Chapter 18 : Wounded

MAXINE. They’re like a pair of small vortexes, those eyes. Calling for attention, sucking everything in, tugging at all the things it points at until there’s nothing left but fear. I begin to quiver from head to toe, the tips of my fingers frozen and numb as though it’s freezing. I’m petrified in my place. The feeling is oddly familiar, and I realize that I felt exactly the same way when I got attacked that night. Fear is flowing through my veins like a lethal drug and tears are welling up in my eyes. What is happening to me? Meanwhile, the wolf is slowly advancing towards us, growling and baring its sharp teeth. I remember the bite, the sensation of teeth sinking into my skin. The venom stung as it changed everything in my system. It’s all playing back now like bad tape, and even as the wolf gets close, I find myself unable to move. “Maxine,” Theo whispers urgently, grabbing me by the arm and leading me back into the facility. “You need to hide here, okay? Stay inside and I will take care of the wolf.” The haze around my head clears just enough for me to realize that if he goes toe to toe with that monster, nothing good will happen. I’ve seen him fight and he’s very good, but I’ve also seen his wolf and it’s not as big as this one. Not even close. He’s going to get mauled and sliced into ribbons. “Theo, you don’t have to do that.” I pull him back as he tries to get to the door. “You can just hide here with me. It’s not like he specifically asked you to fight—” “I know, but he will bring this place down if no one comes out there to distract it,” he explains, holding me in place by the shoulders. “Just be safe, okay? Don’t worry about me.” I shake my head. “But, Theo…” “I’ll be fine.” With that, he squeezes my shoulders and gets out before I can stop him. The wolf outside lets out a loud growl and thunders after him as he runs. I can hear their footsteps. I can hear the trees shaking as they get farther and farther away. And I’m still stuck in this makeshift hospital ward. I know what I should do: break one of those chests and look inside. But I know I won’t be able to focus on doing that while knowing that Theo is out there probably getting his ass kicked. It’s not that I don’t believe in his abilities. It’s just that it’s so unfair for him to take on that challenge while I’m here, possibly wasting my time over something ordinary like food or supplies. But I also know that Theo will probably kill me if I don’t try. “Fuck,” I mutter to myself, looking around for a tool as I pull one of the chests close to me. I look around for something to break the lock with, and I find a wrench lying under one of the beds. I dive in for it, raising it over my head and slamming it right into the lock. The clang of metal against metal makes my ears ring, but the job is done. The chest pops open, and I eagerly peek into it... Only to find boxes upon boxes of contact lenses. “What?” I splutter out loud. What the hell is this? I almost want to laugh. Why is this in a facility? What’s this supposed to achieve? I’m about to open more chests just to see if they’re all like that when I hear distant male voices slowly approaching. It must be the men who were working here. I jump to my feet and slide the chest under a bed, placing the lock just to make it appear untouched. Without wasting any time, I burst out into the night and use the tracks of broken branches to find Theo. And as though on cue, I hear him screaming in the distance. My heart jumps to my throat but I just run faster, trying not to think about the possibilities that could come out of that fight. The track becomes more and more obvious in the forest the farther I go in, and the sounds get louder and louder too. But then, there’s this deafening silence. My chest goes hard. Did something happen to Theo? Is he…? I don’t want to think about it. No. I shouldn’t think about it. “Theo!” I call out, just in case it’s a critical moment and he needs the wolf to get distracted. I don’t know what I will do if the wolf seeks me out, but it doesn’t matter at this point. “Theo!” Silence. Nothing comes bounding towards me. I just sprint faster and faster until I reach what seems to be the end of the tracks. A clearing yawns to welcome me. I step in, looking around to check if the wolf is there. But Theo doesn’t seem to be here either. I check the edges of the clearing, but there are no tracks that lead elsewhere. “Theo!” I yell again, my throat scratchy now. “Theo, where are you?” I wait, then I hear a very faint, “Here.” I whip around to find the source of the sound, and there I find Theo under a big broken branch. It’s stuck around his middle, preventing him from getting up. I grab the end of the branch and slowly lift it away from him, with no time to marvel at the surprising strength I just used to move the thing. Theo lets out a big breath once it’s off him. But unfortunately, it’s not the only thing that’s keeping him on the ground. I can see a long gash in the middle of his stomach. His overalls are nearly sliced into single threads and he has an open wound on his forehead, bleeding freely and covering his eyes. “Theo,” I breathe out, my chest constricting as I watch him try to get up. I push him back down on the ground. “Don’t move. You’re going to hurt yourself even more.” “I’m alright,” he says, but one single movement drains all color from his face. “You really shouldn’t move,” I say. “I need to, or else we’re going to get stuck here all night and get busted in the morning.” His eyes dart across the sky. “And it doesn’t seem like we have long until the sun rises. We need to get back.” “How are you going to pretend like nothing went down when this is what you look like?” I ask him, tearing through a rip in my sleeves to press against his cut. “There will be no hiding this, Theo. This is not like the bite on your arm.” His body stiffens. “Listen, Maxine. I don’t want you to go around mentioning that to anybody. I am perfectly—” “I know.’ I stop him squarely. “I’ll just put some pressure on this and when it stops bleeding, we are going to try to move. Does your head feel okay?” “I think the wolf might have cracked it against a rock, but I do have a big strong skull,” he murmurs. I frown at him. “So you fought that beast in your human form?” “I was just trying to distract it. And it worked.” I heave a great sigh. He has always struck me as smart, but this time I’m really doubting his capabilities. I want to keep having this little bicker with him while he tries to recover, but he lost a lot of blood. Even with me stemming the flow and trying to stop it with the sleeve, he’s still losing a lot more. His lips are already white. He might still act tough, but there’s no denying the fact that he’s in deep shit now. I need to get him back to the camp. Worse, I need to get him some help at the camp too. There’s simply no way he’s going to survive this without letting Amarantha or someone else know. Theo clears his throat as though he can sense where my thoughts are going, and to my surprise, he manages to get back on his feet. I take his arm and wrap it around my shoulders to support him. He stumbles once, twice. His weight is pulling at me. It doesn’t help that he has to be at least a foot taller than I am. “Just hold onto me,” I tell him soothingly. “We will get some help.” We start to walk, and for a moment, everything seems to be well. However, all of a sudden, someone speaks behind us. “I can help.”