S.T.A.G.S. Before the End

Chapter 8

O My God, why is this so boring to watch? It was interesting in the beginning to see how my friends shot the birds out of the sky. Yes, it did break my hart and love for animals. But after maby twenty minutes, that interest started to change into boredom and resentment for the sport. And, to make it even worse, Lara kept giving me glances full of hate. It's almost lunch time and it keeps getting harder not to punch her in the face. But that desire was immediately forgotten when I heard a scream.

I anxiously start looking for the person who shouted. My eyes locked on Willow, lying on the floor, shaking an groaning. That's when I start running. Lara and I were seated about thirty minutes away from all the action, for our own safety. Now I can see why. I slide the last three meters on my knees and stop right next to her. James is already with her, holding her hand. Blood is pouring form the shotwound in her upperleg. "Okay, we need to put pressure on the wound untill the ambulance gets here." I say to James, taking over Willow's hand so he can do as I said. "There isn't comming an ambulance." I look up, seeing Lara looking casually at us. "Excuse me?" "You heard me. The nearest hospital is one and a half hour away. We already called the family doctor. He'll be here in twenty minutes." I rise up, hands clenched to fists. I can feel my rage building up. "So, you didn't call the professionals, aka the ambulance, to take care of a bulletwound?" She shakes her head.

My hand already made contact with her cheak before I realize what I'm doing. The others are next to us in a second of time and Henry is shouting at me. "What the hell are you doing?" With a hand shaking of rage, I point at Lara. "You have been anoying me all day long with you wierd looks, and now you didn't call the ambulance to help Willow? How would you feel if you would be lying there on the ground, bleeding like crazy?! You better hope that your family doctor is capable enough to care for her!" I feel somebody grabbing my hand. "Gemma, you need to calm down." I look down, straight into James' eyes. I jank my hand free, and sink back on my knees, grabbing Willows hand. "You are going to be okay." I whisper to her. She squeezes in my hand and I squeeze back.

As Lara said, the family doctor arrived twenty minutes alter. He removed the bullet, wich luckily wasn't deep in her flesh, and covered the wound with bandages. James and I helped Willow to her room and left her there to sleep. It's now evening and I'm, again, staring to the staghead on the wall in front of me. Something bothers me and I need to talk to Willow and James about it. So I again slip out of bed, this time walking to the door conected to the hall. I remember James' and Willows room being on the same floor as mine. I knock on the door I believe leads to James' room, and sigh relieved when he in fact opens the door. "Oh hey, what are you doing here?" "I need to talk to you. Come, Willow needs to hear this too." He nods and follows me to her room.

I softly knock on her door. "Willow, it's me and James. Can we come in?" I whisper. "Yeah." She's sitting in her bed, looking like she didn't get any sleep. "How are you felling?" She chuckles. "I think you know exactly how I feel." A broad smile appears on my face. "So, to what do I owe the pleasure?" James turnes to me, also waiting to hear what I have to say. "Well, I was thinking. It kind of looks to me like our accidents weren't realy accidents." Willow raises her eyebrow. "What do you mean?" I sigh. "Well, think about it. It were Henry's dogs who attacked me and one of the Medievals shot you." "How do you know I didn't shot her?" I move my attention to James. "Because, sorry, your aim was terrible. I was looking at you trying to shoot a bird when Willow was shot. Although your aim is bad, it isn't that bad. A bullet can't just change its course and hit something in the opposite direction. I don't know wich one of the Medievals it was, but is wasn't you."

"It makes sence." Willow says. "I was positioned in the front, so I was an easy target." "Exactly." James frown grows worse with the minute. "Come on, you don't realy believe that the Medievals would hurt us on purpoce? They are nice people." "But look at the signs.." "No, I won't. You two girls are just traumatized by the recent events, and I understand. You had a rough time. But they were just accidents, nothing more. Now, if you will excuse me, I'm going to bed." And with that said, he left the room.

After a small silence, Willow says. "If what you say is true, then maby James is next." I look up to her. "What?" "Well, we both have been attacked already, what if James is the next one to be hurt? Both our incidents could have been fatal, what if the next one is?" My eyes widen. "Well, he won't believe us, so there's nothing we can do but hope he will be okay."