I grinned. “That’s brilliant. When we wake up, we need to spread the word to all the news stationstoo.”
She nodded. “Kill the ghouls and drop them at the foot of themountain.”
It might buy us a day or two before they went looking for livegame.
The ground rumbled again then, and Ronnie pulled her hands away from Maxine, cursing. Performing surgery during an earthquake was notideal.
I eyed the mountain warily. “Maybe we should start tonight. Who wants to go hunting?” I asked. I didn’t want to leave her side, but if this thing woke up with her in surgery, we wouldn’t be able to move her or protect her. A pile of ghoul bodies would be the only way to help her. Leave a snack for thegiant.
“I’m in,” Brisk said, cocking hisgun.
Nox glanced at Maxine. Her head had lolled to the side, a chunk of red hair fallen over her face. She looked soinnocent.
“I’m in too,” Damien called out beside me, layering his body with moreweapons.
Josephine looked at Mr. Hansen. “Can you take care ofJer?”
Henodded.
“Nox will stay with me and assist,” Ronnie declared, and relief crashed over Nox’s face. He didn’t want to leave her, that wasclear.
The mountain rumbled again then, harder that time, and Ronnie swore. My eyes flicked to the hulking mass of rock, and I tried but failed not to imagine it coming to life and eating usall.
There was a fourth type of ghoul.Shiver.
I pulled a walkie-talkie off my belt and gave it to Nox. “Damien has the other one. Call us if shit goesdown.”
He nodded. We so rarely split up in the Dream Wars, but the walkies were crucial when wedid.
“Wait,” Mr. Hansen called out, then bent down to Jeremy, who was pulling on his arm. After whispering something in Mr. Hansen’s ear, Jeremy looked back at the ground and continued his peaceful rockingmotion.
Mr. Hansen nodded. “He says we should put our blood into the tubing on our partner’s suit in case we wake up early. He wants to ensure he doesn’t wakealone.”
Josephine nodded. “Yes, of course.” She walked over and pulled the cap off the tubing that had been sewn into the shoulder of her suit. Without a word or even looking up, Jeremy produced his fingertip for her to prick. Once she drew blood, she placed his finger to the vacuum tip of the tubing and after a sucking sound, it beeped and Jeremy yanked his finger back, putting it into his mouth. Josephine replaced the cap and opened the tubing on Jeremy’sshoulder.
Ronnie was finally doing the last stiches on Maxine’s shoulder. It worried me that Maxine hadn’t regained consciousness yet, but I had to hold out hope that shewould.
Ronnie glanced up at Nox. “I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to partner with her. When she wakes, I need to bethere.”
Nox nodded and looked up at Brisk. The Marine walked over and clapped his best friend on the back. “I wanted to be your partner in the first place anyway,” hestated.
That comment had a small smile curling at Ronnie’slips.
Damien pricked his finger and opened the seal on the tubing in my suit. After we had all paired up and exchanged blood, except for lonely Mr. Hansen, I smiled. “There. Now that should work, right? Worst-case, we wake upalone.”
Damien gave me a side eye. “I can think of a few more worst-care scenarios thanthat.
My eyes widened. “Likewhat?”
Jeremy started rocking harder, a low whine coming from histhroat.
“Let’s move out,” Josephine said, giving Damien a sharp look for upsetting hisbrother.
Whoops.The last thing in the world we needed right now was for Jeremy to get wigged out and runoff.
We walked out of the dome and used the remote to start it up again, keeping Maxine, Ronnie, Nox, Mr. Hansen, and Jeremy safeinside.
“All right, let’s collect some ghoulie meat,” Brisk said, loading a cartridge of heat-seeking bullets into hisgun.
