Hollowed (3 page)

"
Did you see what they looked like?
"

"
No.
Not really.
It all happened so fast. It was dark. They moved so quick, I couldn
'
t even...
"
It
'
s hitting me now, the reality of
it all
. Sherry
'
s
dead
. I should be, too. I set the cup aside before I
can
drop it, pressing my hands to my face. I
'
m warm. Too warm.
Sick and trembling and I can't collect a coherent thought.
"
I hit one of them. I hit him. With a fucking
rock.
And he just...sat there...
"

It
'
s too much, and it shouldn
'
t be.
Back when my sister disappeared, everyone thought I was
repressing my feelings
when, in fact, I was simply dealing with it the best way I knew how. I
'
ve never been a person who falls to pieces over
anything
, especially in front of strangers. Now I
'
m shaking apart at the seams.
Cole presses the back of his hand to my forehead and that
'
s all it takes for me to start crying like a baby.

"
What
the hell is
wrong
with me?
"

Cole sighs.
"
It
'
s normal in your...
condition.
"

"
My condition.
"
I sniffle and grab some toilet paper to blow my nose and wipe away the tears.
"
What
'
s that supposed to mean?
"

Oliver lingers in the doorway, frowning.
"
You
'
re changing.
"

I hiccup, trying to rein in my sobs.
"
Is that some metaphorical statement?
"

"
No. Your body is changing. Adapting. It will last for a few days.
"

There
'
s something in his tone I don
'
t like.
"
Changing, adapting...
to
what
?
"

Another shared look between them. Oliver raises a brow.
"
You want to tell her or should I?
"

Cole sighs.
"
You were bitten
, dear one
. The virus is spreading through your system.
"

O...
kay.
N
ot following.

"
It rarely happens from only a bite. Usually it requires more than that. A direct injection
of infected blood
is how it
'
s typically done these days.
"

Virus? I
'
m infected with something? I look at Oliver.
Intimidating as he may be
,
he strikes me as the sort
to give me
quicker
answers
in terms I can understand
. He meets my gaze, steady and unyielding.

"
You
'
re turning into a vampire, Briar.
"

Oh, okay.

What?

"
First come the fever and the nausea. You won
'
t be able to kee
p anything down until it passes, and all you
'
re going to want to do is sleep.
"
Oliver folds his arms
, reciting this like he's memorized it from a text book
.
"
The worst of it will hit in a day or two. It could last an hour or a wee
k, but it will pass...
and when it does, you will be a vampire.
"

He may as well have a baby alien bursting out of his chest for all the sense he
'
s making. Me. A
vampire
.

"
Do you think I
'
m stupid?
"
Pause.
"
Don
'
t answer that.
"
 

I push myself to my feet, shrugging off Cole
'
s offer to help
me up
. With the room spinning, I stagger out of the bathroom and to the living room so I can fall onto the couch. The boys trail after me.

"
I
'
m not lying.
"
Oliver looks insulted at the thought.
"
You
'
re becoming one of us.
"

Oh.
Oh
, my day gets better and better. I rub at my eyes and groan.
"
One of
you?
So...
let me get this straight. Sherry and I were attacked by vampires. They infected me. And you two
—
also vampires
—
just so happened to find and rescue me?
"

They blink slowly. Cole rubs the back of his neck.
"
Well... Yes.
"

The room is silent. Heavy. I know I
'
m not the brightest skittle in the rainbow, but
seriously?

"
Get out
.
"

"
Ms. Greyson—
"

"
No, really. Get out.
Now
.
"
I get back up, giving Oliver a shove. Might as well be pushing a brick wall for how much he moves. He glares. But when Cole goes willingly, he follows.

"
I suggest getting rest today. Sleep as much as
you can
. Try not to eat; you
'
ll only make
it
worse
.
"
Cole twists around, expression somber.
"
And it would be wisest if you didn
'
t contact the police just yet.
"

I manage to push both of them out the front door.
"
Thank you for everything, and
goodbye
.
"
I don
'
t wait for an answer before shutting the door in their faces.

