Cloud could feel something around him. Someone, something, was calling him. He opened his eyes slowly and flinched back at the brightness of the room. When he opened them again, the light had been dimmed down and he could see clearly. He looked around as he let out a groan and the first face he saw was Layla. A smiled came onto his face and he let out a breath of relief. She was okay. He lifted his hand to touch her but she suddenly disappeared. He frowned in confusion then suddenly screamed as he felt like falling. Everything went to black once again before he was suddenly jumping up in his bed, panting heavily. He yelled out in pain and felt arms pushing him back on the bed. When he opened his eyes, he came face to face with Demon. Demon let out a relieved sigh and smiled softly at his friend, happy to see Cloud was okay. Cloud barely paid any attention to Demon.
"Where's Layla? Where is she?!" he snapped at Demon and Demon sighed softly, rubbing his friend's arm in a comforting gesture.
"Cloud...look Layla..." he drifted off and sighed softly. Cloud started to worry more, getting scared by the moment about what happened to Layla. Cloud assumed the worst, laying back and bursting into tears. She was dead. That must have been what happened for Demon to sound like that. A knock came at the door and Tigerstar walked in, clearing his throat.
"Demon. May I speak to you?" he asked. Demon looked between Cloud and Tigerstar then went after Tigerstar. Cloud sat up, wincing at the pain he suddenly felt from his gunshot wounds. He flinched and clenched his jaw, too worried about Layla to really care about his wounds.
As Demon walked out of the room, Tigerstar pulled him a couple of feet away from the door and he talked in a hushed voice.
"They said that Layla was drugged pretty badly. Apparently more than anyone they've ever seen. It's going to take longer to drain the drugs from her system. She's alive but barely. My guess was that Jackson got the rest of the drugs from someone else when Zeek didn't deliver," he explained and Demon frowned, taking a deep breath.
"Okay, so nothing we can do about Layla. We will leave that up to the doctors. Have you heard from Zack yet?" Demon asked and the sad look on Tigerstar's face told it all.
Nobody had heard from Zack ever since Zeek died. Zack took it harshly when his wife was murdered, imagine now when his brother, the only family he had besides Lurch, was dead. Zack had taken one look at Zeek's body and lost it completely, unable to fight even. He just dropped to the floor, screaming, crying and rocking himself. It was painful to even watch. Lurch and Demon had been the ones to pick him up and drag him away from the scene. After that, Zack went with them to the hospital but didn't say anything. Once everyone had checked into the hospital, he had just vanished. Demon and Tigerstar worried about the other man's safety but also worried about Lurch. He had just lost his whole family in one day, his uncle and father were gone. Demon patted Tigerstar's shoulder and let out a sigh.
"I'm heading back in. Try to talk to Lurch," he said then walked back into the hospital room. He frowned when he saw Cloud sitting up. "What are you doing? Lay back down before you hurt yourself," he told him and Cloud shook his head, gritting his teeth.
"Where's Layla? I at least get to see her body. I want to apologize," he rasped out and Demon looked at him in confusion.
"What are you apologizing for?" Demon asked.
"For failing her," said Cloud as his head rolled to the side slowly so he could look at Demon properly. Demon was about to say something else but stopped when he noticed how pale Cloud was getting. He trailed his eyes down Cloud's covered body and froze when he saw blood starting to soak the gown and sheets. He darted out of the room, whistling loudly.
"HEY! EMERGENCY! NEED A FUCKING DOCTOR!" he yelled down the hallway and within seconds, a doctor responded by running into the room Cloud was in. Cloud stared at the doctor and watched as he assembled everything he would need to patch him up. Cloud stopped the doctor before he could touch him.
"Is Layla alive?" he rasped out, getting weaker every second. The doctor looked worried and annoyed at Cloud.
"Sir, this is no time to-"
"Is Layla alive?" Cloud asked again, interrupting the doctor.
"Sir, you're going to bleed to-"
"Is Layla alive?" Cloud asked in a more strict voice and the doctor glared at him.
"Yes, she's alive! Yes, she's alive but barely, like you!" The doctor finally snapped and Cloud let the doctor go, smiling to himself as the doctor patched him up. He only wanted to be alive if Layla was. He laid back on the bed after he was all patched up and he sighed softly, closing his eyes. The doctor left his side and was replaced by Demon who made Cloud's eyes snap open by him getting hit in the head. Cloud glared at Demon and rubbed his head. Demon glared back at him and crossed his arms over his chest.
"You gotta worry about yourself more than Layla, alright? She's fine just getting treated. You can't see her because she's hooked up to a lot of machines. Don't worry about her anymore. She's gonna be fine as long as she gets rest and all those stupid drugs pumped out of her system. Shouldn't really be long," Demon explained to Cloud to stop him from acting anymore rashly and Cloud nodded. He was happy Layla was alive and fine. Cloud started to remember the night before and he sighed softly.
