Dana wasn’t sure how much time passed as Doc wrestled with something inside the hole in Fin’s naked shoulder, asking for “More gauze! More gauze!” every few seconds in an attempt to staunch the flow of blood. But eventually, Doc crowed in triumph and pulled something from the gaping injury. He barely gave it a glance before flinging it to the floor.
She expected it to be a bullet, to hit the boards withthump.But it hit with a weird sort ofclickinstead and she watched, stuck somewhere between awe and horror, as the blood dripped away from the object and smooth, glistening white was revealed.
“Is that…” She had to stop and swallow. “Bone?”
She didn’t really expect an answer, but Doc gave her one. “The bullet shattered his clavicle. That shard I just pulled out severed his subclavian artery. That’s why he’s bleeding so much.”
Without waiting, Doc shoved his gloved hand back into the wound and Fin let out a sound Dana knew she’d hear in her nightmares. It was half howl, half scream, allagony.
“I can’t…” Doc grunted as he dug around in Fin’s injury. Dana felt her gorge rise when his movements made a squelching sound and filled the room with the metallic scent of liquid life. “Find the end of the damn thing. It’s retracted up into—” Doc stopped and a brief look of triumph, or maybe it was just relief, flashed across his sweaty face. “There you are, you slippery little bastard!” He turned his head to the side. “Quick, Uncle John! Grab me those hemostatic forceps!”
John pulled out what looked like a huge set of tweezers from the bag. After he handed them to Doc, Dana turned her head away instead of watching the silver instrument disappear inside Fin’s wound.
“Almost there. Almost there.” Doc’s raspy voice was thin with exertion. “Gotcha!” he cried and Dana turned back to find him sitting back on Fin’s thighs.
His elation was temporary.
“Damnit! No!” He leaned forward and pressed two bloody, gloved fingers to the side of Fin’s neck.
Dana saw Fin’s eyes half-closed and his mouth half open. No more blood bubbled from his ruined nose. No more awful sounds clawed their way up the back of his throat.
“Oh my god.” Her gaze darted to Doc’s face. “Is he—” She didn’t finish her question. She didn’t need to. Everyone was thinking the same thing.
Doc was focused on a spot on the wall. But she knew he was blind to what he was seeing. His whole concentration was centered on his fingertips, searching for any sign of a heartbeat.
“Damnit, Fin!” he yelled. “No!”
“What’s happenin’?” Will whispered drunkenly.
No one answered him because Doc began shouting orders again. “Get him off the bed! I need him on the floor for CPR!” Dana helped Jace lift Fin’s shoulders, but Doc was quick to tell them, “Easy! Don’t dislodge those forceps. Uncle John! Help Cami with his feet.”
Dana’s heart was in her throat as they carefully transferred the redheaded man from the bed to the floor. And it beat so hard it nearly choked her as she stood and watched Doc rip off his surgical gloves and toss them aside before pulling out what looked like a plastic sheet from his medical bag.
She didn’t have long to wonder what the sheet was for. Doc quickly unfolded it, placed it over Fin’s face, and maneuvered the plastic valve in the center of the sheet into Fin’s mouth. He didn’t immediately give mouth-to-mouth, however. Instead, he knelt next to Fin’s chest and began compressions with so much vigor, Dana was surprised she didn’t hear Fin’s ribs crack.
She didn’t realize she was crying until she felt John’s strong arm curl around her shoulders. “Shhh,” he whispered close to her ear, his beard lightly brushing the side of her jaw. “It’s okay, darlin’. Go ahead and turn away if you need to.”
It was good advice. Who would wantthisburned into their memory? Even so, she couldn’t wrench her eyes away from the awful scene.
“Someone do mouth-to-mouth for me!” Doc ordered, his words breathless from the effort of the chest compressions.
Before anyone else could volunteer, Cami went down on her knees next to Fin’s head. Fitting her mouth over the plastic valve, she blew hard as Doc counted out her breaths.
Will had dragged himself from his place by the wall to grab Fin’s boot and shake it. “Fin!” His yell was hoarse. “Come on, man!”
Jace, who was sitting at Fin’s head, seemed half his normal size as his massive shoulders curled in and shook with silent sobs. Tears rolled down his face to get stuck in his bushy beard.
Dana wrapped her arms around John’s waist, needing him to ground her again because this… This was the most awful thing she’d ever seen. One man was dying. Another man was working like a fiend to save his life. And three more men were wracked with agony at the thought of losing their friend.
Then, to everyone’s astonishment, Fin raked in a ragged breath at the same time his eyes flew wide.
“My god, Fin!” Jace choked, ripping the plastic barrier from Fin’s face so he could frame Fin’s jaw with his big hands. “We thought we lost—”
“Tell Angie,” Fin whispered raggedly, “and the kids that I…love…them. And I’m…sorry.” Then his eyes fluttered shut. His breath shuddered out of him. And he grew eerily still.
“No!Fin!” Will screeched, tears dripping from his chin as he continued to shake Fin’s booted foot.
“Damnit!” Doc yelled. “More, Cami. More mouth-to-mouth.”
