Night of the Alphas

Chapter 36

The smell of wet leaves and humid air filled my nose as I woke up the next morning. "Mmm..." I yawned and stretched. All of the scratches and bruises hurt a little less, but there was a spot on my stomach that was somehow hurting more. Wait, was it even hurting last night? Was I just not paying attention? Or is it new? I lifted up my shirt to check the spot, which was throbbing more by the second. I wasn't prepared to see the disgustingly large gash just above my waistline. I gagged and pulled my shirt back down sharply. "Well," I whispered, "This... has become a bit of a difficult situation."

I crawled out of the tree roots and stood up. My back was super sore, and of course, my wound wasn't helping. How did that even happen? I crumbled back to the ground and took a shaky breath. Slowly, the events of the day before started coming back to me. As I looked down at my bloodstained clothes, I remembered very clearly what happened.

I killed them. And, somehow, I didn't die. I teared up all over again. I lost control. It never, ever, ever should have happened. They didn't deserve it. I looked up at the sky and blinked quickly. But they did fight back. Not well, but hard. And one of them had a knife... Taking a deep breath, I took another quick glance at the gash. And did this. Alright. Okay. I think I can deal with this. For now, at least.

I grabbed the bandages that I'd thrown on the ground last night and examined them. Hm, they're a bit wet. But not too dirty. Maybe it'll help? Wrapping them around my wound, I breathed a sigh of relief as the coolness of the gauze soothed me. Hey, maybe this won't be so bad.

After the pain subsided a bit, I became more aware of my hunger. I couldn't really tell the time, especially since the sky was still overcast. But I think it's safe to say that at that point, it had been almost a day since my last meal. Not to mention I'd spent almost all of yesterday running away from AFM. My hunger was almost painful...

Hey, people forage for food all the time out in the wilderness. I forced myself to stand, even though it made my wound start hurting all over again. It can't be that hard. I mean, you just find something that looks edible and eat it, right?

"No, that doesn't sound right." I shook my head, as if to dismiss those thoughts. Yeah, maybe not. I could get sick and die. That would suck. I leaned against the tree and wrapped my arms around my torso. The best option would just be to wait this out. Things can only get better from here, right?

I spent the rest of the day dozing off next to my tree. Every time I woke up, I was in even more pain than the time before. But no matter how unbearable it was, I just kept convincing myself that it would get better as long as I got some more rest. Then I'd go back to sleep. It wasn't a restful sleep, though. Every time I went back to bed, I remembered more. I relived new memories. And it wasn't exactly stuff I wanted to remember. In fact, it would've been so much better if I had just stayed ignorant.

I remembered the deaths of both of my sisters, Charity and Paisley. My parents. Who they were, and why someone hated them enough to murder them. Foster families. All of them. The young husband who got rid of us after his wife died in a housefire. The older couple that got a divorce. The drug-addicted cat lady who only took us in for the child support money. And the family that caught ebola and ended up in the hospital.

I relived the night that AFM took us under their wing, and the intense training Paisley and I went through. The days where Charity didn't come home until the early hours of the morning, covered in scratches and bruises. The nights she spent sobbing in the bathroom with Paisley because her entire body hurt and chunks of her hair were being torn out by the old men that constantly wanted to see her. The times that I had to hold ice on Paisley's face for hours on end because it was swollen from the constant blows she took in training. I remembered lying in bed, sick with the flu nearly every other month.