"So, Zeek's actually dead?" he asked and the look Demon gave, said it all but he waited for his response. Demon let out a sad sigh at the mention of his friend and his face remained in a frown.
"Yeah. Yeah, he's dead. Nobody's heard from Zack ever since he found out about his twins death. He just vanished but we have some people looking for him. Lurch is...Lurch is around. Just really silent. He won't say anything to anyone and he kinda just sits on the chair in the hall that's across from where his father was. He always looks up when the door opens though. I bet he's waiting for his uncle to come back. Poor kid." Said Demon full of sympathy.
It was true. Lurch sat in the same chair across from the same door that his father was brought into then brought out of hours later. If the chair wasn't there after he went to the bathroom or something, he would sit on the floor. He even slept there. Whenever someone would open the main doors to the hallway, he would snap his head up, eyes hopefully, only for his hope to be crushed and for him to stare at the ground once again.
Demon cleared his throat and Cloud looked up at him again. Cloud searched Demon's face then came up with another question.
"How are you doing with this?" He asked and Demon looked slightly shocked that Cloud asked about him.
"It hasn't been the easiest but I have to be strong for everyone else so it's fine-"
"But it's not. I know yours and Zeek's past. I know you both served in the military together for like 20 years and you were always with him and he supported you with your bar. ALong with many other things. You don't have to be strong for everyone. I know it must be stressful to lose your best friend-"
"Stop. Zeek and I had a history and yes we were friends but I have other things to worry about than his death. I have your dumbass that went and got himself shot and your girlfriend that's still basically drugged. Plus, I have to find Zack, deal with Lurch and try to relax Tigerstar from racing out of the hospital to go in search of Jackson's body just to shoot it more. You should have seen after you were shot. Turned into a shooting frenzy. I shot the guy, the one that was holding Layla, through the head just as Tigerstar and everyone else showed up. They started shooting everyone that wasn't around us. Tigerstar shot all of his ammo into Jackson's body, Zack, of course, lost it over his brother, Lurch jumped onto the boat and started shooting. I raced down and joined him until everyone on that stupid boat was dead," Demon said. Cloud laid back as he took everything in and he tried to process everything. He let out a sigh and decided not to ask any more questions. He could see that Demon was struggling yet trying to hide it so he didn't want to push Demon too much.
"You can leave now if you want. I'm alright being alone. I need time to think too," he said as he moved an arm over his eyes to block out the blinding light. Demon chuckled softly and sat on the edge of his bed.
"Not a chance. Might end up trying to kill yourself again. Plus, you ain't gotta think about anything. Well, that's not true. You gotta think about the one question you probably keep asking yourself. 'What is Layla to you'?" he said and Cloud peeked at Demon from under his arm. He sighed as he dropped his arm to his side again.
"Yeah. I keep asking myself that stupid question. I don't know what to think of her or what to really do after all this. Demon, she killed her own child. I think it was under Jackson's order but she still did it instead of sacrificing herself. It makes me sick to my stomach just thinking about Amelia's body out somewhere. Just laying around, death by her own mother," Cloud said as he held back from throwing up and Demon sighed softly.
"Don't. Her body is not just laying somewhere. Oddly enough...actually I don't wanna say. Nevermind," he said fast and Cloud glared at him.
"Demon. What are you hiding from me? Come on it can't be that bad," Cloud said, unaware of what it could actually be. Demon swallowed nervously then turned to Cloud fully.
"I told the police about Jackson admitting that Layla killed their daughter so they went to look for her body around their house. They found Amelia's body. Sort of. Seems like Layla had cut her up then spread pieces of her body all around the forest in their backyard. She did a lot more gruesome stuff to Amelia's body as well. They said that Amelia was basically starved before her death and her wrists have marks of chains or ropes," Demon explained and stopped as he waited for Cloud's reaction. Cloud had a look of horror on his face and without thinking, he turned to the other side of his bed and leaned over the edge, throwing up heavily. Demon made a face of disgusting and plugged his ears not to listen or else he would throw up as well. He called for someone to clean up after Cloud had finished. The janitor came in, cleaned up then left as Demon sat on the bed again, looking to Cloud.
"Are you feeling better now?" He asked, cautious of what to say. Cloud swallowed harshly then shook his head. He let out a breath and took deep breaths, trying to remain calm.
"There's something else isn't there? Just say it Demon," Cloud said through gritted teeth, holding back tears for Amelia. Demon sighed softly as he took a deep breath.
"I'm sorry. I really am Cloud. The police are charging Layla with everything that happened to Amelia. She's not getting arrested though," Demon said, pausing. Cloud looked at Demon as his eyes widened. He started to panic and he grabbed Demon's arm tightly.
"No...no please," he said desperately and Demon sighed heavily before continuing.
"She's been given the death sentence. As soon as she's released from the hospital, they'll kill her."