TW: Gore
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"SHOOT YOU STUPID GIRL!"

Travis shouts furiously. But no noise that follows after indicates the shooting. Instead, cries of terror fill the darkness as the group of four scatter all around to hide in the wilderness, to get away from the nightmare. But it only gains interest in chasing the two boys nearest to him who ran in the opposite direction with their lives depending on it.

The creature, Silas, sprints on all four and steadily increases its speed to catch up to them.

In a matter of a second, he gushes past the two appalled boys and lands in their path, blocking their way. He then menacingly growls and stands upright with his back hunched, his tall, gangly figure looming over them in triumph. The moonlight shines upon him, upholding his horrifying demeanour as it comes near.

"Run."

Ryan grumbles to Dylan, who trembles uncontrollably all over. The trembling boy looks over and sees Ryan moving backwards as if trying to lure the creature to himself to try and create a distraction. But to the two boys' utmost horror, Ryan suddenly induces a twig to snap beneath his weight, alarming Silas, who howls stridulously, the saliva dripping down from his lengthy tongue.

Like a bolt of thunder, the inhumane creature lunges toward him, bearing down his claws to shred everything in its way.

"RYAN!"

Dylan cries out and throws himself in front of the boy like a shield, taking the blow hard when the creature tears through his skin smoothly like a knife cutting through a thin piece of paper. Blood smears all over Dylan's torso and keeps on dribbling as he stumbles back into Ryan, who holds onto him worriedly.

Ready to strike again, the creature growls, showing off his canine fangs but is stopped when a loud bang produces a rumble in the surroundings as the shell of the shotgun hits him right in the chest. All around, the birds -startled- flutter and fly away in the dead of night because of the short explosion.

Now, apart from the worrisome stares and the warmth of Ryan against his back, Dylan feels his insides burning and stinging from every breath he battles to take. He sees himself descending to the ground level with Ryan's help. Almost immediately, Dylan feels the pressure when Ryan presses both hands onto the deep horrid wound to stop the gushing blood flow, but it only makes the boy suffer a great deal of pain.

"Dammit! Why did you do that?"

Ryan blurts with gritted teeth, unable to hold back the tears of frustration that slip past his eyes. Dylan whimpers and tries to hold onto the consciousness with every last bit of strength remaining in him. He hears the approaching footsteps of Laura and Travis as twigs and branches crunch rapidly with each of their strides.

"I... I'm fine..."

Dylan coughs out with a grimace and places his right hand on top of Ryan's. But soon, confusion takes over his senses which exerts the anxiety to course through Dylan's frame like a crashing wave, enabling him to close his eyes slowly.

"Dylan, stay with me, man!"

Ryan cries out desperately, watching the life drain out of Dylan's glossy eyes second by second. He was simply watching the boy wither painfully before his own eyes, yet he could only do so much as to put pressure on his wounds, praying for him to pull through like they'd managed to do this entire night.

"Yeah, just keep doing that! Help is on its way!"

Laura orders with a shout, eyeing Dylan's wound with vigilance. She tried to pick up his pulse but to no avail, as it was like a thread, hard to catch.

"Oh no, at this rate he'll go into hypovolemic shock!"

She mutters stressfully, a bead of sweat rolling down her dishevelled and bloody face. Dylan, who looks like he could pass out any moment now, inhales sharply, the pain catching up to him. The trio see his breathing quicken as his chest heaves up and down too quickly, his clammy and pale skin glistening with sweat and a gory mixture of blood and dirt.

"C'mon, Dylan, c'mon! Fucking stay with me!"

Despite Ryan's most profound endeavour, Dylan feels his limbs go weak as if he had no control over them. The troubled screams of Ryan, along with Laura and Travis follow him as he slips deeper and deeper into the slumber until their outcries fade away completely. A quiet lull devours him, releasing him of his pain.

