Chapter 4: Just an Old ManA Chapter by M.R Steiner they took her eyes and left her for dead. Chapter 4: Just an Old Man
March awoke
to the pain like a drill in each eye socket. Her wails were invisible over the
cascade of the waterfall, unanswered by all but one.
A jagged
sensation tore at her fingers. Her arm snapped back against the bite of Vermin.
A dozen or so surrounded her. Somehow March managed to stand weak and weary as
her face still bled.
Her legs
gave way and the floor struck her face. The Vermin knew she was easy prey. Each of
their mandibles sunk into March’s ankles in a frenzy. Again, her body lifted up
off the ground with a woozy mind and barely a notice of the chunks taken out of
her skin, swallowed by the black void where vision once held.
“Strike!”
she blindly grabbed the nearest one, “then twist.” There was no time for throttle.
It took what
little strength remained but it seemed to scare them away. Her heart beat raced
as each hand fumbled at the walls. Soon the Vermin returned with even more
clicks and hisses.
March
clutched at the railing of the walkway under the fall where only two choices
remained, be eaten alive by the animals she hunted or fall to her death. With a
stiffening of her body, she plummeted over the side. Her final thoughts were
confusion and pain, doubt and fear, all without a shred of happiness for her
hard life, yet still she wished it wasn’t the end.
The water
slapped her skin with force and she went straight over another fall, by the fourth
time she passed out and floated further than ever imagined. She drifted past
junctions after junction until her body washed up at the very end of the system
itself.
Cold fingers
twitched as the water burned her cuts.
“Impossible,
you’re alive?” said a croaky voice.
“Stay away…”
March whispered.
“I’m sorry,
I was only curious.” His footsteps lurched closer. “Please,
just leave me alone.”
March didn’t
care who it was, she just wanted to die in peace.
“I can help you
girl, it would be rude of me not to.”
“No you
don’t.”
“I think I
know my intentions better than a blind girl. The only other option is dying
here in the gutter. Of course I will follow your decision, so which is it?”
March sobbed
then nodded. Against all better judgment she trusted this stranger who just
happened by.
She hated
herself for giving in to a fool’s chance, one he probably used to keep her
quiet. Nevertheless a set of cold leathery hands clasped around each ankle to drag
her away. Bloody tears ran down her cheeks. To her it was a certainty that this
man wanted cut her up like the rest.
March passed
out once again and awoke to the noise of churning machinery with the cold touch
of metal at her back.
“Please
don’t get off the table. I haven’t even started to clean your wounds yet, the
anaesthetic should keep you comfortable.”
A chorus of
opened and slammed draws sounded around her as the man rushed about.
Dull senses
drifted through her face and ribs, “Who are you?”
“Just an Old
Man,” his voice travelled around the room. “And who might you be?”
He sounded odd
to her, almost manic with a hint of sadness. “My… name is March.” A needle entered
her arm and washed away the remaining senses. Her left ear muffled as though it
were blocked as her body went still.
“I’m sorry
if I sneaked that injection on you, my bedside manner hasn’t been needed for quite
some time. I assure you it’s vital if you’re going to have any hope of seeing
again.”
“What do you
mean see again, who are you?”
“I told you,
just an Old Man.” © 2016 M.R SteinerAuthor's Note
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M.R Steinera terrible city, an even more terrible region, United KingdomAboutlooking for advice and feedback, every critic welcome no matter what, I will thank you :) more..Writing
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