Prequel To A New Life
Percy's head whipped up as he saw the blasts around the 18th floor of the hospital building from the ground. He gritted his teeth in annoyance and pulled his hoodie over his face tighter and re-entered the hospital, against the wave of people rushing out.
His breaths became shallow as he took the stairs two steps at a time. Sweat formed on his forehead as he climbed up another floor. The areas were crowded with families crying and complaining about what was happening. Some patients were too critical to move out.
Percy knew they would die if this unexpected attack continued. But the only thing in his mind right now were two people. The doctor and the girl. He tore his eyes away from his surroundings and climbed more stairs.
The nurse screamed and tugged the armor of the helicopter man, trying to hold him back, "Please, don't take her. She's innocent." She cried and wailed as if she was helpless.
He tried to shake the nurse off but her grip was strong as she tugged harder and harder. The man sighed and decided that he would have to finish her then take Tiara. He put Tiara down and slipped out his dagger once more.
Seeing that Tiara was outside the man's grip now, the nurse dropped her act and stood up straight, smirking. "Tricked ya," she laughed and punched him in the face. Before he could recover from the small impact, she took advantage of the opening and swung her heeled boots at his groin and made him whine in pain, crouching down.
She leaned forward and found the gun lodged into his back holster and tore it off before clicking back the safety lock and pressing it onto the helicopter man's head. He froze as how things had turned out and looked up at the nurse in fear.
"What do you want from us?"
He grinned at that and met her eyes with a frustrated happiness, "What you are doing is against humanity. Immortality will only kill us all in the end. We are a force joined to do good and stop you heretics from destroying the world."
She clicked her tongue and pressed the gun harder into his scalp, "Name."
He smiled crookedly, "Ever heard of Goren Chang?"
The nurse's eyes widened and she dropped the gun in surprise. Her heart threatened to lurch out of her chest and run away as she heard that cursed name. She broke out of her trance when she felt the helicopter man make a move for the gun on the floor.
She swiftly kicked it away and picked it up again. Before thinking anything, she held it to his head and pulled the trigger.
Sounds erupted all around her. The building shifted slightly but all she could hear was one name in her head over and over again.
Goren Cheng. Goren Cheng. Goren Cheng.
She turned around to tell the doctor but halted as she laid eyes upon his lifeless body. She bit her cheek and turned toward an unconscious Tiara and picked her up and sat her in a wheelchair. The hospital door flew open and Percy came in, panting.
His words got stuck in his mouth as he saw the scene in front of him.
"Am I too late?" his voice almost broke and looked at the nurse, creasing his eyebrows. He covered his mouth, "The doctor…is he dead?" The nurse didn't say anything and handed the wheelchair over to Percy.
"Take her to the ground floor. I'll meet you both there," the nurse ordered. Percy obliged and curled his fingers around the wheelchair and dragged her out into the crowd. He couldn't take the stairs this time. Instead, he would have to use the crowded elevators.
He groaned, "I knew you would be a burden,' he whispered looking down at Tiara who was still unconscious. He bent over her and nudged her cheek.
"It's soft…" He nudged it again. Still no response. He gulped as he saw the number of people in the elevator, most of them with different sorts of diseases. If he took Tiara among them, she would catch a disease too with her weak immune system after 8 years of coma. Sweat shone on his forehead clearly now and he was undoubtedly tired and weak.
That's exactly why he couldn't understand what he did next. Abandoning the wheel chair, he grunted as he lifted Tiara in his arms and walked forward. He stumbled a bit but regained his balance soon. And like that, he stepped down the stairs.
A minute later he stopped and looked down. "1 floor down. 17 more to go."
He was almost out of breath as he reached the ground floor finally. His hands felt numb and felt a kind of pain he had never felt before. He had never worked this hard in his entire life. He looked up for a spot to put her down on but instead, found another boy rushing towards him.
He had a black leather jacket on and ripped jeans. His hair was black with blonde at the tips. He looked like he didn't belong to the hospital at all, rather a concert hall. Mitchell ran towards the two as he saw Tiara limp in another boy's arms.
He placed a hand on her cheek and tried to slap her awake.
"I already tried that," Percy deadpanned, looking at the brother. Mitchell met eyes with Percy for a second and the glance that passed between them for that short second was scary.
'Damn,' Percy thought, 'Is he her boyfriend or something? Why does he look like he hates me?'
Mitchell extended his hands, "Okay, give her to me."
Percy held on to Tiara tighter, "No way. Who are you?"
Mitchell groaned in annoyance, "I'm her brother, for god's sake. You're the stranger here, you know that?"
"Still. I can't give her to you without confirming that you both are siblings. Till then I'll keep her," Percy defended. If Tiara was taken away from them now, the doctor's plans would all be destroyed. Percy didn't want that. He had only known the old man for about an hour but he respected him already. The aura he had given out was too powerful to ignore.
And now, Percy winced at the thought, was he really dead? No, a man like that won't die that easily.
Mitchell rolled his tongue inside his mouth for a while at the sight of this cheeky boy. 'Is he the one who is going to be my sister's Yang pair?' he thought. He had followed them on his bike all along. He had gone to grab lunch and when he came back all this had happened. He regretted going for lunch that day. Mitchell internally shook his head at the Doctor's poor selection and fished out his phone from his pocket. It was not like the doctor had a choice anyway. But Mitchell didn't know that.
He opened up Photos on his phone and turned the screen to show it to Percy. Percy narrowed his eyes and scrutinized the picture. It was an old one, taken almost a decade ago. There was a young boy and girl in the picture leaning against a trampoline and hugging each other.
Percy looked at the little boy in the picture and then at Mitchell. Yes, there was some resemblance. And the girl was Tiara, no doubt.
'Is this how she looked like when she was small?' Percy thought with fascination. He instantly buried that in and cleared his throat while Mitchell put the phone back.
"Fine, take her for now. But the nurse will come to collect us so I will keep close."
Mitchell nodded and carried Tiara instead. Once she was in his hands, Mitchell smirked, "Your welcome."
"Huh?" Percy asked, shaking his numb arms. Mitchell pointed at Percy's arms with his eyes. "I know she is quite heavy. Carrying her all the way down must have hurt a lot. So you're welcome because I have taken the burden now."
Percy laughed and looked the other way, laughing more. It was supposed to be the other way round. Mitchell thanking him and Percy saying welcome.
Mitchell laughed with him, realizing his own cheekiness, and some of the hospital people turned around to look why these two good looking boys were laughing while the whole building was running for their lives.