The Hunters

Chapter Eight: I'm sorry

Veronika

I sat up in bed and slapped the clock that was buzzing letting me know to get up. "Shut up." I said as I stopped the alarm. I stood up and got changed into jeans and a tee shirt. I walked into the foyer and found Walter dusting the paintings that adorned the wall. "Did you see Marco come home?" I asked Walter. "If he came home it was late enough for me to not notice." Walter said with a bit of worry in his voice. "I'll go check his room." I said starting to walk up the stairs.

I opened the door to Marcos room and found him spread out on the floor with dried up blood on his face still dressed in his suit pants and white shirt. I screamed and ran over to him. "Marco!" I yelled as I tried to shake him awake when that didn't work I pressed my ear to his chest. The thump of his heart was faint but still there and it made me want to cry with relief. I moved away from his chest and looked at him again. His eyes were open now and they weren't before. They were red and bloodshot I was so worried I didn't even realize how dark his veins were. Corruption.

I backed away from Marco as he got to his feet and I started to run down the stairs but Marco was fast and he grabbed my arm before I could get all the way down the stairs. "Marco stop this isn't you please!" I yelled not wanting to hurt him even though his fingers were locked onto my arms. Marco slammed me up against the wall and I felt a pop not knowing if it was my body or the wall. Walter ran up the stairs and tried to get Marco off of me but Marco threw him away like a rag doll with one hand. That was the power of corruption it made a person strong and quick but they lose any control over themselves.

Walter rolled across the floor unconscious as I yelled for him to stop trying to reach through the corruption to Marco. Now both of Marcos hands were wrapped around my throat slowly tightening. "Marco," I coughed, "please stop." Pain moved through my left flank as I felt my ribs crack and pop as I struggled to take in any air I could. I screamed out in pain "Marco stop!" his grip tightened and I coughed struggling to breath.

"Marco I'm sorry!" I cried out the words being choked out by the pressure that kept building around my neck. He had lifted me off of the floor and I felt like he could break my neck at any second but he threw me down the stairs. I rolled down the stairs each thud accompanied by the pops of my ribs. Marco came down the stairs and put his hands around my throat again crouching over me. I reached out to Marcos face and my fingers brushed his cheek as I felt myself fade. "Marco I'm sorry," I croaked out one last time before Marco curled over and laid out next to me after a loud bang that made my ears ring and my eyes widen as Marco released me. I gasped for air and coughed as I stared up at the ceiling the chandelier sending light throughout the grand foyer. I looked up and saw Jackie holding a gun that was still smoking.

Marco was on the floor bleeding, the bullet had pierced his shoulder so it wouldn't be a fatal blow. "Jackie call 911," I coughed out turning Marco onto his stomach so his shoulder didn't bleed so bad since there wasn't an exit wound. Jackie pulled out her phone and ran down the hallway. She came back out with her aviator glasses and a black jacket. She was still dressed in her plaid pajama pants when the ambulance arrived. I was put into spinal precaution and hauled onto the ambulance along with Marco and Walter, who was still unconscious. We were taken to the ER and they immediately started surgery on Marco. I was taken to get an x-ray to see what was broken. I was thankfully given a pain killer so the pain was a slight twinge when I was getting the x-ray done.

The x-rays showed that I had three ribs that were broken in several places but none of them had done any damage to my lungs. It would take weeks to heal but I was simply glad to be alive. The doctor said he wanted to keep me in the hospital for a few days that way he would be able to tell wether or not the corruption had infected me. "We'll also be keeping Sir Walter for a while to make sure he doesn't have any symptoms of corruption if you need anything let the nurses know and if you need me tell the nurses you want Dr. Erlund," he said as a single strand of hair fell out of the combed back silver. "Wait," I said before he left the room, "how's Marco?" "He's stable but we'll be keeping him in quarantine until he no longer shows any signs of corruption," Dr. Erlund said with a reassuring smile. I exhaled a breath of relief which made pain twinge in my sides.

I sat on the hospital bed bored out of my mind while Jackie flipped through tv channels. She stopped on a news broadcast that showed an outbreak of corruption in one of the small towns outside the city. I wondered how it happened then a thought hit me. "Jackie what if those mercenaries were trying to weaponize the corruption which is why they needed that wyrm?" I asked thinking about the idea and how terrible it would be. "If that's so Veronika we might be dealing with terrorist not mercenaries," Jackie responded looking grim while keeping all of her attention on the tv.

I watched the news as my eyes grew heavier and eventually I drifted off into sleep. I woke up alone in the room with all the lights out except for the lights of the monitor and the bathroom. I stood up and took off any cords that kept me from moving and walked out of my room. The halls were empty as I move through their darkness in an attempt to get to quarantine. The halls twisted and turned and I felt lost as I moved through the hospital and when I finally came to quarantine I was horrified. Marco sat alone in a single room walled with clear plastic. His eyes had no life to them as he stared in to nothingness. I ran to the plastic and hit my fist against it trying to get through to Marco. The next thing I know I'm being dragged across the cold tile floor kicking and screaming with no sound coming out. As the two men who drag me away darkness takes me.

I woke up screaming as a nurse barges in to check on me. My pulse on the monitor is going crazy as I put my knees to my chest and cry. Jackie is standing alert and unsure of what to do as I sob into my knees. My breathing and pulse steady out as I lay back down in the bed. The pain didn't hit me when I first bolted up but now it was and it only made more tears stream down my face. The nurse got me a glass of water and increased the dose of the painkillers they had me on and it would eventually change back to it's original dose. "Jackie can you check on Marco in the morning?" I asked putting my hand against my forehead. "Of course," Jackie said sitting back down and fluffing the pillow that sat on the couch she was asleep on.

The nurse left the room after she took my vitals and made sure everything was okay. I stared at the lifeless tv as I laid in the bed. "What was the nightmare about?" Jackie asked her eyes filled with worry.