Chapter 9
I woke to the sound of screams.
I jerked upright, scrambling to get out of Juck’s tent before whoever was attacking us lit it on fire. My feet hit the freezing hardwood floor, shocking me awake. The sliver of sky I could see through the windows was still dark.
“Hold on,” Trey said to me, holding out one hand for me to stay put. He hadn’t put on a shirt, but he had his gun drawn as he cracked the door open.
“Trey!” I heard Mac shouting. “Fire in the slums!”
“Fuck.” Trey holstered his gun and grabbed his shirt.
He glanced at me as he threw it on, but I was already moving.
I pulled my pants on and stuffed my feet into my boots.
When we darted out of the clinic, we could see the flames even from this distance.
Most of the hold seemed to be running toward the south end of the Vault.
Trey and I joined them, coughing as thick smoke filled the air.
When we finally reached the slums, I gasped.
At least half the homes were aflame. Screams echoed from more than one of the burning buildings, and Trey’s head snapped toward them.
“Bones!” Sam yelled from where he crouched over a body on the ground.
I looked back at Trey to see him looking at me, even as both of us moved in opposite directions.
“Be careful,” I blurted out, and he paused for half a second, something soft flashing through his eyes.
“You too,” he said, and then he ran.
I had to force myself to focus, pushing past the huge swell of fear that swept over me at the sight of him running toward the fire. I ran to Sam, who held a severely burned woman.
“Get all the injured in one area,” I said to Sam, shifting into a familiar medic mode. It wasn’t the first time I’d dealt with a large disaster with multiple people injured. At least this time I could actually save people’s lives.
“Got it.” Sam leapt to his feet and ran.
I crouched beside the wailing woman, taking her hands.
My healing power eagerly rushed down my arms and into her body, and the blisters and burns healed before my eyes.
Griz appeared, carrying an injured man, and I switched to him as soon as the woman’s injuries healed.
The woman sobbed her thanks as she sat up, and I gave her a short nod before focusing on the man’s burns.
More people started bringing the injured over to me, and I lost myself in the work of healing every single one.
The many injuries ranged from small burns or smoke inhalation to people gasping their last breaths, their bodies barely recognizable.
I focused on the latter and tried to get the severely injured healed first.
Sweat trickled down my face. I could feel the heat of the fire, even from a safe distance away.
Most of the hold had formed a bucket brigade from the nearest outdoor water spigots and worked together to pass and throw buckets of water on the fire.
It didn’t seem to do much until several of Madame’s men showed up with long thick hoses that they connected to the spigots to spray water on the fire.
They seemed reluctant to help, muttering things about “fucking rusters,” and my blood boiled.
Even with the hoses, it wasn’t until sunrise that the fire began to finally die.
I kept unwittingly searching the nearby faces for Trey, but I didn’t see him anywhere.
I tried to ignore the worry that settled like a stone in my stomach.
After finishing the severely injured, I moved on to the moderate-to-mild injuries.
It hurt now, like the final times when I healed Hojo.
I swiped my sleeve across my running nose to see blood and bit back a curse.
“Bones!”
Sam ran toward me, an injured child in his arms. Heart sinking, I quickly scrubbed my nose with my sleeve, hoping I got most of the blood.
“She tried to hide under the bed,” Sam gasped hoarsely. “Trey got her out. We never would’ve found her if her sister hadn’t seen her go under there.”
Trey. He must be okay, then. I quickly grabbed the girl’s burned hands. It hurt. My healing power had dwindled to a thin thread, but I gritted my teeth and kept going.
“You’re bleeding—” Sam started, alarmed.
“I’m fine,” I said, ignoring the blood trickling from my nose again.
The golden warmth inside of me flickered.
The little girl was healing, but slowly—too slowly—and then my power sputtered, leaving only wisps of smoke.
Panic started roaring through me as I tried again, but there was nothing there.
It was gone. The girl started crying, a thin wail that sounded like it came from far away.
Her disfigured face blurred in my vision.
No! I can’t run out now. Gods, please!
I reached for that power again, desperate, but everything tipped sideways and—
—
I shivered so hard my teeth rattled in my head. Something about this felt familiar.
“Drink something. C’mon, Bones.”
Mac’s angry face came into focus. He always seemed angry when he looked at me.
“Bones,” he said sharply, “try to drink.”
I realized I was lying on my mattress in the clinic.
Mac’s hand slid under my neck, lifting my head as he brought a mug of water toward my lips.
I managed to get a few swallows down. Daylight streamed through the windows of the clinic.
My throat and lungs burned as though I’d inhaled a shit ton of smoke—
I stiffened in horror, eyes snapping to Mac’s face. “Did she die?” My voice came out raspy.
