Page 61 of Deathless
“I’m okay!”
The relief took nearly all of the strength from my legs, but I stayed upright as I went toward the sound of his voice.
Devin was still straddling his motorcycle, his feet planted on the ground, engine at a low rumble as he breathed hard, gripping his shoulder.
“They got a lucky shot on me,” he panted, grimacing with pain. “But I think it went all the way through, so there’s that silver lining.”
Once I knew he was okay, reality hit me like that fall I’d just taken. “I let them get away.”
Together we looked at the horizon, where a now-distant dust cloud surrounded two vehicles shrinking on the horizon as they drove away.
“Fuck.” My hands tore through my hair, which I wanted to rip out in frustration. “Goddamnit, I fucked that up so bad.”
“We’ll figure something out,” Devin said wearily. “It’ll be okay, Hud.”
But I wasn’t ready to stop being pissed off yet. I wanted nothing more in the world than to eradicate this cult. I was a sharpshooting champion in my teens. Sure, I was out of practice, but I was still fucking accurate enough to make hits. This should have been the easiest fucking task for me, and I fucked it up.
“You were worried about me.” Devin could sense the anger pouring off me, it seemed. “I shouldn’t have yelled like a little bitch and distracted you.”
“Not your fault. Getting shot fucking hurts.”
“You’re telling me,” he groaned, tentatively lifting his hand from his bad shoulder.
Guilt shot through me. Here I was, throwing a pity party for myself, relatively unscathed, while Devin had actually been injured.
“Come on, let’s get that taken care of.” I pulled off my jacket and then my shirt so he would have something to stem the bleeding with.
Once we had his shoulder wrapped up, I got on his bike and he settled in behind me, holding my waist with his good arm.
“Do you think they got Rori back?” