Not All Who Wander Are Lost

Chapter 18 - The Storm

The coaches rush Sam to the camp's first aid cabin. Coach Ahmed yells loudly, forcing a path through the crowd so Coach Smith, who is carrying Sam, can get through. I walk quickly beside Coach Ahmed, tears in my eyes but not falling, my jaw clenched. Coach Ahmed glances at me as we hurry towards the little first aid cabin, she reaches out and squeezes my shoulder. I give her a tight lipped smile. Margo is waiting for us at the cabin.
    "Should I call an ambulance?" She asks worriedly, her eyes on Sam who is covered in cuts and bruises and his own blood.
    "No," Coach Smith says firmly, a stony expression on his face. I know immediately that he doesn't want his team's reputation to be tarnished by this.

I clench my fists, feeling anger bubbling inside me. Coach Ahmed shoots me a worried look and steps forward.
    "Margo, I think you should assess the injuries and then make the call to the ambulance if you think it's necessary," She says, sending a slight glare in Coach Smith's direction. Margo nods quickly and directs us into the cabin. Before I can walk in, she stops me. She glances at me and then to Coach Ahmed.
    "Should he really be seeing thi-"
    "I'm coming in." I say firmly, glaring her down. Margo looks worriedly between Coach Ahmed and I once more but when Coach doesn't protest, she steps aside and lets me in.

I sit in the corner of the room, which is small and cramped, whilst Margo cleans up Sam's wounds. He's still unconscious but he's breathing, I can see the unsteady rise and fall of his chest. I stare around the room, taking it in. There's one bed in the middle of the room where Sam is currently lying and the walls are lined with shelves, cabinets and a small sink and tabletop area. There's a small office branching off through another door and I can see large filing cabinets beside a desk. My attention is pulled back to Sam when Margo suddenly clears her throat. Sam's wounds have all been cleaned, bruises are blossoming on his arms and cheek, his lip is busted and he has a large cut right above his right eye and one on his arm, a few smaller ones are scattered across his body.

Margo keeps her eyes on Coach Ahmed as she says,
    "I'm going to give him an orthoptic eye patch to protect the cut on his eye but apart from that, he'll just need to keep his cuts clean and if he puts any dressing on them he'll need to clean them regularly. But an ambulance isn't necessary. He just needs rest," She glances very quickly at me and I give her a small smile.
    "Thank you," I say softly. She nods at me before busying herself with finding a sticky eyepatch. I wait patiently as she places it carefully over Sam's injury. When she's done, she starts to tell us that it's up to his Coach on wether he should stay the night here or in our cabin, but she is interrupted by a quiet groan from Sam.

My eyes snap over to him and I quickly stand up. He slowly opens his eye and groans again as he looks around.
    "What the fuck?" He mumbles, his voice deep and gravelly, "Why am I blind? What is this?" He slowly pushes himself up onto his elbows, grimacing in pain. I rush forward and gently guide him back into a lying position.
    "Don't sit up, you need to be careful. Brent and his friends beat you up pretty bad," I murmur. Sam's eye finds me and he smiles.
    "Hi, gorgeous" He says warmly. I laugh lightly and shake my head. "Why am I blind then?" Sam asks, still smiling at me.
    "You have a cut above your eye so Margo put one of those medical eye patch things on you to protect it," I explain, gently running my hands through his hair which is damp from Margo washing it clean of blood.

Sam nods slowly and looks around the rest of the room, taking in both of the Coaches and Margo.
"Hi everyone," He says, far too brightly for someone who just got jumped by a bunch of bullies. Coach Ahmed raises an eyebrow at him, amused. Margo tries to hide her smile. Coach Smith frowns down at Sam.
"You look pretty fine to me, Foster. You can go back to your cabin with Mr Valley," He instructs, crossing him arms in a very 'P.E. Teacher' way. The Coaches and Margo follow us closely as I support Sam back to our room. I can see on Sam's face that he's in pain but he ignores it. Students gape at us as we make our way through the crowd thats still milling around there.
"Everyone in the dining hall! NOW!" Coach Ahmed yells, parting from our little group to usher everyone else inside, most likely for a lecture on what happened to Sam.