Storm and Sea - Book 1

Chapter 15

TW in the description - read it for this chapter especially
Art by Inkendz - You're amazing as always!

(Song: Lament from the Grave by Tommee Proffit - "After the Massacre")

Giulia POV

Giulia didn't wake because of the early morning light coming through her window.

No. She woke because of the wails. The screams. The cries of despair singing outside. Still, in her pajamas, she raced from the door - and witnessed hell.

Portorosso was streaked with red. Bodies littered the streets, the rain mixed with blood pooling in between the cobblestones. Most of them were Sireni, stuck in their water form in death. Giulia was in shock. She had never seen such carnage. Loved ones bent over the bodies, wailing, trying fruitlessly to bring them back to life. Even some humans lay lifeless on the street. Mothers cried over children that were caught in the battle. Old fishers trying to defend their town lay beside the fallen Sireni.

Giulia stood frozen. This wasn't real. It couldn't be real. If it was - she didn't want to exist anymore. But her eyes couldn't look away from the despair.

"GIULIA!" A voice rang out. She looked over to see Mattias crouched over a Sireno body. His white coat was drenched in blood. She ran to him.

"Help me with this. Put your hand here and press hard." He said, trying to wrap the Sireno's torso, his belly split open. Giulia didn't hesitate. The blood and gore didn't make her cringe. If she could help save a life, then she would endure it. She was numb.

Mattias wrapped the wound and called over a pair of hospital staff with a stretcher. They helped the Sireno onto it, and he was raced up the hill to the hospital.

"Thank you. If I hadn't dressed that wound immediately, he would have bled out." Mattias said, wiping sweat off his brow. But it only smeared blood on his head. "I'm surprised you did it. Most people would have fainted seeing that much blood."

"Where are your nurses?" Giulia asked, ignoring the comment.

"Everywhere. Everyone is in the streets trying to save lives."

Just then, a wail pierced the alley. Mattias ran towards it, Giulia close behind. A young Sirena was screaming out, her rose colored scales shaking. In the chaos, she had become entangled in a metal net. The nurse had almost completely freed her to accept the tail.

"You have to hold still!" The nurse called in a panic, trying to free the child. Her tail was severed, only clinging on by a few small strips of skin.

"Stop!" Mattias called and crouched beside the child. He looked at the wound. "We can't save it." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a syringe filled with a clear liquid. Before the girl could cause herself more harm, he pricked her in the arm, pushing the needle down. In an instant, the girl calmed, then fell to the side unconscious.

Giulia tried her best not to heave as Mattias cut away the last part of flesh connecting the girl's tail to her body. He began dressing the wound as fast as he could.

Another cry came from the ally beside them. There were too many. Mattias looked up at Giulia.

"I got it." She said, taking a handful of bandages and running towards the sound.

It was late into the afternoon when the hospital staff was finally able to leave the streets. They had tended to the survivors, wrapping them and carrying them to the hospital one by one. But once at the hospital, the work began.

Giulia ran with a tray of freshly sanitized surgical tools as another nurse ran with an armful of bandages. Everyone was running, and everyone was covered in blood. There simply weren't enough medical staff to care for all the wounded.