Red Moon, White Moon

Chapter 12: Is that you?

When I regained consciousness, the room was spinning rapidly, and I had to grab my throbbing head to ease the pain. My eyesight was blurry, my shirt was missing, and I seemed to have bandages around my elbow and chest. Moving about in what I now recognized as a cot, I still felt that cold, eerie sensation we experienced in the tunnels. With every movement, my head pounded so heavily that I felt like vomiting. I could hear someone in the next room fumbling around and talking themselves into a frenzy. Sitting up, I felt sharp pains going through my chest, which had to be the result of the orbs.

"Toby," I whispered to myself, remembering what happened.

I looked around and found my shirt on a chair in the corner. Clutching my chest, I hurried over to it, shaking the cobwebs out of my head, and hurriedly put it back on. It had some holes in it where the shrapnel from the explosion that had caused my wounds most likely hit me. Standing up caused me to feel a tad light-headed, and I had to brace myself against the wall. I inched my way towards the doorway, wondering what happened to Andie Rae and the others. I peered out of the doorway and could not believe what I saw.

I stumbled out of the door. "Kevin?"

Looking up from something he was working on, there was my best friend since kindergarten. He was unclean, needed a shave, and smelled awful.

"Ahh ... Connell, how are you feeling?" he asked, clasping his hands together with a smile that revealed brown teeth.

Looking him up and down, I said, "What the heck happened to you?"

Laughing and nervously running his hands through his matted hair, he bent over a flame and signaled for me to come closer. Looking around furtively, he whispered, "Freedom."

He started to giggle and returned to working on some type of science project that seemed to involve blood. I shook my head in disbelief at first, and then anger set in. I made my way over to the other side of the table where he was working and slammed my fist down.

"I thought you were dead," I shouted crossly at him, forgetting about how much pain I was in.

Jumping back in a panic, he rushed over to the door, opened it, looked around, and closed it again. "Be quiet, or they'll hear you," he said nervously.

Joining him at the door and continuing to ignore my pain, I grabbed him by the arms, shook him, and asked, "Who are you talking about? What is the matter with you?"

He screamed, and pulled away from me, ran back over to his desk, and carried on working, murmuring anxiously to himself. Feeling dizzy, I had to lean against the wall so as not to fall over. I grabbed a nearby stool and joined Kevin at the table in order to rest and find out what had happened to him.

"Hey, Kevin, you have to help me here. The last time I saw you, you were begging me not to let go, then you just disappeared inside with a bunch of monsters."

"Monsters?" Kevin retorted. "Not monsters, but misunderstood gods with the ability for immortality." Rubbing his hands together, he looked up at me and continued. "We have been so wrong about them. They are not the enemy, but those who hunt them are."

Shaking my head in disbelief and picking up one of his vials of blood, I said, "So Lilly and I are your enemies?"

He snatched the vial out of my hand and shrieked at me, "Don't touch that." He carefully placed the vial back in its case with the others. "Yes, you are now, both of you."

"Why did you save me if I'm your enemy?" I asked, sickened by his comment.

He paused, looked at me, and I saw my friend for the first time. "I owed you for all you had done for me. But now we're even."