“Ky, you need to get to a hospital,” Fender argues with me as I stumble into the woods, holding the cloth against my side.
“I’m not leaving her.”
“Son—” my father tries to reason.
“No,” I snarl. “I’m the Prez. It’s my fucking call.”
Everyone shuts the fuck up after that.
When Tempest comes into view, he’s stripped down to his undershirt, sweaty, dirty, and digging like a maniac. “Hurry up.” His blackened, ink-covered arms flex hard with each hearty scoop of dirt.
We all fall to our knees and dig, the tension so sharp it could slit each one of our throats clean.
“Kira,” I yell, light-headed and weak. “Kira!” I gouge handful after handful of cool earth, believing if anyone can survive this, she can. I rake away the soil until my biceps burn and my fingertips scrape something hard.
My emotions implode as we discover the long wooden box, and I nearly puke at the thought of what could be inside.
If I can’t trust you, it's over before it even began.Her words wash over me like acid. They broke me then, and they’re breaking me now. It can’t be over. We had so little time. Barely any at all.
My father, Vet, Tempest, and Breaker open the box, and we find Kira bound and unconscious inside.
“Get her out.” Fender jumps into action. Lifting her limp body up, they lie her on the ground. Tempest cuts her hands and feet lose with his pocket knife as Fender checks her vitals at rapid speed. “No pulse, but she’s still warm.” He starts compressions, and all I can do is crawl next to her and beg. Beg her, beg the Lord, beg any god who will listen to let her live. To bring her back.
“Five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten . . .” Fender’s voice is like a far-away echo. “Twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty.”
No response, so he gives her two solid breaths and starts again. “Five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten . . .” And then once more. My vision comes and goes as I lie next to Kira just holding her hand. Bone keeps pressure on my wound, but I’ve gone completelynumb. I don’t feel a fucking thing except despair. I start to drift off, it becoming nearly impossible to keep my eyes open.
“Ky, don’t you fucking give up, boy.” My dad shakes me. “Stay awake.”
I flutter my eyes open, but they’re so heavy. I just want to go to sleep.
Then I’m startled by a jerk of my hand and sharp gasp. Kira coughs, gulping in air, and I’m suddenly thrust back into consciousness.
“Oh, thank Christ.” Fender collapses from exhaustion as I haul Kira weakly into my arms.
“Ky?” she cries disoriented, hugging my tightly.
“You’re okay now, Snow. I’ve got you. We’ve got you.” I cradle her in my arms and clutch her face. The angelic face that caused me to fall madly in love the moment I laid eyes on her. But it was her soul that kept me coming back. A soul that is too precious to take from this world. To take from me.
“You came for me.” Her voice is shaky and small, but it's still the most magnificent sound I have ever heard.
“Always.” I try to hold on, but the pull of the darkness is too strong. Black inky spots cloud my vision, stealing the sight of Kira away from me.
Then, in a snap, everything just disappears.
23
Kira
“Ky?”I scream as he just passes out right in my arms.
“Fuck, get ’em up and into the truck.” Fender scurries to his feet.
Everything is happening so fast. I’m confused. There’s too much movement.
“Sorry to break up the reunion, princess. But we gotta get Slash the fuck outta here.” Bone lifts his unconscious form off the ground, and he’s hauled away by three of the other guys.
What the hell is happening? I’m left alone once again, an exhumed grave right at my feet. My grave. I shudder, recalling Deacon dragging the wooden casket through the woods. Recall the paralyzing fear as he kicked me into it and closed the top.
