As I get lifted up, there is a sharp pain behind my eyes and everything goes dark.
When I open my eyes again, I see Matt and I know I’m dreaming.
He had just got to Austin’s and is gazing down at me smiling. Slowly we lean into each other and our lips barely touch, when the scene changes. I’m sitting in Emily’s living room now, with Gabe beside me. He has his head in his hands and I ache to touch him again. Then I’m back in my bedroom with Dan and Claire teasing me about going out. They are both smiling at me, and I’ve never been so happy. Now I’m back in Austin’s garage laying on the ground with Matt on top of me. He’s snarling again, and I have to turn my head away since his face is so close to mine. My arms are shaking as I try to push him off, and I just get my legs between up when the scene changes again.
I’m on Austin’s lawn again and the blonde girl with one arm is just biting into my sneaker, and then Gabe is there kicking her off me. I stare up at him in shock, as he kicks her again when she comes at me one more time. Now I’m back in the garage again, and I’m staring down at Matt’s body. I had just cut of his head and I’m to numb to feel anything. I’m back in the truck now, and I look through the window as Dan and Gabe are getting surrounded by the dead at Austin’s. I know they can’t make it alone, and as I reach for the door handle the scene changes again.
I’m in the truck again, and I see Brian fall down and get attacked. I turn to Claire as she yells for him, her eyes are wide and her face is pale, and there are tears running down her cheeks. Now we’re in the truck still, but now are driving down the road from Austin’s. I see Dan wrapped in Maria’s arms, and she’s sobbing into him but she’s smiling. I’m in the bathroom at Austin’s now, and I’m staring at myself in the mirror. I’m covered in Matt’s blood and have tears silently running down my face. I look down at my blood covered hands as they grip the sink, and I wonder if I can ever get through this. When I look back up to the mirror I don’t see myself, I see Gabe. I’m outside now on my knees, and amiss the chaos, all I see is him. He’s saying something but I can’t hear what it is, and as he gets closer his images darken. The last thing I see is the tears that fall from his eyes, as he lifts me into his arms.
Or maybe that’s just a dream.
I’m in the darkness again, and my body feels empty and hollow. I can’t tell what is up or down, but I have the sensation of moving. Then at once, I feel myself falling and crash into a pain filled body.
Slowly, soft voices filter into my subconscious, and most of them are unfamiliar.
“
You need to let me help her! Brady gets them out of here now!” A woman’s voice yells.
“
Don’t you dare hurt her, or I swear-“Gabe screams, but he gets cut off and a door slams.
I feel hands holding my shoulders, and as a sharp pain fills my head, I can’t control myself from thrashing around. There are more hands on me now, holding me down and stilling my movements.
“
Hold still, we’re here to help. This might sting a bit, and I’m sorry.” The woman says again.
There is something cold and wet being placed on my head and a pinching sensation on my arm. My head spins in spirals and then I’m being pulled back into the darkness and away from the voices and the pain.
Then there is blessed nothingness.
Chapter Thirty One
Slowly I feel myself begin to wake up, but it takes a while to open my eyes. My head feels all muddled, and my eyelids are heavy. When I finally open them, there are crusties in the corners and a few eyelashes tear as I force them open. It takes me a minute to realize I’m lying down on a bed, and when I do only then do I feel it. It’s soft and feels warm on my back, but I’m shivering suddenly and the rest of me am cold. Squinting my eyes, I stare around the darkened room and it comes into focus as a light appears under the door to the right.
Something moves on the bed beside me, and I have a feeling that I’m not alone.
I almost turn my head to the left and as I do something wet falls off my forehead. When it’s gone, my shivering slows and I wonder what it was for. I do raise my hands and touch the tender spot along my left temple, and I feel the rough edges of bandages. It stings from my touch, and I drop my hands away. Turning my head all the way I see that there is someone beside me and it’s a sleeping Claire. Seeing her I know I should feel safe, but if anything I’m more curious as to what happened. I raise my arms up and push back the heavy blankets that were lying on me, and try to sit up.
As soon as I’m only halfway up my head spins and my stomach roll. Short of breath, I ease myself back down on the bed. Laying back down my head begins to ache a steady throbbing pain. My movements must have waked Claire, because now she’s sitting up and staring down at me.
At first her face registers shock. Then a slight smile forms on her lips.
“
You’re awake.” She says with a full out smile.
I don’t know what has her so happy, but I just groan and close my eyes. I feel the bed shift as she gets off, and I hear her feet as she makes her way to the door. The door opens with a click, and I can almost feel the light falling on my face.
“
Kelli, hurry she’s awake.” Claire says with excitement in her voice.
I hear quiet murmurs from the other room and can hear several pairs of feet as they make their way into the room. I open my eyes again when they get closer to the room. Claire comes back to the bed, as Dan walks into the room. The first thing I notice is that my brother isn’t wearing a shirt. The second thing I notice is that his chest is covered in bruises and a wide bandage is wrapped around his ribs. As soon as his eyes meet mine, he grins and hurries to my side. I try to smile for him, but my head is hurting worse now and it’s hard to move.
That’s when Gabe comes into the room. I can’t stop my eyes from taking him in.
He finally changed his clothes, and is now in a big pair of jeans and a shirt too small for him. Not that any of it looks bad on him, his hair is wet and half his face is patterned with dark bruises. With a swagger in his step and a smile on his lips he comes to my side by Dan. I finally smile myself when he reaches for my hand and gives it the tiniest squeezes.
I look back to the door, as a strange man and woman come in. Though I have a vague memory that I’ve seen them before. The woman makes it into the room first and I’m startled to see how clean and beautiful she is. She looks almost out of place with all the violence and death that has been going on. Her eyes are dark but very bright with reassurance. Her hair and eyes are as dark as warm honey and hangs in waves down her back; she fiddles with a stethoscope that is around her neck.
