Shelter

Alex was running from a masked man, unsure of where he was going. Everything ahead of him was darkness. All he knew was that the man chasing him had a bunch of weapons. Knives whizzed past his head as he ran, ducking his head slightly. Surely one of those knives should have hit him by now – the man’s aim couldn’t be that terrible. He glanced over his shoulder and saw that the man was now holding a gun. Not just a shotgun – it was a fucking machine gun like you would see in a Call of Duty game or something. Glancing back again, the man was unmasked, and his face was totally deformed and creepy. Things were growing out of his head like Medusa. Alex ran faster, into the darkness ahead of him. He suddenly heard a shot fired from the gun.

Alex sat up quickly with a gasp, sweating. It was pitch black in the back lounge where he had fallen asleep. Why had he fallen asleep in here, anyway? He whimpered and jumped up from the couch. That was the worst nightmare he’d had in a while. Did he drink last night? The nightmares were always weirder whenever he drank alcohol.

He needed Jack. He needed him right now. Alex made his way toward the door, feeling in front of him, and finally grabbed onto the doorknob. He took a step and felt a searing, sharp pain through his foot. He screamed loudly in pain, falling backwards onto the floor. What the fuck was that?!

The door suddenly opened and Alex blurted out, “No, stop! Don’t move!”

Flyzik reached in and turned the light on, revealing him and Rian standing in the doorway. They looked tired, like they had just stumbled out of bed after hearing Alex’s scream. Flyzik looked at the floor and gasped, seeing broken glass all over the floor and in Alex’s foot.

“Fuck, I knew we should’ve cleaned that up when Alex threw it,” Rian groaned, stepping over the glass to walk over to Alex.

“W-what are you talking about?” Alex demanded. Flyzik had walked out of the room, probably to get something to clean up the broken glass.

Rian rolled his eyes, “You were arguing with Jack again because you were drunk as fuck. You threw the bottle at the door just as Jack shut it, so it shattered. None of us wanted to deal with you so we decided to just leave the broken glass there. I guess that was a bad idea.”

“No shit,” Flyzik muttered in agreement. He had used a handheld broom to sweep up the broken class and was now using wet paper towel to pick up the smaller shards.

Alex’s eyes widened. Fuck. He didn’t mean to almost hurt Jack. Jack probably hated him. “No, no, no, no, no. I need Jack. I need him now.”

“Quiet down. Let’s see if we can get this glass out of your foot,” Flyzik said, walking over to Alex and kneeling down. “Rian, go get a rag or two. His foot is bleeding a little and I don’t want blood everywhere.”

“Okay,” Rian said, walking out of the room quickly. Alex whimpered as Flyzik pulled the bigger pieces of glass out of his foot. That hurt more than he expected.

“Shit. Sorry Alex. Rian, give me that rag!” Flyzik called out, grimacing. Alex’s foot had started bleeding more when he pulled out a piece of glass. Alex squeezed his eyes shut. He knew it was bleeding and didn’t really want to look at it. Flyzik could deal with blood – Alex couldn’t stomach it. Rian ran back in and Alex could feel Flyzik wrap the rag around his foot. “You have a lot of tiny glass shards in your foot that we aren’t going to be able to get out. We don’t have any tweezers to use. Plus I don’t really want to touch your blood.”

“So is he gonna have to go to the hospital?” Rian questioned.

“No!” Alex yelped, opening his eyes. He hated hospitals and hated doctors even more. “I would rather have my foot fall off.”

“Oh, shut up. Don’t be so dramatic. I’m gonna go tell the bus driver to detour to the nearest hospital,” Flyzik said, patting Alex’s leg reassuringly before heading up front.

“I don’t need to go!” Alex protested, starting to stand up.

“Whoa, slow down. You don’t have a choice – you’re going to the hospital. We can’t let your foot get infected,” Rian said, pushing him back down against the ground.

Alex leaned back against the couch in defeat, tears welling up in his eyes. He was overwhelmed from his nightmare and the thought of going to the hospital. “I want Jack,” he choked out pitifully.

“Were you having a nightmare before you got up and stepped on that glass?” Rian asked.

“Y-yes. That’s why I got up. I wanted to go find Jack,” Alex whimpered.

Rian sighed, “Jack’s really pissed off at you, Alex. He’s not gonna want to be woken up because of you. He even said that when you guys were arguing.”

“I hate getting so drunk that I yell at Jack. I almost never remember it and it always ends up bad. I’m a horrible person,” Alex groaned, pounding his fist down against the ground in frustration.

“Hey, don’t be mad at yourself. Sure, you drink too much sometimes, but you aren’t a horrible person. Just an angry drunk,” Rian soothed, patting Alex’s knee gently.

Alex sighed, averting his eyes and looking down at his foot. His eyes widened when he saw that he had bled through the thin rag. “Whoa. That’s bleeding more than it feels like it is.”

“That’s why you have to go to the hospital, buddy,” Rian chuckled. He reached over to tighten the rag tied around his foot and Alex winced. He could feel some of the little glass pieces pressing into his foot.

A few minutes later, Flyzik walked into the back lounge. Zack trudged in behind him, half-asleep. He was muttering something about hating Alex and being woken up. He suddenly lifted Alex up and Alex looked around in surprise.

“We just pulled up to the hospital. I woke him up so he could carry you in, since he’s the only one strong enough to lift you without tripping. If we made you walk it would take longer and be bad for your foot,” Flyzik explained.

“Oh.”

“Come on, let’s go,” Flyzik said, leading them out of the back lounge.

Zack sighed and carried Alex along behind Flyzik, muttering, “I hate you all.”