An Unwelcome Gift

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The tunnel ride was a silent affair. Nobody spoke. Eyes hollow, Will watched the green lines of his drive assist flash on his HUD.

Remy remained unusually silent as they rode, while Rebecca was behind Will, fast asleep, with her head resting on his shoulder. Everyone was occupied with their thoughts, and before they knew it, they had reached Hallucia.

The bikes spluttered to a stop, and the trio climbed off their two-wheelers. Rebecca had awoken with a start but quickly joined them in stripping off their radiation suits. With nary a word, they made their way down the tunnel and climbed out of the old maintenance shaft up the mountain.

Will slammed the door shut behind them, and soon they were running down the mountain. The morning fog had abated a little, and they soon made it to the bottom. Loud sirens rang ahead, and to the east, a dense column of black smoke was rising.

"Bloody hell," said Remy in a shocked whisper. "Did the attack extend till here?"

"You saw how many planes were on fire," said Will.

"Who could have done it?" asked Remy.

"Let's find out," said Will. They rushed forward, and the tree line began to thin. Ahead were more military personnel, and armored trucks arrived by the dozen. It was a beehive of activity.

Will clambered down the slopes when he heard a snap of a twig coming from behind them.

"Halt!"

There was a click of a gun, and four soldiers in camo surrounded them.

Will and Remy threw up their hands, and Rebecca followed a second later. Guns trained on them, the soldiers walked forward, but their tensions eased when they saw their uniforms.

"Just some damn kids," one of them muttered. A higher-ranked officer, judging by the number of stars on his shoulder, stepped forward. "What are you doing here? Didn't you hear the evacuation order?"

"We... got lost," said Will.

"Lost yourself right out of temple grounds, did you?" The officer asked suspiciously. Before he could continue his questioning, his radio buzzed.

"Ranger-1, report your status, over."

The officer reached for his radio. "This is Ranger-1. We found some stragglers. Currently escorting them to evac, over."

"Roger that, Ranger-1, over and out."

The officer turned to one of the soldiers. "Private, escort these three down." The Private nodded and firmly led them to the evacuation zone.

Their feet hit the tarmac as they walked up to the lined-up armored trucks. Will and Remy were stuffed into the back of a transport vehicle, and Rebecca was escorted elsewhere. A large duffle bag slammed into Will, and the wind was knocked out of him. More people trooped in, and Will was sure that they were over capacity.

The truck's back door was slammed shut, and there were three loud taps on the side of the vehicle. The truck's engines rumbled to life. Will swayed with the truck and felt every bump on the road. Soon, his eyelids were drooping, and through his grogginess, he felt his leg spasm. He fell into a fitful sleep.

He vaguely recalled being shaken awake and dragged out of the truck. They escorted him out and had him lay down.

He didn't know how long he was out. Through blurry eyes, he saw someone in a white uniform beside his bedside. Something glinted above him, and he heard keys jingling.

Will blinked the sleep from his eyes and found himself on a hospital bed. There was a wall behind his headrest, and his bed was walled off by curtains on either side. Someone coughed, and there were the sounds of creaking beds. He was in a general ward of some kind.

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"Good, you are up," said the nurse. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

Will blinked. "Two."

She nodded and checked the monitors off to the side. His heart rate and blood pressure all looked normal. The nurse made some quick notes on her slate tablet before addressing Will again.

"Do you have any allergies or are you under any medication?"

"No allergies. I'm on the APS treatment, though."

She typed some more on the tablet. "Good. Show me your right arm."

Will held out his arm, and she drew some blood. The nurse was quick with her work. She labeled and stored the vial before instructing him to stay in bed. Then, with a click-clack from her slip-on shoes, the nurse made her exit.

Will scratched his arm. He could still feel the prick of the needle, but that was a small irritation compared to how the rest of his body felt. He ached all over from pushing himself in their flight down the tunnel.

He gave a muffled grunt as he sat up, using the pillow as a backrest and leaned against the wall behind him. Now that he was fully cognizant, he gave his ward a better look. Blue curtains separated him from the rest of the room. There were other students here along with him, each in their own cubicle. His blue drapes weren't fully drawn, and Will could see that there was another similar bed ahead. Someone was lying on it.

