Beyond the Border | ✔

12 | rule 39

RULE 39: NO EXCEPTION WILL BE MADE FOR THE SICK. WE MUST LIVE AND DIE IN THE BORDERLANDS.

✷ C H A P T E R      T W E L V E ✷

When consciousness found me, I was hanging upside down. The car had flipped over, and the seat belt Memphis told me to buckle was the only thing preventing me from falling out of my seat. That same seat belt also uncomfortably dug into my chest, like a piercing butter knife, the pressure mounting.

Blood trickled down my forehead as I stiffly turned to the side, looking for Memphis. He too was hanging upside down beside me, barely strapped in by his seat belt. He, however, did not seem to have regained consciousness. I forced my eyes to blink, trying to keep myself alert.

"Memmmm," was all I could dully moan out, coughing out a wheeze in my lackluster attempt.

My body was slowly trying to lull me back into its comforting dark embrace. My head kept nodding back and forth. I could feel my breath become jaded and rigid in my chest, each breath was harder to catch than the last.

There was pain, and that was all I knew.

Unaware of what was happening around me, I tried to fumble with the seat belt. I needed to get out of here. I had to get out of here before I passed out again, darkness closing in. Bile rose up my throat as my body detested being hung upside down for so long. Unfortunately, I could not reach the buckle without causing my entire body to recoil in earing pain.

At this point, the pain was starting to drift away. I could tell it was there, but I couldn't feel its intensity any longer. It was still hard to breathe, but I felt like I was floating; my body was getting lighter.

Trying to make my brain think of all the different situations I had gotten myself into, I couldn't hone in my focus. My brain was static; there was noise bouncing around, but I could not discern what anything was.

Is this what it is like to die?

"I've got you," someone said before I lost all consciousness again.

✷ ✷ ✷

Choking. I was choking.

My eyes shot open — I was being strangled. Frantically looking around, my hands tore the tube that blocked my airway. As I hastily ripped the tube out, I doubled over in a coughing fit.

They had tried to kill me; I was certain. The tube was longer than I could comfortably stomach, so I threw it across the room, slumping into the bed beneath me. My breaths came out slow and labored. I could hear the slow exasperated intake and exhale each time my body painstakingly struggled to capture oxygen.

A thundering headache felt like it was banging on my skull relentlessly, causing my eyes to ache. I tried soothing them by slamming them shut, but that did not seem to make the pain dissipate. My chest and side were all clenched in pain, but I couldn't pinpoint what felt worse. It just all felt terrible.

"Welcome to the land of the living," a woman chirped, taking a seat on the edge of the bed. "We thank the Moon Goddess you are with us. You were out for quite some time. Alpha Theo will be pleased to hear you are finally awake."

"Don't tell him!" I exclaimed, using most of my energy to assert my distaste for the idea. My voice was scratched and came out like gravel, the words barely managing to scrape out through my teeth.