WARNING: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS A DESCRIPTION OF A TORTURE SCENE. VIEW AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION.
I decided to draw a scene where I was chained from the ceiling, standing on my tip toes of a lit cell. My body was covered in fresh slashes from whips and various knives. Tears streamed down my dirty face, and behind me stood a man that was half way in the shadows. On the wall, illuminated by the light, was the logo of the Hunter's Association. It was a shield with a bloody sword pointing upwards with 'Hunter's Association' written in cursive at the top and bottom. The face of the figure could be seen, and his expression was terrifying. His face was covered in my blood while he laughed as he lifted a Cat of Nine Tails whip. Instead of the typical leather, this whip was made from thin wire.
Since I had a week to draw this picture, I just focused on the outline for right now. I tried to stay focused on the present, but some sensations from that day still came forward in my mind. The sound of the whip cracking, my agonized screams, the smell of my blood, and my torturer's insane laugh were the more prominent memories. Before I knew it, the bell rang and I packed up my stuff to go to AP Algebra.
For this class, Viper was in the classroom. Even with the scar over his eye, he was still a good looking man, so the girls had a hard time focusing. Mr. Norris had to threaten them with detention to get them focusing on his lesson about angles. They still tried looking at Viper, and a few ended up with detention, but they didn't seem to care.
AP English was a little different. We were reading a play and everyone got a part, even Rita who was in the class this time. The play was Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, and my character was Romeo Montague while Rita had Juliet Capulet. It was more than a little embarrassing to read a play where I was in love with a character played by my bodyguard, but we couldn't change our characters. Other than this situation, the class was actually fun. Mr. High had us acting out the emotions, so there was a lot of yelling.
As the bell rang, we went to the locker rooms to change for PE. The 'uniforms' for PE were shorts, a t-shirt, and sneakers. As long as it was those three items, we were free to pick the colors. When I was done changing, I went and sat on the bleachers waiting for Coach Hill. Once everyone was sitting down, she spoke.
"Alright, everyone. It's that time of month again, so let's go outside for another mile run. The Shifters in the class need to do at least two miles since they're faster." Coach Hill announced, which was followed by groans.
"Stop complaining. The faster you start, the sooner you finish. If you don't finish the mile during this class period, then you'll have to finish it tomorrow." She said, heading for the door leading outside. Everyone slowly followed her, reluctant to do the mile again.
I used this as a way to control my speed, by keeping it at a reasonable jog. This was the only time that I could wear my headphones during this class so, as I jogged, I listened to my Disturbed playlist. That might have been why I didn't realize someone took a picture of me. Or the unmistakable sound of a rifle being loaded.
I was halfway through the last lap of my first mile when a searing pain shot through my left leg. As I fell onto the track, another shot landed beside my head. Everyone was screaming and running and, as I struggled to get up, James and Viper ran up to me.
"We need to get you inside." Viper said when he pulled my headphones off.
"What about everyone else?" I asked, panting from the pain.
"Lily and Jared are directing them back to the gym. Come on, up you go." James said, as the two of them helped me up, causing me to scream from the pain in my leg. They half dragged and half carried me back to the gym where they gently laid me on the floor. Viper took his belt off and used it as a tourniquet, trying to stop the bleeding. As the pressure tightened, my screams intensified.
Due to the active shooting, the school was on lockdown, so we had to wait for an ambulance to get here. It also didn't help that I was now coughing up blood. This had my guards even more worried.
"Don't tell me–" Viper began.
"The bullet was poisoned. Due to the progression, I'd say it's Dragon's Bane, Wolfsbane, or both." Jared said.
"Shit. What do we do now?" Rita asked, swearing at their luck. It was their first official day on guard duty, and this happened.
"First, we need to keep the tourniquet tight. Now, use his bag to elevate his head. That's all we can do right now." Lily said, being the calm voice that everyone needed. As they did what Lily said, Coach Hill walked up to us.
"How is he?" She asked, keeping her voice low.
"It's not good. The bullet went straight through, but it was poisoned." James explained my situation to my teacher.
"I'll call his dad, but there's not much that can be done while on lockdown." Coach Hill said, pulling out her cell phone.
"Andrew? I need you to try and stay awake." Lily said when she saw my eyes begin to close. I moaned, not able to stay awake anymore.
I don't know how much time had passed, but the first thing I noticed was the beeping of a heart monitor. Groaning, I slowly opened my eyes and saw the white walls of a hospital room. Looking around, I saw the small calendar showed that it was now Tuesday, and the clock showed 12:30 pm as the current time. As I tried reaching for the call button, the door to my room opened and my mom walked in.
"Honey! Oh, I'm so glad to see you awake. Let me get Donny really quick." She said, before leaving to get Donatello.
"I'm glad to see you awake." Donny said when he entered my room. "How are you feeling?"
"Sore and thirsty." I croaked out of my dry throat. My mom helped lift my bed up while Donny got me some water.
"You'll be sore for a while. Though, your guards did a good job on the tourniquet. It kept you from bleeding too much." He commented while looking at my vitals.
"Did you figure out what poison was covering the bullet? And how long was I out before an ambulance came?" I asked slowly.
"It was covered in both Dragon's Bane and Wolfsbane. I have you on the antidotes and you're doing better than when you got here. And it took us about 30 minutes to get an ambulance to the school because of the lockdown. From what I was told, you were out for about 40 minutes before we got there." Donatello said, attaching a new bag of fluids to my IV.
"Ah. So, how's my leg?" I asked while relaxing into the pillows.
"It was a clean entrance and exit, but I did need to do surgery to close the wound and stop the bleeding. I gave you something to slow your healing, to ensure all the poison is out of your system and to make sure that the wound itself heals properly." Donny explained.
"How long would it take to heal?" I asked, slightly dreading the answer.
"About a month, two if it's not healing as fast as I'd like." He said, answering my question.
"That's not too bad. How's the school?" I said drowsily.
"The school's closed today, so you don't have to worry. Just focus on getting rest in order to properly heal." Donny said gently, as I drifted back off to sleep.