I crashed in on hands and knees, sprawling on the floor as the door slammed shut.
“Oww,” I moaned. Really? Did they have to be so rough?
It took me a second to lift my head. I moved to sit on my hip and butt cheek and flipped the door off. Then I stopped and tensed.
Because sprawled on his back with his head drooped to the side was Sleeping Superhero Beauty.
But the alarming part was the way his chest rose and fell way too slowly. Slower than ever.
Oh shit.
Ohshit.
“Hey?” I whispered, my throat aching with just that single word.
He didn’t react.
I tried again, my voice weak. “Yoo-hoo?”
Nothing.
With a groan, I crawled over, ignoring the shooting pain through my knees, wrists, and shoulders. At his side, I put my fingers against his mouth and cursed. His lips were cold. Why were his lips so cold?
Falling down to my stomach, I pressed my cheek against his chest and listened. His heart… his heart wasn’t right. I’d counted the beats. They were slow but they weren’t this slow.
“Hey?”
Nothing.
Sitting back on my hip, I set my palm on his cheek. That was cold too. I pressed my hand over his heart again, counting those too-slow beats like I hadn’t done it right before.
“Temporary friend?” I tried again, attempting to ignore the panic rising in my chest.
Nothing.
“Wake up.” My voice cracked. “Hercules, wake up.”
Nothing.
Tears popped up in my eyes, and I wiped them off with the back of my hand. I shook his shoulder, squeezed his biceps, and even grabbed his cold hand. Nothing.
“You can’t do this to me,” I whispered.What the hell had they done to him?How could they have hurt him? He’d said he was invulnerable.
More tears formed in my eyes as I lifted his arm and let it fall, not getting a single response from that either.
Lowering my head, I pressed my ear against his chest and listened once more.
Was it even slower now?
Was he… dying?
He couldn’t just… he couldn’t just go down like that. Not after everything he’d been through. After everything he’d done.
Not here, like this.
FUCK!
I closed my eyes and took his hand, tight.
