Hey, Spence. Welcome back to a Southside free world. I know you're hurting, but you did it. You're alive.

My mind tried to wake me from my slumber. You need to check on Mason.

My eyes flashed open. I whimpered as the pain overtook me. The darkness settled back on my mind. After another minute, my eyes opened again. There were voices in the room with me. They were familiar, but I couldn't make them out. It was too difficult.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah... Hurry. Yeah, he's got a pulse." One of the voice's muttered. Two fingers touched my neck.

I wanted to push them away. They made my skin burn, but I didn't have the strength. I yelped as my body was lifted from the floor.

The voices continued. "He's good... He's just hurting. Come on, keep moving."

The other voice spoke, "What about Mason?"

The other guy let out a soft sigh. "I, I tried... He just, there was so much blood. I couldn't find his pulse," the voice echoed with a tone of defeat.

Mason. No. I didn't want him to lose his life. We couldn't leave him in the pit. I was thinking the words I desperately wanted to say, but I had no control over my body. The darkness returned as the voices fell silent. I knew if I accepted unconsciousness, it would be an escape from the pain. It all went black.

When I awoke again, my eyes fluttered open to an unfamiliar room. I jolted up in the bed and winced in pain. I regretted my decision. A firm hand touched my chest and it forced me back down onto the bed. I turned my head to focus on Cam's face. He was leaning forward from his place in a small wooden chair beside my bed. His eyes seemed soft as he smiled at me.

He removed his hand from my chest. "Hey, sleeping beauty. Be careful. No need to move to much. You've been out for a while."

He clasped his hands together in front of him, resting his elbows on his knees.

My eyes trailed down my body. "How long?" I lifted my left arm, noticing it had been placed in a brace. It was fitted firmly to heal my broken arm.

My eyes ran down my exposed chest that was wrapped in multiple layers of white bandages. They appeared to be fresh. I attempted to raise up my right arm, but an IV was pushed into my skin. It prevented me from moving too much.

"It's been two weeks now. We've had a doctor come by every day to change your bandages. He also taught me how to administer the morphine to you. He said he was thoroughly surprised you had survived your encounter."

I blinked a couple of times as I stared at him. I had been out a whole week. What about Adrienne? "But... I don't even remember. How did I get here?" I asked, glancing around the room.

Cam chuckled as he reached down by his feet and unscrewed the lid on a water bottle. He took a long sip before he offered it to me. I reached and took it from him, taking a sip. The water quenched a dry aching sensation in the back of my throat.

He took the water bottle from me. "Your friends from the south found you." He snapped his fingers as he tried to remember their names. "Holiday and Damen. They found you, my guy. You were barely alive. Damen said it was the weakest pulse, but your heart was still pumping. They knew they couldn't carry you back to the Southside, so they brought you here. They showed up in the middle of the night beating on the door. We thought the cops were here to raid us. I answered the door. They were holding you, begging for me to help you. You looked like death, Spence. I was really worried you wouldn't make it." He screwed the lid on the bottle before returning it to its' place by his feet.

"Holiday and Damen... they risked their lives to save me, but Mason. What about Mason? They just left him there in the pit, Cam. He can't stay there," I stammered. My breaths became ragged. The panic began like a cluster of spark plugs in my abdomen. Tension grew in my face and limbs, as my mind replayed the last minutes I heard Mason's screams. My breathing became more shallow.

Cam held his hand up. His dark eyes were serious. "Spence, calm down. The doctor said not for you to get worked up," he said, lowering his hand slowly.

I sucked in a deep breath and tried my best to relax against the bed.

"They tried to save Mason too, but by the time they got to him. It was too late. He had lost too much blood. Damen said he attempted CPR to see if he could get even the slightest heartbeat, but it was a lost cause. They didn't just leave him there though, Spence. They dragged his body out of the pit and moved it a couple of alleys down. They dialed 911. They knew the police would take his body in. He wouldn't be left to suffer in that infernal place." Cam's voice sounded angry.

I watched him for a moment as the realization washed over me. Mason didn't make it. I closed my eyes. I had told him to get out of here. He had the talent to play basketball. He had a family that loved him, but now, all of that was gone. He was gone. I would have to live with that for the rest of my life. His parents would never get to hold him again. I clenched my fists at my side as I thought about his murderer.

The Southside.

My body shivered at the thought. I gripped the sheets in my hands. My mind raced to happier thoughts. "And Adrienne? I know she's been worried about me, but I haven't been able to talk to her." I winced in pain.

Cam chuckled softly, and the smile spread back across his face.

"Oh, trust me, Spence. She's been more than worried. I've been juggling babysitting you and trying to keep her calm. She was hysterical the day I showed up at her house. I told her about what happened. She's been here every day since. She didn't leave your side for the first few days, but I eventually got her to go back to school. She's there right now," he said glancing at his gold watch. "But she should be back here in an hour or two. You'll get to see her if you can stay awake."

I let out a sigh of relief. I had no idea what I would do without Cam. He's been too good to me. He's protected Adrienne as if she was his own.

"I promised her I would come back," I whispered, thinking back to that happy memory.

Cam smiled. "And you did. It's a good thing too. She needs you now more than ever."

I tilted my head and watched him closely. "Thank you for watching out for her. You have no idea how much it means to me." My body relaxed against the bed.

Cam shrugged his massive shoulders. His dark eyes watched me. "It was nothing, Spence. It's my job. I protect people."

"Cam, I have no idea how to repa-"I was cut short when Cam held up his hand.

