The Badass and the Alpha

Chapter Seventeen

                I am running. My feet are hurting from different reasons. My lungs and my throat are numb from the air I kept inhaling in order to keep on moving. The adrenaline that Ares shot me with, right before ripping my cast open and telling me to run and not look back, is starting to wear off. I’m getting tired and all I can think about is that I have to keep going. To keep on running.

                 Without direction, I take streets that I’ve never seen before, trying to keep a map in mind of my own turnings. I avoid boulevards as I don’t want to attract attention or be cat called. I know that I can make some damage, but even I know not to mess with a drunk guy in the middle of the night when I have no shoes and no weapons hidden in my cloths. Plus, the image of a girl running barefoot in the middle of the street in a hospital gown, only covered by a sweater, could rise even more questions to people and I already have enough after me.

                 After Ares put me back in bed and cooed me to sleep, he had to wake me up.

                 “ Hey! Wake up!” said an alarmed Ares from above me, “ We have to go! NOW!” he said shaking me some more.

                 I opened my eyes and looked outside. The sky was red with faint waves of blue, lighting here and there the trees in front of the hospital.

                 “ Come! We have to go!” said one last time Ares before pulling me out of bed and throwing over his shoulder our bags.

                 “ What’s happening?” I managed to say when Ares stopped to put on my shoulders the fluffy sweater that I had.

                 “ Silent sirens…” he said trailing off, looking around to see if anyone was up.

                 “ Ares, I don’t hear anything.” I tried to look him in the eyes, but they were too quick and shifted in another direction.

                 “ That’s because of the painkillers.” He looked at me one last time and then proceeded to leave.

                 “ Wait! My crutches.” I said leaning to grab them, but Ares puled me back.

                 “ We don’t have time.” He ended my speech with a glare and pulled me up in his arms. “Plus, if things are as bad as I think that they will get, you won’t be able to use them.” He continued out of the door and into the hallway, stopping at an emergency cart, pulling open one of the trays.

                 “ You know that they are locked.” I said before watching Ares putting me down and with two hands grabbing the handle, yanking it out if its hinges.

                 “ Not anymore.” He started looking for something, shoving plastic around and taking bandages in his hands and putting them in my pockets. “ For later.” He said with a concerned smile. “ Now where is that s**t?” he looked angrily through the tray before yanking another one out of its hinges.

                 “ Slow down! You are making too much noise!” I said covering my ears as a white static noise started bleeding my ears.

                 Oh no… Not again…

                 I was waiting for my throat to close and my eyes to glaze over, but nothing happened. My ears were ringing from the noise that was giving me a headache.

                 “ Woah… Okay.” Said Ares grabbing my shoulders, “ Tell me what is happening.” He shook me concerned.

                 “ The static noise…” I said between grunts, “ It’s making my ears bleed!” I pained out.

                 “ So you are hearing it too. Good.” He said grabbing my chin and raising my gaze up to him. “ You have to stay as far away as possible from it.” He practically yelled at me.

                 I gave him a nod and he returned to the emergency cart. Pulling a few other trays open, he finally found what he was looking for. Grabbing the bottle by the bottom with one hand, he grabbed a sealed syringe and tear it open with his teeth, letting the foil fall to the ground. He put the plastic cap in between his teeth and injected the needle in the bottle, dragging a full doze, before injecting it in himself. Grabbing another syringe, he tore the foil away, filling that one with the transparent liquid as well, before covering it and putting it in his pocket.

                 “ Okay, grab these and lets go!” he handed me a new syringe and the bottle and threw me in his arms.

                 I fumbled with the bottle and syringe, trying to put them in my pocket when Ares burst through the emergency door. He looked up as if to check if anyone was there, before rushing down the stairs with the two of us.

                 “ If you can reach my front left pocket, inside, there have to be my car keys.” He said taking a sharp corner. “ Take them out and when we get outside, click the unlock button until we are at the car. I will be driving, you seat next to me and try to get that cast out.” He reached the last floor, throwing open a metal door leading to a dark corridor.

                 The horror movies that I’ve seen before, do not compare to the scene in front of me. Looking at Ares in order to keep my mind from interpreting scenes from movies, I came to the realization that he was not one bit moved.

                 Taking a right and passing the morgue, he looked for numbers on the doors, slightly murmuring to himself the numbers. “ Eleven… Twelve… Thirteen… Fifteen… Where the f**k is fourteen?!” he yelled at the doors.

                 I looked around, in hopes that I could help him. There was one door that had a sticker covering the painting underneath.

                 “ Hey Ares! Look!” I pointed to the door on the left.

                 He turned around, looked at the door and said, “ There you are, little fucker!” and he busted it open, once again.

                 “ You know that I have hands that could be used to open doors instead of breaking them open and make an awful amount of noise.” I said to him and he just gave me a quick death glare.

                 “ Not the time for sarcasm, Jay…” he said biting down insults.

                 We passed people covered with white sheets, exposed on the table. My mind could only think about one of the getting up and running after us. As the noise intensified, my vision blurred and as I was about to tell Ares that his plan of staying as far away as possible from the noise it’s not working out, one of the sheets lifted and turned to look at us, with its face still covered.

                 “ Ummm… Ares!” I said tapping on his shoulder quickly to grab his attention.

                 “ What! What now?” he yelled at me.

                 “ It moved!” I pointed into the direction of the table with the undead human.

