Hunter: Blood Moon

Chapter Twelve.

Hanging around in the waiting room of the hospital I couldn’t sit still. Fidgeting with the hem of my shirt, anytime there was movement by the theatre doors I’d jump up and wait to hear about Reece. Each time they just walked past avoiding eye contact. Mum and Dad disappeared to the cafeteria and after assuring him I wasn’t going anywhere, Logan went to find the toilets.

“Miss Bunting?” The doctor finally appeared, his green scrubs clean and fresh. Did he not just come out surgery?

He died.

I knew he wouldn’t make it. How could he? Closing my eyes the horror in his face as the bullet connected to his chest haunted me and the gentle touch of the doctors hand on my arm snapped me out of the memory.

“I’ll start with the good news. With the addition of the Slayer blood, we believe the effects of the vampire attack have been reversed. The gun wound…”

I tuned out, not able to hear the bad news. At least he didn’t die as a vampire.

“I’ll bring you through if you’d like to come this way? We can only allow one person at a time in the ICU.”

I follow him through the silent halls, trying not to look behind the curtains as we passed. Machines and all kind of contraptions surrounded pale lifeless bodies, keeping them in this world for as long as medically possible. I should have sent the others in first, would they have cleaned him up ready to be presented to us?

The gentle thuds of the doctors steps against the cold sterile floor distracted me again. Thud, thud, thud - it was almost like a heartbeat. Not paying attention I walked into him as a nurse walked out of one of the rooms. The young woman smiled at me sadly, and muttered something to the Doctor who moved to hold the door open for me. I’m a Hunter, dead things don’t bother me. It’s just a body. If he had died, and we had never met he would have simply disappeared like all the others.

No one deserves to be forgotten.

“As I was saying, he has been through a lot and is somehow holding on. Maybe because he had started the change, it made him stronger. Now we’re not so sure.” The Doctor spoke softly, and I was surprised to find the same breathing mask on Reece like a few of the others we had walked past on the way here.

He wasn’t just a corpse on a bed.

“He’s not dead?” I needed the clarification.

“No. He has a long way to go, but the hardest part is over,” the Doctor hesitated, picking up one of the charts at the end of the bed. “I’ll leave you alone.”

His skin was a marble of purple, green and yellow from the bruises and IV lines protruded from practically every vain. I was scared to touch him, to go near him and stayed where the Doctor left me by the end of the bed.

We were in a secure section of the hospital; the basement levels not known about by the humans. That didn’t mean our enemies couldn’t get in and the thought of being ambushed led to me worrying about how closed in we were I started to panic.  The air seemed to leave the room, and gasping I fell into the corner. Bringing my legs up against my chest I rested my head on my knees, trying to take deep breaths while still feeling like I was suffocating. I felt cold, yet sweat is running down my back. I needed to get out, get away and back into fresh air and freedom only my legs had set to stone. My body tensed up and I was left stuck with my regret, guilt and fear that this could have happened to Jordan, that it could happen to my parents.