2. Chapter 2
A Whole New World
The repetitive beeping is annoying as fuck. I want to go back to the woods, to the sound of nature and silence.
My whole body hurts. Even my eyes burn when I try to open them to find the beeping and instead get a bright beaming light right to my head.
Death isn’t suppose to be this fucking uncomfortable, that I know for sure.
Yet, here I am, uncomfortable and cranky as hell.
My mind is foggy and I’m having trouble coming up with a reason for all the distorted noise around me.
As I struggle to figure out what is happening, the beeping gets louder and faster. Voices start to filter into my thoughts, but what they are saying doesn't make any sense.
“I think she is waking up, Doctor. Rebecca, Rebecca can you hear me? Open the line of saline full blast, let's get some fluids in her. Her O2 and BP look great, but her heart rate is a bit elevated.” A soft, yet loud female voice says right next to my ear.
“Rebecca, it’s okay, you’re safe. Please, everyone, let’s give her some space to come to.
Nurse Jones, turn down the lights for me please.
” A deep calm voice has my eyes cracking just a bit, hoping Nurse Jones listened and dimmed the blinding white lights.
His voice is so soothing, I want to see if his face matches his tone.
My mind is clearing up faster and faster, but it's still really fuzzy. Clearly, I’m not dead and I’m in a hospital.
I want to know what happened and how in the hell I survived that brutal attack.
I’d also like to know where I am, how they know my name, and if my parents are aware of what’s going on.
My throat hurts and my head is pounding, but the noise is almost completely gone now.
All I can hear is that fucking beeping and the breaths of several people in the room.
The smells around me are confusing me even more.
I’ve never been sensitive to smell before, but right now, it's like everything has a scent and I can smell it all.
My eyes are open, but I can’t seem to focus on any one thing.
Everything is blurry and jumbled. My breaths are coming faster and with every inhale, more scents flood my senses.
My heart is racing and the infernal beeping is keeping time.
A rough warm hand strokes down my arm and suddenly everything else stops.
All of my focus is on that single point of contact.
My heart beats slow, my breaths even out, and fog in my mind clears, letting me focus and think straight for the first time since I woke up.
“Good job, Rebecca. That’s it. Slow deep breaths, everything is okay, I promise.” His deep voice has my gaze traveling from his dark umber hand, up the sterile white coat sleeve onto his beautiful face.
His eyes are so green, I imagine the grass is jealous. His features are all sharp and his chin is chiseled in that Chris Hemsworth way. The man looks like he is an actor playing a doctor on T.V. Seriously, McDreamy has nothing on this guy.
“Hello Rebecca. I’m Doctor August Lycan. I want you to know that you are safe and we are going to take good care of you. Do you know where you are?”
Peeking around the room, I can see that the doctor is accompanied by three nurses and there is a lady in a killer pants suit standing quietly in the corner.
The lights in the room are dimmed so low that the room is almost completely dark, but I don’t have a problem making anything out.
My mind is racing and I have so many questions.
Right now, I need to focus on the doctor and let him explain what he needs to, then I can ask any questions I may still have afterwards.
Having a solid plan, I nod my head slowly and swallow hard to clear my throat before speaking.
“I’m …” My voice is low and raspy, as if I haven’t used it in a while, so I clear my throat and try again.
The whole time, Doctor Lycan is smiling gently at me, his hand on my arm as a reassuring pressure that keeps me focused on the here and now.
“I'm in a hospital because I was …. Attacked, last night, I think.”
“Yes, very good, Rebecca. Now, I have a few questions I need you to answer, then I can explain everything and you can ask all the questions I see swimming in those pretty blue eyes.” His chuckle is relaxed and he sits down gently on the side of my bed while keeping his hand on my arm.
I don’t remember doctors acting like this at the hospital I went to when I broke my arm two years ago, but maybe I’m wrong.
Either way, I really like that he is so comforting and that the nurses are giving me my space while still taking down all the notes they need.
I feel safe here, even though I was just mauled and I’m still sore and confused.
Doctor Lycan pats my arm gently, bringing my attention back to him.
I’ve never been this unfocused before and I’m a little unsettled knowing how easily distracted I am right now.
“So, what is your full name?”
“Rebecca Lancaster.”
Doctor Lycan smiles gently and continues with his questions.
They are all basic and about me, things that he could easily know by looking at my driver’s license.
Clearly, he is checking that I’m oriented and alert.
I would expect that these would be standard for any doctor to ask any patient after what I’d been through.
After asking my birthday, address, and parent’s names, he asks for something I’m not sure I’m ready to get into.
Still, ready or not, I know that I have to answer his questions to the best of my ability if I want answers.
“So, Rebecca, can you tell me what you remember from before you woke up?”
I swallow hard again, trying to clear my throat and buy more time before I have to relive the attack.
Doctor Lycan motions towards a nurse and the young blonde holds a cup of ice water close to my chest. There is a straw in the cup, so I take a few deep pulls.
