36. Bang Bang
2188 Words
Jamie
I opened my eyes, glancing at Bree. "We're at my house now, my safe one." I told her, trying to keep my voice steady although a burning sensation spread painfully across my stomach. I couldn’t stop tears from leaking out of my eyes at the pain.
"Okay." She replied, her voice soft and wobbly. I could see blood on the ground under her.
"Did they hurt you?" I asked, heart dropping.
She nodded.
"Where?"
She shifted so her leg was showing, a cut pouring blood right in her calf.
"Dang Bree, how were you still running? I’ll go get, like, a first-aid kit?" That sounded nowhere near the sort of care she should be getting, but there wasn’t really another option
I stood up, gritting my teeth as the pain in my stomach intensified. I hoped it wasn’t too bad… Otherwise how would I take care of Bree?
I made my way into the kitchen as quickly as I could, grabbing a first aid kit that’d been in the cupboard. Then back to Bree, who grabbed a pillow off the bed and lay down on it, breathing rapidly.
"Ok, Bree... You ready?" I asked, scooching over to her. What if I messed up? What if she was hurt forever?
She nodded and closed her eyes, pointedly not looking at her leg.
I gently ripped her pants around the wound, and started to clean the blood away from around it. I felt nauseous and had to focus on not letting my fingers shake.
"Um Bree?" I said after cleaning the blood away.
"Yes?" She asked, eyes still shut.
"The bullet is still in there I need to get it out... Or it won't heal... And it's gonna hurt a lot... Can you turn wolf? It'll be easier that way, just don't bite me."
"Okay..." Within seconds she had turned into a wolf.
She opened one eye and looked at me, then looked away quickly as I picked up a long pair of tweezers. I could feel the fear and pain emanating from her. That made my job harder, as my own pain was increasing and my vision felt fuzzy. I squinted and managed to get the bullet, pulling it out. The stream of blood increased and she let out a sharp whine.
"It's okay, it's okay. All done now." I reassured. She opened her eyes a little and looked at me, eyes both full of pain and soft at the same time, then glimpsed her leg.
She puked and closed her eyes again.
Just finish just finish and bandage it up please... Her thoughts flooded into my mind, clearly as if they were my own.
"Okay, okay, I'm working on it." I assured her, trying to staunch the bleeding so I could bandage it up. “Wait, can you turn human again? So you won’t be stuck as a wolf until I can take this off?” I felt horrible asking her to do that, knowing that it wouldn’t be comfortable, but in the long run it would help her. And I could focus better without all her emotions and pain.
She changed, swearing as the wound stretched. I hurried to bandage it up, and gave her a painkiller.
"You feeling any better now?" I asked when I was done. She nodded, although I could tell it was still bothering her.
"How do we communicate telepathically? Is that normal? Can all werewolves do that?" She asked, likely trying to distract herself from the pain.
"It happens when one of us is a wolf, since howls and barks only go so far and we can’t talk human in that form. And only the ones who are 'related' can. Meaning I changed you, so we're related. But you aren't related with the wolf who changed me. If you changed someone, you could talk to them but I couldn’t. Make sense?" My stomach was feeling even worse now, and I was worried that I might pass out. But I wasn’t the one who mattered right now, Bree did. I could wait.
"So... Only directly related, not through someone else?"
"Exactly."
"Hm okay..." She said thoughtfully. "How come our clothes stay on when we transform and we don’t leave them somewhere, but we don't see them either?"
"That's a mystery, some sort of magic I guess. You're right, it would be awkward though if we changed back totally naked."
She laughed. "Definitely. What are the downsides to being a werewolf?"
"Well, 'dying' is a pain. In two ways. First, you can't really die unless you sacrifice yourself for someone. That can be tricky at times, if you want to die. Also your body ages like a normal human would. And when you reach about a hundred or so you 'die' or stop breathing and go into a coma for a day, then when you wake up you're the age you were when you were turned. Going into a coma is tough because your mind still works and you can hear people being sad, if they don't know that is, and someone needs to get you away from people before you wake up. Or else that's pretty awkward, to be dead then come back as a younger you. Some people go insane after seeing that..."
She thought for a minute, before asking, “How’d we get in here? Did we teleport or something?”
“No, the house has always been here. It’s just invisible unless I let you see it. The spinning feeling, if you had that, is a magic side effect.”
“You have a safe house just outside of Sanguis?”
“Well… Yeah. I didn’t choose it that way. It was here before Sanguis was, my Pa’s parents built it…” Pa. I hadn’t thought about him, I’d been trying not to. But I couldn’t help but stiffen a little.
As Bree was opening her mouth to respond, I said, "I have to go get some food and clothes and stuff, I'm guessing you can't come... Will you be alright by yourself?" I was worried that she’d ask about my parents… I didn’t really want to leave her alone, but I didn’t know if I could talk about them.
