In the Skin of Dragon

Chapter 8: What happened?

I woke up not knowing where I was. My entire body hurt, and I felt like I was burning up inside. My head was spinning, and it took me a while to get my sight focused. I tried to look around me, but it only increased the pain in my head. I was still in the car but something was off; we were upside down. “Mom? Kendra?” I tried to call them, but they didn’t reply.

I stretched my hand out to unbuckle the seatbelt, and instantly my entire body came crashing down. While the new position relieved my headache, the fall only increased the pain in my body. I noticed several scratches over my arms and legs, but I didn’t think it was too serious.

Outside were still blue and red lights flashing, so I assumed that guards might come to help us soon, but just a few seconds later I realised how mistaken I was. I heard many strange mini explosion-like sounds.

“Mom?” I gathered my strength I had left and stretched my hand towards her seat, pulling myself closer so I could see her. The pain was so excruciating I felt like cutting my arm off would be an improvement. My mom was still upside down in her seat, buckled up, and there was a pool of blood underneath her. I just hoped it was not from a head wound.

“Kendra?” I called her too, but as I could see she was almost in the same position as my mom, I realized she was also unconscious. I did not know what to do, I could barely move myself but I needed to get them out of the car. “Help! HELP!” I called as loud as I could. My throat was hurting, but I didn’t care, I needed somebody to help us. To get my mom and my best friend out of the car.

“Please. God. Please help us.” I whispered with the tears falling down my cheeks, partly from the pain but partly from the fear of losing the people that were most precious to me. “Kendra. Please. Wake up.” I tried to gently poked her and shake her. I didn’t know how much she was hurt, but I needed her to wake up.

“Mom.” I tried the same with my mom but they were not moving. ‘I need to take them down.’ I thought to myself. I remember one lesson we had in school about possible punishments to get nowadays and hanging upside down was one of them. The teacher explained what would happen to the body and especially the brain when the head is lower than the entire body. The only thing I remembered was the horrible death that would come if the body hung for too long.

I pulled myself to the front so I could reach mom’s seat belt but at the same time held her head so she would not break her neck when falling down. “Hang on mom, I will get you out.” I said just as I unbuckled her seatbelt, she literally fell onto my lap sending waves of pain all over my body but I didn’t let it consume me. She was safely down. When she was down safely, I noticed she had a bleeding wound on her head. It brought tears to my eyes, and I was afraid of the future. “Please be alright, mom. Please.” I said with tears still streaming down my cheeks.

“Kendra.” I tried to talk to her again while placing my hands in position so I could take her down too. She didn’t have any visible injuries on her head, which was a good sign, but she was still unconscious. In a second, I unbuckled her and next thing she was lying on my legs. They were still pretty unconscious, but at least they were not hanging upside down anymore. 

I was sitting in the car, thinking about my next move, when a strange smell caught my attention. Looking around for the source, I saw a small fire somewhere at the back of the car. “Mom. Please. Wake up. We have to leave.” I panicked. I knew that eventually the fire would grow, not to mention the gas tank located close by that would soon explode.

“Kendra!” I shook with her, not caring about her possible internal injuries. I needed them to wake up, because I had no power to pull them both out of the car. I had no power to pull myself properly out of the car.

I was desperate, shaking Kendra and then my mom, shouting their names and crying for anyone to help us, but no one came. No one had paid attention to the second car who was hit in the blast of the first car. The guards only cared about those other people. I don’t know who they were or what they did, but I wished the guards would kill them or catch them quickly so they could focus on us.

Sadly, I realized that this was normal. Our lives were not important since humans reproduce pretty quickly, even if they lost thousands of us, they wouldn’t lift a finger. The fire was closing in on us as the gasoline was dripping out of the car and it was pooling all around us. It was only a matter of time before the fire reached the gas tank.

‘I can’t let them die.’ I kept repeating to myself. I could not watch them die. I didn’t really care if I died but couldn’t lose my mom, not when she’d finally gotten her normal life back and not Kendra who had her entire life in front of her.

I don’t know where the power came from, but the pain stopped and I could almost move freely. I climbed around my mom carefully pushing out the last pieces of the broken window so my mom and I wouldn’t get hurt when I pulled her out. I squeezed my body out of the car and tried to stand up. My leg gave up on me and I ended up on the ground again. I realized my left leg must have been broken, but I just waved it off and tried to stand up again, only this time placing the weight of my body on my right leg. I took my mom’s arm and pulled her out of the car carefully. Her head was out, but the rest of her body was still inside. It took me some time to pull her out, but she still was not far enough from the car in case of an explosion.

I had to go down to my knees and literally crawl away from the car while dragging my mom. To my dismay, I could not go back for Kendra. By the time I got my mom far enough from the car, the fire was all around the car.

