Reopening Wounds

Very short chapter because I haven't had time to write Beth & Richard's backstory. I have it in my head, I just want to post the intro to it, so I can write this later at home when my bfs never around & I'm all alone with nothing but my characters

 

   The first thing I smelled when I woke up was the sickly, metallic scent of blood. “Whram...I?” I managed to work the jumbled words around my tongue, which felt like a wet stone in my mouth. “Safe.” Hartley’s voice answered my mumbled question. His voice for once didn’t have that curt edge to it. “...Hartley?...what happened...?”

“I saved your stupid a*s, that’s what happened. What were you thinking, running after an infected into the dark! It could have killed you, & by the condition of you he was very close to it!” He shook me roughly by the shoulders as I tried to sit up. “OW!” I muffled a scream as pain shot through my left arm, from the wrist up. “Sorry...” He let me fall back onto the couch. Thud. “What happened to Richie?” I asked him, rubbing my bandaged wrist & glaring indignantly up at him. “You know that monster?” Surprise colored his tone. I looked away, pressing the bandaged side of my face into the cushion. “I used to...”
”Want to tell me about it? You’re not going anywhere soon like this...we have time.” I bit my lip, fighting back the tears at the flood of images that rushed by in front of my closed eyelids like cars on a freeway. “Okay,” I took a deep breath, wincing as sharp pain shot through my ribcage. “Here goes...”