Hunted「Book One」

「Seventeen」

Austin

No one was willing to leave Chris there alone. We all pulled up chairs and sat there in silence for the most part. I could tell Izzy wasn't in the mood to talk so I didn't even bother to make conversation. I tried to talk with Mary but every time I opened my mouth to say something, Drew shot me a menacing glare which shut me up in an instant.

It was a long night, to say the very least.

It wasn't until nearly sunrise when Chris still hadn't woken that everyone gradually began dispersing from the infirmary. Mary and Dakota both had to check back in with their families and those two refused to let Drew stay here with us alone, much to my relief. Soon enough, it was only Izzy and me who were left.

For the past two hours, Izzy had been drifting in and out of consciousness. It wasn't until she nearly fell out of her chair that I tried to get her to go.

"Come on, let's go," I urged her. "You look like you're in a horror movie."

Either the insult flew right over her head or she was just too tired to care. Either way, I avoided a bullet right there.

"Chris... Chris shouldn't have to wake up to be by himself, not after everything he's been through."

Rolling my eyes at her stubbornness, I grabbed her hands and helped haul her up from the chair. She stumbled to her feet but managed to regain her footing within a few seconds which was a surprise to me. Izzy wasn't exactly the type of person to work well with little to no sleep; I wouldn't be surprised if she was having difficulty walking.

"Iz," I said sternly. "Go back and sleep. If it means so much to you, I'll stay here and wait for Chris to wake up. Deal?"

She hesitated, but even she knew when to give in. After nodding slowly, Izzy turned and made her way out of the infirmary, dragging her feet as she walked. It wasn't until after she was out of sight that I managed to let out a sigh of relief. She definitely had to have been exhausted to agree with me of all people.

I never meant to fall asleep, I really didn't, but the second I plopped back down into one of the many empty chairs surrounding Chris, my eyes fluttered closed and I was out before I even realized what I was doing. I may function better than Izzy under these circumstances, but I was still just as human.

I'm not quite sure exactly how long I was out for, but the sun was up and brightly shining when I finally woke back up. I probably would've slept longer if I wasn't woken by the shuffling coming from Chris' bed. Opening my eyes, I noticed that he was just about awake.

He tentatively rubbed his groggy eyes before sitting up in bed. He almost seemed confused about where he currently was until his eyes landed on me and the empty chairs surrounding his bed.

"I did something stupid last night, didn't I?" he asked me, his words slightly muffled by a yawn.

I grinned. "How's that hangover feeling?"

"Like someone just hit me in the head with a sledgehammer," he muttered. "I have some idea of what happened last night, but I'm really hoping it was all just a bad dream."

My grin slowly faded and I realized that now that it was just me, I had to be the bearer of bad news.

"If it's about the thing with Charlie, then no. That really happened."

His hands curled into fists and he threw his arm over his eyes, shielding his face from view. I felt bad for the guy, I really did. I didn't know him all that well yet, but I knew he didn't deserve this; didn't deserve losing his sister. No one, no matter who it was, deserved losing a sibling.