Darkness Girl: Trickster God

Chapter Thirty-One: Acute Agony

Regan could hear a sound. An irritating, constant undulating that brushed against her consciousness. 

Waves? 

She felt herself being drawn upwards, like she was being pulled out of a pitch black abyss. The sensation started slowly, but as she rose higher it felt like she was being pulled along faster and faster, until it was as if she was caught in a hurricane. Suddenly, there were shifting lights, and a sandy, crusty saltiness in her throat. 

She coughed, and the sun hit her eyes like a hammer. 

As her vision came back into focus, she realised there was an unfamiliar girl with dark hair and a serious face looking at her with quiet concern. 

'You need to relax,' she said. 'You've been seriously injured.' 

'Who the hell are you?'

***

Eva was clutching the back of Sarafina's legs with fingers like a tiny vice. The blue haired girl in front of them struggled to rise. She forced herself to her feet in stages, as if each movement was its own act of willpower. Sarafina could see a hideous wound on her stomach, a great gaping rent in the girl's flesh that she clutched with one hand. Fresh red blood seeped from the wound as the movement reopened it. Her right hand looked hideously mangled. There were scraps of material still knotted around her wrist, as if she'd attempted to splint her broken fingers, but whatever was there had been torn away. She pushed herself up until she was hunched over, like an old woman being crushed beneath a great weight. She put her hands on her knees and took deep, heaving breaths. 

'You need to lie down,' said Sarafina. 

The girl shot her a vicious look. 'I don't know where you came from, but scurry back.' 

A gout of blood spilled from her stomach and splattered the sand. 

'You've got some major injuries,' said Sarafina. 'Some of them may still be life threatening. You look like someone tore you apart and stitched you back together.' 

The blue haired girl froze as if Sarafina had slapped her. It was like her words had opened a door in the girl's mind. 

'I lost,' she said in a grey, distant voice. 

'What?' 

It was like the pain of her injuries had caught up to her all at once. She sank down to one knee with her arms folded across her stomach. Her face was suddenly gaunt and hollow. 

'Kessler defeated me.' 

Whatever energy had been supporting the girl drained out of her like water. She stayed hunched over, staring at the contours in the sand like they contained a revelation that had shattered the foundation of her world. 

Eva released the back of Sarafina's legs and took a tentative step forward. When the girl didn't move, she stepped closer and reached out with a small hand towards her shoulder.

'She looks so lonely.' 

The girl's reaction was sudden and violent as she roughly slapped Eva's hand away. 

'Don't touch me!' 

Eva jumped back immediately as the girl slammed her fists down on the sand and drew in a shuddering breath. Sand stuck to her wounds and clung to her arms as she slammed them down again and again, beating the ground with both hands. Blood dripped from her wounds until the patch of sand around her was soaked with red. Finally, she hit the ground one last time and slumped forward until her face was hidden behind the curtain of her hair.  

'Don't touch me,' she whispered. 

For a few seconds, in the aftermath of her outburst, everything was still. The waves whispered against the beach like dry paper as Sarafina lifted a hand to shade her eyes from the sun.

'Eva, go home and get a stretcher.' 

'But--' 

'Now.' 

Eva hovered, torn between her desire to be helpful and her fear of being left out, but a look from Sarafina pushed her away. She hurried purposefully down the beach with the awkward, uncoordinated run of a child. 

The blue haired girl hadn't moved. 

'Leave me alone,' she hissed. 

Sarafina ran a clinical eye across her wounds and the blood soaking into the sand beneath her.

'If I leave you here, you'll be dead before nightfall.' 

The blue haired girl sat up and gave her a penetrating look.

'That sounds like it's more my problem than yours.' 

'Wrong. I'm a medic -- well, an apprentice medic -- and I'm first on the scene, which makes you my responsibility.' 

'I'm fine.' 

'You certainly sound like it.' 

Sarafina watched as the blue haired girl rose to her feet like a ship rising from the depths. She pulled herself up one foot at a time, dragging herself painfully into an upright position and straightening until she looked like her backbone was filled with steel. She fixed Sarafina with a baleful glare. 

'If you try to patronise me again, I'll make sure you discover new meanings for regret. Go find your charity case somewhere else. I don't need some fumbling amateur using me as first aid practice. ' 

Sarafina felt a hot blush begin in her cheeks. 'Tough. Don't take me so lightly. I'm not just a normal medic; I'm a combat medic, and I know how to handle myself. Besides, In your current condition I think I can take you.' 

The blue haired girl gave a nasty chuckle that sounded like a sick hyena. 'You've thrown a few punches at a dummy and you think that makes you a fighter. You know nothing about the real world, little girl.' 

Sarafina could feel the first tingling waves of anger running from her chest to her fingertips. This girl couldn't have been more than a few months older than her, but she had the gall to stand there and dismiss all of Sarafina's experience as if it was nothing. 

'You don't know anything about me,' she said. 'I've seen roadkill that looked more threatening than you. You can posture all you like, but the reality is I'm healthy and I've got a craft. If I touch you, I can paralyse whatever muscle I'm holding with--' 

'Fool! Do you think this is a game? A craft is strongest when your enemy doesn't know you have it. What sort of idiot goes around babbling about their strengths and weaknesses? That's like handing your enemy a weapon to use against you.' 

Sarafina noticed the skin around the girl's cheeks was becoming ashen, and her lips were starting to turn white. Despite her apparent strength, she realised that the girl was about to pass out. 

Her expression softened. 'You're my patient, not my enemy. We need to get you to a bed.' 

'What makes you think I'm going anywhere with you?' 

Sarafina stepped forward and gave the girl a gentle push. She went over like a tree, going from vertical to horizontal with a muffled whump and a spray of sand. 

'Because your entire body is a wreck.' 

The blue haired girl looked blankly up at the sky. It was hard to tell if she had finally given in, or was simply slipping into unconsciousness. 

'This is humiliating,' she mumbled. 

Sarafina stood over her with her hands on her hips.

'I'm going to help you,' she said. 'Whether you cooperate or not.'