It's interesting (if irrelevant) that these two books have almost opposing themes and villains.
Like both the Delvers and the Superiority are a force for conformity. And Spensa's only form of resistance is being an individual and unique, the thing the delvers hate.
Meanwhile, in the Lost Metal, Trell is a force for individuality. And Trell, in some aspect, wants to 'free' people. The city in that book reflects that by having some uniqueness to them.
I don't really have a point to this; I think it's just interesting that these two are opposite of each other.
Jason sat back, looking at Trell, as he and the rest of his group talked. He was actually surprised that they allowed him to stay there. Not that he really cared. The pounding in his head already made things hard enough.
"Can I just give some advice?" he asked, looking at the group "Cause it sounds to me you guys are planning a very bad planned plan"
All eyes in the group turned towards him.
"Shut up" Trell snapped at him.
Jason lifted his hands in surrender. "Just saying" he said "You might want to change your plan"
Trell groaned as he pulled his hand through his hair. "I bloody swear if you don't keep your mouth shut..." he said coldly "I will shut it for you"
"You'll patch me up again as well?" Jason asked, sweetly.
"Just ignore him, Trell" Mikeal said, shaking his head.
Trell shot a glare at Jason before turning his attention back to their planning.
Jason smirked as he sat back. He bit back a groan as a sharp pain shot through his side. A shiver ran through him, his hands and feet felt cold even though it was kind of warn outside.
He rubbed his eyes. His entire body felt tired, fatigued.
This time, he really was in trouble. He couldn't afford to lose any more blood, the signs of anemia was clear and if anything happened now... There was no way to get any of his blood here.
Slowly he closed his eyes. That helped with lightheaded feeling, but not much.
Absentmindedly he listened to the conversation again. Their plan really was stupid. If they managed to get half way through the plan without getting killed, he'd be very.... very surprised.
"Do you at least have a map of the area, before you go rush outside and get eaten the moment you run yourself into a dead end" Jason said.
Silence fell over the room.
Jason opened one eye slightly, noticing that they were staring at him again. "Seriously?" he said "Your plan sucks"
"Can someone tape his mouth shut?" Mole asked.
"If you don't shut up, I will personally tape your mouth shut" Trell snapped.
"I'm just giving you some advice" Jason said "No need to be so hostile"
"You should never have patched him up" Mikeal said, looking at Yoon "Then we wouldn't have to listen to his constant comments"
"That's just mean" Jason said.
Yoon sighed. "You know.... I'm also starting to regret it" he said.
"You're hurting my feelings" Jason said "After everything I've done for you. You should have just let me go when asked"
"I'm starting to regret that" Trell said flatly.
Jason snickered. "Your loss" he said.
"Can we at least tie him up when we leave?" Mole asked "And tape his mouth shut"
"Yes" Trell said.
"I reject that plan" Jason said "It sounds almost as bad as the one you guys are planning now"
"Let's just do this and get it over with" Trell said.
***
Jason blinked a few times as he tried to get his vision to clear. They've been walking for almost half an hour now. His head was swimming and breathing had become short gasps.
"This way" Trell said as they quickly moved into another street.
Slowly they moved down the street. They barely made it half way when a group of zombies came stumbling into the street.
"Shit...." Mole gasped, stumbling back.
"We need to go another way" Trell said as he grabbed Jason's arm pulling him in the other direction.
Jason bit back a hiss as pain shot up his arm. He stumbled slightly, as the dizziness made the world turn. The slight pull in his side also did not help with keeping his balance.
"You should have listened to me" he muttered, almost falling.
It was only Trell's grip on his arm that kept him on his feet.
"Just shut up and keep moving" Trell snapped.
"If I move any faster I'll rip open the stitches and then you have to.... put it back again..." Jason said.
Trell groaned. "You are a terrible.... I should have left you to die" he said.
"Yeah.. and then you'd... also be dead, cause I was the one... that pulled you... out..." Jason said between gasps.
"At this moment.... I prefer that" Trell gasped, as they hobbled forward.
It didn't take Jason long before he notice that the gnawing zombies were getting closer to them.
"Let me go..." he said "And leave...."
Trell grunted. "No" he snapped "After all the effort to keep you alive... I'm not letting you die now... I still want to know who the hell you're working for"
Jason let out a chuckle. "Then go that way" he said motioning to a small shop that was not to far away.
