The Road to Quinn Lake (book 1)

Chapter 11

     Five hours later...

  Emma awoke to see her dad and a man she hadn't meant before sitting at the back of the room whispering over coffee. "Emma, I'm so glad your awake! We are tracking a signal from the phone used to call you last night to try and find your mom and your boyfriend." The man was too happy for Emma to handle right now.  "How do you know that they are even still there?" The man thought about it for a minute, "We don't know but we are trying to follow the only lead we have. I know this is upsetting, but you need to let me do my job." Emma's dad lead the man out of the room and looked at Emma with sad eyes,"I called your brother; he should be here soon. Emma, I'm warning you now that no one is sure what conditions they are in." She couldn't bring herself to think about the possibility of losing either one of them.

   Brandon walked in not very long after; he didn't even glance at Emma. He sat down next to their father to wait for any news. Emma put in her headphones and lost herself in the music. The music reminded her of last winter; she was still in captivity. It was so cold that she thought she would freezes to death, and she could hear music from upstairs. She couldn't make out any of the words, but the background was light and airy. Emma also remembered Adam walking down the stairs humming it. She quickly turned off the blaring music and decided to try to talk to her brother. Before she could even say anything, her dad's phone rang. Emma couldn't hear any of the conversation, but her dad jumped up and started to put on his jacket. "Brandon, I have to go meet them on the third floor. Emma is getting released from the hospital in about an hour, so you guys are to stay here until then."

One hour later...

"Emma, are you ready to go see them?" Brandon asked trying to make a conversation. "I'm scared. We don't know anything about how they're doing." "I promise you that they will get through whatever is wrong with them; we all will. This isn't your fault, Emma. You know that."

"Okay guys, your mom is just a little bruised up, and she will be out by tomorrow. Luke is not so good; bullet wound in the lower, left side of his stomach.",Emma's dad explained, "Any questions?" They both shook their heads no, and Emma went to visit her mom first. "Hey mom, how are you doing?" "Oh Emma, I'm just glad to be going home soon. Honey, have you check on Luke yet?" Emma couldn't believe that her mom was this calm about everything, but she just went along with it. "No, not yet. I wanted to see you first." Emma's mom looked at her with a very shocked expression, "Emma, he took a bullet for me. I was supposed to get shot, but he jumped in front of me. I tried to help him but he just told me to find a way out so I did. Go check on him."

Emma left and went straight to his room; the door was closed. "Can I come in?", she asked quietly. Emma heard a quite murmur from the room and took it as a yes. Luke looked so helpless just laying there; he was as pale as a ghost and completely quiet. "Hey, how are you feeling?",Emma whispered trying to hold back the tears. He looked up at her and smiled the biggest smile he could without causing himself pain, "Hey Em, I'm okay. I'm just really tired, and I just lied to you; I feel like crap, honestly. Emma couldn't help but smile. All of the sudden, Luke's dad bust through the door. He was angry; it was the kind of rage that seemed to melt you to your core. For some reason, it felt familiar to Emma. "Why are you here?", He asked looking at Emma with an expression of fear and exhaustion mixed together. "I'm here for Luke, but I'm assuming you are here for a different reason.",Emma said back. She looked toward Luke to see his green eyes slowly turn to a grayish color as they filled with tears. "Don't act so superior to me, Emma. If Adam and I had it our way, you would be dead right now." That's when the room started to spin; did he just say what she thought he did? "What are you talking about? You didn't help him did you; Please tell me you didn't." Emma begged.  She looked to Luke for some kind of comfort, but Luke had his mind full of awful flashbacks and memories and didn't notice.