Page 35 of Bryce

“I was thinking the same thing.”

“If he suffered an injury to his brain, we might not ever see evidence of it externally. His heart, his lungs, everything would keep working. I might be overthinking it. He did lose a great deal of blood, this could be the result of that. A human would take much longer than he will to recover from that. Even so, he needs time. It might be hours, it might be another half-day. A full day. If he isn’t awake this time tomorrow, we’ll need to think—”

“We can’t wait that long!”

“What other choice do we have? I’m doing the best I can with this, but I have to say I’m at a loss. If you have anything else to offer, now would be the right time.”

He sounded utterly defeated, which pained me beyond description. He’d already been a hero, going above and beyond to preserve Gate’s life. I supposed I’d feel just as hopeless if I were in his place.

“Let’s go to the compound, then.”

He looked at me in surprise. “That seems a rather sudden change in tune, even for you.”

“I think I’ll let that pass.” I looked to Leslie. “Will you stay with him?”

“Of course, though I have to admit, I won’t know what to do if something goes wrong.”

I looked at Logan. “You should stay, as well. We can manage. The odds are favoring them not being here. If that’s the case, we need only watch for more traps, which we will,” I added when Leslie groaned. “We’ll be even more careful now.”

“You’re certain about this?” Bryce pulled me aside as did what I could to combine his pack and mine. “And what are you doing there?”

“In case you’ve forgotten, I pulled a piece of metal from your back. The last thing you need is to carry a pack now. But I wouldn’t want to go in empty-handed. I’ve brought a few supplies and the empty water bottles, we might be able to break in and fill them if the place is deserted.”

I steeled myself for an argument while slinging the pack onto my back.

Instead, he grinned. “All right, then. It seems we have a new leader.”

That sounded good to me.

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