Surviving The Night

CHAPTER SIX

POV: Raina

I dragged my body through the thick bushes beyond the pack territory border, and every single step I took made the deep cut on my arm burn like fire while blood continuously dripped down onto my torn shirt. Rain was still pouring down from the dark sky, soaking my clothes and making the ground extremely slippery, but I kept pushing forward through the mud because I was completely terrified that Alpha Marcus’s guards were right behind me waiting to finish the job. My heart was pounding frantically against my ribs, and every time a tree branch snapped in the distance, I froze on my knees and squeezed my eyes shut, praying that the hitmen wouldn't find me out here in the open.

I crawled up a small dirt hill, and right through the thick trees ahead, I spotted the shape of an old hunting shack standing completely alone in the neutral woods. I used all the remaining energy in my body to stumble across the clearing, and I shoved the front door open, throwing myself inside and slamming the door shut behind me before dropping directly onto the floor.

I sat against the wall in the dark, gasping for breath while holding my bleeding arm, and I knew I had to stop the bleeding immediately or I wouldn't survive the night. I grabbed the bottom edge of my wet shirt, using my teeth and my good hand to tear off a long strip of cloth, and I wrapped it tightly around the deep wound on my arm.

"Please stop bleeding," I whispered to myself, pulling the cloth as tight as I could with my teeth until the sharp pain made me tear up, but I tied a hard knot to hold the pressure in place.

I rested my head back against the wall, but a sudden sharp cramp twisted deep inside my lower stomach, making me double over on the floor as terror gripped my mind. I pressed both of my hands over my stomach, and I talked out loud to the small baby inside me, needing to hear my own voice so I wouldn't lose my mind in the quiet room.

"Stay strong in there, please," I whispered, pressing my fingers gently into my skin while tears mixed with the rain on my face, "I am going to get us out of here, and I won't let anyone hurt you ever again."

The exhaustion from the blood loss and the long run through the woods finally caught up to me, and my eyes grew impossibly heavy until everything went completely black.

When I woke up hours later, the faint light of morning was sticking through the cracks in the wall, and the sharp pain in my stomach immediately brought me back to reality. I slowly sat up on the floor, checking the cloth wrapped around my arm, and I saw that the bleeding had finally stopped, though my entire body was shaking from hunger and cold. I placed my hand back over my lower stomach, and the dull ache reminded me that I had to keep this unborn child alive no matter what it took, which meant I needed to find food and water immediately.

I forced myself up onto my feet, using the wall for balance while my head spun, and I carefully pushed the door open to look outside into the quiet woods. A small bush covered in wild red berries was growing right near the edge of the cabin, so I stumbled over to it, picking the berries with my shaking fingers and shoving them into my mouth as fast as I could. They tasted sour and bitter, but I kept eating until my stomach stopped aching, knowing that every bite was keeping my baby alive for another hour.

I stood near the bushes and looked back toward the direction of the Frostvale pack territory, and the painful truth settled deep into my chest. I knew right then that I could never step foot in that town again, because Alpha Marcus wanted me dead, my own adoptive family hated me, and the boy I loved had chosen his father's power over my life.

"He really let them come for me," I said out loud, looking down at my hands while my voice cracked with raw pain. "Damon stood right there and promised he would protect us, but he went right back to his father and gave us up."

I squeezed my eyes shut as heavy tears spilled over my cheeks, and I let myself cry for the boy who had held me in the dark and kissed my neck while promising me a future we were never going to have. I cried for the girl who had been foolish enough to believe that a future Alpha would give up his hockey title and his power for a girl who couldn't even shift into a wolf. But after a few minutes, I wiped the tears off my face with the back of my hand, and I felt something cold and hard settle inside my heart where my love for Damon used to be.

"No more crying," I said softly, looking back down at my stomach while I rubbed my skin gently. "Damon made his choice, and now I am making mine, so I will raise you all by myself and we will never need him or his family for anything."

I turned my back on the Frostvale territory completely, and I started walking through the trees toward the main country road that ran along the border of the neutral lands. My bare feet were cut up from the sharp rocks, and my vision kept swimming as the morning sun got higher in the sky, but I kept moving my legs one after the other because I knew staying near the woods meant death if Marcus’s guards decided to search the area again.

After walking for nearly two hours, I finally reached the dirt edge of the main road, and my legs completely gave out under me, sending me tumbling down into the tall grass beside the gravel path. I lay there on my side, completely unable to lift my arms or stand back up, but the loud rumble of an engine echoed from down the road, getting closer and closer until a red pickup truck pulled over onto the shoulder right next to where I was lying.

The driver's door opened with a loud creak, and a middle-aged human man in a plain jacket stepped out, running over to where I was collapsed in the grass with a look of total shock on his face.

"Hey, can you hear me?" the man asked, crouching down beside me and placing two fingers on my neck to check my pulse. "What happened to you out here? You're bleeding through that bandage real bad."

"Please help me," I rasped out, my voice so raspy and weak I could barely make the words come out of my dry throat. "Please... my baby."

"Alright, don't try to talk right now," the man said, carefully sliding his arms under my back and knees to lift me off the muddy ground. "I'm driving straight to the city hospital, so just hold on tight and you're going to be okay."

He carried me over to his truck and gently laid me down on the front bench seat, slamming the passenger door shut before rushing around to the driver's side and speeding down the open highway away from Frostvale.