Born Again

Chapter twenty five

Thomas woke up, the pain from the wolves stinging like they were new. He squeezed his eyes shut, hoping to pass out again.

When he realized he wasn't going to, he opened his eyes. Thomas looked up to see Minho carrying him through a long hallway.

   He groaned when Minho stumbled, causing his friend to grip his wounds tighter. It was all he could do to not scream in pain.

   "Tommy?" Newt face came into view. "Thank goodness. Just hold on, alright? We're at the hospital. We're taking you to the emergency. You'll be okay."

   "Alby," Thomas croaked out.

Thomas felt something splash against his cheek. He looked up to see Minho crying, something he'd never seen his friend do before.

Newt choked on a sob. "He's . . . he's not dead. Not yet anyway."

Suddenly, Thomas felt himself lifted into another pair of arms before placed on to something softer. An unfamiliar woman's face came into view.

"It's okay, son," she said. "You're safe. We'll take good care of you, now."

They started wheeling him away but Thomas felt Newt grasp his hand. "Don't die on me, okay Tommy? Just hand on."

   He felt a needle prick his arm and everything started going fuzzy, but he managed to nod. "I will."

Finally, everything went dark.

~~~

When he finally came to, he was feeling much better. He was still sore but he didn't feel like screaming in pain anymore.

Underneath his hospital gown, he felt bandages covering practically every inch of his body. Even both arms and legs, making him look like a mummy.

   Sitting up slowly, he looked around the room. Minho was sitting in the corner of the room, snoring loudly as he slept. Newt was sitting on the guests chair, his face planted on the bed in such an uncomfortable way Thomas wondered how he managed to fall asleep.

   He gently shook Newt awake.

   "Huh?" The blonde mumbled, looking up. All sleep left his eyes when he saw Thomas. "Oh. Tommy . . ."

Newt moved to sit on the edge of his bed, pulling him into the softest hug as to not to hurt him.

   Thomas wrapped his arms around his friend's back, burying his face in his friend's shoulder. Newt rubbed his back soothingly.

"It's okay," he whispered. "I've got you. But if you ever scare me like that again . . ."

   Thomas laughed, waking Minho up.

"I'm awake!" Minho said, clearly not as awake as he hoped to imply. "What's—oh, Thomas!" He stood up and walked over, clapping Thomas on the shoulder gently. "How're you feeling?"

   "I'm fine," Thomas answered. "But, um, what about . . ."

   Newt looked down. "Alby?"

   Thomas could only nod.

   Minho sighed, sitting on the foot of his bed. "He'd lost a lot of blood, Thomas, a lot of bones were broken."

   Thomas blinked back tears. "You mean he—"

   "No," Newt looked up, wiping tears from his face. "No, he's still alive. But he's not good. The doctors said—" he choked on a sob. Minho put a hand on his back. "The doctors said he doesn't have a good chance."

   Thomas looked down, tears trickling down his face. How could he have let that happen? He was so focused on Alby getting stung he didn't realize there were other possibilities.

He sighed.

   "Don't," Newt told him.

   Thomas looked up at his friend, confused. "You don't even know what I was going to say."

   "You were going to blame yourself," Newt explained. "Don't. It wasn't your fault. If anything, you saved him. Don't beat yourself up, Tommy."

   "But—"

   "Tommy."

   Thomas sighed, making a big show of shutting his mouth.

   Newt smiled for the first time since before the attack. "Thank you."

   Thomas gave a small smile as well. "Sure. Just don't—" He was cut off by Minho's snores.

   Thomas and Newt looked over at their friend then laughed, waking Minho up again.

   "I'm awa—woah!" Minho fell off the bed with a loud crash.

   Thomas laughed until it hurt.

   "Guys, shut up," Minho complained, standing up. "Especially you, Newt. We don't want to get caught."

   Newt immediately slapped a hand over his mouth. He glanced at the door nervously. Nobody came through.

   "What time is it?" Thomas asked after a few seconds. "Are visiting hours over?"

   "You could say that." Minho scoffed.

"It's 3:00am," Newt answered.

   "Guys!" Thomas exclaimed. "What're you still doing in here?"

   Minho rolled his eyes. "We wanted to be here when you woke up," he said. "Duh."

   "Well, I'm awake now," he replied. "So you guys should go. I don't want you to get in trouble on my behalf."

   Minho started to protest but Newt cut him off.

   "He's right. We should go." He turned back to Thomas. "We'll see you first thing in the morning, don't worry."

   "Thanks Newt," Thomas said, pulling his friend into one last hug. Newt gave him a gently squeeze before pulling back.

   "Goodnight, Tommy." He nodded. "Come on, Minho."

   Minho patted Thomas' shoulder before brushing past Newt and walking out the door.

   Newt hesitated then turned around again. "Tommy?"

   "Yeah?"

   "Just take care of yourself for me, will you?"

   Thomas smiled and nodded. "Sure thing. You take care of Alby too, okay?"

   Newt's smile turned sad. "If he wakes up tomorrow, you know I'll be there."

   Thomas nodded, satisfied as he closed the door.

   Only one thing about what Newt said bothered him.

   If  he wakes up.