Chased by Life and Death

Chapter 40

Blake

"Tristan, get her to the couch!" Hunter shouted. Tristan lifted her small and broken body to the couch. "Noah, bring the medical kit and Luke towels and water."

I went beside Tristan and looked down at her. A growl left my mouth. She was in bad shape. Her face was bloody, her clothes in blood and some parts were ripped apart, her right wrist was in weird, twisted angle, probably it was broken. "What are these?" Parker touched some iron cuffs in her legs.

"She has at her neck and hands too." Micah pointed. "I don't fucking care! Where is the damn water and kit?" Tristan shouted, his worry and anger showing in his eyes.

"Coming!" Luke shouted back and came running to the room with towels and a bowl of water. Noah rushed inside too, and Ian kneeled beside Monica. "I will see her upper body. Ethan, the other half one. Blake took a wet towel and clear the blood from her skin."

We all started working with tense jaws. The towel in my hands, at first white now red and warm from Monica's blood. What had happened? After I cleared all the blood from her skin, a gasp left my lips. "Fuck." I cursed. "She has some bruises on her arms." I pointed.

Hunter kneeled beside me and ripped her blouse. I tense. "What are you doing?" I asked, but Noah gasped, "OMG." I followed his horrified eyes and I landed on Monica's stomach. A glass broke and I turned to see Logan. His face was tight and a vein in his neck was pulsing. The water glass he had in his hands was now in pieces on the ground, and some sharp parts had pierced his palm.

My gaze returned to Monica. Her stomach was black. I'm not kidding. Someone had kicked her many times, and now five big and black bruises were on her belly. "Cream," Hunter said and put his palm up. Noah gave him the cream from the kit and before Hunter put it, I cleared her belly with the towel. "What the hell happened?" Luke finally asked.

"I believe that was a punishment," Logan answered, still glaring at Monica's body.

"What punishment? Who did this?" Luke gestured to Monica.

"And why?" Ian added.

"I remembered when Monica did something wrong, the council will give her a punishment. I think that was because of what happened yesterday." Noah explained.

Tristan stood up. "I will kill them." Before he could leave, Parker grabbed him. "No." Tristan glared at him. "Look what these motherfuckers did to her! She's like a dead person."

"I know. I'm angry too, but we can't leave now. Monica is too weak, and we have to be by her side." Parker calmed him. Tristan didn't say anything, but he still was angry as hell. All of us. "Why didn't she call for us if she was in trouble?" Hunter asked.

Ethan snored. "Because she's Monica. She won't call for help if she sees she can't win." I watched her sleeping and I felt relief that she was here. Then I realized something. The guys were still talking and didn't notice it. She was breathing faster and sweat was dripping from her forehead.

I placed my hand on her head. She felt warm. "Guys, I think she has a fever." They all stopped, and I stood and put my forehead to hers. She was burning. "Yes. She has a fever. A high one, I think."

"Fuck." Hunter cursed.

"I will grab a glass of water and medicine," Noah called from his shoulder as he went to the kitchen. "But the question is: What are these?" I asked and eyed the cuffs.

Micah came forward and touched the one around her neck. "I think it's from iron, but I don't know what this is. If the council was involved with this, I didn't know until now." Tristan grabbed the one in her left hand and squeezed. It didn't break.

"What the hell is this thing?" He spoke. Ian had wrapped her right wrist, and she was smeared with creams. Noah came back and Ethan lifted her head while Parker put the pill in her mouth and then dropped water in her mouth to swallow it down. To our relief, she swallowed but didn't open her eyes. I placed my hand on her leg to tell her I was close. To confirm that she was okay.

"We have to clean her," Tristan said. We turned to him. "I mean showered her. We don't know when she will awake or when she will be okay to take a bath."

"Yeah, you are right." Logan agreed. Hunter cleared his throat. "I believe that the ones who are closer to her should shower her. Maybe she won't feel comfortable with the others." We nodded. Tristan, Parker, Noah, and Ian went to the bathroom while Hunter and Logan cleared the mess in the living room. Me and Micah along with Ethan and Luke went to her room to wait for the others.

My leg bounced while I sit at her bed. A hand came to my shoulder, and I jolted. "Relax, she will be okay. Now she's with us and we will take care of her." Luke assured me.

I scrubbed my face with my hand. "She was so bad, and I thought that if I touched her, she would break like a fragile glass. How could you be so cool and calm with that?" I asked Micah and Ethan. All the time we treated her, they hadn't shouted or talked with fear in their voice.

"I know Monica is strong and that was nothing. You don't have seen her other times. She was worst. And don't believe that, am calm. I burn inside." Micah explained.

Ethan nodded. His blue eyes found mine. "I wouldn't let her die. I had a chance to come back and see her and the others. I didn't come back, so she can leave this world. This is not an option." I signed. Moments passed and then Noah came with Monica in his arms. Her hair was dried, and her body was cleaned and dressed in her pajamas. We got up and Ian dragged the covers back and Noah slowly placed her on the bed.

"Did you wrap her hand again?" Logan asked as he and Hunter came inside. Tristan nodded. Parker put a wet towel on her forehead and Micah covered her with her blanket.

"Guys, we will sleep here. All of you grab a pillow and a blanket, and we will take turns to keep an eye on her." We all went to our rooms, grabbed what we needed, changed clothes, and came back to Monica's room. We laid down and closed the light.

Only our breathing and Monica's were heard. "Sleep, guys, I will keep an eye on her. Don't worry, she will be okay in two days." Hunter reassured us.

As the minutes ticked by until my eyelids closed, I wished that I wouldn't see her like this again and I would protect her.