This Is War

thirteen

The pain is unexplainable, but I'll try. Say someone took a shovel, placed it over your stomach (blade down), and then told an elephant to step on it. Something like that. When I saw where the bullet was flying, I had jumped in front of Kendrick, protecting him. The bullet had hit me squarely in the stomach. Everything after that was a blur.

Now I blinked in bright light. Instinctively, I raised my hand to block the light from blinding me, which caused my whole body to protest. Every bit of me hurt. A voice startled me, causing me to jump a bit. I rolled over and groaned sorely. My arms wrapped around a thick bandage.

"Anne! Anne! She's awake!" Ben was sitting in a white plastic chair next to my cot. He looked at me and there was something in his eyes I hadn't seen for almost a year. Relief.

Then I passed out.

***

This time, when I woke up, there were quite a few people around the cot, all of them in chairs and all of them sleeping. Ben was still there (slightly snoring), but when I saw the rest of the visitors, I sat bolt upright, too surprised to notice the blunt but definitely noticeable pain. Around my cotton flat bed, slept Kendrick, Shona, Conrad, and Leven. I screamed, "AGGHH!"

Everyone jumped awake. Even a couple people from outside the tent jumped in, clutching guns.

I paid no attention to any of it, instead I engulfed Conrad and Leven in a huge, big sister bear hug. When I pulled pack, smiling wider then I've probably ever smiled before, I noticed spikes just like Ben's on both of their backs. So these people actually did know how to get the evil things off. I was so happy I wouldn't be surprised if I could fly. I jumped up from kneeling at the boys' heights and tackled Shona. Her harness was off also, and she laughed really hard when I started tickling her in every ticklish spot I knew, which (being her best friend) was all of them.

"Stop! . . . Gah! I can't breath! Hahaha. . !!!" Tears of laughter came to her eyes, then she shoved me off and started tickling me. Which actually really hurt.

"Ow! Ow- haha! Ouch, stop! Haha." Shona got off, then heaved me up.

"Sorry," she apologized.

"No problem," I rubbed the bandaged spot under my t-shirt. I had on clean clothes, I realized. Crisp, green jeans and a large t-shirt advertising some kind of beer company. I wonder who'd changed them. . . Awkward.

This whole time, Kendrick had been standing awkwardly in front of the tent flap. I went up to him, stood there for a second, then gave him a super tight hug. My eyes were closed tight. I could feel his arms hesitate before hugging me back. I started to sob.

When I pulled back, Ben was standing in the corner, arms crossed. His father stood next to him with his arm around Ben's shoulders. Behind Ben stood Hal, who had Matt sitting on his shoulders. I faced them, eyes glistening.

"Thank you," I said to all of them. "Thank you. . . So much!"

They seemed to get the message, Tom nodded with a smile. I turned back to my family and pulled them all into a group hug. It was one of the happiest moments in my life.

All of a sudden, I fell to the ground. An insanely hot pain traveled from my bullet wound out through my body. I knew that something had gone terribly wrong.

The last thing I saw before I blacked out was Shona, Kendrick, and Ben's worried faces above me.