Into the Light

52

Sam took the front seat to give the extra directions to the driver. "Are you guys okay?" The driver asked, hesitantly. He looked unsure of whether he should be scared of us or not. "We're fine. Just a little beat up. Some guys tried to jump us and we fought back," Sam answered. "Your friend doesn't look too hot," the driver replied, catching my eye in the rearview. "I'm fine," I responded. "Okay, if you say so. Try not to puke in here though. I just got it detailed," he replied. "Screw your stupid car," I heard Anna mutter under her breath. I couldn't help but to smile. My bad side was against the door, so I wrapped my arm around her and pulled her against me. I inhaled sharply when my wound pulled a little. "Are you okay?" she asked, looking up at me through wet lashes. I gave her a lopsided grin and nodded. "I'll be fine. I promise." To be honest, I wasn't feeling all that great, and I knew it was because I had already lost a lot of blood. I let out a quiet chuckle when I realized that the guy should be more worried about blood getting on his upholstery than me throwing up. "What's so funny?" Anna whispered. "I'll tell you later," I promised.  After stopping to the get the necessary first aid items, we finally made it to the hotel. The others had already texted saying that they had made it back safely. Anna stayed latched to my side and helped me make it to our room. I didn't think I really needed the help, since I was walking just fine, but I thought that she might need to feel helpful right now. "You know I can walk on my own right?" I had asked when she first ducked under my arm. "But you're not," she replied. Once we reached our room, Sam and Kat followed us inside. The others must've been in Sam and Kat's room because our room was empty. I could hear the dull beat of bass against the wall so I was sure that they were already having fun. Once I got seated on the bed, Sam started getting the bandages and stuff ready. "Take your shirt off," he said, setting everything out. "Sam, I don't think now is a good time,"  I replied, with a grin. "We have company." He rolled his eyes and laughed. "Just shut up and take your shirt off." I chuckled and started to unbutton my shirt. When I moved my arm to get it off of my shoulder, a sharp pain went through my side. I hissed out a breath in between my teeth, and froze. "What is it? Does it hurt? Can I help?" Anna bombarded me with back to back questions. "I'm okay," I said, with gritted teeth. "Just give me a minute." Once the pain receded, I tried to move again. It wasn't happening. I could feel the blood pushing out of the cut every time I tried to move my arm to take the shirt off. Anna grabbed up the scissors that Sam had gotten with the medical stuff, and started cutting my shirt, before I even knew what happened. "Hey," I exclaimed. "I like this shirt." "Shut up," she replied, keeping her eyes on what she was doing. "It's already ruined." She had a point. It was cut and there was no way that all of that blood was going to come out of it. I sighed, and let her finish. When she did, she gently pulled the fabric away from my body. My shirt was now in several pieces, but at least it was off of me. She walked over to the trash and threw the bloody pieces into it. "Well, the maid is gonna have some questions tomorrow," Kat said wryly. I started to laugh but Sam chose that moment to start wiping around the wound with a damp rag. "OW!" I exclaimed, jerking a little. "Gotta be done," he said, still dabbing away at me. I gritted my teeth again and tried to hold still. "That looks bad, Colby," Anna said, softly. I looked up and met her worried gaze. "I've had worse. I'll be fine. Takes more than a little cut to take Colby Brock down," I said, with a grin. She smiled back but still looked worried. "It's not as deep as I thought," Sam replied, after cleaning it up. "The alcohol in your system is probably what is making it bleed so freely. We may have to change the bandages a couple of times tonight, but otherwise I'm pretty sure that it'll be okay. Party time is over for you though, brother. No more drinking tonight." "Ugh, Colby, why do you always have to injure yourself?" Kat asked. "Me?" I asked incredulously. "Your boyfriend literally broke his back! Like, broke it. For real. But I'm the one that always gets injured?" She laughed, and looked at Sam. "He's right. I think you're more clumsy that he is." Sam grinned. "How about we both injure ourselves from time to time?" "Agreed," I replied. "But you didn't injure yourself," Anna said. "You got stabbed. You got stabbed because you were trying to protect me." "It wasn't just for you, Anna," I replied. "I already told you. Even if you hadn't been there, they still would've started with us. There still would've been a fight. If it wasn't you, it would've been Kat or Tara. Do you think that I would just let those guys do to them, what they were trying to do to you?" "No," she whispered. "You wouldn't. You're always a hero." I furrowed my brow, looking at her. "No, I'm not. I was just trying to protect my friends. Just like the rest of us were doing. Just like you did. We all fought against them. It was just a bad thing that happened to us. That's life. Shit happens. We're all okay, and that's what matters." "Absolutely," Sam agreed, nodding his head. He had finished up bandaging me while I was talking. "All done. Now, the rest of us can drink. Damn, I hope the others stopped for the liquor, or we're gonna have to get some delivered." He went to the adjoining room door and opened it. As soon as he did, the music that I had heard earlier blasted into the room. "Actually?" Sam sighed, before stepping through. "Sammmyyyy!" I heard who I thought was Brennen yell. Sam left the door open, and started yelling at them to turn the music down for a minute. When it was turned down, I heard Jake's disapproval. "Awww, man, what the fuck?" he groaned.