"And if I don't?"
The figure smiled. It was the most evil smile Lisa had ever seen in her life. "Then I will be waiting for you," she said, as she opened her mouth to reveal both an upper and lower row of bloody needle-like teeth.
Suddenly the mouth opened wide and the figure screamed with the cry of the giant burning raven. It rushed Lisa, and she had no time to flee. It enveloped her with its burning wings, clamped its flaming claws around her legs, and Lisa cried aloud in tremendous pain. She felt inhuman eyes looking at her, and an inhuman beak pressed against her head, as the frightening sound of Kalona Ayleiski's inhuman laughter filled her ears. She was lifted from the plain and carried away at great speed, her entire body alight with both pain and fire, rising from its surface and rapidly ascending into an eternal twilight that surrounded them both, enveloped them and swallowed plain was empty once more, as were the twilight skies above, for both Lisa and her inhuman companion were gone.
Mercy had been sitting quietly by Lisa's bedside when she was startled by the wounded young woman abruptly coming to consciousness and gasping for breath. She quickly turned and put both hands firmly on her to prevent her from rising, being careful to avoid her injured left shoulder. "Hey, settle down!" she ordered in her most professional manner. "You're safe now, okay?! You're safe!!" Lisa struggled a few seconds more, trying to breathe while fighting the pain from her broken limbs, and then she finally settled down. Mercy did not let go of her until she was lying still on the bed. "There now," Mercy said. She forced a smile. "Isn't that better? You're in no condition for any kind of gymnastics, so you just lie there and take it easy. Okay?"
Lisa looked up at her with her unbandaged right eye. She was suddenly very tired. She knew she was only feeling a fraction of the pain she should have been feeling from what were obviously major injuries, but it hurt all the same. "How ... bad ...?" she asked slowly, and in a very weak voice. For some reason she was having great difficulty putting words together.
"Bad enough," Mercy finished for her, and then she forced a smile, "but you're alive. Be grateful for that." She reached over to a nearby tray table and picked up a hypodermic. "I'm going to give you something for the pain, okay?"
Lisa nodded. It was easier than trying to speak.
It took only a few minutes for the drug to take full hold on Lisa. She now felt numb, with not a trace of the pain that had accompanied her abrupt awakening. Even so, there were parts of her that were more numb than others. Her left knee, her upper left arm and side, and her left eye. She suddenly realized she couldn't see out of it, and that there were bandages both over it and on her head, covering a fair part of its left upper side. She breathed in and out several times, as deeply as her injured left side would let her, and then turned left to look with her one eye that remained uncovered. She saw she was in an examination room of some sort, and that she had been placed on a gurney along one wall, which was to her right. The left side rails were down, but it was for more than it being the side away from the wall. She had been stripped of all of her clothing, which was neatly stacked on a nearby counter with her boots at its feet, but her many dressings and a partially pulled-up blanket combined to cover her sufficiently. There was a long tube leading from a blood bag hanging from an IV stand to a nearby transfusion machine, and another tube led from it to a needle that had been inserted into and then taped to her lower left forearm. Mercy was seated in front of her on an examination stool on one side of the bed, with the wheeled cart beside her she had seen earlier full of medical implements. Cy and Raul were nowhere to be seen.
"Cy ..." Lisa managed to get out. "Raul ..."
"They're standing guard," Mercy said. "They're making sure that thing doesn't come back to finish the job it tried to do on you. Now just rest and take it easy, okay?" She again forced a smile for Lisa's sake.
Lisa saw through Mercy's facade. She slowly licked her lips, put all of her will into the effort, and finally managed to speak a complete sentence, although she did so slowly and softly. "How ... am ... I ... hon-est ... truth ... Mer-cy ...."
