Blood Rose (Completed)

Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Katherine had to order herself to move. For just a moment the thought occurred to her that she could just lie down and stare at the ceiling. Just for a while...until she was able to wrap her head around everything. If that was even possible. 

It was the low sound of moans that made her crawl up and move. Supporting herself alongside the shelves and leaving a trail of blood from the wound on her calf, Katherine slowly left the body (and head) of Bowers behind.

"Mike," she mumbled, and looked to the left and right when Katherine finally reached the end of the aisle.

No answer, only hushed moans of pain and Katherine tried to follow the sound as fast as she could. She had to let go of the shelf that supported her while her hand searched for her mobile in the pocket of her trousers.

The moment Katherine went to the right and saw the counter come into view, she held her pace. Mike was on the floor, leaning with his back against the counter and was holding his stomach. The moans came from him and Katherine made her way to him.

"Mike," she muttered while she bend down. "Are you okay?"

The librarian looked up at her, his gaze in a daze but a half smile crept around his lips when he saw her. Katherine looked at his stomach and saw the amount of blood pooling around the man.

"Stay silent," she ordered, put one hand on his stomach to help to build pressure while she dialed 911 with the other.

The phone rang, a lady answered and Katherine made sure they understood the urgency. Her own pain forgotten.

"Bill and the others," Mike muttered and coughed.

Katherine nodded and searched her phone for Bill's number. She didn't had it and saw Mike's mobile on the floor a bit farther. She crawled over there, unlocked it with the librarian's help, dialed Bill's number and told him to get his ass over to the library.

"Henry Bowers," she said quickly, remembering the beheaded body some aisle's further down. "He..he tried to kill us. Mike is heavily wounded, stabbed. There's so much blood."

"I-I-I'mmm on my w-way. I-I-'ll call t-t-the o-o-ottthers," Bill said, trying to hurry his words which made his stuttering worse.

"Bowers," Mike asked when Katherine put the phone down and applied full pressure on his wound.

She slowly shook her head and smiled faintly at him.

"Don't worry about him," she nodded, "he won't be any trouble. You just relax and keep awake, okay?"

The amount of blood that Mike was losing, made Katherine panic but she tried to remain calm on the outside. At least until the paramedics would come for him. A painful, short laugh came from the librarian's lips.

"Did you see that mullet?"

Katherine locked eyes with him, arched a brow in confusion and then smiled brightly.

"Yes, Henry Bowers mullet, I noticed. Hard not too," she replied and Mike chuckled, followed by a groan of pain.

"He had that since he was a teenager," he said with a grin. "Ridiculous."

Katherine smiled and sniffed at the same time, the pain in her leg throbbing angrily.

"Tell me more about your friends," she asked when noticing Mike had trouble staying awake.

He told her about Bill's bike Silver, and about Ben being a fat kid ; a fact that surprised Katherine seeing the Ben now was a well-trained man. How Bev always smoked,...

He didn't get to Richie or Eddie. Or Stanley.

The sound of the paramedics and the police disturbed the two when they stormed in. Katherine had to let go of Mike so the paramedics could do their work.

"You'll make it," she said, unsure if she believed her own words.

Mike looked at her while one of the Paramedics gently took her by the arm to help her up.

"Help them," he said to her, his eyes begging and Katherine bit her bottom lip. "Help them defeat IT. Please, they need you."

Mike was out of sight, rolled into the ambulance on the parking lot while Katherine was helped outside to get in one of her own. Right before the doors closed, she saw Bill, Ben and Bev came running down the street.

"Wait," she pushed one of the doors back open. "One of them need to join me."

She waved at the three of them and Bill didn't hesitate when he jumped into the ambulance. His gaze travelled over her and his features were pure horror. Katherine just realised she must have looked like she went to hell and back.

"Henry Bowers," she said and Bill snapped his eyes up to meet hers. "I don't know him. He wanted to kill Mike. Spoke about the Face in the Moon."

The Paramedic who was treating her cut glanced up at her and Bill made a hand gesture to not speak of it at the moment. Katherine shook her head and pulled the blanket a bit more over her to keep herself warm.

"This is quite deep," the Paramedic said. "It will need stitches and you won't be able to walk on it for quite some time. We're almost at the hospital. You will be fine, Miss."

Katherine nodded and kept silent the whole ride. Bill had one of her hands in his and Katherine could feel he was nervous.

"He'll make it," she said. "Mike will make it."

She got stitched up in the small Hospital of Derry. Katherine hardly felt something and they told her she could get cleaned up. Bev and the others arrived at the hospital too while Katherine was being questioned by the Police. They found a headless body in the library and wanted answers. Answers that Katherine couldn't give without sounding as a raving lunatic.

The weird part about Derry that Katherine hadn't noticed yet, was the fact that law enforcement didn't really try to get to the core of a case. The missing children from years ago never made it to the news outside of Derry. The violence happening here wasn't known outside Derry's borders. And the people who lived here, seemed to forget about or simply not care.

That's what happened when Katherine had told the Officer's and the Sheriff that she had no idea what happened, except that the librarian and herself got attacked by Bowers. She was sure that in every other city or village she wouldn't be allowed to go anywhere or would be taken into custody. Not in Derry, the officers just nodded while jolting down some notes and let her leave.

When Katherine came into the main waiting area of the hospital, supported by crutches, Bill and Bev immediately came towards her.

"Any news about Mike," she asked and locked eyes with Bill.

"He needs surgery again, already had one," Bev said. "But everything looks like he will make it."

Katherine nodded, the pain in her leg made her grimace and she shifted her weight a bit. Richie and Eddie slowly made their way to her too.

"We needed Mike. You know," Eddie said, "to defeat IT."

Katherine locked eyes with Bev.

"You smoke," she stated and Bev nodded with a grin. "Can I have one?"

"Sure," the red head grabbed her pack of smokes and gave it to Katherine.

"W-w-we will need to d-d-do it without M-mmike," Bill said.

"Without Mike and without Stan," Richie scoffed, "we're outnumbered. Well, figure of speech."

"You have me," Katherine piped up and the remaining part of the Loser's Club all looked at her. "I need a smoke first, then we will see what we can do to get rid of Pennywise. I'm sure Mike had gathered loads of info out of his history books. Let's wait until he wakes up."