Chapter 32 #3
Lincoln pulled Pops over the rail and gently set him on the ground. Noah was already by Pops’ side before he was even set down. He placed his hands on him and after several beats he frowned. Then he shook his head.
“It’s not his bruises or contusions that’s causing his unconsciousness.”
Kurt knelt beside Pops and placed a hand over his Pops head. He closed his eyes and seconds later he opened them, just as confused. “Nothing.”
My stomach sank, was this just another one of Ella’s predictions. I looked over at Alex and Kade. Kade shook his head as if he could read my mind. “I don’t know. We don’t know.”
I whirled back around to Horatio and felt all my pent-up anger erupt from me in the form of a forcefield. It enclosed him like a ball before it shot up and out above the valley below. “What. Did. You. Do?”
Lincoln had jumped back into his body and was now wrapping me in his arms, while Troy and Remy stood shoulder to shoulder with him. Jace, Jemmy, and Jaxson ran to Pops’ side. I knew I wasn’t the only one fearing the worst.
Horatio’s eyes were wide in terror. I could feel Horatio attempt to shield his mind against me and I shook my head. “We already determined you’re not stronger than me. Now tell me. What. Did. You. Do?”
Horatio gave me a satisfied smile. “Nothing.”
He managed to answer my question truthfully. Technically, he didn’t do anything to Pops, but one of his people had. “What happened to Pops?”
A clatter at the bottom of the helipad stairs drew my attention and I immediately went on alert, ready to defend myself. I felt a measure of relief when I realized it was just Greg, Paul, and Miranda. “It’s not him.” Greg breathlessly informed us.
I knew I wasn’t the only one to be confused by his statement.
“That’s not William.” Miranda explained.
“Whoever that is, it’s not Will. Will, is downstairs in the medical wing.
We found him and Darren when we were doing a sweep.
We think William was in danger and since the comms were out Darren couldn’t tell us, so he went to go to help. ”
Paul swallowed, his eyes glassy with tears. “They cut his legs off. They cut them off.” He repeated stunned.
“Whose legs?” I asked in a horrified whisper.
I wasn’t the only one to tense by this news. I felt sick to my stomach. No matter who had their legs maimed I couldn’t imagine their life being easy in the least. A lot of
“Darren.” Miranda sadly informed us.
“How did this happen?” Jace asked.
“We forgot about Tiff and her connection,” Greg said his voice heavy with disappointment.
“Her connection hid when he realized they were on the losing end and we forgot about Tiff. Her connection injured Pops and Darren and that’s when Ethan and a few others came to the rescue but not before Tiff’s connection severely injured them. ”
“That’s my fault.” Victoria said in a horrified whisper. “I should have told the sweepers she was in the back kitchen.”
“That’s on me too. You can’t take all the blame.” Kade embraced her.
“Neither one of you are to blame.” Miranda hugged them both.
“The healers are having a tough time healing both of them. Their requesting that Noah, Blake, and Gavin assist them.” Greg stated, before he looked over my shoulder. “What are we going to do with him?”
“Drop him.” A few of our people immediately suggested.
“I think that’s too easy.” Jace stated. “He’ll be miserable locked up in prison.”
The anger within wanted to drop him to his death. My reasonable side realized he would hate being locked up for the rest of his life. The war within caused me such turmoil. In the end, I knew what I had to do but not before I enacted a little fear and maybe embarrassment.
I walked to the edge of the mountain and then down to the valley below.
The helicopter was still a smoldering wreckage below.
Broken bodies of our enemy were in various states of carnage.
I plummeted Horatio to the bottom and right before he could collide with the earth, I yanked him back up.
I was strangely satisfied when I noticed he soiled himself as Mercedes, Bentley, and Remy hauled him away to where he would spend his last miserable days on earth.
η
“He’s been under for a little while now.” Dr Wyatt stated as we entered the OR.
Gavin, Noah, Greg, and I filed into the room.
