Chapter Text
September 2, 1813
“Get on the platform!”
How did it come to this , Barry thought to himself, as he finds himself holding a winch for the soldiers below him to get on, recalling the events that lead up to this very moment.
Truth be told, Barry still couldn’t believe he was fighting in a war to begin with. One day he’s walking down the streets of his beloved hometown, and the next, he’s been shipped off onto foreign lands with an itchy new uniform, a couple of weapons, and some smelly odd blokes he calls his comrades.
Just when Barry thought he’d been sent through Hell and back with this whole war situation, the Heavens up above couldn’t get enough entertainment out of his misery, and decided to send him yet another pleasant surprise.
At some point during the breach, man-eating cannibals rapidly appeared, and one by one, Barry watched helplessly as the wretched creatures tore and maimed soldiers as if they were nothing but bugs.
He had no clue how he achieved it, but somehow, he managed to escape the hordes of mad cannibals, finding refuge up on a roof of some fort. There, he waited, praying that someone (or something at this point) would come and save him from this horrible nightmare.
During that time, he couldn’t help but feel like a coward, feeling almost responsible for letting his fellow soldiers die in a gruesome manner. At the very least, he could have fought back and saved a few men.
I’m nothing but a useless fool… thought Barry while he fiddled with the cuffs of his uniform.
He had managed to snag a rocket in the middle of the chaos, as he thought it would serve as a handy tool in signaling nearby ships for aid. Though, he hesitated in deploying it while he camped up top the fort.
What good would it have been if he did? It wouldn’t have mattered if he did succeed in calling over a ship or not, by the time help would arrive, he’d probably get eaten alive by those creatures from the noise he’d create.
It was around that time that while Barry was ruminating on the situation, he heard a loud explosion ( a cannon perhaps?), coming from a good distance. When he looked up, Barry was shocked to find soldiers across from him, watching as they made their way through the hordes down the stairs and into a port.
Seeing those soldiers from across the sea gave Barry some newfound hope, there still was a chance to escape! He couldn’t help but let out a grin, feeling the weight of his stress lift off his shoulders and dissipate into thin air.
And so, Barry started his waiting game once again, with a hopeful prayer that everything would turn out alright. He continued to watch the soldiers until they left his sight, trailing down from the hole they created and into the unknown.
It took a while (coupled with some additional explosions) until the soldiers had managed to reach the same fort Barry waited up on. With refound vigor, Barry marched his way up to the rocket from earlier, launching it into the air as a desperate cry for aid, before turning over to greet the soldiers below.
He had managed to grab the attention of a ship that was stationed nearby, and with the arrival of new soldiers, Barry was able to enact a new escape plan that ensured that everyone would make it out of this nightmare.
And now, he currently finds himself holding the winch to the platform that will bring everyone down below, and closer to salvation.
Once he believes he’s given everyone enough time, Barry begins to lower the platform. He can feel his muscles ache from how heavy it was to lift up such a huge platform, yet it does little to hinder his performance.
This time , Barry thinks, I’ll be useful for once in my life, I won’t fail anyone ever again. Not anymore.
At least it’s a bit easier lowering it down than up, thought Barry as he focused on lowering the platform, completely unaware of the danger lurking nearby.
Within seconds, Barry’s vision goes from the winch to the sky, as he’s abruptly tackled onto the ground, followed by a familiar growling noise.
Panicked, Barry suddenly realizes what’s occurred, those cannibals managed to find him!
Oh god oh god OH GOD! Why?! Why now out of all the other times?!
And yet, instead of fighting back, Barry can’t stop himself but cry for help, thrashing around the roof as if he lost his head. It doesn’t last long though, as he loses his footing and falls onto the metal grate, banging against it with his hands, hoping that someone will rescue him as the cannibal begins to rip him apart from the side.
Always trying to find someone else to help you out of your own troubles, hm?
More screams come out his mouth, as Barry now feels a new pair of teeth start to tear onto his other side. He can see and feel his blood leaving his body, flowing through the grate and sickeningly splashing onto the floor below him.
It’s so much , thought Barry as he feels parts of his body start to tingle, slowly losing sensation throughout in certain areas. His adrenaline starts to falter, with his body flailing less and less as the cannibals feast upon his flesh.
And to think that I could have made a difference…
Barely conscious, Barry thinks to himself:
Oh…I’m such a fool, aren’t I…?
