King of the Herd Book 1: Running Midnight

Chapter Ten: At The Hospital

"Riley, oh my gosh! What happened?!", "Dad, can you believe she riding a wild horse!", "Where did you find her Jake?", "Where have you been?", "Who did this?" Everyone was talking all at once when they saw her and Jake riding down the road. Everyone was there, including the Earhearts and Officer Conner, the one who dropped her off several weeks ago.

"Alright alright, let's settle down here." said Officer Conner all professional like as he walked up to her.

"She needs to get to the hospital!" said Jake as he dismounted Katrina, left her ground tied and walked over to talk to Officer Conner. "She's been shot and has a good blow to the head." then everyone gasped and Officer Conner ran to his car and was talking on his radio.

"Should we bring her down?" asked Alex, as she watched Riley slowly lying down on Midnight's back.

"Not now, we will wait till the Medics get here."

"They are on their way!" Officer Conner called out to them as he started his way back to the group. "Riley, listen to me." he said when he got to the group. "I need you to stay awake and tell me what happened, till the ambulance gets here."

Riley sat up and tried to explain as much as she could "I was....ambushed and...kidnapped." she tried to say, "They... killed my parents" she fought to stay a wake but her body was getting heavier and heavier.

"Who?" he asked her.

"The...three guys from before." she managed to say before she past out.

The next thing Riley knew was that she woke up in a hospital, her head was pounding a little and her arm was in a sling. Riley looked around and saw that everyone gathered around in a circle by the door of her room. They were whispering to each other, "When do you think she's going to wake up, Doctor?" Kelly asked a man in his mid twenties wearing a white hospital jacket, he was tall and had brown short hair and was holding a clip board in his one hand.

"Not for several hours, she took a huge blow on the head. Actually, she's kinda lucky, the injury that happened six months ago reopened, and that's good because when she hit her head her brain started to swell and her brain was able to expand within the crack. If her head didn't crack open, she would have died from the pressure of the inside of her brain. But, she lost a lot of blood too, I just don't know how she survived."

"Because of God" Riley managed to say and they all turned and walked over to see her.

"Hey, I'm Dr. Keller how do you feel?" he said when he reached her bed.

"A little tired, a little achy, and my head is pounding something fierce. But, other then that I'm fine." answered Riley.

"That's amazing" Dr. Keller said to her.

"Ha ha, well I don't think I'm going to be able to get up for a while." said Riley They all laughed, then Alex came squeezing through, "Hey, you remember me right, Riley?" she asked like Riley had memory lost.

"Yes, unfortunately, I remember you, Alex." Riley said jokingly, like she was trying to forget. Alex put her hand on her hips, and everyone laughed. "It's really good to see you again, everyone! You too, Alex!" and she leaned over to give her a hug.

"Alright, you need to rest." said Grandma Rose.

"She's right." said Dr. Keller.

"Aw, can't you guys stay a little longer? I really like the company." she said and tried to give a sad puppy-look face to convince them.

"Afraid not, kiddo." said Chuck. "The doctor's right you need to rest. Besides, Officer Conner wants to ask you more questions, you need to be rested up so you can do that."