Glitches

Chapter 16 - Game over?

I woke up by the sound of sirens.

I was... moving?

The world was still a blur, but at least the pain was gone.

I just felt groggy, and my body felt sore.

Like I had just woken up from a nap.

I blinked a couple of times, trying to see clearly. Slowly the world came into focus.

I painfully turned my head to the right, my gaze landing on Sam.

His face was hard, his eyes filled with worry and regret. My right arm was slung over his shoulder, him carrying me down a hallway while cursing under his breath. He didn't seem to have noticed my movement.

Someone must've turned off the sirens.

My head wobbled and a new pain exploded in the back of my head, making me groan. Sam quickly turned his head, and our eyes met.

His face softened.

"Bloody hell Stephanie..." he sighed, slowing a little in his pace. "You have no idea how worried you made me."

"Where are we going?" I croaked.

"To Miranda. Like we planned right?" he grunted as he kept pulling me forward. After a while he suddenly stopped.

"Can you walk on your own?" he asked, looking at me with concern.

I nodded slightly, lightening the pressure on Sam shoulder, and instead adding it on my legs. I tried to take a step, but my leg gave after under me. My face would had hit the hard surface of the floor if Sam hadn't caught me at the last moment.

"Okay, you clearly can't," he exclaimed, gently putting my arm around his shoulder again.

"What... what happened," I whispered into the fabric of the sleeves on his shirt. I let him carry me, but I tried my best to make it easier for him. Putting some of my weight on my feet as we walked.

"That bitch, your mother, knocked you out with a monkey wrench," he growled, his eyes getting dark with hatred. "If I hadn't seen you through the glass the second she hit you, I don't know what she would have done to you."

"Where's Vickie?" My eyes began to feel heavy again, the stinging pain in the back of my head growing.

"I knocked her out," he said simple, hatred still shining in his eyes, "took some of her tools to"

"Where's she now?"

"I left her."

"Ow!" I cried as the pain in my head exploded again. I whimpered in pain, my grip around Sam's shoulders loosening. A pain shot through my knees as I landed on the floor with a grunt. But it was nothing compared to the stinging pain at the back of my head. Sam looked down at me with shock, quickly crouching down beside me.

"Shit," he said, laying a reassuring hand on my back.

My head pounded, each time the pain increasing. I slowly lead my left hand to the back of my head, feeling something sticky on it. As I examine the palm of my hand my eyes widened.

Oil.

Brown, thick, sticky oil dripped from my shaking hand.

I let out a small gasp, my eyes feeling even more heavy as before. Sam looked just as scared as I, as he looked at me.

"Shit, shit, shit," he breathed, turning his gaze to the wound in my head, "is it that bad?"

His voice cracked at the end, guilt radiating from his body.

"I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault Sam," I whispered, sleep slowly trying to consume me. I closed my eyes for a second, but Sam grabbed my shoulders shaking me roughly.

"No. Stephanie whatever you do, don't fall asleep do you hear me!?"

He looked feverishly around, breathing shallowly.

"We're almost at the east door come on." With a quick movement, he scooped me up from the ground, running down the hallway with me in his arms.

"Don't fall asleep Steph," he muttered, struggling to run with me in his arms.

But it was hard. My eyelids got heavier and heavier, until they felt like bags of sand. Sam's breathing sounded distant, the world getting fuzzy.

"I'm so tired," I whispered, weakly trying to push myself away, but Sam didn't let go.

"Come on we're so close," he calmed, quickening his pace.

"Sam..."

He gulped. "No."

"Sam!" I shouted, making him flinch. Slowly halting to a stop, he looked at me with glossy eyes.

"Just leave me."

He gazed at my weak, tired body with clenched jaw. And he let out a trembling sigh his face falling.

"We're not gonna make it."

"Leave me..." I repeated, my voice hoarse. "You either find a way to fix that hole, or you leave me."

He frowned, lowering his head in defeat. Gently, he placed me on the floor, my back resting up against the wall, and crouched beside me.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, looking at me with pursed lips, eyes glossy.

I smiled at him weakly, resting my head at the wall.

"A blowtorch would've been nice right now," I forced a giggle, trying to light up the mood, even though we both knew that I hadn't much time left. When I ran out of oil it would be over.

But Sam didn't look at me. He looked at the floor with a thoughtful expression plastered on his face.

He quickly turned his head to me a grin on his face. I gave him a puzzled look, by his sudden joy. But by my lack of energy it didn't came out as more than a tired glance.

"Why so happy?" I whispered sarcastic, closing my eyes.

"Don't close your eyes!" Sam exclaimed, shaking my body. "Don't close your eyes, and don't fall asleep!"

"Okay, okay!" I exclaimed, squeezing my eyes together one last time, before looking at him.

"You should leave me before the guards come."

Sam didn't answer. Surprisingly, he slid off a small bag from his back, down on the ground.

Unzipping it, and turning it upside down, he made all its content fall down onto the grown.