With a final measly whine, Barry feels his eyes start to droop, with a hissing sound being the last thing he hears.
And then, the world swiftly turns into a bright and blinding white light altogether.
September 2, 20XX
Ah…oh God, how long has it been since you’ve taken a second to just– breathe– and actually observe the world around you?
You currently find yourself standing atop on the roof of an apartment complex, a few floors above from the small living space you call “home.” Though, if anything, it feels more like a giant cave for you to dwell and rot in these days. Facing east, you look at the Sun, watching it slowly fall down as it bids adieu to all, turning the sky into a colorful collage of orange, red, and pinks as you begin to contemplate the current state of your life.
Lately, it seems as if life has been one giant monotonous chore, with you finding yourself stuck in a loop of sleep, work, eat, pass out . That’s all it ever seems to boil down to really, with the occasional surprise that you might get at work. Actually–no–scratch that, everyday there always seems to be some sort of surprise at your workplace. Being a surgical first assistant isn’t exactly a career that you can say you have fun with, but at least it doesn’t leave you bored.
You can somewhat recall back to the days when you were new to the medical field, much younger, naive , and overall full of energy that was practically ready to burst at any moment.
Heh , your lips begin to curl upwards to the sides without you even noticing, smirking back at those older days. Not out of fondness, no , but more akin to a mocking gesture, similar to a well-seasoned senior watching the light die out from their new beginner coworkers, knowing that it’ll only get worse from there.
Really though, you have only yourself to blame, as you were warned about the risks that came with this occupation, from the intense work environment to the burnout you felt after clocking out from another draining shift.
“How stupid of me…” you mutter softly, unintentionally slipping out a response to your own memories, particularly, of one where a younger you answered a question a colleague had imposed on you on why you chose this path in life.
“Oh, it’s because I want to help others!”
You start to reminisce on emergency surgeries you had to do at ungodly hours, vividly remembering all of the blood, mangled body parts, and the looks of pure anguish from the patients and their families. The feelings of helplessness you felt when you couldn’t save them despite giving it your all, coming home late at night feeling a numbness deep inside you.
Helping others my ass, what about helping me? Huh?
A cool breeze gently guides you out of the pessimistic hole you’ve dug yourself in, almost as if cradling your head back up at the scene before you.
Staring out into the sky, you can’t help but feel the lingering pieces of bitterness merge into a wave of sadness, letting it fill into every crevice of your soul.
You look down from your place, only to suddenly realize that you’ve switched from standing on the roof to sitting on the brick ledge of the apartments. It shocks you for a bit, thinking to yourself, since when did I move?
The shock quickly disappears as it came though, as you're now entertained with a new sight. You look at how your legs dangle out from the ledge and above the sidewalk miles below, observing the few dots of people walking about on the streets as the night slowly starts to creep in.
It’s almost mesmerizing, how the world seems so small from up on the ledge that you're perched on.
You look up again, just in time to see the top of the sun before it completely vanishes below the horizon. You feel its warmth slowly retreat, with coldness following swiftly as the world around you is painted in cool blues and dark purples. Small and dim white spreckles start to appear, though with how much light pollution there is, you can’t really see much to begin with.
The bricks against your hands feels raspy, but it's the only thing grounding you as your eyes automatically trail over and down to the scene below you once more.
You feel tears start to well up in your eyes, feeling that familiar sting, before squeezing your eyes shut and snapping your head back up. Those horrible emotions fill in through the cracks of your heart, invading your head, and tainting your soul. They effectively drown out any sense of rationality, only allowing you to focus on the pain and nothing more.
Slowly, you open your eyes to the blurry sky, and in desperation, you plead internally;
God, if you're out there, please, give me a sign or something. Anything really at this point! Just something that’ll help me get through one more day…
It’s all quiet, no response, as usual. Honestly though, what were you thinking was going to happen, divine intervention?
Don’t be so silly. It’s only you and you alone. If something were to happen right now, it’s not like anyone would be able to stop-
Your thoughts are suddenly interrupted by a loud BANG , followed by a sudden increase in the temperature. A harsh gust of wind pushes up against you, and, by reflex, you suddenly swing your arms upwards in an attempt to balance yourself against the ledge.
The strong gush of wind almost knocks you over, though your right arm manages to grab onto the inner side of the ledge, allowing you to spin your body forward and use your other arm to grab onto the ledge. Adrenaline surges through you, granting you the strength to pull you forward and tumble back onto the apartment roof, back to safety.