Trell clenched his jaw. "That doesn't look like a place that will keep them out" he said, but still moved towards the place.
"Your choice buddy" Jason said, clenching his jaw as he pressed his hand against his side. He felt lightheaded and more out of breath than he thought he'd be after letting Trell do most of the running, dragging him along.
"You are annoying as hell.... I hope you know that" Trell grumbled.
"I do my bast" Jason said, just as they reached the small shop.
Without warning he slipped out of the Trell's grip, pushed the other guy into the building and slammed the door shut. Immediately he could hear the locks sliding close, before Trell's shouting and banging on the door followed.
Jason clenched his jaw as he draw the gun he managed to get of three of Trell's other guys. He even managed to get some more bullets as well. Not that he'd tell Trell about it.
Within seconds the gun was in his hands.
He did not have enough bullets for all of the zombies, but enough to cut them down to a manageable size.
Taking a deep breath, he started shooting the zombies.
Headshots for each of them. He could not waste any of the bullets. Not that he had much to begin with.
When he finally ran out of bullets, he holstered the gun again. There were about six of them left. He could still hear Trell yelling and banging on the door.
He's going to furious at him, but at least he would be alive.
Jason clenched his jaw, pressing his hand against his side. He was going to have to hurry with this. Since he did not really have much strength to do anything. His head was foggy, with exhaustion running through him. The pain in his chest did not help much accompanied with shortness of breath.
He took in everything around him, falling into his stance.
"Bring it on you creepy bastards" he said as he shot forward.
It didn't take him very long to take care of the zombies. But now his side felt like it was on fire. He could barely lift his arm.
His breathing wheezed through his chest as he stumbled back, falling against the door he pushed Trell through. The edges of his vision was fading slowly.
This was not his best idea, but he couldn't let Trell do it, the guy could barely run, much less fight.
With one hand he reached over, unlocking the doors from the outside.
Immediately the door banged open and Trell stumbled out. He looked ready to kill someone or something.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Trell snapped as he noticed Jason slumped against the wall.
Jason shrugged slightly.
"Dammit you're bleeding again" Trell cussed, kneeling next to Jason "At this rate you are going to run out of blood"
"That's not.... very hard... to do" Jason mumbled "Now... let's... get inside..."
"What the hell is that place?" Trell asked as he helped Jason to his feet.
The moment Jason was up right, a soft gasp sounded from him and he all but went limp, forcing Trell to hold him up.
"Shit... shit... shit..." Trell cussed as he suddenly had to hold all of Jason weight.
"....sorry...." Jason groaned, but he did not have the strength to do anything, but stay awake.
His breathing now came in short gasps as they made it into the building.
Trell closed the door behind them, leaning against it. "Dammit..." he cussed again as he lowered Jason to the ground "We need to stop the bleeding.... Why the hell did you think it was a good idea to take on the zombies on your own?"
"You would... have been.... bitten..." Jason mumbled, trying to stay awake.
"We need medical supplies..." Trell said looking around in the small shop.
"Counter...." Jason managed to say, before coughing "... should be... there"
Trell blinked surprised before he nodded and quickly went over to the place. Surprisingly enough, there was a medical kit under the counter. He grabbed it and went back to Jason.
Jason was half curled up, his hand pressed over his side. Quiet gasps sounded from him.
"You still alive?" Trell asked, kneeling next to Jason.
"....hanging.... on...." Jason wheezed, his words sounding a bit slurred.
"Let me see..." Trell said annoyed, putting the medical kit down.
Jason's hand just fell away. Immediately more blood started to drip to the floor.
"Oh shit..." Trell cussed, immediately pressing a cloth against the wound. That just got a groan from Jason.
With one hand Trell started going through the medical kit, keeping pressure on the wound in Jason's side. He muttered to himself as he managed to get out of medical glue, scissors and bandages.
Quickly he cut Jason's shirt away, pressing cloth against the wound.
"I'm going to clean it now" Trell said "This is going to hurt..."
Jason nodded, his movement sluggish, as Trell threw some disinfectant over a clean cloth and started cleaning the wound. A groan sounded from him, but he did not move.
It took Trell a few more minutes before he managed to close the wound and wrap it. By that time Jason was just limply laying against the wall.
"...we're.... save here..." Jason mumbled "....They'll.... pick us... up"
"Who?" Trell asked.
