Louisiana Dawn
Prologue: Welcome to Europa.
They said the future will be bright, free and prosper, but be honest I'm not sure what
future what the people many centuries ago was talking about. If you take an Orwellian
1984 then drop a nuclear bomb on it, that's my future, my life, my home. The world is a
very different place, there are no such thing as countries or continents any more, just
mega-city's and wasteland; just the contrast of black and white.
Bristoliana district, Britannia county, Europa city. City of the damned, that's what the
name I choose for this cesspit. It was never like this though, the city had a beating heart
that pulsates new hope through out the metropolis. People came in from the wastelands
to look for a new life, so which the city grew at unimaginable pace, but unfortunately
the shadow council's behind GOVNET greed grew parallel with it.
Living in the city is tough work, being filmed every minute of every day, every sound you
make is recorded and monitored. Nearly every bit of information is monitored, censored
and sometimes covered up. There is no legal system at all not even a court, break any
law; even as petty as blasphemy, you are found and executed.
Well, like They say, even the smallest stone can cause a ripple.
This is my story, unchanged, unedited and uncensored.
Chapter one: When ones a thief ,is always a thief.
Twilight, its has to be my favourite time of day. Half dark, half light; a perfect grey. The
streets are emptying and Its time to catch some prey. I've been haunting the bakery for
half of the day now, waiting for the perfect opportunity. Suddenly a timid figure left
emerged from the store, before I knew it my instincts kicked in, adrenaline rush through
my body, I kept my head low, ears back, tail straight.
"Stop. Thief. Help" The dark figure yelled as I grabbed the bag from its hands.
That's it, the games on, the city lit up with piecing blindness, every CCTV camera beamed
at me. I could feel the city's beat pulsating through me, synchronising with my heart,
everything just flowed into a euphoric high.
The world changed around me 10 foot walls became small hurdle, every house a became
a stepping stone, every leap become an opportunity. Nothing can catch me, Nothing can
stop me, Nothing matters.
Before I knew It I was running up a decaying fire escape and on to the roof of a caucus of a building, this was my home. This building is unusual, as it's the only one that hasn't
been restored. Many rumours and legends circulate this building, even the City Guards
refuse to enter. This is the blind spot of the councils eye, every CCTV camera that's get
place near by get short circuited and rendered useless within seconds of being placed.
I fell on to by back with a thud, panting, clutching the stolen bag.
"Finally, some food" I muttered to myself as I pulled out a loaf of bread and broke off a
small chunk and popped into my mouth.
Savouring the flavour of fresh bread, I refuse to swallow, as I knew It'll be days until the
next meal. I managed get back up and pull out a old sheet that was hidden in a old roof
top air conditioning unit. After rolling it up into a pillow I place it on the floor, slightly
perked up against the unit, where I led down and stared at the orange starless sky; as I
know it'll be another hard struggle tomorrow.
I listened to the wind as it blew through the broken windows into the lifeless rooms. The
building almost sound as if it is groaning and whimpering of its own misfortune.
"My, my haven't you got some legs on you,I never seen a person to light up city like
that" A male voice pieced into my solitude that jolted me from my daydream.
"Are you chatting me up?" I answered back, looking around for the source or the voice.
"You ain't that pretty sunshine" The voice jokingly replied in return.
Not being able to pick up a scent I fumbled around for my knife as the one thing that
gets me worked up. Is the unknown.
"Looking for this?" The voice questioned as a figure manifested in front of me.
I was speechless, who?, what?, why?. How did he get my knife with out me noticing, it's
strapped to my thigh at all times. I looked up to see a black cat standing in front of me,
he was wearing grey jogging bottoms, and a black T-shirt with a teal bandanna worn
loose around his neck.
Suddenly he flinched immediately. I felt the coldness my own blade against my throat.
"I said, are you looking for this?" The cat questioned again pushing the blade deeper.
"Yes..." I grunted as I tried edging back from the blade.
"Good" he replied, flipping the knife and holding it by the blade with two fingers, gesturing to offer it back.
"I thought I get my own back on you after stealing my bread" he continued as he
grabbed the bag a sat down beside me with his back against the unit and looked up to
the sky in one flowing movement.
"What do you want?"I growled as I rubbed my throat after taking my knife back.
"Ever heard of BITNET?" he had to reply with the second thing I hate most.
Answering a question, with a question.
"BITNET!? Ha, don't say your one of those lemmings. A day doesn't go by that I don't see one
of your guys brains getting blown across the street by city guards." I replied as I watched a
silhouette jump from rooftop to rooftop in the distance.
