Love, Blood and Wilderness | YELLOWJACKETS

Chapter 34

    I was coming out of my unconsciousness. I recalled Shauna's knife entering my body, the way it felt cold around my muscles and internal organs. I recalled the pain, the way it felt like a stitch after running a lot in soccer, but a lot sharper. I could feel blood spill around the gash where the knife had sliced through my skin and I remembered the look of disbelief on Shauna's face when she did it.

    Shauna.

    Was Shauna okay? I hadn't meant to hurt her to the extent that I did. My memory was fuzzy. Her face was battered and bruised and bloody, but not as bad as it could have been. Maybe that was just what I was telling myself to make it seem better than what it actually was.

    I groaned in pain. I could still feel where the knife was but could no longer feel the physicality of it, the cold blade was out of my skin.

    I passed out. I couldn't recount anything that happened after Shauna stabbed me.

    "Taylor? Oh my God you're awake. Misty! Come quick! She's awake!" I heard Nat's voice shout.

I tried to push myself up but immediately felt immense pain in my abdomen.

"Fuck," I moaned in agony.

"Hey, hey, hey, take it easy," Nat gently pushed me back down on the cot and pillows.

"Is... Is Shauna okay?" I winced.

"She's fine, she's fine. Akilah's taking care of her face. She doesn't deserve it, but I knew you'd want us to do it," Nat explained.

"Can I see her?" I groaned.

"Absolutely not, you need to lie down, okay?"

"Is Lottie okay?"

"Lottie's okay, she's-"

"Is she awake? Misty's just helping Shauna. Taylor, are you okay?" I heard Lottie's voice say.

She rushed to Nat's side and knelt over me, touching my face tenderly.

"You poor thing, oh my God Taylor," tears welled in her eyes.

I tried to see her through my swollen eyes, her face looked okay. It was red and there was bruising and some scratches but she was okay. I released a breath I didn't realize I was holding.

The release of my breath caused my stomach to turn. I gestured Nat and Lottie to move back and puked everywhere, which caused my wound to burn.

"Oh God, it's okay, you're okay," Nat assured.

"Misty!" Lottie called again.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," Misty responded, darting up the stairs. She eyed the puke, which I realized was mostly blood.

"Oh my God, she's gonna be okay, right?" Nat asked desperately.

"It's... it's hard to say," Misty replied, laying a blanket on top of the blood, "injury in the abdomen is usually lethal. She lost a lot of blood, but luckily we kept a lot of pressure on it and didn't pull out the knife right away!"

"Yeah, luckily," Nat rolled her eyes.

"You can expect this throwing up as well as trouble, uh, urinating. As long as you don't go into hypovolemic shock, you should be fine! Well, not fine, you're far from fine, but-"

"Wait, what? What's that?" Lottie demanded.

"Hypovolemic shock?" Misty repeated, while pulling up my shirt to see the wound, "It's when someone loses enough blood that it makes the heart stop pumping blood to the body. But it's gonna be okay. As long as we keep you stable long enough, you'll regenerate new blood cells!"