Page 55 of Resilience

He ran out of the garage to chase it, ready to shoot again. Gunner and Ben were crouched against the side of one of the Teslas, weapons ready; they both jumped up to fire at the van.

And then, all at once, the world spun sharply, and Sam fell to the ground.

He didn’t pass out. He lay there staring up at the night sky, wondering what the fuck had happened.

Nevada had amazing night skies. He could see actual galaxies above him. Athena would lose her shit if she saw how many stars crowded into this span. He’d never get her away from her telescope. Oh, look. Andromeda, clear as fuck with his own two eyes. Andromeda was her favorite.

“Sam! Jesus fuck!” Gunner dropped to his knees at Sam’s side and grabbed his hand. “Here!” He put Sam’s hand against Sam’s own neck—ow. Fuck, that hurt. “Press hard as you can!”

“Hurts,” Sam protested—and then Gunner arched sharply backward and fell forward, landing on Sam’s chest so hard pain exploded through his whole top half and the world went grey and sparkly at the edges.

“Uncle Gun?” It was surprisingly hard and painful to talk.

Gunner groaned. “I’m okay, I’m okay.” His hand moved clumsily up to Sam’s hand at his neck. “You gotta hold tight, kid. Hold tight. You bleed out, and your mother will fuckin’ kill me.”

Why did Gunner sound so tired? “I don’t know what’s goin on,” Sam said. Using his voice made the world flash red.

“You got a booboo, kiddo. Don’t think I can kiss it and make it better. I guess I took one, too. Doesn’t hurt, but I can’t ... really ... feel any—” he cut off, was quiet for a second, then snapped back with a gasp. “Hey! Hey! We gotta stay alert. Yeah?”

“Tired.”

“Me too. It’s quiet now, though. That’s either good or bad. Guess we’ll find out.”

Uncle Gun was right. It was quiet. Sam tried to remember why that was important. Then he heard a male voice he couldn’t place shout, “Pop! Pop? POP! Oh GOD!”

“Shit,” Gunner groaned. “Who’d we lose?”

Sam had no idea what that meant.

“Jesus! Gun! Sam! OVER HERE!”

A giant shadow loomed over Sam. He tried to figure out who it was, but his eyes wouldn’t focus anymore.

So he closed them.

CHAPTER TWELVE

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