chapter 23-Unsure

(JAMES)

After I woke up, I was confused. Khaza filled me in with the details, explaining there had been an outburst from Ellie that put us all in danger, and they thought I was dead.

My face was aching terribly. My teeth felt loose, the side of my cheek swollen and bruised. It hurt to even touch it. The throbbing in my head worsened as I saw everyone else was either half-dead or in mental shock.

"Maddie, are you okay?" I asked, my voice strained from the injury.

She didn't say anything, just giving me a thumbs up. She wasn't in a talkative mood right now.

"Listen, I...I want to thank you for saving me. You were so brave. I offer you my deepest gratitude.... Thank you."

She looked at my battered face, met my eyes, and nodded simply but sincerely.

I walked over to Thomas, who was getting treated by Maxwell using his own shredded sleeve to bandage Thomas's torn and clawed face.

"You alright?" I asked. "Do I look alright? Saving your ass was a pain in the ass," Thomas grumbled. "You shouldn't have, it cost you half your face."

"Mate, I should have, and I did. You can't change that now. Just accept it and be glad it wasn't worse. It hurts like a bitch, I've fainted a couple times. Just pray we get home, you know?"

"I know." The thought of being transported here was thrilling at first, but now I felt I desperately needed comforting, like a child wanting their parent - though I doubted that was possible now.

"Tommy, I want to thank y-" Before I could finish, the big, injured Tommy pulled me into one of his classic bear hugs.

He was always the touchy-feely type, constantly in your personal space. But he had a way of making you feel comfortable, trustworthy - most didn't mind his lack of formality.

I returned the embrace. To my surprise, he was crying. The big guy everyone relied on was weeping in my arms, tears staining my tattered clothes. I didn't mind - my friend was having an emotional breakdown as everything that happened crashed down on him physically and mentally. If he needed the comfort to let it out, I would always be there for him. My own eyes welled up too.

Maxwell didn't join the hug at first, just staring a bit uncomfortably.

"Mate, what are you doing? Get your ass in here," I said.

"Stuff it, bro. My leg is hurting, but I ain't no bitch, I guess," he replied. It hit me then that he was injured too.

But even so, he joined our group hug, not weeping but rubbing our backs. He wasn't really part of our main friend group, but someone we knew, joked with before. Right now, we were all that was left of the old world - we couldn't take any chances, we had to pull together.

After a while, we broke the hug.

"You guys can call me Max. It's not that different, plus faster to say when running from zombies. And that pillar of light I used only stops bleeding and closes wounds temporarily. It can't really heal or replace limbs or blood loss, so we can't take any more wounds or scratches. We need to be careful and alert," Max warned.

"Got it. Wait, did you just say your ability's name?" I asked, shocked.

Then it dawned on me. "Max, tell me right now - what is your character card?"

The realization seemed to hit him too.

"Yo, I can actually say it now! Wait, my card was something about being a celestial race descendant, like a sub-species. And my class card was something like 'the preacher with malice' - its first turn is 'belief of the outworld faith'. Badass, right?" he grinned.

"We can actually say the names of our cards now. Okay, I've got a plan. Once most of the group is able to walk and talk, we'll have a group discussion on further actions. I know I shouldn't say this after what just happened, but we can't stay here forever. Everybody is injured, in pain...my face is so swollen," I said, touching my cheek gingerly.

"Ah jayejay, your face...it's..."

"It's what?" I asked, confused.

"It's fucking wriggling, holy shit dude!"

I touched my face, and the sore, swollen part was trembling and wriggling unnaturally. But then I felt a warmth spreading through it as my face started producing heat, and the swelling gradually went down.

"Dude, it's like it was never there. What happened?" Maxwell asked, perplexed.

Suddenly, radiant words appeared before me, floating in the air unlike the menu table before.

"What the fuck..." Maxwell gasped.