Broken Chains

Puck wasn’t quite sure if it felt like time was speeding up or if it felt like time was slowing down.

On the one hand Puck felt his own blood rushing through his body at unprecedented speeds, each action seemingly happening without any delay. On the other hand though, each moment seemed to be stretching and stretching as Puck had a thousand different thoughts per moment.

In the instant when Trim was still falling toward the ground and Puck was turning around, he made a decision. He would try to get another one before all of them were upon him.

Pumping his legs for all he was worth Puck started running toward the next Gremlin. But not anyone of the other Gremlin’s, no, he was running exactly towards Holden.

Perhaps it was overconfidence, or perhaps it was simply the brilliant idea of taking the leader out first, nobody would ever know.

There was one moment where Puck thought he could see something like hesitation on Holden’s face as Puck barreled toward him and perhaps there truly was. But in the end, it didn’t matter, Holden was neither as weak, nor as dumb as Trim and perhaps most importantly, the element of surprise was gone.

Puck did not see it coming before it was much too late. Holden was pretending to take a step back and Puck wanted to capitalize on it, but then, seemingly out of nowhere Holdens fist rose, and Puck’s sight went dark for a split second.

Then another claw hit him on his side and a scream escaped Puck’s mouth.

But before another claw could hit him, Puck heard Holden shouting: “Don’t use your claws, if he doesn’t have obvious claw marks, they won’t believe him when he says we attacked him.”

A small grin etched itself and Pucks already swelling face as a kick hit him on the back on the head.

To his great relief Puck finally managed to put his hands above his head and curl himself up into a ball.

After that they were truly upon him, feet and hands landed upon him with brutal force, and they didn’t stop coming. It didn’t take long before Puck finally lost his conscious again. This time for good.

It felt like this was becoming a bad habit.

Again, he was lying there, again he was waking up pained and disorientated.

Only, …, this time it was much, much worse.

Last time everything had hurt, but moving was possible and he could even shove the pain to the back of his head without too much problem.

Not this time. The pain was an overbearing inferno, his body unresponsive to any of his commands. Puck was somewhere between a panic attack and falling unconscious again.

The unconscious won and in a matter of seconds everything became dark again.

Puck never would know how much later it was that he woke up again. But he did wake up, and this time things had changed. Although not necessarily for the better. His mind was clearer though and the pain was somewhat duller, he could think again.

Now that he could think again, something became all that much clearer. His body was in a terrible state. Muscle after muscle and limb after limb Puck checked up on the condition of his body mentally.

The least affected place by the attack were the inside of his knees, but even that was not sure as perhaps they also simply were too numb to be felt.

In contrast, the worst was his face. Puck was pretty sure that not only his nose but also his cheekbones were broken. Everything was swollen so much that he couldn’t see and couldn’t move his mouth.

As Puck lay there, still in incredible pain, but able to think again, he started to become truly aware of how bad his situation was. The place he had rested in was reclusive and Puck wasn’t sure if anybody would find him before he passed away.

He would have to rely on himself. But how could he possible manage too…

Then, suddenly he thought he heard something. On his left ear at least, his right one was completely deaf after all.

Puck, desperately hoping that luck simply was on his side this time wanted to cry out, but he couldn’t. Instead, he gave nearly every muscle in his body the command to move and as the pain nearly drove him mad, some muscles reacted and spasmed and a stone beneath him started rolling.

After that he fell unconscious again.

The next time Puck awoke he instantly started choking, as his face had swollen so much that it was hard to get air. As Puck started thinking he would truly die, he felt hands on his face, and somebody gently pushed a straw through his lips, over which he could breathe again.

Puck, wanting to see what was going on, tried to move, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him. Soon, without someone saying a word Puck fell asleep again.

When his consciousness returned, he felt himself getting pulled over the floor on a sled. It seemed somebody had found him and was willing to help.

After staying awake for some time Puck felt the sled stop and somebody came and instilled him water.

Puck’s eyes were still swollen closed though and as such he couldn’t see. Sometime later he fell asleep again.

In that same way of short moments of consciousness between long stretches of unconsciousness Pucks live went on for the next days and weeks or perhaps even months. At some point he and his savior came to a house where he spent all his time in a bed.

For all that time Puck still couldn’t speak or open his eyes and as his savior didn’t seem willing to talk, he still didn’t even knew who it was.

Most of the time when Puck was awake, he simply spent contemplating different topics.

Among other things he thought about Zephyrian and what it would do without him. At least Puck had hidden it in a small crevice in his living room and nobody would find it if it wouldn’t reveal itself.

Of course, the main topic of his thoughts were his recent actions and the situation he found himself in. But no matter how much he thought, he couldn’t come to a clear conclusion if his recent actions had been the right ones.

All that thinking without being able to move drove Puck nearly mad though and as such, he dearly awaited the day when he would be able to see and speak again.

If he ever would be able to see again. Afterall, there was a real possibility he would never fully heal.