Ignite

by Andre Pisco

  "It has to be here. It's the only building with a metal door we've seen so far." Neil commented, knocking on the door with some hesitation.

  "I hope you're right." Lucy blew out, still catching her breath after so much walking.

  The seconds passed and their nervousness increased. Among the tallest buildings came the clarity and purity of the moon accompanied by the breeze that shivered up the nape of their necks and lifted their hairs. Neil was tapping his right leg, sometimes tapping his belt, prompting Lucy to stop him.

  "You're drawing too much attention with that noise. We don’t want to cause any problems. I don’t want to go back there, I don’t want to be next," she said, turning away from him, preventing him from seeing the tears that fell on her pink cheeks.

  "Oh sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. I..." Neil said before being interrupted by someone opening the door.

  The door, though it seemed heavy, opened in silence, leaving scuff marks on the floor. Neil peered in and saw a long, white, well-lit hallway and shadows in the background, pacing up and down, hurrying up and moving their hands in the air, moving them as if they were constantly explaining to someone he couldn’t see. A girl, standing at the level of Neil's chest and Lucy's chin, walked over to them. Her long blond hair was not affected by the gale, though her eyebrows seemed to have been struck by a small typhoon, so disorganized they were, with hairs in different directions. She looked at them, assimilating who they were, at the same time yawning.

  "Hmm. You’re from the group that arrived today, aren’t you?" She asked. She had a monotonous voice and treated them as if they were any patient. There was no fear, even though she knew they were outsiders.

  "Yes... A friend of ours is in desperate need of help. His leg... We need someone who can heal serious wounds!" Neil said, exalted, his voice screaming for mercy.

  "How serious?" She asked, with two fingers on her chin, eyes turned up, and intoning "hmmm" without stopping.

  "Very serious. He can’t move without help. We gave him a bottle of HP and the pain calmed down, but his leg is still a mess”

  Her facial expression changed, turning serious, her green eyes turned amber in the moonlight, and she invited them in. They followed her down the long corridor, surrounded by white walls and a gray ceiling, to a wide space with access to several doors and two rows of benches facing each other. Other eyes followed every step they took, murmuring softly and exchanging views on their presence there. Others, some dressed in white coats and others in casual clothes and gloves, walked frantically from side to side, leaving one door and entering another.

  "Wait here, I'll be back. If anyone comes to talk to you, tell them it was Missy who told you to wait," she said, pointing to the stools and disappearing through a crowd of onlookers who had piled up a few feet away.

  Missy

  Class: Healer

  Specialization: None

  HP: 270/270

  Attack: 250 + 50

  Defense: 200

  Agility: 120

  Wisdom: 250

  Items:

  Hippocrates’ Pendant: +50 HP

  They sat on the two benches in the corner, facing each other, glancing down and at the people who were parting away, each one following their path. A light on the roof, just above them, blinked slowly, sometimes a part of their body disappearing in momentary darkness. The rest of the lights worked perfectly. Some of the benches were covered with a layer of dust, while others had just a few colorful scrambles.

  "Do you think she'll help us?" Lucy asked, curling her hair with two fingers, and glancing at the epicenter of the building.

  "Hope so. We can’t let them down... I can’t... I can’t fail." Neil clenched his fist over his knee.

  "You’ve changed..." Lucy said.

  "No ... Don’t tell them, but I'm full of fear. I clench my fist and I try my best to not shake and to convince myself that I can do this. Alec helped me grow these last few months. He told me that I couldn’t give up more times than I would for someone. I can’t let him down now. I don’t want to be what my father always said I would be, a coward." Neil said, looking down, patting the soles of his shoe on the floor constantly, his voice filled with emotion.

  "Neil... We're all scared. I bet even Alec and Lucian are afraid of what might happen to them, of what could happen to us, of not being able to reach what they asked of us. Don’t forget that they are more accustomed than we are to these wanderings, you can’t compare yourself to them," Lucy said, trying to calm him down. She took his left hand and stroked it gently.

  "Thank you. Still, I can’t demonstrate how anxious I am inside. I've had months to do it. There are a few times that I’m required me to keep everything to myself. It must be. I have to," he replied, pressing the bone between the joints of Lucy's hand.

  "Neil..." she said, "NEIL!" She shouted, calling his attention.

  "Sorry. I got distracted." He reacted, looking at her hand, red with the mark of his thick fingers.

  The people left in the atrium looked at them again. They had not realized what had happened, but Lucy's scream, even low, had drawn the attention of some people with good hearing. From one of the more distant doors came two security guards, sculptural bodies sprouting from the small t-shirts and muscles that seemed to have no end, which after a brief conversation with some people, stood a few feet away, blocking them out. They cut off the only possible escape route and had enough attack power to deal with both. Without energy, they were just moving targets, incapable of defending themselves or at least fight back.

  The air seemed to grow heavier. Neil put his hand on his knee until he calmed down, looking around for another exit. The beating of their hearts could be compared to the sound of a watch. They were so distracted that they didn’t even realize that Missy was walking toward them.

