Free Obfuscate by Killion Slade

as though I were ensconced in a full body seatbelt. Torchy held us on with his gluey type dragon essence, and we managed to stay attached to him without being thrown into the salt water.
    Seconds later, watery plunges indicated Khaldon and Harris had dived off Torchy to squelch the flames. I squinted, barely able to see the orange glowing masses under the water.
    They’re burning? Under the water?
    I reached for my calf. “I can’t get it, Torch!” I tried to remove the arrow pinning me through the calf and embedded in Torchy’s side. The head of the bolt was too close to the bone. My fingers wrapped around it, but the slick blood didn’t help to capture a firm hold. I rocked it back and forth almost blacking out. Torchy and I both groaned at the failed extrication.
    “Torchy are you aw wight? Can you see ’em? Are ’ey okay?”
    Aye, I’ll be fine, lass. I see them. It looks like the flames are dying down. I think some of that fire is laced with a silver compound, and they’re gonna be in worse shape than you. We’ll get that bolt out soon enough.
    I couldn’t imagine worse pain than what I was already experiencing. The saltwater scalded my open wounds where the chunks of silver refused to allow the sores to heal.
    Will the sharks be attracted to the blood and flames?
    After what seemed like an eternity, finally Harris and Khaldon breached the surface. Their heavy breathing told me just how ghastly they’d been injured. They had never sounded like that.
    “How ’ad is it?” My bottom lip throbbed with every new splash of the ocean water.
    There was silence from both Harris and Khaldon. Their lack of speech told me volumes more information than if either had uttered a single word.
    Briggs and the girl hadn’t moved this entire time. If it weren’t for their faint heartbeats, I would have sworn we had lost them, too.
    Waves of nausea roiled through my guts with the knowledge that the burnt stench came from Harris and Khaldon. The scent of my scorched hair and their charred flesh amplified the qualm.
    “Hey guys, can one of you help me remove this bolt out of my leg? I’m pinned to Torchy’s side.”
    Khaldon swam over to me, and before I knew it, had yanked the bolt out. I screamed in relief, but the overwhelming pain finally took its toll and I retched over the unknown girl’s body.
    Torchy mind messaged, Oh, for chrissakes, mates. We’ve got company. Jump on now, will ye? Sharks are schooling and bloody hell if they don’t look hungry.

Chapter Six
    Phuket Hospital - Thailand
    Twelve Hours Later
    Cheyenne O’Cuinn

    I failed . I should be dead.
    A familiar schism of words replayed again in my head. This time the repeating scratch on the record fell to the end of the vinyl in a muffled vacuum of white noise.
    The percussion section of hums, beeps, blips, and pings harmonized the soundtrack of the intensive care unit behind my head. I grew aware of my body, and consciousness flowed into the empty vessel reanimating me back to life.
    My right hand reached for my head to cradle the weight of it. It weighed as much as ten bowling balls and pounded as members of a rock band were testing their amplifiers between the cranial walls.
    Suddenly remembering the last time I awoke, I opened my eyes and shot up in bed, ready to fight off anyone who came close to me with another drug. But instead of being blinded and tied to the bed frame, I found myself in a room with blurry faces of loved ones who looked worse off than me.
    “There now—slow it down, lass. You’re all right. It’s been a good while since you’ve been out.” Torchy’s strong Scottish accent punctuated the air. “Easy, now. We’re here. Just take a deep breath and relax yerself.”
    I looked around, blinking and amazed I could see again. Khaldon and Harris were across the room, both in beds with bandages taped to their faces, necks, and legs. Briggs lay in a bed beside me, surrounded by an army of white coats and nurse uniforms.
    I tried to