Not everyone was in their beds, though. Will spotted Remy sneaking a look into the cubicle in front of him.

"Remy," Will called out, and the brunet turned around. He tiptoed across the room and stepped inside Will's cubicle, drawing the curtains shut behind him. With a groan, Remy plopped himself on the bed.

"I'm beat," he said.

"Where are we? Is it the tower?" asked Will.

"No, we are still outside, Fort Thornfield," said Remy. "We are going to be here a while."

"Why?"

"They said something about running more tests," Remy grimaced. "My leg is killing me." He shifted on the bed and rolled up his pant leg. His leg was spongy and bruised. Dried blood caked his calves, and inside were flecks of silver. Remy picked at it and took out a silver shrapnel.

"What is that?" he asked.

Will recognized the bit of plastic silver. "It's from the briefcase the two mechs were fighting over."

"Fuck," Remy cursed. "Check yourself too. Pull anything out before people start asking questions."

Will rolled up his pant leg. His metal foot had been itching for a while now. It took the brunt of the explosion, and sure enough, he found bits of casing embedded into the leg's metal frame. He pulled it out and lifted up his pant leg some more. His calcified knee came into view. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary until he spotted something right below his kneecap. There was another shrapnel embedded in his shin, but unlike the silver casing, this one was pitch black.

Will stared at the translucent inky black shard and frowned. Did the casing have a decorative gemstone? He tried to pry the shard out, but his hand slipped. The shard was too smooth. It felt completely different from the casing.

Will brought his leg forward and stared into the translucent shard. It glinted under the hospital lights. Inside the shard were lights. Hundreds of tiny stars flared and faded in its depths. Will stared at the shard with growing horror.

"Oh no! This can't be happening."

Will kept staring at the etherite crystal with his mouth open.

"What's wrong?" asked Remy. He moved beside Will and bent over his leg. He squinted at the crystal before he too made the connection. "Is that? What the hell? How did this happen?!"

"I don't know."

"You have an etherite shard embedded in you, and you don't know?" Remy squeaked. "We are dead! We are so dead!"

Most of the crystals they had encountered so far were the manufactured ones and not from a rift beast. The shard stuck in Will didn't have the smooth cube-like quality of a man-made crystal. This one screamed Hive from every possible angle.

"How the hell?" Will muttered, still stunned.

"This is so illegal. They are going to lock us up and throw away the key," Remy ranted beside him.

Footsteps echoed down the aisle, and Will was torn away from his musings. His heart nearly leapt out of his skin as the curtains were wrenched open. He quickly pulled his pant leg down and hid the shard.

Rebecca stepped into the ward and stared at the two of them. She had washed her face, and her perfect blond hair was combed and tucked behind one ear. She looked a lot more presentable than the two of them.

"Becca!" Remy exclaimed. "You scared the shit out of me."

Rebecca stepped forward and winced. Will noticed that she didn't have any shoes, and she had an ankle brace on.

"How's your leg?" Will asked.

"I'm okay," said Rebecca. "What about you two?"

"I've had better days." Remy groaned as he sat forward. "Anyway, now that you are here, we can get our stories straight about where we were during the ceremony."

"What do you mean?" Rebecca raised an eyebrow.

Remy leaned in close. "We need a convincing lie for the past few hours."

"What do you mean lie?" asked Rebecca. "We are not going to lie."

"Rebecca—" Remy tried to interrupt, but Rebecca bowled right over him.

"You saw what happened out there. All those planes. We need to tell them what we saw and catch whoever did this!"

"What does it matter if we catch who did this when we are in jail?" hissed Remy.

Rebecca shook her head. "This is bigger than any of us. We need to tell the police."

"You—" began Remy but stopped himself when he spotted someone walk by their ward. The girl spotted Rebecca and exclaimed. "There you are, Becca. Is your slate dead? Your mother has been blowing up mine for the past half an hour."

"Right," said Rebecca and turned around, following the girl.

"Becca! Becca!" Remy called out, but she didn't acknowledge him. She remained steadfast with a resolute look on her face.

Rebecca looked ready to start a crusade.