  "Sorry for the delay. No one upset you, did they?" She asked, adjusting the bag on her shoulder.

  "No, but I think they called the security guards," Neil replied, looking at them.

  One of the security guard’s eyes were covered with dark glasses, his face locked without a smile, and his feet pinned to the floor, not moving an inch. There was some disdain for Missy's attitude in the faces of those present, some even rolling their eyes.

  "Don’t worry about them. They won’t be a problem. We better get going," she said, and smiled slightly, baring her teeth as white as the walls of the hallway beside her.

  "Are not you going to get in trouble with this?" Lucy asked shyly, embarrassed by the stares in her direction.

  "Probably. But I didn’t decide to be a doctor so they could tell me who I can help," she replied firmly and in one breath.

  "Then we better get going," Neil said and got up. She noticed Lucy's fist clenched several times, and she pursed her lip after doing so.

  The guards turned away as soon as Missy was within five paces of them. They asked no questions, nor did they try to prevent them from leaving. Whatever the hierarchy in that place, Missy was above them and there was no room for doubt. Lucy still looked at them one last time, but quickly turned back to the front when she noticed they were following them to the door. Hands in pockets and glasses hanging onto the V-neck of the t-shirt closed the fence over the three of them. They both had big brown eyes that didn’t fit into their fat facial structure and short eyebrows with open spaces.

  "Don’t be afraid. It's to keep an illusion of protection for those who didn’t want you here." Missy said, continuing to walk.

  Lucy and Neil exchanged suspicious looks but decided to trust her. They had no other option and had already invested too much time in it. They didn’t know what she was carrying in her suitcase and how much of her energy she was willing to spend to help them. She asked for Neil’s help to open the door, complaining about her weight, how difficult it was to open it alone, and confessing that it was the reason it took so long for her to open them the door.

  The wind roared loudly, cooling their bodies, breaking through the holes of their
uniforms and increasing the pain of the wounds that, over time, were becoming red.

  "Where are your friends?" Missy asked, looking at Neil's figure, whose eyes were only lit by moonlight.

  "Where did we come from, Lucy?" He replied, looking around, confused by the resemblance of all the houses.

  "We came from over there, but I feel like we're going to get lost," she replied, sighing, "We should have paid more attention."

  "It's okay. They were at Mr. Ardeus's house, right?" She asked, swallowing hard, avoiding the word.

  "Ardeus? The big-bearded man? Is it his house?" Neil asked, curious about the recent discovery.

  "Neil ask that later. We have to go. Yes, our friends are there.”

  "She's right. I'll explain later. Follow me," Missy said and started to walk.

  They crossed the street behind them and shrank to fit in some alleys, always attentive to what surrounded them. They avoided sites with drones or important buildings due to the guards at the door. Missy would tell them to go, forgetting at times about the pain they felt whenever their feet touched the ground. A shiver that languished their bodies, starting at the nape of the neck and ending at the bottom of their back.

  Finally, the ridge of houses disappeared from view and gave way to a void interrupted only by a small house in the corner. Small tufts of sand were created on the ground which the wind so graciously destroyed and shot at anyone who dared to walk the streets at that time.

  Chapter XVII

  "I see them. They're over there!" Neil said and started to run toward them.

  Missy and Lucy followed him, striding past, watching young bodies gain shape in front of them. Neil explained to them, speaking without pauses to breathe, all that had happened. He introduced Missy to them and she smiled, leaning over James's leg, which gave a "thank-you" almost inaudibly.

  "Move away a little," she said, before laying her hands on his leg, "This will hurt," she added. James’s body twisted as soon as he felt her fingers close to the still open wounds.

  Everyone obeyed her orders. She removed a cushioned blue object from the bag and asked James to put it in his mouth.

  "Bite it. It will help you relieve stress and pain and keep you from waking up half the city," she said, smiling, comforting him.

  "Where's Max?" Neil asked, breaking the silence as Missy watched James's leg to be sure what was going to be needed.

  "He took some time just for him. Left over an hour ago, I think." Alec replied, "I hope he doesn’t get in trouble."

  "More than he already did?" Neil countered.

  "Enough! He did what he thought he had to do. It doesn’t matter now." James reacted, pulling the anti-stress pad from his mouth to defend his cousin.

  Neil grunted but said nothing more. James apologized to Missy and put the object back in his mouth. Just a touch on the skin and he writhed, releasing the pain in the cushion, his face wrinkled until his eyes were in the beak and his nose was pig-shaped.

  "Don’t move now. Are you ready?" She asked, rubbing her hands together.

  He nodded and closed his eyes, leaning his head against the wall. Missy put her hands on his leg and squeezed it, leaving the luminous particles that came out of her hand to scatter through the holes. The follicles were joining, initiating a new skin growth, expanding rapidly, closing the wounds at a dizzying speed. James's screams overwhelmed his friends that never thought that they would hear him so vulnerable.