"I'll be fine, just don't get yourself into trouble." She replied with a slight smirk.
"Aw, but all that escaping stuff was so fun!" I joked, although not really feeling light enough to joke.
"Ha ha, yup." Bree rolled her eyes, but was smiling.
"Well I'll be back as soon as I can, you stay safe too."
"I'll try to, I miss you already!" She grinned.
I smiled and walked out the door. As soon as I got out of her sight, the smile dropped and I winced as I walked to my room.
I slumped onto the floor by the door and pulled up my shirt to see how badly I’d been shot. The cut was pretty shallow, going all the way across my stomach, oozing blood still. My shirt was soaked, although since it was black you’d never know.
I took a shaky deep breath and lay backwards, letting my vision blur and spin. How had I lasted that long with Bree? Why had I broke out of prison anyway?
I glanced back down at the long cut, and instead of the fear or sickness I expected to feel, there was an odd satisfaction. The same kind of satisfaction I felt when I’d been in prison, like it was just that simple and I was being punished.
I didn’t do more to treat the wound than wipe some of the blood away with an old, moth-eaten shirt I found in a closet.
I took deep breaths, clearing my head, before I went back out to Bree. When I got to her room, she was hopping on one foot back towards her bed.
"What are you doing out of bed?" I asked anxiously, hurrying over to her and picking her up, despite the fact that my stomach felt like it was being torn open. I set her gently back into bed.
"Someone was here." She said. That couldn’t be good. Who would know we were here?
"Who, and what did they want?" I asked cautiously.
"Chayton... He wanted me."
No. That couldn’t be good… If he’d done what I think he did… This wasn’t good.
"Tell me exactly what he said Bree..." I ordered in a quiet, slightly frantic voice.
"He said he bonded with me and-"
"He BONDED with you? No.. He can't... Bree please say you're joking!" I’d hoped otherwise, no no no!
Her eyes widened in fear; was it my reaction? Was she worried about what I’d do? "What's so bad about it? Why is it such a big deal?" She asked, her voice sounding high pitched.
I took a deep breath and looked at Bree, how was the best way to handle this? "I don't know if I should tell you... I'll - I’ll take care of it, okay?"
"Jamie, what is it!"
"It's just... Nothing Bree, nothing. Don't worry about it. You just rest and heal and I'll go take care of everything." I could fix this, I had to… Otherwise… I didn’t even want to think about it.
"Dammit Jamie! You can't freak out like that, then say it's nothing! I'm not letting you go take care of my problems for me!" Bree glared at me, crossing her arms.
"Well... It is nothing, because once I take care of it, it will be nothing. And your problems are mine." I said as gently as I could, giving her a soft smile.
"Well I wanna help! If you leave without me I'm gonna drag myself after you, as long as it takes!"
I sighed and glared back at her a little. "Don't make me drug your food Bree."
"You would do that to me?" She pouted.
I sighed again. "I wouldn't want to, at all. But if it came down to that or have you crawling injured through the woods with vampires after you, then yes I would."
I could see that I’d won, the way her shoulders sagged and her head relaxed against the pillow.
"Fine! Fine... I'll wait until I'm not injured for me to chase you through the dangerous woods full of monsters. Like me, I'm a scary monster. Rawr!" She clawed at the air.
I couldn't help but laugh, wincing a little, hopefully she wouldn’t notice. "Wow, is my scary monster sure she's not already on drugs?"
"Ha ha." Bree rolled her eyes, then her face got more serious. “Hey, I have a question for you.”
“Another? What is it?” Shifting my feet a little towards the door. I had to be going, the longer he was bonded to her the worse… And I didn’t know how long I’d last with this cut, I had to go…
She shifted and reached into her back pocket, cringing a little as her leg moved. “What’s this?” She held up a piece of paper, and my heart stopped.
The poem. The one I wrote and didn’t rip up. I backed up, my breath stopped as well as my heart. “N-noth - I don’t know! Where - What?” I stuttered.
“Jamie…” She gave me such a sad, hurt look that I felt like I was dying.
“Bree, it’s - I’m - I - I…” Tears ran down my face, and I was shaking. She couldn’t have read it. She can’t know, she just can’t, what if she doesn’t like me? What if I have to explain?
“Come here, please. We have to talk.” Her voice was low and serious. Dangerous.
“No, Bree, please… I - I can’t…”
“I want to make sure you’re okay. And you’re not; you’re suicidal and hate yourself. So I’m going to help you.” Her words were like knives slicing through my heart, voicing all the things I’d been afraid to think or say. Making them real.
“No-no… Sorry, I-I can’t!” I barely choked out the stuttered words before I ran out the door, my head spinning in shock and horror.
I heard her calling me back, but I couldn’t go. I ran outside instead, remembering I going to stop Chayton… Stop him. Stop me.
- Writer
