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Kain lets loose a horrible, wet-sounding cough, and my heart lurches. There better be some serious medical supplies in that place, or…
I don’t finish the thought. I focus instead on helping Ghost and Orion get Kain down from the bed and safely inside the bunker.
There’s a steel-reinforced door—so out of place compared to the rotting wood around it—which Ghost opens by pressing the back of his hand to the space where a handle would be. It clicks, then shudders open, the hinges screeching from what might be years of disuse.
“Welcome to my childhood home. Ladies first.” Ghost jerks his head, and I step inside, making sure to give them a wide berth as they haul Kain inside, tarp and all.
I stifle a gasp as I look around the space. It’s clear the outside is a front, a rotting shell concealing the medical marvel hiding inside. Various machines and equipment whir along the walls, some beeping intermittently, some sporting computer screens and advanced surgical instruments I’ve only heard stories about.
I jerk my head over as Ghost and Orion slide Kain onto an operating table in the center of the room. An array of instruments are already lined up on a tray, a gown and gloves strewn lazily over the top. Not exactly sterile, but I can’t be picky right now.
I step toward the gown, picking up the thin material with shaking fingers. I feel just like I did all those weeks ago when Kain was brought into the hospital for the first time. Only this time, it’s worse. This time, I won’t have an experienced surgeon to rely on or any guidance for a surgery I’ve only witnessed.
“His head’s on the wrong end of the bed, just so you know.”
That voice… no. No, there’s no way. No possible, earthly—
“Dr. Slater. Thank you for finally joining us.”
I turn slowly, so slowly, and come face-to-face with that familiar, weathered face. His wiry brows shoot up as he takes in my face, at the blood coating my chest and arms. For a moment, it’s almost as if he doesn’t recognize me—doesn’t recognize the feral creature in front of him.
“Lillith. What-what are you doing here? Why are you with these people?” His steely eyes are wide, his thin lips parted in horror. “What—no one knew what happened to you. I thought—”
“This reunion is very touching”—Ghost interrupts, that oval practically mechanical as it turns to Dr. Slater—“but I’m going to need you to start operating.”
Slater’s throat bobs, his pale gray whiskers catching in the flickering ceiling light. His eyes flick to me in a silent question, and I give him a nod.
“Please,” I whisper. “You have to save him.” We’ll have time to talk later, time to tell each other what horrors led to us being here at the same moment. But now—now you have to save him. Please.
Dr. Slater examines my expression and the silent plea in my eyes. Then his face relaxes for the first time since he entered the room. Without a word, he turns to the tray of instruments. Leathered fingers curl around an ET tube package, and a grin pulls at the corners of his eyes as he places it into my palm.
Just like before, just like all those weeks ago, he gives me that calculating stare over the top of his spectacles. “I’m assuming you still remember something from your anesthesia rounds?”
This time, my voice doesn’t tremble as I say, “More than enough.”
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
KAIN
Beep… beep… beep…
Pain. There’s pain deep in my bones, curling its vicious tendrils into my marrow. I try to open my eye, but my lid is heavy. So very, very heavy. Heavy like cinder blocks strapped to my ankles, dragging me down, down, down the rabbit hole.
At least it’s quiet here. So very, very quiet. Quiet like the night, like a mouse, like the streets outside Lillith’s apartment…
Lillith. Where’s Lillith?
My eye cracks open, and my sight is filled with the most beautiful mossy green orbs. With what strength I have, I search her face, looking for any sign of distress, any ounce of pain.
She’s alive. Alive, alive, alive.
“Try not to move too much. You have a tube in your throat,” she whispers, running the side of her palm down my temple. “I don’t know if I have the heart to hold you down this time.”
Laugh. I wish I could laugh at that, show her how fine I am now that I know she’s safe. Alive.
“Kain, I—” Her voice cracks, and a single tear cuts a path down her beautiful face. “I thought I was going to lose you.”
I’d find you in every lifetime, little flower. You shouldn’t have worried about that. It was only see you later and never goodbye.
