I’m going to tear you open.
Scream.
Louder.
Fucking scream.
Spook’s balance was totally shot.The artillery blaze was still beating his ear drum in a way that made his head ring.That, combined with the ugly pulsations in his nose, and the tightening of his skin around his left eye spelled imminent danger.The rapid swelling meant pretty soon he wouldn’t be able to see more than a sliver of light through it.
The next few minutes got pretty confused.He knew his fists hurt along with his eyes and the whole left side of his head.Ribs and stomach too.Blood ran freely down his forearms.Something swept his legs from under him.He landed hard, face in an oil-slicked puddle, Flynn’s weight heavy upon his back.
No.Fucking no.Not again.Not.Again.Never again.
He brought his elbow back hard.Felt the impact ricochet through his bone and the crushing sensation of flesh contracting.Flynn’s scream blared like a landmine explosion in his already ringing ears.Abruptly, the weight against his back was gone, leaving in its place a lather of cold sweat.
Had he gone?Was Flynn gone?
The scent of blood lay heavy in the air.Spook squinted through his one good eye.His consciousness was no longer wholly anchored in his body.Time had now become the measure of drips of blood from his nose into the grimy puddle he was half-submerged in.Gingerly, he raised one hand to his face and the welt of disfiguring pain there.
Only, there was no actual pain.Noanything,bar a curious disconnect between the memory of features and the tightly stretched swelling there now.
Each breath felt as if he were inhaling kerosene.Moving, even to crawl out of the puddle was out of the question.Then again, it wasn’t safe to stay here.
Flynn could come back.Bringing with him the rest of the Hutton clan.
“Spook, get up.”
A white light shone above him.The drum of rain echoed all around.“I’m okay,” he muttered.“I just need to lie still for a while.”
“Jesus Christ, what the hell happened?”
“I’m okay,” he repeated.Everything smelled of dirt.The same dirt that was wedged underneath his fingernails.Dirt and metal.
“Shit, we need an ambulance.
“Stay with me, Spook.”
“Xane?”
“Shit, shit, shit.Don’t you dare stop breathing.Fucking stay with me, yeah?
“Spook.Spook, goddammit.
“Don’t die.I’ll never fucking forgive you if you die.Why didn’t you stay put?”