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Three painful weeks pass by, with Dylan still being unconscious. Every day, Kaitlyn comes to visit him. Sometimes alone, sometimes there would be someone else tagging along with her. All the six counsellors except Ryan would come to see him once a week despite all of them living in diverse places.

And since Kaitlyn lives in the nearest town, she could come to visit Dylan anytime she wanted. But as much as she enjoys doing it, it is still her responsibility because the boy's mother currently lives in another city far from here. Though she came down to visit him on the third day of being admitted to this hospital, she had asked Kaitlyn to look after her son.

"Hey, Hooky McHook face..." Kaitlyn announces her presence with a sad smile as she enters Dylan's hospital room bright and early. The room was just like she had left yesterday, squeaky clean with nothing out of place. And, with nothing much to do, she goes over and drags a chair to place it beside Dylan's bed.

"You gonna wake up now?" she jokes sarcastically, but there is a hint of genuineness in it. Without a word, she takes a seat, watching the boy sleeping peacefully. "Okay, that's creepy," she mumbles to herself and takes her phone out of her jeans to scroll through it mindlessly.

A few minutes pass by when the girl stirs in her seat restlessly.

She tears her eyes away from the phone, only to stare at Dylan with regret. She bites her lip, really thinking about what to say to him. "God, why do you have to be so stubborn, you silly? I should've just dragged you to that office with me..." Kaitlyn groans, hitting her head on the mattress.

She then continues, "Why do men always want to play the stupid hero part?" She scowls, recalling the last time she had seen the boy babbling and shuffling around and seeing him awake.

It was a horrible night for sure. Abigail was a mess after hearing Dylan's condition, and so were Emma, Nick and everyone else. But little did they know who this incident had affected the most.

The girl abruptly stands to her feet, pushing back the chair, "Okay, I'm in serious need of some fresh air." Kaitlyn turns around to walk off but pauses, looking back at an unconscious Dylan. "You're so going to owe me. You know that?" She grimly teases and walks around his bed to reach for the window blinds. She tugs on the chord, raising the blinds and letting the sun work up its magic when the room brightens up.

The soft honey-like rays fall on Dylan's wan face. Smiling to herself in satisfaction, Kaitlyn heads for the door and strolls out. The room falls silent again.

Until the persistent beeping of the heart monitor gradually begins to reach Dylan's ears. Slowly gaining his consciousness back, his back starts to feel the hard mattress beneath him which, to be honest, he finds pretty uncomfortable apart from the throbbing sensation down at his stomach. Deliberately, Dylan forces his eyes to open, wincing when the bright sun rays enter his tired eyes.

Blinking to adjust his eyes, he then darts them around, "What...?" Dylan croaks out warily, his throat parched terribly.

The headache he was having at the moment was less mild, but the confusion never left his brain as he gawked around. Where was he? How did he get here? Is he safe? All these questions revolved around in his head. But then he takes notice of an IV tube attached to his arm; he sighs in acknowledgement.

The pale white room stared back at Dylan with the same resentment he felt towards it. He hates hospitals. He hates being in one. And he definitely hates sleeping in one.

However, the chemical smell of the place is the only thing he loves as it has a calming effect on him.

Difficult to move, his dreamy eyes then flicker over to his left, where he recognises his ball cactus, which was placed on the window apron, basking in the sunlight.

Dylan cracks a smile when he thinks back to a very fond memory clasped to it. He was given this as a good luck charm by none other than his mother right before he was scheduled to leave for Hackett's summer camp. But now, the mention of that place alone gives rise to terror.

As if he suddenly remembers why he was here, he tries to latch onto that memory. But Dylan grunts painfully, unable to recall the event that whizzes past his hazy mind.

With a disrupted sigh, he closes his eyes yet once again. Only a minute passes when, to his wonder, the door to his room opens up. And in comes a person as he hears their light footsteps approaching but they stop near his bed. With a sigh, the person plops down on something which he assumes must be a chair.