  Her energy was diminishing, almost at its end and he had yet to be fully healed. Her head was twitching from side to side, but her hands were still stuck in James's leg. After the screams, tears followed. They walked down James' face, unable to hold them. His body trembled and he hit the back of his head on the wall. The pain whipped him, he couldn’t deal with it. He pricked his teeth on the cushion but after a while, the anti-stress effect was gone. He dabbed at the floor as tears streamed down his chin.

  "Hold on. It's almost done," Missy said, though the light from her hand was already blinking, signaling its limit.

  James clenched his fist and dragged them to the ground, his bones scraping in the hardness of the floor, the skin leaving, giving way to new wounds. Blood ran down his fingers, relieving him of the pain he felt in the lower part of his body. His eyes twitched, the light of his eyes fading. Sometimes he seemed to faint, but the next moment he was conscious again.

  The light in Missy's hands disappeared and she fell to her knees, crawling and with no energy left over. She struggled to breathe calmly. Her fingers were on the ground, her fingernails covered with dirt, and the tips of her hair was muddy.

  "That's it," she said, still panting, "But it's not perfect. I did what I could. You need to rest or the wounds will open. “She added, leaving a bitter feeling in James's mouth.

  He removed the cushion from his mouth and breathed in relief. He glanced down at his leg and smiled, rising slowly, refusing Alec’s help, who already had his arm stretched out. He took a few steps to the left, then to the right, and went back to the group with his famous cheeky smile.

  "Well, time to save Lucian," he said, fist to his chest.

  "Time for all of us to save Lucian..." Lucy added.

  "Yes, you're right, together," he replied, looking around.

  "You're looking for Max, right?" Alec asked, looking in the same direction as him.

  "Yes. I was hoping he'd be back by now.”

  "You’re really going to try to save your friend, right? If they took him, it's because he's important. He must be hidden and protected by several guards," Missy said, interrupting them.

  She was leaning against the wall of the house. Her skin gleamed from the sweat running down her cheeks in the moonlight. There was a brief silence as they sought a suitable response to give. There was still some suspicion that left them behind.

  "If you go, you better take this," she added, picking up the bag and spreading several bottles of energy and HP across the floor.

  Neil was going to get down to pick one up when Alec stopped him.

  "Why are you helping us? You don’t know us or owe us anything," he asked.

  She sighed before starting, "It's the first time in a long time that I've had the opportunity to do something really useful. The hospital is full of rich people who could be cured in their cities’ hospitals, but they decide to pay huge amounts of money to come here and receive the best care, while there are people in those same cities who don’t even have the money to go to a normal hospital. I never wanted to compromise with that. I just wanted to help people. I didn’t know it was going to be like this. But now... now I have the chance to make a difference. You look like good people, I think you're going to do great things in the future.”

  "Technological cities also have poor people?" James asked, surprised by her statement.

  "I see there's a lot about the world that you still don’t know," she said, straightening up and reenacting herself again, "Not in the degrading conditions of poor cities, but they exist. They live far from the center, in houses whose fragile roof sometimes flies in the rain, and where the walls are littered with dirt. Look at this house here," she said, pointing to Mr. Ardeus's house, "Imagine this, but ten times worse. It's something similar. Obviously, the governors keep it from spreading. In exchange for these people, treated like scum, to avoid contact with the rest, they offered them some food and basic sanitation. From time to time they remember and send some healers. Once they chose me. What costs more is not even the screams of the children, or the elderly in pain, is the deep silence that lies after. The idea that we gave them a few moments of peace, but that everything will come back. I will not even mention the rotten, sickening smell of vomit, on every corner." She said, already looking at the ground, fidgeting the earth with her finger.

  There was a moment of embarrassing silence that was eventually cut short by James's thunderous voice.

  "It's impossible. I would know that. My father would have told me something. It can’t be. Must be in other cities. You must
be wrong,” he said, repeating himself, still incredulous with the recent statements.

  "Sorry, but things are as they are. You should hurry. Dawn is coming and the streets will fill with tradesmen, rich people, and their guards." She said, standing up alone, "Don’t you want the bottles? I can take them back."

  "Yes, yes, we do! Do you have any idea where they might have taken our friend?" Alec replied, trying to extract as much information as possible from her.

  The clock was ticking. The hourglass of time was on its last grain and there was still plenty to do. James had departed to another plane of existence. The reality around him broke in a thousand mouths as the black truth was revealed behind the beauty that once surrounded him.

  "I have no idea. That is already way above me," she replied, straightening and scrubbing the robe, while everyone but Alec regained their power.

  "I think I can help." A familiar voice said, a few feet away.

  "Max?" James said, turning around.

  Max was walking toward them, staggering, and clinging to the neck of the young man who had trapped them in the first place. The aura of darkness followed. He had the same clothes and walked in a peculiar way. The paint around his eyes was blurred, obscuring his green eyes. He didn’t say anything, nor did he complain about carrying Max, who could barely stand alone.

  "I can help you," Max said, followed by a belch in his cousin's face.

  "Are you drunk? Your breath smells like alcohol. Since when do you drink? Moreover, what the hell are you doing with him?" James questioned him, already prepared to attack the other guy.

  "Easy ... Hehehe, I've figured out a way to solve this. I discovered it."