Chereads / Becoming Karma / Chapter 20 - Halfway In Halfway Out

Chapter 20 - Halfway In Halfway Out

As daylight begins to slowly creep in, Lazarus, finds himself nearly hovering over Mae's now cold body. He sighs and begins slowly gathering up the scattered contents of his old medical bag. He had wanted to be a physician but that dream quickly dashed away the night he ran into Celest. Lazarus braces his left hand against the wall above his head, as he stands on his feet, then he turns to leave. There's nothing left of their make-shift couch barricade, and for a moment he stumbles from the weight of guilt. She is cold to the touch and there is nothing left for him to do. Lazarus glances back from the splintered door frame, and begs within himself for Mae to stand up again. When nothing appears to have changed he turns away again. A deep sigh escapes his lips before a piercing scream is heard coming from the back bedroom.

Slowly and painfully Mae stumbles onto her feet. She felt unusually cold but decided to brush it off. Her eyes quickly grew accustomed to the fading light as she turned toward where the creature had fallen through the day before. She knelt down over the gapping hole and leaned out. If there had been a sign of the creature it would have been a miracle. Mae sighed as she leaned back into the room. There was no way to know if or when the creature would return but she wasn't about to stick around and find out. As Mae climbed back onto her feet a wave of nausea and hunger nearly knocked her toward the crumbling concrete two stories below. She cries out, as she precariously staggers over the large gapping hole, before lurching to far forward and beginning the quick decent toward painful rubble. Mae closes her eyes once again in hopes that the fall will end the strange feeling beginning to take over.

Pain jolts Mae to her senses and she is forced to open her eyes. She glances toward the only second story room with a large monster sized hole in it and catches sight of a disgruntled looking Lazarus. He hasn't spotted her yet but he defiantly appears confused. As she watches her every sense becomes enhanced, and she finds herself able to make out the tiniest detail. She hears him start to curse in a language she's never heard but recognizes. It's a language only creatures use. She glances toward a distant tree line before hearing him curse once more, "cac balbh", then she shakes her head as the words translate, dumb shit. A strangled gasp escapes her lips and she stumbles on her already unbalanced bare feet. Her constant noise finally catches Lazarus' attention and he jumps down beside her; a mixture of shock, awe, and relief run rapid in his sapphire blue eyes and on his weathered face.

"Mae? Y-you're alive?" He glances over her tattered and bloodied clothes to rest on her eyes, "Wait, you're eyes. They've always been crimson and now one of them is silver. What happened to you?"