Mercy bit her lip, and then spoke. "You're in bad shape, Lisa." She paused for a moment, finding the exact words she wanted to say, then continued. "You've got a serious concussion, and there's probably brain trauma involved. That's why you can hardly talk. Your left shoulder was dislocated and your left upper arm broken in two places, both from being thrown into that truck. That's from where you lost a lot of blood, because one of those breaks tore into the main artery for your left arm. I managed to stop the bleeding and to get both your shoulder and your arm bones reset, but you won't be using either for quite a while. You've also got two ribs on your left side that are definitely broken and possibly a third. Not sure there due to the swelling. You've got major swelling and bruising on your midsection from where your body hit the center support brace for that truck's windshield. I'm guessing severe internal bruising there at the least, but hopefully that's all. You haven't coughed up any blood, and that's a good sign. That and your ribs could have been a lot worse but for that armor vest you were wearing, so be thankful for that. Going on, your left wrist is sprained and you've also got major lacerations up and down your left side from all those metal shards and broken glass from that truck." She fixed her gaze on Lisa with the most serious look Lisa had ever seen on her face. "Also, your left knee is shattered. It's completely toast. That doesn't mean you won't be able to walk again, provided you don't have serious nerve damage, but you'll either have to wear a leg brace from now on or opt for total knee replacement surgery. I've heard lots of good things about it, so there's hope there. First things first, though." She now forced a smile. "Can you feel your legs at all?"
Lisa was silent for several seconds. Her face twitched, as if she were concentrating. After a second or two both legs moved and Lisa groaned in pain. "Left ... hurts ...."
Mercy laid a reassuring hand on the injured young woman. "That's a good thing, believe it or not. That means you'll walk again, given enough time and the right treatment. Now I want you to try something else. Know what a kegel is?"
Lisa nodded. "Yes ...." she said softly.
"All right. See if you can do one."
Lisa's face contorted in pain almost immediately and she groaned. "Aaaaaaahhhhh!"
"Again, that's a good sign," Mercy said. "You've still got feeling down there. Maybe your plumbing isn't too badly messed up."
Lisa smiled faintly at the old joke concerning the female anatomy. "No ... ba-bies ... soon ..." she managed to get out.
Mercy smiled back, although her smile was tinged with sadness. "At least not until you've been thoroughly checked out and gone through some serious therapy. Again, you better be thankful you had on that armor vest. It could have been a lot worse."
The pair fell silent for a while, Lisa doing nothing but breathing, until she had gathered enough of her strength to speak again. "Left ... eye ... Mercy ..." she said, looking directly at her with her one good eye. "Left ... that ... out ...."
Mercy looked away. She didn't want to say what she was going to have to say, and yet she didn't have a choice. "When you were thrown into the front of that truck," she said evenly, fighting to control her own emotions, "the impact broke the windshield. That's part of the reason why you're all cut up on your left side." She now turned and looked directly at Lisa. "One of those glass shards went into your left eye. That's why you don't have a left eye anymore."
Again the room fell silent. Mercy was looking down now, still fighting to control her emotions. Lisa looked at her for a while with the one eye she had left, and then she spoke. "I ... see ...." She let out a single low laugh, although her face grimaced in pain as she did. "No ... I ... don't ...."
"Oh, Lisa," Mercy said, laying her hand on the battered young woman once again.
Lisa let out another painful short single laugh. "Is ... all ... right ..." she said slowly. Her voice now firmed up with as much conviction as she could put into it, given her weakened condition. "Am ..
. go-ing ... to ... live ...."
Mercy looked again at Lisa and smiled. "Well, it's nice to see you've got your confidence back."
Lisa slowly shook her head. "More ... than ... that ...." She stopped and lay quietly for a moment, again gathering her strength. Mercy was watching her intently but said nothing. Once Lisa was ready, she began forcing the words out again. "Had .... spir-it ... vision ... while ... un-der ...." Again she paused and gathered herself. Mercy remained quiet. Once Lisa was ready, she spoke again. "Heard ... and ... met ... the ... Ra-ven ... Mo-cker .... Said ... it ... was-n't ... my ... time ...." With that Lisa let out a long sigh, then looked up quietly at Mercy. "Did ... I ... die ...?" she asked.
Mercy looked surprised. "Yes you did," she admitted. "It happened right after we got you here. You life force had sunk so low that you flatlined shortly after we got you into this room. You were clinically dead for twenty-three seconds until I could revive you."
Lisa nodded. "That ... ex-plains ... it ...."
