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The entire team was stranded. They were driving, when a Trashbeast emerged from the ground below them, trapping them in its jaws. They were all tired and half asleep from a fight, so nobody reacted before it had flung them far off course.
Zanka was now the first awake, holding his head, looking at his hand to see red. His mask was broken too, thankfully they landed outside of the no man's land. He wiped the blood on his pants and looked around, trying to get his bearings.
A few steps away was Riyo buried under the remains of the car, he could only see her legs sticking out. Rudo had landed somewhere further, his arm bent in an unnatural position. Enjin seemed to have broken his fall partially with Umbreaker, but he didn't get out unscathed. His priority was getting Riyo out and accessing her injuries.
He stuck Assistaff in-between the ground and the car, and pushed the car upward, letting him have enough time to pull Riyo out. She was unconscious, scratches and bruises all over her body, but no visible serious injuries. He crouched down beside her, tapping her face.
“Hey, hey, Riyo." Zanka shook her a bit. "Wake up.”
Riyo's eyes flung open and she sat up, instantly regretting her decision and hugging her waist. " Ow, ow! I think my ribs are broken.”
"That monster trashed the car, stay here I'm going to check on the others.”
He stood up and walked over to Rudo, who had started to wake up from all the noise, and the pain. He was trying to roll over onto his back, instantly gritting his teeth as he rolled over his broken arm.
“Shit, that hurts!" Rudo's hand hovered over his broken arm as he screwed his eyes shut in pain.
“Glad to see you're not dead." Zanka remarked, and decided to move onto Enjin.
He was glad to see Enjin had no visible injuries, and proceeded to shake him awake. Enjin shut his eyes harder after a few shakes, waving his hand into Zanka's face, hitting his nose.
"Five more minutes…" Enjin mumbled.
That warranted a slap, and Zanka delivered. “You bastard, using this time to nap when we're all hurt."
Enjin finally got up, looking around. His expression turned serious, “How bad is everyone?"
“Riyo's got a bunch of scratches and broken ribs, Rudo broke his arm and I hit my head, and got some scrapes." He gestured to the wreckage, “Also our car is done for."
“Shit…go contact Semiu, I'll start tending to everyone.” Enjin jumped up onto his feet, and started speed walking to Rudo, as Zanka separated himself slightly from the group.
He activated the choker, and Semiu’s voice crackled through. “Zanka? You rarely call, so this must be serious."
“Yeah, unfortunately I don't call with good news.” He started explaining the situation.
"I'll have someone from support drive one of the spare cars to you all." She paused, and her sigh came through, “I told you this wasn't worth it."
Zanka rolled his eyes, “The risk was worth it, the information we could've gained would've been game changing." He cleared his throat and changed the subject, “It took three hours to drive out here, how long will it take for the supports to start coming?"
“I already sent them on their way," She said, “Although I got word trash rain is coming down in half an hour, so you guys better get to cover.”
"So that means a delay for the supports too.” Zanka groaned, and took a deep breath. "Alright, thanks Semiu, Enjin will send an update soon.”
He disconnected and glanced at everyone else, Rudo was sitting up against a rock with his arm splinted, while Riyo had her scratches bandaged by torn cloth. Enjin worked fast.
Zanka joined them again, “Trash rain is coming around in half an hour, we should get moving now to some shelter."
Enjin thought for a moment, rubbing his chin, “I know there was a shelter up the road, walking there shouldn't take too long."
“We should get moving then."
---
Zanka had his head bandaged with cloth eventually, and the bleeding stopped. They all sat under the rock structure, as trash poured from the sky. They were sitting in silence, Rudo trying to keep his arm still, Riyo not wanting to move because of her ribs.
Zanka didn't mind, he feared that chatter would make his head hurt worse.
“You all can nap," Enjin said, “I can keep a lookout, I'm the least injured here."
“Are you sure?" Rudo asked, “What if something happens?"
“Please, do you think you all would sleep through me screaming at the top of my lungs?”
