Chapter 39 – Rook
ROOK
T he vet shocked her again.
“It’s running out of juice!” he cried as Corvus shoved the barrel of the gun harder against the back of his head.
“Again!”
“Clear!”
Ghost’s body jerked against the stained concrete for the third time. The vet put his fingers under her chin and stared wild-eyed up at Corvus. “ She’s gone , there’s nothing else?—”
He pistol whipped Darryl, making his eyes go unfocused as he keeled over, but Corvus wasn’t about to let him go. He jerked him back upright. “You’re done when I fucking say you’re done!”
Grey muttered pleas over her body, begging her to come back while the vet set up for another shock with blood gushing from his nose.
I felt rooted to the spot. Like I was watching from some omniscient point of view as I lost the best part of myself.
My Ghost…
Gone.
I’d been fighting the depressive feelings of my withdrawal for days now, and I was getting through it because of her . But now?
Now I let them crash into me, break me apart from the inside.
My eyes burned so hot it took me a minute to remember that this was what it felt like to cry.
My chest caved in on itself and I sank to my knees under the weight of the stones I’d built up around my heart suffocating me.
My heart bleated out an uneven rhythm and I bent, putting a hand to the cold concrete as my head spun from the lack of air.
But, I didn’t want to breathe.
Not when she’d never share the same air.
I choked out a hard sob that felt like throwing up part of my soul, the heave of my body knocking loose the grenade from my torn pocket. It rolled over the floor, coming to a stop directly beneath my face.
It was the solution.
I let out a broken breath and reached for it, its ribbed surface fitting into my hand as if it was made just for me. Like she was.
…was.
“ Again! ” Corvus screamed, his voice breaking.
I lifted my head to say my goodbye. “I’m sorry, Ghost. I told you… I can’t do it without you anymore.”
“Rook!”
I looked to my younger brother, all the blood drained from his face as his sights fixed what was in my hand. “Rook, don’t!”
I stood, shaking my head. “It was always going to end like this for me, Brother. I should’ve died a long time ago.”
Corvus realized what was happening and dropped my gun. “Keep trying!” he shouted at the vet, lifting his hands to me as he advanced on me. “Rook, put it down, man. Don’t fucking do this right now.”
“Tell me you don’t want to join me, Brother.”
His lips parted, and I saw the truth in his eyes. He was willing to die for her once. What happened when your reason for living was no longer living herself?
I used his moment of inner reflection against him, taking the opportunity to pull the pin before I could lose my nerve.
“No!”
It dangled on my index finger, and I lifted the grenade high in my right hand, holding the lever down as I raced back down the corridor to the entrance twenty meters away. I was going down, but I would make damn sure I didn’t take them with me. Their lives. Their choice.
“Tell Diesel this is what I wanted. No mourning. No fucking funeral. Bury me with her.”
I let go of the lever and closed my eyes.
“Fucking Christ!”
The grenade was wrenched from my fist and Diesel slammed into my back, knocking me to the ground. He landed on top of me, his body forming around mine as the grenade exploded somewhere outside the cellar, deafening in its volume, shaking the fucking walls.
Concrete dust rained down around us, and I shoved Diesel off me, gripping him by his shirt. “Why the fuck did you do that?”
“Rook—”
“I wanted to end it!”
“Rook—”
“ You don’t get to take that from me .”
“ Rook ,” Diesel screamed, spittle flying into my face as he backhanded me, making the taste of copper explode on my tongue. “Look!”
A wet cough burrowed into my ears, and I couldn’t move fast enough, shoving Diesel away, racing back down the hall.
My Ghost blinked up at the ceiling through blood and tears, choking, her lips blue.
I fell at her side, taking her cold hand into mine. “Ghost! Ghost, look at me!”
Her unfocused eyes searched, but couldn’t see to latch onto anything.
“She’s suffocating,” Grey cried out, putting the ambu bag back over her mouth, squeezing it to try to get her air.
Her eyes started to roll back.
“Hey,” I growled at the vet. “What do we do?”
He dumped his bag onto the floor, searching for something he clearly wasn’t fucking finding. “I-I don’t have what I need. It must’ve fallen out.”
“ What? ”
“Her lung is full of blood. We need to drain it.”
“ Get out of the way ,” I growled, kicking Darryl to the side as I took his place. “It’s okay, Ghost. I’m going to make it okay.”
I drew my blade and grabbed a length of tubing connected to a blood pressure cuff, slicing off a length of it before leaning over her. He didn’t restart her heart only for us to lose her twice.
“Rook, what are you doing?” Corvus hissed.
“Saving her.”
I felt along her slippery ribs, still so bony from malnourishment. We’d fix that. We’d fix everything.
“Hold on, Ghost.”
I found what I prayed was a good spot and made a hundred promises to the almighty if he’d just let her stay as I stabbed my girl in the chest, deep. Deep enough that I knew I’d hit lung.
Thanks to my time spent taking apart men piece by piece, I had a good fucking idea of how far I needed to go.
She let out a pained gurgle, her eyes finding mine finally as her body writhed away from the pain.
“Hold her still!”
Blood spilled over her side as Corvus held her arms, and I fed the tube into the new wound I’d created, keeping my eyes on her. “ Stay with us, Ghost .”
Blood funneled out of the tube, her filled lung draining onto the floor, puddling around my knees.
“Come on,” Grey begged, moving to pull her head up into his lap, getting it higher from her heart level. “ Breathe, baby .”
She jerked her head to the side and coughed, blood splattering the floor.
“That’s it, Ghost, get it out.”
“Slow, small breaths,” the vet said somewhere to my side, sliding a stethoscope over her chest, his eyes on his watch. It was hard not to want to rip his arms off, but I needed to hold this tube in place as the blood continued to leave her lung.
The vet removed the stethoscope. “We need to get her to urgent care before she crashes again. She needs blood.”
“Take mine.”
“Are you the same blood type?”
“How the fuck should I know?”
“Do you know her blood type?”
My nostrils flared.
“If I give her the wrong blood, it could be fatal.”
So we needed to move her and fast. She hacked again, and some of the color returned to her lips as air was greedily sucked down her throat. I leaned down to push her short hair away from her face, bringing her eyes back to me. “I need you to keep fighting, Ghost. A little longer.”
“ Keep… fighting… ” she repeated in a wet voice, her chin dipping with a tiny nod.
“That’s my girl.”
Ghost’s hand found mine again, and she squeezed weakly, letting me know she wasn’t giving up.
A groan permeated the air to our left and my hackles instantly rose. Carson’s booted foot moved as he woke.
Corvus was on him in an instant, wailing on his face until it was bloody.
“ We need him alive ,” I roared.
“The others are bringing a stretcher,” Diesel said, kneeling next to me, putting a hand on my shoulder, his expression grim. I shrunk into myself at his touch.
My father’s gaze strayed to where Corvus was getting off Carson, staring down at him with a hatred so fierce I worried my brother may never regain his perfect control again. How could he?
Carson gurgled, his nose smashed and cheekbone already swelling to double its size. The bullets riddled in his vest probably cracked some bone beneath, but his injuries were nothing compared to what we’d do to him when our girl was ready.
It was her hand that would end him, but only after we got our pound of flesh.
“ Father… ” Carson slurred, trying to curl onto his side, his red eyes pleading.
Diesel’s jaw tightened as he stood to look down at his son with disgust twisting his features. “He’s yours to do with whatever you will,” he said. “That filth is no son of mine.”
“You hear that, Ghost? He’s all ours.”
The fire returned to her eyes, and I knew that no matter what, she was going to be there when we took him apart. Not even death himself could stop her.