88 CHAPTER 87 MORE TROUBLE

It must have been ages before the ringing in her ears finally stopped to the voice of Matt calling out her name. Dust covered her face and taste bud. She spat, but it was not enough to remove the sands at the edge of her mouth, which had mingled with the wine, giving her stomach that jelly feels that made her sick. The place was spinning, even the ground seemed farther than they appeared. Shaking her head, she tried to stand, but something held her hand. The pain did not register until her emerald green eyes looked down on the iron rod that had pierced her wrist, pinning her to one of the floorboards that had collapsed on them.

"Pinna, are you okay…" Matt shouted not minding to hide the sorrow in his voice, "My God. Pinna what…try not to move," His words did little to drown the burning sensation that was traveling from the wrist to every bone in her body. He was holding the rod now, or perhaps she thought. Keeping her blurred vision and her thought and the spinning world, was farfetched at the moment. All she wanted was for the burning sensation to stop, however swift that could be.

"Try not to look."

"I am not a child, Matt, pull the goddamn thing out," Matt nodded to her yell. He licked his lips and steadied his hands on the rod, as if unsure if it was the right call at the moment. The looks on his dusty face was that of a child that had been forced to do something they would never attempt on a normal base. 

Pinna gnashed her teeth as his strength drew the rod. She could feel every edge of its body as they moved out of her body. Blood dripped and trailed the rubble when Matt dropped or hauled the rod at the far end some paces away from them.

She heaved, trying to stray her thoughts from what had transpired, but that was like beating a child and telling him not to cry. Every drop of blood that dripped from her injured wrist, down to the hungry lips of the rubble, made her realize that life was just a bulb hanging on the tinny string. Just one push and everything falls apart. One silly mistake and what used to be will become a story in history. Just a continuous oozing of her blood and she would become unconscious and die. Death would be better. She had heard tales that there was no pain there or sorrow or heartbreak. Death would certainly be better. The thought made her shiver, not because she was afraid to die, but because of the very fact of living her eternity with that creature which the story talked about. That deadly being which the books and all the history has…why am I even think about death?

She held up her hands. Even though the rod was no longer there, the burning sensation seemed to have tripled. Her hands had become heavy, and the throb was threatening to jut her veins out from her wrist. They were pulsing badly, like the skullcap of a new bone baby. She had not felt this type of pain before, none in her insignificant life.

"This is bad," Matt frowned as he stooped and took the tender arm. The white dust masquerades his face, hiding the sorrow and horror underneath the toughness. Was it the dust or was her nose picking out some foul lemon odor from his body? When was the last time he had a good shower? She had been too engrossed with their reunion to pay attention to his grooming. Those shaggy hairs of his said that it must have been decades since water saw his body. Well, whatever. Pinna didn't care at the moment. All she wanted right now was for her arm to stop throbbing like her racing chest.

"I think this would stop the bleeding until we have a good medic," He said and tore the side of his shirt from the waist. The frustration on his dusty face seemed to have deepened the crease. Pinna noted the question which lined them. Why was he angry and blaming himself? Was the sight of her blood reminding him of something or someone? Was it reminding him of Sandra?

"Thank you," She could only mutter the words. The clothes he had used on her wrist had stopped the bleeding, but it did nothing to the pulsing and the burning pains.

"What happened?"

His question made her lift her head from the throbbing hands. It was difficult to see a thing, but the disarray of the place came into view when she wiped the smoky vision—caused by her tears—with the back of her hands. Rubbles of stones, blocks, metal, and other building materials stretched as face as the eyes could see. The only light sources were hanging on their sides on what was remaining on the white walls, dangling like an oscillating agent. Even though it had happened for some hours or so Pinna thought, dust still rouse and covered the place, white smoky dust. 

She swallowed and as expected, the dust on her taste bud was still there. Maybe she had licked some of it when they had fallen. It was hard to tell, especially when one cannot think straight. She elevated her gaze and was surprised when she saw the stairs and the balcony above. The building must have collapsed downwards, bring them some feet below from the surface.

Perhaps it was a shock wave from some bomb or something, Pinna could not say, but the place shook from to their foundation when a heavy blast resounded in the air. Matt fell to his feet, but he caught himself with the leg of the broken table. Otherwise, he would have been complaining about how badly his head was aching if he had slammed the concrete before him.

"What was that?" 

"I don't know, Pinna." Matt released the broken table and hid his back instead of on the upturned concrete, "But I suspect the guys from the race, perhaps they had followed us to this place.

"If that's the case, then I think we have a bigger problem. Those kids want to kill us"

"Not them. I don't think they are the ones that want us dead. The HT might be controlling them. And I…wait a minute," The lines on Matt's face deepened "Where in the Heroes academy is Ham?"

Pinna shifted her eyes from Matt's dusty face and elevated them upwards, towards the place where the sitting room should have been. She returned them almost immediately to the room in shambles, searching and hoping to see the black hair. His absence made panic spread through her stomach. He is alright. A voice in her head tried to comfort, but the bitter truth was too sour to bear.

"Do you think one of those things had killed him?" The words were out of her mouth before she could even stop them. Matt gave her a flat glare, but the expression on his face ironed to uncertainty when he also observed the rubble that surrounded them. That they were alive was a miracle, and if Ham was also alive, that would be a bigger miracle.

"Let's hope he is," Matt said and leaned away from the rock. Was he sad or angry? Pinna hissed. The pain on her wrist was still throbbing, and it vexed her it was making it difficult for her to think straight.

"If the HT is controlling those kids, then I think they might still be somewhere, searching for us."

"They want to make sure we are dead? Is that what you are implying"

"No" Matt shook his head, "That's what I know. That's the only explanation."

Pinna swallowed. She was glad that this time the dusty-wine taste on her taste bud had all disappeared. Nothing made sense. Why would anyone want to kill them because they didn't have the HT? The answer to the question jumped into her mind almost immediately. The Covenant court and the King had passed a decree about two months ago, instructing every citizen to embrace the HT. The penalty for those who cannot cooperate was a death sentence. The only people with exceptions were the Gold Lineage. They were the only ones that could choose when the HT would be infused into them.

"We have to get out of here." Matt was not looking at her, but she could see the worry on his face.

"Without Ham?" she asked.

"Huh, okay. Let's try to find your boyfriend, then we would get out. If we are lucky. God, I pray we are."

Pinna tried to help herself up to her feet, but failed miserably. She was beginning to feel the clothes that went around her wrist, hiding the blood and the face of the wound.

"Ham is not my boyfriend," She grumbled when Matt aid her.

"Keep telling yourself that. You think I don't see the way you look at him,"

"See whatever you want, Matt, he is not my boyfriend." Voicing those words was hard. She really wished they were not true. She wished for too many things recently, and none of them had come true. None