Chapter 27 #2
I didn’t respond, instead turning and picking a direction at random.
We’d only made it about half a dozen steps when a gunshot sounded from behind us and a bullet whizzed past my ear so close that the heat of it brushed my skin.
Griz tackled me to the ground, shielding me with his body as more bullets flew around us.
He twisted as we fell and returned fire.
A strangled cry rang out, then silence. Griz leapt off me and darted over to a fallen body, checking for a pulse.
I dragged myself to my feet and followed him, staring down at the dead eyes of the boy I’d just healed.
“Bones!” Griz snapped, standing back up and scanning me. “Are you okay?”
“He missed,” I mumbled.
“He must’ve grabbed another gun from one of the bodies.” Griz’s eyes flashed with anger.
I turned and started moving again. I knew I should feel angry or betrayed that the boy I’d taken the risk to save had still tried to kill me, but all I felt was tired. Griz walked behind me, almost on top of me, he hovered so close.
“I’m sorry, Bones. You’re a good person for givin’ him a second chance. It’s what Trey would’ve done.”
A sharp pain cut through the numbness, and I whirled on him. “Don’t.”
Griz stared down at me, his face grave. “He wouldn’t want—”
Thank the gods we both heard the sound of pained sobs at the same time.
I took off, following the sound and trying to convince myself I wasn’t running away from whatever Griz had been about to say.
I slipped between buildings and spotted a man lying on the ground, clutching his leg.
It looked like someone had shot his kneecap out.
I stopped in my tracks when I recognized Lem. Behind me, Griz halted as well.
“Bones,” Lem said, his voice shaky, “help me. Please.”
I stared at him, and the bruises he’d put on my face seemed to pulse with pain.
“Bones, please,” he pleaded.
He’d smiled the entire time he beat me. I knew his type well, men who enjoyed hurting anyone smaller or weaker than them.
I didn’t know the details of what he’d done to Sky, but it had left her terrified of most men.
Despite all that, I still felt nothing. After a moment, I turned around and walked back the way I’d come.
“Bones!” Lem shouted. “Please! I’m sorry!”
“You want me to take care of him?” Griz asked in a low voice as I passed him.
“I don’t care.”
“Bones!” Lem screamed. “I’m sorry! Please! No, don’t—”
I flinched at the gunshot, but I didn’t stop.
—
I kept going. Faces blurred together. I healed everyone I found unless I recognized one of Madame’s guards who delighted in inflicting pain.
Most of the fighting seemed to be around the watchtower now.
The sound of the machine gun rattled inside my rib cage.
I didn’t know who the rebels were, so I couldn’t tell which side had the most dead littering the ground.
I wasn’t aiming for the watchtower, but as I followed the bodies, we got closer and closer.
I froze when bullets peppered the ground around me.
One grazed my arm before Griz dragged me between the buildings.
As he peered around the edge, returning fire, I inspected the scratch.
I used my teeth to tear a strip off my shirt, wrapping it around the wound, and called it good.
As the gunfire continued, I leaned against the side of the building and closed my eyes.
Exhaustion swept through me, but I wasn’t at burnout. Not yet.
“Bones?”
I opened my eyes to see Griz examining my sloppy bandage job. He looked worried. “Your arm okay?”
“It’s fine. Shallow.”
He frowned. “You at burnout?”
I shook my head, pushing myself off the wall and ignoring the sharp look he gave me. I thought he might argue, but all he said was, “You stay behind me.”
We crept through the hold, heading toward the market.
None of these bodies still breathed. I tried not to notice their faces, but I recognized people, people I’d healed, people whose names I knew.
As we entered the market, a slight sound from one of the booths caught our attention.
I moved forward, but Griz pulled me behind him.
I followed as he approached the booth, gun raised.
He stepped inside, and a strangled cry rang out. Griz lowered his gun, eyes widening.
“Jax!” He dropped down out of my sight, and I darted into the booth after him.
Griz knelt beside Jax, who sat propped up on the side of the booth. His shoulder oozed blood, and based on the amount covering his shirt and the floor, it’d been bleeding for a while.
“Don’t scare me like that,” Jax mumbled. “Almost shot you.”
I glanced at his hand lying in the dirt and gripping a pistol.
“Sorry, kid,” Griz said, peeling his torn shirt back to get a look at the wound. “Looks like the bullet’s still in there.”
I crouched, nudging Griz out of the way.
“Bones?” Jax’s eyes widened as he scanned me. “Your face—”
“It’s fine,” I interrupted, placing my hands over the wound on his shoulder and trying to ignore how much he looked like Dune.
“Where’s Mac?” Griz asked.
“Watchtower,” Jax said. “Madame’s holed up in her office.”
Thank the gods the bullet hadn’t come out. It probably saved his life, preventing him from bleeding out. My healing power warmed my cold hands as I watched the bullet push its way out of Jax’s skin until it dropped into the dirt. A couple of seconds later only a shiny scar remained.
“That’s so fuckin’ weird,” Griz said, and I recognized the awe on his face. He’d seen me heal a lot of wounds, but seeing a bullet come out by itself was something else to behold.
I sat back on my heels, tucking my icy, shaking hands between my thighs. Jax touched the new scar on his shoulder, his eyes even wider.
“You good to walk?” Griz asked him.
“I think so,” he said. “Thanks, Bones.”
The machine gun started going off again, making all of us jump.
“That’s Raven,” Jax said, grunting as Griz helped him to his feet.
I wearily pulled myself up too, trying to ignore how everything spun.
“You getting close to burnout?” Griz asked.
“I’m fine,” I said.
Griz frowned, looking hurt. “We really goin’ back to that shit again?”
I didn’t have time for this. “Let’s go,” I muttered, moving to push past him, but he caught my arm in a tight grip.
He studied my battered face. His brown eyes were so different from Trey’s.
While Trey’s eyes had been so full of warmth and sunshine, Griz’s were cool like pebbles in a mountain stream.
I didn’t know what he was looking for, so I waited, staring back at him.
After a few seconds, he sighed and released me.
“Stay behind me.”