As your bony fingers close around me,
Long and spindly, death becomes me
Heaven can you see what I see
Pain is ready, pain is waiting
Blame it on your karmic curse
It sucked you in, it dragged you down
To where there is no hallow ground
Where holiness is never found

~ ‘Dream On’ by Depeche Mode

Chapter 13

Midnight crept upon Oakburg Psychiatric Hospital, and most of its occupants were not awake to see it. The grounds around the hospital were silent and dark; the sliver of moon in the sky barely penetrated the trees near the hospital’s grounds, and every now and then the air above the grass and trees would burst into small pinpoints of lights from stray fireflies. The only other light came from the few windows that were bathed in a golden yellow light from within the hospital.
One of the lit windows came from the girl’s psychiatric unit; a nurse wearing a crisp white uniform knelt beside the bed of Leigh, soothing the young girl in quiet tones as Leigh shook like a leaf, huddled in her bed.
“Sweetheart, no one is going to make you go to group therapy sessions if you’re not ready for them.” The nurse smoothed the sheet down over Leigh’s feet, who clutched the sheet tightly around her body. “Don’t let this keep you awake at night.”
Leigh shook her head, short brown hair flying in every direction. She couldn’t shake the feeling that they were going to make her, and to someone suffering from an anxiety disorder, the thought of facing every girl on her floor terrified her.
“What if they do -”
“Honey, they won’t.”
As Leigh argued with her, her tone quiet and urgent, her roommate looked on passively. Miette had sat up in bed, but the twelve year old wasn’t listening to their conversation. She absentmindedly plucked at the sheet with her fingers, and patiently waited for the moment the nurse would leave and turn the light off so she could go back to sleep.
It wasn’t coming, however; the nurse continued to talk, and the light stayed on. Miette shifted her gaze from the carpet to the lamp and then, when that hurt her eyes, to the window. It was black out there; if she could just get out there, it would be nice and quiet and dark and she could sleep. Miette shifted in her bed until her feet slipped to the floor and she stood, the abandoned sheet sagging to the floor. The nurse spared her a glance, and then relaxed when she saw Miette was only going to the window.
The girl pushed back stray dark curls from her face and peered into the darkness outside, wishing it was dark in her room, too. Although it wasn’t as black outside as she had thought. She could see bright spots lighting up on the grass; fireflies. Miette had a vague memory of catching them in her parent’s yard; of holding the small bugs in her hands and feeling them tickle her palms as she cupped her hands so she could see the glow in between her fingers. The thought almost brought a smile to her face.
But they were going out. Miette placed hands on the windowsill, and watched with a slight frown as, one by one, the fireflies blinked out. Where were they going? Abruptly, outside of her window was darker, and there was an indistinct knowledge in the back of Miette’s mind that it was too dark. She watched the ground below curiously, waiting to see if the fireflies would come back, but -
Miette’s head turned slightly as something caught the corner of her eye. She looked hard into the darkness, but the harder she looked, the less she could see. She averted her eyes again, and found that she could see it clearer when she wasn’t looking directly at it. The shape was darker, and it moved on the grass below her window. Was it an animal? Miette disagreed with herself; an animal would not have been that big. She watched it out of the corner of her eye, more curious about this than she had been about anything in the past. Perhaps her doctor was right and she was getting better.
The large shadow moved again, and unexpectedly it was out of her peripheral vision and in the front of her eyes, standing below. Miette gasped quietly in surprise and took an involuntary, uneasy step away from the window.
“Miette?” the nurse looked up from her crouched position, finding the young girl hesitating by the window. “What are you doing?”
Miette’s brown eyes were transfixed outside the window, her small form stock still in front of the glass.
“There is a man outside.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Robyn startled awake in her bed. She took in a sharp breath as her eyes opened, dragged from sleep for reasons she didn’t know. Her eyes focused in on the darkness in the room; on Thora’s sleeping form in the bed next to her and the dark dresser by her head. Why was she awake? What had she been dreaming about?
She sat up, feeling uncomfortable with being awake and not knowing what time it was. There was an odd feeling growing in the middle of her chest, right around her heart, and she instinctively placed a hand on her chest where the feeling was. Her heart was racing beneath her fingertips. What was wrong? Was she ill?
Suddenly sitting in bed was uncomfortable and, agitated, Robyn got out of bed and stood. She couldn’t explain why she felt the need to get up and move around, but sitting and not doing anything felt wrong.
