Page 61 of Property of Zombie

“Oh, fuck, Lucy,” Zombie cries, and he hugs me to his chest. I groan at the contact, every inch of my being coming to life and reminding me just how badly I’m hurt. “I thought you were dead.”

“I t-t-think I w-w-wa—” Blood spews from my mouth as I cough up more water.

RAWR!

My eyes widen at Frosty’s roar, and Zombie moves to put himself between me and the bear. It’s then that I notice I’m no longer restrained by rope or cuffs, and the recognition sets off a new wave of pain.

“Fuck, who’s that?” Quake demands, and I follow his line of sight to the mauled corpse near Frosty’s paws.

“E-Evan,” I force out.

“I know this is gonna hurt, and I’m sorry,” Zombie says as he swings me into his arms. “But we’ve gotta get the fuck outta here.”

I sob against his chest as I manage a nod. He’s right, of course, but there’s a part of me that wants to demand he put me down and let me go back to that beach. I didn’t hurt at the beach.

“Trick, call Sawbone and tell him we’ll be comin’ in hot,” Zombie orders.

“Sawbone’s not back from Mexico yet, brother.”

“Fuck.” Zombie’s tone is vicious. “Fine, we’ll go to the hospital.”

“N-no,” I manage to push out.

“Lucy, you need medical attention,” Whiz says.

“Just get me to the medical b-building,” I instruct, my teeth chattering from the cold. “I-I-I’ll walk you through everything.” Zombie opens his mouth to argue, so I lift my arm to press a hand to his lips. “Please? T-t-the hospital will h-h-have to report my i-in-injuries as an a-animal attack. I’ll l-l-lose them, Zombie. I-I can’t lose t-th-them.”

When we reach the building, Zombie strides toward the surgical wing. Trick rushes ahead of us and covers one of the stainless-steel tables with a blanket. Zombie gently lays me down and carefully strips my wet clothes from my body.

It occurs to me that his brothers are going to see me naked, but I quickly dismiss the thought. This is a medical emergency, and that’s all they’ll see when they look at me.

Zombie’ll kill ‘em otherwise.

“M-m-might want to c-call Sawbone.” I stumble over my words as unconsciousness teases the edges of my senses. “I’m d-done.”

“Shit,” I hear Zombie bite out just as my world goes black.