Still didn’t stand. And unlike Dr.Reeves, there was no chance he would be able to carry his partner.
Vaughn jabbed his thumb into the cut above Darnell’s left eye. The man tried to scream and finally came fully to. With another yank, the man rose.
Darnell moved like a drunken sailor.
Apt.
He was a mere foot from the broken exterior door when he started to drop to one knee.
How long did Dr.Button say they had?
At high concentrations, hydrogen sulfide gas could kill in less than a minute. If Darnell fell, it was over; Vaughn would never be able to drag the big man outside in time.
He did the only thing he could think of at that moment.
Vaughn placed both hands on the man’s back and shoved as hard as he could.
It was a good push. Solid.
So good that Vaughn actually fell backward. Landed hard on his ass. His mask shifted but stayed on.
Vaughn quickly scrambled to his feet and ran out, having enough forethought to close the door behind him as best he could.
Darnell had made it. Barely. He was lying on his stomach, coughing so badly that his entire body was quaking.
The egg smell was potent, even with the mask. Some of the gas had leaked outside.
Fuck it.
Vaughn filled his lungs with air, then tore his mask off. Grabbed the back of Darnell’s head, put it on him. Still not breathing, Vaughn hooked his arms beneath Darnell’s and started to drag him backward away from the house.
Grunted with the effort.
It was easier on grass, would have been impossible on dirt.
Vaughn accidentally inhaled, coughed, spat. Kept dragging. They were ten feet from the door now, fifteen. The smell was no longer as powerful.
“Darnell!”
The man wasn’t coughing anymore. Wasn’t breathing.
The woman was beside him now, shouting into her gag. Vaughn ripped it off her mouth.
“Fuck!” she screamed.
It was Abby Granger.
“He took Ivy!” she yelled. Her lips were an angry red from where the tape had been stuck. “Tristan took Ivy!”
She turned around, and Vaughn unraveled half of the tape that kept her hands pinned behind her back. Abby wriggled out of the rest by herself.
“Help me flip him over,” Vaughn said.
Abby grabbed Darnell’s left side; Vaughn, too. They pushed and Darnell rolled. His eyes were closed; stagnant, pink-tinged foam plugged each nostril.
Vaughn laid one hand on top of the other and pushed down on the man’s chest. His palms sunk into the man’s fat.
“Breathe!” Vaughn pumped.
