Chapter 10: Bleeding

Wendy was perched on top of a building near the remains of the hotel. Although there were multiple explosions, they weren’t massive, and the Hotel still managed to stand as smoke continued to envelop the sky above it. 

“How many?” Wendy held her finger up to her ear.

“Two cars, five policemen.” Joy spoke through the earpiece.

Wendy stood up and made her way across the roof, silently making her way towards the hotel. Wendy noticed a perimeter of policemen standing at every corner, as well as one guarding the alley next to the hotel. She went to the small store next to it.

“Wendy, just make sure you don’t stay in there too long, alright? You’re not invincible,” Joy mentioned, seeing the heavy smoke.

“I won’t. I just need to find out what caused the explosion, and I’ll be out of there,” Wendy responded.

The roof of the store matched the fifth floor of the hotel. Luckily, the hotel had all of its windows completely destroyed, and there was a nice, convenient hole that she could jump through. Unfortunately, due to her ankle, she was nervous about making the jump.

Come on, you can do this. You’ve been in worse situations…

Wendy took a deep breath and ran straight forward, gritting her teeth as she leapt over and crashed her face directly into the wall. She managed to grab onto the edge before falling towards what could possibly be her death. The smoke made it difficult for her to pull herself up, but she managed to do it just in time.

Wendy could barely see through the blinding smoke, but found out which room she was in.

Not this one…

Wendy proceeded out the doorway, avoiding the many breakages and holes surrounding her feet. Her flashlight could barely penetrate through the black fog. Almost everything was burnt black, and the taste of the bitter ashes continued to poison her.

“The room right above you,” Joy suddenly spoke, as Wendy looked up.

“There’s no floor in that room,” Wendy coughed.

“Then look around you for any remains,” Joy said bluntly.

Wendy kneeled down and began to look through the destroyed items that were scattered. She could make out several items of clothing, some jewelry, and even the remains of a toilet that survived the explosion.

“There’s nothing here,” Wendy coughed again as she headed further down the fifth floor, arriving at the stairwell.

“There’s another one on the seventh floor,” Joy said.

Wendy looked up at the destroyed stairwell. The stairs between the fifth and sixth floor were completely blocked by large pieces of the building. Wendy tried her hardest to remove them, but they wouldn’t budge.

“Is there another way up?” Wendy asked.

“You can take the elevator shaft, but it’s too dangerous. The smoke in there is much heavier,” Joy added.

“Don’t suggest something and then try to convince me not to do it.”

Wendy quickly found her way to the elevators and pried the metal doors open. It was completely dark, and the flashlight that Wendy had couldn’t reach the floors above her. She clenched her jaw, ignoring the complaints that were going on in her ear, and managed to grab ahold of the thick metal line hanging in the center. Making sure it was secure, she latched her legs around it, and began to slowly climb up. 

It was torture. Wendy was breathing heavily through her mask, which at this point, could do nothing against the burning smoke that entered her lungs. She endured it all and continued to measure her way up the elevator shaft, counting the number of times she had pushed herself up. She reached what she assumed was the seventh floor, and reach over into the darkness.

She felt around, her legs shaking now, and finally, the cool touch of metal arrived at her fingertips. She felt the tiny bit of cement that stuck out just before the elevator doors, and set her feet on it, grasping the sides and pulling herself forward. She stuck her hand in the door and pulled it apart as she almost fell backwards, and slipped through the tiny crack she managed to make. Breathing heavily, she limped her way down the burnt hallway and made it to the room Joy had mentioned.

She turned her flashlight on again. It was another completely decimated room, but she noticed something in the corner.

Large scraps of thick steel were warped and bent as it lay in the ashes of burnt clothes. Wendy pulled the loose door to the small closet off and reached down to pick up a piece. 

“I found it,” Wendy said, looking for an escape.

“Good, get out of there,” Joy said.

Wendy placed the piece in her pocket and went over to the open window in the room. The roof of the store was now at a dangerously low level, and Wendy definitely did not want to scale back down that elevator shaft. 

She decided to risk it.

Wendy shook her left leg and charged through the opening, flying through the air. She rolled as her feet came in contact with the hard surface, and slid further down, staying safely on the rooftop.

“Are you out?” Joy asked.

“Y-yeah…” Wendy winced as she struggled to get back up, her left ankle now numb with pain. She reached down towards her pocket and felt the sharp metal, and the wet cloth around it.

Damn it…

Wendy kept her back on the rough stone on the roof and caught her breath as she slowly pulled the metal out of the leg. She suppressed her screams as she bit hard on her arm, feeling her left leg twitch uncontrollably. She finally retrieved the now bloodied shard and tossed it aside as she coughed. She quickly took off her mask, ripped it apart and tied it around her left thigh. She started to realize the problem she was in, and confessed to Joy.

“Joy?” Wendy panted.

“Yeah?” Joy replied.

“I…I need help…” Wendy shut her eyes tightly as her leg began to twitch again.

“What happened?”

“I can’t move…” Wendy forced her way over to the low walls surrounding the roof and held onto her leg.

“Oh crap! Uh…What do I do!?” Wendy could hear Joy’s worried voice.