The cat laughed "That's us, but there's a bit more depth than that." he paused to scratch
behind his ear "You see, the city is split up into five enterprises that store and sort the
information. They all use us to transport information to each other, we're called
torrents."
"Right so you guys work like GOVNET, correct? Just without the computers" I replied, as I
became more fascinated about what he's telling me.
"You got the drift of it" he answers with a slightly surprised tone in his voice "you seem
to know your stuff"
"So. What do you want with me?" I asked again.
The black cat sighed "I'm recruiting." His voice trembled bit as he pulled on the frayed
strands of his joggers.
There's no way in hell I'm going to join that suicide party, but when I look around and
think about it I'm already there.
"Right. An what's in it for me?" I continued questioning before almost biting off my own
lip in anger about my own curse of curiosity.
"well for a start you get shelter, food, and new clothes for a start." He replied and letting
out a smirk "And by the looks of things you have none of those things." He continued
after breaking out a small chuckle " Also you don't have no name, no family, no known
friends and shit loads of enemy's and that's excluding the council it's self." he paused
and look up to the orange sky, "your completely anonymous even to your self."
I just sat there and looked at I'm shock how does he know all this about me, he is also
about right the council doesn't know anything about me either, that's why I'm the most
wanted at the moment. Then again I don't know much about myself either, I don't even
know my species, yet my own name. A small gadget landed in my lap. Looking up I found the cat is on his feet, walking towards the crumbling edge.
"what's this?" I asked him while I inspected the small gadget
"A pager" he replied not looking back at me " within 24 hours you'll receive a message
containing a name and a place,"
"Pager? I didn't know they still operat.." I stopped mid sentence to find he has vanished
into the night. "Well at least he forgot his bread... Idiot."
I sat there a few moments, watching the last place the cat stood thinking over what
happened before placing the pager under my make-shift pillow. I led back and gaze at
the few stars that's brave enough to show their shine within the city lights.
Chapter two: Black cats and voodoo dolls.
Being jump started by an uninvited beeping from under my make-shift pillow, is not
most satisfying way to wake up. I clawed my way through the old sheet trying to find the
source of the bleeping, eventually the small pager fell out and bounced on the ground.
"Ugh, it was you. Bloody-bastard-waking-me-up-this-time-of-day" I mumbled to my self
in a sleepy daze while trying work out how to use the device
Rubbing the sleep from my eyes I manage to make out the message on the small screen.
"Small chapel, on Brokers street, Southend. 6pm" muttered the message out to myself, I
rubbed my forehead then my eyes, "Brokers street? Oh! Come on, where's the hell that!" I shouted at the lifeless pager which returned the expected silence.
Looking out across the bustling midday city,I could just about manage to read the time
from the clock tower that's a few blocks away. which showed 5.55pm. If Leave now I could
make It. I quickly shoved the old sheet back into the old air conditioning unit and made
my way down the fire escape, down the side of the building, and cross the road.
Causing a few cars to slam on there brakes while I knocked a couple pedestrian's off the footpaths.
A thought punched me in the head. Why am I doing this? Curiosity?. That's it Curiosity. The
Conspiring crafty culprit who's behind this, The son of a bitch who pulls the strings to my
actions. Satisfied on the blaming, I carried on my journey.
I managed to catch a glimpse of a small chapel, down a old narrow side street. I quickly
looked around for the name sign.
" Brokers street?, Brokers street!... Finally" I congratulated myself with a sigh of relief
which was suddenly interrupted by a familiar voice.
"About time, I thought I had to come and get you," The black cat shouted from the
chapels doors. "come on in,"
Not sure what I'm getting my self into I reluctantly followed him into the chapel. It took a
few moments for my eyes to adjust to the darkness. Inside the chapel looked derelict, small
puddles of light patched the cracked tiles along the dusty pews up to the alter.
The black cat turned around, lifted his arms to gesture a 'here we are' stance.
"Welcome to the West Enterprise" he acclaimed
" I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but its just an abandoned chapel." I bluntly replied
"Far from abandoned child" An unexpected voice entered the area.
"Morning Vic'" The black cat shouted into the darkness.
"Please Kruger, Its father. I'm a man of god" the voice replied softly as it embodied when
a old badger stepped into the light
"Kruger?" I questioned the cat, trying not to snigger.
