Chapter 4

A light, a bright one at that.

"She's awake." A young nurse said and walked away from Max's side.

Max closed her eyes again, the bright light of the overhead bulb was invading and irritating. Her eyes squinted as she attempted to gather her bearings, a gentle touch on her shoulder nearly sent Max into a frenzy. Her eyes shot open only to find Mike gently comforting her at the shoulder with deep concern written all over his face. Max quickly calmed down.

"I'm sorry, I didn't think anyone else was here." Max quickly explained and relaxed back down on her new hospital bed. The light had become bearable as Max grew accustomed, she looked over and saw Ryan sitting in a chair on the opposite side of her bed.

"Ryan." Max mumbled weakly.

"Max, what the hell?" Ryan questioned in a deep rumble.

Max squinted her eyes in confusion, what was going on?

"We leave for 20 minutes and come back to find you passed out and bleeding on the floor?" Ryan scolded, but Max wasn't hurt by the gentle rebuttal, Ryan deeply cared for his last living relative.

"What are you talking about?" Max questioned, she couldn't remember much of anything.

"What's the last thing you remember?" Mike asked quickly, his eager look rose concern in Max.

"Why?" Max asked gently.

Mike repeated the question.

"Um." Max closed her eyes and thought as hard as she could. "I guess it was...first seeing you guys in the hospital?" Max said weakly. "Wait no, I remember you guys asking me what I wanted to eat..."

"Then what?" Mike pressed easily.

After a moment of silence, Max's eyes opened with understanding written all over. "I wanted to leave, I was getting dressed so I could be ready by the time you guys got back, I didn't realize how weak I am." Max admitted with an embarrassed shrug.

"God Max, you can't do that to me." Mike said as his gaze found Ryan. "To us."

"I'm okay." Max said again, followed by a yawn.

"Get some sleep, if everything looks good tomorrow we might be able to take you home." Ryan said, he started for the door but Mike continued staring at Max from his position a few feet away.

"Mike?" Ryan rumbled.

"I'll be right there." Mike said as if he was in a trance.

Ryan nodded unsurely and left the two in privacy.

"Max." Mike said with a shake of his head, he pulled a chair to the side of her bed and grabbed her hand once more. His eyes found hers in a glaze of emotion. His eyes traveled each of her blooming bruises with rising guilt.

"Don't look at me like that." Max chided playfully.

A small smile crept over Mike's lips as he continued to look at the brunette haired beauty.

"What is it Mike?"

"I just- I want you to get better, don't hurt yourself. Okay?"

"You've got my promise." Max said with a devious grin.

"I'll hold you to it." Mike replied, he got up to leave but Max grabbed his hand to keep him from going.

"Mike?"

Mike looked deeply into Max's eyes.

"Thank you, for everything."

Mike nodded and quickly planted a kiss on her forehead before leaving Max alone in her hospital room.

Max fell into a deep slumber without the thought of being interrupted. Her dreams were commanding and powerful. A light snore echoed through her room as Max fought for the revival of her much needed strength. The first creak in the dark hallway wasn't nearly enough to arouse the sleeping brunette. As her door clicked open, Max rolled over in her bed, lightly bothered by the intruding noise. Another nearly soundless creak and Max was yawning and fighting to sit up in her bed. Before the action could be completed, a hand covered her mouth with a rag and a hand reached its way behind her head roughly yanking her head back by the hair. A small squeal erupted through her lips but was easily muffled by the rag. Max looked at her attacker but it was too dark to make out any definite physical features, but one thing was for sure; he was very tall and dark haired. Before Max could memorize any more the voice spoke in a deep voice.

"You'll do what I say, or I'll put a blade in your head."

Max grimaced and her eyes opened wide in fear as she saw the man pull out a large knife in the dark of the room. It glinted and sent chills through Max's body.

The man started pulling Max out of the bed, and Max immediately began struggling, she pulled away from his grasp and began screaming into the rag, she squirmed until here was a small break and the rag had lost contact with her lips. Max let out a ripping scream just before the rag was roughly placed back over her mouth with no mercy.

"You stupid bitch." The man growled as he pulled her from the bed and Max slammed to the ground. Max was clearly dazed by the brutal fall, her head was spinning as the light of her room was turned on and Max looked up with blurry eyes. She couldn't focus as the large man once again pulled out his large knife. Max looked at the doorway and saw two terrified nurses in the doorway. One screamed as the man charged at the two women.

"No," was all Max could mumble before she saw the man effortlessly murder the two nurses. Several stab wounds each and then he was gone, the man sprinted from the room leaving Max to fight her foggy head. She stumbled to her feet, weakly yelling for help before she too collapsed into a fit of slumber next to Lily Grey's newest victims of terror.

Hey everyone. Sorry it has taken me so long to update, my life has literally been insane. I seriously can't express how INSANE my life is right now. Hah. Anyway, here's the latest update, I hope you all enjoyed; please let me know with a little comment below. Your reads and reviews are greatly appreciated.