"Vida!" Amora jumped out of the van, running across the street towards Vida as Akilah followed in panic.
Once the two girls got to Vida, Amora tears started to give way. Amora got to her knees as she held Vida in her arms.
Vida was bleeding from the nose and mouth. It seemed as though all four of her limbs were broken in various places. The sight made Amora and Akilah want to die themselves.
"I- w- what are we supposed to do, Akilah?!" Amora looked up at Akilah with teary eyes. Akilah stayed silent in shock.
"D-don't die. P-please." Amora stuttered over her words as she brought the unconscious Vida into a hug. Amora began rocking back and forth out of sheer fear.
"I-I love you s-s-so much, Vida. I w-wish I could tell you h-h-how much you meant t-to me." Amora's voice grew even weaker as she felt Vida's heartbeat slow.
Suddenly, a light began to glow from Amora. It was a white light, but it began to fracture into a rainbow. Akilah stepped back out of surprise, but began to get a gist of what was going on.
Amora didn't seem to notice the light as she continued to mumble and rock back and forth.
"P-please, y-your our l-light." Amora mumbled.
The light looked like glass shards around Amora, pieces of a shattered rainbow.
Akilah watched on as Vida's gashes and cuts began to close up. Her broken limbs seemed to slowly move back into place as the light grew stronger.
The glass shard seemed to grow smoother and come together into a single light as Vida's injuries disappeared.
Suddenly, Vida let out a gasp as her eyes opened.
"Amora?" Vida mumbled as she tried to take in the situation around her.
"Vida!" Amora tightened her hug. "I thought I was gonna lose you."
Akilah's eyes teared up as she sighed a breath of relief and let out a slight smile.
"Wait, is Hendrix okay?" Vida tried to look past the two girls to peek at the state of Hendrix.
"Didn't expect that. Huh." Officer 1060 put his hand to his chest which now had a single slash mark from one of Hendrix's steel tentacles. He was bleeding but didn't seem to be taken back.
"Is that your last surprise? Because it's time I wrap this up." Officer 1060 said as he began to close the space between him and Hendrix.
He tried to block the strings slashes and stabs with his daggers, but six strings proved to be too much to take account for as some of the strings made it past the Officer's defenses and slashed him in multiple places. To the surprise of everyone watching, he seemed to show no signs of pain on his face.
"Do you know who you're up against, boy." 1060 spoke with a calm demeanor as he looked past the strings and right into Hendrix's eyes.
"I'LL RIP YOU APART!" Hendrix screamed in response. This time he spoke with a labored breath. The sweat growing around his face seemed to indicate that he was running low on energy.
As the two spoke, Officer 1060 continued to close the distance as Hendrix continued to injure him.
"In the past twenty years I've killed thousands. I own this area of our nation. Every rebellion, I was there. Every Spirit outburst, I was there. You'll be no different, boy." Officer 1060 grew closer to Hendrix.
"I'll kill…" Hendrix inexplicably passed out in an instant. His head crashed against the asphalt as the strings slithered back into their original forms as mere dangling strings from a broken guitar neck.
Hendrix grew pale as it seemed the life was being sucked out of him by some invisible force.
"Ran out of Spirit like every other amateur. You rebels make me sick." Officer 1060, bloody from all of Hendrix's attacks but unfazed, walked up to Hendrix's unconscious body and raised his hand.
"Hendrix!" Vida screamed as she tried to get up. She struggled, like she wasn't fully healed by Amora's strange light. It was enough to mend, but not to restore. She let out a cry as Hendrix's eyes began to roll back into his head
Right before 1060 brought down his dagger, a voice was heard from the end of the road.
"What's going on? Oh my god, are you guys okay?" A lady in office clothes jumped at the sight of Bloom and Alex. Alex was trying to help up Bloom, who was still unconscious.
"Here, let me help. Who did this?" The lady helped Alex pick up Bloom as she looked at Alex for an answer.
"He did." Alex waved her head in Officer 1060's direction as her voice.
"Officer? What are you doing?" The lady asked as Officer 1060 still had his dagger ready to plunge into the body of an unconscious Hendrix.
