"W-what happened?" Red woke up, only to find that one of his eyes were bandaged, along with his whole body.
"Red?"
...
"Red! You're awake!" Curl exclaimed in glee. One moment, she was leaning her head on the edge of Red's bunk bed, the next moment, she shot up from her position and almost hugged Red. Fortunately, she managed to hold herself back after remembering that Red just got almost all his ribs broken.
"How're you doing, Red?" Blond came up to them.
"I'm doing great, but I still can't get up. I could feel my ribs on my lungs, it's awkward." Red grunted as he tried turning sideways but his injuries wouldn't let him. "I thought I was dead, who patched me up?" Red asked.
"Someone named Julia, an acquaintance of Jarxen." Curl answered. "Freckles also helped, she gave you anesthesia."
Red looked towards Freckles's bunk bed and muttered his gratefulness. "Freckles, thanks... " He weakly said.
"You've been asleep for two days, how's your fever?" Freckles walked up to his bed and sat beside Curl.
"Fever?" Red asked. He didn't even realize that he was still burning up.
"He's still hot." Curl replied.
...
"Ah! I mean, he still has a fever, not that kind of 'hot' okay?"
Freckles giggled at Curl's denial as she patted her on the back. "Go get some rest, Curl. You've been looking after Red for two days now."
"TWO DAYS?!! HOW ABOUT THE HUMANOID TE... " Red exclaimed, almost getting up from his bed. "Aahgh~!" He cried in pain.
"Relax, Red. We're doing great." Scar guaranteed him. "I was able to hold one of them off yesterday."
"We'll take care of the humanoid testing, Red. For now, you need to rest." Blond persuaded him.
"I know, thanks for the cover, Blond, Scar." Red smiled. He knew he's the strongest out of everyone in terms of combat, that's why he decided to shoulder all the fighting by himself. Now that he's incapacitated, all he could do was watch as Blond and the others do it in his stead.
"Can you eat, or do you still not have an appetite?" Curl asked. "Don't think too much about the testing, Blond and Scar are capable of handling the weaker humanoids."
"That's not what I'm worried about," Red responded with a worried tone. "Remember Knuckle? That's what I'm worried about." He continued, recalling the humanoid's surprise attack that killed Knuckle.
Curl stood up from the edge of his bed and leaned in closer to his face, this made Red avert his gaze from Curl's eyes. Curl gave him a sly smile as she flicked him on the forehead. "I told you, don't think too much about it. Do you want another flick on the forehead?"
"Alright, alright." Red winced in pain. He tried to rub his forehead but he couldn't move his arms up due to the bandages and wooden planks that kept it in place.
"How about it, do you feel like eating?" Curl repeated.
"I'll eat later."
As Red surveyed the bottom part of the top bunk bed, he instantly remembered something. He tried reaching from the pockets of his shorts but he couldn't do it. "Just a little bit more!" He went for it one more time.
But it was no use.
For once, Red felt helpless. It was an odd feeling, especially when he had been trying to bear everything by himself. He sighed as he stopped forcing his arms to reach his pockets.
"Are you looking for this?" Curl asked as she pulled out the earpiece from her pockets. "We washed you up last night so I kept it safe in my pocket."
"How was it? Did it work? Did you find any frequency that could give us a clue on what's happening?" Red bombarded her with questions. He was confident Curl used it last night.
"Uhm... yeah, listen to this." She confessed, adjusting the earpiece to a certain frequency and putting it in Red's ear. "170.6 us the frequency and it's a repeated broadcast. I don't know what it's about but knowing you, I think you could figure it out."
Whack!!!
"Hey, what was that for?" Curl angrily shouted at Freckles who gave her a good whack on the head.
"Stop bothering Red, he just woke up." Freckles reproached her, readying her hand for another whack on Freckles's head in case she retaliates.
"It's not like I'm forcing him to get out of his bed, you know." Curl childishly mumbled.
"Riight~" Freckles dragged his words as she furrowed her brows while looking at Curl.
"In any case, I need to listen to it, can you put it in my ear for a moment?" Red prodded.
