Shadow Author

The girl was clearly on her deathbed.

It was then that I heard footsteps and Evelyn made her way over to us.

"How long does she have left?"

Looking at how her vibrant body was now frail and weak coupled with the extreme blood loss I knew she would die in a matter of minutes.

"I'd say a minute or so, I don't know? This is my first time determining how long someone has to live."

Evelyn nodded before coming to a stop next to the girl.

"Is she the only one?"

"No, there's at least one more."

"Then why are you focusing your time on her when she's going to die anyways?"

I looked up at Evelyn and I saw that there were no emotions behind her eyes as if she blocked out her ability to feel.

Ordinarily, I would have dropped the subject there and did what she said as it was the most logical thing to do but I wanted to learn more about Evelyn.

"What's her name?"

After asking I turned my attention back to the girl dying.

Her breaths became shallow gasps, each one being shorter and more labored than the last.

The girl's eyes fluttered open one last time, her gaze locking on to me. She tried to speak, but no words came out, only a soft sigh as her chest stilled.

Yet I could tell what she was saying behind her eyes.

There was a mix of anger and fear.

'I'm scared and you don't even care.'

At least that's the impression I got and truthfully she was right. All the while she was in agony Evelyn and I were talking as if we were taking a stroll in the park.

However, to me, there was no difference between the two.

The room fell silent, then I moved my head to look at Evelyn as I waited for her to answer my question.

Her face scrunched but nonetheless, she gave me her name.

"Quin, her name is Quin."

"I see."

Giving my attention back to Quin I gave her a final goodbye by whispering only something she could hear.

"Do better in your next life."

The girl's eyes shot open for the final time and dulled as her spirit slipped away.

Sighing I stood up to continue my examination for survivors leaving the girl's body behind to become one with the surrounding death.

When I pushed myself up more of my clothes got covered in blood and one leg was practically dyed red but it made no difference to me besides smelling bad.

"Come on."

Urging Evelyn to follow me I made my way through the other students where it was clear that they were long dead. That was until I came across the person who was still alive and I had heard breathing originally.

To my great surprise, the one who managed to survive the ordeal just so happened to be the one that caused it.

Coming to a stop I hovered over the somewhat still-alive fatty.

"Is he the one?"

I laughed.

"Isn't it ironic?"

She didn't reply.

Kneeling down just as I had done with the girl I began to examine the man.

Like the girl, his breathing was shallow however it was clear that he still had some fighting spirit left in him.

While getting closer to the man I realized that he was in critical condition.

A metal pipe was protruding from his thigh, and blood oozed out from around it, staining the floor beneath him.

In addition, his gut had been ripped open, and his intestines spilled out onto the ground beside him.

His eyes were wide with pain and fear as he reached out with a shaking hand, pleading for help. It was clear that without medical attention he would pass away.

Unfortunately for him I wasn't a doctor and couldn't do him service.

Ignoring the man's quaking hand that was now reaching out as if he was trying to grab something out of thin air I checked to see if I could do anything.

Following the trail of guts, I saw how the man managed to survive the initial fall. Under him were two more crushed girls whose dead bodies cushioned the fall. In addition, I'm sure the layers of fat absorbed some of it.

Seeing as a hand was stretched out from under him I could only imagine how their remains might look.

'I was right, that is a terrible way to go out.'

Knowing that there was no way I'd be able to help him I asked Evelyn if she could do something.

"Do you have any medical knowledge or should I just shove everything back inside him and hope for the best?"

She scoffed.

"I'm not touching him."

"Fair enough."

Pulling up the sleeves of my shirt I grabbed a handful of what I could only guess to be his intestines before shoving them back into the gaping hole that they came from.

They were a weird texture as the blood covering them made them slimy. I also made note of how hot they were which after I thought about it seemed like something that would be obvious.

Anyways, I had no idea if I would be making things worse but either way, there was only a slim chance of him surviving in the first place.

Therefore I gathered up everything I could and stuffed them back inside of him as if he was a turkey.

By the time I was done everything inside of him was tangled and out of place but at least he didn't look as disgusting.

Satisfied with my surgical skills I looked over at Evelyn to see if she approved but she ended up staring blankly at me.

"Hey, I did the best I could."

"I didn't say anything."

I sighed before turning my attention over the metal pipe that was sticking out of his leg.

"The one thing I do know is if something gets lodged inside you shouldn't pull it out because it's the only thing stopping the blood from pouring out."

"Right."

"Then why are you grabbing hold of it?"

A devilish smile appeared on her face before she yanked on the pipe which caused it to move the whole way through his leg and out the other side.

Had the man been unconscious before it was clear that he was now awake due to the loud screaming filling what was left of the elevator.

I didn't have to ask Evelyn why she did it because I already knew that it would be in the best interest of the fatty.

While the man continued to cuss us out until he started to lose his voice I asked Evelyn another question.

"What's his name?"

She just stared back at me.

"Come on, I should at least know the name of the person I'm saving."

She continued to stare.

"Okay, if you answer my question I'll answer one of yours, deal?"