Chapter 3: How Does it Feel

Maddy hung up her cell phone with a relieved feeling in her soul. Help would arrive soon in helicopters, and she was free to escape. She put the cell phone back into her old, worn blue jeans. The pocket was huge and held nearly everything Maddy needed with her, which tended to be a wallet and the cell phone. Maddy traveled light wherever she went, but she rarely traveled far.

‘I’d better get out of here.’ Maddy thought as she glanced around. The broken car door was very suspicious, and Maddy didn’t want to be there when help arrived. So, she began to walk away from the horrific scene that she’d been the cause of.

A slight rustling came from behind Maddy, and she swiftly spun around to see what caused the noise. She saw Isaac had came to enough to see he was alive, and he was staring directly at her but couldn’t register any memory of seeing her. He was so incoherent that it didn’t matter that he didn‘t now the woman standing there in front of him. All he knew was that he was too tired to keep his eyes open, so he let his body take over and slip back into a slumber.

Maddy walked back over to the Subaru, touched Isaac’s face and marveled over him. He was attractive for a human, and she assumed he was someone famous. ‘Maybe an actor.’ Maddy thought. ‘He’s handsome enough to be an actor.’ She glanced over at Zac and stared hard at his face. His facial features were a little bit more softer than Isaac’s, but Maddy noticed that Zac looked vaguely familiar. ‘Do I know him?’ She brought her hand up to her mouth and thought about who he was. Then it hit her. ‘The MMMBop singers,’ she thought. ‘What were their names? Sounded like randsom…hmm.’

Maddy glanced up at the sky as she thought over who she caused to crash. “Hanson,” she whispered after finally remembering the group name. Then, she turned her head to face the two men in the smashed car. She leaned down next to Isaac’s face. “I’m sorry,” she whispered into his ear.

Maddy didn’t have any more spare time because her superhuman hearing caught the sound of the hunter’s boots stomping the ground. “I have to get out of here,” she said to herself. She took one more look at Isaac and prayed that she hadn’t left him at the brink of death. Maddy hadn’t killed humans since she first morphed into her werewolf form. She’d only morphed that one time because she feared that form so much. She couldn’t control herself and left her uncomfortable with the werewolf inside of her.

Once more, Maddy was on the run from hunters who wanted her dead for being in the wrong place. They hunted immortals who stepped into private or scanned territory, and Maddy had treaded into scanned territory. For just being a werewolf, Maddy was sentenced to die. When it came down to the truth, the government had kept it hushed that immortals were actually factual beings. So, they exterminated any that came in contact with people. Maddy had met several humans before, and she’d just become a threat to ten humans. So, her track record succeeded in earning her a death warrant from the supreme court.

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The helicopter arrived on the scene of the crash not long after Maddy had deserted it. They immediately sat the helicopter down on the road; the police of the area had given them the okay to set down a helicopter on the highway. Not the smartest thing to do, but the police in that small rural community had never had such an emergency on their hands. The paramedics rushed out with stretchers and ran over to the car, since it was the was damaged the most. Upon seeing the driver’s side door was tore off and lying on the ground a few feet away, the paramedics exchanged glances. “What the hell happened here,” one asked. No one answered as they hurried to extract Isaac and Zac from the smashed Subaru.

The paramedics focused on the next critical person, Matt. Before they could get to him, they had to get Justin out of the passenger seat. Then they cut Matt’s seat belt away and gently removed him from the van. The paramedics worked diligently in rescuing the bands from the van. They were relieved to find they would be fine in a few hours. Isaac, Zac, and Matt had the serious injuries. All three would have CAT scans to rule out damage to the brain. Matt would have to have his nose set before he could go. Isaac would have needed more procedures, but Maddy’s blood had healed his broken ribs and punctured lung and left him with a slight head wound.

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Taylor was the first one at the hospital when his brothers and the opening bands arrived. He had drug everyone else that was related to the Underneath tour along with him. He was relieved to see that his brothers were in good shape for the condition of the Subaru; he’d been shown pictures of the wreck by the paramedics. The pictures had made his chest tighten up, but he knew that Isaac and Zac weren’t critical. So, there was some ease in the tension Taylor had in his muscles.

Taylor followed doctors and nurses around bugging them about Isaac and Zac, and they simply told him to go back to the waiting room. Eventually, he was allowed to see them. Zac was all ready awake and arguing with the nurses that he was fine. Isaac was still border lining consciousness. His eyelids fluttered every few minutes, so he was close to waking up.

“Zac.” Taylor said to bring attention to himself.

Zac looked over and nodded while saying, “Hey.”

Taylor furrowed his eyebrows. “That’s it ‘hey?’ You were in a car wreck today, and that’s all you have to say.”

Zac shrugged. “My head hurts, so I don’t feel like being articulate,” he replied.

“I thought you were fine,” a nurse retorted.

Zac glanced over at her. “Did I ask you--”

“Look, I can get something for the pain if you don’t finish that sentence,” the nurse told him.

Zac took a deep breath then bit back his tongue. The pain in his head was telling him that relief meant more than winning an argument. He leaned back against the wall that the hospital bed was hooked onto. He watched Taylor walk up closer; he was pale, and Zac noticed Taylor was a little shaky. “You do know you’re shaking, right?” Zac asked.

Taylor nodded. “Happens when you’re told your brothers were in a car wreck. Hell, I’m surprised that my hair isn’t gray right now with the scare all of you gave me.”

Zac chuckled at the thought of his brother’s perfect hair with scattered gray. Taylor glared at him and asked, “What exactly is funny?”

“Gray would go great with your complexion.” Zac kidded.

“Shut up.” Taylor warned.

Zac quit laughing and got serious. “Look, Tay, I’m here talking to you. Loosen up, man.”

Taylor’s eyes scanned Zac’s shirt, which had blood spatters on the sleeves, and Isaac’s, which looked like blood had been poured onto the collar and front. Zac glanced over at Isaac for the first time since before the wreck and noticed the horrible blood stain on his shirt. He swallowed hard and felt sick to his stomach by the amount of blood Isaac had lost onto the shirt.

Zac’s looked away and caught Taylor’s stare. “I’ll loosen up I know everything’s going to be all right.” Taylor stated, and Zac nodded in response since he didn’t trust that he wouldn’t vomit if he opened his mouth.

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Isaac felt in control of his mind and body once again, and he forced his eyes to open. He heard Taylor’s voice talking to Zac, but he hadn’t caught a single word that Taylor had said. His mind was a little foggy, and he didn’t know why. Isaac had no idea that Maddy’s blood was causing the grogginess, and he was unlikely to learn that fact.

Taylor noticed Isaac’s eyes open before Zac did. But, Zac was struggling to keep the last thing he’d ate to stay down. Taylor stepped closer to Isaac. “How do you feel?”

“Like I was hit by a van.” Isaac replied with a sly little grin.

Taylor let out an aggravated sigh. “I wonder why,” he said sarcastically.