He gave a slight smile. “Point taken. You mentioned the headache. Is your vision blurred? Are you nauseous? Is the light bothering you?”
“No, slightly, and no,” she replied. She touched the side of her head. “I’m bandaged.”
“Back and side,” he said. “You seem alert. I think you have a mild concussion. You cut the back of your head, which I stitched, and you have a gash over your ear.”
“Zack shot me!” she said again.
“You’re lucky it only grazed you.”
“He tried to kill Kevin, and I pepper-sprayed him just as he fired at me. He’s still out there!” Zack could come back!
“No,” Rok said. “He’s dead. I vaporized him.”
Good.He wouldn’t have stopped until he killed me—and everyone connected with me.
“You’re going to be fine,” Damon said. “You need to rest. Take an over-the-counter painkiller for the headache if you need it. Do you have a place to stay?” He scooted the chair back and got to his feet.
Rok instantly slipped into the seat and clasped her hand.
“Sort of. We spent the night in a motor home by Cox Medical Center South. We rode here on bicycles.” She interlaced her fingers with Rok. The man looked mighty fine without his shirt.
“No bicycle riding for a while!” Damon said. “You may be dizzy, and your balance may be off.”
“We have a house ready for them,” Laurel said.
They did? She frowned.
“We all live in the same neighborhood,” Grav added.
That sounded wonderful. Neighbors. Community. Family. Normalcy.Ahome possibly.
“The man who shot you—you called him by name. You knew him?” Laurel asked.
“I met Zack and his friends, Sandy and Caleb, in St. Louis. Zack and Sandy were lovers. I didn’t realize until too late they were colluders. Caleb took me to meet four other people hiding in a mattress store. Zack and Sandy led the Progg there. I escaped, but he killed the others, and when he fired at me, he hit Sandy.”
“Zack guessed I would head for Springfield and came after me; he blamed me for Sandy’s death. Hesaw the survivor meeting signs. He’d been watching the Gillioz, waiting for me.”
Rok squeezed her hand. “You scared me. I saw you lying there…all the blood…I thought you were dead.” She could see the stark pain in his eyes.
We do have a bond.Given she was concussed, she would hold off on any grand pronouncements and avoid life-altering decisions, but ambivalence had evaporated, and she’d crossed the bridge from casual to committed.Alien,humandidn’t define people. Character did. Rok, a Progg, was a good person. Zack, Caleb, and Sandy weren’t. She’d almost died! No one was guaranteed a tomorrow, so she would make the most of today and what she did have—the love of a kind, sexy alien man.
“How did you find me?” she asked.
“Kevin,” he answered. “He ran into the theater barking like crazy and led us to you. Luckily, Laurel is a nurse. Grav went and got Damon, and we brought you backstage through the rear entrance.”
“Can I see Kevin?” She looked at the doctor.
“As long as you don’t move around too much. Remember—rest.”
“I’ll get him.” Grav left the room.
Damon patted her shoulder. “You’re going to be fine. I’ll check on you tomorrow. If you’re comfortable, I’ll be going. I’d promised to look at a rash after today’s meeting.”
“I’m good. Thank you.”
The doctor left.
“I guess I threw a wrench into the meeting,” Chloe said.
