Page 36 of The Queen of Nightmares

ChapterTwenty-Seven

THE QUEEN OF NIGHTMARES

Oogie looked down at his chest. He even lifted his hand and placed it over the hole that was allowing his blood to pump from his body in a steady rhythm with his heartbeat. As thick blood flowed from between his fingers, he looked back up at me and snarled. Before I could react to the promise of my death in his eyes, he fell to the ground with a heavy thud.

I leaned over and gingerly picked up Jack's vest, knowing he would want it back.

Angry shouts suddenly exploded from the Boogeymen as what had just happened finally penetrated. Someone threw themselves at me from behind, knocking me to the ground with a jarring impact. Even as I was rolled under the body, I held Jack's cut close to my chest. I lay on the cold ground, not feeling anything but the stitching of those letters that spelled out his name.

I heard a pained grunt, jarring me from my haze, and the body over me jerked. I knew immediately from the sound of the grunt that it was Doc who was covering me. I gasped as I realized he had taken a bullet meant for me, the same way Jack had protected me. I started crying then, hating myself for everything I had put these men through. Lock had lost his life for me. Jack had given himself for me. Now Doc was hurt because of me. He couldn't die, too. It was all too much. Too much pain, too much loss.

I lay there and sobbed for everything I had lost, for everything I had found. I only wanted to find a place to hide. I wanted a place to belong. In coming to Pumpkin Patch, Utah on a whim, I had found love in the Devil's Nightmares. But, I had also torn them apart.

Once the gunfire stopped and everything went blessedly quiet again, hands shifted Doc from his position over me. He was rolled over onto the frozen ground next to me, but I couldn't bring myself to look. A distant part of me was aware that I was firmly in denial, that I had locked myself away in my brain. Maybe I was suffering some kind of delusional episode, and my mind trying to protect me from the horrors of the last couple of days.

Hands lifted me from the ground as more shouts could be heard around us. As if in a tunnel, I could hear someone saying that we needed an ambulance. That was good, right? If Doc were alive, he would need a hospital, and they couldn't get him there on a motorcycle.

Hands were brushing over me, checking for injuries, I thought. Then I was gripped firmly by the shoulders and shaken roughly, a man yelling in my face. I just blinked up at him, not really recognizing who was shouting at me but knowing it was someone I trusted. Suddenly, the arms went around me and crushed me to his chest. I let out a small sob, my lips trembling as I squeezed my eyes closed until I saw stars behind my eyelids.

"Is he going to be okay?" I asked in a broken whimper.

"Doc's fine. He will be okay, Red, I promise," Barrel said with a sigh.

I nodded weakly and tucked the leather vest closer to me, holding onto it like a lifeline. "Jack's going to be okay, too," I whispered.

He shook his head at my words but didn't answer me. "Come on, Red. Let's get you home."

As Barrel led me to his motorcycle, I glanced around numbly at the carnage. There were bodies and blood everywhere. From what I could tell, they mostly seemed to be those of the Boogeymen. It appeared that once all three rival clubs targeted them at the same time, they had no hope of winning.

Home.

Barrel was taking me to an empty house. It was home, but it wouldn't be the same until Jack was back.

* * *

I held Doc's hand in mine as the machines beeped rhythmically. It was almost strange being the one comforting instead of the one in the bed.

The door opened, and quiet footsteps walked in. I didn't glance up from the grip I had on Doc's hand, but I knew who it was without needing to look. When Helen placed a hand on my shoulder, I blinked to clear my vision before looking up at her.

"Hey, Sally. Do you want anything to eat or drink?" Without saying a word, I shook my head and dropped my gaze down to my lap to stare at Jack's road name. I knew I was being rude, but I just couldn't find it in me to care.

"I'm good, Helen. Thanks." She gave my shoulder a squeeze before moving over to Doc's other side, where she looked over the many IV bags closely, even though she had done that same thing just a short time ago.

"He still hasn't woken up?" Helen turned to me with a hopeful look on her face. She looked as tired as I felt. I knew she hadn't left the hospital for long in the two days since Doc had been admitted. I shook my head and watched as her shoulders slumped. "It's okay. The body needs to heal, and sometimes, it will put itself in a kind of stasis to protect itself. He'll wake up soon. The doctor who operated on him said the damage was minimal."

I nodded, knowing all that because she'd already told it to me. But I figured it was more of a way to convince herself at that point. I appreciated the effort, anyway.

"Still no word about his brother?" she asked softly.

I squeezed my eyes closed and shook my head again. "No," I whispered brokenly.

It had been two days since the Boogeymen were all wiped out. The few that were left behind that day to guard the compound were rounded up quickly and systematically tortured for information about Jack. But not one of them said a word as they died. I didn't know what they thought they were achieving by being loyal to that monster. I had a hard time believing that Oogie was that great of a leader.

Barrel and Shock made sure I knew that they were doing everything they could to locate him, but I could tell they'd given up hope. After every inch of the compound had been searched, the club was at a loss for what to do. The only sign that Jack had been there at all was a bloody cage and chains. With their newest Vice President in the hospital fighting for his life and their President missing, Shock and Barrel were sharing the responsibility of being in charge.

I had been spending my days at Doc's bedside, not knowing what else I should do with myself. I had been calling Daisy's phone non-stop until it stopped ringing and began to go straight to voicemail. Text messages had gone unread, but I refused to think the worst. If Daisy was dead, then that meant…no. I bit my lip hard enough to bleed. I wasn't even going to entertain the idea.

"Okay, Sally. I'll be back again in a little bit. Don't hesitate to push the call button if there are any changes, okay?" Helen said quietly. I nodded my agreement, and she turned to leave but paused with her hand on the door handle. "Sally? Maybe you could go down to the cafeteria and get something to eat. Maybe just a hot cup of tea to soothe your nerves?"

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