Of course it's not over yet, all my loyal readers! I couldn't just leave you hanging like that, now could I?

Chapter Six

When Jessie awoke, she thought that she was back in the woods, lost among the trees and roots, being chased by the murderous rednecks without Chris by her side. She nearly bolted upright, but managed to get her bearings before jerking upward, feeling soft pillow beneath her head and warm fabric beneath her fingers. An ECG machine was beeping off to her right, diligently monitoring her vitals; an IV dripped fluid through needles in her arms and she was happy that she jerked up, possibly tearing the needles.

Jessie shifted her gaze and realized just where she was: in the Lakeview Hospital, after having been dropped off by a nameless woman that had picked her and Chris up off the side of the road. The room was she in was empty, stark white, with a plastic blue chair directly across from the bed she lay in; the door was open, allowing doctors easy access and her to ability to gaze into the hallway. For the moment, the hallway was empty, aside from a cart piled with blankets and carts.

Taking her gaze away from the hallway, Jessie lay her head back against the pillow, enjoying the way it felt against her weary head, and sighed trying to remember what had happened, how she had ended up in a hospital bed when it had been Chris that needed the attention. She remembered going up to the nurse's desk and then nothing else; Jessie decided that it was quite likely that she had passed out from relief, hunger or both.

Slivers of moonlight escaped through the slits in the plastic window blinds and Jessie was surprised to find that night was well underway; she had been asleep or unconscious for the entire day, yet she didn't feel any more rested then when she had first arrived.

As she lay in the stark white hospital bed, motionless so not to agitate the IV, she began to wonder about Chris; worry about him was more like, and she wished she could jump out of bed and find him right that second. Certainly he was all right, he was, after all, in a hospital, but that didn't ease the nervousness in Jessie's mind; she wanted to see for herself, to see his blue eyes regain their sparkle. But with the IV in her arm and the other various wires attached to her, she knew that simply climbing out of bed and heading down the hallway wasn't an option; she would have to wait until one of the doctors of nurses showed up.

Staring up at the black flecked tiles about her head, Jessie let her mind wander to the events back in the woods; for the first time since it had happened, she let herself relieve Sadie's death in detail, though it made her upset all over again. It didn't seem fair to her that, assuming they ever were caught, the men that had murdered her sister and her best friends would never be punished; how many other people had to killed that wouldn't get justice.

Jessie made up her mind right then that as soon as she got out of the hospital that she would take as many weapons as she could find and simply take justice into her own hands, for lack of a better phrase. She couldn't know then how much she would grow to regret her decision, had no way of knowing what would happen later, for right at that moment it seemed like the perfect plan. She would avenge Sadie and Carly's murders, and keep the killers from continuing to break apart families and ruin lives.

As she thought about it longer, working out the details in her mind as she counted the specks on the tiles, Jessie decided that she wouldn't take Chris, wouldn't bring him back into the woods. Besides, he would need longer to recover then she, and he would still be in the hospital when she returned to the woods. Going alone was for the best anyway, Chris wouldn't be able to try and stop her, or talk her out of her idea. He hadn't known Carly and the others like she had and Sadie wasn't his sister; he hadn't lost friends and family to the disfigured murderers like she had. Jessie didn't expect him to understand.

Jessie smiled to herself, inwardly pleased with her plan, and glanced away from the ceiling and out the doorway in time to see a nurse heading past her room. "Excuse me." She called out, hoping to catch the woman's attention. Luckily, the nurse heard her and backtracked, entering the room.

The nurse smiled pleasantly. "So you're finally awake, Miss Burlingame." She chimed, checking the vitals on the ECG machine.

Jessie studied the nurse quizzically. "How do you know my name?" She wasn't carrying any ID, she hadn't bothered to grab her wallet before rushing out of her apartment days ago. Had it really been days, because Jessie felt like it had only been hours.

"Your boyfriend, Chris Flynn, he told us your name after you passed out." The woman explained, poking around the clear bag filled with clear liquid that hung above the brunette's head. "It's a wonder, he was bleeding for more then twenty stab wounds and he still manage help us with you." She smiled, a grandmotherly smile that made her look older then she surely was.

Jessie couldn't help but smile; the idea of Chris caring for her when he should be more concerned with himself only reminded her of how much she loved him. "How is Chris?" She questioned, looking over at the nurse again. Worry suddenly filled her once more, though she tried to push it away. If something was wrong with Chris, she would already know about it.