Greg wanted to accompany us because he felt guilty that Darren had been put in the predicament that he had been in.
We generally had a rule of thumb that nobody should be left alone in the war room by themselves.
Granted today was a special exception but he still felt bad for Darren especially seeing the results of that decision.
The surgeon stepped back wiping his brow with the back of his arm. “We stopped the bleeding but there are bone fragments that may cause issues down the line. I can remove it all, but all the surgical rooms are booked and there’s just not enough of us to care for everyone that needs our attention.”
Poor Darren was lying on the table, his legs gone from the knees down.
His face was pale and even though his workouts and diet had been helping he still looked remarkably small lying on the surgical table.
Remy and Troy had taken him under their wings after the number Tiff had done on him.
They had given him a meal plan to help him gain weight and worked out with him to start his strength training.
He was tired of looking like a “nerd” and they were willing to help him with his self-confidence.
It had been working but seeing him the way he was now made me worry what this would do to him mentally.
“We’re here.” Noah reassured him. “Go help the next patient and we’ll help as much as we can.”
Honestly, we were swaying on our feet. I was tired and exhausted and underneath the loose shirt I had changed into I had my wearable breast pumps on.
Considering how full I felt I knew it wouldn’t take long to fill the containers.
I had eaten a protein bar on the way to the clinic, but I was still starving.
I realized how selfish my thoughts were and turned to Darren. Here I was thinking about sleeping, eating, and getting back to my babies I forgot his life was irrevocably changed. He had sacrificed his legs to help Pops and for that we could never repay him.
“Ready?” Noah looked at Gavin and me.
“Ready.” We said in unison.
I closed my eyes and hovered my hands over his legs.
A barrage of images from the last twenty-four hours flooded my thoughts.
I felt so overwhelmed by everything, but knew this wasn’t the time for reflection or grief.
I tried to clear my thoughts of anything, not needing any distractions.
The moment I felt my hands warm up I knew my healing powers were flooding through me.
I may have done this a dozen times, but it was still surreal each time I did. Immediately I felt the bone fragments the surgeon was concerned about.
“Do you feel that?” Gavin worriedly inquired.
It was then that I felt what Gavin was referring to.
The majority of Darren’s pain was in this area.
Generally, it couldn’t be fixed by modern medicine.
Our gift was another story, though. It sought the area out and was making us aware that this was a greater concern than some bone fragments were left behind.
“Severe tissue damage.” Noah confirmed.
“If we had the legs, do you think we could have reattached them?” I hesitantly asked as my gift did its thing.
One of the nurses sniffled, making me jump, because I had forgotten her presence.
Cat or Catherine was one of our new additions.
She was a good healer but still learning.
She was raised by her maternal grandparents, and they had never known Cat’s father, let alone that he was gifted.
She had just graduated from nursing school and got a position at her local hospital when she had discovered her gift.
Another older gifted nurse had noticed her accidental use of her gift and with her help she had learned a lot about our community.
She had jumped on the opportunity to come here and learn more when her mentor had told her about us looking for reliable help.
Noah liked her and always had good things to say about her, and I had noticed her talking to Darren from time to time.
“That monster basically shredded them. There was no way to repair them even if you could.”
I frowned. “Tiff’s connection.”
“Think of him like a human woodchipper.” Greg quietly said from the corner.
I winced thinking about the pain Darren must have gone through. “How’s Pops?”
“He was injured but his injuries look like child’s play compared to Darrens. Darren intervened before he could be gravely injured.” Greg reassured us.
I nodded thankful for small blessings. Then I refocused all my attention to Darren.
It was a long tedious process, but I think we were all satisfied when we pulled our hands away.
I felt sweat bead on my temple and roll down my back by the time we were finished.
It was as if I was hit with a brick wall of exhaustion and I swayed grasping the edge of the bed just in time.
Noah and Gavin grabbed me. “Are you okay?” Noah asked in concern.
I tried to give them a placating smile. “It’s been a long…day.”
