The Last Survivor

Chapter 7

Patrick's POV

My eyes suddenly opened and I was blinded by a bright white light. I couldn't see or hear anything for a few seconds, but I could feel myself breathing fast. Then I felt someone grab my hand. I was finally able to hear a familiar voice calling my name and telling me to calm down. My eyes grew accustomed to the light and I spun my head around to see where I was. My gaze fell on the clear blue, worried eyes of my friend Joe. I felt tears forming in my eyes, I was finally safe.

He placed a hand on the side of my head, stroking my hair that was drenched in sweat. "It's okay, you're safe now," He assured calmly.

I threw my arms around him, bringing his body closer to mine and crying in his shoulder. I wanted to talk, to just say something, but I couldn't form a word. After I calmed myself a little, I pulled out of the embrace but kept my hands on his shoulders. I looked at him in the eyes. "It was...it was horrible," I managed to croak out, "They...they," I started but stopped because I started to cry again.

He pulled me into a tight hug again and rubbed my back. "It's over."

"It wasn't a real game, Joe," I muttered in his shoulder, "He just wanted us to die."

"Who's he?" Joe asked, pulling out of the hug.

"Denis. The guy that stopped me in the street that night. He's fucking crazy."

After about thirty minutes, I finally had calmed myself completely and was able to tell him what happened, at least, what happened until Brendon knocked me out. He was really shocked.

"I'm sorry you had to go through this," He said, squeezing my hand. I hissed in pain and looked down at it, seeing that it was missing a finger. "I'm sorry." He apologized and took his hand away.

"It's okay," I muttered.

"This Brendon is such an asshole."

"Talking about him, how are they? He, Pete, Charles and Anna," I elucidated.

"I just know that Charles and Pete left the hospital a few weeks ago. I don't know about Brendon and Anna," He replied.

"Weeks?" I inquired, my eyes widening.

"Yeah, you've been in a coma for about two months. They kept you in an hospital in Hawaii until you were stable enough to be brought back home," He explained.

"But, how did they find me?" I asked, confused.

"I don't know."

We talked a little bit more. He told me the few things I'd missed while I was gone. He made me feel better, making jokes about the beard that grew on my face during all this time.

I got out of my hospital bed, stumbling a little as I tried to stand on my feet for the first time in months, and went to the bathroom. I looked at myself in the mirror and saw what I looked like after all this time. I definitely lost weight, and not just a few pounds. I took off my hospital gown, leaving me in my underwear and saw my ribs sticking out. I leaned closer to the mirror and took a look at my face. As well as my ribs, you could clearly see my cheekbones, even though they were hidden behind the golden hairs of my beard.

I hopped in the shower and felt the warm water on my skin. It felt so good. I must've lost track of time in the shower because I heard Joe's knocks on the bathroom door. "You alright in there?" He shouted so I could hear him.

I turned the shower off and answered him, "Yeah, I just got out!" I stepped out and wrapped the towel the hospital provided me with around my waist, shaving the beard away and changing into a clean gown.

My eyes widened as I left the bathroom and saw who was sitting on the other side of my bed in front of Joe - Pete and Charles. I ran to them and hugged them both. Tears formed in my eyes. I was so happy to see them again, to see them safe.

"How'd you find me?" I asked them once back in bed, "And, what happened to Brendon and Anna?" I added.

Pete looked down then up at Charles for approval. He turned his gaze to me and told me what happened to the two old members of our reunited teams. "Then we looked for you, for hours," He explained, "Of course, we found you. You almost had no pulse, you lost a lot of blood because of your finger. I thought you were going to die." His voice cracked a little bit by the end of his story.

"Then," Charles started, "We found one of the staff member's walkie-talkie on the beach. We don't know how it arrived there." He chuckled. "But we somehow found a frequency, from an island not too far from ours. They came with a boat and brought us back to Hawaii."

"The staff left you?" Joe inquired.

"Yeah, just when we got reunited," Charles retorted.

I fully recovered in a few days and came back home. I'd never been this happy to see my dad. After what happened, he completely changed. He stopped drinking and beating me.

The police asked me, Pete, and Charles to answer a few questions and arrested Denis.

I got money from the TV company for my hand. Instead of doing something for it with the money, I preferred giving the money to my mom and keeping just a little bit for college.

Joe, Pete and I started a band with a friend of Pete's. His name's Andy. It's gonna sound weird, but I'm glad I lost a finger on my right hand, I wouldn't have been able to play chords with a missing finger on my left one.

And me and Elisa. Well, we're together now. Joe says we're the cutest couple ever. He might be right.

But even though it looks like everything's beautiful and perfect now, I keep waking up in the middle of the night because of nightmares. I hate having them, I hate remembering all those deaths I've seen. Listening to that man on the street will always be the biggest mistake I've ever done.