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Chapter 19
Calax
She looked beautiful, even like that. Even with her face ashen and blood coating her skin. Even with death looming ominously over her body, threatening to take hold. I held her cold hand in my own and gently reached over to touch her cheek.
“Why isn’t she waking up, Doc?” I asked, my voice unwillingly cracking. I would like to blame it on the lack of use the last two days, but that would be a blatant lie. My emotions were running rampant within me. With no outlet, I had to settle for curling in on myself mentally like old, brittle paper.
Adelaide was injured, maybe even dying.
Declan and Fallon had left us with only a vague note promising that they would return.
The rest of us? We were barely holding ourselves together. Without our leader, Fallon, and our glue, Adelaide, we were lost puppies.
And then there was Tommy.
He had locked himself in one of the spare bedrooms and hadn’t come out. I wasn’t even sure if he was eating, though Asher left a plate by his door every morning and night.
In a span of hours, the once modest bedroom had been entirely redesigned until it resembled a hospital room. An IV, a table full of scalpels and stethoscopes, adhesive bandages, and various painkillers, all courtesy of Asher.
I knew he and Ryder were attempting to get the generator up and running again, but the effort was futile. The thing was shot to hell and back. No amount of praying would fix the damn thing. Instead, we had to rely on the flickering glow from the sparse and unreliable candlelight. Lining the window sill. On the bedside table. Near the foot of the bed. It was a miracle that Doc was able to operate in the first place, what with his limited supplies and the scarce lighting provided.
The man looked tired. Weary. He hadn’t left her bedside since this had first begun. Granted, we didn’t really leave him much of a choice. A gun to the head was the only incentive he needed.
Addie would be horrified.
“I did all I could do,” Doc responded. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and placing his head in his hands. Dark, prominent bags were evident beneath his hazel eyes. “Now it’s up to her.”
“What do you mean it’s up to her?” I asked scathingly. Doc glanced up at me as if I was an imbecile. I just barely resisted snapping his thin neck.
We needed him alive.
For now.
After Addie recovered…
Well…
It would be in his best interest not to piss me off too much.
“She has to want to fight,” he explained. “It’s in her hands now.”
“She’s going to fight.” There was no doubt in my mind of that. That was one of the things that I loved about her. And one of the things that annoyed the ever-living shit out of me.
Doc startled at the conviction in my voice, his eyes flickering towards Addie’s pale frame. I bristled at the disbelief in his expression. He didn’t know her like I did. He didn’t know that she would do anything for the people she loved, including fighting and winning against death itself.
“You should go get some food. And maybe find something to wash yourself off with.” His nose wrinkled in distaste at the latter statement. “I’ll tell you if anything changes.”
I hesitated, gripping Addie’s hand even tighter. I hadn’t eaten in days, despite Asher’s repeated attempts at getting food into me, and I hadn’t washed myself off since...well...I couldn’t remember when. My body was coated in a layer of blood, Addie’s blood.
“You can send one of the others in here,” Doc said beseechingly. “She’ll be fine for the ten minutes you’re gone.”
Scrubbing a large hand down my face, I nodded in agreement. I was no use to Addie dead or weakened.
Without taking my eyes from the doctor, I stood and pushed open the bedroom door. Tamson sat in the entryway, eyes haunted as he stared at a blood-stain darkening the carpeting. He only glanced up when I cleared my throat, eyes purposefully avoiding the room - and consequently the girl - behind me.
“I’ll be back in a few minutes. Keep an eye on her?”
He hesitated, indecision disfiguring his features. I clenched my hands into fists and tucked them beneath my armpits. It was either that or punch him upside the head.
