Infected

Chapter 5

Pain is the first thing that Ivy registers as her shoulder agonizes over the loss of her arm and her stomach feels as if it's seconds from being ripped completely open. The second thing that she registers is rain hitting her in heavy drops, soaking her clothes through as she blurrily blinks through the darkness clouding her vision.

The third thing that Ivy registers is that she's being carried over Jack Baker's shoulder, which is why her stomach feels ten times worse than it had before, and Mia is hanging unconscious over his other shoulder. The fourth thing Ivy registers is that Ethan's ankle is in Jack's hand because he's being dragged through the mud, blinking blurrily up at her as dazed as she is.

Ethan's beyond happy that Ivy's still alive, happy that she hadn't died in his arms like he thought she did, and even if she had, he'd have carried her body until he got them all back home. He's deeply touched that his sister was willing to give up her life just so he could have a chance to escape, but Ethan loves his family more than anything, refusing to leave her behind even if she'd just been a body.

After he'd made it through the attic, he couldn't figure out how he was going to get Ivy up the ladder with him, so he had to set her down until he could figure something out. Before he could even try, however, Mia had come back with the chainsaw, and for once, Ethan was grateful for all the shooting range lessons that Ivy forced him to go to. Shooting with one hand wasn't easy, but he'd managed to take Mia down again, only for Jack Baker to come out of nowhere and punch him in the face.

"Welcome to the family, son and daughter."

That's what Jack Baker had said before knocking Ethan out cold, which is how they all ended up where they are now with Jack dragging them all to wherever, but Ivy and Ethan couldn't care less with the knowledge that they're likely to end up dying from their wounds anyway. This leads them to just falling back into the sea of endless darkness, hoping that when they wake up again, it's at home and this is all actually one big nightmare.

~~~~

"Come on...don't die on us, now." The voice of Zoe rouses Ivy from her unconscious state, making her blink a bit as she dazedly watches Zoe staple Ethan's hand back onto his wrist. "You have work to do."

Then Zoe moves over to Ivy, looking up at her though she knows the half-alive woman won't remember any of this, and Ivy watches as she pours first aid onto the wound in her abdomen. She doesn't even register the pain as she watches, halfway fascinated and halfway horrified, as her own skin start to reattach itself back together. Next comes her arm, which also holds no pain as Zoe reattaches it with the first aid before tying Ivy's very numb and dead wrist to the chair she's sitting in.

"You're stronger than your brother, so I'm hoping you'll save us all." Zoe mutters to Ivy, who doesn't even have the energy to lift her head to look at her when she stands up. "Get strong enough to take her down. For all our sakes."

Ivy goes to reply, goes to ask Zoe what the hell she's talking about, but she falls back into that sea of darkness before she can, her mind too lightheaded and her body too weak to keep her awake any longer.

~~~~~

The third time Ivy wakes up, she's much more energized and alert, and she easily blinks away the darkness in her vision to find herself tied to a chair next to her brother that's also starting to wake up. Something slimy hits Ivy in the cheek, making her jump a bit as she looks over to see a man grinning sadistically at her from his seat at the table, which is covered in the most disgusting food that she's ever seen before.

"Where am I? What the hell?" Ethan asks in a mutter, shaking his head a bit as he tries to figure out where he is, and he tries to get out of the chair, only to find that he's tied to it much like his sister is to hers.