Page 37 of Hollow State

The ground rose to her face, close enough to count the ferns.

They slammed back down on four tires hard enough to bottom out the suspension. The impact tore his hand out of the harness, but he kept hold of the frame and swung out over the side, boots skipping and bouncing off the trail at forty klicks an hour.

His thick, twisted fingers curled around her throat. He squeezed.

Wynn dug her nails into his wrist, but that did her no good. He caught her forearm and yanked. Her grip went soft in an instant. Clutching her rifle with both hands, she turned it in the gap between them, jammed the muzzle up under his chin, and fired.

His fingers opened, and the forest took him.

Wynn dragged herself back into the seat and got the barrel over the side as she gasped for air. "Do you see Neve and Coulter?"

"They're stopped ahead." Zadie slowed the SxS. "Do you see any more soldiers?"

"Not on the tablet." Wynn pressed her hand against her thigh. She couldn't ignore the pain a second longer. Nor could she ignore the blood loss. It was too much. Time to break protocol. She tapped her ear. "My count is four."

"We've got four too," Neve said.

That was eight. That was the magic number. "Anyone injured?"

"We're fine," Coulter said.

Wynn set her rifle between the seat and the center console. She released the harness and reached for the medical kit.

"What are you doing?" Zadie asked. "Everyone's fine."

Wynn lifted her hand and stared at the blood.

"Shit," Zadie mumbled. "What do you need me to do?"

"Drive."

"We need to stop the bleeding." Zadie stopped the SxS next to Coulter's.

Neve jumped out and raced over, leaning into the vehicle. "Bullet still in there?"

"It is," Wynn confirmed as she rummaged through the kit. "All I need to do is put a patch on this and a tourniquet. Then we drive."

Neve pushed her hands away while Zadie tore at her pant leg. Wynn wasn't used to being on this side of things. She couldn't remember the last time she needed to be patched up in the field. Outside of the blood loss and the fact she had the rarest blood type, this wasn't that big of a deal. It was survivable.

Zadie tied off the tourniquet, and Neve put the hemostatic dressing on her wound to help stop the bleeding.

"Let's get you home so Darwin can fix you up," Neve said.

"Oh, that man's gonna do more than fix up my leg." Wynn smiled. "I've taken things slow with him long enough."

"What’s that supposed to mean?" Zadie asked.

"I'm not waiting for him to sort out his feelings on an organizational flow chart or listen to him talk about doing things right or how he’s responsible for all the other things he comes up with to avoid sex. He's scared of being in a relationship." She adjusted her harness. "It's time to speed things up. So, let's get going so I can make that happen."

CHAPTER NINE

Darwin pressed his thumb into the ball of Kane's left foot and watched the toes curl down against it. "Do it again, please." He took a step back, grateful he had something to focus on. Otherwise his mind would be split between grief and worry. Darwin sucked at this part of life. His parents and brother had often told him he used work to avoid difficult things like his divorce.

He’d always believed he was moving forward, even though Newton had warned him he was simply pushing aside reality, and one day, it would catch him.

Newton had been right. Darwin barely dealt with the big things that happened in life. Instead, he ignored them and built bigger walls. It was why he never had any relationships that lasted after Sarah. It was why his work had become his life. His lover. His family.

"Is this really necessary?"