Max's Faith & Fury [COMPLETE]

Chapter 7

The moment Max's eyes opened; her haunting dreams faded with the sleep. She'd never forget the image of Darla's flesh and skull ripping into pieces right before her eyes. Gore wrapping around Max like a hand strangling her last breath from her burning lungs. She could feel the blood and shadow sinking into her throat and searching her insides for any life she had left. But she was still breathing.

Max's body was heavy on something... soft. "I'm too comfortable to be dead." She grunted to herself, her voice hoarse and throat dry. She swallowed only to have her throat tighten painfully.

"Jane! Jane! She's awake!" A woman's hysterical voice rang in her ears and made her jump.

Max's senses sharpened slower than she commanded, but she could tell enough that she was in a bedroom. Her entire body ached, and there was something sticking in her nose. She brought her hand up to pull the tube from her nostrils and noticed an IV in her left hand. Her eyes followed the tube to a nearly empty bag of blood.

She blinked at the deep red liquid, understanding that someone else's blood now flowed through her veins. She was awake now. She didn't need that blood anymore, or the IV sticking in her right hand. Max was now trying to pull the IVs; the tape was sticking and-

"Oh, my dear, don't do that." The shadow of the woman loomed over Max, and she looked up, not recognizing the face. Soft hands were holding Max's, keeping her from removing the IVs. The woman was a little overweight with a round, concerned face. Her brown eyes held flecks of green and watched Max with the same concern coloring her face. She had short black hair pulled back and Max noticed a floral design on her clothes.

"She's awake?" A louder, deeper female voice blared into the room.

Max turned her head to see another woman. Her body the same shape and size as the one next to her. They were older, Max couldn't guess the age, but they were old enough to be someone's grandmas. The one coming into the room had dark auburn hair and carried herself with a no-nonsense aura. She wore tan pants and a large ivory shirt, which was also flowery.

"Let's check her oxygen." The woman said, going for something on a nearby black dresser. As she came over, the first woman stepped back, and Max watched as a little oxygen reader was placed on her finger.

The numbers flashed, from high seventies. Then climbed higher to eighty-eight. It finally stopped at ninety-three.

"Do you want to remove the oxygen?" The woman with auburn hair asked loudly, as if Max couldn't hear very well.

Without answering verbally, Max pulled the tube, and the two women were quick to take it away. She flexed her wrists, popping them and feeling the needle of the IV in her veins. With a throat that felt it had been used as a scratching post by a stray cat, Max couldn't speak loud enough for the women to hear her. So, she went back to trying to remove the IVs herself.

"Oh, let me help you with that." The first woman was back, and Max only frowned at her, but let her carefully remove the IVs. Her hands were soft as she wrapped Max's hands in bandages. "Can you sit up?"

Max thought she had been sitting that whole time. She was still mentally detached from her own body. Her head was still on the soft pillow, but now she wanted to get up. Her body screamed as she moved, and she winced with pain.

"Oh, don't make her sit up!" The woman with auburn hair panicked when she turned to see what Max was doing. The noise of her trying to move made her turn and walk back over.

Max glared at the women, not purposely, just through the pain as she brought herself up and leaned against the headboard of the bed. Instead of locking her jaw, Max was biting the insides of her mouth, purposely causing herself more pain. She couldn't be alive. This couldn't be real. But the pain in her mouth and the taste of blood on her tongue told her different.