“I can hardly feel it, Bruno!”
Fuck!
I start looking for a place where I can land this flying can and check on her condition, I can't take her to a hospital, it's not safe. We need to land somewhere secluded and clandestine where we can stay off the grid.
The city still sleeps; dawn will break in a few hours. I see nothing but little lights flashing in front of me.
I need to get out of the city, so I direct the helicopter to the darkest area I see below my feet.
This dark zone happens to be the forgotten district. The underground, where hope doesn’t even exist for the poor anymore.
Yes, that will work.
After a few minutes, I try to lower the machine; slowly, the small houses become more visible, just a few lights illuminate the corners of the streets. I can see a soccer field that looks abandoned judging by the condition it is in. That’s my best option to put this machine down.
“I’m putting this bird down!” I shout when I start to feel the machine moving exactly as my muscles tell her to.
Down.
Further down.
Almost there, come on…
As soon as we touchdown, I switch the helo down and we’re welcomed to solid ground by the sound of both the engine and the main rotor powering off.
I turn around and go straight to Sarah.
I tap her cheeks, call her name countless times, but she’s not responding.
The outcast people begin to approach the helicopter with curiosity, like starving dogs.
“We must get out of here, it's not safe.” I tell Dante, he nods and opens the sliding doors, taking care of Amira and the child.
When my feet touch the ground with Sarah in my arms, I start running without a fixed direction. Time is running out and my fear is becoming more and more clear.
I can't lose her, not now.
Dante starts shouting, “Help, help!” but no one responds. Everyone is watching from afar, some from behind a window with great caution and silence, until I hear...
“This way!” An old man signals us to enter his house.
I run to him without hesitation, leaving the field behind, I assume that Dante and Amira are coming after me, I can't check them now.
When I reach the small cabin, the man points at the shabby old couch. I place Sarah there and start tearing her dress to see the state of the wound.
It's bad, really bad.
A perfect red circle and blood everywhere.
I shout out to the man the things I need; he runs into what I assume is the bathroom.
Dante and Amira look at me worried, I know, I'm as worried as they are.
I'm losing fucking control. I'm going to lose my mind too if she doesn’t wake up.
The man comes back, and I do the only thing that can wake her up at this moment, if she is still alive, I pour rubbing alcohol directly onto the wound.
That wakes her up as if a defibrillator had thrown volts on her chest. The scream she expels worries us all. Her eyes are tightly contracted, and the tears run out of her like a river escaping a dam.