Officer 1060 couldn't muster up an excuse as to why he was about to stab a teenager to death while his friends lay beaten and bloodied.
The truth of Spirit couldn't ever get out to the public.
More office workers came around the corner to see what the commotion was about.
"Sir, put the knife down." The lady said as she began to grow scared of 1060's emotionless face.
"The kid isn't even awake. Why would he try to kill him?" A voice from the growing crowd of citizens was picked up by the Officer.
"Wait. That's a child." Another voice said.
"Citizens, please clear the area. Everything is fine." A voice from a helicopter that was lowering itself above the scene blared over the crowd's murmuring.
"Shit." Officer 1060 said as he reluctantly grabbed onto the rope ladder that dropped down from the bottom of the helicopter. "It's sad that the ones I protect just get in my way." He mumbled to himself.
"I'll kill you next time, boy." Officer 1060 mumbled as the helicopter took off.
"Citizens, again, please vacate the premises. Everything is fine." The voice blaring from the helicopter said one more time as it shot off into the air.
The citizens, to the surprise of Alex, stayed to make sure the group was alright. The citizens helped haul Bloom and the kids into Alex's van as requested, which brought joy to her heart.
Up until now, she had only seen citizens as weak minded sheep. Her and her sister seemed like the only ones who were capable of seeing through the government's lies when they were growing up.
"Are you sure you're gonna be ok? Do you want us to drive you guys to a hospital instead?" The lady in office clothes showed sincere concern for the group as Alex began to shake her head and smile.
"No, that's fine. I live with a doctor, believe it or not. Thank you." Alex smiled one more time before starting her car up and driving down the road.
Alex began to speed as she got out of sight of the citizens that helped her. She wanted to get back to the compound before any police caught wind to follow a van of their description. She knew that the location of their compound was vital information to the government's fight against Spirit users.
Alex pressed the gas even more as she looked to her right to see how Bloom was doing. Her beautiful jet black hair was dripping crimson red now. Alex began to tear up.
"Is Hendrix okay?" Vida asked Amora as she tried to replicate what she did to Vida.
"I don't know. I'm trying." Amora began to tear up as well.
Kai and Taro were trying to help in every way they could but the two unconscious passengers in the van both seemed like they were past the stage where any raw strength or speed could help them.
Alex swerved into the garage of the compound and quickly took Bloom into her arms. The kids did the same with Hendrix as they all rushed to Jessica's infirmary.
On the way, some of the other compound residents grew worried as they tried to help.
"Bloom! Is she gonna be ok?" The compound's chef asked as they ran past the cafeteria.
As the compounds' residents tried to help they got no answer from the group as their mind was only on getting Bloom and Hendrix to the infirmary.
The group ran down the hall as Alex kicked open the doors to Jessica's infirmary.
"Oh hey-" Jessica turned around to see the bloody aftermath of their run in with Officer 1060.
"Put them down on the bed. Let yourselves rest as well." Jessica pointed to the beds as the group laid Bloom and Hendrix on two of them.
"Take care of them first." Alex said instead of getting on a bed herself.
"Alex. Sit down." Jessica said as she called down the hall for somebody to help her. Three people came running down the hall and immediately sprung into action.
First, the group took care of Bloom. They dressed her wounds and checked her vitals. The room went quiet as Jessica leaned in to check Bloom's heartbeat.
"Please, don't let her die, Jessica." Alex said as she looked over Jessica's shoulder.
"She's alright." Jessica sighed in relief. The room sighed with her. Alex began to tear up even more as she let out a breath she had been keeping in for a while.
"Check Hendrix's vitals. I'll finish up Bloom's treatment." Jessica ordered her helping hands.
The helping nurses moved Hendrix around on the bed as they cared to his wounds. As they moved him around, a beeping red light seemed to fall out of one of his gashes like it was stuck in their on purpose. One of the nurses picked it up as the room's attention drew to it.
"A tracking device." Alex uttered.
The tiny beeping orb dropped to the floor as everyone stepped back from it instinctually.