Out of the Darkness

158

"I guess we're prepared then...no more excuses," I replied. "No more excuses," he repeated. After we had a lengthy discussion about how we were going to stay alive the next day, the room fell into a resigned silence. We were taking in the fact that we were going to be risking our lives tomorrow, fighting forces that we had no clue how to deal with. "I think I'm going to go to sleep," I said, cradling my bad arm. It was starting to throb more painfully than it had before. "Let me change those bandages before we go," Sam replied. I stayed quiet, and only gasped in pain once, when he pulled the old bandages off of my arm. It still looked disgusting, and the smell was getting stronger. It was like my arm was dying, or rotting, from the inside out. Sam didn't say anything about it, but I saw the worry in his eyes. Kat sat where she was, her fingers over her lips, her eyes wide in shock, as she stared at my arm. "Isn't there someone one who can help heal your arm?" she whispered. I shook my head, and sucked in a sharp breath when Sam smeared the salve over my wound. "No. Ash gave us this stuff. I think it slowed the infection, but it's not healing it. I don't know who to ask," I answered, watching the realization of what I was saying spark in her eyes. She broke her gaze from my arm, and met my own. "Colby, you're just going to accept that? Accept death?" "No, I'm not accepting death," I lied. "We don't know what's going to happen with it. Maybe they'll just cut off my arm," I half joked. "You're lying. You know where it's headed. From the looks of it, your arm is already partially dead. It's going to take you with it. You can't just roll over and accept defeat!" "I'm not! I-" "No, shut up! You help everyone else, with everything they go through. You helped me find friends, a family, love, when I first met you. You helped Sam when he broke his back. You're even helping a dead girl, who you aren't even sure can be helped! But you won't help yourself." Wet trails ran down her cheeks, from the tears pouring over her bottom lids. I sighed heavily. "What do you expect me to do, Kat? I can't go to a hospital. What would I even tell them? All I can do is start from the beginning and try to contact every witch, wizard, faith healer, dream walker, and any other kind of supernatural/paranormal associated person that I come across. I plan on doing that...but after the house. I don't know why it's so important that I go there first. It just is." She wiped her face with the back of her hand and nodded. "Fine. Be the hero for everyone else, but remember this. Think about how it's going to make us feel that you didn't even have the decency to put yourself first. Think about how we're going to feel, how Sam is going to feel, when you're no longer here. When you're dead and in the ground. It's selfish, Colby. You're forcing us to watch you die, and it's not fair." Sam never said a word, but I watched his shoulders drop a little while I wrapped the new bandage around my forearm. "I'm not trying to do that, Kat. I would never want to make things harder on you guys. Especially not Sam. Look, I promise, after tomorrow, I will find a way to get my arm fixed up, or I'll die trying." "Not funny," she sniffed. I gave her a small smile, glad that she wasn't mad at me anymore. I knew that this was scary for her. Hell, it was scary for all of us. "Can't you get well first? Why does it have to be tomorrow? Anna is already dead. It's not like she can die again. She's waited this long so I doubt that a little while longer will make any difference. She cares about you, too. She wouldn't want you risking your life for her," Kat replied, the fire coming back into her eyes. "Katrina, let it go," Sam replied, softy. "It's his choice. He's doing this for Anna because she might be able to die again. This demon witch is killing her soul. She won't go to a life after death place, no heaven, no hell. She will just cease to exist. Unless Lilith decides to keep her "alive" forever so that she can continue to torture her. We aren't trying to get into any danger. We're hoping that this will just be a simple exploring trip. To look around and see what we might be able to figure out." "Then I'm coming too," She huffed out. Sam's eyes went wide. "No, you're not! I won't have you risking your life-" "HA!" She interrupted him. "I knew it was dangerous! If it wasn't going to be dangerous, then it shouldn't be a problem if I go too." He sighed and shook his head at her. "No. I didn't say that it wouldn't be dangerous. I said that we weren't going to try to get into any danger. That doesn't mean that it won't find us." Katrina was shaking her head again. Fast, short nods, her breathing getting sharper. "Kat, baby, listen. You know that we always try to be careful. Now, more than any other time. We know how dangerous this could be. I promise that we won't push it." Her eyes darted to me, and my mouth dropped open in indignation. "Hey, I-" "I won't let him push it either," Sam interjected, before I could protest. "Maybe his arm being messed up is a blessing in disguise. This way, he won't have a choice about being as careful as possible. We'll be okay. I promise that I'll come back to you." My arm throbbed painfully, along with my heart, as I watched her throw her arms around his neck. "Okay, seriously, I know this is a fucked up time, but I really need you two to leave. My arm is killing me, and the pain is making me dizzy. I need to lie down. Besides, I need to get my beauty rest," I said, smiling at them both. "You'll need more than a night, dork," Kat replied, rolling her eyes at me. I could see the small hint of a grin on her lips. Sam laughed, and ushered her out of the room. He turned back one last time before he closed my door. "Are you okay? Do you need anything?" I shook my head. "No, I'm as good as can be expected." He nodded, one quick dip of his chin.