"Its my Net name, or in your terms a Codename" He replied as he was stretching his leg
"Trust me I don't like it either, but when we join BITNET our name is given to us." He
pause to stretch the other one " It keeps GOVNET finding who you are if information is
leaked from BITNET, Its like a anonymity thing"
"So what about Vic? Is he part of BITNET?" I asked
"Please its father!" the badger butted in.
"Nah, Vic's not within the network, he just offers us shelter" Kruger informed, Ignoring
the Badgers request but letting out small laugh as he watched Vic curse underneath his
breath. Kruger continued. "Oh, yeah that reminds me we're waiting on one more person,
then we can sign up"
"whoa. I said nothing about joining, I'm here out of curiosity" I took a step back towards
the exit.
"Really? That's a shame" Kruger replied, hinting me to look over his shoulder. " Evening
Thatch' late a usual" he called over a female fennec wearing the same uniform as
Kruger."
That changes everything" I thought to myself.
"Sorry Kruger I oversle... I mean I got caught up with... Stuff" The fennec replied to
Kruger with a cheesy grin. "oh hi stranger and hi Vic" she greeted us two with a wave.
While Vic just cringed and lit up a cigarette. "I'm Thatcher but others call me Thatch'"
she offered a hand shake.
" Suppose that's your Net name then?" I asked once I greeted the handshake.
"Correct, But it feels like my real name, It suits me better than my birth name" She
replied tilting her head to one side "So what's yours?"
"Err.. I haven't got a Net name yet," I quickly replied while thinking on my feet "And I like
to remain anonymous. For now" I looked up hoping she'll buy.
Thatcher giggled. "Well make sure you tell me your Net name once you get it, ok?" She
asked followed by a wink.
I nodded with agreement and relief
"good. I gotta run, Savannah's fixing my gun and I think her shift is finishing soon, so
see-ya" Thatcher ran off and jumped down a flight of stairs leading down a dark corridor
before Kruger could get a word in.
"Thatcher wait...damn. I swear people don't respect there unit leaders any more."
Kruger muttered as he watched Thatcher disappear down the stairs." Anyway fantastic!,
I knew you'll say yes."He said as he snapped his attention back to me.
"But I didn't. I was. But." I stuttered, trying crawl out for the hole I dug myself into
because of that Thatcher girl.
"Come on lets go, catch you later Vic" Kruger waved to Vic as I follow him down stairs to
a large rusty Iron door.
Kruger shoulder barged open the rusty door and stumbled in revealing a well lighted,
busy hallway with numbered doors on one side that stretched down to the far the eye
can see. The walls was painted bright white and plastered with 'past events', 'lost items'
and 'missing people' posters.
"Kruger, how the hell doesn't GOVNET know about this?" I questioned as I looked
around in awe of the underground hide-out and the number of torrents who hide here.
"To put things bluntly, they do know. quite a few times GOVNET sent there troopers and
guards down here," Kruger replied as he peel one of the poster back to show a bullet
hole "We offer a warm welcome with a wall of bullets soon as they step through the
door. Also they gotta face Savannah - you'll probably end up meeting her shortly." Kruger stopped at one of the doors and typed a code in the key lock, immediately after a loud clunk and the door open on a jar.
"This is our units quarters, best place in the enterprise right opposite the armoury"
Kruger pointed at the barred window across the hallway. "Anyway welcome to unit 13"
"Ye who enters, abandon all hope" A voice from the armoury interrupted him "Also no
weapons beyond this point, that means you Kruger"
"I was about to do that Savannah!" Kruger shouted back and turned to me "You gotta
give up your knife a swell, thanks to the damn no weapons policy" he said as he pulled
out gun from under his t-shirt and threw it through the bars of the window.
"Immature as usual I see" Savannah replied as she got up from underneath the desk
and unloaded the magazine from the gun. "why do you carry only one bullet" she
questioned.
Kruger marched up to the window and put his face up to the bars "That only bullet is
going to go up the only skunk's ass, who proceeds to irritate me every freaking day" he snarled
trough the bars.
"If you just hand over your weapon, like every one else, I wouldn't have to irritate you
everyday, would I!." Savannah replied unimpressed of Kruger's threat before flicking him on the nose causing him to stumble back , shortly after she drawn her attention towards me "and
you as well kid" she waved me over.
Her face lit up as I handed over my knife. "Ah, a diamond edged military blade - late 21st
century. Nice." She said with an amused tone when she held it up to the light for a closer
inspection. "Anyway kid I would ask you how you manage to get you hands on one of
these, but more importantly, your weapon number is sixty three, just ask for it when you
leave."
" Sixty three. got it." I replied.
