Days of Decay

Chapter Five

There was something so painful about Daisy's scream, that it resonated deep within Asha, rippling through her like a lightning bolt. Her immediate reaction was to see what Kit was doing. It seemed to be her reaction to most things in life, what would Kit do?  He just stood dead still, along with the rest of their newly found friends. Piper's eyes bulged like something just shot through her heart. Leo swallowed loudly and Max clenched his jaw before suddenly racing towards the door. 

Shit.

"We're not losing anyone else!" He yelled as he bustled out of the room. 

With a sharp breath, Asha followed quick on her feet, almost tripping up the stairs from the speed. Hurried footsteps rang behind her, and as they reached the main house, she ran to Max who had turned down one of the dusty hallways. He launched himself into one of the abandoned rooms.

There, they found her. 

"Right, everyone back up. This whole thing could collapse," Max ordered. They all shuffled back to the outskirts of the room. Asha craned her neck to see where the blonde girl was.

Daisy -who was swearing incoherently- was curled up in an unusually vast space between the floor and the ceiling of the basement below. It looked like the rotten floorboards had given way under her, despite her tall yet tiny frame.

Asha assessed Daisy from where she stood. She came across something worrying. Daisy had her hand pressed against the fleshy part of her forearm; blood pumped from beneath her bony fingers. She'd been cut by something on her way down and Asha quickly spotted the culprit; a rusty nail within a floorboard - it dripped with deep red. 

Max reached out his hand for Daisy to take but she refused and shook her head stubbornly. For a girl who'd just fallen through a house she looked more irritated than broken. 

"I can't get to you, you gotta take my hand," Max urged, keeping his voice quiet but steady. Then he realised the problem. "Ah," he said under his breath. "Okay, you just gotta reach up, I need to get you outta there, alright?" 

She nodded her head slowly before reluctantly freeing her bloodied hand and holding it up to Max. He gripped her just under her elbow and yanked her up; Leo helped bring her onto the floor. She let out a pained grunt as they laid her down. She quickly put her hand back to stem the bleeding, but on her way up the wound had spilled a faint-worthy amount of blood, and it showed no sign of letting up. 

"I'm fine," she huffed, but her face was showing a vulnerability that threatened to melt her icy front.

"I think that's the opposite of fine, Daisy," Asha said, her eyebrow rising.

The blonde girl gave her a scowl.

"Everyone out of the room," Max said before lowering himself to Daisy. "I'm gonna pick you up and you better not squirm," he demanded.

She rolled her eyes but didn't protest. He had no trouble lifting her up; it was like he was

picking up an empty cardboard box.

Asha couldn't help but watch as blood dripped onto the wood below. Tap, tap, tap.

"I'll need all the medical stuff you have!" Piper demanded as they all rushed down to the basement with Max leading. 

Asha nodded and branched off the main basement to the large room at the back of the house. Kit followed her, probably not wanting to get involved with the emergency at hand. She clicked open the door hurriedly and quickly lit the large candle in the entrance. Her arms stretched out, guiding her way through the dark room. When she reached the back, she sank to the floor and rummaged through their 'doctor's bag', which was essentially every medical thing they'd collected over the past six months.