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“Hey,” said Daniel. He touched her shoulder gently, and she came awake. “Not yet. Kade made you a bed in the back bedroom.”
Kade did?She wondered, flicking her glance over to the other man, who was still determinedly eating soup.
“Come on,” he said. “I’ll help you there.”
He had to practically lift her out of her chair, and Charlie got the impression that it would have been easier for Daniel just to carry her, but she walked stubbornly, putting one foot in front of the other over and over again until, at last, she was in front of an army cot with blankets and pillows on it.
Daniel pulled the blankets over her, then went to the kitchen and returned with a straw in a glass of water and two bottles of pills.
“Come on,” he said. “Drink up.”
Charlie hesitated for a moment, then opened her fist and tossed the pills into her mouth.
If they were trying to kill me, they’d never have saved me, she reminded herself.
The moment the pills hit her stomach, she felt herself being pulled under, like she was slowly sinking into a sea of drowsiness and blankets.
“Daniel,” she murmured, her eyes already closed. “You weren’t supposed to be here.”
She felt fingertips trace across her forehead, sweaty hair moving out of her face.
“What are you talking about?” he asked.
Charlie tried to concentrate. Somehow, this had become vitally important, all of a sudden.
It’s the drugs,the last rational part of her brain whispered, but she ignored it.
“Kade,” she sighed, sleep finally dragging her down. “He doesn’t... have a...”
The last word, mate, died on her lips as she fell asleep, Daniel leaning down toward her.
* * *
Charlie slept for three days.
The only thing she was aware of was Daniel, waking her up morning and night to gently feed her more pills, give her food and water — always the rabbit stew, always water with a straw — or help her stand up so she could go to the bathroom. Sometimes Kade was there, in the background, standing around with his arms crossed, and sometimes he wasn’t there.
She knew that some of the pills were sedatives and some were painkillers, and between the two of them, the waking world seemed fuzzy and strange, more like an underwater dream than reality. Sometimes she woke up, something urgent on her mind, only for whatever it was to sink immediately back below the surface and leave her there, blinking sleepily, grasping for words and thoughts that just wouldn’t come.
There was something important, she could tell. Something that she’d left back in the woods, something about people coming for her, but in her dreams everyone eventually turned into a wolf and then chased her until she started wake.
* * *
Every so often,she’d float to the surface of whatever dream she was having, and she’d over hear the two of them talking, though more often than not, there was no talking at all.
“Is that the bathrobe?” she heard once. She thought it was Kade’s low, concise, clipped voice.
“Yeah,” said Daniel.
No response. Charlie slipped back under.
* * *
Another time,she floated upwards to hear Daniel’s voice, almost sounding worried.
“It’s been a day and a half.”
“Hunter said it was okay to keep her under a while.”