Behind her, the man comes fully into the room now.
They look so similar that for a moment I think they could be related. They both have similar hair but his eyes are clearly blue, but whereas she is tall and Lilith, he’s tall and bulky. I can see the muscles push at the shirt he’s wearing, and by the serious look on his face, I know I would never want to get into a fight with him. They both look to be maybe ten years older than me, but could be younger.
I’ve stopped trying to guess these things, since I have a habit of being wrong.
His face lightens though when the woman leans back into him with a smile. He wraps his arms around her, and they all stare at me. Okay, now I’m starting to feel like a wild animal at the zoo. It’s nice and all that I’m awake and everyone is happy to see me, but what is so great about it. I ache from head to toe, my head feels like it’s going to take off at any minute, and I can’t even sit up without feeling like I’m going to throw up. I open my mouth to tell them to stop gawking, and all that comes out is a croaky version of my voice.
I cough to clear my throat, and my head hurts more fiercely.
Dan reaches next to the bed, and gets a cup of water. He brings it to my lips and it feels like nectar passing my lips and down my throat. I drink so much that I choke a little, but I don’t care. I don’t think I’ve ever been this thirsty before. Satisfied, I lean my head back and the woman I’m guessing is Kelli steps toward the bed.
“
So how are you feeling? Any pain, nausea, dizziness?” She asks as she reaches for the wrist of the hand that Gabe was holding. As he steps aside, she places her fingertips at my pulse points and eyes her wrist watch.
“
All of the above.” I whisper, and I notice it’s less croaky.
“
Well, your pulse is much better today. So that’s good. I have some pain medication for you that should help. But with a concussion as bad as yours, the best thing is to get plenty of rest and fluids.” She says as she steps back, and goes to a dresser across the room.
While she digs around for something inside, I turn to glance at Gabe and Dan.
“
What happened after the accident?” I ask.
The guys share a look, and I can’t tell what is going through their minds. They look over to Claire and I follow their eyes. She just shrugs and sits on the bed beside me.
“
What do you remember sweetie?” Claire says.
“
Not much really, just going over the side of the road in the truck, and then just a mess of things that doesn’t make much sense.”
“
Well, after we crashed we were getting surrounded by a lot of dead people. We were doing alright, but weren’t about to last much longer.” Dan says.
“
Emily got attacked, and before we knew it, you fell to the ground. I saw you fall, and a kid was almost on you, then a burning arrow hit him. Went down like a ton of bricks.” Gabe says with a smile on his face and he looks behind him to Kelli.
A memory forms in the back of my mind, and what they say is starting to come back. I do remember fire, but I also remember everything that happened before.
“
Yeah, then flaming arrows came out of nowhere and those bastards lit up like the fourth of July.” Dan says laughing, and I can here Kelli by the dresser chuckle.
“
There was gunfire everywhere, and all the dead on fire went down. A path was cleared to the apartment we were trying to get to, and past the smoke were these three bad asses.” Gabe says, as Kelli comes back to the bed with a pill bottle in her hands.
She opens it, and takes out two for me. Gabe gets the cup of water for me and takes the pills to give them to me, but I hold my hand up to stop him for a second. Since they’re shocked faces when I first woke up are worrying me.
“
How long was I asleep?” I ask.
Gabe steps back and looks to Kelli for help. She steps closer to me, and sits on the side of the bed.
“
When we found you guys, you were all pretty beat up. But you were, are the worst. Gabe here carried you up three flights of stairs and you were unconscious by the time we got you inside.
She fiddles with the stethoscope again, and then places her hands in her lap. I notice the others are getting pretty fidgety also, and it makes me afraid to hear what she has to say.
“
By the time you were laid down on this bed, your heart stopped. I managed to resuscitate you, but with your type of concussion I didn’t have much hope that you’d wake up. Your friends did call you a fighter, but I didn’t believe them until now. And to answer your question, you’ve been sleeping for over twenty four hours.”
I’m so shocked I don’t even know what to say. My heart stopped? I might not have woken up? Well, that certainly explains the happiness and stares. She said I was the worst, so that means someone else is hurt to. I vaguely remember Maria with a broken leg, but I’m not sure about anyone else.
“
Is everyone else alright?” I ask, looking between them.
“
Maria has a severely broken leg. Sam had a dislocated shoulder that Randy took care of.” Kelli says, and I see Randy smirking when she mentioned Sam. Wonder what happened there?
“
I have a couple bruised ribs, but Kelli says they should be alright in a week or so.” Dan says.
Shortly after I take the pain pills offered, Kelli ushers everyone out of the room saying I need more rest. Not arguing with her, I let sleep pull me back under. I don’t have any bad dreams this time, or if I do I don’t remember them. Knowing that we are at least as safe as can be for the moment, I let myself relax and content.
Who knows when I’ll run out of time to do this?
Chapter Thirty Two
The next couple of days go by in a blur, as I’m in and out of consciousness. The visitors in my room rotate, and they all tell me stories of what the new people are like. Claire tells me that we’re not the only other people in the building, though most fled in the first couple days of infection. All that are left now is a few old couples and a few families. Then there is Randy and Kelli, who Claire says are married and that he’s a cop. That’s whose apartment we’re in now, she tells me. There is another guy Brady who is apparently Randy’s partner and is always hanging around. His girlfriend is with him, and her name is Lauren.
Claire says that since so many of the apartments are empty, that anyone is welcome to stay in them.
When Sam visits he tells me that the guys in the building have a generator hooked up, and we have power and hot water. I’m so excited at the thought of a shower that I almost jump out of the bed. But I’m so shaky on my feet; he has to help me back down. He promises I’ll have a long one when I’m feeling better.