I huff and open my door. “Guess I’ll see what the fuck.”
As soon as I get one foot on the ground, I feel Carnage reaching for me, but it’s too late. Shots ring out and searing pain racks my body, dropping me to my knees.
I hear my name called, but it sounds distant, and it’s followed by more shots and tires squealing. I grip the door handle to hold myself up, snow melting into my pants as I slump forward.
“No! Fuck, no!”
Carnage.
Oh fuck. I can’t die. I can’t leave Colson.
Carnage is by my side seconds later, and I hear the distant sound of more cars and voices arriving.
“Someone call Shadow.” Carnage again. “We need the doctor as soon as we get there.”
“Eyes open, Specter. Stay with us.” Wraith. My head is lifted and cradled in someone’s lap. I can’t even tell where I was shot—the pain feels like it’s everywhere.
“Colson,” I whisper. Wrapping my hand around Wraith’s coat lapel, I force my eyes open. “Don’t let me die.”
“I won’t let you die, but you gotta fight too.”
“Get him in the fucking car.” That was Whisper.
I drift in and out as we race back to the house, panicked voices all around me. All I can do is hold on to the image of Colson in my mind. I have to live for him.
For us.
CHAPTER 24
Colson
Shadow entersthe rec room looking paler than usual. His dark eyes are trained on me, and a shiver runs down my back.
“Specter was shot.”
The words ricochet off me as my eyes sting. “What did you say?”
“He’s alive,” Shadow says, his voice tense. “The doctor is on the way.”
Bellamy grabs my hand and squeezes, but I feel like I’ve been sucked into a tunnel. This is not happening. It can’t be. I can’t lose him.
“Hey,” Shadow says, his hand falling to my shoulder. “We got him, okay?”
A man rushes in from the hallway. “Where is he?”
Shadow looks up. “On his way. ETA four minutes.”
“I’ll be downstairs.”
“Who is that?” Bellamy asks.
“Our doctor. We can’t exactly show up at hospitals in our line of work.”
My mind is racing, taking in information but not processing it at all. “What happened?” I finally manage to ask.
“I don’t know yet,” Shadow says.
Then I’m on my feet, rushing to the front door to be there when he arrives. Carnage pulls in first in his oversized sedan, and I’m thankful when the back doors open and Wraith is there, supporting Specter’s weight. Whisper joins him and they basically carry Specter up the drive, his head hanging forward limply.