"Take me up on my offer," he said simply.

I raised an eyebrow and glanced down my destroyed body.

"After all of this, you want to take more of my blood?" I asked with a laugh. It hurt deep inside my chest.'

Cam nodded his head and leaned forward on his elbows. "Yes. I would be honored to have you on the Northside, Spence. You went into the pit and survived. You lived through something nobody else has been able too. You've shown strength and perseverance. You did something that everyone thought was impossible... even Cayden didn't think you'd live."

"He thinks I'm dead," I responded.

Cam's dark eyes studied my face. "Yes. They think you're dead. They know no one survives the pit, but when they find out that you did. . ." He let out a sigh. "They will come for you, Spence."

I was quiet, tensing my hands into fists. I thought I was done with the Southside. When I got strong enough, Adrienne and I would have to leave Chicago.

"If you're a real member of the blood, it'll be easier for us to protect you."

I glanced at my left arm, firmly fixed in the brace. "How are you going to do it?"

He reached forward to unsnap the latches on the brace, pulling it apart to reveal my bare arm. It was purple and bruised. "It'll be easy compared to what you've been through." His eyes looked to mine to ask permission.

I took in a deep breath. "I'm ready."

Cam stood up from his chair and moved over to the table beside my bed. He pulled the drawer open. His hands removed the glass case that housed the Northside's black knife.

"What about the guys?"

He sat back down in his chair beside my bed. "This one will be between me and you." Cam rolled up his sleeve, revealing his left forearm to me. My eyes landed on all the scars.

"Cam, can I ask you a question?"

He looked at me. "Of course," he responded.

My breathing was shallow. "Why do you do a blood initiation?"

Cam smiled at me, flashing his white teeth. "If you meet someone who is willing to give their blood to you... to make that sacrifice to fight the pain. They deserve to be your blood brother. It's as simple as that. If you bleed for someone, you are linked to them. You're united in a way that can't be described," he said, as he placed the dark blade against his forearm.

He dragged the blade down, reopening the wound again. His hand clenched into a fist. He looked over to me and smiled.

"Spencer. After this cut, I will welcome you to a brotherhood. One that stands together and fights together. Your loyalty will be unyielding, or you will pay the ultimate price. Onto you, I give the gift of the blood of the north. The blood of those who came before us. It is what unites us," he breathed.

The blade was against my skin. It was numbed. My broken arm hid the pain of the cut. Before I could blink, it was over. Cam placed the knife on the ground. His hands worked to reseal my brace around my arm. He tightened it. He leaned back against the chair. His dark eyes watched me. A playful smile appeared on his face. "Wasn't too bad, was it brother?"

I shook my head as he stood. He wiped the knife clean.

"Cam, I don't know how I'm alive," I finally said.

I don't know how I survived, how I held on long enough for Damen and Holiday to find me. Why wasn't Mason strong enough? Did they torture him more than me? Cayden hated me. Rodney was my rival. They wanted me dead.

Cam glanced over at me as he closed the glass case to the knife. "What do you mean?" he asked, turning to face me.

"Why was I the one to survive? Mason didn't deserve to die. I should have been in his place. They wanted me dead." The guilt was ice in my guts. It could have been a hundred degrees out and I'd still be frozen on the inside.

Cam let out a deep breath as he leaned forward to place his hands on the back of the small wooden chair. "Spence. You can't carry the guilt around with you. You can't control fate. He made his decision just like you made yours. I know what he meant to you, but there is nothing you can do for him now. Try to live your life in his memory." He watched me.

I hung my head. The tears threatened to fall again.

Cam touched my shoulder. "You have a strength inside you that not many people can say they have. You need to embrace that."

I was trying to listen to Cam, but the burning sensation returned to my body. Pain seared through my abdomen hotter than a branding iron. My mind gave in to the torment, unable to bring a thought to completion. Without meaning to my body curled into something fetal. Everything felt scolded. I was in more pain than I thought was possible. A bullet would be mercy right now, but an increase in morphine was the best I could get. "Fuck, Cam. Make it stop," I yelled.

Cam rushed around the chair, reaching for my IV button. He pushed it to release the morphine into my body, but I continued to convulse on the bed in front of him. "Spence... shhh. It's okay. You're fine." He was trying to calm me.

My jaw locked. "No, Cam. I'm burning," I growled. He wasn't listening.

Cam shook his head. "No, you're not. Your body just thinks you are. Fight it. The morphine will kick in soon."

I tried to take deep breaths as the darkness crept over me. It hovered, threatening to consume me. The door opened. Her blonde hair was unmistakable. Adrienne. I wanted to say her name, but I couldn't make the words come out. Cam grabbed her in the middle of the room as she tried to rush to me. He wrapped his arms around her waist, picking her up and pushing her back out the door. He was talking to her, but I couldn't hear what he was saying. She had been crying, her tears stained his shirt. He continued to whisper to her as he corralled her by the door. Slowly, my mind drifted. It gave into the darkness. My body was at peace again. The burning disappeared. Her face was the last thing I saw.

She was my sweet, beautiful angel who helped me survive the most painful night of my life. I loved her with every piece of my barely beating heart. When I saw her, I lost myself. All the mistakes I've made, were gone - every impure thought erased. Her eyes didn't dwell on the anger, or the deceit, or the selfishness. She always looked past every flaw to find the person inside, the real me. Never in my life did I think I would say that about a girl, but without Adrienne, without her love, I wouldn't have a chance to start my life over. She gave me strength to get another chance. The next months would be hell, but this was my resurrection.