                 Ares turned around and looked at where I was pointing and then looked at me.

                 “ Jay! For f**k’s sake. There is not even a body there so tell me… How could it move?” he was losing his patience.

                 “ f**k! It just got down from the table. ARES, RUN!” I yelled at him and grabbed him.

                 Before I could look back and see if Ares gained any distance, his eyes shifted golden and then growled low.

                 “ Aw s**t!” he muttered and then shot out like from a gun.

                 He found a door and threw his back into it to push it open and then looked for something. “ Keys, NOW!” I shoved my hand in his jean’s pocket and grazed the chain of the keys with my finger tips. I tried pulling it out, but figured we would gain more time if I tried pushing the buttons while trying to pull it out. “ What are you doing? Just pull them out!” he barked orders.

                 “ Just shut up and listen for the noise!” I barked back and he snapped his head in the direction of a car alarm. “ See… easier.” I said glad that I was right.

                 With Ares running, I managed to pull out the keys and push the button again so he won’t lose trail of the sound.

                 “ Again…” he said getting closer to the noise.

                 “ Ummm… Ares, they are here.” I said while colour drained from my face. The white sheet that moved, followed us and now it multiplied.

                 “ Okay, tell me what do you see.” He said, continuing to run towards the car.

                 “ They are five in total. They all look the same. Coming from one, three, five, six and ten.”

                 “ One, three, five, six and ten what?”

                 “ O’CLOCK!” I yelled at him as the one from one o’clock moved towards us.

                 “ FROM WHERE ARE THEY COMING?” He barked to let me know that I have to guide him now.

                 “ One o’clock!” I breathed out and he turned left a bit, entering a row of cars.

                 “ Again!” he said, having lost the location of the car.

                 I pushed the button again and he redirected himself.

                 “ Okay, now what?” he said towards me, not leaving the sight of his car from the horizon.

                 “ Behind us.” I said trying to calm myself, his running taking a toll on me.

                 “ How much?”

                 “ I don’t know. I’m not good with distances.” I answered panicked.

                 “ Then how the f**k do you measure?!” he asked perplexed.

                 “ By comparing things.” I answered angrily knowing that he was judging me.

                 “ Okay, then do that!” he shouted one last time, before taking a right and running towards the car that was now in vision.

                 “ Two government SUVs.” I said, mentally face-palming myself for the stupid comparison.

                 “ Okay, we can get in the car. Open the doors!” I opened them and got inside, throwing the keys to Ares once he was around. “ Seatbelt.” He said more calm, clicking in his and starting the car. “ Oh God…” he said looking up, “ I’m so gonna pay for doing this…” he said and shifted gears, not letting the car warm up enough.

                 “ Ares… They are here.” I said putting a hand on his shoulder.

                 “ I know.” He said calm, before pushing the pedal to the ground, “ I can see them too.” He said going over a few “bumps” and then taking a right to get out of the hospital parking lot. “ There will be more. Listen! When I tell you to get out, you get out and run for your life. Don’t look back, don’t ask questions. Avoid any public place or asking for help, they won’t understand. Here…” he said lifting the bottom of my gown and taking out the syringe from his pocket, “ Keep the steering wheel from killing us.” He said and glanced over at me.

                 Seeing that I was about to deny him the request he barked at me, “ NOW! Or I’m letting God take the wheel.” And with that, he lifted his hands from the wheel and I staggered to catch it.

                 Ares leaned towards me and opened up the needle, shoving it in my thigh and then lowering himself to get to my leg.

                 “ Tell me when it kicks in.” he said looking up at me, but I was more concentrated on not killing us to be able to look back at him.

                 “ Kick in what?” I said with a terrified expression on my face.

                 “ The adrenaline.” And as soon as his words left his mouth, something white come out of nowhere and made the car tumble and wreck on the impact.

                 Hitting the ground, my heart started racing even before the car collided with the white thing, but instead of fainting, my eyes were wide open to see the exact moment the wind shield crashed and this time, I had the opportunity to protect myself.

                 “ s**t!” I heard Ares from below as a few bones cracked and he got up, lifting his hands up to support himself, as the car ended upside down. “ Okay… this will have to do.” Said Ares, tumbling on the ceiling of the car as he opened his seatbelt and started crawling towards me.

                 “ Do for what?” I asked wide eyes.

                 “ And this is the answer I was looking for.” He said lowering down and grabbing my leg, pulling it up and them placing both of his hands on either side of the top of my cast, fingers digging in and placing themselves, ready to rip to shreds the white material.

                 I was expecting pain. A lot, but the crippling noise of the cast being open, was the only terrifying thing that happened, besides the whole situation that we were in.

                 “ Okay, now look at me. Crawl through this window and run. Run for the dark allies and avoid public places like the park. Take narrow streets and keep your eyes pilled for those thing and ears for the noise. You should have enough adrenaline in you to win against a race horse, but in case you get tired, in your pocket, you will find another dose. Take it and once you think you are lost, get lost again.”

                 I just stood there, looking him in the eyes, and nodding to let him know that I got the instructions, but I was sure to forget them as soon as I was out of the car.

                 “ I will find you, don’t worry. Just try and run towards the school.” He said before kissing my forehead and clearing the shards left in the window with his leg.

                 I pulled myself out and started running, faintly hearing Ares’s voice in the back of my head, telling me not to stop until I either reached the school or Ares reached me.