“Layla, you’re hurt. Take care of yourself and then come back,” Frenchie said. “In one piece.”
Jamie left one of his guns with Frenchie, and we headed back to our room. The soft rays of the sun peeked over the horizon. When we got back, I sat down on the side of the bed. Jamie brought me a towel to dry my hair and found me a HarpWind Grand Hotel plush robe. The word “Bride” was embroidered on the lapel.
“This may hurt a little,” he said, washing the wound with an alcohol swab. He then threaded a needle and, as carefully as possible, made the stitches. “You’ll have a small scar. Now, tell me what happened.”
I relayed the events of the night to him as he worked. I stared at his face; his eyes were glued on my forehead and the work at hand. His face told me, however, he was listening intently. His forehead was furrowed. When he was done stitching, he cleaned the wound and dressed it with light gauze.
He looked at me, shaking his head in disbelief. “They were trying to kill you.”
“I’m alright, but what do they want with Kira and Susan? Why are they so interested in those girls?”
Jamie shook his head. “I don’t know. It’s my fault you’re here. If you had stayed back--”
“The undead might have eaten me alive and no one would have known.”
“Or you might be safe, curled up on your couch in the cabin, reading a good book.”
“Queen of Hamletville, the sole survivor in a wasteland. Doesn’t sound like much fun.”
“Was getting tossed out of a fourth floor window fun?”
I frowned.
“Get some rest. You can’t go around fighting the undead, vampires, and communing with earth spirits on no sleep. I’ll keep watch,” Jamie said.
“The girls . . .”
“I’ll take care of it. You’re not alone in this, Layla. Just rest.”
I climbed into the bed. Jamie pulled the covers up and soon, despite my firm assertion I would not sleep, I was lost in dreams.
Chapter 28
I woke around noon the next day with a blaring headache, reeling from a strange dream. In the dream I saw a mix of odd images that disturbed me. Ian was there foremost and with him were people with human bodies who had tails and heads like animals. They were all drinking high-end cocktails. We were in a small, strange room piled high with heaps of garbage. The place smelled putrid. On some of the piles were corpses. To my shock, I turned to find Ian fucking one of the corpses. Its mouth, wide open, expelled flies each time he thrust into it. Standing beside him, a female creature with a face something like a fox or coyote laughed and stroked her own genitals as she watched. I woke feeling sick to my stomach, my head pounding.
“Here,” Jamie said, handing me an aspirin and bottled water.
“What are we going to do when pain killers run out?”
Jamie shook his head. “You’re something special. Buddie was by early this morning. I had him check in on Frenchie. I told him what happened last night.”
“You’re probably anxious to check on Ian. Let me get dressed,” I said and tried to stand. The room spun wildly. I sat back down.
“When did you last eat something?”
I shrugged and sat back in bed. My head was killing me.
Jamie returned with a dark chocolate candy bar. “Enjoy, it’s my last one,” he said.
“Boy, it must be love . . . the last chocolate bar,” I said and then broke off a piece, handing it to him.
He smiled at me.
“I guess I should enjoy it. Between the undead trying to eat me alive and these people trying to kill me in the middle of the night, I probably don’t have many meals left.”
“Don’t say that. Anyway, Buddie stayed for a bit this morning before he went down to keep watch on Frenchie so I could check on Ian. Ian actually looks really good. They’ve got an IV pumping hooked up and have started him on medications. He was looking a lot better. He was grumpy, but he seemed like he felt better.”
“I hope you didn’t tell him . . .”
Jamie shook his head. “No, he has other things to focus on.”
I rubbed my eyes. My head still ached. And I was confused. Why were they curing Ian but trying to kill me? “We need to check on everyone, make sure everyone else is alright.”
“You’re in no shape to do anything. Besides, just look out the window. Half the people in the hotel are outside playing croquet.”
“What?”
Jamie pulled back the curtain. I looked out at the lawn. Below I caught sight of happy people cheering as they putt croquet balls across the green. I watched Ethel cheer as her ball passed through the wicket.
“We need proof. We need to prove to them you’re right. Once they believe, we’ll find a way home,” Jamie said.
“There is no home anymore,” I said and the moment I said it, I knew it was true. Rumor would never let us leave and even if we did escape, Hamletville was the first place they would come looking. Where would we go now? Where could we hide?