Kruger pushed open the door exposing another corridor similar to the one that extends
out of. It also has four doors down either side numbered one to eight, other than that
the hallway was quite bare and only containing a gun cabinet and a in-wall terminal.
"Let me show you around" promoted Kruger as he closed the door behind us.
He walked over and tapped on the glass of the gun cabinet holding four bolt action
rifles and four scatter guns.
"This is the gun cabinet, so if GOVNET do send in there men, this case will open
remotely." he informed. I nodded as I looked in through the glass.
"And this over here is the terminal" he pointed out as he walked over to the other side
and turned the screen on. "From here you can see if there's any jobs available and if
there's any announcements."
"hmm." I continued nodding pretending to be interested. "Okay, cool. Cheers."
"Well that's pretty much it, except you picking a room" he finished before raising his
hands.
I looked along the hallway then walked towards door seven.
"I think I'll choose seven. It might even things out" I replied as I opened the door and
peered inside.
"Well you go and get acquainted with your room, I got some skunk issues to attend to."
said Kruger as he opened his door and grabbing his rucksack. "Your uniform and other
crap should be in there. I'll be back soon"
"Cheers" I replied.
"Shit. Almost forgot. Your NET name should come through on your pager soon" he
shouted through the door as it closed.
"What do you mean there still not fixed!" he yelled, followed by the sounds of a muffled
argument between him and Savannah. "It's been two weeks!"
"You just got to wait like everyone else, Its not my fault that the city guard had a armour
upgrade now, is it!" Savannah bellowed back. "Now piss off, its the end of my shift"
After laughing to myself after listening to Kruger and Savannah bicker, I entered my
chosen room and switched on the light and looked around. It was a quite a large room
but very bare as it only contained a bed and a clothes cabinet. There was no character or
atmosphere with in it, all the walls and ceiling was a freshly painted bland white
On the bed there was a uniform, consisting of a black jogging bottoms, a white t-shirt
and a teal bandanna. There was also a half-faced gas mask dangling from the bed post.
It has been a while since I had a chance to change into fresh new clothes, I slipped on the
joggers and pulled my tail out through the back before pulling the t-shirt over my head.
The new clothes were baggy yet they fitted. Lastly I picked up the teal bandanna and
tried to tie it around my neck, as well as cursing at my inability to tie knots behind my
head .
"Thanks for the show there." A voice came from behind me. I looked around to find Thatcher leaning her shoulder on the frame of my open door with her arms crossed. I quickly looked away and bit the side of my mouth with embarrassment.
"Need some help there?" said Thatcher as she entered my room.
"err.. yeah, some help would be nice" I replied as I tried to tied it one more time.
"There you go" she smirked "so you decided to join then"
"Well more like Kruger decided for me" I answered.
A loud beeping rudely interrupted our conversation , It was coming from my old pair of
trousers' pocket.
"Oh right a forgot about this thing" I said as I pulled out the pager from the pocket and
read out the message on the screen as it scrolled along "Welcome to BITNET, your
NET name is SAINT, any problems please contact the administrators office."
I stood there and re-read the message a couple of times. "Saint?" I questioned myself "I
hate it already"
"Heh, It's not that bad" Thatcher shared her opinion. She pause and thought for a few
moments "Saint... in-fact I like it."
A short live silence descended between us as a loud bang and shouting came from the
hallway. Thatcher quickly twitched her ears towards the sound like a radar.
"Dammit, that has to be Striker, why now." She mumbled.
"Wen feh tinos rik ferk?" A red fox appeared at my door shouting in Voxin.
"Wedif yicin acirug ehi'?." he asked before giving Thatcher a chance to answer the first
question.
Thatcher lowered her ears and sunk her shoulders., I could tell Thatcher was in trouble
by the foxes tone of voice resulting in her reaction.
"Thanks again Thatcher for retuning my pager." I blurted out quickly thinking on my
feet.
"Haven't had this thing for a day and I'm already loosing it" I continued after I let
out a chuckle after throwing the pager up and catching it mid air.
"Ugh. It seems BITNET is accepting any old dip-shit these days" Snarled Striker. He
analysed me with a disgusted face "Even worst your just another foul hybrid - that
shouldn't even exist!"
"Lihifik gic - Thatcher," he growled pulling her out of the room, by her arm.
As Thatcher left she turned and mimed "Thank you" and forced herself to smile before
she was yanked out of sight.
I stood there for a while, thinking what the hell happened, and what I got my self into.
