The Transfer ✔️

Chapter Eight - Survivor

"Audrey? Shit." A voice stresses above me.

My eyelids are heavy but I heave them open despite my body's protest. I don't move despite my vulnerable position; I don't know my injuries yet and don't want to cause more harm. I groan when a pounding in my head becomes so loud, I can't ignore it. Using my new-found vision, I look around the room when my eyes eventually fall on Matts concerned face. His furrowed eyebrows make him look years older than he actually is, his jaw clenched tight.

"Guessing I look bad then." I croak, clenching my fists repeatedly to distract myself from the pain that's pulsating through me.

Matt shakes his head but a smile pulls at the corners of his lips. "Only you would say that whilst you lay on the ground beaten up."

"It's a skill." I wince as I push myself up.

Matt guides his arm around my shoulder as I take in the room. Daylight now streams in and I wonder how long I was lying there. It was dark when I walked in. Grateful that it was Matt who found me, I turn with a hundred questions but I find him glaring at the room, so I silence my questions for now.

"Who did this to you?" He asks gruffly.

I shrug but quickly realize that it's a bad idea. "I don't know. Came down for training because I couldn't sleep. It was really dark."

"Jesus." He sighs heavily. "Okay, where does it hurt?"

I shut my eyes, breathing deeply. "I'm fine, don't worry about it."

Matt lets out a low groan of frustration. I open my eyes to see him glaring at me instead of the room. "Shut up. You can barely keep yourself together. C'mon, I'm taking you to medical."

"I'm not going to medical. I'm only just being served food, the camp isn't exactly ready to start tending to my stupid injuries," I stress. "Ones that don't even hurt that bad."

Matt sighs and lifts me to my feet. I stabilize myself, not allowing my body to sway. Swaying leads to looking weak. Looking weak leads to going to medical. Going to medical will lead to the whole camp knowing I'm injured and that will make me even more of a target. I cannot afford for people to know I'm weak.

"Well at least let me take you to your room."

My chest rumbles with distaste for his decision, but I know its a compromise from taking me to medical. "Fine. I'm walking independently, though."

"Of course, you are." Matt sighs and he follows diligently behind me whilst I walk to my room.

The entrance is quiet, the gentle humming of early morning beginning to spread across the camp. It reassures me that I can't have been out for that long if there's not many people awake yet. I wobble my way to the room and smack away any hand that Matt tries to lay on my back to offer support.

Eventually I get to the room and open the door as quietly as possible. My attempts to sneak in undetected are quickly put to shame when I hear Ruby gasp in horror.

"What happened to you?" She cries, jumping out of bed.

I sit down on my own and lie down. I motion to Matt standing at the doorway to explain.

He clears his throat before starting, "I found her in defense. Apparently, she went down for early-morning training and she got beaten up by a group of guys. Audrey says she couldn't see them because it was so dark but I don't know if she's actually telling the truth.

Ruby gasps and I feel her warm hand lay against my forehead. "Do you think you have a concussion?"

"Probably," I sigh. "But I haven't thrown up, so maybe my skull is finally getting the memo that I don't want one."