Maybe it makes me ungrateful. Maybe it makes me a flat-out bitch for turning them away after they helped me. But I didn
'
t survive being murdered
to listen to these two psychos going on about
vampires.
Not after what happened. Not after watching Sherry die and doing nothing to help her.

Back in the bathroom, I stare intently at my reflection. Even without all the cuts and bruises I should
logically
have, I look like hell. Dark circles under my eyes,
wavy
hair matted and dirty. I run my fingers over my throat. There
'
s a raised, ugly scar where the guy tore into me. It doesn
'
t hurt, but the flesh there is hot to the touch.

Watching at my tired face
, I realize how exhausted I am. How heavy my entire body feels. Like dealing with Oliver and Cole has completely stripped me of any energy I had. Despite that, I’m positive I won’t be able to sleep. Not with images of Sherry so fresh in my mind, the sting of teeth tearing into my throat.

But my
body doesn
'
t give me a choice
; t
he moment I hit the bed, I
'
m out.

I don
'
t know how long I sleep, but it was dark when I kicked the guys out and it
'
s dark when I wake up again. I reach for my phone out of instinct, but it isn
'
t on the floor near my bed where I usually keep it. Thinking about it, I probably lost it to the river. Great.

The apartment is smothering in its emptiness. Opening the bedroom window helps,
only
because I
'
m still burning up with fever.
105.
5
? Thermometer has to be broken. That kind of temp would render me comatose.
I haven’t eaten in over twenty-four hours by now, but I’m
ravenous.
Feels more like weeks. How can I possibly eat after everything that’s happened?

My body moves
on autopilot
,
completely dazed
. Filling the cat bowl, although I
'
m too out of it to wonder why
our cat, Chuck,
doesn
'
t come running at the sound.
Taking
out leftover chicken alfredo Sherry made
a few nights ago
, popping it in the microwave. Trying
desperately not to let her occupy my thoughts.
Cole and Oliver said not to call the police. I don
'
t understand why. I should
'
ve called the second I woke up. But what do I say?

I can tell them Sherry and I split up on the walk home. When she didn
'
t
show up at home
, I decided to report her missing. That could work. Except they would find my blood on the riverbank along with hers. Would that look any weirder than me saying I was there, escaped, passed out for a day and my injuries magically healed? I don
'
t know. But I
'
m not thinking clearly and it
'
s not like I have a phone to call with, so I
try not to think about it.

She
'
s dead. I
'
m suffocating under the weight of the fact nothing I can do will change that.

The chicken tastes weird but I eat it all anyway. Not ten minutes later, it comes right back up. Stubborn, I try something lighter. Saltine crackers like Mom always made my sister Ruby and me eat
when we were ill
. Ten minutes, like clockwork, up they come. No matter how starving I am, no matter how little I eat, nothing stays down.

The third time Noah came into town, I was sick
and
went home halfway through my shift. When he stopped by the bar to see me, Sherry gave him our address. He showed up at my doorstep with a can of soup, cold medicine and flowers. Lavender and roses. The lavender
be
cause
he said it smelled like me (
"
You mean my shampoo,
"
I laughed at him) and the roses
be
cause
he thought they were sort of standard and required to give to a girl.

Sherry came home early to join us. We spent that night on the couch, watching scary movies while I tried to keep down soup. But for as sick as I was, having them there felt comfortable. Noah on one side, arm around me, toying with my hair. Sherry on the other side of me, head on my shoulder.

What I wouldn
'
t give for them to be here now
. They would find the idea of me being a vampire hilarious.

Then
again, if Noah had been here,
Sherry and I wouldn
'
t have waited around at work later than usual. We would have
gotten a ride home with him.
Maybe none of this would have happened.

For the next twenty-four hours, I rest. Get up. Try to eat. Stumble around in a fever-induced haze. Back to bed. Cole must have come by at some point, because the curtains have all been drawn and a note on the coffee table has a hotel address along with a number.
In case you need us,
it says. My cell phone sits next to it.
But when I pick it up, the screen has a spider-webbed crack. Guess it's a good thing we still have a land-line.