“What is wrong with you?” she whispered to herself. She could feel that her eyes were wide, that her face was pale, and her skin felt clammy. She clenched and then stretched out her fingers, and paced over to Thora. Thora slept on, hair bright even in the darkened room, and Robyn took a slight comfort at the living, breathing form of the girl.
The feeling in her heart was growing making it heavy, and gradually, her brain was synchronizing with her heart. Warning bells were going off in the back of her mind, and she still couldn’t figure out why. When had she felt like this before?
Robyn stopped moving in the middle of the room when she realized why this was familiar. Where she was when this urgency and panic grabbed her heart the first time, when the need to get away had been so powerful her muscles literally jumped at the opportunity.
The girl made an indescribable noise in horror as it washed over her, seizing her heart and filling her chest with a terrible certainty and panic.
They had come for her.
They had found her.
Robyn made the noise again, which converted into a strangled sob. She brought the back of her hand to her mouth, tears of fright filling her eyes and disrupting her vision as for a brief moment, she was so scared she did nothing. She didn’t know what to do.
Yes, she knew what to do. Get the hell out of there.
Robyn abruptly sprang into action. She lunged for the door, briefly thinking of Thora sleeping in the next bed, but they were after her; they would leave everyone else alone because they were after her.
Oh, God, Kortez was really here.
Robyn opened the door and halted just in the doorway before running out. She peered around the door frame, found the hallway empty, and entered it. Standing in the deserted hallway, she was once again frozen in a state of uncertainty, not knowing if she should run for dear life or find a nurse - but what could she say? Who could protect her? She couldn’t possibly run outside, that wasn’t an option; she knew with a chilling certainty that they were out there.
She gave an involuntary yelp of surprise as a figure came out of a room further down the hall, and jerked her head to see. It was a nurse. Just a nurse, but her heart would not calm down.
“Robyn, what are you doing out of your room?”
She opened her mouth to explain, and found she couldn’t get enough air in to form an explanation. The nurse walked closer, and behind her peering out of the doorway was a young girl with short dark curls. Miette.
“Robyn?”
“I - there’s someone -”
“Outside? You saw it, too?” Robyn’s eyes widened with horror. “Miette saw someone outside, I was about to call security.”
Security won’t help! Robyn wanted to scream at her. She didn’t know what to do! They would only get hurt, and the nurse was walking past her and Robyn still didn’t know what to say.
“That man outside is really dangerous,” Robyn burst out, and the nurse stopped to look at her. “Security’s not going to be able to do anything. They’re after me, whoever’s outside - you need to call the police or something, but they’re going to get hurt -”
“Robyn, I highly doubt -”
“Listen to me!” Robyn said shrilly, and the nurse’s eyes widened. “They’re after me - call the police, anything, but don’t let them in - I…” Robyn simply could not explain herself, and she knew how crazy she sounded, but she was nearly choking on tears that she couldn’t rid herself of. Please let her just call the police, Robyn willed silently, please let her believe me.
“I’ll call the police, Robyn,” the nurse said soothingly, and feeling a slight reprieve from the pressure in Robyn’s chest, she wiped at her eyes and nodded, praying to God that it would be enough. Otherwise, she didn’t know what to do. “Just stay here for a minute, okay?”
Robyn followed her instead, unwilling to stand out in the hallway by herself, as the nurse disappeared into the nurse’s station. Robyn sniffed and looked at the empty couches and chairs in the little rec room they always sat in, uncomfortable with the thought of sitting in one of them because there were windows right there. It wasn’t long before the nurse came back out, and placed a hand on Robyn’s arm.
“Just relax, help is on the way. Are you sure whoever’s outside is after you?”
Robyn nodded miserably, inexplicably embarrassed at the nurse’s somewhat patronizing tone. “Does it have anything to do with the incident that happened before you came here?” Robyn nodded again. “All right. Just hold on a minute - there they are.”
The double doors at the end of the unit opened, and two orderlies came in. As they came towards Robyn, she had an uneasy feeling that she wasn’t going to like what they were here for. What the hell was going on here? She looked from the nurse to the orderlies, and when the first one reached over to take Robyn’s arm, she took jerked it away.
“Where are you taking me?” Robyn’s demand came out small and fairly shaky.
“To a safe area until we figure out what’s going on,” the nurse explained.
Robyn’s head jerked to the orderlies, unsure of what that meant.
“It’s all right, Robyn. Go with them, and everything will be fine.”
