Killer Instinct

14 | Jordan

"Michael? Michael, wake up."

It was almost entertaining, listening to Mary try and wake her brother. Correction—it would have been entertaining if there wasn't a possibility of him being dead. The thing was, she talked to him like she was giving him some sort of order to do a chore, and not hoping and praying that he was breathing.

Jordan had to stifle a laugh. It made her feel like a terrible person, but she had to do it anyways. She immediately decided that she was glad no one had access to her thoughts—they would pin her as an awful human being.

"Michael!"

Mary shoved her brother one more time and he stirred slightly, his eyelids starting to twitch as he slowly regained consciousness. Mary heaved a heavy sigh of relief and Michael blinked his eyes open, looking around in confusion.

"How did I end up on the ground?"

"Someone knocked you out." Roland replied matter-of-factly, "Lindsey ran off after them about ten minutes ago."

"I was out for ten minutes?" Michael asked in surprise. "Wow."

"Whoever it was, they hit you pretty hard on the back of the head." Mary looked at her brother with the first ounce of concern that Jordan had ever seen on her face, "Are you alright? Do you think you have a concussion?"

"If I do, I'm not telling anyone about it." Michael shook his head immediately and firmly, "I'm leading the football team this year, Mar. No questions asked."

Mary looked like she wanted to argue, but she bit her tongue. Jordan and Roland helped Michael stand up and sit on a tree stump as he massaged the back of his head.

"Why did the person hit you?" Jordan asked curiously, as if inquiring about the weather, "We were all out there. Did you find something?"

Michael nodded.

"I remember seeing something of Eddie's on the ground...I think. Everything's a little fuzzy right now."

"Well, hurry up and remember it." Mary ordered, "We need all the clues we can get."

"I'll try." Michael promised, "Do you think Lindsey caught the guy?"

"Or girl." Roland shrugged.

"No, she didn't."

The four turned around to see Lindsey approaching from where she had run off, limping terribly and inching her way forward. Roland ran up instantly to help her walk down to the rest of the group and Michael immediately gave up his tree stump for the injured soccer star.

"What happened?" Michael asked, "Did they get you too?"

Lindsey shook her head dejectedly.

"I almost had them. I was so close, and then I tripped on a stupid tree root." She rolled her eyes.

"Did you see what they were wearing? Or whether they were a guy or a girl?" Roland asked.

Lindsey shook her head again.

"No. I didn't think to turn on my phone's flashlight before I took off and I didn't want to lose any speed while I was chasing them."

"Well, aren't you just the most helpful." Mary rolled her eyes, "You honestly can't give us anything?"

"Well gee whiz Mary, I didn't realize that I was expected to singlehandedly unmask our stalker tonight. My deepest apologies for not being able to carry out such a mundane task." Lindsey snapped. Mary scoffed at her jabs before walking away, pacing around the woods a bit before running back to the group.