Though, it may have been too much strength, as you practically dive back head first, resulting in the rest of your body flinging upwards, with your legs swinging through the air, pulling the rest of you along until it hits solid ground (kind of like when a kid first does a handstand , except, they don’t know how to get back to a normal position, leading to the funny moment of when they fall forwards and land flat on their back instead).
If it was any other day, you’d be a bit embarrassed with how you landed (actually, you’d probably be embarrassed about the whole “lamenting on the rooftop” thing), but right now, you’ve got so many questions racing through your head. In particular, figuring out what in the absolute HELL just happened.
Looking up, you end up having even more questions than answers.
The first thing you see is fire.
Well, it’s not too much actually. There's small clumps of red and orange scattered about, with each clump getting closer and larger to a particular spot. At least that solves the whole "temperature changing” question. Your eyes continue to trail further at the flaming path, until you see a giant flaming white box.
Ah, you think to yourself, there’s the source of the problem.
On the rooftops, it's common to see these huge “boxes” (as you prefer to call them) resting all the way on the tippy top of most buildings. What these giant blocks are called or what they do, you have no idea, though you mainly think it’s some sort of electricity, air, ventilation supplier thing…or whatever.
Snapping out of your confusion, you focus on what’s currently in front of you. It seems as if one of those enormous squares just…suddenly combusted? That can’t be right though, you’ve never heard of such an event happening before. But then again, you weren’t an expert on these things, so who’s to say?
Although you were absolutely positive that it was just you up on the roof, you can’t help but let your “medical professional” side kick in.
You’re not exactly a first responder, but in the past, you’ve taken courses on first aid way back before even graduating from college! Pair that alongside with your current profession, and you’re pretty confident that in a situation where a person was in need of help, you’d be able to give proper aid.
Right, you think to yourself , first things first, evaluate the scene. That’s already been done…sorta.
Glancing around the rooftop, you thoroughly scan the area again, mainly the areas littered with small fires. So far, your initial thoughts have been confirmed, it was just you up here–
Wait a minute.
What is that ?
Nearby the burning box, your eyes quickly zone in on what appears to be a…leg? No, wait, there’s two legs!
You try to trail up from the legs to see the rest of the (now recently discovered) person, only to be obscured by the giant cube. Oh God , you think, there really is another person up here!
It soon quickly dawns on you that now you need to check up on them and see whether they’re alright or not.
If you were still sitting on your ass up till now, you sure as hell weren’t anymore! Practically springing up in the air, you try to get a better glimpse at both the person and the scene. As much as you’d love to spring into action, you have to make sure the area is safe enough; it wouldn’t help the situation if you got injured while trying to intervene.
You start to run around the fire, making sure to watch for smaller flames and keeping a good distance. As you get a better angle, you’re able to see who the unlucky victim is.
From just a quick glance, you see what appears to be a man, lying on their stomach. The most noticeable items on them being their bright red coat, a ginormous backpack, and a funky looking hat. While it was an…interesting choice of fashion, it irritates you a bit as it makes it harder to discern whether the person was bleeding or seriously injured. Though, that irritation is pushed aside as you realize that the person seemed unresponsive.
Now that you are in a better position, you quickly scan the area, noting that while the man does seem a bit close to the blazing box, you could probably quickly go in and help without endangering yourself. With a rescue plan in mind, you mentally prepare yourself to willingly run towards danger to save a person in need.
Quickly rushing into the heat, you immediately crouch down to the person, ignoring the burning sensation that the flames spit towards you.
“Hey! Are you alright,” you shout towards the man, tapping him on his shoulder blades while continuing to shout, “Hello? Can you hear me?”
No response back. Fuck , you mentally curse, you can feel yourself starting to get nervous, from both the lack of response and at how the flames near you only seem to be getting more bolder.
The scene is starting to become unsafe, leaving you with no other choice but to safely move the person out of the way. Although you know that it’s not usually recommended to move an unconscious person, the situation right now is not ideal, and you’d rather take the chance of moving him away and possibly injuring him further than dying in an explosion caused by the burning box.
For a brief moment, you considered picking up the man, only to crush that thought when you see just how big he actually was. On top of that, he’s got this huge and heavy backpack on him, there was absolutely no way you could support all that weight by yourself!
Instead, you come up with a new idea: take off the giant backpack, flip the man like a pancake, and drag him out by hooking your arms under his.
