Page 77 of Not Quite Dead Yet

Her right arm.

She stared down at it and it still wouldn’t move. Not at all.

Jet’s heart fell to her gut, curdled there, swimming in the acid.

No, no, no.

Her left arm would listen, shifting with her as Jet threw the comforter off.

She tried again.

Tried to twitch the fingers in her right hand.

Nothing.

Jet pressed her working fingers to her right arm. Pressed harder. Harder. Half-moon imprints from her nails in the skin.

She felt nothing. Just a hunk of meat, attached to her shoulder.

‘Billy!’ she screamed, voice grating in her throat. ‘Billy, help!’

The door was open before she could scream again.

‘What?’ Billy rushed in, eyes wide and circling. ‘What’s wrong?’

‘My arm.’ Jet picked it up with her other hand, too heavy. It fell back to the mattress. ‘I can’t move it. I can’t feel it. Something’s wrong.’

Billy crashed to his knees beside the bed.

He slotted his fingers between hers, held her hand.

Gave it a squeeze.

‘Feel this?’ he asked.

Jet shook her head, her heart coming back to her throat, bringing the acid up with it.

‘I can’t,’ she said. ‘I can’t feel it. It’s all gone. It’s –’

Her throat constricted around her heart, no space for any more words around it.

‘Come on,’ Billy said, dropping her hand, hooking his arm under her shoulder instead. ‘We need to get you to the hospital.’

Jet got to her feet, testing her legs before she trusted them.

‘I can walk,’ she said, letting Billy go ahead of her, through the bedroom door.

Arm swaying uselessly by her side, weighing her down.

‘I can’t move my fucking arm, Billy.’

He turned back, tried to hide the panic in his eyes, but Jet caught it before he could, feeding her own. He looked just as scared as she was, maybe more.

‘It’s going to be OK,’ he said, lying, even though Billy didn’t lie. ‘We’re going to the hospital.’

Jet reached for her keys from the table, where she’d dropped them. No. She thought about reaching for her keys, but nothing happened. Her arm just hung there.

She grabbed them with her left hand instead.

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