XIII

When she came to, the street lamps were swirling above her in a blurred dance. She knew that she was still in the parking lot; things, however, seemed different. Maybe it was because she was so disoriented. Her eyes focused on Grayson’s face, shrouded by shadows, cradling her head.

“Odette!” he exclaimed, his arms wrapping around her torso awkwardly. “I was so worried about you. I am so sorry.”

She blinked several times, her head throbbed but not in the normal way it did after she fainted. She pressed her hand to her head, hissing when her fingers made contact with the area that hurt the most. Pulling her hand away, she saw her that fingers were bloodied. The girl frowned, blinking rapidly to make sure that it wasn’t her imagination.

“Are you okay?” she whispered, trying to pull herself out of her daze.

Grayson’s lips twitched. “You’re the one who fainted and you’re asking me if I’m okay?” His body shook as he laughed but the concern was still there.

“Yeah,” she grunted, trying to sit upright. Nauseating dizziness hit her so she resumed laying down. “I don’t remember much.” Odette swallowed down the rising bile. Her surroundings continued to spin even when she closed her eyes.

“You’re bleeding,” Grayson noticed, panic filling him. “I should have killed them all. They touched you and pointed a gun at you. They made you bleed!”

Odette reached for his hand, lacing their fingers together. He hissed, all but jerked away. Odette let her eyes travel down his arm. In the dark, it was hard to see but she could make out a dark stain that was growing on his jacket. He had been bleeding for some time too as the blood had also gotten on her dress.

“Oh … my God,” Odette was trembling and bile rose up in her throat again. “W-we need to get you to a hospital.”

“I’ll be fine,” Grayson insisted. His face remained passive as he looked down at the wound. He showed no signs of it even hurting him.

“You were s-shot!” Odette forced herself to the side, ignoring the dizziness that was nearly blinding her. She dug her fingers into the crumbling black top and used a nearby car to help herself stand up. “Y-you shouldn’t drive. M-my phone, where’s my phone?” she stuttered, holding her head in her hands.

Grayson scoffed and stood up, handing her purse over in the process. “Stop stuttering. I can drive, and the only reason we are going to the hospital is because you might have a concussion.”

He wrapped his good arm around her waist and helped her into his car, his face obviously paler than it had been before.

“Grayson, you’re losing a lot of blood,” Odette cried, her stomach churning. “We should call the police too.”

He slammed his door shut, starting the car up with his left hand. “The police won’t be able to do anything,” he said through gritted teeth.

“B-but—” Odette protested.

Grayson shot her a look that told her to shut up. “The police won’t be able to track down those men. They didn’t do anything to us—”

“That guy shot you!” Tears were rolling down her cheeks now. She could clearly see the wound now under the streetlamp. She couldn’t look away if she wanted to.

“They won’t be able to do what I can.” He sped out of the lot and started weaving through traffic. He was erratic now; the look in his eyes was one between anger and insanity.

In a very perverse way, Odette liked how protective he was of her, but he couldn’t put his health on the line when he was obviously worse off than she was.

The lights of passing buildings were starting to get too much for her. Odette’s stomach lurched and she closed her eyes. “Pull over.”

“What?” Grayson looked at her incredulously.

She could feel it in her throat… on the back of her tongue.

It was climbing up higher. “Pull over!”

He jerked the wheel, cutting off several cars, and Odette ripped off her seat belt. She didn’t even get to open the car door before she puked. Half of her body hung out of the car as she retched, her head pounding even more. It was gross and she never wanted to show her face to Grayson again. Coherent thought, however, was very far away and a dizziness settled over her once again. She couldn’t think, she only felt.

Behind her, Grayson cursed. She could hear him moving stuff around in the car and she felt a hand on her lower back moments later. “It’s okay. Are you finished?”

Odette grunted, trying to push herself back up but she lacked the upper body strength at the moment. Grayson helped her as best he could, his phone resting in between his shoulder and his ear. Whoever he called finally picked up. Odette couldn’t make out much of what he said as he was talking too fast for her brain to process at the moment. Her head was hurting even worse now and she just wanted to close her eyes and go to sleep.

“Hang on—no, no, princess. Keep your eyes open. Odette, hey!” Grayson shook her shoulder.

Odette whined. “I’m tired.”

“No, you can’t sleep now.” He wasn’t getting anywhere with her. “Greer, just do what I said. I have to go.” He hung up and drove off to the hospital.

It was torture; every time she tried to close her eyes, he would shake her. Couldn’t he see how bad she was feeling? Grayson wasn’t doing much better, despite what he said. He was blinking a lot, his eyelids drooping, but he remained alert. The blood was pooling on his expensive leather seats and, every time they would make a turn, it would seep into the fabric of Odette’s dress even more.