It took you a hot second or two in trying to take off the backpack ( how strange, you think, you’ve never seen anyone wear this kind of bag before. Though. you feel like you’ve seen it somewhere before in the past ), but you managed to do it, discarding it to the side. Hopefully he wasn’t too attached to his bag, you think for a moment. Turning the man over was a whole other issue, as it felt akin to turning over a boulder, though your remaining adrenaline helped aid you with such a task.
Honestly, you have no idea how you did it, but you somehow managed to drag away the unconscious man from the fire, though it felt like you were dragging a car instead of a person. Seriously, this dude was much heavier than he seemed!
Enough of that though, right now, you’ve got a patient to attend to.
Just as you’re about to tap the man again, you hear the swinging of a door, drawing your attention as you realize you’ve dragged the man near the entrance of the apartment complex.
You know there are two ways to go up to the roof, either through the door that leads up there, or through the fire escape ladders near the windows. Residents aren’t typically allowed to go on the roof, leading some (cough cough you cough) to access it by climbing up the ladder.
Only your landlord has the keys to unlock this door, meaning that if its swinging open, then that means-
In the form of a horrible screech, you hear, “WHAT IN THE SAM HELL IS GOING ON?!” followed by what seems to be more footsteps trailing behind.
Turning your head, you come to face a middle aged man wearing dark blue striped pajamas, eyes shot wide open at the scene before him. Craning to the side, you take note of some tenants behind the man, your neighbors, all of whom seem to be curious about the commotion coming from the roof.
Truth be told, you couldn’t really care right now about what your landlord or the other tenants had to say, there’s someone who needs help right now .
Before your landlord could spout out anything else, you immediately interject, pointing to him and yelling, “You! I need you to call 911 right now!”
Your shouting startles your landlord, forcing him to see the situation in its entirety, before he suddenly starts to flail around and run back from where he came from (in what you hope you believe he’s running towards a phone). Other tenants push themselves back in order to create space for the running man, before whipping their heads towards you and the scene.
Ignoring what reactions might be forming on your neighbors, you turn back to the man you dragged earlier, finally having the chance to get a proper assessment at him
Once again, you’re met with the bright red coat that you easily spotted upon seeing the man the first time. You can’t help but pause to admire it, taking note of the details embedded onto it. Green accents are around the neck and wrist areas, paired alongside with rectangular buttons–at least, you think they’re buttons–on the wrists. The most noticeable item that astonished you though were the two white belts (is that what those are?) that crisscrossed upon the chest area. Below it, is an interesting white rectangular pattern that starts from the neck all the way down to the bottom.
You’d continue to admire the craftsmanship of the uniform, but force yourself to focus back on the present when you see parts of the outfit either ripped or burned, remembering why you took a moment to look at the man. It’s honestly a bit hard to see at the moment, but taking a closer look at the sides of the person, you can see some deep lacerations on the left and right lumbar regions, almost as if something was trying to rip and gnaw at the poor fella.
That’s…strange. Now, it usually isn’t your job to identify what might create injuries, but you know through years of experience that an explosion wouldn’t create these sorts of wounds.
The next visible wound you see is a very (surprisingly) small burn on the bottom left of the man’s face that’s near his chin. For someone supposedly close to an explosion, you’d think they’d have more burns around them.
The sun has already set long ago, and what little light you receive from the nearby fire and moonlight does little to nothing with helping you find any more wounds. You decide that you’ve identified most of the man’s injuries, at least, the most visible and potentially life threatening ones.
Good Lord, he looks like he’s been through Hell , you think to yourself, stretching out your arms towards his shoulders as you try to render the man conscious once more.
“Hey! Hello, can you hear me? Are you alright?” You shout again, hoping that the man before you isn’t slipping away as you tap and shake the man with more force than previously.
Please, wake up.
“Mmh…” the man suddenly groans, making your eyes light up. Thank God that he’s alright, you think to yourself, releasing a sigh you didn’t even realize you were holding in the first place.
You can see the man trying to open his eyes, but it seems futile, as his eyes shut quickly soon after.
Seeing how his face twists and morphs, you take one of the man’s hands nearest to you and squeeze it in a reaffirming manner. It’s at this moment you quickly introduce yourself and give a short rundown of the situation. You hope that it’s not too much information to overwhelm the poor fella, but you hope that it’s enough to make him relax a bit.
If not to help him realize the situation, then to at least let him know that someone’s out there trying to save him.
