I sat on my knees, tucking the gun into my waistband before sliding him to the edge of the metal stairs by the ankles. I was careful to go quietly, taking each step as delicately as I could, but even then, it was sloppy. He hit hard on some and jagged on others.
“I am sorry,” I apologized in a strangled whisper.
I didn’t want anyone to hear us, but staying silent felt dangerous. The idea of him slipping away without me knowing wasn’t a possibility I could stomach.
“Don’t look up,” he mumbled, and I froze in the dark. Blinking. The sound of shoes tapping against my skull… I needed to see. To know. “Don’t! You do not want this to be the last memory you have of him.”
Last memory.What the hell was he talking about?
Something groaned behind me, but it fell away in the sounds of the night. Maybe a cat? A person.
I pulled at him again.
“Remember that time I wanted to go to prom, and you sent Jessie and Blade to find me that horrible dress?” I rambled, taking another step. “And then Nathem went home with that teacher?”
Thay’s eyes fluttered, sending a slight smile to his face.
“Or when you were teaching me to swim, and that eel brushed your leg?” A laugh bubbled in my throat at the memory of himjumping into my arms with a deafening screech. “That sound you made.”
“Shut the fuck up. Those things are gross.”
Another step.
“Or," he coughed, "Remember that time we were about to die in an alleyway?” He groaned, still scowling despite his condition.
Oh, fuck, I loved him.Please God.Help me.
“Seriously, Daph. This is far enough. Go to the street and tell them I am here.”
I glanced down the passageway, then back to him, knowing the second I left, he would fall asleep.
“It’s just a little further, okay?” I held tighter. “I need you to hold on for me.”
“Daph,” he coughed, the color in his face switching from green to pale. “I am tired.”
“I know,” my voice shook as I laid him on the pavement, the blur of the rain making everything cold. “We are almost there!”
He blinked slowly.
“Don’t look up,” he said again, this time shutting his eyes. “I feel so tired.”
The storm crowded around me while I watched the way his long lashes brushed the upper part of his cheek, and for a moment, I wished I had the strength to lie next to him, to be the Undying Lands he wanted so much. But if the roles were reversed, he wouldn’t give up. And neither would I.
I moved to his head, crouching over him.
“I am going to move quickly, okay?” I warned through the crackle in his chest. He was falling in and out of consciousness, and I knew I was running out of time.
Everything in my body screamed at me to stop when I positioned myself under his arms and pulled 280lbs of muscle and strength along the edge of the brick wall.
“Your bones are cracking, madwoman,” he breathed, the words in his mouth going hollow. “I told you not to skip leg day.”
“I don’t even know what the hell leg day is,” I bit back, hearing a laugh die in his throat.
Thay ground against me, contorting me into angles and pulling me apart. When I finally reached the edge of the building, every inch of me was covered in his blood. With the rain, I hadn’t noticed how much of it was leaking out of the bandage I had created.
“Almost there,” I took a breath, but Thay wasn’t talking. His eyes blinked slowly as he stared into mine. The ambulance had to be close; red and blue lights flashed in the distance, weaving together a beautiful song of primary colors that meant help.
I dragged him out of the shadows and onto the street, setting his head down on the broken road before straddling him to press down on the wound.