The cool liquid helps ease the burning in my throat and I smile shyly at the nurse then Doctor Lycan.
“Thank you, that helped a lot.” Both of them smile gently back at me and the nurse, Nora, according to her name tag, pats my hand gently before going back to the monitors hanging on the wall behind me.
Clearing my throat once more, I launch into the story, my voice is shaking and my hands have a tremor I can’t control, but I don’t let myself stop until I’ve told the whole thing.
“I was walking home from a party on the beach. It was a graduation party and my ex boyfriend dragged me to it. I caught him cheating with my best friend and they were my ride to the party and home again, so I decided to walk through the woods instead of asking them to take me home.” I keep my eyes on the wall over Dr. Lycan’s shoulder, studying the plain white paint like it holds the answers to all of life’s questions.
Even though I hear the nurses sympathetic gasps, I ignore them and keep going.
“I’ve walked through those woods alone at night a thousand times, so I knew my way home.
I really love nature so it really wasn’t a hard thing to do.
” I can feel the smile pulling on my lips and I know that I’m getting side tracked.
My fingers tug on a loose strand on the blanket sitting around my waist and I keep my gaze trained on the wall so I can try to pretend no one is there to hear what happened.
All the while, hoping someone is recording it so I don’t have to repeat it ever again.
“Anyways, I was about halfway home when I noticed the woods had gone quiet and still.” I can feel the tension in the room.
Everyone is holding their breath, probably guessing that the rough part is coming.
“I paused, looking around for what had spooked my animal friends into hiding. I couldn’t have been standing there for anymore than a minute when I was attacked.
I didn’t really see what attacked me. Everything was chaos and there was so much pain.
But it was big, and gray. It snarled and bit into my neck.
I remember its claws scratching my arms and digging into my belly.
I tried to scream, but I knew that no one was around or was even aware I was in the woods.
My voice gave out and everything went black.
That's all I remember. I honestly thought I had died that night. I was okay with that though.” Dr. Lycan makes a noise that almost sounds like a growl and my eyes quickly flicker to his.
“Don’t misunderstand. I wasn’t suicidal before the attack.
I was in the woods, my happy place. I was at peace knowing that I was going to die in the only place I found peace in when I was alive.
I didn’t want to die, Dr. Lycan, but at that point, it was inevitable, so I tried to find comfort in knowing that I died in my happy place.
I was fine knowing that I died to a piece of the nature that I loved dearly. ”
I stop speaking when Dr. Lycan’s gaze turns soft.
He rubs my arm again, comfort and understanding translating with every gesture he makes.
There are a thousand questions I should ask, but honestly, my mind is so exhausted.
I just want to get this whole night over with and go home to my bed and sleep until the Fall semester starts at college.
“Thank you for telling us what happened. We had to make a lot of guesses when handling your treatment. Would you like to rest now or hear about what happened after you blacked out?”
I’m glad he is giving me a choice. While my body is shouting at me that we need sleep, my mind is rushing so fast trying to put together the whole picture without the pieces of the puzzle I don’t have.
I know that no matter how tired I might be, I’d never be able to get any sleep without knowing what happened and how I got here.
“I’d like to know what happened. How long have I been here?
Where are my parents?” I glance around the room again, hoping I’ve somehow missed them or that they have been out of the room and stepped back in while I was telling my story.
But one look around the room and all that’s changed is the nurses have all gone and the lady that was once in the corner is now sitting in a chair beside my bed.
Her brunette hair is hanging straight down over her shoulders and her porcelain skin looks smooth and perfect, something I’d never be able to accomplish with my freckles.
“Okay, I’ll explain everything, then you can ask any questions you may have.
” He waits for my nod then continues. “Two weeks ago, there was a party on the beach, well, two parties to be exact. One on the reservation side and one on the Norm side.” The reservation is what we call the Shifter side of town.
“Both schools held graduation on the same day and so the students from each school were celebrating in their own way. One of the students from the Reservation got a bit too intoxicated and their wolf went feral. It’s not something that happens often, but it does happen.
It seems that he found a hole in the wall and breached the Norm side.
A few of the older wolves attending the party found him, but it was a bit late.
There was a girl, you, walking in the woods and just so happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. ”
All the breath in my lungs rushes out. It’s impossible. What he is saying doesn’t make sense. I was attacked by a normal wolf. One that was probably defending his territory or maybe a female protecting her young. I couldn’t have been attacked by a shifter, because that would mean …
“The older wolves fought off the feral one and unfortunately he didn’t survive.
They shifted back and saw that you were still alive so they rushed you to our Hospital here on the reservation.
After hearing what happened, we ran some tests, and found that the Shifting Gene has been passed from the feral wolf to you.
You’ve been in a medically induced coma for about two weeks.
I’m sorry Rebecca, but you are a Chosen now. ”