“Joy…just keep an eye on the streets for me…okay?” Wendy tried pushing herself up, with no luck.

“What? Uh…umm…” Joy was lost.

“Tell me which way to go…like you always do…okay?” Wendy tried to calm Joy down.

“Okay…okay…uhm…are you off of the roof?”

“Yeah…” Wendy lied.

“Alright, the policemen by the hotel won’t be leaving that perimeter. There are suits and cars everywhere; they’re probably trying to make sure that this stays an accident. This is gonna be tricky…” 

Joy proceeded to lay out a plan as Wendy sat there, motionless, smiling at Joy’s attempt.

“You got all that?” Joy finished.

“Yeah…thanks Joy. I’ll see you soon…” Wendy spoke as clearly as she could.

“Okay, be careful.”

Wendy sat against the stone wall, a small pool of blood forming next to her. She chuckled a little as she thought about how all of the work she’s done, for so many years, was going to end here. She hadn’t succeeded in accomplishing anything, and here she was, her mind slowly fading as she gave her last attempt to stand up.

Wendy looked up at the dark sky, imagining what Joy would do without her. How the people she wanted so desperately to eliminate were going to continue to ruin people’s lives.

Wendy closed her eyes, feeling her heartbeat slow down, her body was now tired and sore, with no strength left. The hand that was wrapped tightly around her leg now fell to her side. 

Sorry mom and dad…

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A buzz woke Wendy up.

She blinked rapidly as she reached into her pocket, taking out her damaged phone.

[Are you still awake?]

Irene…

Wendy shook her head and swallowed as she looked down at her leg, now bloodied and raw.

[I couldn’t sleep after what happened yesterday…]

Irene…

Wendy gripped her leg again, reaching over and grabbing the wall behind her, and pulled herself up, with a loud yell.

 [I’m scared, hehe. Like a little kid.]

Irene…

Wendy used her teeth to rip off her right sleeve and tied it again around her thigh. She looked over the side of the building, finding an empty alleyway.

[I’m sorry to bother you this late…but I didn’t know who else to talk to]

Irene…

Wendy clenched her jaw and pulled herself over the wall and fell straight down, landing hard on her back against the metal rails. She groaned as she managed the slowly limp her way down and fell off the fire escape onto the gravel beneath. 

Her lungs burned as she breathed heavily, trying hard to get back up. Remembering the path that Joy had suggested earlier, she began to limp her way down the alleyway.

[It’s starting to rain…]

Irene…

“OH MY GOD!!!” Joy screamed as Wendy collapsed onto their floor. She pulled Wendy over towards the couch and lifted her onto it.

“Wendy?? Wendy!! Talk to me!” Joy shook her friend with tears in her eyes.

Wendy mumbled unconsciously, her face twisted in pain as Joy began to take off her outfit. Joy gasped at the large gash on the side of Wendy’s leg and tried to aid it as best as she could.

“Please…Wendy…” Joy sputtered in tears as she cleaned the wound.

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The morning sun began to rise as Joy slept silently on the floor next to Wendy. Joy shot awake after hearing a sound coming from her computer. She looked down at her messy stitches and back at Wendy, who was breathing softly. After covering Wendy with a blanket, she went back to her computer and found an email waiting for her.

[Found this. Thought you might be interested.]

Joy opened the attached video file. The parking lot of the hotel from two months ago appeared on screen. It was empty for the first five minutes, but soon after, a truck made its way down. As the men opened the rear, Joy saw a large amount of safes being loaded and taken into the hotel. She could see hotel staff down there, monitoring everything. 

“New safes?” Joy recorded and replayed everything, but was unable to recognize any faces.

Joy heard a grunt behind her and turned around, finding Wendy shifting uncomfortably on the couch. She quickly went over and held onto Wendy.

“Don’t move, you’ll open your wound again,” Joy said, trying to keep Wendy still. She had woken up, but the pain was still unbearable.

“J-Joy…” Wendy managed to speak.

“What happened?” Joy asked, holding her hand.

“I found it…” Wendy hissed as she sat up.

Joy helped her sit up and lifted her leg up onto the table in front of her, “Found what?”

“The source,” Wendy said, “I found the remains of a safe.”

“A safe?”

Wendy nodded, “It was clearly blown up from the inside. Did you see it?”

“See what?”

Wendy looked over at her pants, which were tossed on the floor, browned with dry blood. She then remembered that she had left the shard on the roof.

“I have to go back…” Wendy tried to get up, but yelped as she grabbed her leg.

“You’re not going anywhere,” Joy said, forcing Wendy to lie down again.

“I left the shard on the roof…I need you to examine it…”

“No one will be on that roof. It’ll still be there. Just rest, let me handle things okay?” 

Wendy felt the tender wound and the stitches on it.

“You were never good at that,” Wendy coughed up a laugh.

“You’re a bad teacher,” Joy joked, cleaning the wound again.

“I’m sorry…”

“For what?”

“I let you down…I almost gave up on that roof…”

“Well it’s a good thing you didn’t. Otherwise I’d never forgive you,” Joy grabbed her hand.

Wendy smiled as she thought back to her near death experience on the roof.

Irene…

She closed her eyes, drifting off to sleep as golden strands flashed in her mind.