Mac lowered my head and removed his hand from the back of my neck, seeming to hesitate as he stared at me with those dark grey eyes. I squeezed mine shut, already knowing the answer.
“It’s not your fault,” I thought I heard Mac say, but I must have been dreaming because it was my fault.
“No.” Mac’s voice came out even sharper, startling my eyes back open. “You saved thirty-six people, Bones. You healed until you fuckin’ passed out. You did everythin’ you could.”
“She was just a kid,” I choked out.
“You did everythin’ you could,” he repeated, and he sounded like he believed that.
He had a bandage wrapped around his forearm. I reached out with shaking fingers, but he grabbed my wrist and yanked my hand away. My eyes shot back up to his face.
“No,” he snapped, glaring down at me.
Tears started rolling down my face, and the angry lines of his face softened to confusion.
“What’s—” he started to say, but words bubbled out of me.
“Please let me heal you,” I sobbed. “Please. I know you don’t like me, but I gotta…I gotta…let me do somethin’, please—”
“Bones!” His voice was a quiet command as he leaned in, holding my gaze. “You need to rest. It’s only a small burn.” He hesitated, and I felt his thumb ghost over the inside of my wrist. “And I don’t dislike you. I don’t want you to burn out again.”
The clinic door opened, and Mac released my wrist and moved, his form blurring as the room spun. My fingers fumbled for my blanket as I shivered, but I couldn’t find it; and then warm hands wrapped around mine.
“I know you’re cold,” a gentle voice said next to me, “but we gotta bring your fever down.”
I squinted to see Trey kneeling next to me, his brow pinched with concern. He was safe. Relief overwhelmed me.
“You’re okay,” I whispered.
He smiled, his gaze warming. “I’m okay.”
“You scared me.” My eyes drifted closed. “I didn’t see you.”
“You worryin’ about me now?” he asked, his gentle voice teasing.
“Yes,” I replied, exhaustion crashing over me.
“I’m alright, Bones,” he murmured.
I couldn’t decipher the intense emotion in his voice. I wanted to see his expression, but my eyelids were too heavy.
“Don’t leave.” Shivers violently wracked my body.
A gentle hand smoothed my hair back from my sticky, sweaty face. “I’m not goin’ anywhere, darlin’.”
—
I startled awake at a loud crash.
“Ah, fuck,” someone groaned.
“Sam!”
I turned my head to see Trey sitting beside my mattress, looking exasperated.
“Did you seriously break that?”
“Well, I thought the lid would stay on!”
Sam stood by the exam table, guiltily holding a glass lid. The jar for clean rags lay in pieces on the floor. He met my eyes and was visibly startled to see me awake and staring back at him.
“Sorry, Shortcake,” he said. “I’ll find you a new one.”
“Hey,” Trey said from my other side. “How you feelin’?”
“What happened?” I asked.
“You saved a ton of people, and then you passed out.” He paused. “You had a high fever again. I’m wonderin’ if you sorta burn out when you use up all your power and it makes you sick. ’Cause this was like last time.”
Last time, when I helped Madame torture Hojo to death.
“Did that little girl die?” I mumbled.
“Yes.”
I closed my eyes, guilt sweeping through me.
“Bones.” Trey squeezed my hand. “You saved so many people. You did everything you could. It’s not your fault.”
I still failed.
“Would you blame me for her dying?”
My eyes popped open. “No.”
“If I’d found her sooner, she might be alive,” he countered.
I set my jaw. I knew what he was doing, and I didn’t like it. “It’s not the same thing.”
“Why not?” he pushed.
“You did all you could.” The whispered words tumbled out of me. “I couldn’t do enough.”
“Bones.” The tender way he said my name made my eyes well up. “You might have remarkable power, but you’re still human. You have limits.”
“It’s never enough.” As soon as I said the words, I wished I could take it back.
“What would be enough?” he asked slowly, studying me.
This was headed toward dangerous ground. “I want to get up,” I said instead.
He hesitated, then nodded. “Okay, just take it easy.”
I sat up and realized Sam must have left. Only the two of us remained in the clinic. I frowned, a hazy memory floating through my head. “Was Mac here?”
“Yeah, earlier,” Trey answered. “Why?”
My eyes narrowed. “Was I sayin’ shit?”
Guilt flashed across his face. “No.”
It was so obviously a lie that I almost laughed, but the fact he’d lied made it clear I’d said something I wouldn’t be happy about.
“Come on,” he said, getting to his feet and holding his hands out. “I bet you’ll feel better if you get some fresh air.”