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“Stuck!” Ghost growled.
“Then break it!” Phoenix replied.
“Wait!” I pleaded, and then remembered there was something more important than the monster about to rip my brain out of my skull. My eyes snapped open. “Phoenix! He’s behind you!”
Phoenix spun around. There was a thunderous boom and Phoenix jerked once before falling over.
Ziggy roared and curled his claws.
Parker turned the gun on him. “Ah-ah!”
Ziggy didn’t seem to notice. He snarled and grabbed Parker by the arm. The gun barked, but if it hit anything, there was no blood. With another roar, Ziggy lifted Parker over his head and flung him to the floor King Kong style. Then he grabbed him by the leg and flung him the other way. Parker hit the floor with a resounding crack and the crown snapped in two. Ziggy flung him again, and Parker left a body-shaped indent behind. When Ziggy dropped his leg with a snort, he didn’t get back up.
“Axel,” Ghost murmured and pushed my hair aside to study the weird crown Parker had installed.
“I’m fine,” I assured him, sitting up and putting my arms around him to squeeze him tight. “A little bloody and bruised, and really fucking pissed off, but I’m fine.”
Ghost hugged me back and nuzzled his face against my neck.
I winced when he bumped into the crown still screwed into my head. “Fuck, I need to get this thing off of me.”
Grimacing the whole time, I grabbed the crown where it was thinnest in the front and snapped it. Pain reverberated through my skull, but I didn’t die. That was good, right? My muscles strained as I snapped it in a few more places, tearing pieces off and tossing them aside.
Ollie knelt next to Phoenix, gingerly turning him over.
“Is he alive?” I shouted, my stomach churning. If Phoenix was dead because of me…
Phoenix coughed. “Motherfucker!”
“He lives,” Ollie announced and moved aside.
“Son of a bitch,” Phoenix sat up. “I forgot how bad that fucking hurts!” With a hiss of pain, he peeled open his shirt to reveal a dented Kevlar vest.
I laughed, even though it hurt. What else was there to do?
“Hey, guys?” Chris nudged Parker with his shoe. “This piece of shit is still breathing. What do you want to do with him?”
Ollie shrugged. “We could leave him. Let the military airstrike do the work. It would almost be justice.” He sounded a little sad.
Phoenix shook his head. “I don’t want to take any chances. I’m not walking until I know that fucker’s dead.”
I looked over at Ghost, worried he’d be upset. Parker had been the closest thing he’d ever had to a father. “It’s Ghost’s call,” I said quietly and put a hand on his arm. “What do you want to do?”
Ghost grunted and stood slowly. Heavy footsteps carried him over to where Parker lay in the tile. He stood over the man he’d once called Papa, head tilted to one side, the little bulb hanging from his forehead a deep, mournful blue. “Papa?”
“Go on,” Parker groaned and coughed, spitting blood. “Kill me. It’s what you want, isn’t it? Deep down, it’s what you’ve always wanted. It’s what you are. A killer. A monster. So do it.”
When Ghost didn’t move, Parker lifted his head, flashing bloody teeth, and shouted, “Do it!”
“No,” Ghost said and turned away. “I am whoIchoose to be, not what you made me.”
Parker shouted and tried to sit up.
I flinched as a gun went off and Parker slumped over.
Phoenix lowered his gun. “Sorry, but he was really starting to piss me off.”
I pushed up from the floor on unsteady legs and stumbled over to Ghost, putting my arms around Ghost’s neck. “Are you okay?”