"He's fine, considering everything he's been through; he lost a great deal of blood, plus he's suffering from extreme dehydration and hunger, just as you were." The woman answered, deciding that all of Jessie's medical equipment was running as it should.

Jessie breathed a sigh of relief. Of course Chris was all right, he was a survivor, she knew that but that still didn't take away her relief at hearing the words for herself. "Thank God." She mumbled to herself. Chris was all she had left, she couldn't bare losing him.

The nurse smiled once more. "What happened to the two of you? Chris was too weak to explain what happened." She seemed more curious then concerned, like someone pressing the ear against the bedroom door when a fight was taking place on the other side.

"Can I see Chris?" Jessie asked, ignoring the nurse's question. She sat up slightly, mindful of the IV in her arm, simply to show the woman that she didn't need to be on bed-rest anymore.

The nurse looked thoughtful before smiling again. "I don't see why five minutes out of bed would hurt, but at the moment, your boyfriend is asleep, has been for some time." She seemed almost regretful for saying this, as though it were her fault that Chris was asleep.

Jessie frowned slightly. "Can I just see him?" She felt like she hadn't been near Chris in days, instead of hours. Her sense of time had shifted, making some things seem longer then others. Being near Chris would ground her again, help her get back to normal, just as he had after Carly and the others had been killed. She could move on much better after she dealt with the murderers as well.

"Only a few minutes." The nurse relented after another moment's pause, this time without the smile. She helped Jessie out of bed and wheeled the IV around so that it was beside the brunette, making it easy for her to push along, painlessly.

Jessie thanked the woman and followed her out of the room, and down the hallway; the nurse was taking her to Chris' room, which was on the floor below the one they were on now, in the ICU ward. All the while, Jessie walked along silently, looking into the rooms of other patients, some of whom weren't as lucky as she was. Finally, she could bare looking no more and instead followed the tiles on the floor.

The nurse led Jessie to an elevator, gave her Chris' room number and floor and then jetted off to do another duty she had been neglecting. The elevator was empty aside from herself and she watched the doors slid shut with a silent whoosh; she had always been unnerved by elevators, ever since Carly had told her an old campfire tale about one when they were younger. Thinking about Carly on made Jessie's nerve for carrying on her Plan (which was how it was now known in her mind) more solid and she had convinced herself to really go through with it when she arrived at Chris' floor.

The ICU ward was much silent then any of the other hallways she had been in and a shiver escaped down her spine. She knew why it was so silent, but she wouldn't admit that to herself; admitting that this was the ward between life and death would mean admitting that Chris wasn't out of the woods, so to speak, yet. Jessie pushed her metal IV tube along, her bare feet moving soundlessly across the cool tile (she wondered where her shoes and clothes were) as she headed down the hallway, looking for Chris' room number. No one bothered her as she walked, too busy with other things to care about one lone girl with an IV tube.

After what seemed like endless walking (her feet had begun to hurt again and she realized that were covered with blisters) Jessie finally found Chris' room, near the end of the hallway. He had the room to himself, not that he was aware of this fact, as he was sleeping peacefully with an IV in one hand and a needle feeding blood in the other. The ECG machine at his side beeped rhythmically, which was a comfort to Jessie as she slowly dragged a chair beside his bed.

Silently, Jessie touched his cheek with her fingers, which were no longer shaking, and took even more comfort in the fact that they were warm. His entire torso was covered in white bandages, some places were crimson where blood at leaked through and she did her best not to look at them, pulling the white sheet up to his shoulders. Jessie took his hand and interlocked their fingers.

"So, Chris, you'd best get better and be here when I get back." She whispered, leaning close to him as though she was worried that someone would overhear. "I love you." She kissed him gently, his lips still slightly cold. She wanted to say more, almost wanted to tell him about her Plan but couldn't bring herself to do it.

Jessie spotted a bare pad of paper on the table beside the bed and, after hunting around for a pen, wrote Chris a short message that he would read when she was back in the woods, doing what had to be done. After the message had been written, folded and tucked beneath his hand, which was still warm from her touch, Jessie kissed him one last time and stood again. Careful not to tangle her IV, she returned to the chair to its place and, with a final look at her boyfriend, left the room.