Regeneration

Chapter 51 - Not Losing You Again

"Stay back!" My scream was raw, making Romero pause in his stride.

"What did you do?! What did you do?!" I repeated, tasting the saltiness of the tears that streamed down my face.

"Hailey wha-"

"He's my brother!" I shouted enraged, looking up. The fire in my eyes could almost ignite him.

His expression twisted in confusion, his eyes searching Nathan's face.

"He's my brother," I sobbed, collapsing to the floor, from both Nathan's weight and the heaviness of the range of emotions hitting me all at once.

Still clutching my brother, I pressed my hands against the wound in his shoulder. His warm blood seeped through my fingers. My blood.

"Nathan, don't leave me again." I said through gritted teeth as I pressed harder against the wound. I felt a swirl of rage and despair well up inside me. I wasn't going to lose him all over again, not like this.

"Hailey," Romero spoke right beside me, but his voice sounded far away, "Let me help you." He placed his hand over mine.

Pulling my hands away, Romero replaced the pressure I was applying with a tightly wrapped piece of cloth.

"Ahh!" Nathan yelped in pain as Romero pulled the knot as tight as possible over the wound.

"We need to get him to the camp." Romero's words still sounded distant.

"Hailey," he tried again.

Time had slowed down for me, but quickly sped up again.

Getting up, I helped Romero lift Nathan to his feet. I slung one of his arms over my shoulder while Romero slung the other over his. Together, we carried Nathan's weak form out of the building, his feet dragging when he couldn't find the strength to step in time with our pace. I only noticed that the gunfire ceased when we exited the building.

"What the hell is this?" Dune's narrowed eyes locked onto us as we approached.

"Hailey? Romero?" Bawden looked between us questioningly.

"Hailey's brother. We need to get him to the camp doctor now." Romero provided the explanation quickly, "We'll take one the cars parked farther down." He pointed down the road of scattered cars.

The militia members looked at one another, disapproving expressions creeping onto some of their faces.

Bawden nodded, "The rest of them bolted, we'll be fine here rolling the cars out of the way. You go with him!"

"That bastard shot at and tried to rob us!" One of the militia members interjected, "And you're letting them take him to our camp Bawden!"

A gunshot fired, and we all turned in time to see the hunter's body collapse to the ground.

Bawden turned back to the man who spoke before. "We're not that far from the main parts of the city, the hunters are still lurking and will be swarming this place soon, we don't have time for a debate. We can sort through those details later."

"Go!" Bawden repeated, looking back towards Romero, Nathan and I.

I mouthed a quick 'thank you' to Bawden, then we started through the maze of cars.

"Wait," I stopped suddenly just as we started to make our way between the cars.

"The fuel." I let go of Nathan.

Sprinting back to the truck, I grabbed one of the canisters and returned swiftly. We moved as fast as we could, carrying Nathan. As we neared the end of the cars, I spotted a pick-up truck, I ran ahead and tried the door.

"Unlocked," I said, pulling it wide open.

As Romero placed Nathan on the backseat, I ran around to the driver's side door and pulled the fuel lid lever. Moving to the back of the truck, I began filling it with the fuel. As the last drop drained into the tank, I tossed the empty canister aside and screwed the cap back on, shutting the lid.

In the driver's seat, Romero was already at work, sparking wires under the dashboard. The engine roared as I climbed into the passenger seat, only to be yanked back out the door.

"Ugh!" I felt the air get knocked out of my lungs as my back made contact with the hard ground.

With it's face hovering inches above mine, the hunter let out a blood curdling shrill. Threads of saliva stretched between the yellow-stained teeth of its widely opened mouth.

The sickening sound was cut short, and I screamed as the hunter's body collapsed on top of me.

At the sound of my scream, several more growls and screeches emanated from the darkness around us.

"Hailey, get in !" Romero shouted.

I pushed the lifeless hunter off of me and quickly got back into the truck, pulling the door shut.

The tires shrieked loudly into the night as Romero cut the wheel hard to the left, pulling away from the rest of cars.

Now racing down the dark stretch of road, I turned to look at Nathan in the backseat. He was leaned against the door, the moonlight illuminating his weary face. His breathing was shallow and his skin was starting to turn pale. The moment the gun went off, it felt like a rubber-band had been placed around my heart and looking at Nathan now, I could feel it tightening. My brother was not going to die tonight. He couldn't. He just came back to life after I had already mourned his loss in my mind, not thinking it possible to ever find him or know what happened to him, but here he was. I reached my hand towards his and he grasped it weakly, never letting it go.

"I'm not losing you again Nathan." I whispered.

~~~Author's Note~~~

This chapter is dedicated to HappycherryXD

Thank you for reading Regeneration! 💖