"How was work?" Will asked, trying to start up a conversation.
"Same old, same old," Dustin and I replied simultaneously.
A smile spread onto my lips.
"I heard that the workers that quit at your place still haven't been replaced," Will commented while staring at the road ahead of him.
"Yeah," I said, staring at the dark trees as they passed by in a blur.
I caught glimpses of a house in the distance when there was a break in the dense forest. A hand on my shoulder made me turn towards Will.
"Are you feeling okay?" he asked, his eyes leaving the road for a second to look at me. "I know you are still getting over your sickness..."
"I'm feeling fine." I turned my attention to road. Something black jumped into the road, only a few feet away. "Will, watch out!" I screamed, seizing the steering wheel and yanking it hard to the left, making the car swerve off the road.
The car began to lean to the right, and I fell against the window. Gravity was trying to pull me down, so the seatbelt began to dig into my chest as I reached out my hands to steady myself. That's when the car began to roll. I screamed, terrified as the car continued to roll down what seemed to be a steep bank. I could hear Dustin and Will both yelling as well.
I thought I was going to be sick. The tossing feeling, plus the trepidation of the awaiting impact, was sure to make someone get sick. I could hear glass shattering and feel myself slipping in my seat as miscellaneous items from the dashboard and visors began to rain down on me. I held my breath and waited for impact.
It was quieter then I thought it was going to be, more like a dull thud with more glass shattering then the deafening explosion I was expecting. But the impact was still rough. I was tossed forward in my seat, my seatbelt digging into my chest and I clocked my head on the dash. Glass descended down on me as I covered my head with my hands.
I heard Will groan from beside me, and struggled to push myself up. It was a difficult task, seeing as how my seat belt was the only thing keeping me from falling onto the roof of the car. I tried to catch my breath as I scrambled to get a grip on something. Glass cut into my hands as they slipped on the glass overlay on the dashboard. When I got myself steady I quickly turned to Will, who was slumped over the steering wheel. That and the seat belt were the only things keeping him from falling too.
"Will! Will! Hey!" I cried, taking one hand off the dashboard and reaching over to shake his shoulder.
I could hear the panic in my voice as I continued to call his name and try and wake him. Something warm ran into my eye and I shut it quickly and clasped my hand to it. It began to burn.
"Are you okay, Maddie?" Dustin's worried voice questioned from behind me, his voice was soaked in pain.
I wiped the blood off my eye, and then swept my sleeve over my forehead as I nodded carefully. "I-I... I'm okay. Are you alright?"
"I'll pull through, I'm more worried about you though," he replied in a concerned but hoarse voice. "What the hell happened?"
"Can you reach your cell phone? Call an ambulance!" I ordered, ignoring his question.
I fumbled with my injured hand with the belt buckles until I heard it unsnap. A sinking feeling washed over me and I fell onto the roof, I cushioned myself with my arms. I fumbled around until I was facing the car door, and grabbed the handle and pushed, trying to get the door opened. It wouldn't budge. I shoved again, tears streaming down my face in frustration, terror and pain.
"Come on!" I shrieked in frustration, slamming my fist down onto the broken window, implanting glass into my skin.
"Maddie!"
"The ambulance!" I yelled at him, shoving the door again. It still wouldn't budge. I groaned.
"I-I can't reach my cell phone!" I heard him shout back at me. "It fell. Hold on, I'll unbuckle myself and grab it!"
Suddenly the door was wrenched open under my hand, and a firm hand gripped my wrist and tugged me out of the car in one pull. I gasped and clenched my teeth as glass scraped against my skin and cut me.
I was put down on my feet and without looking at my savior I ran around to the other side of the car and began to yank on Will's door. It was just as stuck as mine was.
"Help me!" I cried at the person, now pulling Dustin out of the car.
Before I knew it, someone was at my side and they yanked the door open in one shot. I immediately tried to get past them to get Will out, but they held me back.
"Let me do it, Madison," I heard a familiar voice order calmly.
A different person began to pull me away from the car. "Are you okay? Do you think anything is broken?"
"C-callie?" I asked unsure. My voice sounded shaking and I cleared it, trying to steady it. "It's you right?"
"Yeah. We've already called an ambulance, and Ayden is getting Will out of the car. Damian has Dustin out now," she told me in a quiet voice.
Someone pulled me into a hug and I stood still in shock as they held me tighter. "Maddie! Damn it! Are you okay?"
I blushed in embarrassment and pulled away, looking up to see Damian. After a few seconds I took in the seriousness of his face. "I'm fine-"
"Of course you're not okay! I'm surprised you survived that! You're just a weak... Ugh!"
I stared at him in surprise. "I said I'm fine!"
"Well you don't look fine now do you?" he asked warily.
I shrugged. "How should I know?"
He turned back and strode over to the car, ripping off the side view mirror, then brought it back over to me. I stared in shock at him.
"T-the car!" I protested as he shoved the mirror into my face.
I peered into it, and was shocked to see what I saw. I couldn't even recognize myself! Blood was everywhere, and I looked pretty cut up.
