Apocalypse - 3. Chapter 3: Escape

I didn't want to get closer to Terku, but I had to. I had a feeling that there was no way I was going to convince Ashi to leave unless we had Terku as well.. or at least if he stopped moving. I won't lie, I was considering waiting until Ashi looked away and then twisting that pipe, assuming it was impaling a vital area (I had yet to leave the desk). Don't judge me though, I mean don't you think it would be much more humane to end his misery rather than having him suffer through the hell of the healing process? Especially if there was no easy way out of there.

Ultimately after a few quick mental arguments, my compassionate side won, and I decided that I would try to save him.. or maybe I just wanted Ashi's affection.. Either way I was committed and I didn't really have much time to change my plan.

“I'm going to take a look at Terku. Stay here, okay?” I said, turning to Ashi. He just stared blankly at me, but didn't try to get up when I emerged from our shelter. The first thing I did was look outside the window, our only escape, and seeing everything the eerie frosty blue light of the gash in the sky made my heart instantly chill.

What used to be the sight of a healthy green football field with a border of sturdy pine trees, and a slightly urban town in the background, was replaced by destruction. Several trees had fallen on the the field, there was trash scattered everywhere, and even some cars from the parking-lot seem to have been blown onto the field. The town in the background now sent up several pillars of thick gray smoke into the black and swirling sky. When I let my mind wander for I few seconds, I could almost hear the screams of people, crackle of flames, crashing of building, and alarms of cars. Well, so much for getting Terku to a hospital.

It was another crack of thunder that made my eyes snap from staring at the buildings to the body of my friend instead. He started moaning again, and his arms were sluggishly moving at his sides. I took a step closer, my feet crunching on glass, sticks, and I didn't even want to know what else.

When I reached him, I saw the the pipe had impaled him though his stomach and to the right. His black shirt was darker near the pipe, but thankfully the blood pooled around his body was not too large. It only expanded about two inches from his body, so that couldn't be too bad of a sign, right? Well.. his body still had to endure me with my complete lack of medical knowledge, and I knew Ashi neither had the knowledge nor the stomach for such things either. So ironically, he probably hadn't even experienced the worst yet, but still, I had to try, I just hopped it was because I was a good person,and not just trying to impress Ashi.

When I looked at Terku's face, I could see that his eye were open, just barely, but enough that I could see his pupils had expanded greatly, and he had just a little ring of brown surrounding them. His golden-brown hair also clung to the side of his head, wet with blood, but as I looked closer it was only a small cut that held the straight strands in place. After scanning the rest of his olive-toned body I could see that there were no other major injuries that required my attention.

I hesitated, I really didn't know where to start, so first I looked around his body to see what I could use: three pencils, a stick, some tape, scissors, and a lot of dirt.. Great. I grabbed the scissors first (obviously saving the pencils for later), and cut off his shirt. I started at the bottom, cutting about four inches to the pipe, and then put the scissor in its collar and cut down to the pipe. I then laid each half of his shirt aside in order to examine his stomach.

The pipe seemed to have gone in cleanly and not too much blood seeped out, but I worried if that would still be the case when there wasn't the pressure of the pipe against his severed veins. At least it hasn't broken any of his ribs though, landing about two inches from the end of them, and if I remembered correctly, the only organ that could have been damaged was his intestine, so I was cautiously optimistic. The pipe itself was about two inches thick and stood about three feet tall with the top cleanly snapped off. I was surprised that the pipe had no rust, considering it was a water-pipe, so maybe there was actually hope for Terku to make a full recovery, that is if I could figure out what the hell to do.

I formed a plan just as some thunder reminded me to rush. I told Terku to stay still, not so sure that he could even hear what I said, and ran over to the teacher's desk that Ashi was still under. I told him that it would be okay, and asked him to start looking through the backpacks scattered on the floor and gather any supplies he thought would be useful. While Ashi went off to do that, I began to go through the drawers. This was a Chemistry classroom, so I was sure that there would be some useful instruments. After a frantic search, I got what I was hoping for, a pair of pliers, as well as a few other items I thought could be useful in the future: a bandage – the standard kind you would expect a school to supply, a box-cutter – about four inches long with a very sharp and retractable blade, and a barbecue lighter – the tip extending about five inches from the trigger. Putting my supplies in the pocket of my black jacket, I ran back to Terku, careful not to slip on any blood decorating the floor.

When I got back his eyes were closed, but he was still breathing. After whispering his name, I determined he had just lost consciousness. Good. I highly doubted he'd want to be awake for this. About three inches up from his stomach, I put the pliers on the pipe and squeezed them as hard as I could, until the pipe bent together. I then rotated the pliers ninety degrees and squeezed again in the same place, trying to weaken the pipe. I repeated this about three times and then firmly grabbed the pipe above Terku's stomach and twisted the top, above the weakened spot, with my other hand. After only two twists the pipe broke apart, and I could see Terku's flesh and blood inside.

I then grabbed a nearby chair and slid it behind him. Slowly and carefully I grabbed him under his arms and rested his back against the chair until he was sitting upright. I then took a pencil (surprised I was actually using it), and pushed the skin out of the pipe. Then I put the tip of the lighter inside the now hollow pipe, and set it aflame. After a few minutes of heating the metal I was sure I had cauterized his wounds well enough, so I removed the lighter and returned it safety to my pocked. After waiting about a minute for it to cool, I put my fingers on the warm pipe and firmly pushed it until the tip was level with his stomach. I then reached to his back, and grabbed the pipe, only to find it slippery with his blood. I grabbed I sweatshirt from a nearby student.. well, body.. and cut a small strip off. Then I wrapped the strip around the slick metal, giving me traction, and slowly pulled the pipe the rest of the way out.

