Chapter 9
When Chloe awoke she was extremely disoriented. Her head was spinning, she was feverish and she couldn't see anything. She tried hard to think, to remember, but she was so tired, weak, and dehydrated she could hardly form a coherent thought. But she did know something was different! She faintly recalled hoping Cal or her friends, but especially Cal, was somewhere nearby. She forced herself to concentrate. She then realized her eyes were covered and she wasn't hanging now but was instead lying on a bed. How did this all happen and when? She tried lifting her hands to her face in order to uncover her eyes, but she couldn't move her arms! At first Chloe thought she was paralyzed but then she realized her wrists and legs were restrained! She was strapped to the bed! Who would do this? The obvious answer was so frightening that Chloe didn't want to consider it, even for a second. Why would he do it anyway? He apparently killed everyone who crossed his path, so why not her? But he hadn't killed her and he had had more than one opportunity.
Chloe knew she was dying, her body rapidly absorbing any remaining moisture it had left. She hadn't eaten or drank anything in days. She was so weak. Her ankle throbbed relentlessly and her back was sore and as stiff as a board. She moved her tongue, which felt twice its normal size. There was hardly any moisture on her tongue to wet her dry, cracked lips. Maybe that was his plan: to not kill her but to let her die.
Chloe panicked when she heard movement! Whoever it was, was coming near her! Just then she felt a trickle of water hit her lips and almost immediately get absorbed. She tried to open her mouth for more but there was no more. Whoever it was moved away and she could hear a door open and close. It had to be Wakefield! There was no other plausible explanation, unless there was another sadistic bastard on the island. She reluctantly resigned herself to the likelihood that Cal was dead and probably all of her friends also.
Chloe listened hard for a noise, any sound to tell her where she was but there was nothing. She eventually lost consciousness but later awoke with a start! She felt pressure on her leg and ankle, a kneading that felt good. And then it stopped and the throbbing continued. She heard whoever it was that had touched her move away then come back. A few more trickles of water on her lips and then in her mouth. The taste and feel of the water on her lips, in her mouth, her throat, was so good, so refreshing, and so needed that she almost gagged. The person moved away and Chloe tried to call out but could only manage a hoarse, strangled whisper. She then heard a door open and close, just like before.
It couldn't be Wakefield, Chloe reasoned, because if it was, wouldn't he just kill her instead of trying to make her feel better? But if the goal was to make her feel better, then why the blindfold and the restraints and just the few drops of water? Why hadn't he killed her when he snatched her from the church? Why did he put her in the storm drain as if for safe-keeping? Was it to draw Cal to her so he could be killed? The thought made her feel sad and guilty. She wanted to cry but couldn't. She had no tears and her eyes burned from dryness and the cloth covering them. Why hadn't Wakefield killed her while she was hanging upside down? Why bother to take her down and bring her to this place, where ever this place was?
Such hard questions with no plausible answers left Chloe even more drained and disoriented. It made absolutely no sense for Wakefield to be the one who brought her here. This person was trying to help her, however misguided his methods were. Chloe decided then and there that since whoever it was had not hurt her but was trying to help her, that she would just let whatever was going to happen, happen.
Just then, an amazing thought occurred to her. Maybe she was in the clinic! Perhaps it was a doctor who was caring for her. That would make sense. A doctor wouldn't give a patient too much water at one time for fear of her choking on it. A doctor would massage or manipulate an injured limb to help it to heal. A doctor would restrain a patient to keep him or her from falling from a bed and being injured further. A doctor would cover a patient's eyes to keep out harmful light! Cal was a doctor! Cal would know all of these things.
The excitement was more than Chloe could stand and she started hyperventilating. The lack of liquids and nutrients over the last few days coupled with the constant anxiety caused her to continue to pass in and out of consciousness. Chloe smiled weakly, causing her dry, cracked lips to ache and bleed but that didn't matter because Cal was here and he would save her. He wouldn't care that her lips were cracked. He would kiss them anyway. Cal was the one person who loved her unconditionally.
