Page 32 of Our Little Monster
She looked to be in her dad’s truck.
“I’m not close enough, Serina. Go to a hospital, call 911—you’ll die.” Her words grew more panicked by the second.
“Where are you?” I questioned, but she swiftly changed the subject back to me.
“Get to the hospital now. I’ll be there in a few days.”
So, she was a few days away. Yeah, I’d definitely be dead by then.
“What about Bri? How far out is she?
“She’s taking care of another hunt, and I haven’t heard from her the last few days. I don’t know where she is right now; she could be even further away than me. Forget someone coming to save you, Serina, get your ass to the hospital. Now.”
“I’ve used this name for too many hospital visits, Sam, I can’t. Besides, I think they’re catching on…”
I had to stop and take a few breaths before continuing.
“The last hunt I went on, I overheard them talking about intercepting our information to be lying in wait for us to show up. I’m assuming that would also mean they could get access to our fake IDs, passports, etc. What hunts we’re going on. Sounds like the hunted want to become the hunters.”
Sam huffed, “Thanks for the heads up, cousin, but I’m sure we’ll be fine. I’m good at what I do.”
“I know…” I said, closing my eyes a moment.
“Serina! Get to the fucking hospital… please.” I heard the plea, the pain in her voice. The sound of it jolted me back to myself.
She was right; I’d have to save myself. Unfortunately, I knew exactly where I could get help even though I desperately didn’t want to go there, but it was my best bet if I wanted to remain under the radar.
I swallowed. “I know where I can go.”
“Where? Please say the hospital.”
“It’s a long story. Stay safe. I love you,” I said, and she gawked at me like,Me stay safe? How about take your own adviceand I faintly smiled at her.
“Stay alive, Serina.” She gave me a warning look. “Or I will drag you out of hell myself if I have to.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I grunted, “done that before.” I sat up. I needed to get to their house somehow without falling off my bike.
The night it happened, I had no idea how I managed to get back to my motel. But now? In the shape I was in, I wasn’t liking the odds. Did the Davorin brothers have some sort of bat symbol?
Maybe I could blast my gun off a few times and they would come running. I chuckled to myself. I was definitely losing it.
“I gotta go. Love you.”
“Love you, too. I’ll message you when I’m in town.”
“Got it. See you soon, cousin,” I said, hanging up the phone and tossing it on the nightstand.
It took me what seemed like an hour to get out of bed, I was sure it was just minutes, but with the sweat beading off my forehead and the dizziness only getting worse as I stood, it felt like an eternity.
I didn’t have the energy to change, so I wobbled over to my dresser and held myself up against it, then slid my feet into my combat boots. I grabbed my keys sitting on top of the dresser and then slowly made my way back over to the nightstand to grab my phone before heading for the door.
I was nothing but a sweaty, feverish, swollen lump of pain as I pulled the door open and somehow mustered the ability to go down the stairs to reach my motorcycle in the parking lot.
Swinging my leg over was a challenge. I whimpered as I did and then I had to steady myself by taking deep breaths, one after the other. The cool autumn air chilled my skin, making it sticky against my clothes, or hell, was that even sweat or more blood? I couldn’t be sure anymore.
I started the engine and let myself sit there a moment getting used to its weight and rumble under me.
If I pushed the stand up and started moving quickly, I’d just need to keep my balance rather than trying to hold the bike up on my own because at this point, I was too weak to.
