Febuwhump Day 27
@febuwhump
LEFT FOR DEAD
Alexsandr Kallus didn’t know whether he found it difficult to breathe because of the bayonet lodged in his chest or whether it was the small mountain of dirt piled on top of him. Most likely it was both. But he doubted he’d have to worry about that much longer. Soon enough he would stop breathing altogether.
No one was coming to save him. No one could even see him, not covered as he was from the small landslide that had buried him. Only one hand jutted out into the air and half of his face was stuck in the mud, the other half being pelted by the rain that now tried to wash the battlefield clean of the sins that had been committed here.
He had no strength to move. No voice to call out. The only thing he could do was watch. Watch as the area was combed for survivors. He saw man after man being lifted onto stretchers and rushed away to the medical tents. But they’d already passed him by. They wouldn’t be looking back at places they’d already searched.
So Kallus closed his one eye against this cruel, disinterested world, and waited for the inevitable to come.
Only, the inevitable wasn’t what he thought it was going to be.
Kallus was wrenched from the darkness as a hand grabbed his and pulled him out from under his burial mound. The motion put pressure on the bayonet and he opened his mouth in silent agony, having no air for even the tiniest whimper.
“Careful, careful!” he heard someone call, and then more hands descended on him. Gentle hands that carried him and wiped the mud from his face. Cruel hands that poked and prodded at his wound. And still there was that one strong hand that continued to grip his, never letting go. Kallus didn’t have much strength, but he used all he had to grip it back. He wanted it to stay, wanted that anchor, that surety that he wasn’t dreaming.
“You’ll be alright, lad,” a gruff voice said from somewhere above him. “We’ve got you.”
Once again Kallus closed his eyes, thinking now that maybe the world wasn’t as cruel or disinterested as he’d thought.
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BABYSITTER CHARGED WITH MURDER, CHILD ABUSE AFTER DEATH OF 5-YEAR OLD GIRL
BABYSITTER CHARGED WITH MURDER, CHILD ABUSE AFTER DEATH OF 5-YEAR OLD GIRL
A Wyoming babysitter has been accused of beating and killing a 5-year-old girl.
Babysitter charged with murder, child abuse after death of 5-year-old girl
Police said 51-year-old Cheri Marler faces charges of first degree murder and child abuse. She has been held in a Wyoming jail without bond.
“In terms of child abuse, this was for me, personally – this was one of the hardest ones I’ve ever…
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gepard landau felt the foreboding attendance of death for years. an acrid tang of iron in his mouth, the lances of agony across the faces of his comrades as their limbs were wrested from their bodies, bloodied streaks of red in the snow. it beset his nights with harrowing memories, screams heaving from gasping lungs, the gossamer film of white eyes that stared out into the fray, sightless. It had marked him for a fleeting life the moment he had marched out into those desolate plains, a legion of soldiers at his flank. he had thought of it many times, but a captain was not afforded the benignity of choosing his own death.
when it comes its advent is undulating roars of fire, withering skin that curls in on itself, brittle and black. it’s his comrades dying one after the other in quick succession. he has enough time to seize an opening, to give them the opportunity to rally their remaining forces, to gasp in respite and arm themselves for the onslaught. he had not left home that day knowing it was the final time, had not greeted familiar faces at the barracks and warmed his hands around a blazing flame knowing that would be his last day. when he braces for impact, serrated limbs ending in hooked talons, he spares a solitary, fleeting glance over his shoulder and commands his men to retreat. they look upon him, astonished, exhausted, covered in slick sweat and drying blood. there’s an understanding that passes between them, wordless and pervading with the knowledge that he would not be following them.
the blunt impact against his shield is so immense that it sends shudders to his bones, his teeth clacking, a lance of excruciating pain surging through his arms, burying itself in his shoulders. he sinks his boots deep into the snow, ice swelling upwards as he was plowed backwards, his entire body keens beneath the force. the monster opens its jaws, rows of serrated teeth incandescent with heat, its eyes buried deep into its carapace skull. It retracts its long, spinose pincer and brings it down again, the pressure fractures bone, he can feel the pain of it towing him backwards, forcing his senses to remain alert, to push back against the barrage of strikes. its frustrated wail carries on the wind and the next time it withdraws, inspecting him with its bulging, rotating eyes, he launches his counter attack.
the shield wedges itself under the creature’s limb, a strident crack of impact that has the monster reeling, ice burgeons from the wound, rushing up its flesh, solidifying around it. gepard heaves a searing breath in, all of his mustered strength going into holding it in place, suddenly, a sharp, blinding agony erupts from his shoulder. it had brought down its other claw, punctuating the juncture between his throat and shoulder. blood rushed to the surface, blistering against his cold skin, surging from the wound, filling the dip of his collarbone, sousing his proud, white clothes carmine. he is the last bastion between this monster and his men, so he endures with unfaltering resolve. the ice is like a starved beast, rapidly swallowing the creature, limb after limb, until it splintered the hard, outer shell of its skull and the pincer embedded in his shoulder went limp.
he sinks to his knees, it were as if all the vigour had been drained from him, his shield hitting the ground, burying into the snow. he presses his hand to the wound, staunch the blood, he remembered that, even in the amorphous haze of his wavering consciousness. but it keeps flowing, the gash is so deep it’s carved past bone, if he were to wrench it from his body it would tear open a gaping fissure in his skin.
it was cold, belobog was always cold. beside the gargantuan corpse the captain sits upright, his back flush to the jagged husk, sheltered from the wind. It was cold, it was always so cold. he had held his gloved hand against the wound until it was sodden, until his arm was heavy, until he could hold it up no longer. he yearns to keep his eyes open, the bleary winterscape feels so vast when it’s so very empty. his blinking is somnolent, the world an indistinct smear of ice and blood. if he waits here, someone will return, someone will find him. he tells himself that is why he waits, sits in silent vigil, that he will close his eyes for a moment - then awaken when someone arrives. however, when they arrived, desperately plunging through the snow, it was already far too late. the captain was cold to the touch, delicate fractals of ice clinging to his lashes, to his hair, turning his skin to an icy pallor. he had not known it would be his last day when he joined his men on the battlefield, but there was pride in knowing he had saved them.
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Whumptober - Day 25
Chapter 20
Prompt 2 - Delirium
Thrass sat with Thrawn, the latter lying fitfully on a bed in their small medical facility. His eyes moved rapidly behind his closed lids, his brow furrowed, face tight with pain. His breathing was shallow but steady, the treatment for his ribs and lungs constricting their movement. The medicine he’d been given for the radiation sickness worked through him, fighting to kill off the poison in his body, leaving Thrawn feverish and, at times, delirious.
He would mutter things upon occasion – sometimes in Basic, but most often it was in Cheunh. And Thrass responded in kind.
“It’s alright,” he said in their native tongue. “You’re safe now. I’m here, Thrawn.”
Thrawn. After all these years… Thrass blinked back tears, his own breath coming in a shaky gasp. He didn’t know how he’d gotten here or why, and he didn’t know who these two armored men standing over them were, but right now he didn’t care. At long last, he had his brother back.
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