Chapter 1
Not Quite Dead
Xiaochuan (Rivera), Qingmu County, Shanbeixi Province
Beep... beep... beep...
To the tune of this steady electronic beeping, Yasuko opened her eyes. Somehow, she wasn't dead after all. As her consciousness was returning to her, a deep aching seeped into her bones. She'd been beaten half to hell, but even having her arm chopped off and getting thrown hundreds of meters off a flying fortress weren't enough to kill her.
She tried to sit up. Besides the pain all through her body, she couldn't really move. With her head stuck in place, the only way she could look around her was by moving just her eyes. She was in some poor country hospital on the surface, in a bay of ten beds. Hers was right by the window, with the morning sunlight filtering through the curtain.
Looking down at herself, she saw that she was dressed in a disposable paper hospital gown with some wires and tubes coming off her. She was in some kind of full-body brace that had her almost completely immobilized head to toe. The only part of her she could move somewhat freely was the stump of her right arm. She stared at it for a while, all bandaged up nice and neat. She felt light-headed, but easy as it would've been to just pass out, she refused. She had a feeling she'd been sleeping long enough.
She took a long look around the room. Three other beds were occupied. One of the patients was asleep, another reading a book and the third playing cards by himself. The two who were awake were too preoccupied to take notice of her. Just as well.
She wanted to get out of bed, but besides not being able to move hardly, she could tell that she was pretty weak. If only she could move, she felt like she could work through the weakness and the pain, but maybe she was just deluding herself.
What was she going to do? Even though there was no way she was supposed to have survived, she didn't imagine Prince Sturla would leave it at that. He probably wouldn't come down to the surface himself, but he'd send people after her to confirm the kill.
She had to get out of there. She had to keep moving. She tried rocking side to side to roll over. No good. She worked her arm a little, straining against the stabilizing bar until she managed to break it loose. The shock of pain going through her shoulder nearly made her scream, but she clenched her teeth to suppress the urge to cry out. Now that she could move her arm a little, maybe she could do something.
Using her teeth, she pulled out the IV in the back of her hand, then she reached in under the sheet to pull out her catheter. She then started pulling off all the electrodes that were stuck to her. The steady beep-beep of the machine at her bedside became a constant whine overlaid with an alarm tone. She hurriedly pulled off the remaining electrodes but was already starting to feel dizzy. She didn't have much time. She couldn't afford to let weakness get the better of her.
She was hemmed in on both sides by rails. She didn't think she could climb over them. If only she could bend at the waist or hips. She should have thought this through a little more before she started pulling things off. It was only a matter of time before someone showed up.
Maybe she could grab the rail with her arm, pull herself onto her side, then roll over the rail and out of the bed. It'd hurt like hell when she hit the floor, but some pain now was better than being captured and killed by Prince Sturla's agents.
With some effort, she managed to get onto her side, but that may well have been the worst thing she could've done. She rolled onto her stump and this time the pain was too much for her. She screamed, falling back and which set off dozens of points of even more pain.
Even though she was hurting so much she could barely think straight, she caught the sound of hurried footsteps and soon a pair of hands took hold of her shoulders.
"No, no, no," a nurse said hastily. "You need to stay put."
Gentle but firm and unyielding, the nurse held Yasuko down to keep her from thrashing around any more. Yasuko couldn't put up much of a fuss. What little strength she had was already leaving her. As she sank back into the mattress, Yasuko's breathing was labored and though the pain was starting to fade, it still hurt so bad she could hardly string two thoughts together.
"You're in a hospital," the nurse said. "You were hurt pretty badly, but you're stable now. You'll be safe here, but you need to rest. You won't be well enough to get out of bed for another few weeks."
"I... I can't stay here," Yasuko croaked, her voice ragged from disuse.
"We haven't reported you to the police yet," the nurse said. "Whatever you did, it's none of our concern. Our job is to see that you get better first. Now that you're awake, the doctor can come in and talk to you about things."
"How... how long have I been out?"
"You were brought in two days ago. I'm actually a little surprised you came to so quickly."
The nurse looked at all the wires strewn about and sighed.
"I need to reattach all this. Are you going to promise me you'll leave it alone? You'll regret not having your pain meds real quick if I don't get the IV back in."
Yasuko nodded. Although she was worried there might be sedatives in the mix, there really wasn't anything she could do about it. She only hoped the nurse was telling the truth about not having reported her yet. Maybe it would buy her some time, time enough to get back on her feet.
