Bite Me (boy x boy)

Chapter 12: Oh Deer

            "Mom, I'm heading to Olympia!" I called through the house. There was no response. She had probably gone back into the office again and would be out all night, so I didn't bother leaving a note. Grabbing my keys off the counter, I made my way out the front door and locked up.

          The afternoon air was heavy with the scent of rain, puddles under my feet reminding me of the downpour that had only ceased an hour ago. I stared down at my murky reflection, the sight of myself alone made my stomach feel weird, but I stepped on the lost pair of eyes staring up at me and made my way to my rickety old car.

It came to life with little fuss and I was off down the pot hole filled back road. I didn't bother turning on the radio, enjoying the silence of the drive through the forest. This was probably one of the first times I'd actually gotten a chance to relax in the last few weeks. Things definitely weren't normal in my life, which inherently mean that they weren't going to be easy either.

I slowed to a stop at an intersection, pressing my foot on the gas when I saw it. There was a flicker in the brush, nothing more than the tiniest of movements, but I saw it. What it was, I had no idea, but it was there and I had seen it.

Normally, I would have brushed this off as a trick of the light or my mind playing tricks on me; however, after waking up naked in the woods one afternoon, you start to question things. Instead of stopping to investigate, though, I kept driving. There were so many questions in my head and right now I was going to the one place where none of them mattered – the gym.

Ever since that Monday morning in the bathroom with Dean and Colton, things were strange. As soon as I had come to my senses, I'd rushed out of the bathroom without looking back and avoided the both of them the rest of the day. There was some memory on the edge of my mind that I couldn't get to surface, but it had to do with the both of them and that night I'd spent in the woods. No being able to figure it out was driving me insane and seeing the two of them, though it typically calmed me down, eventually only made it worse when I was alone.

I still couldn't really get a grip over my own emotions and senses, but I'd been managing them a lot better. It was a process. Neither Colton nor Dean seemed too pleased with me ghosting them, Dean being far more vocal about his displeasure with me hiding around the school and not speaking to them.

What was I supposed to do? Walk up and tell them, "Hey guys! So I woke up naked in the middle of the woods covered in bites and scratches and I think it had something to do with both of you! AND ever since it's like I can't control the very nerves in my body and I feel like I'm on fire and want to kill EVERYTHING except when I'm squashed between the two of you and we're all making out!"

Hard pass on that one. I needed to figure out what was going on with me on my own, and they could deal with it. Of course, I wasn't getting any closer to finding an answer on my own and really had only found solace while beating a punching bag until the pain of hitting it outweighed the pain in my head. Dramatic I know.

It had been three weeks since the incident in the bathroom and my resolve wasn't wavering, but the loneliness was definitely starting to set in. I'd only spent two weeks with them at school and yet I missed their very presence by my side. Sometimes, though, it still felt like they were close even when I was at home. There was this warmth I'd get in the pit of my stomach and-

"Shit!" I slammed on my breaks, swerving to dodge the deer in the road and driving straight off the shoulder of the road. Had I been going the speed limit, perhaps the crash would have been more like a gentle bang into the ditch. Instead, as soon at the first two tires went over the side of the road, my car began to roll.

This is it. This is how I die. Not death in bathroom of self-suffocation, no sir, it would be death by deer and reckless driving. Fantastic. It all happened so fast and so slow at the same time. I just watched as the world flipped and I was weightless, then everything crashed and I was an anvil getting dropped from a skyscraper.

The driver's side window shattered at one point and the roof was now a foot closer. My car was fucked and I could feel blood trickling down my face and hands, as well as the seat belt choking the life out of me. Definitely gonna have some bruises for a while. I hung there, yes I was upside down on top of it all, just thinking about my life for a moment.

This was a pretty fitting situation: me in a crashed car, trapped bleeding upside down on a not so frequently traveled road. My luck was definitely something special. Well, first things first, I need to get out of this metal death trap and call for help, preferably in that order.

Of course, that would be a whole lot easier if the world weren't so fuzzy. The edges of my vision were already darkening when I managed to weakly force the seatbelt buckle open and subsequently toppled down onto the shattered glass scattered on the inverted ceiling.

My breath was starting to get ragged as I drug my body into the window, the cool earth under my fingertips bringing with it a sense of security. I couldn't do it, though. Every bit of my strength was melting away faster than the blood was oozing from my skull. I was stuck, the lower half of my body still inside the totaled car.

With nothing left to pull myself further from the wreckage, I tried to wrestle the phone out of my sweat's pocket. My fingertips found the plastic of my phone case just as a car came to a stop on the side of the road at the top of the ditch.

"Caden Ward." That voice. "You aren't looking too good." Of all the people to find me here, it had to be him. There was no fight left in me, and yet anger still seemed to boil in my blood.

Here I was, bleeding out on the side of the road and barely conscious, and I had the nerve to wish ill will upon potentially the only person who could save my life. Apparently I really would rather die than ask him for help. Mom always did say my stubbornness would be the death of me.

I couldn't raise my head to see him, but out of the corner of my eye I saw him get back in his car. What was he doing? Surely he was going to call for an ambulance? Right? The guy may hate me, but this was – The car drove away.

Fighting at my last school had gotten me expelled. This time, though, it was literally going to get me killed. Everything was getting heavier, my lungs not filling up all the way, my bones crushing into the earth.

Something blue was somewhere in my field of vision, but what did it matter. I was so tired. Closing my eyes just seemed to be the thing to do. Maybe it wouldn't suck so bad if I died in my sleep. It'd be peaceful wouldn't it? My vision started tunneling, then, I felt a raindrop. Fucking Ra-something slapped me across the face.

I groaned behind closed lids. It wasn't bad enough that my car had thrashed me about and spit me out, now I was getting slapped to death on top of it all? This was just embarrassing. The air had a taste to it though. Behind the metallic taste of my own blood there was that fresh morning scent.

"Dea-n?"

"Stop trying to fucking die." He grumbled.

"It-I-hurt." How I got words out was beyond me. My body was still in shock, I knew that. Behind all the loopy feelings that come with blood loss and adrenaline, I was in massive amounts of pain, and if I was going to form coherent thoughts, that pain was going to become much worse.

"You're gonna be fine." Something wet and rough brushed over my temple, stinging the open wound there and causing an involuntary cry to come from my lips. "We'll take care of the rest after you get to the hospital."

"Colt-?" Somehow my eyes cracked open, blearily searching for the bigger boy.

"He's getting your things from your car. We're gonna-"

I couldn't hear him anymore, finally slipping under the veil of darkness that had been slowly draping over me for the last who knows how long. Even now, the feeling of having the other two boys close was enough to ease the greatest of aches in my body.

There was a small voice inside my head. It was so familiar, like I'd been hearing it all my life, almost like the howl of the wolf I'd been imagining recently. It only said two words as the world slipped out of my grasp. "You belong."