War of the Sexes

Chapter 31

                It broke my heart. I trusted him. And he stabbed me in the back.

                “Are you ok?” Clayton asked gently

                I looked back to see him with worried eyes. I guess he had seen me cringe and assumed I was in pain.

                “It hurts” I whispered. I cringed at the dryness of my throat.

                He sighed, sorrow filling his eyes. Clayton reached out a hand, stroking my hair “I’m so sorry, Ellie. It’s going to hurt for quite a

while.”

                “Why?” I croaked

                “Do you remember anything that happened after getting shot?” He asked.

                I shook my head, unable to speak anymore. I ran my tongue over my cracked lips, trying to wet them down.

                Clayton sighed “Well, John shot you but intentionally shot you in the side. The screams you made… I thought he’d hit you in the chest. So I lost control and basically attacked John. He tried to protect himself, but I was in such an uncontrollable rage…”

                Clayton took a deep breath to steady himself. He glanced up at something for a moment before looking back down at me.

                “I took the gun from him and shot CJ” Clayton’s voice cracked at the last bit. He paused for a moment before continuing “John just kind of froze. I kept hitting him and hitting him until he passed out. I… I don’t know what came over me”

                I stared at him incredulously. I didn’t know how to react to this. Regardless of John trying to kill me, he had been Clayton’s best friend for, what I assumed was, many years.

                “When I came back to my senses, I could hear you screaming.” He continued

“There was blood every. Jeesh, Ellie, there was just so much blood. I picked you up and ran. I didn’t know where I was going, I just left.

                “When your screams stopped, I realized you were losing too much blood. I wrapped my shirt around you to try and stop the flow. I kept going though, because I had to find somewhere to put you. I don’t know how, but I came across a guy who let me in here. We’ve been here for five days now. He’s been a savior to us.”

                It was then that I noticed he lacked a shirt. I lifted my head up slightly, careful not to move anything else, to see his shirt wrapped around me. Half of it was stained red with my blood, the other half a dirty-yellow.

                “You’ve been waking up on and off for a few days now” Clayton whispered, his eyes catching mine “I’m just so glad you’re ok”