A few minutes go by in complete silence until the person decides to speak up. "Man, I'm starting to like nature. But I guess it pains me to say that the detour would have been less lonely with you cracking your ridiculously pleasant jokes. Because Jacob is no match for them," Kaitlyn sighs wistfully.

But soon, a mischievous smile tugs on her lips. "But hey, tell you what. I need you to wake up now, like no in-between. And if you do, you'll earn yourself an ultimate card named 'The Ferocious Kick'. You heard me, you can make me kick whoever's ass you want, and I'll do it, no takebacks from me."

Enthralled by the familiar voice, Dylan's eyes flicker open in haste. "Holy fuck!" Kaitlyn jumps back up in surprise, her eyes wide with awe. "Dylan?" She cautiously says his name. And when he moves his eyeballs to glance at her, her mouth hangs open.

"No way, Dylan! Oh, God!" Kaitlyn exclaims in delight, her eyes forming crescents. Smiling like crazy, she goes in for a warm hug, carefully wrapping her arms around his frame. On instinct, Dylan presses for his arms to return the hug. But to his dismay, he cannot move them.

The heart monitor begins to beep loudly when Dylan assumes the worst. Kaitlyn immediately breaks the hug to peek at the beeping machine with narrow eyes. She says, "Oh! Is that supposed to be an ideal reaction to a hug?"

Dylan murmurs under his breath, which Kaitlyn fails to grasp. "What did you say?" She leans her ear closer to his mouth to listen intently above the beeping noise.

"I can't move..." He hoarsely speaks just when the doctor makes his way inside the room.

"What's going on? Oh, Mr Lenivy, you're awake!" The man, appearing to be in his forties, smiles as he moves to stand beside Dylan to check his vitals and everything else.

Kaitlyn clears her throat urgently, gaining the male's attention. The man turns his face sideways to look at her with both eyebrows raised inquisitively.

"He said he can't move," she tells him and bites down on her lower lip anxiously, her hands intertwined tightly and placed under her chin.

"I see," he says and faces Dylan with a professional smile, and in return, the boy looks up at him with concern, his heartbeat still speeding. "I feared this might happen, but..."

"Wait, you feared this might happen? Then can he walk?" Kaitlyn questions anxiously, and Dylan bores his fearful gaze right through the man for answers.

"Why yes, he can. He just needs to regain his arm and leg strength that has been lost due to debilitating muscular atrophy in his muscles."

Kaitlyn sighed and the doctor continued, "He'll be needing physiotherapy for a few weeks, and he'll be walking around in no time." He smiles at Dylan, whose poor heart eases for now. "But now I'll need to contact your mother about your splendid progress, Mr Lenivy. I'll return tomorrow morning so we can discuss things further."

With a quick goodbye, Kaitlyn sees the doctor at the door and once it closes behind him, she circles back around with a broad smile. A faint smile ghosts Dylan's face as he peeks at her. "What?" He croaks out. But instead of responding, Kaitlyn rushes over to him to engulf him again in a hug.

Dylan sighs, "Feels nice..."

"You tell this to anyone and you're dead," Kaitlyn banters with gravity in her voice which makes the boy chuckle weakly.

"Uh, about the hug or that you a big softie?"

Kaitlyn pulls back just to glare at him. "And Dylan was never to be found again," she jokes and the boy rolls his eyes playfully. "But seriously, you had me fucking scared back then, you know that?" Her voice was no louder than a gentle whisper. Upon hearing her words, the playfulness on Dylan's face dims.

She notices the instant change in his demeanour and forces herself to crack a smile, "But hey, now you're stuck with me for a good few weeks! Thrilling, right?"

Dylan only hums in response, not knowing what to say. Sensing that he must not want to execute the conversation any further, she takes her seat in the same chair placed beside his bed. And the quietness in the room once again carries through, both of them not daring to say a word. Still, glad to have each other's company.

♢

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