Help me...

Chapter 14

Cloud could feel something around him. Someone, something, was calling him. He opened his eyes slowly and flinched back at the brightness of the room. When he opened them again, the light had been dimmed down and he could see clearly. He looked around as he let out a groan and the first face he saw was Layla. A smiled came onto his face and he let out a breath of relief. She was okay. He lifted his hand to touch her but she suddenly disappeared. He frowned in confusion then suddenly screamed as he felt like falling. Everything went to black once again before he was suddenly jumping up in his bed, panting heavily. He yelled out in pain and felt arms pushing him back on the bed. When he opened his eyes, he came face to face with Demon. Demon let out a relieved sigh and smiled softly at his friend, happy to see Cloud was okay. Cloud barely paid any attention to Demon.

"Where's Layla? Where is she?!" he snapped at Demon and Demon sighed softly, rubbing his friend's arm in a comforting gesture.

"Cloud...look Layla..." he drifted off and sighed softly. Cloud started to worry more, getting scared by the moment about what happened to Layla. Cloud assumed the worst, laying back and bursting into tears. She was dead. That must have been what happened for Demon to sound like that. A knock came at the door and Tigerstar walked in, clearing his throat.

"Demon. May I speak to you?" he asked. Demon looked between Cloud and Tigerstar then went after Tigerstar. Cloud sat up, wincing at the pain he suddenly felt from his gunshot wounds. He flinched and clenched his jaw, too worried about Layla to really care about his wounds.

As Demon walked out of the room, Tigerstar pulled him a couple of feet away from the door and he talked in a hushed voice.

"They said that Layla was drugged pretty badly. Apparently more than anyone they've ever seen. It's going to take longer to drain the drugs from her system. She's alive but barely. My guess was that Jackson got the rest of the drugs from someone else when Zeek didn't deliver," he explained and Demon frowned, taking a deep breath.

"Okay, so nothing we can do about Layla. We will leave that up to the doctors. Have you heard from Zack yet?" Demon asked and the sad look on Tigerstar's face told it all.

Nobody had heard from Zack ever since Zeek died. Zack took it harshly when his wife was murdered, imagine now when his brother, the only family he had besides Lurch, was dead. Zack had taken one look at Zeek's body and lost it completely, unable to fight even. He just dropped to the floor, screaming, crying and rocking himself. It was painful to even watch. Lurch and Demon had been the ones to pick him up and drag him away from the scene. After that, Zack went with them to the hospital but didn't say anything. Once everyone had checked into the hospital, he had just vanished. Demon and Tigerstar worried about the other man's safety but also worried about Lurch. He had just lost his whole family in one day, his uncle and father were gone. Demon patted Tigerstar's shoulder and let out a sigh.

"I'm heading back in. Try to talk to Lurch," he said then walked back into the hospital room. He frowned when he saw Cloud sitting up. "What are you doing? Lay back down before you hurt yourself," he told him and Cloud shook his head, gritting his teeth.

"Where's Layla? I at least get to see her body. I want to apologize," he rasped out and Demon looked at him in confusion.

"What are you apologizing for?" Demon asked.

"For failing her," said Cloud as his head rolled to the side slowly so he could look at Demon properly. Demon was about to say something else but stopped when he noticed how pale Cloud was getting. He trailed his eyes down Cloud's covered body and froze when he saw blood starting to soak the gown and sheets. He darted out of the room, whistling loudly.

"HEY! EMERGENCY! NEED A FUCKING DOCTOR!" he yelled down the hallway and within seconds, a doctor responded by running into the room Cloud was in. Cloud stared at the doctor and watched as he assembled everything he would need to patch him up. Cloud stopped the doctor before he could touch him.