* * *
Another day or two must have passed. They probably mixed in sedatives after all because she seemed to fade in and out of consciousness. However, once she finally started to feel a little clear-headed and was able to stay awake for more than a few minutes at a time, she was told the doctor would see her.
It was sometime around the middle of the afternoon as near as she could tell when the youngish-looking doctor walked in. He didn't look all that old, but his hair was already thinning. He was a bit on the chubby side. Not much, but just a little more fleshy than the average paisano. One of the privileges of the profession, she assumed.
The doctor was looking at a clipboard as he walked up to her bedside, glancing up to greet her, saying, "Hello there, Miss..."
Yasuko didn't fill in the blanks for him. The doctor only smiled sympathetically and sighed.
"I don't blame you for being wary," he said, "not after what you went through. I'm Dr. Narvaez, the GP. I suppose there's not much reason in mentioning my specialty. I'm the only doctor in over a hundred kilometers, so I have to do a little of everything, even deal with extreme trauma.
"You were in quite a state when they brought you in. Missing an arm, multiple fractures, loss of blood, internal bleeding, not to mention the fact that you weren't exactly brought here by the most delicate hands... It's a miracle enough that you're even still alive, but you don't seem to have suffered any major damage to the spine at least. I am happy to say that you will most likely walk again, but perhaps you will not try to do so again so soon, yes?"
The nurse no doubt told him about her little escape attempt. Yasuko was feeling better now and eager to be moving on, but with the kind of damage she'd suffered, she couldn't even get out of bed under her own power, so she didn't stand much chance of evading Prince Sturla's agents.
"The only reason you're not in plaster is because I needed to keep an eye on your internal injuries," Dr. Narvaez said, "but your injuries are healing quickly, faster than any normal person. I guess that is one of the blessings of being a Celestial."
"I'm not a Celestial," Yasuko said. "I'm a paisana."
"I have a feeling the truth is a little more complicated than that."
He didn't know the half of it. Yasuko found herself looking away, not that her evasiveness was going to allay his suspicions any.
"We haven't reported you to the police yet," the doctor said, "but we will need to do so soon. This is a small town and rumors of the Bloody Angel are already spreading. I could use your coma as an excuse before, but I cannot keep you a secret any longer. What can you tell me about yourself?"
"The less you know, the better," Yasuko replied.
Dr. Narvaez fidgeted with his collar, apparently a bit of a nervous habit.
"You fall from Prince Wusheng's own flying fortress wearing gear only the military would have, but you are a woman and underage at that. You are clearly no ordinary person."
"If you don't know the truth, you won't have to lie for me."
The doctor chuckled and shook his head.
"You seem to be under some misunderstanding, miss. I've shown you a small consideration, but I have no intention of going beyond that. I'm a Class Three citizen, you know. Few paisanos who remain on the surface can boast of this. I will do my duty as a physician, but I'm not going to sacrifice everything I've gained in some misguided attempt to aid a fugitive."
He gestured to the vitals monitor and said, "Look at this. You may take something like this for granted, but a small-town hospital like this one is lucky to have running water and electric lights, much less any equipment like this. It's not just my own position I'm thinking of. All that we have here can be taken away with a word. The only thing that prevents that from happening is me fulfilling my duty as a good and faithful citizen of the Empire."
"You mean as a slave of the Empire," Yasuko said.
"We are all slaves, miss," Dr. Narvaez replied. "Some would even say the Emperor himself is a slave to the will of Heaven."
"Good luck convincing him of that," Yasuko muttered under her breath.
"I beg your pardon?"
"Never mind. When can I get outta here, Doc?"
"A normal patient in your condition would be here a month at least, but at the rate you're healing, you might be on your feet in a couple weeks, though you will not be fully healed for another two or three months, leaving out consideration for physical therapy and the like. Of course, all that may be a moot point when the authorities come for you. I will protest if they try to take you before I feel it is safe for you to travel, but if they insist on taking you, there is nothing more I can do."
"Thanks, Doc..."
Ignoring her sarcasm, Dr. Narvaez said, "I would advise you to focus resting. Anything else will be detrimental to your recovery. Now, if you will excuse me, I have other patients to attend to."
The doctor left the bay. So that was that. As if Yasuko needed any more reason to get up and moving as soon as possible. For the time being, though, she was going to have to wait. Would she be able to get out before they came for her? It was anyone's guess. She didn't imagine she'd be resting easy. How was that for being detrimental to her recovery?