Page 91 of The Not So Super Hero
Antoine formed a shield in time for the bullet to be consumed by darkness.The sound echoed through the trees, causing Bailey to press his hands against his ears.Chris approached, firing a second and third time.
“I’m assuming you ran out of time or that bullet would have been in my skull already,” Antoine spoke after Chris finally let up, although his gun remained raised.Chris didn’t respond, leaving Bailey in confusion, but Antoine didn’t seem to want to stick around to continue the conversation.
Fire crackled in the distance, a welcome and fearsome sound.Bailey tried to focus on the fact that it was Natalia, to not be scared.Antoine took that as a time to leave.Rather than attack, the shadows twisted and turned at such speeds that the very wind around them picked up.
“Do make sure my son survives,” Antoine spoke, his voice somehow carrying over the wind.“I’m not done with him yet.”
Chris fired another round that disappeared in the wind.Then the darkness faded and Antoine was gone.He didn’t take the fear with him.
Bailey looked at Zane.His eyes were closed, breathing slowly while the ground was stained red.
“Zane?”Bailey called, pressing his hand to the man’s cold cheek.Chris dropped beside him, brows furrowed in worry.“Tell me there…that there’s an ambulance on its way.He lost way too much blood.He’s going to bleed out!”Bailey screamed, yet his voice ceased to function.It kept cutting in and out, his throat so dry that it resembled a desert.
“There’s an ambulance down the road,” Chris explained, his voice calm, but his eyes practically screamed that he was equally scared.“Listen, you need to take a breath.You’ve been through a lot.We all need to try to remain calm, ok?”
Bailey couldn’t do calm.He was freaking the fuck out.The blood stains on his hands didn’t help.To know it was Zane’s, his life slipping away, staining his shirt and beneath his fingernails, Bailey couldn’t breathe.The world spun.His mind reeled.He couldn’t focus, unsure of when Natalia arrived.He simply heard her panicked voice.His leg throbbed, and he released a last whimper before the world went black.The last thought on his mind was that he hoped when he woke up, Zane would be ok.
CHAPTER 27
Bailey’seyesopened.Fearcoursed through his veins.An ominous white light shined above.He felt the restraints around his wrist, ankles, and neck, biting skin.He struggled against them, realizing he wasn’t strapped to a chair.A pair of glasses sat on an end stand beside him.Groaning, he grabbed them.His vision cleared.He laid on a bed in a hospital room, away from Antoine and those crazy Rebirth bastards.
But where was Zane?Was he ok?What happened after he blacked out?What happened to Antoine?Where were Chris, Natalia, and Nate?Were they ok?What was going to happen from then on out?
Eyes frantic, Bailey peered about the room.Another bed sat to his right.Zane slept there.Bailey’s heart leapt from his ribcage, an assault on his senses.His vision blurred from tears, and memories flooded in.Blood on his hands.Zane’s blood.His slow breaths.The world crumbled until he heard the beeping of Zane’s heart monitor.Bailey released a relieved sigh.
Chris sat between their beds in a chair.His head hung off the back, with quiet snores emanating from his mouth.Nate and Natalia were nowhere to be seen, so all Bailey could do was hope they were ok.
He searched for the button to push his bed up.The bed pushed him into a sitting position, allowing him to move the covers aside.He wished to see his leg and wasn’t surprised to find himself in a cast.Nate had already signed it in a red sharpie, Natalia with blue.He snickered.But that laughter diminished, replaced by dread that had buried into his bones.
Where was Antoine?When would Rebirth strike next?Would his life ever go back to normal?He yearned for days when a malfunctioning air conditioner on a hot day was the worst of his problems.
“You’re awake,” said Chris.He smiled, eyes drooping.
“Yeah.Is Zane going to be alright?”Bailey asked.His throat was parched, but he’d get a drink later.
“He’ll be fine.We were lucky to have a mutant with healing abilities in that ambulance.”
Bailey shivered at the implications.What might have happened if there wasn’t a healer?
“Has he woken up yet?”he asked.
“No.You’ve both been out for almost four days.”
Four days?!Bailey didn’t feel like he slept that long.In fact, he was ready to pass right back out.
“Where’s Nate and Natalia?”
“Out with other officers in search of anyone in connection with Rebirth.They haven’t been quiet these last few days,” Chris answered.“There’s been more attacks and mutants going missing, among other things.”
That piqued Bailey’s interest.However, Chris stood to brush strands of hair from Bailey’s face.A simple and warm gesture that reminded him of his father.
“Good thing you have thousands of extra glasses,” Chris chuckled, gesturing to the pair on Bailey’s face.
“Yeah, I always have extra for emergencies, which are more common than I’d care to admit.”
“Mhm.How are you feeling?”Chris asked, examining his bruised face.
He caught sight of himself in the bathroom's mirror.The door was open and Bailey’s bed was situated close enough to see that, even after four days, he resembled a punching bag.The healer had done what they could.Forcing a body to heal, especially one without a mutation, could be risky.It was always better to let the body go through its own process, even if that meant his face had to remain swollen and leg broken.
