Celeste didn’t see the Hellions until after the bus already pulled away from the stop. She cursed herself for wearing her heels instead of her normal walking sneakers.
“Hey, hey,” one of them called, going over to her, and the rest of them followed. She backed up, not really having a place to go. She found herself backed into the bus stop’s wall.
They didn’t stop moving, and she fumbled in her pocketbook for her can of mace. One of them grabbed her purse, and she held onto it. She heard the strap already start to rip.
Then something came out of the corner of her eye, something black and moving fast, and her purse was pulled so hard out of her hand that she fell forward onto the concrete sidewalk. The Hellion in front of her had disappeared, but she heard a thud and grunt from behind her. She turned around to see the Hellion who had her purse slumped against the bus stop wall.
She also heard fire crackling. She turned to her left and saw a bald man in a black trenchcoat with his back to her, standing protectively in front of her. Beyond him was the Hellion who had a ball of fire in his hand.
“Scared o’ this, ‘ay big guy?” The Hellion started to walk around them, and the man pivoted his body to follow him. She saw his face – his eyes were disguised by black glasses, but his face didn’t disguise his pure fury. She tried to back away from him.
“Gonna make you go FWOOOSH!” the Hellion laughed, and tossed the fireball at him.
The man moved fast again, but she didn’t see that, getting also hit by the fireball. She screamed as she was engulfed in flame. She knew to roll, so she tried that, but it made it worse. She smelled her own flesh burning, felt excrutiating pain – then felt something cool come over her, squashing the flames. She felt nothing after that.
————————–
“Rahul, I swear to God,” snarled Glen, tossing the bedsheets into the bin, “We patch them up only so they go back out there again.”
Dr. Rahul Abdulkareem nodded with a frown. “They don’t even stop to give us their names – they jump out of the teleporter, and take off, no matter the condition of their costume.”
“You can’t go back there, sir!”
The doctor and the nurse both peered around the corner to see the receptionist yelling at a big bald man carrying something wrapped in a leather coat. Rahul took one look at him and decided the best thing to do would be to not stop him. He made a beeline to him, and Rahul could smell the distinct scent of burnt flesh.
“She got burned by Hellion fire,” said the man, coming up to him.
“Right in here,” he said, and Glen got the IV ready. The big man gently set the bundle down – the woman was barely breathing. “I need a crash cart!” Rahul yelled, and people started moving.
The man backed away, giving them room, but not leaving the area until someone told him to. They were able to stabilize her, but most of her skin had been burnt off. Because of the heat that had been generated by the flame, the leather of the jacket was stuck to her in places. Rahul knew this would be a delicate operation to get the bits cut off, and he didn’t have the time, the tools, or the ability to do this.
Rahul didn’t even lift his head until he felt the woman was stabilized, and by then the burn specialist, Dr. Karthick had arrived. Rahul stepped out of the bay, and saw the bald man standing under the clock. Rahul had been working on the woman for over an hour. Had the man been standing there all this time?
“Is she going to make it?” he asked. The undertone that he read was, She’d better.
“Yes. We have to get the coat off her, it’s melted on her in some spots. We have a specialist who’s going to probably take her into OR to take care of that.”
“Do what you have to. I don’t give a shit about the coat.”
“Do you know her?”
“Nope.”
“Then–”
He launched himself off the wall. “I’ll check in on her tomorrow.” He peered into the bay for a minute, and then left the ER without another word.
———————————-
Morphine. Celeste never loved anything more than that at this moment. In bed, head to toe in bandages, some leaking pus and blood, she gazed up at the TV.
Her parents and boyfriend had left about fifteen minutes ago, just as visiting hours ended. She had taken a hit of morphine and was just drifting off into a painless land when she saw someone come into the room.
Through her drug-induced haze she saw a bald man, black sunglasses, dressed from neck to shoes in black leather. She stared at him, and something filled her, something akin to love, even stronger than she had ever felt for her boyfriend.
The man turned slowly to her. “How are you, Celeste?” he asked, his voice sounding like silk. “Do you remember me?”
How could she forget? Standing over her, protecting her with his body, while the Hellion threw fire – she remembered that distinctly. Even though he took the brunt of the blast, she got the remnants anyway, and he threw his coat on her, smothering the flames, holding her close to him, she remembered that..
“Yes,” she said, her voice full of emotion. She couldn’t cry, her tear ducts weren’t working.
He walked around the bed, seeming to keep his distance. “You’re healing well,” he said, and touched her arm. The touch was electric, and she gasped. He slowly lifted it, examining the spots of blood on the bandages. “They should change these.”
She was speechless, as he looked at her, but she couldn’t see his eyes behind the glasses. “You’ll be fine now.” He still kept his hand on her arm.
“Thank you,” she said, slowly moving her other hand to lay it on top of his. “You saved me.”
He smiled slightly, and started to take his hand away. She found that she grabbed him, even though it hurt her. “Don’t leave me.”
“I’m sorry, I have to.” He disengaged himself from her.
“You saved me, I don’t even know your name.”
“Sergeant Blackhawk.” He stepped back away from her, his head moving as he looked her up and down. “You’ll be fine, Celeste,” he repeated, more to himself than to her.
She watched him leave without looking back. Her tear ducts did indeed work.
Words: 1127
Inspiration: Scenes of Frenzy – Danger (from a different POV)
Music: Assorted in Bomber playlist.