Too late, I saw the figure in black step in front of me. She was compact, her silver stitches glinting in the shadow of the black hood she wore.
Helen Eleventh? Why was she wearing black? Too late, I saw the gun in her hand. Too late, I saw her aim.
In less than a second, she unloaded the bullets into Oscar Gray.
32
Edith Case sent the encoded message. She begged House Gray for help. They must find her husband, Dr. Case. They must find her daughter, Matilda, hidden away on a strange little farm that appeared on no map. They must hurry, while there was still time to save the world.—2199
—from the journal of Lara Unger Case
Chaos.
Helen ran as the arena filled with screams and shouting and people. Buck Eighth pounded after her and took her down, holding her pinned to the ground.
More people were filling the field, screaming, panicking. Over it all, an announcer’s voice told people to stay calm, to file out in an orderly manner, and that the situation was under control.
Only the situation very much wasn’t under control.
I ran to Oscar, to Abraham. The galvanized were trying to help them both, and hold off the panicked crowd that had jumped the barriers and were running across the field. A dozen or so people dressed in white—House Medical—were half a field away and pushing to get through the confusion of people to Oscar.
House Black did all they could to hold the human wall around the wounded, standing shoulder to shoulder and facing outward, to keep Oscar and Abraham from being trampled.
“Please,” I said. “I’m House Gray. Please let me see them.”
Two people shifted enough I could slip between them.
Clara and Vance knelt beside Oscar, performing CPR.
Abraham lay unconscious a few feet from where Oscar had fallen. His skin was a sickly mottle of black and yellow, his features swollen and bruised.
My heart was pounding so hard, my head buzzing.
They say galvanized are immortal. But I didn’t know how Abraham could survive this.
I hurried over and knelt beside Oscar.
Clara was doing what she could to compress the bullet wound, and Vance was pumping Oscar’s chest to try to keep his heart beating.
But neither of them were speaking.
I gently touched Oscar’s cheek. “You’re going to be all right,” I said. “Everything’s going to be fine.”
His glassy eyes rolled and focused on me kneeling over him. “Save . . .” he breathed, “Abraham . . .”
“We will,” I said, trying to smile though tears filled my eyes. “He’s fine. Just keep breathing, Oscar. We need you. We need you to just keep breathing.”
His mouth worked around words, but no sound came out. Then he smiled, as if trying to reassure me that he was okay.
“Oscar?” I said. His eyes rolled back into his head and a sudden and complete stillness spread over him.
Vance cursed, and Clara quietly prayed.
The world blurred through tears. He couldn’t be gone. He couldn’t be dead. Oscar was too kind, too good to be ended by petty violence.
Killed while I stood by and let it happen.
Dotty was suddenly behind me. She put her hand on my shoulder and helped me to my feet.