She didn’t believe the nurse. She was completely torn. What was safe in this hospital from Kortez? Maybe she would go with them if there were more people. Safety in numbers, right? Robyn had no idea if that would be the case, but standing where she was wasn’t helping. She finally relented, and began to walk with them. No one spoke as they traveled down the hallway, the orderlies’ grip on her arms light. When they reached the double doors, however, instead of going through them, they turned her to the last door before the exit.
This was the quiet room. Where they sent Daniela when she was being difficult. A locked, empty room.
“I’m not going in there!” Robyn protested, and jerked her arms away from the orderlies. She backed up and her back hit Regan’s doorway - Regan, Robyn suddenly remembered. Maybe Regan could help, but - Regan was in a sleep study, she wasn’t even on the floor! Robyn realized with an inward wail.
“Miss McCarthy, please don’t make this difficult -” one of the orderlies said, and approached her again.
“I’m not going in that room, please, just call the police -” she stopped talking when she noticed the other orderly calling for backup. A whole other level of panic gripped her heart in a tight fist, and she looked pleadingly at the nurse a few yards away. “Miette saw - there’s someone outside - don’t touch me!” Robyn jerked away from the orderly trying to grab her arm again.
The commotion was causing a few of the other patients to wake up, and doors were opening down the hallway. Immediately, the night nurse turned to tell them to go back to their rooms. Simultaneously, the double doors near Robyn opened, and two more orderlies came in, one of them holding a book sized package that she knew contained a syringe.
Full blown panic seized Robyn, and as an orderly came to grab her again, she shoved him. He stumbled back, and Robyn sprinted for the open doorway. She lost her footing momentarily as another orderly made a grab for her arm and nearly fell, but as Robyn came back up she pushed past the orderly, who fell back with the surprising strength of her shove. Robyn immediately sprinted down the next hallway, oblivious to the cries to grab her, and ran like her life depended on it.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Outside of the hospital, the forest that had previously been teeming with small life had gone completely quiet. Katydids and crickets went silent, and the life in the forest seemed to be holding its breath for what would come next.
The figure outside of the hospital rose from its crouching position. From around the corner of the great building, three figures strode across the grass, equally dressed in dark colors.
“Can we go in yet?” Derek asked, hushing his voice and casting furtive glances at the windows.
“It is not ready,” Kortez responded. The hood of the dark cloak he wore obscured the view of his face, and his gnarled, spindly hands protruded from the wide sleeves.
“How will we get her with all the patients in this place?” Sheila asked. She had pulled her dark hair up in a high pony tail to keep it out of her face, and she looked at the building, she could feel excitement growing from within her chest. If they could get her here, they could finish the ceremony, and Sheila could only imagine the reward they would all receive for this.
“All in good time,” Kortez responded. His raspy voice ended in a slight chuckle, and Jason stepped over to stand next to him. “You will have free reign to get her once I am through.”
Jason grinned, teeth white against the dark, as Kortez raised his hands. The sleeves of the cloak slipped halfway down the ancient man’s arms, his white, paper thin skin glowing in the darkness. Curled fingers rose towards the hospital building, and Kortez began a chant that reverberated and hung heavy throughout the air. His three disciples could barely contain their excitement as the darkness extended from the very air around them to overpower the building itself. What little light there had been outside had the life sucked out of it, leaving shadows darker and greater than they were before.
When Kortez finished the chant, all life in the hospital was temporarily suspended, save one.
There was a brief pause as his hands came down. “Let us go in.”
Jason grinned wickedly as Derek howled and the three began to change shape.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Robyn’s breath came in painful bursts as her lungs strained to keep up with the energy her muscles were using to keep her moving. Her bare feet slapped painfully against the tile, and the material of her pajama bottoms wisped against each other and the floor as she ran. She was coming to the end of the hallway, to another set of double doors, and she had to skid to a stop before she hit them. These doors were locked, and she had no way of getting them open.
Robyn let out a frustrated cry, her heart still racing and pumping blood throughout her body. Terrified they would catch up to her, Robyn turned to see how far down the hall they had gotten.
When she saw them down the hallway, however, Robyn froze. A moment later, a scream tore itself from her throat.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Regan awoke in such a panic that it took her breath away. Her eyes shot open, focusing in on the dark ceiling, and she took deep breaths into her lungs as if she had been suffocating in her sleep. She braced herself with her palms and sat up in the darkened room that wasn’t hers. She had no reason to feel panicked, no reason for fear to grab her like this; why was it rolling through her mind so strongly?
