Blood Moon Lake

Epilogue

Trigger Warning! ⚠️ Mentions of de@th and bl00d

💫 Important Author's Note!

I woke up to the sound of beeping. Where am I!? What happened!? I racked my brain for answers but came up empty. The last thing I remember is walking through the woods with Leo and I got lightheaded... I must have passed out! Which means Leo brought me here, right? Where is here? ...where's Leo? Forcing my eyes open, I was greeted with bright fluorescent lights beaming in my face. Turning away, I tried to lift myself off the bed I was lying on. As I did a numb tingle ran up my right arm. 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 and glanced around the room. The room was white and a heart monitor stood at the head of my bed. I'm in a hospital. We made it to a hospital. Leo got us to a hospital! I felt like crying in relief. We made it to civilization. ...Or at least I did. Where's Leo? Searching the room, I noticed I was the only person inside.

Standing up, I went to walk toward the door when my knees gave out and I stumbled toward the floor. Bearly managing to catch myself on a chair, I took a moment to steady myself. Okay, looks like I need to wait before I decide to walk anywhere. Sitting down, I waited a few minutes and gathered my strength. Then once I deemed myself ready I took the heart monitor off my finger, ripped the IV out of my arm, and started walking toward the door. Well, it was more like staggering. I'd lose balance every few steps and grab onto something to steady myself. Eventually, I made it to the door. Swinging it open, I peeked into the hall to see if there was anyone nearby. The hall was empty. Huh, I guess I'll have to wander around till I find him. Exiting my room, I began making my way down the hall peaking in rooms as I did. As I neared the end of the hall, I heard the bustle of people moving around and talking. Rounding the corner, I saw several people moving around. Some were hospital staff while the others I assume were visitors.

"Luke!" A familiar voice cried, "What are you doing out of bed!?" Turning toward the sound I saw my sister rushing toward me. "Astrid?" I asked surprised. "YOU IDIOT!" she yelled smacking me on the back of the head and pulling me into a hug. "What?" I asked confused. "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?" I asked. "Who?" she questioned. "Leo," I said, "Short, blonde hair, British." "Oh," she exclaimed, "The kid who stole the car?" "What!?" I replied astonished, "Leo did what!?" "He stole a car," Astrid answered, "That's how the police found you in the first place. Someone saw him driving past and knew the owners were out of town so they reported it to the police." "Leo stole a car?!" I said flabbergasted.

"Yes," she nodded, "The police went to track him down and found... Anna crouched over him with a knife. You were unconscious a few feet away." "Oh," I whispered, "How did you find me?" Astrid let out a dry laugh, "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 only did you go missing but a whole town was massacred and a survival group went missing too! They called us when they found you." I was stunned. Only nineteen days? It felt so much longer. It felt like months. Now I'm being told it wasn't even a month for all of this to happen. Nineteen days for so many people to die. For me to lose my friends. We were supposed to go camping! 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 smiled sadly and pulled me into a hug. "I'm so sorry Luke," she whispered.

Before I could stop them, tears started streaming uncontrollably down my face. I'm not sure how long we stood there, Astrid hugging me as I sobbed into her shoulder, but eventually the tears began to slow. "You never told me where Leo was," I whispered in between sniffles. "Oh, right," she muttered, "He's-" The sound of shouting cut Astrid off. "Get back here!" a woman's voice yelled. "NO!" A familiar British accent replied. Immediately detaching myself from Astrid, I rushed toward the voice. "Luke wait!" Astrid called chasing after me. Completely ignoring her, I focused on the sound of ruckus that could only be caused by Leo. Turning a corner, I screeched to a halt when I saw him. His leg was bandaged just like my arm and he was searching the halls wildly trying to decide where to go. "Leo!" I shouted waving to get his attention.

As soon as his name left my mouth his head snapped in my direction and he began hobbling toward me. "Luke!" he smiled relived. As he got closer, a nurse rounded the corner and headed toward him. Red teeth-shaped marks shone on her forearm. If I had to guess she was the one yelling. Pulling my attention back to Leo, I opened my arms to hug him. Instead of returning the gesture, I was greeted with a punch to the gut. "Ow!" I cried doubling over, "What was that for?!" "Passing out on me!" he stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world, "Do you know how heavy you are?!" "Normally people are telling me I need to gain more weight," I snorted. "Oh shut up," he scoffed yanking me into a hug, "Pull something like that again and I'll kill you." "Alright," I grinned hugging him back. I was vaguely aware of Astrid and the nurse talking, but they didn't pull us apart and that's all that mattered. We were alive and safe. Anna Greer can't bother us anymore. ...I wonder where they are.

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾　☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙

Greer sat alone in a holding cell. The earth justice system had caught them but they won't be here for long. No, they just need to wait and bide their time. Then when they're ready they'll track down the pests that foiled their plan. Once Greer finds them and makes them bleed, they'll open the portal. They can't be stopped. Slowed but not stopped. "Just wait and see," they chuckled to themself. Wait. And. See.

It is 12/20/2023 and Blood Moon Lake is officially complete. it only took three years and sixty-two days. Guys! This is the first book I've ever finished! I'm so proud of myself! I hope you enjoyed this story. I had an incredible time writing it. And I really hope you'll check out my other works here. Thanks for getting me this far. Love you all! Bye!

💫 Please read 'Extra' for more follow-up information about this story!