City Hunter

Chapter Twenty

10/8/70

Somebody had shot me.

That was all I could think about as I drifted in and out of consciousness. Somebody had hijacked the bus, attacked my friends, and shot me with some sort of tranquilizer gun.

"It's okay. You can get up now."

A voice. Adult, female, but definitely not Christina or Elizabeth - or my mother, I thought with a pang.

Soft fabric stretched beneath my palms as I tried to get my bearings. I was on a large, velvety mattress, so at least whoever had kidnapped me was accommodating. However, I couldn't tell where-

Wait. Both my palms?

My eyes shot open with a flash, and, with a burst of blinding light, the world came into focus. The room was large, white, and boxy, furnished with dark wood (Wood? Strange...). The walls, which might have been at one point clean and sterile, were now covered in stains, some of them disturbing colors. At one corner were two dark metal doors. Somewhere on the ceiling was the source of all that light, but my mind was occupied with more pressing matters to think about that. I could feel my arm now.

With amazement, I gazed at my clean, de-casted arm,  unmarked aside from a long, pale scar that ran down the inside of my bicep. I flexed my hand, bracing for a jolt of pain, but there was only a small ache that would probably go away within a few days.

"How?" I whispered, gazing up at my presumed rescuer. The woman had long red hair that ran down her back in a messy plait, with large brown eyes framed in a heart-shaped pale face.

She smiled at me, her long, nimble fingers fiddling with the edge of a ruby-red shirt. "They call me a miracle worker, but you can just call me Ginger. How are you feeling?"

"U-um... good," I admitted. "What happened?"

"Your friends are in a room nearby, if you're wondering," Ginger told me. "After you came here, we had to separate you, for obvious reasons."

After you came here. The events that had transpired up to this moment came to me in a flash, and my awe quickly transformed into anger. "WHAT ON EARTH GAVE YOU THE RIGHT-"

"Hey, hey, calm down." Ginger made a placating gesture. "We're sorry about the... violent way this had to happen. But there was no other way. You'll see."

I was about to snappily respond to her hastily made cliché, but at that moment the door on the left slammed open and four familiar figures burst into the room.

"Melissa!" Hawk cried. "You're all right! And you're not in a cast and your arm is fine and WHAT THE HECK-" She stumbled over her words. "Are you all right?"

"I think so," I replied cautiously, glancing at the other figures behind Hawk. Tyrone, Azure, Viola. It was strange to realize how quickly they had become familiar faces, people I would consider as friends.

But two were missing. I frowned. "Where are Christina and Elizabeth?"

"That's the thing..." Tyrone muttered. "There are some people you have to meet..."

As if on cue, the door opened again and three more people came in.

"I'm assuming that's them?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Horizon and Onyx," Viola introduced, pointing to the gender-neutral person on the left and the surly-looking man on the right in turn. "They're siblings."

Horizon gave a cocky wave, but I was more fixated on the woman behind them, who looked like she had.. wings.

I gave Viola an incredulous look. "What-"