It took Regan a long minute to realize through her disorientation that the panic was not hers; it belonged to someone else, who was apparently feeling it so strongly that it hammered away at Regan, whose shields were thin due to sleep. With effort, Regan envisioned the rest of her shields in her mind, brick by brick, until a wall separated her mind from the emotions of another. A headache was already forming, though, and Regan touched the spot on her head where the pain was starting. It was nothing compared to the terror she felt mere seconds ago. Whose terror was it?
It had to be Robyn’s. Regan wouldn’t have felt it that strongly had she not been so close to Robyn. The only time she knew Robyn felt this kind of fear was when she thought of the ritual she told Regan she was in, and if that was the case…
Dread settled at the bottom of Regan’s stomach. She reached up and pulled the small metal electrodes from her scalp and temples, and then ripped off the ones on her arms, pulling up her legs to pull the two off there; the elastic belt around her stomach was easy to remove. Finally free from the restraints, Regan slid out of the bed, and hissed in a breath when her bare feet touched the cold tile. She walked to the sleep study room’s door, and hesitated at the exit. Was anyone out there? Cautiously, Regan cast out to feel if anyone was, but curiously, she could find none. That was good enough for her.
The room beyond was indeed deserted. Robyn’s feelings weren’t so overwhelming, and Regan opened the connection further for any signs of orderlies or nurses near her.
She felt nothing.
Regan paused in the middle of the room. That never happened before. Everyone gave off some emotion, some feeling; the only thing she could sense was very vague life outside of the room, and that only told her that anyone within a good amount of the hospital wing she was in was alive. She had the vague sense that she was utterly alone in this part of the hospital.
Regan’s mind was curiously silent of all else but Robyn’s fear, and for a moment she basked in the wonder of that. It was completely quiet. What was everyone doing? She shook her head. Standing there wasn’t going to get her answers.
Regan moved out of the room and into the hallway, knowing she had to pass through a lab and there would certainly be some people there. She would be almost grateful to see any of them if that meant this terrible quiet would stop, and not just in her head; the area around her was dead silent. It felt wrong.
The doors to the lab came closer and, knowing they were locked, Regan gave a small mental push and the locks clicked open. She didn’t bother waiting to check if anyone was inside, and instead pushed the doors open. She stopped and went still in the doorway. The hand she placed on the doorframe slid off of the metal and fell limp at her side.
They all looked dead.
Regan knew if she tried to speak, she wouldn’t be able to. She felt mute and deaf as she took in the room, the silence absolute, and the bodies motionless where they lay. Her mind told her they were alive; if she stared long enough at the woman slumped over the computer console, she could see her back rise and fall as she breathed. They had to be alive; they still gave off life, so they were either sleeping - ridiculous, Regan thought - or unconscious.
Still. Regan moved quietly into the lab, holding her breath as she approached an orderly who looked as if he had collapsed where he stood in a heap on the floor. She knelt down and placed two fingers on his neck. The steady thump of blood flow finally sated her uncertainty, and Regan stood back up. What the hell would do this to these people? Nothing could have attacked them; they all looked as if they dropped in the middle of what they were doing. There was no assailant here, and Regan could smell no gas; and even if it had been gas, who would have done that and why hadn’t it affected her?
Regan cast out further, waiting for something other than Robyn - anything - Jesus, is everyone like this? And suddenly her mind touched something infinitely darker. With a gasp, Regan mentally recoiled from the brief, cold touch, the sensation more disturbing than she could put into words. It felt like touching death. Like touching something old and -
And evil.
Regan uttered an expletive in her native tongue, thoroughly shaken by the unexpected touch. There was no way - but she felt it - how else…?
Robyn. She had to get to her. Regan felt for Robyn again, instantly feeling the girl’s fear, and Regan’s own heart beat faster in alarm. Robyn wasn’t in any physical pain, but at this point, that meant nothing. She headed down a corridor in the direction the energy was coming from, for the first time painfully aware that she was barefoot and only wearing blue pajama bottoms and a white tank top. And completely alone. It had been a long time since Regan had felt vulnerable to this degree.
Regan broke into a jog down another hallway, knowing she was getting closer. She nearly went down the wrong hallway, but after another turn, she thought she heard a girl’s voice. She slowed and breathed shallowly out of her mouth; Robyn wouldn’t be out of the girls’ ward, at least not this far from it. Regan didn’t cast out too far, she didn’t have to; something felt hideously off somewhere nearby, in the direction the girl’s voice was coming from. Regan moved as quietly as she could, glancing down every hallway and trying not to give herself away. Whoever it was would not be expecting anyone to be up and about, so she had that to her advantage.
