Thanks for all your replies!
Danny watched the two women sleeping in the hospital beds; both of them attached to IVs. Stella's ankle had been re-bandaged, the scratches from the thorn bushes had been cleaned up and her torn clothes replaced with a clean hospital gown. The gash in Lindsay's forehead was now stitched up and covered with a plaster, her wrist was bandaged and she was also now wearing a hospital gown. Just hours ago he had watched them being helped into the back of an ambulance, both of them looking more than a bit worse for wear.
"I've spoken to Hawkes' Doctor." Flack told Danny as he entered the room carrying two cups of coffee.
"How is he?" Danny asked taking one of the polystyrene cups.
"He's still unconscious, his leg is broken and he has fractured a rib." Flack told him.
"Any news on Mac?"
"He's still in surgery, he'll be in intensive care when he gets out so we won't really be able to speak to him properly for a while." Flack told Danny looking over at Stella and Lindsay. "Did they say anything about what happened?" He asked Danny.
"Nope, they were already asleep when the nurse let me in." Danny told him. "We already know Mac was shot and that at some point Hawkes and Lindsay were involved in some kind of explosion. We still need to find out how Stella hurt her ankle, where she got all those scratches from and how Lindsay and Hawkes both ended up falling down that hill. I've given their clothes to an officer so they get to the lab straight away."
"I've done the same with both Mac's and Hawkes' clothes and the field and woods are now sealed off and ready to be searched when it's light again."
---
Someone was screaming. Mac was lay bleeding just inches away but she couldn't reach him, her foot was stuck in a hole. Around her the bushes were moving as if something was in them, above her the trees towered over her. Hawkes appeared with Lindsay limp in his arms. The sound of gun shots and then an explosion caused her to join in with the constant screaming.
"Stella!"
Mac was now shivering uncontrollably, Lindsay was attacking Hawkes and whatever was in the bushes was getting closer.
"Stella!"
Danny and Flack appeared from the darkness and grabbed her arms, dragging her away, not even stopping to help Mac, Hawkes or Lindsay.
"Stella!"
She struggled against them, kicking her legs, screaming at them to help the others.
"Wake up Stella!"
Stella sat bolt upright and opened her eyes. Flack and Danny were stood over her looking equally concerned and to her right Lindsay was watching at her from her hospital bed she too looked concerned and slightly confused, it appeared that Stella's screams had woken her up.
"You alright Stel?" Flack asked rubbing her hand softly to calm her down.
"Yeah, just a bad dream." She told them, "Any news on Mac and Hawkes?"
"They've both regained consciousness but no-ones allowed to see them yet." Flack told them as his phone started to ring. "Sorry, I've got to take this, I'll be back soon." He said leaving the room.
"That'll be someone with an update on the field search." Danny told them once Flack had left the room.
"What time is it?" Lindsay asked.
"It's 3:15pm." Danny told her looking down at his watch. "You two have been asleep for getting on for eleven hours, I don't even sleep that long at the weekends!" he told them. "Me and Flack have been waiting, we need to know what happened last night because we really don't have a clue!"
Stella and Lindsay looked at each other.
"We can tell you what we know…" Stella started.
"But we don't really know ourselves." Lindsay continued as Flack came back into the room.
"That was Detective Bains, they've made some pretty major discoveries over at the field…"