She was vaguely aware of her phone ringing in her purse; she had even attempted to open it up but her fingers wouldn’t work right. She was too dizzy anyway.

“Grayson …” Odette mumbled, her fingers digging into the edge of his jacket. She slumped against him involuntarily, both of them wincing as their wounded areas were touched. Her trembling hands came around his injury and she squeezed it.

He jerked, the car swerving. “What are you—?!”

“Aren’t you supposed to … put pressure on wounds?” she slurred. “‘T-to stop the bleeding?”

She could tell that he really didn’t like being this vulnerable, showing that he was in pain or needing help. He grimaced but he didn’t resist any more.

He sped into a parking lot of the hospital, parking haphazardly near the entrance. Grayson forced himself out of the car and had to half-carry Odette inside. The pair did not stop for cars that drove through, which earned them several honks, but neither of them really paid any mind to it. They stumbled inside, the clinical smell hitting them in the face full force.

The lobby was rather busy with families and the farther they walked in, the more attention they drew. It looked worse than it really was because of the bloodstained dress Odette was wearing. Someone got up and flagged down a few of the nurses.

Odette didn’t like the smell of the ER. Being in there made her afraid—afraid of the pain from needles and the feeling of being numbed by drugs. All the same, she forced herself away from Grayson when the time came; trusting that he would be fine and that she would be okay.

It felt like hours before she saw someone who wasn’t a part of the hospital staff. They had done a few tests on her, determining that she did indeed have a concussion, and asked her many questions that were hard to answer in her current state. She had managed to tell them enough about her preexisting conditions as well, so there she laid in the hospital bed, EKGs sticking out on various places of her chest along with an IV drip supplied with morphine.

Her mother was the first one to come through the door. Her hair was a mess, her face pale but her eyes were red. She was dressed in pajamas and tennis shoes; a large emergency tote bag tucked under her arm for nights that had to be spent in the hospital. Her father came in next, looking haggard.

“Mom,” Odette murmured, blinking slowly. “Daddy.”

They rushed to her side, her father holding her hand with his warm one. She was very cold here but the nurses had been kind enough to give her extra blankets.

“How are you feeling, sweetie?” Pamela asked. She was trying not to cry in front of her, Odette knew that.

“I’ve been better. Have you heard anything about Grayson?” She had to fight to keep her eyes open, she needed answers.

“I don’t know, sweetie. We just got here and we only asked about you.”

Odette sighed, shutting her eyes for a second. “He lost a lot of blood. I’m worried.”

She looked over to where the nurses had folded her blooded dress. The bright red was now beginning to look more like a rusty brown. Revulsion rolled in her stomach and she looked away before she made herself puke again.

“You should rest. I’m sure we’ll know more in the morning,” Pamela assured her, stroking her arm lightly.

Odette looked down at her blanket, one hand playing with the rough fabric. Her purse was most likely still in Grayson’s car and she wondered if he even brought it inside with him. Probably not, it wasn’t like either of them were thinking clearly.

Someone knocked on the door and all of the Sinclairs looked up. Greer smiled sadly, her head poking through the door. “Is it okay to come and visit?”

“Of course, Greer,” Her father said. “You don’t have to ask.”

The brunette shut the door again softly, walking over to Odette’s side. “Are you hurting terribly?”

“The medicine is helping.” Odette moved her legs over so her friend could sit down.

“Grays is still getting stitches but they haven’t told us how many. He won’t be able to write anything for a while but the bullet didn’t do anything too bad. He heals fast, so don’t worry about him too much,” Greer said with teasing tone.

“If it wasn’t for him … I don’t know what would have happened. I think he scared the thugs off, I wasn’t much help,” Odette admitted. “He was very brave and I hate that he got hurt.”

Greer shook her head. “They threatened you, he told me that over the phone. I’m not surprised that he did what he did.” She clasped her hand around Odette’s in a reassuring manner and Odette couldn’t help but notice that Greer’s hand was colder than hers.

“He acted like the bullet didn’t even bother him,” Odette said. “It was crazy; he just … drove us here like it was nothing. He was more concerned about me bleeding than him.” She was looking off into the space, her eyes unfocused as blurred memories flashed through her mind.

Greer wet her lips, gently patting her friend’s hand. “I’ll leave you to get some sleep. I’m glad you’re safe now.” She said goodbye to Odette’s parents before quietly slipping back out of the room.

Odette could feel her eyelids sinking down further and further, but it was several minutes after they were closed that she realized how tired she actually was. Sleep came easily. Unfortunately, it didn’t last very long. The doctor came back an hour and a half later when her IV drip was nearly all gone and told them that they were cleared to leave. The nurse came in a few minutes after that and took out the needle that was still in her arm.

They placed Odette in a wheelchair and she used one hand to keep her head propped up. Her eyes were too heavy to keep open fully, but she did catch sight of the Mages family.