"Lisa," Mercy began, "people see and experience all sorts of things when they're on the brink of death, or are clinically dead as in your case—"
"No," Lisa said loudly, grimacing at the pain from the effort. Mercy stopped speaking and gave her a look of alarm. Lisa took several deep breaths, then spoke again. "Real ... real ...."
"I'm sure it was for you, Lisa," Mercy responded softly, trying not to sound condescending.
Lisa gave her a look, but it was several seconds before she spoke again. "One ... thing ... bo-thers ... me .... a-bout ... vi-sion ...."
"What's that?" Mercy asked.
Again Lisa looked Mercy in the eye. "Ra-ven ... Mo-cker ... said ... no-thing ... a-bout ... Cy ... or ... Raul ... or ... you ...."
The badly injured woman stopped speaking after that. Her eye remained locked with Mercy's, however, until Mercy broke away. She instead looked at the nearby wall, with a rather pensive expression on her face.
Chapter 11
Reflection and Preparation
Lisa watched as Mercy finished unhooking her from the transfusion machine. "That's enough of that," she said confidently. "I think your own body can take it from here." She gave Lisa one more check-over before tucking her under her bed sheets again. "Got to get you decent for a visit from Cy," she said sweetly as she worked. "I told him I'd let him know when I thought you were strong enough to see him."
"Thanks," Lisa said weakly.
"You're welcome," Mercy said as she finished. She stood up and gave Lisa a look. "Now you just lie there and look like the pretty young woman you are, and I'll go get him for you."
"Yes ... ma'am," Lisa said, managing a faint smile as she did.
Lisa heard the examination room door open and close, and the sounds of another set of doors doing the same somewhere beyond the room. She looked around while she waited, and at one point her eyes fell up her biker boots sitting beside the nearby counter. She remembered seeing them before, and a quick glance up revealed her clothes, washed and neatly folded, her firesuit on bottom and her underwear on top, sitting on top of the counter with her armor vest and the former contents of her pockets neatly arranged beside them. Lisa blushed. She had forgotten that Mercy had undressed her in order to better treat her multiple injuries. She was pretty well covered by her bandages and the bedsheet, but even so! By then she heard the sounds of the outer doors opening and closing again, only this time there was the definite additional sound of booted feet coming down the hall. The door to the examination room opened, and Lisa looked over to see Mercy escorting Cy in. He grinned at her and she weakly smiled back, while Mercy closed the door behind them.
"Hi," Lisa said. She hoped she wasn't still blushing.
"Girl, but are you a sight for these tired eyes," Cy said, grinning from ear to ear as Mercy escorted him up to Lisa's gurney. He pretended not to see her neatly folded clothing sitting on top of and her biker boots standing in front of one of the nearby counters. To Lisa, Cy looked genuinely glad to see her, and she was definitely glad to see him.
Lisa's brow now furrowed as she gathered the words she wanted to say. Cy looked concerned and started to say something, but Mercy placed a hand on him to stop him. They both waited until Lisa spoke. "Raul?" she finally managed to get out.
"Standing guard outside," Cy immediately responded. "We've been taking turns at that, one watching and the other sleeping, while we wait for that thing to come back."
Lisa nodded. "Yeah ..." she said slowly. "Back ...."
Mercy now interposed herself between the pair and addressed them both. "Cy, you can see how bad a shape Lisa is in, so keep it short, simple, and brief. Try not to make her speak too much, okay?" She now left them and headed for the door, picking up her assault rifle along the way. "I'm going to go keep Raul company for a while," she announced, as she reached the door and stopped to face them. "Just in case our expected guest decides to show up early for the party."
Cy had by now moved up close to Lisa's side. "I'll come get you when we're done," he said.
"All right," Mercy said. "Until then." She opened the door and left, with it closing by itself behind her on its hydraulic hinge.
Cy felt a set of weak fingers playing about one of his hands. He turned toward the gurney, going down on one knee as he did, and firmly but gently gripped Lisa's right hand. It was the one that had been trying to get his attention. She sighed pleasantly as he did. "You ... o-kay?" she asked, still in the same weak voice.
"Well, my broken teeth are starting to hurt," Cy admitted, "but that stuff Mercy gave me is dulling the worst of the pain, I'm guessing. Aceto, ahsepto, something-or-other."
