Blood Moon Lake

Chapter 24

Something beeped beside me. I groaned. Something soft squished beneath me. Where am I? What happened!? The last thing I remember was getting lightheaded while Leo and I were walking. ...I must have passed out! Which means Leo brought me here, right? Wherever here is. ...where's Leo?

Forcing my eyes open, bright fluorescent lights beamed down on my face. Turning away, I tried pushing myself up. A tingling sensation ran down my numb right arm as it sank into a mattress. Glancing down, I noticed it was tightly wrapped with gauze and bandaging tape. Didn't Leo use my pant leg?

Careful to avoid jostling my injured arm, I sat up. Looking around, I found myself in a white room. A heart monitor beeped beside the head of my bed, and a clear tube attached to a bag was stuck in my arm.

Oh. I'm in a hospital. We made it to a hospital. I could feel tears welling up in my eyes. We made it out. ...Or at least I did. I blinked the tears away. Where's Leo?

Searching the room, I noticed I was the only person inside. Three chairs were pulled beside the bed, but whoever sat in them was no longer present.

Swinging my legs over the side of the bed, I stood up. As I moved toward the door, my knees buckled. Barely managing to catch myself on a chair, I lowered myself into it. Looks like I need to wait before I walk anywhere. Taking a few deep breaths, I calmed myself. If I'm in a hospital, then chances are Leo is too. He must be in another room.

After a few minutes, I took the heart monitor off my finger, ripped the IV out, and marched toward the door. Well, it was more like staggering, but whatever. I guess my legs decided they were done taking me places. Eventually, I made it to the door. Swinging it open, I peeked into the hall. It was empty.

Exiting my room, I began staggering down the hall, peaking in rooms as I went. As I neared the end of the hall, the bustle of people reached my ears. Rounding the corner, I saw hospital staff and visitors talking and wandering about.

"Luke!" A familiar voice cried, "What are you doing out of bed!?"

Turning, I saw a familiar bob of brown hair rushing toward me. "Astrid?"

She smacked me on the back of the head before yanking me into a hug. "You idiot!"

I blinked in confusion. "What did I do?"

"You're not supposed to be out of bed!" she scolded, "I swear you're as bad as my kids!"

Huffing, I pulled away from her. "Where's Leo?"

"Who?" she questioned.

"Leo," I repeated, "Short, blonde hair, British."

A flash of recognition passed her face. "Oh! The kid who stole the car?"

"He did what!?" I shouted.

"Shh," she shushed me, "He stole a car. Someone saw him speeding past and knew the owners were out of town, so they reported it to the police. That's how they found you."

My brain was reeling. Leo stole a car? How did he manage to do that!? "Leo stole a car?!"

She rolled her eyes. "Yes! They managed to catch up and found... well, they found Anna..."

I shook my head. "I don't want to know."

She gave me a sad smile and nodded. "Okay."

"How did you find me?" I asked.

She gave me an incredulous look. "Luke, you've been missing for nineteen days! Blood Moon Lake was a crime scene! They found three bodies! Three! It was all over the news. They were telling people to call the police if they saw you! Not to mention a whole town was massacred, and the survival groups went missing too! They called us when they found you."

I stood there stunned. Only nineteen days? It felt so much longer. So many people died. In such a short amount of time. I lost all of my friends in nineteen days. We were supposed to relax! We were supposed to have fun! We just wanted to have fun! I could feel tears welling up in my eyes, and I tried to blink them away.

Astrid pulled me into another hug. "I'm so sorry, Luke."

Tears started streaming down my face before I could stop them. I sobbed into her shoulder as she hugged me. It took a while, but eventually, the tears began to slow. "You never told me where Leo was," I whispered between sniffles.

"Oh, right," she muttered, "He's-"

The sound of shouting cut Astrid off. "Get back here!"

"NO!" A familiar British accent replied.

"Don't make me sedate you again!" the person yelled.

Immediately detaching myself from Astrid, I rushed toward the voice.

Astrid chased after me. "Luke, wait!"

Ignoring her, I sprinted toward the ruckus that could only be caused by Leo. Peeling around a corner, I slid to a halt. His leg was bandaged just like my arm, and he was searching the halls wildly.

I waved at him with a wide smile on my face. "Leo!"

As soon as his name left my mouth, his head snapped in my direction, and he began hobbling toward me. "Luke!"

A nurse rounded the corner and headed toward him. Red, teeth-shaped marks were indented on her forearm. Did he bite her!?

Leo closed in on me, and I opened my arms to hug him. Instead of returning the gesture, I was greeted with a punch to the gut.

I doubled over. "Ow! What was that for?!"

He glared at me. "Passing out on me! Do you know how heavy you are?!"

"You stole a car!" I replied.

Scoffing, he yanked me into a hug. "Oh shut up. Pull something like that again and I'll kill you."

Wrapping my arms around him, I couldn't help but smile. "Alright, only if you promise not to steal any more cars."

"Don't plan to," he replied.

I was vaguely aware of Astrid and the nurse talking. Neither of us moved, arms wrapped firmly around one another. We were alive and safe. Anna Greer is in custody; they can't bother us anymore.

You've made it to the end! Yay! I hope you enjoyed the story. If you did, I'd love to know, so feel free to leave some comments!