Keep Watch

Chapter Eight

The sun was bright in her eyes when she finally blinked them open. Her head ached and she could feel the strange warmth of the swelling around her neck, but otherwise, Chloe's body seemed detached from the world around her.

Aava was leaning over her. The first thing she noticed was his black eye, which looked like it was just beginning to bloom in the place where his eye bags usually deeply sat.

She couldn't muster words. His lips parted and he must have been saying something, but her ears rang far too loudly for her to make out what it was. She blinked, shut her eyes tight, then blinked again, trying to get rid of the strange feeling that circulated around her.

She could still feel Lachlan's hands around her throat, choking the very life out of her.

Chloe sat up. Aava held out some water, and she could recognize his voice in the fray, but his words evaded her.

She took a sip.

A hand touched her shoulder, and she flinched away. Even after she realized it was Jeremy, the look of fear didn't disappear from her face.

There was blood on his fingertips. She could see it. It hadn't even had the chance to dry.

Chloe let her eyes drift shut for just a moment. When they reopened, the sun had moved a quarter further through the sky.

As soon as Aava noticed she was awake, he was back by her side.

"What happened?" she asked — though in the back of her mind, she knew exactly what the answer was. The scene wouldn't stop replaying in her head.

"Oh, thank god," Aava said with a sigh. "I thought he'd broken your voice box or something. I don't know how this shit works. You worried me, Chloe, fuck!"

Chloe's eyes widened as he raised his voice, and his teeth slammed shut in response. When he spoke again, it was softer. "How much do you remember?" he asked.

She tried to think back on it, but the moment her brain returned to the feeling of his hands around her neck, her face scrunched up tight and tears beaded in the corners of her eyes.

"You remember enough, then. Whatever you don't — let's leave it that way."

Chloe sat up. She could barely support her head on her shoulders, and there was a strange ache in the bottom of her stomach, as if she had been punched.

She still couldn't feel her legs, so it was only when she looked down at them that she realized she was wearing Jeremy's shorts. Glancing at him, she discovered he was only donning his boxers.

When her eyes met with his, he looked away. Ash did the same. The only one that would meet her gaze was Aava, so it was him she centered on. "No. I want to know what happened." Her voice was weak, but the spirit behind it was surprisingly strong. "I remember... I remember I passed out. He choked me."

Aava grimaced. "I don't think you want-"

Chloe cut him off. "Fuck you. Tell me."

He sighed. "Alright. Well, Jeremy heard him yelling and woke me. At first when we found him, we thought he was being controlled by the chip or something. So Jeremy pulled him off you while I grabbed some water. We thought maybe water from the bottle would be enough to drown him and fry the chip."

He paused, and Chloe considered that perhaps this story was hard for him to tell just as much as it was for her to hear. "So Jeremy held him down while I shoved it down his throat. But we didn't know you were unconscious, and..." His voice broke. "And when I looked at you, I realized your pants were..."