It seemed to have helped, as you feel your hand be squeezed back in return, a small but impactful gesture.
At least he’s somewhat responding to me , you think briefly, taking note of how tightly he’s holding onto your hand.
Suddenly, you feel a quick tap to your shoulder, and in the few moments of turning your head to see who it might be, a first aid kit is shoved towards your face in a hurried panic.
Looking up, you see that one of your neighbors has grabbed and brought a first aid kit, relieving you of the stress of looking for some equipment. You quickly thank the tenant, not paying attention to who gave you the kit, as you immediately take it from them with your free hand, before setting it down beside you.
You look back at the man once more, he’s still squeezing my hand , you notice, feeling slightly bad at what you're about to do next.
“Sir,” you gently start, “I’m going to start applying some first aid. Can you tell me your name?” You move away your hand from the man’s grasp (he had such a firm grip on you, he might be feeling scared , you conclude), hoping to keep the man conscious by trying to get him to talk to you.
Opening up the small red bag, you look for supplies, scavenging through items until you find some gauze. This will do for now, you ponder briefly. There really weren’t that many items inside the kit in the first place, mainly just bandages and some random lotions you couldn’t bother to read the labels. Well, I already got lucky that someone even had a first aid kit to begin with.
Your thoughts are interrupted by harsh, raspy coughs, as you hear the man croak out a response.
“Barry…it’s Barry…”
You can’t help but let a smile slip out, relieved that the man was regaining more consciousness, and that he was well enough to answer back at questions.
“Alright Barry, I’m going to start wrapping some gauze around you, alright? I just want to make sure that you’re not losing too much blood.” Now equipped with gauze, you watch as the man, who you now know is called Barry, slightly tilt his head to the side, affirming that he heard you and was alright with treatment.
White gauze soon starts to cover Barry’s stomach, up and over his uniform. You would have taken the red coat off, but in all honesty, you were in such a panic over his wounds that you forgot to do so (a mistake you’d later admit to later on).
It feels as though the world around you has come to a complete pause, as you focus intensely on wrapping the gauze around Barry, getting him to respond to anything you say, confirming that he’s still conscious and alive.
In fact, you’re so focused on treating him that you don’t notice first responders entering the scene, not until you feel a hand on your back, prompting you to turn around and face a paramedic.
Just as the world felt like it was on pause, the paramedic seemed to be the play button, forcing you back into the dizzying reality of your situation.
The same paramedic that snapped you out of your daze begins to ask you questions, but you can’t respond suddenly, feeling an enormous wave of disorientation hit you harshly. You suddenly start to feel everything in your body. Was the adrenaline wearing off now?
From one moment to the next, you blink and see yourself situated in the back of an ambulance, at least, you think it’s an ambulance. You can’t exactly tell, as the world around you is all fuzzy, save for the incredibly detailed view you have of your hands
You look to the side, and see a different paramedic looking at you with slight concern (well, you believe that they’re concerned. It’s kind of hard to tell when you can only make out a blob of a person).
Blinking once again, the scene changes around you, now, with random people honing in on you as you sit on a hospital stretcher. So much has occurred in just a few seconds, did you dissociate just now?
You feel new sensations on your body, particularly, on your hands and on your right cheek. Looking down, you see that both of your hands are covered in bandages, with your left hand being wrapped in some gauze. You also feel a tingling sensation to your right cheek, reaching up to try and touch it, before someone suddenly grabs your hand midway, murmuring something (it’s hard to catch, it almost sounds like you're underwater).
Since when did I get these injuries , you think to yourself, though, you quickly lose interest when fatigue hits you suddenly, feeling your body rock about as if you were a ship out at sea during a particularly horrible storm.
Shifting your body, you prop your legs up on the stretcher, and assume that you’re allowed to fall asleep as the people nearby do nothing to stop you. In fact, they seem to mutter something amongst one another, before one of them comes up to you, murmurs something, and then places some device nearby your hands. Soon after, the room starts to dwindle in numbers, until only you remain.
Man , you start to feel your eyelids droop, feeling sleep begin to overtake you, today has been a really weird day.
Before you can lose yourself to sleep, your mind briefly flickers to the man you helped on the roof of the apartments.
Right, Barry. I hope he’s doing ok now.
And with your final thought being one of caring nature, you allow yourself to relax and find some peace within your dreams after such an eventful day.
Ft. Explosion scene
