The Loyal Alone

Chapter Three

What did happen? I ask myself, more like what can I tell you about what happened?

"Are you all right?"

I was aware of them looking at me and was even more aware of how cold I was. I pull my sopping sweatshirt around my shoulders as I try to sit up. My head rings.

The lady in the green coat eyes me carefully as I pull my clothes tighter around me. Slowly, she took hers off and offered it to me at the tips of her fingers, still staying as far from me as she possibly could.

"Take it," she assures me waving it delicately. While she holds it out to me, the teenager removes my tangled ponytail and starts to squeeze what water she can out of my hair. By now it's all frozen, except for the really wet parts that cling to the warmer parts of my body.

I move my head forward slowly pulling my hair out of her hands, partly because I don't want her touching me, partly because I can't keep my head lifted up. I want to reach for the coat, but I can't. I feel my head bobbing down till I finally let it rest on my knees.

"I think she's in shock. It's too cold," Says Nails. "Help me get her up!"

"Wait, she needs to get out of the wet clothes."

"No time, let's get her to the truck, she'll be warm there."

I was beginning to feel as if sitting up wasn't a good idea.

The lady in green holds out her coat to me once more, now standing in front of me, she helps me place her coat over my shoulders. I can't move my arms enough to put it on all the way. The coat was big, and warm. But that smell... it was hot and hit my nose with a close impact. I hadn't noticed it before. She smelled like a werewolf. She was not a shifter herself, so in all likely hood, she was probably living with one, or was an affectionate neighbor to one. That could only mean one thing, a pack.

Don't fight. Run.

I tried to stand but couldn't. I breathed in deep and tried once more, hoping that the women around me couldn't see my struggle. Nails came to prop me up, but I shrugged her off. Once I confirmed that I was standing and could bare my wait I went to step forward, but my legs were too weak, and I couldn't. I fell and this time I stayed down. I can't feel my feet... My toes were no longer in pain, they were numb, practically gone, as if I was standing on air.

"You should stay here. We can go get our truck, take you to town."

"Julie! Girls! Get away from her!" I heard a man's voice, and instantly I felt small and full of fear. I couldn't smell him yet, but I was sure, as sure as I could be, that he wasn't human. I felt a pressure, a glowing spark at the back of my head that told me to shift.

I couldn't.

Nails looked at me for a second and stood slowly, backing away. She didn't say a thing. Green took her jacket back quickly and began to jog back up the mountain. I turned toward her sharply with a glare, a growl rising to my throat. As I turned my head, the world shifted. Flannel girl looked at me startled, she hadn't moved yet and was still behind me. She locked eyes with me as I growled and stayed motionless.

"Hey!" he shouts at me. "Austin! Get out of there!" The man was yelling at the teenager and he was running towards us. I couldn't move. I knew that. All I could do was fight. But what kind of defense would I have if I am sopping wet, over burdened by clothes, freezing? I can't even move my legs, and the world is like a bad Van Gogh.

The girl, Austin, did not move. I didn't either, I stayed as I was, growling and all. If anything, being weak is not a good sign, I needed to be perceived as capable of handling myself, but not a threat. My vision grew darker still, I had to stay awake, now all I could see was a little pin point of the world around me.

He slid to a stop behind Austin pushing her up the hill a bit and away from me. He crouched low; arms out, teeth bared. We growled at each other for a moment before Nails chimed in.

"She can't walk, Lowell." She says quietly, coming up behind Flannel and pulling her gently away.

I kept growling, but it slowly turned into more of a wheezing whimper and as I did my breathing felt labored. This man, Lowell, stopped. He straightened only a small bit and I could see the need to change in his eyes. I'm sure mine looked just as fiery, or maybe they looked dead.

At the top of the hill, another man burst over the crest and came down, slower than Lowell, but still quickly.

"Cindy came and got me." He called, "Said there was a hurt woman at the river. Is everyone okay?" As he comes closer, he gets slower, his face changing, eyes narrowing, then growing wider. This new guy stops a few feet off. His voice sounds slow, time is slow. "Is she-"

I'm surrounded. Not that I would ever want to hurt these human women, but four of them, plus the two wolves... It didn't look good for me. It didn't look good for me before hand, now there was no way I could fight my way out. My growl died in my throat as panic overtook me and I felt my chest tighten. I felt the need to change, to change and run. My hand came up over my shirt and I clutched my amulet to my chest for comfort. My heart beat through my ribs and I felt it against my chest. Panic over took me, then there was darkness, I couldn't see, but I could hear for a moment longer.

"I can barely smell her," he says, "She's water logged, and her blood is not pumping. We need to get her back to camp."

* * *

I felt the world shift beneath me. I was nearly convinced that I was dead, and this feeling was my soul lifting up into the Heavens. I was sure of this, for two reasons: One, I was inexplicably floating. Two, I felt a warmth of sorts surround me, radiating over me. The warmth was hard not to gravitate too, and for a moment I opened my eyes.

I was being carried. A tall brunette man in a puffy brown jacket was holding me close. His mouth was moving.... What was he saying?

"Ho knee. Way cake. P."

My eyes felt heavy still, they closed for a long moment, I thought I was just blinking, but it took too long.

"Cakeu. P. Wake. Wake up. Honeywakeup. Honey, wake up."

"Mmawake." I slur. I feel sick... I hear a door open and I am being pushed into the cab of a warm truck. The air is on full blast, it's hot and I feel like I can't breathe. The brunette jumps in after me, pulling me closer to him in a sitting position, he places my head on his chest and he rubs my arms.

"Stay- awake- now." He says slowly. All of this was happening in a dream like state.

"Mmma-wake" I say again. My tongue feels thick.

The truck moves forward, and I feel my body molding into him. He's not driving? I look around, the movement makes me want to empty my stomach, but I look anyway. Lowell is driving.

"I can barely smell her," Lowell says. "We need to get the wet clothes off her. It's keeping her cold."

"N-no." I whisper.

"Don't worry about that now Honey, just stay awake." He rubs my arms. I can't feel the friction through my wet sweatshirt, but I think I can feel the heat. It burns as it trickles across my skin, I'm too weak to do anything about it.

"Name? Honey, what's your name?"

I hear him, but I can't speak. I ignore him and concentrate on the heat wave of ants that are crawling over my skin.

"Name. Honey. Stay awake. Name, give me a name."

"Mm-Mm-I. Mira."

"Cole. My name is Cole." He tells me, as if that will change anything.

"I can't- feel my f-feet." My vision is going again.

"That's okay, Honey." He soothes.

"Not Honey," I breathe, "Mireya."

"Huh?"

"Mireya, mm-my name."

"Okay, Mireya, we are almost there, stay with me. We're gonna' keep you safe. Gonna' get you warm."