worst collection... ever.

He ducked under a live electrical wire, cracking and hissing as it swung over a partially collapsed doorway. Rescue workers worked to turn off the power to reach the young man and older woman trapped inside. Zhang Qi Ling knew their efforts would be futile.

Wu Xie noticed him the moment he stepped into the room and, before the Call dropped into low buzzing he felt whenever he was near Wu Xie, he felt relief. In the four years since his last 'visit', Wu Xie had grown into a young fine man. His hair had darkened and his face had lost its baby fat. But his eyes were exactly the same. Brilliant, piercing brown, and Zhang Qi Ling couldn't look away.

"Xiao ge," Wu Xie whispered. "You came." In the flickering lights, Zhang Qi Ling could see Wu Xie kneeling on the floor. His hair was caked in dirt from the explosion and blood from a gash above his temple. His pink scrubs, denoting him as a volunteer, were torn and dirty. In front of him lay his grandmother. Her lab coat was open and Wu Xie's hands pushed down on a chest wound, blood staining his fingers. She was pale and motionless. Her breathing and heartbeat were hardly noticeable as he stepped closer.

"Wu Xie," he said cautiously and Wu Xie's brown eyes flashed in understanding and then horror.

"No, wait," Wu Xie said and his voice cracked. "You sta-stay away from her."

Zhang Qi Ling continued stepping through the wreckage. Wu Xie shook his head violently—"Stay away from her!"—and Zhang Qi Ling knew he must have hit his head hard because the young man winced and his head lopped forward as his eyes fluttered shut.

Zhang Qi Ling crouched down next to Grandma Wu and reached his hand out to touch her forehead.

"Please, please don't," Wu Xie whispered and looked up. His pupils were dilated with pain and Zhang Qi Ling wasn't foolish enough to think that any of it was physical. "She's all I have..."

Zhang Qi Ling's hand stilled and he looked at Wu Xie blankly. "I have to."

"No," Wu Xie said angrily, blinking rapidly. "I won't let you. God dammit! I won't let you!"

Zhang Qi Ling didn't blink, his eyes focused entirely on Wu Xie. "There's nothing you can do," he said calmly. He reached his hand out, brushing dirty strand of white hair from Grandma Wu's forehead. Her breathing hitched.

In a flash of movement, Wu Xie slapped at Zhang Qi Ling's hand only to have Zhang Qi Lings catch his wrist harshly in his fingers. Wu Xie yelped before his breathing froze and he began to struggle. Zhang Qi Ling tightened his grip painfully, ignoring the blood that dripped from Wu Xie's hand. Without looking away from Wu Xie, he placed his free hand on Grandma Wu's pale skin.

Wu Xie's other hand bit into Zhang Qi Ling's arm and his teeth ground in his mouth. "Don't..." he bit out, "I will hate..." Wu Xie slipped to the floor limply, but his fingers still clutched Zhang Qi Ling's sleeved desperately.

"It is who I am, Wu Xie. Sorry..." Zhang Qi Ling released both Grandma Wu and Wu Xie at the same time and pried Wu Xie's fingers from his arm. Wu Xie blinked up at him, not breathing, not even trying.

Zhang Qi Ling dropped to his knees and curls his finger, instead of touching the bright-eyed man glaring up at him. "Breathe... Wu Xie... Breath."

He didn't wait to see if Wu Xie listened. He had other souls waiting for him. The medics finally rushed into the room, frantically talking to each other and kneeling next to Wu Xie and his grandmother. As Zhang Qi Ling stepped through the remaining door frame, Wu Xie arched off the ground, air filling his chest and gasp, "Hate you."

Zhang Qi Ling didn't turn back.

***
To be continued...

Author's Note: So sorry for the delay of update.