"...I'm going to feel that tomorrow," I laughed.
The laugh was the kind of laugh that happens when you are shocked, or scared. The kind that had the sharp edge to it.
"It's not funny!" Damian growled.
"I never said it was!" I returned. Then my thoughts got back to me. "Will!"
I swiveled on my feet and ran towards the two larger shapes that were by a tree. One was on the ground, while the other was hovering over it.
"Will?" I called quietly, slowing my pace as I grew nearer. I dropped to my knees and crawled over to him. "Will?"
He was slumped on a tree, his back resting on it while his head hung down, limp. I brought my head closer. He was all bloody too. I put my hand on his chest, and screamed and pulled away when he turned his head up to look at me.
"Yo," he greeted with a grin. "You okay?"
"Will..." My eyes began to water and I threw myself onto him. "Stupid. I should be asking you that!"
"I'm pretty much okay..."
I pulled away and looked gratefully at Ayden. He smiled down at me and offered me his hand. I took it and he pulled me up. I swayed on my feet and a hand on my back steadied me. I turned to see Dustin, Damian and Callie all standing behind me.
"How did you guys...?" I trailed off. What was the right word there? Find us? Or know where we were?
"Save the questions for later, let's get you all back up to the street. The ambulances are here," Ayden told me and placed a hand on my shoulder. I nodded in agreement.
We all went up the hill and were put in the ambulances, even though we all protested. But somehow, we all ended up getting strapped into stretchers. Damian rode with me while Callie rode with Dustin and Ayden with Will. Against my will, they injected me with some sort of painkiller and after a few minutes I began to get drowsy, until I was lost in a sea of darkness.
A sharp pain in my hand brought me to my senses.
"Ow!" I cried and tried to jerk my hand away from whatever was infecting the pain onto it. But something held it fast, and I felt another stab, this time in my other hand.
I opened my eyes to see Ayden holding my hand, and in his other hand, a pair of tweezers. I flipped my head and saw a doctor doing the same thing.
"Hold still," Ayden ordered me as another sharp pain in my hand caused me to jump.
I stared at him incredulously.
"You want me to stay still while you're tormenting me?" I cried shrilly, as the doctor tightened his grasp on my wrist.
"We have to finish taking the glass out before we can treat it," the doctor explained as he paused in his scavenger hunt.
I turned to him and stared at him for a second confused until the memories of the crash came flooding back into my memory. I sucked in a deep breath of air and let it go slowly, then nodded my head. "Okay."
Their scavenging lasted for what I guessed to be about a half an hour. When they were the done, the doctor told me they had found glass in my legs, as well as my forearms, but they had already taken them out.
"How long have I been out for?" I asked Ayden when the doctor left the room.
"Three hours tops," he replied as he removed the plastic gloves he was using and tossed them into the trash barrel.
I watched as he went to the sink and washed his hands, then pulled up a chair next to the hospital bed.
"So far the doctor has deducted that you have a minor concussion and a lot of minor scrapes and bruises. You also needed stitches for one cut in your arm, but that has already been handled," Ayden began, and gestured to his forearm.
I pulled up the Hospital dress's sleeve to check for myself. Sure enough there were stitches in my arm. I made a face. That would be painful to have taken out later... unless they were the stitches that went away by themselves after a time.
"Dustin came out mostly unscathed, just a few cuts and bruises here and there, but that's all. Your brother, amazingly, is also just as fine, except he had to get a few sets of stitches in his arms." Ayden laughed. "You came out the worst of all."
"That's good," I said with a sigh. "This is my fault anyways."
"That's not a true," a new voice said as the door opened. I looked up to see Damian entering the room with a bouquet of flowers. He set them on my bedside table. "Those are for you."
"Um, thank you," I muttered shyly, looking down.
"Anytime." I could hear the amusement in his voice. "But as I was saying, don't blame this on yourself."
"Well it is my fault," I protested, crossing my arms and pouting at the wall. "I should have at least turned the steering wheel the other way... then none of this would have happened. What if it had been more serious? What if we didn't come out with such small injuries? What if one of us had died?"
"Maddie!" Damian said, slapping his hands to my cheeks and pulling my face up to look at him. "What if? What if what? What happened is what happened, nothing more, nothing less. You should be happy it turned out this way."
"And you didn't hit Kale," Ayden added with a shrug. "Not that it would have mattered if you actually did though. He could survive a nuclear bomb, he's so strong..."
"What do you mean?" I asked curiously. "Is that even possible?"
Ayden returned my curious look. "It's possible for va-"
"Ayden!" Damian hissed, letting go of my face and turning towards Ayden. "Shut up!"
"What?" Ayden asked sounding confused. Realization crossed his face. "You haven't told her..."
"I was planning to soon!"
"Just tell her now."
"Tell me what?" I interjected throwing a suspicious glance at Ayden, then at Damian. "What?"
Damian stared at Ayden for a few more seconds before turning to me. "Ayden, Callie and I are all vampires."
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