survivors of the storm

rest

I wake up and for a little bit my thoughts are all jumbled together. Where am I? Ouch. Who's sitting beside me? Where's mom and dad? Ouch.

I'm laying on my stomach, my good arm acting as a pillow. My shirt is half off, my head in the head hole but my arms, stomach, and back are exposed besides my sports bra.

I try to move, to feel the sharp pulling in my arm. It hurts to move and I let out a small grunt. I hear a noise coming from the other side of me, the side I can't see.

When I turn my head to see what caused it I see Grayson sitting beside me with his eyes closed. I try to say something but all that comes out is a sharp breath. Grayson must not be asleep, because he hears me and snaps his blue eyes open.

"Shh, Shh, It's okay, you're okay. Don't move." He says as he shifts his body towards me, sitting criss-crossed. I try to grin, but it comes out as a grimace.

"I don't think not being able to move is okay." I point out. I try again to sit up, using my good arm to push me up. I don't get very far off the ground when I start to fall back down. I close my eyes, cursing myself for being weak.

That's when I feel arms go around me, helping me sit up. I snap my eyes open and I'm looking directly into another pair of blue eyes. He grabs me around my middle and slowly turns me around so my back is leaning on the bookshelf again.

His fingers linger on my hand, then he suddenly pulls me into a hug. I wince, and he loosens the hug, but doesn't let me go.

"I'm sorry, I should've been behind you." He whispers. I pull back and look at him, blue eyes staring into mine.

"Do not blame yourself for this. We we're running beside each other, it was just a matter of who they aimed at." I say. Now that I'm fully up I see the bandages wrapped around my arm, starting at my shoulder and going almost to my elbow. He just nods slightly, and sits back against the shelf.

"How do you feel?" He asks. Like I just got ran over by a pack of wild horses with clown shoes on doesn't feel like the right answer so I force out,

"Fine." He gives me a skeptical look so before he can say anything I change the subject. "Where are Jax and Kate?"

"They're looking at books," He replies. I smile at the image of Jax sitting at a low table reading a book to Kate as she stares in amazement. I almost relax, then I remember what I'm trying to do in the first place.

"How long was I out?" I ask.

"Only a couple hours." Grayson answers. A couple hours? That's too long. We're still pretty far from the hospital. If we leave now we might barely make it by tonight. I start to stand up when Grayson puts out a hand to stop me.

"Where do you think you're going?" He asks. "You need to rest."

"I was resting for the past two hours, we need to leave if we want to make it by tonight." I glance up when I hear a noise, sounding like a squeak. I scan the bookshelves, looking for what caused the sound.

Grayson must've heard it too, because he's on his feet glaring around. He offers his hand and helps me stand up.

We slowly walk around the shelf we were just resting on, seeing an empty row. We share a confused look and start walking around the next corner. We find another empty row, and I'm convinced we're hallucinating. We creep around to the last row before the wall, still finding nothing. I let out a breath and turn to Grayson.

He just shrugs and walks back to where we were sitting. I lean against the bookshelf, needing a few minutes alone. I close my eyes, only for what felt like a second, and open them when I hear more footsteps.

I expected to see Grayson, telling me to come back over to the kid's tables, but I see a person instead.

I hide behind the bookshelf, looking through an empty book space. I look closer at the person, he has black hair and is wearing a rumpled t-shirt over black jeans.

He has his back turned to me, so I can't see his face. He almost walks directly into Grayson, who is leaning on a shelf. The boy looks up from where he was staring at his shoes and almost falls over in shock, or fear.

For a minute, he and Grayson just stare at each other. I decide to come around from behind the boy, grabbing my knife with my good hand. Just in case. I'm the first one to talk,

"Who are you?" I ask. He turns to me and I'm more shocked than I have been since the storm.