Sub Zero

Chapter Seventeen

I don't feel the pain from the gun. The large barbed thorn never pierces through my flesh. It never tears through my muscles and plunges into any vital organs. I open my eyes, hesitant. Bright lights blind me.

My head throbs. I feel parched. I try to suck in a breathe of air, but my cracked lips and raw throat sting. I hear a beeping noise. As my head swims the beeps are so close together they make me dizzy. But they soon become a steady rhythm as I finally take in large gulps of air. My eyes clear. The world stops spinning.

My fingers dig into something soft; a blanket? I blink. The lights are still so bright. Torren's lair was dim, so why is it so bright? The beeping continues. It's driving me crazy. That steady, continuous pattern. Why should it be in order when my mind is so screwed up?

I realize that my wrist stings. My neck aches, too. I realize that my head is testing on a soft pillow. Why? I try to sit up. The dizziness returns. I lean over the side of the thing I'm laying on and vomit. My hair is plastered to my sweaty forehead. I would kill for a drink of water.

I gasp for air and try to sit back up. My ears ring. I look around the room I'm in. My world is still spinning.

There's a window. A few doors, one on my fat left and the other right in front of me. I'm on a bed; why? The beeping continues. "Shut up!" I croak quietly. I move my arm. My wrist stings again. I curse, then realize that there's some kind of tube running down my arm. The tube disappears at my wrist, where a piece of tape is securing something that disappears into my arm. An IV?

I look around again. There's a flat screen television set hanging on the wall in front of me, where a series of images flash by. It seems to be mutes, because I can't hear anything but that stupid beeping noise.

A voice breaks into my thoughts. Is it Finn? No. It's female. I hear it again. What is it saying?

"Crystal!" I blink. My gaze flickers over to the far corner of the room. There's a chair. Someone's sitting in it. "Mom?" I croak. She stands up, rushing over to me. My eyes focus on her face. She's been sleeping. I can tell by her messy hair and puffy eyes.

"Crystal, baby, you're awake!" She says. Awake? Well yes, that's obvious. Why wouldn't I be awake? And why is she here? Where am I?

I begin to panic. "Mom, where's Finn? How did I get here?" I ask, hysterical. She looks confused. "Crystal, you passed out in front of the train yard. You were dehydrated. I had decided to follow you for once..." She pauses, looking guilty, "and I found you there. I immediately called the hospital, and here we are."

I stared at her, shocked. "Mom, no! Where's Finn?"
"Honey, who's Finn? There's no one named Finn! Maybe I should call the nurse-," I rip the IVs out of my arms, ignoring the pain, then swing my legs over the side of the bed. An alarm goes off, and I curse. Luckily I have enough sanity to avoid the side where I tossed my cookies.

"Crystal, what in the world is wrong with you?" My mom yells. I look at her, my expression wild. "I have to find Finn! He's in danger! I love hi-," I stop myself. I don't  know what love is. How can I say this? But I can't help it. I really do love him. "Bye mom. I love you." I whisper. I try to get to the door, but a nurse runs into the room. She takes one look at the blood running down my arm and pulls out a walkie-talkie.

"We need security, asap, in room 122!" She yells into the device. I have no other choice. I grab a chair and throw it as hard as I possibly can. The window shatters, and I run towards the outside light, avoiding the broken glass and splinters of wooden frame.

I jump through the window, and luckily, my feet hit the ground from a three foot fall. I begin to run, never even looking back to see if I'm being followed. My arm stings and throbs, but I have to ignore the pain. I've become good at that.

Tears begin to spill from my eyes. Finn can't be gone! It all was real, it had to be! Frost begins to accumulate around me, and despite my situation, I am delighted to see that my powers have returned.

It wasn't a dream. The pain was real, Finn's warmth was real, the horror and disgust was real. I could feel my ribs breaking. I could feel his lips against mine. I could feel the sorrow of Indie's betrayal. And I could feel the revolting sensation when I witnessed Ren's death. And the sickening guilt of Raven's.

I hear a shout behind me, and allow myself to glance over my shoulder. Two security guards are chasing me, both of them muscular  and fit. They'll definitely catch up with me.

My arm begins to feel numb. I look down and see an unhealthy amount of blood flowing from the gaping hole that the IVs were torn from.  I rip a piece  of my hospital gown off the bottom and tie it tightly over the wound. Maybe the pressure would stop the bleeding.

The hot asphalt burns my feet, and I begin to grow weary. I can't keep this up. My knees buckle from exhaustion, and I collapse onto the hot parking lot. I didn't even get very far.

The guards grab my hands, then hoist me up. "FINN!" I scream. They drag me through a back door and into a different room. They forcefully restrain me to a hospital bed, strapping my arms and legs down with thick Velcro-like belts.

The next thing I know, I feel a sharp pain in my neck as a nurse injects me with a sedative.  My eyes close, and the dreams of the darkness return.