“She’s not down this hallway.”
Regan jolted and immediately turned a corner in the opposite direction. Her voice was closer than Regan thought it would be. Whatever energy this girl was giving off felt smattered and covered up by something that Regan felt would smudge the air with how dirty it seemed, and if Regan had continued down the hallway she had been in, she would have walked right in it.
“From what that guard said -” the girl paused to laugh lowly, “through his tears, anyway, the girl’s floor is not too far off. Come on, we’ll both go.” Regan faintly heard what sounded like the click of nails on tile, not unlike a dog; at least she hoped it was simply a dog.
Fortunately, Regan knew the way to the girl’s unit better than they did, and after a few more turns, she was almost there. She unlocked a set of double doors and faltered slightly when she entered to find two orderlies laying on the ground further down the hallway. The doors to the girl’s floor were open, and Regan could not see Robyn. She knew she was there, though, so Regan jogged lightly down the hall, bypassing the orderlies and entering the unit. She immediately turned to the rec room, for that was where she felt Robyn the strongest, and it didn’t take her long to spot the small, huddled form in the armchair. She had her arms wrapped around her knees and her face buried, red hair spilling over bare arms; Regan was positive she was crying.
“Robyn?” she called quietly.
Robyn’s head jerked up at the sound of her name being called, and the burst of panic turned into one of wild joy and relief as Robyn sprang up out of the arm chair. She rushed for Regan, and the brunette barely had time to brace herself before the redhead plowed into her and hugged her fiercely.
“I’m so glad to see you!” Robyn said into Regan’s shoulder. She was squeezing the life out of Regan, and Regan squeezed back, grateful that Robyn was still unharmed. “I didn’t know where else to go, I couldn’t get the doors open,” she continued, half sobbing into Regan’s hair. “They did something to everyone, how -” she stopped herself, and pulled her head back to look at Regan.
“I had some of my shields up,” Regan replied quietly, and her brow furrowed in sympathy at Robyn’s tear stained face. “Whatever it was couldn’t get to me, I guess. But we need to go.”
“Yes,” Robyn wholeheartedly agreed. She started for the way Regan came, but Regan shook her head and led her in the other direction, past the unconscious nurse and half open doors of girls who had come out at Robyn’s yelling. Both girls tried to ignore the unconscious forms of Evan, Jill, Miette, and Thora; limp, pale hands resting on tile and hair spilling to the floor. Robyn felt a pang of regret at Thora in a heap in the doorway of their room, hair gleaming white under the fluorescent and haloing her still face. She prayed that nothing happened to these girls over this.
“I heard a girl’s voice,” Regan explained in a low voice as they both broke into a jog to the other end of the girls’ floor.
“Sheila,” Robyn muttered.
“They have an idea of where this unit is.”
Robyn couldn’t contain a gasp as her heart thudded in her chest. Then they wouldn’t be very far behind. They slowed at the exit doors to this side of the floor, and as Robyn wondered how Regan was going to do this, the locks clicked open. Robyn looked at Regan, but the brunette didn’t say anything as she pulled open the door. Once on the other side, Regan placed a hand on Robyn’s arm to keep her still.
“Hold on,” Regan whispered. Her eyes took on a far away cast, and while Robyn felt the insane urge to move on and run, she had an idea of what the brunette was doing.
“They’re not too close, but close enough,” Regan whispered. “I don’t know if anyone’s outside.”
“I don’t know, either,” Robyn said, worried. “Kortez might have stayed out there and just sent the three in to come get me. Regan, what if they -”
“Nothing’s going to happen to you,” Regan said firmly. “We’ll find an exit and get the hell out of here. If anything happens until then or after, we’ll handle it.” They kept their voices barely above a whisper as they walked hurriedly through the corridors. It was a large hospital, and this part of it didn’t look familiar to Regan or Robyn; they could only hope that they were not heading towards the center of the hospital.
“There’s four of them, then,” Regan said, and Robyn nodded in confirmation. Regan could still feel how maddeningly frightened Robyn was, and it bothered her. This whole situation was completely surreal, and truthfully, Regan was flying by the seat of her pants at this point. The implications of who these people were and what they came for sent a shudder skittering down Regan’s spine, and she knew it was ten times worse for Robyn.
“Robyn,” Regan started. As they walked, she hesitantly placed a hand on Robyn’s arm. “You’re not alone this time. I’m not leaving.”