Freckles's eyes bored into Curl for a few seconds before she gave up on lecturing her. "Fine, but don't overwork yourself after." She advised.
"Thanks," Red said as the corners of his mouth lifted, revealing a light smile.
Freckles grinned in return. "I guess I should take it easy on him." She decided after seeing his grateful expression.
Red intently listened as soon as Curl rested the earpiece in his ear. "Now... let's see... " Red said in a hushed tone. His expression shifted into a serious one as soon as he focused listening.
"... hello... Resista-... we're here to..." The radio broadcast crackled in the midst of static. "it's... runners... coordinates... 'poreaux tower'... meet you... "
Red shook his head off to remove the earpiece. The burst of static almost made his head explode. He breathed in a lungful of air before heaving a sigh of relief as the earpiece fell on the bed.
"Did you hear anything?" Curl confirmed. "I think the signal is purposefully being interrupted here, that's why I listened to it plenty of times and memorized the broadcast."
"Wait, you listened to that broken broadcast lots of times? How could you take that strong outburst of loud static?" Red said.
Unbeknownst to Red, his senses were heightened to the maximum, making him especially sensitive to tangible things. That's why those crackling sounds from the radio came out as shrilly heavy metal noises in his ears.
"Yeah. The broadcast said: Testing testing, Hello, this is the Ciranaric resistance, we're here at the border of the Nexus Corporation, just on the opposite side of The Outside. Runners Survivors is in four days and we'll be waiting for you at the 'Poreaux to... mmph!"
Red instantly lifted his right hand and covered Curl's mouth, causing him to almost howl in pain. "Sshhh! Don't say anything else." Red muttered as he grated his teeth from the pain. "We cannot let anyone know about it yet."
"Alright alright, I understand!" Curl spat out bandage from her mouth. She thought twice about licking Red's hand this time since it was thickly wrapped. "But why, why hide it from everyone?"
"Because... I'm still... you don't have to know. Curl." Red bit his lips, indirectly telling Curl to spoke talking about it anymore.
"But why, we're all a part of this, right Red?" Curl's voice tightened. "At least tell me... tell me what's going on."
"I.. I." Red muttered with uncertainty on his face.
"Hey Red! Everything alright?" Blond came up to them.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"Well, I'm heading out for a bit. Another humanoid just came." Blond slid the door open as he stepped out of the lodging room. Just like Red, there was a hint of doubt in his eyes.
Red's forehead creased as he thought of the mental battles they were fighting. He knew that he can't keep everything a secret any longer. However, something 'in his bones' admonished him to hold it off for a bit longer. "As I thought, I can't trust anyone here right now. If I only had some leverage... something that would tell me that they're all trustworthy. Well, they've been thrown into this lion's den and one of their best fighters is out of commission, of course, they'll feel anxious" He debated in his mind.
As Red peered from the glass doors of the lodging room, he noticed Blond looking at him smiling. This time, he didn't effortlessly dodge the humanoid. He allowed it to hit him a few times while single-mindedly deflecting its blows unnoticeably. To Red's surprise, the humanoid only lashed at Blond with simple jabs and kicks, fully knowing that it would hit Blond and in turn messing up with the combat techniques it learned from the server humanoid.
Red had decided.
"Hey Curl, can you call everyone? I'll tell everything I know later." Red smiled at Curl. "Don't worry, it's not like I feel distrustful. There's a lot going on, that's all."
"Really? Then, I guess it's time for me to tell you something as well." Curl's eyes glinted in happiness as she rummaged through her previous clothes, getting something from her hidden pocket. "I wanted to show you this."
Curl held out a necklace, well, it was more of a locket. The locket had three swords engraved on its front, and around it was gold-plated chains that ran on the edges of it, giving it a medieval look. There were rusty parts on its surface, making Red doubt if it would open.
"Is that the item from your hidden pocket?" Red asked.
"Mhm!" Curl chirped. That's when she opened the locket, revealing a picture of someone familiar inside.
Red hair, black irises... It was a picture of Red, with his name written at the bottom.