It still hadn’t sunk in that Horatio was no longer an issue. I had so much to mentally unpack that I didn’t even know where to unravel it all. I knew I would have to eventually or else it would become like a weight around my neck.
Noah gripped my shoulders looked in my eyes to gauge my truth, before kissing my forehead. “Why don’t you go back to the apartment and get some sleep? The twins are fine.”
“Hmm maybe after I check on Pops. What are your plans?” I asked.
“I may stick around here.” Noah paused, sliding back into professional mode. “Cat, are you okay with getting Darren transferred to the other wing?”
She gave us a reassuring smile. “I already called in some back up to help me with transfers. Thank you, Blake, Noah, and Gavin. It was awe-inspiring to watch you three work.”
We thanked her in return for all she had done to get him stable in the first place. We left the room in unison, knowing Darren was in good hands.
I was slightly disappointed Noah couldn’t return to the apartment with me.
I wished he could so we could take a shower and a little nap before the twins returned.
Miranda and Grandma Hazel reassured us that they were fine.
Megan had returned once she discovered Pops was injured and Rachel had returned once she discovered Dawn had passed away.
She was determined to be there for Terrance and Marcel.
I had offered to sit with them, but they insisted that I was needed more in the clinic.
My heart hurt for Terrance and Marcel. I knew the pain I was carrying and could only imagine theirs far exceeded mine.
When Pops created the Knights, they were among the first to sign up.
They went through training together and had been through so much together with their personal lives as well.
“I want to go as well.” Gavin stated.
I had to remove my pump and get my milk stored away before it overflowed. Luckily the nursing mother’s room was right off the corridor of the intensive care rooms.
“Let me make a quick stop.” I told the guys.
Noah pointed toward the nurse’s station. “I’ll meet you at the nurse’s station. I want to check on who else may need my attention.”
“Be right back.” I said before slipping into the room.
I quickly removed the equipment attached to me.
I was thankful that my body was still producing despite the stress of the day.
Admittedly, the thought crossed my mind a few times.
I would have felt like such a failure if I could no longer feed my babies.
Logically, I knew it wouldn’t be the end of the world, but it had been a struggle to produce enough for the first few weeks.
I had to work hard to make sure my supply was enough to feed both of them.
Those were months of work. I would have hated to see it all end because one very difficult day.
The nursing room had breast milk storage bags on hand, so I poured my milk into four bags.
After that was done, I rinsed out the parts, threw them back in the bag and put my milk in the side compartment cooler portion.
I was so thankful Drake had run to get the bag while I quickly changed out of my gear.
It made it easier for me to multi-task and quickly get back to Darren.
I exited the room and saw Noah and Gavin casually talking to a few of the medical staff.
By their somber expressions I feared we had lost a few more people.
I knew a few people had been in critical condition and the deep chasm within seemed to widen.
I wearily wiped a hand over my face. Horatio was no longer a problem for us, but he had left a path of destruction in his path.
I feared we would feel the aftershocks for days if not weeks to come.
Noah and Gavin rapped up their conversation once I arrived at their sides. Noah placed an arm over my shoulders and kissed my temple. “I love you.” He murmured.
I squeezed his waist, knowing he was just seeking comfort where he could.
The next few days would be hard on him. I had the option to limit my time in the clinic.
He didn’t. It was his job and passion. No matter how much it may pain him he would be in the thick of it until a majority of our people were healed or on their way to recovery.
“Love you too.”
We were headed toward Pop’s room when Jemmy came running from the maternity ward. Her eyes were wild as they landed on Gavin and me.
“What’s wrong?” Gavin immediately inquired.
“It’s Sierra. She’s in labor and she’s asking for you and Blake.”
I looked over at Noah, torn between going to see Pops and being there for Sierra. Noah brushed my lips with his before saying. “Go. I can handle this. Sierra wants you there by her side.”
In the end I followed Jemmy and Gavin hoping I was making the right decision.