Lisa managed another weak smile. "Ty-le-nol® ..." she said. "You ... need ... what ... she ... gave ... me ...." She had to stop and catch her breath, and with that Cy looked concerned, but Lisa was still smiling. After she had gathered herself, she continued. "Could ... floor ... a ... bull ... Cy ...."
"You probably need it," Cy offered.
Lisa nodded. Her thumb began to weakly play across the back of Cy's hand. Cy pretended not to notice as she gathered herself and spoke again. "Had ... spi-rit ...vision ... Cy ... saw ... the ... Ra-ven ... Mock-er ...."
One of Cy's eyebrows went up. "I'll take your word for it," he said carefully. "What'd she have to say?"
Again the weak smile played across Lisa's bandaged face. "Not ... my ... time ... Cy ... I'm ... going ... to ... live ...." Again she stopped to catch her breath and gather herself.
"Well, that's a relief," Cy said, and he showed it. "I mean, if the Raven Mocker said it then it's got to be so, right?"
Lisa now looked sad. "Cy ... she ... said ... noth-ing ... a-bout ... rest ... of ... you ..." Lisa's remaining eye was beginning to tear up. "Oh ... Cy ... I ... want ... you ... live ... want ... that ... date ... when ... we ... we ..."
Even as tears filled Lisa's remaining eye, Cy had already reached over with his free hand and picked up a small towel from Mercy's medical cart. He used the towel to gently dab at her eye. "Hey now, none of that, Lisa," Cy said reassuringly. "Let me tell you something. I intend to survive, Raven Mocker's promise or not, and you wanna know why?" He leaned in close. "Because I've just confirmed me a date with the most wonderful woman in all of Metro City, that's why, and I ain't gonna break that date for nothing. And I'm gonna do my best to make sure Mercy and Raul make it too. I mean, we're the only four humans left in Metro City. That's gotta count for something, you know?"
Lisa let out a little half-sob, half-laugh. "Yeah ..." she said, her voice filled with emotion. "Hey ... Cy ...?"
"What?"
"Kiss ... me ...." she said faintly. "Now ... just ... in ... case ... please ...?"
Cy looked at her for a moment. She looked back expectantly. He began to lean his head down toward her forehead. Even as he did, he felt her weak right arm try to pull him lower.
"Down ... here ..." Lisa's voice was even weaker than before.
He went with the pull, and in a few seconds their lips me
t. It probably didn't look very romantic as kisses went, since he couldn't put his arms around her like he wanted due to her injuries, but both of them put everything they had into it. When it was over, and Cy finally pulled back, Lisa was wearing the most pleasant look he had ever seen on her face. She slowly nodded, as if reading his mind. "Thanks ... Cy ...." she said in a very weak voice.
"You're welcome."
Lisa now managed a faint laugh, although he could tell the effort made her injured side hurt. "We ... have ... that ... now ... just ... in ... case ..."
Cy realized he was still holding Lisa's right hand. He now held it to him and patted it with the other one. "Just in case," he agreed in a half-whisper.
"In ... case ..." Lisa said softly, and with that she pulled her hand back towards her. Cy let go, and she laid it by her side. She smiled again at him. "Go ... get ... 'em ... sol-dier ..."
Cy lingered in his pose over Lisa for a little longer, and then he straightened up. He put the towel back on the cart and unslung Lisa's AK from his back. "Yes, ma'am," he replied. "I need to hand you back over to Mercy anyway." He paused, and then held up the AK for Lisa to see. "You don't mind if I keep using this, do you?"
Lisa slowly shook her head. "No .. go ... a-head ... Cy ..."
"Thanks."
Cy nodded, turned, and headed for the door. He was about to open it and go through when he heard Lisa speak again. Her voice was still faint. "You ... live ... Cy ... hear ...?"
Cy shot Lisa a confident look. "Yes, ma'am," he said assuredly. He then opened the door and left.
Mercy was standing behind cover not far from the doors to the main lab building when she heard them open. Mercy looked over at them, assault rifle automatically tracking with her hands as she did, just in case it wasn't who she thought it was. It was, and she sighed in relief as she lowered her weapon and stepped out from behind cover. "Hey, Cy," she said in greeting.
Escape From Metro City Page 20
