CHAPTER 21- Matiu -
Matiu coughs, the world rushing back in a choking haze as fresh air floods his lungs. He’s moving, bouncing and jostling somehow. In the distance, sirens echo around the walls, the streets. He’s outside. Cracking his eyes open, he sees the footpath clattering by underneath him, flickers of red dancing across his periphery. There’s a weight on his shoulders, and he tries to shift it by flexing his arms, but they’re pinned underneath him. The weight moves, slides, and he pushes against it.
It’s a body. There’s a body on his back. He swallows a sudden urge to vomit, and rolls over. With an awkward sliding tangle of limbs, Matiu, lying on what appears to be a gurney, twists over, and the body which was on his back slips. The man’s face is a mask of blood, his eyes gone, l
