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“Mace…” she sputters up dirt. Her arms wrap around me and cling to me like I’m her greatest lifeline.
In this moment, I am.
“I’ve got you, Syd. It’s okay, you’re alive. I’ve got you, and I’m getting you the hell out of here.”
She’s weak—I can feel it in how her frail, damp body trembles against me. In how she tries to grip me but can’t seem to muster up enough energy to hold on the right way.
It’s okay because I meant what I said. I’ve got her. I’m getting her the hell out of here.
My side protests in a fresh dose of pain as I carry her from the huge hole in the ground.
“Mace,” she warbles out, eyes damn near closed. “M-Mace.”
“Shhh, Syd, we’re getting you to the ER.”
“No…” she says. Then she tilts her head. “Mace… watch… watch out.”
I understand her the second I feel it coming. I start turning my body to find Velma launching yet another attack.
She looks batshit crazy. Hair a knotted nest, face bruised and covered in dirt, her arms raised and shaking as she holds onto a motorized saw. She’s running toward us with eyes wide and too far gone—that vacant sorta gleam you get when you’ve checked out and are beyond saving.
Velma rushes toward us. I put myself on guard, ready to drop Sydney if I must to use my arms and block Velma’s attack.
But it never happens. Velma’s so erratic, so damn desperate that as she charges toward us, she’s not paying attention to anything else—including the metal beams lying on the ground that she’s stepping over. Her feet catch in one of the beams and shock flashes onto her face. The realization of what’s about to happen.
She crashes down to the ground, smacking into the metal beams with the motorized saw flying out of her hands. It spins in midair for a brief moment before karma does its thing, coming down like gravity permits.
Straight onto her. Straightintoher.
Her body convulses, arms and legs flailing as the sharp blade lodges into her spine. The sound’s gruesome to the ears, the sound of metal grinding into bone combined with the throaty scream cloaked by a mouthful of blood and dirt.
It’s the last time we see Velma move aside from the little twitches her body gives. The last sound we hear from her.
She lays where she is, face down among a spreading puddle of blood.
I release the breath I started holding in and tighten my grip on Sydney. It’s only then it dawns on me the battle going on around us is slowing up too—the Kings have picked off most of the Reapers, and the ones that are still living are being held at gunpoint on their knees.
Thank fuck. It’s over.
34
SYDNEY
The emergency roomat the local hospital has their hands full. They’re flooded with Kings and Reapers sporting all kinds of injuries. Gunshot and stab wounds on just about every part of the body. One Reaper shot in the head manages to live, though he’s placed on life support. Other injuries like concussions and broken ribs are so common that an entire section of the ER is cordoned off for any guys with these specific ailments.
I’m a more unique case. After being buried alive, I’ve sustained a sprained wrist and some scrapes and bruises. My stomach is pumped due to ingesting too much dirt. I’m checked out in other ways, given a physical, and lengthy examination to ensure I suffered no other serious trauma from my ordeal.
“You’ve had a rough few hours,” says the doctor treating me. He trails his fingers along my throat checking for swelling. “How does your throat feel? Any more soreness?”
I wince when his fingers reach my jaw. “Some.”
“I’ll prescribe you something to ease the discomfort. It’ll take away the ache. Any dizziness?”
“Not anymore…” I follow his index finger as he drags it from left to right to test my cognition.
He pats me on the shoulder and tells me I’m good to be released. I hop down from the exam table and pull on the t-shirt one of the nurses was kind enough to bring me from the hospital’s chapel donations. The shirt I had on coming in had been torn open by the Reapers.
Emerging through the blue curtains of the station where I was being examined, I stare around me at the others. Behind many of these curtains are other Kings, like Ozzie and Moses.
