A Cost Too Great

“Hold on, Phoebe, just hold on.” Lynn’s voice, shaky and strained, shrieked out over the blood-stained sand.

Clutching her left thigh, Phoebe whimpered, “It… hurts so bad.”

As Lynn and Damos both started to scramble over to Phoebe, Camellia finally got a good look at the injury. If the stretching of the world around her to transport her to the island had made Camellia want to vomit, the brutality of Phoebe’s injury actually forced it up her throat. Camellia put her lips tightly together and swallowed hard.

Oh, Obbie… This is truly gruesome. If you’re squeamish, you might want to look away.

Beyond the end of her left thigh, there was simply no leg. The flesh that remained was mangled, torn, ripped apart. A few jagged teeth pointed out, embedded in the injury. Camellia couldn’t look directly at it any longer. Phoebe’s blood was practically gushing onto the sand.

Camellia’s mind was a mess. She had gotten basic first aid training for some dives, but nobody ever said what to do when someone lost an entire limb.

Phoebe looked faint, her face pale. How did this happen? What did this to her? Those teeth were—

In horror, Camellia realized it: the murky waters of the beach, sand stirred up in the commotion. The missing crocodiles she assumed to be dead. The cry she heard from Phoebe as she soared through the air to tackle the woman.

Lynn and Damos arrived at the scene. As soon as he saw it, Damos stood petrified in horror, lips trembling.

“Heh, that bad, huh Dams?” Phoebe weakly coughed out through tears.

“Shut up! Stop talking,” Lynn cried, her knees hitting the ground hard as she knelt to tend to Phoebe. “Don’t overexert yourself.”

Phoebe slowly nodded.

Camellia felt tears beginning to fall down her own face. “Lynn, we need to stop the bleeding.”

Biting her lip, Lynn commanded, “Damos, prop her up. Camellia, get over here and help me.” As Damos moved to kneel behind Phoebe, raising her head onto his lap, Camellia circled around to Lynn, her feet slicking with blood as she got closer. She kicked off her sandals, and leaned down onto Phoebe’s leg.

“Ow, Cammy,” Phoebe winced.

Lynn’s eyes bolted around, searching for something, anything, to use to help stem the tide. But they were all alone on the beach. Seeing no other options, Lynn held out her hand to Camellia. “Knife!”

Camellia fumbled with her dagger, pulling it out and handing it over.

Lynn then raised it behind her neck, severing the straps off of her dress, then cutting it at the waist. She ripped the cloth off, and stuffed it into the wound.

“Wh- Whoa, girl. Giving me a… sh…. Show, huh?” Phoebe smirked weakly.

“I said shut up, Phoebe,” Lynn yelled, tears now flooding from her eyes, too. “Stop wasting your energy on stupid shit!”

“That’s what I’m… the best at, though,” Phoebe coughed.

The pure white linen that Lynn shoved against the wound soaked all the way through, turning deep scarlet red. She quickly cut another piece of her dress with Camellia’s knife, hands bloodied and messy, and pushed it onto Phoebe’s leg.

Damos stared down at Phoebe’s head in his lap, tears dripping off his face and onto hers.

She looked up at him. “It’ll be okay, Dams.”

Damos closed his eyes and nodded.

Camellia grabbed Phoebe’s hand and squeezed it. “Stay with us, Phoebe. Please.”

Furiously, Lynn applied more pressure to her leg. But it wasn’t enough. The wound continued to flow, a river of blood, an inexorable tide.

Phoebe’s eyes began to flutter.

“Don’t, Pheebs. Don’t,” Damos choked out.

“Out of my control, I think,” Phoebe rasped.

She’s losing too much blood, Camellia realized in horror. She put her weight on Phoebe’s thigh and held on to Phoebe’s hand, and Phoebe gave a light squeeze back.

“No, no, no! NO!” Lynn’s voice was hysterical. She frantically cut another strip of cloth off and shoved it at the wound.

“G… Guys… Please tell my mom… I’m sorry I couldn’t help.” Phoebe grimaced, lips quivering. “B- But, we made it. Dryside.”

Lynn nodded wordlessly as she continued to work.

“Dammy, I- I love you, dude… You’re an awesome fighter.”

Damos caressed her head, biting his lip as he wept. “Thanks, Pheebs.”

“Lynn… I know you’ll get there. You know exactly what I’m ta- talking… about,” Phoebe winked at Lynn, her eyelid flittering. “I love you.”

Lynn finally took her attention away from the leg. “You better be there to see it, Phoebe. I love you so much,” Lynn batted more tears out of her own eyes to look directly into Phoebe’s.

“And… Cammy…” Phoebe barely turned her head towards Camellia. “You’re something… special.” Her breathing was heavy, strained. “Keep soaring to even g- greater… heights. I love you.”

Camellia held Phoebe’s hand in both of her own, and gazed into her eyes. “I couldn’t have done any of it without you,” she sniffled. “Thank you so much. I love you.”

“Hah, th- that’s good. Always a… way forward.” Phoebe closed her eyes. “I think… this is… it.” She opened them again, and gave a good, long look at each of her friends. “You guys better m- make… one hell of a wish for me.” She smiled.

Phoebe’s breathing slowed further. She blinked. Once. Twice.

She smirked. “Go kick some ass, or else…”

The hand Camellia held slowly lessened its grip. Her chest stopped rising and falling.

Phoebe’s eyes turned glassy.

“Phoebe?” Lynn whispered.

She received no reply.

~~~~~~

Camellia, Damos, and Lynn did not move from that spot for hours.

They held Phoebe’s body, wailing a sea of tears out over her, shuddering and lurching with every cry. The blood dried on their hands, on their clothes, on the sand. The sun set.

I’m at a loss for words, Obbie. I… I don’t know what to say. It’s a terrible thing, especially to have to witness firsthand.

In a dull, hollow voice, Lynn finally spoke up. “We should find the city.”

“I can fly up and take a look around,” Camellia quietly offered. “I’m sure there’ll be light.”

Lynn nodded.

Damos, curled, huddling over Phoebe’s body, didn’t even reply.

Slowly, Camellia stood up from the sand, legs trembling. They were numb from kneeling on them for so long. She steadied herself, trying her best not to look down. She wasn’t sure she could bear the sight.

Camellia closed her eyes, and her wings materialized on her back. After taking a few steps backward, she gazed up at the night sky. The stars gazed back. She jumped up, and lifted herself into the dark.

Once she was high enough in the air, Camellia noticed a flickering, pulsing glow in the distance, beyond a ridge of forested earth. She flew over to get a better look. As her line of sight passed the barrier, she saw it.

The city she had seen from afar, when she first got her aspect. The city on the island.

Dryside.