Marked

Chapter 10

I was not fine.

My leg was killing me. Literally. I needed a break. And some more medicine and care for it, probably. But I also needed to catch up before Casey and Vincent got to Naomi. If I don't catch up before they get there, the only other option would be to call Naomi, and by now my cell service was probably shut off by orders from the government. My phone was dead and useless. It's not like I would have gotten any cell service out here anyway.

I was scared. I'll admit it. It's not something to be ashamed of. It shows you are human. Casey and Vincent were my responsibility, so if something happened to them it would be my fault. I wouldn't be able to live with that. They were the closest things I had to friends and we have all known each other for years. You know, before I realized the signs of the mark and stupidly pushed them away. Even still, they were always by my side. I can't think of a time that they weren't there for me when I needed it. Now they need me, and I can't return the favor.

Alec was watching me carefully, as much as he could while driving, ready to take a break as soon as I make even the smallest noice that could be from pain. He seemed in deep thought since our dispute back at the safe house and the car after. He looked worried for me. Four years and he still spends all his time worrying. Some things never change.

"We can stop and rest if it'll get you to stop worrying about me," I said without making eye contact. Without even looking at him I could feel him staring at me, trying to judge if I was tired or not. Well, spoiler alert Alec, I am.

"Well, I most likely won't stop worrying, but it'll make me feel better if we stopped to rest."

"It's not like we need to, we are sitting in a car and the roads have been pretty smooth the past few hours. What more rest do we need?" I asked.

"A food break. A break to rewrap your leg. A bathroom break. There are many things."

"Alright. We can stop here for a few minutes, then head on and stop at the closest safe house, which, if I remember correctly, is about 10 miles away," I compromised. Alec pulled the car over and got in the back to get out the medical supplies and food he brought.

After gathering the supplies, he opened the passenger door so he could clean my wound. I was covering it with a blanket, mainly to keep him from constantly looking to see how discolored it was, so he uncovered it. The blood had soaked through the bandages quite a lot, which was weird since the bleeding had stopped back at the safe house.

"What did you do to it?" Alec practically yelled.

"Not so loud, would ya? I already have a headache."

"That didn't answer my question. It looks as if you were just digging your nails into it," he exclaimed.

"Well I obviously wasn't doing that. It probably happened when we hit that particularly bad pot hole a few miles back. Let's just hurry up and get this cleaned." He carefully unwrapped the wound, and I had to look away in order to not throw up. It was pretty bad.

In order to distract myself from the pain, I thought about how much has changed in the last few days. Just a few days ago, I was doing my job, avoiding people, and waiting for the mark to come to me. I honestly didn't expect it to come at such an inconvenient time. But it did. Along with Casey and Vincent's, which went out of pattern. I'm the past few days, I have had many close calls, met a few long lost friends who had been in my own sector without my knowledge for the past four years, and then got shot in the leg. My life, as bad as it was before, just keeps getting worse.

"Ow!" I felt a sharp stinging pain in my leg all of a sudden. I looked to see the wound mostly cleaned and Alec with a needle in his hands. Presumably, that was the pain killers.