"well that's another enemy to my list" I said to my self as I fell back on the bed.
It's been a while since I led on a real bed, only a few clips of my memories flashed through my mind as the mattress hugged around me. My eyelids became heavy and I slipped into the dream world in complete comfort.
Chapter three: Stitches and stitching.
"Louisiana!" I called out the name into complete darkness, into the void, nothingness. "She's dead, you fucking killed her, you bastard!" Anger boiled inside of me and I didn't know why I was shouting, or even to who I was shouting at.
Suddenly Vivid lights flashed before my eyes, and suddenly I was in the wastelands. I could see Europa's walls towering above all artefacts of buildings that was discarded across the land.
"Number 357...You was the mistake" A voice echoed inside my head. "You did this"
"Shut up, please. Shut up!" I yelled clenching my head. "I didn't do this."
"Yes you did, you did it to Babylon, now your going to to do it to Europa." The voice replied
A white flash engulfed the wastelands and giant mushroom cloud erected over the city, obliterating everything. I looked on in horror, no. This couldn't be happening.
"Well done Saint!, or shall I say..." The voice in my head stopped in mid-sentence.
A sharp pain pierced into my head then grew like a cancerous fire, I clenched my head again. Moments later I felt my self at peace, no pain, no worries, no fear. I looked up to find myself back in the room curled up on the bed. I led there relieved but still panting.
About ten or fifteen minutes passed, before I manage to get my grasp on reality back. I took a deep breath and sat up and put my face in to my hands.
"Haven't had one of them for a while now." I mumbled to myself before letting out a sigh.
I opened up my door and took a step out side in to the quarters hall way and looked at the terminal. I should learn to use this. I approached it and read the screen: Please place pager on tray located underneath the screen.
After following the instructions, the screen flashed the world loading. A few seconds passed, before there was a satisfying beep, as the screen displayed;Hello Saint welcome to BITNET.
"So ready for the first day of work?" Said Kruger as he place his hand on my shoulder making me jump.
"Do you have to do that?" I replied in a irritable voice.
"Yes." he whispered in a creepy voice before laughing. "Anyway, there's an information relay a few blocks from here, and unit three needs someone to fill in for them as one of there guys poke his out for too long, interested?"
"Hmm I don't know" I replied as I starting to hesitate as I wanted to start on the smaller jobs.
"There's 30,000 credits involved" He started to persuade me "also your last on the relay so you only gotta run for a couple of blocks"
"Fine. I'll take it" I reluctantly agreed.
"Good." Replied Kruger as he lent over my shoulder and type in a few commands in the terminal.
"The job starts in a hour so you got some time to get ready"
He logged me off the terminal and through over my pager. Instantly my pager went off, and the messaged scrolled across the screen; 1300hrs Laurence Avenue. Road side flats.
"Laurence Avenue" I whispered quietly to myself as I tried to picture the city map in my mind "OK got it, anyway I'm off see you later" I said to Kruger, tapping him on the shoulder as I left.
I step out into the main hallway, and Savannah was busy the armoury, repairing the weapons. I walked over to the barred window and tap one of the bars.
"Morning." I called through the bars.
"I'll be with you in one minute!" She called back. "number sixty three. Isn't it?"
"Uh yes it is, my knife please." I replied.
Savannah, approached the window with my knife, cleaning it with a cloth. "I gave this blade a new handle and sharpen the blade for you" she announced as she held the blade up to the light. "You got to keep these things in good condition else they're not as effective"
"Its just as effective just as any other knife" I replied "It slabs and slashes and saves my life"
Savannah smirked as she got out a two-by-two piece of metal and sliced through it like butter.
"Like any other knife then?" she said tilting her head to one side. "you gotta the original holster for this knife"
I looked on shocked "err yeah," I replied showing her the holster strapped just above my knee.
"good, this thing will cut through you and any holster with ease," She nodded to agree with herself
" anyway I gotta get back to work, damn torrents are always breaking there weapons."
She slid the knife under the bars, and I picked it up and placed it in the holster.
"Right, bye" I waved to indicate I was leaving and headed along the hallway and through the door into the old chapel.
"Aright? Vic isn't it?" I said jogging past the Vicar and out the door, with just managing to hear the begging of him to address him properly. Laurence Avenue was a short ten minute walk from the chapel just a fair few blocks along.
I finally arrive at the destined street and saw the road side flats. "This must be it," I thought to myself.
