We are still in a long story cycle (though this installment is coming as a quick bite). New questions pop up and maybe soon we will have some answers. follow the links below (listed in order) to catch up or reacquaint yourself with the rest of the story.

Outside the Dairy Queen
Along the Forest Path
The Aftermath
A Light Repast
Red Lethargy
Fear and Confrontation
The Next Room
Blackened Mist
Rat in a Cage

The Aftermath

Eddie hadn’t gotten far, not far at all in his dash for freedom. A large stick, maybe the one he had used on their dog, had hit him first in the back of the head. And then it struck again at the back of his legs. He dropped to the ground with the second strike and barely had time to steel himself for the pain to follow.

They had caught him. At first he had been on his hands and knees when the beating began. That was the last he could remember. How long it had gone on or how many people had worked him over, these were questions he had no answers to. His world had gone red for a brief moment before blackness and oblivion had taken over.

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When Eddie woke again, he didn’t know where he was. It wasn’t the forest. He was no where near the trails where they had confronted him. In fact, if his body hadn’t been in so much pain from their attack the bed he found himself in might have actually been comfortable. But most of his body felt like it was still on fire. The skin on his face and chest felt like it had been torn from his bones.

“I wondered when you would wake up.” The voice was soft, soothing. He wanted to trust it, desperately wanted to embrace who ever spoke to him as the person might have been his savior from the attack. He couldn’t see the person, nothing distinct, nothing to distinguish who it might be, though he had a feeling he had heard the voice before.

“Where am I and how did I get here?” The words he meant to say but all that came out was a dull croak. His throat cracked and sent him into a coughing spasm. Even through the violence of his episode he felt a hand nudge him to lay down and a cold, damp cloth wiped his forehead.

“Don’t speak,” she said. The coughing fit had knocked something loose around his ear drums. Sounds had become clear again. Though he still couldn’t place the voice, he was certain that he knew her. “There isn’t much I can do for it right now, but your eyes have swollen shut. It may take a little time for them to return to normal again. I expect you won’t be able to see anything for a little while yet.”

He stopped struggling to sit up and adjusted a bit to become more comfortable in the bed again. The pain that wracked his body had run rampant until he settled back into the mattress. He felt around for a blanket to re-cover his body and breathed out a sigh of relief as he drifted back to sleep again.

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