A slight smile formed on Jason's face. "....friends..." he mumbled.
"I am not sure I want to meet your friends" Trell said "They will probably just throw me in jail"
"Who... said anything.... about throwing you in jail?" Jason said.
***
Jason knew he was half awake and half asleep. Everything was foggy. Somewhere through the fog he could hear someone talking.
More than one person.
The last he could remember it was only him and Trell. He couldn't really remember much after they started running from the zombies again.
A hand touched his shoulder and he felt something against his lips.
Did they want him to drink something?
He did not have much of a choice. If someone wanted to poison him, there were better ways to do it.
"....drink..." the voice said ".....water...."
Well if it was water... He felt so cold and shaky. Something cool trickled into his mouth and he swallowed. That felt good. He closed his eyes again. Not that they'd help much. He could barely make out a thing around him.
"...bit more..." the voice said and he felt the cool fluid against his lips.
Again Jason swallowed.
He let the darkness take him as exhaustion rushed through his body.
Trell stepped back as Jason fell asleep again. The guy looked deathly pale, the bruising on his face, looked even worse than before. Shaking his head he grabbed a blanket he managed to find, wrapping it around Jason's shoulders.
After he finished taking care of the reopened wound, Jason just faded. He hasn't been fully awake since then. Now he had to take care of the guy.
With a sigh, he got up. "Damn weirdo..." Trell muttered "You are a serious enigma"
He looked through the small shop, gathering a few more cloths and then a bowl of water. It wouldn't be good if the other started getting a fever. That would just be the cherry on the cake.
He found a few bottles of water as well as some food. Which surprised him. This was a very strange little place.
Jason was still out cold where he was half laying against the wall with the blanket over him.
Trell knelt next to him, opening one of the bottles. "Hey... come on... I've found some water" he said, realizing that he did not even know what the guy's name was "You need to drink something.... This water should be clean"
For a moment Jason's eyes flickered open, there was nothing in his eyes.
With a sigh, Trell held the bottle to Jason's mouth, tilting the bottle a bit. A few drops of water ran into Jason's mouth and he swallowed.
"There you go... just a bit more" he said.
Again Jason swallowed the bit of water that Trell let trickle into his mouth. After that Jason's eyes just closed again.
Trell put his hand against Jason's forehead.
Cold and clammy.
"I need to get you out of here.... you damn annoyance" he said.
Trell sat down next to the other guy. "You are a weird person" he said, shaking his head "Why the hell did I have to and up with you?"
It wasn't long before he noticed a soft beeping that sounded through the shop. Frowning, he got up and started looking around, searching for the source of the beeping.
Just as he thought he found it, the door slammed open.
Trell spun towards the door and froze.
In the door stood a red haired woman. Her long hair braided in a high ponytail. She wore what that looked like a green protective suit, that could protect her from the zombies.
Behind her was two other girl. One with black hair and a yellow suit, while the other had blond hair and a red suit.
Trell froze, just staring at them. Then his eyes flickered to Jason and he quickly moved to stand between them and him.
"Who are you people?" he snapped.
"Who are you?" the girl snapped, stepping forward.
"That's none of your business" Trell shot back "How did you find us?"
"The alarms for this place" the girl said "You set of every single one of them"
Neither of the notice Jason lifting his head and slowly pushing himself up. He lifted his eyes slightly.
"...Sammy..." he muttered.
Immediately her eyes snapped towards him, going wide. "Jay..." she gasped. Without hesitation, she ran pass Trell and caught Jason just as his legs started giving in again.
Trell just stared at the girl.
"You... found us..." Jason mumbled.
"Of course..." Sam said "What on earth did you do to yourself?"
".... shot..."
"You idiot of a man..." she said, shaking her head before looking over at Trell "Who are you?"
Jason leaned on Sam. "... Trell..." he said, gasping softly "... he's with the.... rebels"
Trell frowned as he watched them.
Sam nodded slightly. "Alright... let's get you out of here" she said.
"Hold on...." Jason mumbled, looking over at Trell ".... I'm Jason... Nice to... meet you..."
Trell smiled slightly and nodded. "You are a bloody annoyance..." he said ".. Please don't come back here"
"Do...my best..." Jason muttered, "..Sammy... let them.... take care... of him... Not bad"
Sam nodded. "Alright..." she said "I'll make sure he's taken care off"
