The Death of A Cellmate

[The day they broke out.]

The police officers have known the ambulance may be rigged, and that the medical worker isn't the one occupying the space. The rifles aimed at them, but Jaina threw a box of medicines, taking them aback. Zella didn't expect the ruckus to enunciate. She threw herself at the patient, removed the oxygen mask, and doesn't care about the next actions she should take.

The man on the stretcher didn't move at all. The beeps were deafening, but it isn't their top priority now. As Jaina yelled, "Go on with the driver. Kick him out!"

Zella opened the barriers, slipped herself in, and hitched his hair. The ride out of the prison gates of the infirmary building were a chaos no one knew how to subside. She sighed, went to the passenger seat, and kicked the man on the side. As much as she wanted to punch him, his fists were powerful.

He attacked her by the abdomen, and she winced in pain. Zella recovered fast, retrieved a gas mask on the side, and slammed his head onto it. If she was brusque enough, she'll swing that oxygen tank by the storage, but it isn't meant to be her weapon. Zella kicked him by the face.

The one thing she learned inside the prison was to fight back. In her nearly 20 days here, she entirely knew how to dead-butt someone. As the man lost his grasp on the steering wheel, Zella took it as an advantage to kick him in the balls. The man grimaced in intense pain, and that's when she had her final blow.

She twisted his arm, slammed him to the door, and it burst open. As the car swiveled in all directions, the officers surrounding them had the time to come up on the passenger seat. The door's locked, and it gave Zella some time to possess the steering wheel, and swerved, running over to the police.

Jaina kicked somebody out of the back, but a gunshot made Zella stepped on the brake. The police was down, but he perfectly aimed at Jaina's abdomen, shooting her. Zella got surprised, turning at her reflection by the dashboard, and watched how Jaina hitched the doors and locked it. She let out an excruciating scream, holding onto her abdomen, but Zella had to be composed.

They had to get out here before the police get them.

Jaina breathed, "Go on, Zella. Go on…"

She huffed. Jaina fell down to the ambulance floor, grunting in pain. She grimaced, the blood oozing out of her abdomen too fast, and the bullet penetrating right on the skin. It must have sliced a part of her stomach. Zella gripped the steering wheel, stepped on the gas pedal, and the tears fell down her cheeks.

The sirens continue to blare. Police officers have the green light to shoot the car, but Zella must have used the amount of luck she had for the past few years she had been praying in a temple. No bullet found her body. They're with one companion, and he must be dead, because the beep remained the same as it sounded a few minutes ago.

A dead line, perhaps.

The ambulance was like the wind passing through. As it reached the doors, the officers missed the opportunity to pop the wheels. Zella must be praying while driving the ambulance, with a wounded woman behind, letting herself soaked with her own blood. Zella wiped her nose with the back of her hand as she successfully broke the padlock of the penitentiary state, and finally went out in a blast. The ambulance car was still in a good condition, and Zella had to wish it would last longer.

They already have become a fugitive. Her eyes landed upon her wrist, and the Tempus Moneda isn't working. If this is one thing she would never regard as an answer to her multiple prayers, then she isn't grateful as she was. Zella had to run away while the people of Telamur wondered how she deactivated her time chip.

As they drive away to the silence of the street, her tears blurred her vision, but she kept on driving. After half an hour of finding a location to park, they settled inside the woods, without any people around. Zella turned off the engine, hurried to the back of the car, and saw Jaina lying down on the floor.

The patient on the stretcher was already dead. She turned off the cardiac monitor, and sighed. She parted her lips wide, kneeling down on Jaina, staring at how bloody her abdomen was. "Jaina…" she sobbed.

Zella removed her cap, throw it at the side, and wore off the uniform. She tore it to pieces, placed it along her bullet wound, and turned to her face. Jaina wore off her spectacles, showing her shiny, smooth skin, and her pale lips were indicating the infection was going up in her bloodstream. She wouldn't last long without an aid of a real doctor.

Zella gritted her teeth, sobbing hard. "Why… why…"

Why of all the people, she had to witness and known their deaths? She met a lot of people, but the ones close to her were all dying. Jaina was one of them. Jaina grunted, coaxing a lot of effort to turn her head to Zella, and let her mouth open. She gasped for air, and Zella doesn't want to remove her hand from her abdomen.

"Zella, you're still… h-here…" Jaina felt sick. Her vision was unclear.

"Yeah, I am." Zella cried, pressing the wound, so that the blood will stop oozing out. But it isn't working. Jaina lost a lot of blood already. All she could do now was to say goodbye, and let Jaina say what she wanted to say. Zella bit her bottom lip.

"Have you known why I made that promise?" She swallowed. Something's coming up in her mouth, but she managed to let it down for a few moments. Zella shook her head, finally understanding the use of it. She wept.

"Jaina, you're not g-going to d-die," she stammered. Jaina shook her head.

"No, I know this is the right time to say goodbye." Zella leaned her forehead upon her chest, crying her eyes out. She cried a lot lately, right after she got convicted. Probably, it was the effect of having a deceased family.

"Jaina…" she muttered. Jaina raised her hand, brushing Zella's hair, and sighed.

"Good job on making out here, Zella. You can now… live a good life." If it's going to be a good life, then she'll have to thank Jaina every day. Zella clenched her jaw, losing her grasp onto her abdomen, and letting the side of her head and hair drenched with Jaina's blood.