I ran towards the side of the flats; using a near by dumpster as a spring board I jumped up and grasped the railing of the fire escape that ran down the side of the building and flipped myself up and over the railing. I jogged up the stairs onto the roof, and hid in the shade of a air-conditioning unit and kept a watchful eye for City Guards.
In the distance, gun fire echoed through the district. I knew it'll be my turn soon. I could already feel my adrenaline pumping through my veins, my heart pounding faster, my muscles becoming tense.
In the distance a figure of a torrent hopped over roof top to roof top, I could just make out the BITNET uniform, I edge out from the shade so he can get the glimpse of me. I watched in awe as the torrent jumped over the street as it was a stepping stone.
"Must be a rabbit" I thought to myself.
Gun shots was getting louder, they was almost deafening. Suddenly the was a very loud gun shot which made me flinch a close my eyes for a split second, as I opened them,everything was in slow motion the Torrent was a few feet away but falling backwards, as I watched every bit of blood and scalp showered over me.
With out thinking I ran toward the fallen rabbit, grabbing the bag of information and grabbing the pager that was half way out of his pocket. I glanced at his body and froze, at the horror, his head was obliterated, vanished, gone.
A sound of another gun shot that rippled through the air, and the bullet just skimmed past my side, Thoughts rushed though my mind.
Do or die, escape or die, run or die, fight or die. I snapped out of it and jumped down the fire escape, looking around for the City Guard who fired at me, but none could be found. I quickly sprinted back to the chapel, clearing any obstacle, dodging every bullet, cutting down every guard that stood between me and my goal like grass with my knife-Now I was seeing red.
I made it to the chapel and crashed through the door, to find Vic standing there, looking shocked.
"Good lord, what happened to you?" Vic questioned.
"Damn City Guards ambushed us." I replied. "where do I deliver the information to?" I asked.
"Down the end of the hall. The main office is on the right opposite the bar." he answered.
"thank you" I replied and limped towards the door as a sharp pain shot through into my side.
"Great..Now I get a stitch?"
I opened the door and continued to limp down the hall, It was fairly empty as most of the torrents are out, I spotted Kruger outside the armoury, having his daily argument with Savannah. Kruger looked over a laughed.
"See didn't I tell you he'll make it back all right." he paused for second for a closer look, "Bloody hell kid, I hope that's not your blood."
"No. I don't think so, Its mostly one of unit three's torrents and about ten city guards" I answered back with a tired voice, "I need a shower."
"I think you do" Savannah butted in, "Kruger take the information and deliver it to the main office, you go have a shower kid and take a rest. You look like death warmed up."
I gave the bag with the information in to Kruger,after he entered the code in the key lock of the units quarters and let me in.
"The showers are the first door on the right. Don't worry there unisex" he informed me.
"Cheers" I replied getting more drowsy.
I entered the shower block, A row seven of blue doored cubicles ran down the left and right hand side; showers on the left and toilets on the right. One shower was in-use, the room filled up with the sound of water pattering on the tiled floor and slowly steamed up the area.
I stumbled towards the shower next to the being used, I was getting extremely drowsy now, maybe a shower would wake me up, I thought to myself as I took my clothes off, hung them on the rack,entered the cubical and lent on the shower button. Hot water started to splash on my head.
"Shit I forgot my towel.." I mumbled as I face palmed but It didn't matter anyway, nothing did, all that mattered was the shower and I'm safe.
Suddenly there was a loud female yelp, then immediately knocking on the side panel from the cubical next to me.
"Excuse me, are your all-right?" the female voice asked.
I tried to answer but I had no energy, I just had enough to lean on the wall, I looked down and I was standing in a pool of blood. I looked at my side, a huge gash ran along the side of my lower chest.
I looked up and saw Thatcher peering over the cubical wall.
"Holy shit, Saint!" She yelled, "Hang on!" she disappeared behind the panel, with-in seconds my door was knocked off its hinges.
Eventually my vision started to fade in and out, for the first time in my life that I can remember I was truly scared, Thatcher could tell just by looking into my eyes. I shut my eyes and opened them again slowly, I was in another room, it was covered in Thatchers scent, in which I gave a good guess it was hers.
"Saint?" Thatcher asked "can you hear me?" she waved her hand in front of my face.
I lifted up my arm can grabbed her hand, the waving was making my giddy.
"I'm alive. I think" I replied and tried to sit up, but she just pushed me back down.
"Don't move, I'm patching you up" she said with a smile and with a hint of relief in her eyes.
"There. Done, 357 stitches in total. How did you manage to not notice a wound that big?"
I just shrugged and smiled, as I didn't have any answer.