Blood Among The Flowerbed

[Rose Kuhn]

She coughed.

Pain spiked through her stomach, and she felt red trickle down the side of her mouth. Her eyes shut in pain, and her entire body shook as she felt pure agony pouring through her. Hands clutched across her stomach, bright red covering both of them.

Silver and black garments lay soaked with blood, splashes coloring around her chest and now legs.

She coughed, her lungs stinging and her throat tightening slightly as she spewed blood over herself. Blue eyes folded open, bloodshot and hazy. Her vision had a fog over it, the sign in front of her was unreadable even thought it was only ten feet away. Her head lulled to the side. She began to feel a weight on her body, a tiredness. Was she sleepy?

No.

Not sleepy.

Rose looked down at her stomach, eyes wavering slightly before quickly jerking away to look at something else. Another cough tore through her body, agony gripping her. She let out a silent whimper of pain. Her gaze shifted again, eyes closing as she leaned her head back against the metal bulkhead.

I...I...Her mind was a haze, a drift of thoughts that all seemed to cut off right before the end. I made a mistake.

She felt herself drift to sleep, her head slowly lulling to the side against the metal bulkhead. Darkness approached her. Eyes snapped open again and she tried to focus, the bright flickering neon sign catching her attention. Rose tried to focus on it, tried to gasp onto it, use it as a focal point of concentration. Her breaths slowed, her body aching.

I was stupid. I shouldn't have come alone. Agony ripped through her body as another cough tore through her lungs and throat, blood spurting over her chin and torso. She seized, her head lulling back again as she felt herself drift away, separated from the one thing that could save her by a thin wall of willpower.

Slowly, her hands slid away from her stomach, falling to reveal the handle of a blade stuck in her stomach.

 

[Danger Arceneau]

Elsewhere in the 'verse...


"She went off grid."

The slow tap of fingernails came to a halt. Bright green eyes would harden into malachite slate. When she spoke, her voice held an edge that would cut through phrik.

​

​

"Find her."​

 

[Rose Kuhn]

Labored breaths pushed out her chest and quickly swallowed it back. Blood trickled onto her blouse in a slow and steady stream, her eyes lulled half down and her lips grew more and more pale as she felt her consciousness leave her. The edge was so close now, so very close.

She felt her hands splash into a puddle.

Garbage filled water which reeked of all sorts of filth Rose couldn't even begin to imagine. Cuts on her forearms and hands began to sting slightly as the liquid made contact with open wounds. Her eyes scrunched closed for a second, and she tried to shift, pressing her palms flat onto the duracrete and submerging them whole. A scream of agony poured from her lips as she tried to push herself back against the wall.

Her arms collapsed, folding slightly as the pain proved too much to bear. The hilt sticking out from her belly shifted slightly, the vibroblade digging further into her muscles and organs as she tried to pulls herself back up.

Tears streamed down her face, and once again she felt herself drifting into shock. Desperately, Rose began to mutter something. Her words were a cry for help. The last wanting pleas of a lost little girl with no mom and no dad to guide her. “Please. Please. Please.”

Every word hurt to say, even though her lips barely parted.

I'm not ready to die. She thought. Not yet.

 

[Carbon]

The soft patter of boots in watery sewage could be heard, the trail of cloth across the surface coming on its heels. A Mandalorian visor under a floppy hat came into view, "Please what?" Comes a young, modulated voice. An accent thick from the depths of the Mandalorian backwoods seemed somewhat amused, as if life and death were simply an ongoing joke he was in on.

Where he was he couldn't say, as he didn't have names for most of the worlds he'd visited. Only one was important anyway - Junction. But this wasn't Junction, and this woman suffered a setback he was ultimately familiar with.

Getting out of her depth too quick.

She was in quite a bad spot. "Wakey wakey, no sleepy tonight. That's a right nasty stab ye got there."

Sighing, he took a knee in front of her. "I ain't no doctah, but I thinnnnk... removing it might be a poor thing ta' do." She was fading in and out though, and he needed to keep her conscious while he got some help. "Whats yer name, miss?"