Riyo nearly laughed and she visibly had to hold it in, " He did that once, he isn't joking”
Zanka leaned back and lay down, shifting onto his side, using his arm as a pillow. “Scream if something happens."
Sleep barely came, he was more just closing his eyes and resting his body. He wasn't sure how long the trash rain had gone on for, but it was already dark. He opened his eyes and saw Riyo and Rudo were fast asleep, and spotted Enjin standing nearby, leaning awkwardly onto Umbreaker.
He stood like something was hurting, his eyebrows slightly furrowed and his mouth pressed in a line. Zanka decided to join him.
“If it went on for so long, you could've asked me to take over, so you can rest." Zanka remarked, his eyes scanning him over to see if he was hurt.
“You all seemed tired, and I'm the least injured." Enjin shrugged, and finally stood up straight. The strain on his face was gone.
Zanka raised an eyebrow, and sent his hand flying towards his stomach. Enjin crumpled immediately from a hit that wouldn't have caused any pain.
“Oh, if it was bothering you so much, you tell us." Zanka huffed, “Whatever your injury is."
Enjin took a moment, groaning before glancing up at him, “It hurts only because you karate chopped me."
“I saw you earlier, it's bothering you, isn't it?"
Enjin paused, and stared at the ground. He stood up, leaning on Umbreaker again. “Well I thought standing would help me stay alert, it's not like I didn't come out of this unscathed.*
"Tell me how you're hurt.”
"Just a nasty bruise on my stomach and I think something's wrong with my leg. Otherwise I'm a-okay.”
Zanka frowned, "You think something's wrong, that's it, sit down and I'm going to check you over.”
Before Enijn could protest, Zanka started pushing him towards a rock to sit on. “Let me see your leg."
After thorough examination, Zanka concluded he wasn't a doctor and couldn't actually figure out what was wrong. Enjin was staring at him dumbfounded. “Look at you, trying to act all like Alice."
“If I was like her I'd be suggesting you to sit down and give up after some push back." Zanka said, and grabbed Enjin's wrist, there were dried scrapes on the underside of his arm.
"Didn't see these ‘cuz of your dumb jacket, you should've told us.”
"It's just a flesh wound, plus, I ran out of clean cloth to use as a bandage” Enjin pulled his arm away. "We have to wait only two more hours, I won't drop dead.”
"Still, go nap, I'll take over.” Zanka said "You wanted five more minutes, right? So go get it.”
Enjin gave him a look, a knowing one that understood Zanka would not stop pestering him until he lay down with the others. " Fine.” He sighed dramatically, throwing his hands up in the air.
He stood up, only for his knee to give out, before he hit the ground, Zanka caught him. "Jeez, you walked on this the entire time?”
"What if I told you yes?”
Zanka wanted to drop him, but shook the thought out of his head. He wrinkled his nose in disappointment and started helping him walk towards a flatter and cleaner spot.
“I'll let you know when I see a car, have you updated Semiu yet?"
Enjin nodded and gave him a thumbs up, “Talked to her an hour ago, they're on their way with no issues."
“Great, now get some rest." Zanka helped Enjin sit down, before standing up to toss him Umbreaker. “Don't hide shit from me again, I hate when you do that."
“Yeah, yeah whatever." Enjin covered his face with his jacket, and lay on his back.
The watch was peaceful, no trash beats, and only the sound of his friends fast asleep. Soon, he spotted a familiar car in the distance, and he alerted everyone with a quick shake or a tap on their cheek.
Tomme and Gris emerged from the car, Tomme checking them all and changing their bandages to proper ones, correcting Rudo's splint and fully checking on Enjin.
"Looks like a broken leg.” Tomme said, "Let me guess, you walked on it and didn't tell anyone?”
"In my defense, how am I supposed to know what a broken leg feels like?”
After they were all set, Gris helped them into the car one by one. It wasn't long before they set off towards base, resting in the back seats. This time, there was no need for watches.