"Scout, don't give up! Come on! Breathe!" Darry was yelling at me, slapping at my cheeks, and my eyes snapped back open, everything hazy except Darry's face, right in mine. I was petrified - it was a horrifying feeling; I had no air.
I tried, God knew, I tried to breathe with everything I had, my whole body exhausting itself in the effort. I felt the strain in every muscle in my ribcage as I commanded it to expand, to no avail. I looked up at Darry and felt absolute, complete fear, as his eyes reflected exactly what I was thinking: I was going to die. I was dying, already. Two-Bit, behind him, looked equally terrified, and that just served to solidify my own fear.
I was going to die, right there on my coach's lawn, having just survived a tornado, because I got bitten by a bunch of stupid spiders, the thing I feared most in the world. Ironically, a fear that everyone had always assured me was completely silly and irrational. I breathed in with all I had, coming up with nothing, wanting to cough at the complete dryness in my mouth and throat, yet unable to. Every cell in my body was begging for oxygen, my consciousness failing. Darry was yelling at me, still:
"Fight it, Scout. Fight! Breathe!"
"We don't have time to get her to the hospital…I need a knife - something sharp, now," I heard Dr. Bryant say.
"I got one here." I watched through a haze as Two-Bit withdrew his switchblade from his back pocket, flicked it open and passed it from his hand to Dr. Bryant's, just as everything disappeared.
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Everything that happened after that was like a strange dream, where the parts didn't seem to happen in order, and nothing anybody was doing made any sense…
The next thing I remember, I opened my eyes and Darry was straddling my legs, pinning down my hands. That, in itself, was enough to terrify me – never again in my life would I be comfortable with having my hands pinned, and Darry knew that – but I could feel other hands on my head, holding it tightly down against the ground. Somehow, I knew it was Two-Bit.
Dr. Bryant's face was blurry above me, and I could feel pressure and pain on my neck. I tried to open my mouth to talk but it was impossible – I had no air. I closed my eyes, sure that I must be dead. Darry would never hold me down like that so long as I was alive. Never, ever… He knew how much that scared me.
"Scout, stay still. Please," Darry begged, though he didn't need to. I couldn't move, anyway. I had no energy left; I had used it all up in my quest for breath.
My whole body ached and there was still that terrible buzzing in my ears, but people were yelling over it. Darry was screaming my name, sounding angry and terrified at the same time, yelling at me.
"Hang on, Scout! Don't give up!" I knew there were some other people standing there, because I could hear Dr. Bryant's commanding voice intermingled with theirs, ordering them around... Yet I focused on Darry's voice, rising above all of them. I strained to hear him, waiting for him to tell me what to do, how to make this stop.
"Scout, open your eyes. Scout!"
I tried, although they felt swollen shut. I opened them a tiny bit, but the bright light was too much, and, immediately, I had to close them again.
"Don't, Darrel. Don't upset her. She can't move, or we could lose the airway." Dr. Bryant's voice was right by my side. Somebody I didn't recognize said something about the phone lines being down and I heard Dr. Bryant say, urgently,
"We've got to drive her, then. Now. This might not hold up… she needs medication to open her natural airway. Darrel, we'll go in your truck."
"Whatever you want. Help her… please. Just don't let her die, please… We need her… We can't lose anybody else… not her, too, God…, " I heard Darry pleading.
"Darry… easy, buddy." It was Two-Bit, comforting him. I was glad he was there, that Darry had somebody, but as much as I loved Two-Bit, I wanted Soda and Pony there something fierce.
I felt myself being carefully rolled on my side and something being slid underneath me. Suddenly I was being lifted, and the next thing I knew, I was in the back of our truck with Darry and Dr. Bryant.
"Fast, Two-Bit," Darry yelled, and I heard Two-Bit reply, though I had no idea what he said. I struggled to reach out for Darry, feel his hand on mine, but I struggled to breathe and I found myself fading away, again.
"Hang on, baby." Darry was crying, I thought – he sounded like he had that night I'd found him crying in his bed - though everything was so confusing that I couldn't be sure. I kept forgetting where I was and fading away, then hearing Darry's voice, again.
"No way, are we gonna lose you, too… No way. Be strong, Scout. Just hang on, just a little longer." I tried to squeeze his hand but I was frozen.
We went over a bump in the road and I felt a sharp pain in my throat and heard Dr. Bryant cursing. The buzzing in my head overtook all of the voices, again, and I could neither hear nor move, though I was fully aware of my body, riding along in the back of the truck. I must be dead, I decided. I really am dead. This is what it's like. I wondered if I would be with my Mom and Dad the next time I woke up, all three of us dead. At least I wouldn't be alone, I hoped.
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I wasn't. The next time I was aware of anything, I was clearly in a hospital; I knew that without even being able to open my eyes. The noises were a dead giveaway, as would have been the smell, I'm sure, if I could have smelled anything. I still felt no air passing through my mouth or nose, though I didn't feel like I was suffocating like I had before. It was the strangest feeling – I was breathing, but I didn't have any idea how. My mouth was closed and there was no air passing through my nose. I was exhausted, though - way too exhausted to open my eyes to find out.
I heard hurried footsteps on linoleum, carts being wheeled down long, echoing corridors, the curt voices of harried nurses… beeps and alarms on machines. There was urgent doctor talk - Dr. Bryant again - and Darry's voice… my coach was there, too, and Two-Bit, somewhere. It was a jumbled mix of voices that faded in and out of my realm of consciousness.
"No past history"… "Soda and Pony are on their way, okay, baby? We'll all be here."…"spider venom"… "start her on epi drip point five" …yelling and running in the background … "I'm right here, baby"… "somebody say there's a little kid, too?"… "two-year-old,…one bite… no visible reaction"…"keep that airway steady, I don't want you messing up her larynx"… "BP? Somebody get me a BP!" … mumbled responses… "keep an eye on that heart rate…slow the epi if it goes over one-sixty"…
I didn't want to hear it anymore - the other voices had drowned out Darry's, and that was the only one I cared about hearing, along with Soda and Ponyboy's. I hoped they would get there soon, but I figured that, at least, if I died first, I'd have Darry there. He wouldn't let me die alone. I thought he was holding my hand – somebody was – and I squeezed, hoping it was him.
I felt a gnawing thought, at the back of my brain, about how I didn't want to die, but I was too exhausted right then to put any effort into living. It would have to be up to the doctors. I gave in to the buzzing again, letting it take over.
I felt hands on my already almost numb arms, then the prick of a needle. I felt everything fade away again, praying that, whether I woke up living or dead the next time, at least I'd have somebody there to greet me.
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A/N: Thanks all who are reviewing despite fanfiction acting weird and denying some of you access. I appreciate it more than you know.