Protected

Painkillers

"Lucas!" I cried. 

I dropped down to my knees next to him. His fur was matted with fresh blood. 

Josh nudged him with his snout, and Lucas changed back. Zay quickly slipped his clothes over him. 

He was pale, and there were horrible gashes up and down his body. Farkle changed back, and Zay slid Lucas onto Farkle's back. Zay changed back into a wolf, and they took off through the forest.

"Lucas!" I screamed, starting to run after them.

Josh darted to my side and used his head to toss me up onto his back. I started to sob, leaning down into Josh's neck so that the wind of his sprint wouldn't sting my eyes. It didn't bother me before, but now it made my tears come faster. Riley was behind me, and she knew better than to try to comfort me, so she just wrapped her arms around my shoulders and stayed quiet.

We reached the house within minutes, and I slid off of Josh's back and headed into the house. 

They had Lucas laying on the kitchen table, dabbing at his gashes with cotton balls and wiping them off with cloths soaked with some sort of alcohol; I knew because I could smell it.

I ran to his side and sat in a chair.

"Is he going to be okay? What happened to him? I thought he won the fight? Is he going to be okay or not?" I hissed.

"They're deep wounds," Zay said, "But he got lucky, because I don't think they tore anything except for some skin. The best we can do for him right now is give him painkillers and hope they go into effect before he wakes up. Because if he comes to and-"

"SON OF A MOTHER!"

"Crap," Zay said.

Lucas had come to. His face was twisted with pain, but it smoothed a little when he saw me.

"Hey, Lucas," I said, "How do you feel?"

"Painful. But nothing's broken. I mean, I'm going to live and everything," his grimaced, "It just hurts pretty freaking bad."

I breathed a sigh of relief. 

Farkle slipped a bottle of Hydrocodone, painkillers, into my hand. I looked at Zay curiously. These were prescription pills.

"Don't worry," He said, reading my expression perfectly, "They're leftover from when Josh had his surgery a few months ago. We didn't steal them or anything."

I nodded and gave Lucas a few tablets, hoping they would work quickly. It was torturous when he was in this much pain. He swallowed the pills, with effort, then worked his face into a smile for me.

"I'll be fine, Maya," he reassured me, "We heal fast. They're only cuts, I should be totally healed in a few hours."

I nodded and chewed at my lip. Just then, Josh and Riley came in. Josh immediately rushed over.

"You got my surgery prescription from the bathroom cabinet, right?" he asked.

"Yeah," Zay answered.

"Good," Josh nodded his head, "I was afraid he was going to have to wait it out without painkillers."

Riley stood at my shoulder. I laced my fingers with Lucas's and rest my head on his chest.

And then, we waited.