My heart warmed significantly when I looked into the two inch hole in his stomach and saw that it only seeped blood slowly, and, although it was hard to tell in the dim light, I was pretty sure I didn't see any intestine. It seemed as though faith favored Terku this time, but a clap of thunder reminded me otherwise. Quickly I wrapped the bandage around his stomach and removed the rest of his shredded shirt. I then took off my own shirt and gently covered him, preferring to keep my jacket for the pockets.

Just as I finished, Ashi came over with two backpacks, saying, “I got everything I could, but I didn't want to touch the.. bodies.” I noticed that even still there were tears sliding down his face.

“Thank you Ashi,” I said, giving him a hug, and when I those glowing eyes focused on Terku I assured him,“I treated him and I promise he will be fine. Now lets get out of here, okay Ashi?” He just looked at me and nodded slightly, so I pulled him into another hug. He hugged me back, but he felt weak, and I began to worry if he could even manage climbing out the window.

“I'll carry Terku because you don't look too well,” I said as I took one of the backpacks from him and secured it to my shoulders.

“I'm fine,” he said, and managed a weak smile to try and comfort me. “I know you're doing a lot, and I think I will be safe. I mean, I have you, right?” he continued, bringing me into a hug.

As he said this my back stiffened. Did he mean that in a romantic way, or just a friendly way? The hug made me think relationship, but we've been hugging a lot recently so I wasn't sure, but- thunder. Damn.

“Okay, help me tie together some backpacks so we can make a sort of rope,” I said, unwilling to pull shirts and jackets off of bodies. In about five minutes we managed to have a respectable rope that reached the ground when we threw it out the window. Securing one end to the leg of the desk we had previously hidden under, we both pulled the rope to ensure it would hold us. After we were convinced it would be as safe as possible, or safe enough, as we didn't really have enough time to change it, Ashi prepared to descend.

“Panah?” he said quietly, standing by the window.

“Yes?” I replied as I gently dragged Terku, still unconscious, to the window.

“Um.. if anything happens, I, uh, I-I..” he kept stuttering, but I had a feeling I knew what he would say. So I rested Terku against the wall and kissed Ashi as passionately as I could, under the current conditions that is.

“I love you,” we said simultaneously when the kiss ended, but a crack of thunder quickly turned our passion to fear. Looking out the window I could see that the lighting was now striking down in the town, about five minutes away. Where each fluorescent blue bolt stuck down, fire was instantly created and rubble was instantly formed. This time I could hear the screams; a haunting harmony of men, women, and children, I shivered as I realized that there was a very likely possibility that Ashi and I would soon join in the choir.

After one more kiss, Ashi slid out of the window and quickly made his was down to the ground, finding that the backpacks created several footholds. I then draped Terku on my back, pulled his wrists over my shoulders, and tied them together in front of me with a leftover bit of bandage. I then carefully stepped outside the window and began my perilous descent.

It was refreshing to feel the breeze blowing playfully around me, but unnerving to smell nearby smoke, which slightly burned my nostrils and made my eyes begin to water. Both my arms and my legs shook, but amazingly I was able to get safety to the ground. Once I was there, Ashi hugged me and, having watched my struggle down, insisted that I let him carry Terku. After securing him on Ashi's back, we began to run off to the left of the storm, intending to evade it and head towards a hopefully more intact section.

As we ran alongside the school, we saw that many of the classrooms suffered a similar fate as ours had. We didn't see any other survivors though; either there were none, or they were able to get away more quickly, not having the height to deal with. When we reached some pine trees on the border of the school's property where the road to town began, we heard some whistling, not loud, but just a little pleasant tune. Quickly looking around we saw a man, perhaps only twenty leaning against a tree at the edge of the dark grove.

“Should we take him with us?” I asked, not sure if Ashi was willing to travel with someone at least three years older than us.

“Yeah, I think he could help, right?” Ashi said, seeming to gather strength since we left the school.

“Okay, just wait here, I'll go get him,” I said, and began to walk towards the man. Getting closer I could see that, like Ashi and me, the man was also pale. He was wearing a stripped black suit, seemingly flawless, which was odd, especially with all the destruction. He also wore a spotless a black bowler-hat, again, odd. I was beginning to question whether I really wanted him joining us, but I think he had already sensed me getting closer, so I couldn't turn back now. I just decided that he was in a theater performance in town and had fled at the beginning of the storm. I mean, the trees must have shielded his suit from the debris and dirt that had been stirred up and that described the tune he had been whistling as well.

“Hey, uh, my friends and I are heading into town. Do you want to, uh, come with us or something?” I said, trying to sound at least a little casual.

“Town? Not the best idea,” he said chuckling, his voice sounded deep as though he were a smoker, but too smooth and oddly alluring for that to be true.

“Really? Did you just come from there?” My spirits slightly dropping as my mind raced to come up with a new destination.

“Yeah,” He slowly looked up at me, his hat blocking his eyes from my view.

“What's it like there?” I asked, hoping it wouldn't be too bad.

“Little bit like Hell on Earth,” he replied, again laughing.

“Panah!” Ashi called from the road, “are you guys ready? The storm's getting closer!”

“Yeah we'll be right there” I yelled, glancing back at him standing in the road. He seemed to be getting tired again, and his shoulders had begun to sag under the weight of Terku. I turned back around, only to see two bright emerald eyes come racing at me from under the bowler-hat. The last thing I remembered was falling backwards, feeling pressure on my neck and stomach, and smelling a thick scent of roses, which clouded my already hazy mind.