N-no...no, no, no, please no...!
I sat up with a sense of growing anguish as I reached behind myself and pulled the metal rod out of my back, my head pounding and my body trembling as I wrested the rusty metal out of me, a loud clang echoing out as I shakily tossed it away.
My chest was pounding harder and harder as I turned my gaze downwards with a painful sense of dread, before my vision blurred as a sense of despair set in, my ears ringing sharply as I let out a horrified gasp.
I reached down towards Xandra, my hands trembling as I felt a stinging lump in my throat, my head starting to spin as I refused to accept the sight that met my eyes.
I slowly picked her up and cradled her in my arms, hugging her close to my chest, placing my hand over her back as I desperately tried to feel for a heartbeat, freezing in despair as my hand landed over the hole through her chest and back, where her heart was.