Hopping on one leg, I made my way to Kendra. I went back on my knees and shouted her name, but she was still unconscious. “Kendra. Please. Please. I am begging you. Wake up. Please.” I was desperate and helpless and I could only watch as the fire was closing in on her, almost reaching her.

I cried out and shouted at her, but nothing helped. ‘Please God. Please help me.’ I was hopelessly begging for help. I felt alone. I noticed a minor burn on Kendra’s skin. The fire had already spread to the interior of the car. Something was growing inside me, anger and fear. I could not lose my only friend. That was not possible. That was not an option.

My breath came faster, and I felt like my skin was burning. I felt something inside of me, something I never knew was there. But just as I started to feel this strange power growing inside of me, I heard the blast. “Noooooo!” I stood up just a moment before the blast appeared, screaming out of fear that I had just lost my best friend. I instinctively placed my hands in front of me in an attempt to protect my face from the blast, but I knew I was too close to survive this. I waited, But nothing happened. I opened my eyes, still keeping my hands up, covering most of my face and saw the fire coming out of the gasoline tank except it was not moving.

The fire was frozen in time. I looked at it in disbelief, not quite understanding what was going on. It took me only a second to realize that this was my chance to pull Kendra out. I didn’t waste the opportunity that God gave to me and jumped towards the car. I crouched down in front of the fire and tried to touch it. I saw the fire still there, not moving but still there and It wasn’t burning me. It looked like a picture of the fire, but without the heat, without the pain. I lowered myself to my knees again to reach Kendra and pulled her out the same way I did my mom.

When we finally reached a safe distance, the explosion resumed and the blast still threw me towards the tree behind me. I instantly blacked out.

***

“Mom?” I called my mom. My eyes were still closed and I could not open them. “You mother is alright. She is in another room.” I heard a voice explaining the situation. “Where am I?” Was my next question since I didn’t recognize the woman who was talking to me. “You are in the hospital. You were in a terrible car accident and almost died.” She explained as I started remembering the events leading up to my passing out.

“And my friend?” I asked her about Kendra. My eyes were still hurting, but I tried to open them slowly. The light in the room was too bright. My eyes hurt even more, so I closed them again. “Slowly. You were out for two days. Your friend is alright too. She already woke up and is now with her family. I heard you saved the lives of both of them. Would you mind telling me how you did that?” The woman assured me about Kendra and my mom, and I felt really relieved that they both were fine.

“I don’t know. I just pulled them out.” I said, not really thinking about her question. “Alright. I guess you should rest now. Please try to get a bit more sleep.” The woman told me, but I didn’t know how I was supposed to do that. I just woke up and based on what she told me I was asleep for two days and now she was asking me to sleep again? I wanted to oppose her, but I suddenly felt sleepy again and soon after I was out once again.

***

“Did she tell you something?” I heard another unfamiliar voice. “Not yet.” She told me she just pulled them out.” The voice I heard from before replied. “She stopped the blast. She literally froze it on spot until she pulled her friend out .” The male voice argued and I could hear the distress in his voice.

“Maybe the dwarfs exaggerated. You know they left them to die because they were too busy with the resistance. Maybe they are trying to put it on the girl and make her look like a superhero so no one would investigate that they left three females in the burning car.” The first woman was opposing the male. “We will have to report this to the Academy. They are already investigating the security cameras and from what I had heard, whatever the girl did not even interfere with the cameras.” The man was explaining, and I lost his next words since I stopped listening. My mind was not fully focusing on those precious words about the girl. Who was that girl they were talking about? Was there someone else who saved us? Was there another girl who stopped the blast so I could save my friend?

Whoever she was, I wanted to thank her. I wanted to express my gratitude for saving me and my best friend. I was laying down for several minutes when I heard steps coming closer to me.

“You woke up?” I heard the woman talking to me, and I tried to open my eyes. It was easier than last time I just needed a bit of time to adjust to the light. “Good.” The woman said when I finally opened my eyes. “I am sorry to disturb you again since you are still not fully healed, but we really need to know how you stopped the blast.” The woman said, and I looked at her confused.

“What are you talking about?” My throat was sore, even more sore than when I was talking to her last time. “Here.” She was handing me a glass of water and I took it to drink it. “Slowly.” She added as she saw me put the glass to my lips and I sipped.

“A few witnesses said that you stopped the blast to get out your friend.” The woman said once she took the glass from me. I shook my head, denying what I had just heard. “It could not be me. I am just a human.” I said back.

The woman who I just noticed was Elvish was looking down at me, thinking about whether or not to believe me. I was a human. I should not have any magic or abilities, but at the same time I could read in her eyes that she was doubting this, and she believed I had some sort of powers.

“The Academy will come check you tomorrow.” She said after a while and without giving me time to ask what is academy, she left me alone.