“Nora?” he called again, his voice sounding closer, frantic.
She cleared her throat. “In here. Simon!” A little louder. “Are you okay?”
She heard footsteps coming closer and the door being hit. Both Nora and Anna recoiled as the door was hit again. The doorknob was pulled off as Simon ripped out the lock, opening the door on its hinges.
He stood there in the doorway, his shirt riddled with gunshot openings, his eyes wild. Behind him the bakery storefront was silent. Simon’s stance was set in an attack posture with the gun pointed in front of him. That stance softened, immediately, after his eyes met Nora’s.
Against the wall her body sagged.He’s here.Voice shaking, she whispered. “Simon!”
“Oh Nora.” His expression was one of pure fear as he walked, pocketing the gun. He slid down on his knees, reaching out with both hands. “Your leg. It . . .”
“Simon . . . you came.” She reached out with bloody hands, touching his shirt with shaky fingers.
“Of course, Nora. You’re hurt.” He gently touched her leg, moving it this way and that. The rag she had pressed to it had fallen off when she covered her ears. Simon looked closer, his tone anguished. “Your leg was shot?”
Nora hissed from the pain and pushed on his hands. “Paul is . . .”
He spoke in that calm, clinical way of his, his eyes focused on the bullet wound. “There is no more threat, Nora. It’s fine now.” He leaned forward all the way and softly pressed on the injury. “He hurt you. I think the bullet passed clean through, thankfully.”
“Tilly? Where’s my Tilly?” Nora’s face was slick with sweat from stress and blood loss.
Simon put the rag back on her leg and held it with pressure. “I hid her right outside of town a bit. Tilly is safe.”
Nora grabbed at his arm. “Hid her? My leg can wait. Please get her?”
“We will.” Simon gestured for Anna to come close. “Nora needs real bandages. Where are some? There is no more threat.”
“No threat?” Anna echoed, her voice small and lost. She was trembling all over, holding another bloodied rag in her hands. The bakery was silent except for the hum from the ovens.
Simon pushed up on Nora’s chin to gaze into her eyes.
They were fiery and intense, and just looking at them calmed Nora. She gripped his shirt harder.
He didn’t break eye contact as he answered Anna, “Yes. Stay here with Nora. Tell me where?”
“No. I’ll go,” Anna breathed heavily.
Simon turned, hand outstretched, as Anna whipped away. “No, Anna. Wait, stay out of . . .”
A bloodcurdling scream came from the front and then a choked sob, interrupting Simon’s words. He finished lamely, closing his eyes, “. . . the front room.”
Anna rushed back in almost immediately with a bolt of cloth in hand and her body trembling.
Unease filled Nora's stomach. “Anna?”
Anna collapsed on the floor, sinking down on her knees and choking out the words, “Paul is dead. And his friends. There’s several . . . out there. I can’t . . .”
Nora gasped.Dead?
Simon said to Anna, calmly. “One of them ran away. We need to be fast now, in case he brings others back. I’ll take that fabric to make a bandage for Nora. A tourniquet.”
Anna just sat, detached with a vacant expression.
Nora swallowed and couldn’t speak for a minute as Simon left her side to go to Anna.Several dead?The sharp smell of blood hung in the air.
Simon’s voice filtered back. “I’m sorry, Anna. I know it’s a shock. You’ll come back with us, okay?”
Anna’s face was chalky white. Then she swiftly nodded once, hand on her pregnant stomach and eyes focused on the floor.
