Culling

Part II • Chapter VI

"Where-" I started, but my voice still broke. Still, I noticed that the pain was nowhere near where it had been. Since Silas was not here from what I could see, I wondered how much time had passed.

"Don't talk yet." Sean told me and gave Nathan a look. Nathan walked off to the bathroom.

"Everything is perfectly alright, as much as it can be. None of us are in trouble. Don't stress yourself." Sean continued as he grabbed my left wrist and started some kind of clinical assessment.

Nathan returned with a paper cup filled with water and handed it to me. I grabbed it with my free hand with a thank you and basically drowned myself. I was so thirsty, it felt like forever since I had had anything to drink.

"Slow down there Peanut, there's always more. We wouldn't let you dehydrate." He smirked and took the now empty cup from me and headed back to refill it. Much better.

Sean switched wrists, paused for a moment, and then sat back on his heels. Gabriel pat my head and left the room, and Nathan, when he came back from refilling the cup and gave it to me, stood behind Sean with his arms crossed.

Now that I felt a little bit more alive, I tried again. "What's going on? Where is everyone?"

Nathan and Victor looked at Sean, who appeared to be the designated speaker. "Owen and the others had to take part of some more interviews today. Silas and Luke," he nodded his head towards the other bunks across the L shape of the beds. "They are wiped out, so they are in one of my specialty doctor-ordered sleeps."

That reminded me. "You forced me go to sleep, didn't you?" I asked him.

Sean smirked. "Not very much. You were already tired, I just helped your body along with what it needed to do in order to recover."

"What about..." I shivered as I thought his name to myself.

Thankfully, Victor seemed to know what I wanted to ask. He rubbed his hand down my back and spoke up. "McCoy has been relocated, of sorts, for now at least. Of course that's only the official word."

Why would Mr McCoy be in trouble? I thought everyone was scared of him? I didn't understand any of this. Why was the Blackbourne name so frightening to people?

Even if we were blood bonded, I was still just me. I was tired of not knowing, of feeling like everyone in this entire building knew more than I did.

"Why?" I couldn't think of a better way to summarize all the questions that I had been holding back.

Sean seemed to ponder over how to answer for a moment. Finally he said, "I really think it's something that Owen needs to tell you himself. He should be back soon, he was going to call a family meeting when you woke up to talk about all of this anyway."

I nodded, that seemed alright. "How long was I asleep?"

"It's been almost three days, so it is Saturday morning. I kept you in a sleep for two, you slept the last one all on your own."

Three days? That was three days of training I wasn't going to get back. I was kind of sad at that, I had wanted to start archery. It seemed fun. I wanted to move on and pretend that none of this ever happened. I wondered if everyone had also missed their opportunities to train while I was sleeping.

Probably. Knowing them, the boys sat around the room with me and plotted. I was hungry, I had to pee, and I really needed to move around. I couldn't believe how much time had been wasted.

I had a lot to catch up on.

☜♡☞

"Miss Sorenson," Owen arrived back to the room, trailed by the others.