Calypso stayed at the hospital with Bard for the remainder of the day and into the night.
She only left a couple of times to run small errands around town.
Candy.
Chips.
Later, pizza.
By evening, they had both grown strangely comfortable with each other’s company.
There wasn’t any obvious reason for it.
They just seemed to move around each other easily now, like two birds that had flown together long enough to know when the other was about to turn.
The following morning, Calypso woke to find Bard already standing beside the bed.
Mostly dressed.
Backpack over one shoulder.
Her eyes widened.
“What are you doing?”
Bard glanced toward the door.
“I wanna get out of here.”
Calypso pushed herself upright.
“What?”
“That’s the third time I’ve seen that guy in the suit walk past the door.”
That woke her up.
Mostly.
Calypso collected her things and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. The last several days had been brutal for her too, and she had finally gotten enough real sleep that some part of her brain seemed determined to remain unconscious for several more hours.
But the man in the suit helped.
They already had more questions than answers.
One of the newest was how Bard had gotten to the hospital in the first place.
According to the nurses and front-desk staff, an older Hispanic man had appeared outside the entrance with Bard and helped get him into a wheelchair.
Nobody seemed entirely sure how he had arrived.
He had left Bard’s backpack for him too.
Bard knew inside it was his phone, Ernie's phone, his laptop, and his firearm and ammo.
Whoever it was thought to conceal his revolver and leave it for him.
Even stranger, Bard’s Civic had somehow arrived too.
The keys had been placed with his possessions in the hospital room for when he regained consciousness.
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That was all anyone knew.
By the time the sun began rising, Bard and Calypso were standing in the hospital parking lot making a quick plan.
“We should probably leave one of the cars somewhere,” Calypso said. “Drive together.”
Bard looked toward the road.
They had already agreed on their first move.
The temple.
Then the garage.
Those were the two places they needed to scout before anything else.
“Honestly,” Bard said, “I’d almost prefer not having either of our cars.”
Calypso looked at him.
“Well, I don’t know what we’re supposed to do about that.”
“I don’t think there’s much we can do right now.”
Bard glanced toward the brightening horizon.
“Best case, we got moving early enough that we can get out toward Jemez before there’s much traffic.”
He stopped.
Then slowly crouched beside Calypso’s Bronco.
Calypso stared at him.
Bard motioned for her to get down.
She did.
He pointed toward the hospital entrance.
The man in the suit had come outside.
White suit.
Floral print.
Tattoos everywhere.
Bard wondered how a yakuza had teleported in.
He stood near the doors, scanning the parking lot.
Then he started walking toward the Bronco.
Calypso grabbed Bard by the hand and pulled him toward a small cluster of trees bordering a miniature plaza beside the hospital.
They crouched behind them.
From there, they could watch the man while remaining mostly concealed.
He reached Calypso’s Bronco.
Pressed his hands against the glass.
Looked inside.
Neither of them moved.
After several minutes, the man stepped away.
Then he crossed the parking lot toward Bard’s red Civic.
He circled it slowly.
Looked through the windows.
Then walked away.
Bard and Calypso remained hidden.
The man crossed to an older Lincoln, climbed inside, and drove out of the parking lot.
They both exhaled.
Bard looked down.
Then at Calypso.
She was still holding his hand.
Actually, she was basically crushing it.
Bard lifted her hand slightly.
Calypso followed his gaze.
“Oh.”
She immediately let go.
“Sorry.”
Bard flexed his fingers.
“Let’s just get out of here.”
Calypso nodded.
“We can make a plan somewhere else.”
“Okay.”
They separated and hurried toward their vehicles.
A minute later, they took off like a bat out of hell.
Re: Shattered Memories
The scariest part isn’t the game. It’s remembering he’s in it.
Dante Montressor is faced with the hardest challenge of his life: survival. Stuck without his memories, the only thing he knows is that he's in the world of the hardest video game he's ever played. Terrified that he'll get brutally murdered before he even gets past the first boss, Dante must find some way through the game's story with his head still attached to his shoulders and what remains of his sanity intact. With the Bloodbath Princess by his side, Dante faces horrors both physical and psychological.
Mangy beasts with venom dripping from their maws lurk in the shadows as he has to face every gamer's worst fear: High School.
Come see a story inspired by things like Trails of Cold Steel, Fear and Hunger, Red Princess, and Norse Mythology.
What to Expect:
-Heavy focus on character development with slice of life elements
-Romance
-No harem
-Low fantasy early modern school setting
-Psychological themes, including dealing with feelings of worthlessness and self-hatred.
Updates every Saturday at 10 AM EST/9 AM CST.
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Cover art done by littleruby726