Survival of the Unfit

Chapter 24

Levi

I jolted awake in a living room. It was dark, very dark. A deep breath made the bandage around my midsection shift and stretch, contract and move with an odd sensation. I blinked and waited for my eyes to adjust to the lighting, realizing it wasn’t my own living room I was in, and abruptly sat up while inhaling sharply at the bit of pain that shot through my side. I looked down. Hm. No shirt on, or leather jacket for that matter.

“Slow down, Levi,” someone with a gentle voice said to my left. I looked over to find someone sitting down at a kitchen table, picking their nails. Girl? Girl. Hailey. Oh, so I’m at Hailey’s house right now. “Take it easy, you’re injured.”

I rubbed my face and set my elbows on my knees tiredly. “What happened to me?”

“You passed out on the sidewalk,” she responded with a yawn, getting up and sitting down on a nearby recliner. “I was coming back from a friend’s house and picked you up.”

Another deep breath reminded me of the bandages around my midsection. I looked down saw the ace wrap again, with the minimal amount blood soaking through the beige material on my right side. “Passed out, huh.”

“Yep. You’re lucky I caught you before anyone else did, your parents would’ve had a conniption.” She yawned again.

I rubbed my face again, thinking about my parents. “What time is it?”

“About 3,” Hailey responded, digging out my leather jacket from beneath her and tossing it next to me on the couch. “You’ve been out for a few hours.” Before I could ask my shirt was thrown at me as well, and my fingers landed on an out of place seam. Examining the fabric in the low light, I could see the stitches where the knife had sliced my shirt. “And I fixed that for you while you were sleeping.”

“Thanks,” I mumbled, throwing it back on and flinching at the little shot of pain.

Hailey got up and headed to the kitchen again and wistfully told me, “I’ll take you home whenever then.”  She then came back with a water bottle for me, which I gladly downed. Then another, and another, and she gave me an apple to chow on as well. I hungrily bit into it and felt myself wake up a little more. I was still pretty out of it though, but Hailey was rather patient and sat on the recliner while I devoured the apple, twiddling away on her phone. I ate down to the core and she plucked it from my hand without another word, taking it to the trash can for me.

“Thanks,” I said again as she came back. I got up and threw my jacket on, looking around for anything else I might’ve left. “You take anything else off of me?” Gun? Check. Combat knife? Check. Throwing knives…oh.

 “No, I didn’t take anything else. I took your shirt and jacket off to let you cool down and put that bandage on.” She nodded to my side before standing up and setting an arm on my shoulder. “You’re really leaving so soon?”

“I got to get going before my parents wake up,” I responded, looking around for my shoes. “And I left my throwing knives pinning a guy to a tree.”

Hailey paused. “Okay, I won’t ask. But let me drive you at least,” she said, following me to her laundry room where I found my shoes. “You shouldn’t really try and walk anywhere on your own.”

I slipped my shoes on and then stood up a touch too quickly, stumbling a step or two. I shook my head around and set a hand on the doorknob, vision swimming for a brief second. “I’m fine, really. Thanks again.”

My vision cleared and I opened the door, only to have Hailey shut it again. I glared at her as she put her hands on her hips. “I’m not letting you wander around like a drunkard and risk passing out again.”