Chapter 20: Bump in the Road

When we got out, the first thing I saw was Isabella. She was out of her earlier daze. Her eyes were glowing a deep shade of orange as she held Liora by the throat. Liora had a bite mark on her neck, while Isabella’s mouth was covered in blood. It looked like she was drinking Liora’s blood. Derrick immediately brought out his claws, ready to attack her, but I quickly stopped him.

“What are you doing?!” he shouted.

“Let me handle this.”

Hesitantly, he backed down but remained ready to attack in case something happened. Isabella looked panicked. Her eyes were wild as they darted back and forth at everyone present. I slowly walked toward her while maintaining eye contact.

“Let her go!”

Instead of complying, large fangs grew from her mouth as her hands tightened around Liora’s throat. My eyes glowed bright orange as I repeated the order.

“Let. Her. Go.”

This time she didn’t hesitate and released her grip on Liora.

“Now sit.”

You could see that she was hesitant, but it was as if her body was moving on its own as she sat down. A look of relief flashed across Derrick’s face as he rushed to check on Liora. She was breathing heavily while glaring at Isabella.

Isabella, on the other hand, stared at me, looking on the verge of crying.

“What did you do to me?”

“You already know.”

“I would rather die,” she whispered.

This was going to be trickier than I thought. Even though I could just order her around, things would go much easier if I had her cooperation.

“We can’t go on like this,” Liora said. “We should stop for the night. Ava is bleeding out. She needs medical attention or else she’s going to die. We also need food, clothes, and a place to sleep. I suggest we take her to the hospital since there is one not too far from here.”

Derrick quickly refuted.

“We can’t stop now. What’s important is finding Allison and getting the hell out of the city.”

“It’s just one stop. If we don’t get her to the hospital, she’ll die. Plus, remember I also need to heal. If we are attacked and I’m still like this, it will put everyone in danger. We need to stop. Might as well do it in the hospital.”

Derrick shook his head and clicked his tongue. He didn’t want to leave Allison in any more danger just to save a girl he didn’t even know. But since Liora had brought up some very good points, he couldn’t refuse.

“Fine, I’ll drive us to the hospital,” Derrick finally said as he hopped down from the back of the truck.

“I think it’s best if I ride in the back with the others,” I said.

“Suit yourself.”

With that, I climbed into the back of the pickup truck, and we resumed our journey shortly after. Liora was healing slowly, but there were signs of progress as she was able to move her feet an inch or so.

Isabella sat quietly at the back of the truck, so I decided to use the time to talk to her.

“You have changed,” I said. “Before, you were fully committed to taking your own life, even going as far as nearly stabbing yourself in the throat, but now you’re not even considering killing yourself, are you?”

She didn’t say anything, only stared at the ground with her shoulders slumped. I also noticed that she was shaking and her face was pale. Her entire body was drenched in sweat making her uniform stick to her body. I found it strange but I brushed it off as just a product of her new transformation.

“Is there someone worth living for?” I asked.

She immediately started glaring at me, which told me I was right.

“Whoever that person is, they must’ve meant a lot to you. Which means that you have to keep living for them.”

“I can’t. She would never accept me now. I’m better off dead than like this.”

“I know you don’t truly believe that, or you wouldn’t have given in to me. The truth is that you want to live. Whether that person will accept you or not, you want to live for them. To make sure they are safe.”

“Just shut up! You don’t know anything about me.”

Just then, she clutched her stomach, hung herself over the back of the van, and started puking blood. She vomited nonstop for a few minutes, then when she was done, she fell over in agony.

“What is it? Are you okay?”

“Just leave me alone. It doesn’t matter what you say now. I’m already dying anyway.”

She was right. She was dying. The smell of death was on her. But why? Does it have something to do with my bite? Some kind of side effect maybe?

“I refuse to remain a werewolf or a half-breed hybrid. It works out much better for everyone if I just die.”

Sigh.

She was stubborn. I wouldn’t convince her that easily. As things stood, there was nothing I could do to help her. Her body was failing for some reason, and she would be dead soon. We didn’t speak a word after that until we got to the hospital.

There was a police checkpoint before we could even enter. They checked if we had any bite marks or scratches. Luckily, the bite mark Isabella gave Liora had completely healed, so they didn’t notice anything.

The hospital was ransacked with people, most of them injured in critical condition. It smelled of blood and grime. I spotted a few who were almost completely drained of blood, probably due to a blood moth. Others had lost limbs and were fluttering on the edge of death. There were also a few who weren’t hurt physically but whose minds were broken.

One woman in particular was screaming at the top of her lungs.

“He’s gonna come back! It’s dark out, he always comes when it’s dark out! He came last night. He’s gonna kill all of us!”

The security guards had to rush to secure her before she could hurt anyone or herself. We walked past them and carried Ava to the emergency room. We had to wait quite a while before a doctor was free and could see her.

Derrick clearly wasn’t happy about the change of events. He especially wasn’t happy about Lily seeing the scene of what was happening in the hospital, so I decided to make a suggestion.

“Lily, Do you want to go out for a walk with me?”

Of course, without the slightest hesitation, Lily said yes. She was probably just happy to stay up past her bedtime. I figured I would walk her until she fell asleep, then come back so she didn’t have to see what was going on. I lifted her up, and with Isabella following closely behind me, I left the hospital building.

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