Robyn felt tears burn her throat and sting her eyes again. She couldn’t put into words how grateful she was that someone was with her, that she wasn’t alone this time; she clung on to the hope that they would get out of this all right, that Robyn wouldn’t have to go through that again.
“Thank you,” Robyn choked out, and in response Regan rubbed her arm lightly and gave her a half smile which didn’t quite reach her eyes. They were passing a small lobby with darkened two way mirrors that probably contained more labs and control rooms, and they sped up in an effort to stay away from the exposure.
“Don’t w-” Regan gasped and jerked her head towards the mirror, and just as Robyn turned to see her own reflection, the glass shattered.
Robyn felt herself get shoved roughly to the side, and as she stumbled, shards of glass showered her hair and face, stinging pinpricks on her cheeks and arms. She opened her eyes again in time to see a dark, hideous shape fly through the glass of the mirror and slam into Regan.
“Regan!” Robyn screamed.
She heard Robyn shout her name, but all she was aware of was how fast it came at her; she barely had time to register that something had been rushing, sprinting on the other side of the mirror, and it wanted Robyn - that same dark, terrible presence Regan felt earlier but was suddenly on top of her; glass shattering and Regan instinctively shoving Robyn away, and just as she thought she’d have enough time to slip by, too, the dark, snarling shape crashed into her.
The breath was knocked out of Regan’s lungs as it made contact, and she felt her feet leave the ground as the momentum sent her flying back with the thing so close to her side, so close she could feel its hot breath on her skin and she didn’t want to look or breathe in the same air.
It was all so fast, and after a split second of being airborne, the ground rushed up too suddenly and Regan hit the tile. Pain stung her right side as she slid, and not a moment later, the thing slammed into her prone side, pinning her to the ground. Regan struggled to get in a breath, to focus, and gathered the buzzing power coiling up in her mind to strike back; she had to get it off of her -
She let out a startled yell as pain ripped through her lower back, and for the first time she was really aware of the snarling, that it was some kind of animal; and it had claws…
The girl gave a violent shove with her mind, focusing it all on the beast, and felt it leave her explosively and hit the heavy body on top of her. She sent it careening into a nearby wall, and it hit hard enough to send it crashing through the cement, shaking the room to its very foundations. It howled in protest, and Regan kept up the onslaught, pictured squeezing the life out of its throat, until finally; finally, it slumped and slid into brief unconsciousness.
Regan could barely hear Robyn’s cries over her own harsh, short breaths as her eyes positively dazzled with the pain in her back. This; this came after Robyn? She knew she had to get up; she should get up, it wouldn’t stay out of it for long, but she also knew that the flesh on her back was ripped open, and it hurt with a white hot fury she had never felt before.
“Regan - oh, God, oh, are you all right? Get up, Regan, please!”
She felt a shaky hand touch her shoulder, and Regan forced the haze in front of her eyes to clear. Robyn felt mortified and guilty, and was completely defenseless if Regan did not get up. Get up. She brought her hands up to brace them on the floor, and made the mistake of putting her weight on them to push herself up. Hot pricks of pain dug into her palms, and Regan sucked in a sharp breath. She had forgotten about the broken glass.
It was only pain. Regan chanted that mentally like a mantra, and forced herself to ignore it and get on her knees with help from Robyn.
“I’m fine; I’m all right,” Regan heard herself say in an attempt to soothe Robyn. She had never seen Robyn so upset, and the depth of the girl’s panic frightened Regan. She didn’t want to think about how grave the situation was; she didn’t want Robyn to fall apart because Regan herself was barely holding it together along with the pain that was turning into a throbbing, fierce ache.
“Your back’s bleeding,” Robyn told her, struggling to pull herself together after what she had just witnessed, although her voice wobbled nonetheless. The last thing she wanted was for them to go after her friend, and she hated herself for the red blood staining the back of Regan’s shirt, the horizontal rips in the fabric that welled bright red where skin should have been. She brought this on both of them; this only happened because she had been so stupid -
“Robyn,” Regan interrupted her mental guilt trip. Her voice was hoarse and thin from the pain.
“What if he wakes -” Robyn stopped and was rendered speechless as she looked over to the wall. The dog beast was gone, and the only sign that one had ever been there was the jagged hole in the cement wall from where Regan threw it.
“Can you run?” Robyn asked.
“Yes.” Regan studiously ignored the pain and matched Robyn’s sprint down the hall, unwilling to wait and find out what happened to the thing. Undoubtedly, more would come, and next time they would be ready.