Night Walkers - Halloween 2023

Chapter 10

The receptionist found the first aid kit then helped me get Carson's wounds cleaned and bandaged up. His wounds already had puss seeping out of them from the infection. He would need immediate medical treatment.

Skyler gently stroked Merek's pale forehead. Her hands were still stained red from his blood. "He's lost a lot of blood. He's so cold."

"Is he still breathing?" Carson asked.

She nodded. "Thankfully, but the ambulance needs to get here quicker. I don't know how long this tourniquet will hold. I also don't know how much time he has with the amount of blood he lost."

"You don't know? You're the one going to nursing school. Shouldn't you know how long he has?" Roalnd scoffed.

"Shut up, Roland. Don't give me that crap. School only just started a couple months ago; I still have a lot to learn. We're lucky I even knew how to make a makeshift tourniquet in the first place. We would have lost him in minutes if I didn't." Skyler snapped. "Besides, at least I'm still in school and not some drop out drunk like you."

"You dropped out?" Julien asked.

Roland sighed heavily and rubbed his face.

"Guys lets calm down and have this conversation later. We just went through hell, we're all a bit on edge right now." I interrupted.

Carson and Merek's conditions worsened quickly. By the time the ambulance arrived, Carson's forehead was hot with fever, and he was curled up on the floor, shivering. I had slipped his jacket off myself and draped it over him hoping to help keep him warm. Merek was also shivering where he laid; beads of sweat dotted his skin. The wound on his leg was already green and full of puss as well.

Julien and Roland unbolted the doors to let the paramedics inside. They strapped Carson and Merek to a couple gurneys and wheeled them away. Unfortunately, the three of us left had to stay behind since we were still under a code red, and the guys were instructed to bolt up the doors again until the sirens stopped.

"Do you think Merek will make it?" Skyler asked me while the boys tended to the doors.

"I hope so. What was with the counting you did in the forest?" I asked.

"With a nicked artery like Merek had, the person has a maximum of three minutes or one-hundred-eighty seconds, before they bleed out and die. By the time he was drug to safety he had already about lost ten seconds. Then me checking his wounds and realizing his artery was nicked probably wasted another twenty seconds so I started at the two-and-a-half-minute mark at one-hundred-fifty seconds." She explained. "By the time I got the circulation cut off, he probably had more than twenty seconds left, or he could've had less. Either way, he was still alive, so time hadn't totally run out."

"That was some quick thinking you did."

"Yeah. We happened learned how to treat someone in an emergency setting similar to that last week at school. I probably wouldn't have been able to save his life as quickly as I had or at all, if I hadn't learned it before hand."

Julien and Roland joined us on the floor.

"I can't believe they're gone." I stated. "Emily was too young."

"She was." Skyler agreed.

"I can't believe the six of us even made it out alive." Roland stated. "Nowhere in all our family histories have anyone made it out of that forest alive during an attack."

"Yeah. What do you think that means?" Julien asked.

Roland shook his head. "I don't know."

"They never used to attack during the day either." Skyler pointed out.

"That's true. Maybe ol' Ralph is right and the Nelemec are evolving." Roland said.

I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. When I pulled it out, I saw it was my mom calling.

"Excuse me, it's my mom." I informed the group before I found a quieter corner of the library and answered.

"Mom, are you alright?"

"Thank God. Amellia, I've been trying to get a hold of you for the past hour. Where are you?"

"Sorry mom, I've been busy. I didn't catch my phone ringing until now. I'm at the library with Carson's friends. Were under lockdown right now."

My mom sighed in relief. "Do you know what's going on?"

"Only that we're under a code red lockdown situation." I replied.

"You are okay though?"

"Yes, mom, I'm fine. I'm not hurt at all."

"You said you're with Carson's friends, where's Carson?"

"Him and one of his other friends got hurt during the hike so they're at the hospital."

"Oh no. What happened?"

"They tripped and fell down a small cliff and broke some bones." I lied.

"I hope they're alright."

"Me too. Are you doing okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine now that I know you're alright. The little old lady from down the street also came over to keep me company when the sirens went off."

"The lady who sits on her porch and blankly stares at people?"

"Yeah. I do agree, she is a bit odd, but she seems friendly enough."

"Okay. I'll be home, as soon as they allow."

"Alright, I'll see you when you get home. Stay safe. I love you."

"Love you too, mom." With that I hung up and returned to the group.

"How's your mom?" Roland asked as he scooted closer to me.

"She's alright. Apparently, she had been trying to get a hold of me for the past hour since the sirens started, so she was a bit worried." I explained.

"It's good she's okay though." Julien added. Skyler nodded in agreement.

"She told me that the older lady that lives down the street from us, came over when the sirens started."

"Does the lady live in that big, old, spooky-looking house?" Roland asked.

"Yeah, with the iron fence around the front yard?"

"That's the one. The lady's name is Penelope. She's not part of any of the founding families but she's been around for almost as long and all of us know her." Roland explained.

The four of us continued chatting for another couple hours while the sirens blared outside. We did our best to stay in high spirits despite, worrying about our loved ones and friends in the hospital. The trauma from the events that happened in the forest, will most likely scar us for the rest of our lives; and not yet feeling the total weight of reality and grief of the loss of our three friends.

To be continued...
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That's the end of chapter 10! 🎃

I hope you enjoyed. If you did, Please Vote and Comment.

👻 Be ready for the next chapter!

If you would like to enjoy more of my Halloween content, you can check out my Halloween stories from years passed.
-Nothing's What it Seems - 2022
-Real or Legend? - 2020 🦇
-31 Days of Halloween - 2019
-Halloween Stories - 2018

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