I awoke to pain, though it wasn’t nearly as bad as it had been. Instead of a searing agony, there was now a dull ache through my entire body. And as I lay there, I was aware that I could move again, at least a little.

Once I could bring myself to face more, I opened my eyes…or at least my eye. One of my eyes still wasn’t working, but with the one that was I could see that I was in bed and in what almost looked like a hospital room. There was an IV stuck into my arm and I was connected to a heart rate monitor as well.

“Hello,” I whispered hoarsely, though there was no one in the room to hear me.

About an hour later, a young woman came into the room and said, “You’re awake…”

Her voice was very familiar, as was her face. She was an angel, with shoulder length hair that was pulled back into a pony tail. She wore a pair of glasses, which confused me for a moment since my sisters and I all had perfect vision.

“You’re Lisa,” I whispered, vaguely remembering her finding me before I’d passed out again. “How…? I thought you were dead…”

“The rumors of my demise are greatly exaggerated,” she told me with a faint smile. Then she leaned over me and said, “It’s nice to finally meet you face to face. I just wish it was under better circumstances.”

“Face to face?” I asked, still feeing dazed and confused.

“We’ve run into each other a couple times in our dreams,” she answered with a chuckle. Then she gave me a sympathetic look and said, “That’s actually how I knew you were still alive. You were having nightmares and I shared one.”

I stared at Lisa, trying to make sense of this. I’d crashed and had been left for dead, and the only person who’d come for me was someone else who was supposed to be dead. If it wasn’t for the fact that I hurt so much, I would have assumed that I was dead and she was my escort into the afterlife.

“Monica,” Lisa said gently.

“How…?” I asked weakly. “How do you know my name?”

“I know a lot of things,” Lisa told me with a faint smile. “My sources told me of your crash…and that you were presumed dead. When I connected with your nightmare, I knew you were alive and came as quickly as I could.”

With that, Lisa reached to a small table beside me, one that I hadn’t even noticed until then. There was a carafe of water which she used to fill a glass. But instead of handing it to me, she brought to the glass to my lips. I tried reaching for the glass but couldn’t do so.

“Don’t try to move,” she instructed. “Just drink. I’m sure you’re thirsty.”

I took a drink, thankful for the cool water and how it eased my scratchy throat. I hadn’t even realized how thirsty I was until then. Once the glass was empty, Lisa put the glass back down, then pulled out a chair and sat down beside me.

“You were severely injured,” Lisa explained, her voice going calm and clinical. “Seventeen fractures, several of which were quiet severe. There were multiple lacerations as well as severe contusions over much of your body. Your eye was severely damaged, you had second degree burns on your exposed skin and half the hair on your head had been burned off.”

There was nothing I could say to that, especially since it wasn’t news to me. I hadn’t known the exact number of broken bones I’d received, though honestly, I’d actually expected there to be more.

“I barely reached you in time,” Lisa continued, giving me a worried look. “I had to bring you to the nearest facility where I could treat you.” She paused at that before quietly adding, “The Harkon Research Facility…or at least what’s left of it.”

I gasped at that, feeling a surge of fear. “No…”

“There aren’t any demons here,” she quickly assured me. “The whole compound had been locked up and nearly forgotten. The part we’re in is on the opposite end from where the outbreak occurred.”

I closed my eyes for a moment, thinking about how my entire body ached and this setup. “How long?” I finally asked. “How long have I been here?”

Lisa hesitated for a moment before answering, “Almost a week. I’ve had you under heavy sedation for the pain.”

For a moment, all I could do was stare at Lisa in shock. I could hardly believe that I’d been out that long. “My sisters,” I whispered, tears coming to my eye. They had to be worried. No, they’d abandoned me.

“OUR sisters,” Lisa corrected me. She seemed to guess my thoughts because she quickly told me, “They wouldn’t abandon you. They insisted on going down to personally check on you after your crash, but they weren’t allowed to. And then… Well, we’ll talk about that later…after you get some more rest. But I can promise you this, Rebecca, Dani, and Nicole would never just abandon you.”

“But they didn’t come,” I protested weakly.

“Only because they couldn’t,” Lisa insisted, giving me a sad smile. “So I came instead.” She stood up and put a gentle hand on my forehead. “Even though we had never met in person, you are still my sister and I couldn’t abandon you any more than they could. Now rest and get some more sleep. You still have a lot of healing to do.” And with that, she turned and left the room.