Greer was in her brother’s room, her feet propped up on the hospital bed while she played on her phone. Grayson was asleep, looking very much like a corpse, so much so that Odette panicked for a moment but she managed to calm herself down … or the morphine did. In the lobby, Jethro stood by the coffee machine with another man and Zeke.

Pamela greeted them quietly but it was a very short encounter. Jethro’s eyes darted over to Odette, filled with sorrow. He gave her a small, crooked grin. Odette was too tired to do anything else but barely nod her head. She glanced at the man standing with the other two just as she was being wheeled out the front doors, recognizing him from somewhere.

Odette watched the clouded sky with fascination. There had been storms all week long since the start of her unofficial “house arrest.” Runt slept peacefully in her lap; her tiny little body purring happily with the warmth that her owner provided. There was a large crack of lightning that splintered into two different branches. Thunder followed behind several seconds later with a horrendous boom, one that shook the house.

The wind was howling, the trees bending under it. Shadows danced across her bedroom floor, shadows that had begun to haunt her dreams. She felt stupid being afraid of the shapes that trees made at nighttime. When it was daytime, like it was now, she could laugh at herself, but, at night, the trees looked like human figures.

Odette was now so scared to go to sleep that she had her cat come up on the bed with her.

“Odette!” her mother called from downstairs.

The girl sighed, setting her kitten down on her little cat bed, and went downstairs. “Yeah?”

Her mother wasn’t in the living room but her laptop was. The article she was working on was still pulled up, her tea resting on its coaster. The next place to check would be the kitchen.

Odette rounded the corner and saw her mother by the sink, phone in hand. She looked up from what she was doing and at the girl. “You need to take your medicine.”

“Oh.”

Odette hid her displeasure of having to take yet another pill to help quell her concussion symptoms. It was a rather large pill too and, if it lingered on her tongue for a second too long, the most horrendous taste would coat her mouth for the next hour. Opening up the bottle, Pamela laid out the absurdly large medication while Odette poured herself some grape juice. She held her breath as she took a swig of the liquid and threw the pill inside her mouth. It was hard to swallow, so she chugged the rest of the juice to wash it all the way down. She wiped the corner of her mouth with the back of her hand, excess juice staining her skin. Her mother’s face displayed her disgust and she handed her daughter a napkin.

“Your dad will be home any minute now. I hope he beats the rain,” Pamela said absentmindedly. She turned her attention to the window of the backdoor, watching the swirling gray clouds. More lightning flashed. The electricity made the hair on Odette’s arms stand on end and she could feel it coursing through her—either that or the medicine was kicking in and she was feeling loopy.

“Yeah.”

The sound of little claws pattering across the wooden floor caught Odette’s attention. Runt wandered mindlessly towards her food bowl. She was very small compared to the bowl Odette had given her but it was cute. She smiled lightly.

The backdoor opened up, startling both Odette and her mother. Her father stood there, looking tired from work but lively enough to greet his wife and daughter. “I had to pull around back, so I could get this stuff in here easier. Can you help?” he asked his wife.

Pamela walked outside, hurrying after him. Odette furrowed her eyebrows but she came forward and held open the door as they carried in several medium-sized boxes. She assumed that they were some kind of new kitchen appliances.

Odette looked up at the sky; she could smell the rain that was about to come. Her parents came in, holding one box together, when a small gray blur darted through their legs. It took a moment to register the feeling of fur against her skin but, when she did, she felt her stomach drop. She gasped, abandoning the door.

“Runt! Come back!” she cried.

The kitten didn’t listen. She continued to zip forward through the grass and towards the woods.

“Runt, no!”

Odette lunged, but she didn’t want to accidentally crush her cat. Her bare feet ran over the dirt and slick grass, twigs, and rocks were jabbing at her. She was panicked and didn’t care about that; her kitten could get lost and hurt. It was about to rain too and—for some reason—that seemed like the absolutely worst thing in the world. Odette could hear her parents shouting after her too but she couldn’t be bothered by them right now.

Runt darted to the left and Odette nearly smacked into a tree because of this. “Cat, come back right now!”

The kitten was going in a zigzag pattern now and Odette was almost certain that she was running in a circle. Her lungs burned from not being used this much in a while, her feet stinging. She knew that, if anyone was watching her, they would think she was a mad woman with her messy hair and overly wrinkled shirt.

Runt started to slow down but Odette didn’t. She ran full force into a low hanging branch with a very loud OOF. The teen girl fell backwards, the branch collapsing on top of her … until she realized that branches didn’t have flesh.

Odette screamed loudly, pushing the person off of her. Her kitten meandered over towards the person, hissing loudly. It wasn’t until she got a good look at the other person that her screaming got worse.

It was a corpse.