Sam’s down.Get over here NOW.
The blood drained from Ian’s head and fingers, leaving him suddenly cold but sweating.He stared at the screen, then jumped out of his seat and was halfway across the bar before he heard Tierney yell.“Ian!What the fuck, dude?”
Ian hit the door running.
Someone was driving a nail into his arm.Sam tried to pull it away, but he was tied down to the table.Why had Ian tied him to the table?It was uncomfortable as hell.He tried to move his head, but even his forehead was strapped down.“Ian,” he complained, but his voice wasn’t strong enough to express his annoyance.“Grapefruit,” he said.That came out a little louder.
“Ohthankgod,” Ian babbled.
Garlic breath.“Uh,” Sam complained.God, Ian was just a torture fiend tonight, wasn’t he?
“Sam?”Nik’s voice shouted.“Sam, can you hear me?”
What was Nik doing here?How did he make his voice echo like that?“Wha ...?”
“Sam?”
Sam swallowed.What was the thing around his neck?Nothing made sense.“Where’s Ian?”
“He’s coming, Sam.He’s coming, I swear.”
“He usually waits for me to come first.”Sam tried to screw up his face in confusion, but it hurt like hell.“What are you doing here?”
“Sam, can you open your eyes?”
It took a few tries, but he got them open.The world burst on him in painful detail.Lights and people and footsteps and Nik hovering anxiously over him, Jurgen standing nearby looking hellaciously pissed.For a second, Sam had a flicker of memory about Jurgen, but then it was gone.“Where’s Ian?”
A woman in a blue shirt moved Nik out of the way, her fingers running across Sam’s scalp and behind his neck.Was this a massage?She needed to rub a lot harder.
“Hi Sam, I’m Lydia.Do you remember what happened?”
“What happened when?Who are you?”
“My name’s Lydia.I’m a paramedic.You were hit in the head by a bat—”
“You got bashed,” Nik interrupted, voice strident.Lydia smiled at him soothingly.
“What?I what?Why would I get hit by a bat?”Sam asked her, frowning.His brows rubbed against the thing across the forehead.“Why am I tied down?”
“We had to make sure you didn’t move.”
Sam closed one eye to focus on her.“What is goingon?”
“I’m just making sure you’re all right.I’m going to check your pupils now.”She was flicking a light on and off in his peripheral vision.
“What are you going to—gah!”She stabbed him in the eye with the laser light thingy, then did the other one.“Nik!Jurgen!Help!”
“It’s okay, it’s okay, she’s a paramedic.”He felt Nik petting his hand.
“I’m all done,” she soothed.
“Fuck,” Sam muttered.Something about the laser dagger had set off a pounding in his head.It got worse with each beat.“Warn a guy before you stab him in the eye.”A bluish-black blob filled his sight.“Are my eyes open?”
“Your vision will come back in a few seconds.”
Somehow, Sam thought someone who’d just blinded him would be more sympathetic.He didn’t like her much.He tried to throw her a dirty look, but since hecouldn’t see herhe didn’t know if it hit its mark.
She followed up the maiming of his eyes by poking around his head some more, meanwhile asking him questions.
