To Be...

Chapter 24

Suzan allowed her eyes to graze over every centimeter of skin on my body. They hesitated on my injuries, but forcefully passed them by. She sighed, and placed her hand over her eyes, as if it were painful to see someone else's injuries.

Try getting them, I thought. Truthfully, I hoped she would stay as far off from the Kain's as possible. To avoid accidents, and also because I became a bit territorial.

The 'process' was both simple and difficult. The simple part was to get me as far away as they could. The difficult part came after they had ridded themselves of my burdensome presence. It was obvious, and necessary, but somehow I didn't realize what was right under my nose.

One down, fourteen to go. Tobias' death I had witnessed and I couldn't believe I had wished it upon anyone before.

Shortly after they had gotten him onto the ground, his screams stole my attention. Harwin tried to keep me from watching him seizure, and screech. Apparently, he was seeing, and hearing, a scene completely separate, if not completely delusional, from our own. He stretched his arms away, into the motionless air, but found no relief.

"Jezebel! Why-" he bellowed. He peeled his own skin from his arm, and Harwin blocked my view.

"Get it out of me! Get this thing out of me! I can't get it out! It's killing me! Jezebel! Save me Jezebel!"

Harwin clapped his hands over my ears, but I still heard the curses that shot through the air in Tobias' guttural screeches.

"I'll take her away," Leon consulted with Harwin.

Things went silent as Tobias finally came to an end. Leon carried me away in his arms, and I felt too tired to refuse. My arm fell to my side, swinging limply back and forth. Before he began sprinting, I caught a glimpse of Tobias. One hand clinging to the gaping hole he had dug into his chest. He had pulled the 'thing' out of him. His heart. It was beating slowly, but would soon stop altogether.

"A wolf?" Suzan interrupted my reminiscence.

"Uh, yeah." I lied.

"In your yard?"

"No, in the church. Of course in the yard! We live in the middle of nowhere!"

"Strange, how the second you decide to come back, a bear mauls you."

"Those things happen."

"So how big was the bear?"

"He was averaged sized. But it still hurt."

"Aha!" she grinned triumphantly.

"What? I said, retracing my tracks.

"What kind of bear was it?"

I sighed. Relief engulfed me- I was afraid she'd found out it was a lie.

"Oh, black bear, I think."

Black bears live up here, right? Not that I had seen any animal while surrounded by these predators. Palmer had been the only exception, but the rabbit didn't survive.

"Brianna, you're sure it was a bear?"

"Yes, I'm sure. What's with the interrogation?"

"Well, you see, there's no way a bear attacked you."

"Huh?"

"Because you told me a wolf did. Which is it, Brianna?"

"It was a bear-like wolf," I reconciled to no avail. I was done for. "That was black..."