Bad Company

Intrusion

The smug bastard that attacked me stood in the doorway with a sick grin, enjoying every second of my pathetic flailing on the bed as I tried to remove the machinery holding me down. His psychopathic pale gaze seeped into my soul and latched onto me like a starving leech.

And then he smiled. That jackass actually smiled at me before taking a step backwards into the crowded hall, disappearing unnoticed into the throng of white coats and navy blue scrubs.

The heart monitor beside my bed screamed at every nurse and doctor flooding the room, the machine skyrocketing as pure, unadulterated fear engulfed every fiber of my being. My eyes were as wide as the moon, and my hands were grasping onto Uncle Dusty's shirt so tightly my knuckles were linen white. I was absolutely terrified, and I couldn't even speak a word.

"HOLD HER DOWN!" A booming voice filled the room. My wild eyes flickered quickly over every face, both male and female and young and old, before finally settling on a man around Dusty's age whose eyes held promises of violence if his orders weren't followed. Surely enough, a male nurse and two female nurses secured me to the bed with the sheer weight of their bodies, but the adrenaline in my system never stopped pumping forcefully through my veins.

Wait. Was that my adrenaline?

I changed the focus of my gaze to a nurse wielding a needle as he injected a substance into my I.V. tube, assuring an extremely distraught Dusty that it wouldn't hurt me. Colt, on the other hand, was shockingly serene, as if he had witnessed this before. Sure, there was panic in his eyes, but it was more of a personal fear--a fear for me, not for what was occurring.

"She'll be asleep within a few minutes," the doctor injecting me assured the two men next to my bed. Dusty's pleading eyes met Colt's as if asking--begging--him to do something.

My body suddenly felt uncomfortably heavy, as if my bones were made of steel, and my eyes began to droop. I threw my gaze around the room like a cornered animal. I wasn't ready to go back under! I had to tell them! They had to get him before he came back!

But I still couldn't speak. And damn it all if it wasn't the most frustrating thing.

The nurses cautiously eased off of me, prepared to secure me back to the bed if necessary, but I didn't move. There was a low humming of voices as the nurses spoke amongst each other as they filed out of the room before scattering in all directions.

The only people left in the room were Dusty, Colt, and the doctor who had been barking orders. The man stepped forward and placed his hands on the bed rail, watching me with wary eyes. "We gave her a heavy sedative to put her to sleep, but I need to know exactly what happened in here."

"We were talking when a nurse came in and told us he had to check the machinery. Then she just woke up and started panicking. Scared the hell out of us," Dusty's voice finished in a soft whisper, and his fingers tightened on mine. My gaze drunkenly swung from the doctor to Uncle Dusty who leaned closer to me and placed a kiss on the back of my hand.

Confusion seeped into the doctor's voice as he spoke. "We didn't call a machine technician for this room, and a nurse certainly wouldn't be completing maintenance on the machinery."

Colt masked the burning fear and confusion in his eyes with a façade of anger, but I knew better than to believe that. I could see his mind rapidly sifting through thoughts as he tried to rationalize the given information.

But I was too tired to see where his thoughts led. My eyes drifted closed, and I was sucked into a deep, medically induced sleep.

**

It could have been hours, or it could have been days. The only thing I knew was that it was the middle of the night when I woke up.

There was a soft beeping in the background along with the occasional puff of air from my oxygen tank, but, other than that, the room was quiet.