[member="Rose Kuhn"]

 

[Rose Kuhn]

[member="Yarva Adisu"]

She whimpered as someone came to her, spoke to her. For a few seconds she wasn't sure if he was real. The odd green tint to his skin, the strange dots on his face. It was difficult to tell whether or not he was a hallucination, whether or not he was actually real. He spoke to her, his voice sounding like muffled waves crashing down onto rocks below a pier. A hand reached up, covered in blood mixed with sewage.

Fingers grazed across his clothes for half a second before falling away, a sigh of relief escaping her lips as she actually felt something.

He didn't look like a regular human, an Alien then. Her eyes glazed over for a second as her mind drifted, trying to remember, trying to desperately recall what species he was a part of. She tried to push herself up again, get a better look at his face.

A silent gasp passed her lips as another wave of pain emanated from the blade within her belly, breaking all semblance of concentration.

“Rose.” She breathed the word, finding it harder to speak that even just moments before. There was no point in lying, no point in saying anything different. She was a nothing, a nobody without her last name, and maybe even with it.

 

[Carbon]

There came a muted shushing as her hand rose. "Conserve yer energy." Wetting his lips, he activated a distress beacon and looked towards the sign behind him. To get some whiskey for her... or not get whiskey for her. Whiskey was good. "One moment." Just as he was leaving, he heard her name. A nod, and he was gone momentarily. Returning a few moments later with a flask in hand, he looked down at her and tipped some down her throat.

Medically, this was probably the worst thing to do.

But it would be a few minutes before help arrived and he didn't know what else to do. He knew basic first aid, not how to fix a deep stab wound. "Ain't seen a rose in years, miss." He says quietly, sadly. "I hear they're known fer their thorns."

[member="Rose Kuhn"]

 

[Rose Kuhn]

[member="Yarva Adisu"]

Her head shook slightly, unaware of whatever drink he was giving her.

For a moment everything seemed fine, the liquid touched her lips, then a burning sensation passed over them. Her eyes went wide, and a cough reeled through her entire body. Blood mixed with alcohol, her throat seizing and sending a spurt of liquid over her face, chest, and onto the man. She seized, color suddenly returning to her face as her allergy to alcohol quickly bloomed.

Rose' lips puffed up, her eyes became bloodshot, and what little drops of whisky had trickled down her throat began to burn her more than any fire could have. Her body went into panic, forcing her into a coughing fit.

Absolute agony ran through her as her entire body shook, the blade digging deeper, moving and slicing. She screamed, he mouth opening wide to show a swollen tongue. Blood spattered from her lips, and her hands tightened at her side. The sudden rush of life, of energy and pain broke the thin wall of willpower. Rose grasped for the force, seizing it and doing as her mother had taught.

She flared to life, the agony and pain feeding her strength in the force and dragging her away from the very edge of death.

 

[Carbon]

"Kriffkriffkriff." Said a boy suddenly covered in blood, and now believed to be a person who had committed a stabbing. Her scream drew some of the bar crowd out who saw about what there was to see. Bleeding, stabbed woman. Boy who had just bought whiskey. Woman screaming.

Boy standing there.

He immediately turned around and threw his hands up. "Didn't do it." Yup. That'll show 'em alright. "Any of you got something for uh... A stabbing and swollen tongue?"

[member="Rose Kuhn"]

 

[Rose Kuhn]

[member="Yarva Adisu"]

She coughed. Blood welling up again and again as the force surged through her. It was a feeling akin t having fire burn in your very veins, as if every cell in her body had been set alight by delicious agony. The force scaled her, Rose's eyes shutting closed as she tried to breath passed her swollen tongue, blood filling her mouth as she coughed more and the blade in her belly burning her as the force tried desperately to pushed her forward.

The crowd gathered, watched, a few of them pushed forward, one holding a medical kit. They shot dirty looks at Yarva, a few of them drawing blasters, though none yet dared to act. They were criminals of course, the lot of them, and they didn't quite understand the situation that they had been presented with.

Rose could only seize and gasp as more blood spilled from her lips, a man bending knee beside her after pushing Yarva away.

“Grab 'im!”

Someone shouted, barely audible to Rose. The man at her side spoke words, but she only shook her head confused. The next thing she knew she felt a sudden jerk In her stomach, the blade coming loose and causing an audible screech to pull from her lips.

 

[Carbon]

[member="Rose Kuhn"]

There wasn't a moment's hesitation. His youthful legs carried him away from the group as fast as he could go. Nothing to do now but run.