Having Two Mates {2017}

Chapter Twenty-Six

           
[THIS IS THE 2017 VERSION OF HTM! THE 2024 REWRITTEN VERSION IS NOW AVAILABLE!!!]

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX:

HAILEY

I knew I was dreaming when I woke up in my house. Everything was quiet besides the birds chirping happily outside. The whole thing was too good to be true. That's why I knew it was a dream.

  Nothing in this sick mind game Demetria had started would numb all the pain I was in. She could keep trying to alter my memory but the burning sensation within me would always remind me of who I was and how I felt. I had hoped that after the tenth attempt, she'd give up. Alas, she was persistent.

  The dream vanished and I was back lying under a bright examination light. I could hear the whirring sounds of machines pumping unknown liquids into my system. They were meant to scramble my head but the Other Me was resisting it. Resistance only caused me more trouble for I could only become sick to get the poison out of my system.

   "Hailey, please just cooperate." Sammie sighed.

   Oh yeah, she was here too.

  When Demetria was around, she said nothing. She was the one who had nearly beaten me to a pulp trying to force me to turn but I resisted the urge to defend myself. I couldn't bring myself to fight my best friend knowing she didn't want to fight me either. When Demetria wasn't around, she was more sympathetic. She would clean my wounds to accelerate the healing process. She would cry as she apologized for her wrong doings. She begged for forgiveness too but no matter how much I didn't want to fight her or have her killed, I couldn't forgive her for being a part of my torture.

  Did that make sense? I'm not sure what does at this point if I'm honest. I was doing my best fighting the poison but some still slipped through. Hence the frequent trips to another world where I wasn't strapped to a table like a lab rat.

  "She'll kill you," Sammie began to cry. "She'll kill you if you don't accept it."

  She'll kill me even if I do.

   I don't know if Sammie knew how bad Demetria had it out for me. She wasn't around when Demetria exceeded the limits of the doses she told Sammie to give me. She didn't know that Demetria was plotting to kill me whether I became a hybrid zombie or died from an overdose.

   The door was being unlocked quickly. Sammie pulled away, cleaning her face so she wasn't caught.

   "You can leave now," Blake said. He came into my line of vision and I could tell by the change of expression, I didn't look good.

   Blake unbuckled the straps around my wrists and ankles, sitting me up so I could get down. If I hadn't been doped up on whatever Demetria put in my system, I would be able to attempt a getaway but really, I was tired.

  I was propped to stand but my legs gave out under me. Sammie looked ready to cry again and Blake seemed frustrated.

  "What have you guys been doing in here?" He asked her.

   "I-I don't know," Sammie tried to sound like she didn't care but her act fell through as she looked at me. Blake's too.

  "She can barely stand," He lifted me up into his arms. "The hell of a weapon did Demetria think she was making?"

  "She wasn't making her into a weapon." Sammie bowed her head. "She was trying to kill her."

  "Bloody Hell," Blake frowned.

  Still, he carried me up the flight of stairs that lead to the first level and stopped outside of these large doors. I watched as he reached into his pocket for something before pulling out a syringe. I made a noise of protest which he ignored as he injected yet another fluid into my system.

  Only this one felt a lot more pleasant than the others.

  My body relaxed in his arms, almost as if I was on the verge of sleep.

  "Here she is now," I heard Demetria say as we entered the room.

  Blake was no longer carrying me. Instead, he was dragging me as I was struggling to walk on my own. He was, however, holding me tight enough so that I didn't fall on my face.

  The air in the room shifted once I was completely in the room. Blake's support left and my legs gave out again. I fell to the floor in a slump, breathing heavily as I tried to focus on the figures in front of me.

  "Hailey?" Luke's voice called out softly.

  I lifted my head in response because words wouldn't come out. That's when my vision focused long enough for me to make out the people in the room.

  Luke was held by his collar further towards the back. His expression was mortified as he stared at me. Beside him, Melanie's lip trembled as she held back tears. Then in the front, Alex and Nathan who both wore similar expressions to Luke's.

  Damn, I really must've looked bad.

  "What did you do to her?" Nathan was the first to ask.

  Demetria played with the ends of her hair with a bored look on her face.

  "I don't really know actually." She says. "I'll be honest though, she's been holding up well."

  "She looks like she's about to die!" Melanie growled.

  "Well, that's the goal." Demetria deadpanned. "You catch on quick."

  Melanie began to lunge but was pulled back by two men.

  "I hope you get what's coming for you!" Melanie jerked around. "After everything Alex and Nathan did for you! This is how you repay them?!"

  Demetria rolled her eyes. "This is nothing personal against Hailey." She says. "I'm only carrying out a task I was assigned to do."

  "You're a liar!" Melanie broke free from one of the men. "You've always been jealous of people Nathan got close too. Alex too! You hate being second place so you go after Hailey because what? Because she's better than you and has what you don't?"

  That struck a nerve in Demetria.

  "I should've killed you when you were squirming under my foot defenseless." Demetria slammed Melanie to the ground.

  "Go ahead and try," Melanie challenged. "You won't gain anything from it."

  Before either of them could attack each other, something shot across the room and exploded just feet away from me. The explosion left my ears ringing leaving me disoriented on the floor.

  Suddenly, there was a sharp pain in my stomach. It felt like it was burning but also like it was clawing away at my insides. I couldn't see anymore and weird hissing sounds were coming from me.

  What had Blake put in my system?

  There was a lot of growling and more explosions. I could smell the heavy scent that wolves carried and knew the guys from earlier had shifted to fight. I noticed the walls had caught fire as well and the bottles along the walls were exploding from the heat. But I couldn't move anything.

  I felt helpless as images flashed across my vision. Images of burning buildings and large black wolves claiming lives. There were cloaked people walking among them, an evil radiating off of them. That world and reality switched back and forth before I felt something heavy make an impact on my head and I was knocked back onto the floor.

  As I stared up at the ceiling, I noticed my senses had become hyper sensitive. I could hear the fight around me. I could hear how everyone's heart raced a mile a minute from the adrenaline. I could hear the cries of those who were injured. I could hear the whizzing of arrows flying across the room and hitting their targets.

  I could hear my own heart slowing down. It slowed, and slowed, and slowed, and slowed.

  Then it stopped.