Running for My Undead Life

Chapter 19: A New Beginning

*Artemis' POV*

I sat up quickly, clutching my chest and gasping for air. I had died. I'm not sure for how long, but I knew I wasn't alive anymore, that my heart had stopped beating. My eyes were closed as I thought back to what had happened. We were in the desert, there was a battle, I took a dagger to the chest. I felt the flesh over my heart where there was still a hole. I was stabbed by the leader, but Logan killed him after. I saw it. I opened my eyes as I heard people moving around, somewhat frantically. Lena... where's Lena? I surveyed the scene in front of me. The door was wide open. A trail of blood covered the floor. I followed it with my eyes, stopping on a head laying on the floor, unattached to the body next to it. I stood up, wobbling a bit. My father, the first person to notice me, walked over and gave me his arm to put my weight on. I did so as my eyes kept following the blood, which flowed past the decapitated body. It stopped in front of my mother, who was on her knees pulling gauze from the bag next to her and stuffing it into a wound on someone I couldn't quite see. Logan was propped up against the kitchen counter. His mouth was covered in blood and tears were flowing freely down his cheeks. He was staring at the person on the floor. Who was it? I shuffled forward, my father still at my side. Her hair came into view first. Dark, brown hair. Wavy and flowing. My breath hitched in my chest.

The aches I felt brewing in my body had nothing to do with the wounds that were still healing. I knelt next to my mother, grabbing Lena's hand. Her eyes were closed, her hands soft and warm. Tears glazed over my eyes as I saw the gaping hole in her stomach. I looked around the room. What could have done that? A giant sword lay next to the dead man's body. My mouth was open, and tears were now dripping down my cheeks. I looked back at Lena. My mother was still tending to the wounds, trying to stop the bleeding. After a few minutes, she was somewhat successful. She pulled out a syringe with a needle sticking out of the top. I was about to ask what she was doing, but she beat me to it. "Logan bit her," my head whipped in his direction. He was staring at me, horrified. I could see the fear in his eyes over my reaction. Scared that things would go back to how they've been the past seven years. Honestly, I didn't know how to feel as I looked at her fighting for her life. I could see why he did it. I wasn't a doctor, but it was very clear there was no way she could survive, not with that deep of a wound, not without dying first. I gave him a nod, as a thank you. I would've done the same thing. And anyways, I was done hating him. Everything that had happened was in the past and I should've never blamed him the way that I did. Time had taught me that. Looking at Lena again, I could clearly see where he bit her on her neck. "I still don't understand what you're doing," I told my mother. "His venom is what will save her life. But it can't work if her blood is tainted by the magic laced in that sword. I'm cleaning her blood with this solution so that the venom can heal, and she can hopefully transition successfully." Hopefully. My brain clung to that word. Repeating it over and over again like a mantra. Hope was all I had now. I looked at my mother. The cold-hearted woman I had known my whole life. Today had changed everything. Everything I knew about her. And my father too. Who were these people who cared enough to show up and fight for their kids? The same kids they had left to other people to raise. Questions for another time, I thought. Lena was unmoving, but I knew the pain she was going through. I knew how terrifying it was to not know if you're alive or dead. At least I knew what was going to happen before going through it. She probably had no clue that she was transitioning. I moved closer to her head and whispered words of affection and encouragement into her ear. There was nothing else I could do, except whisper and wait.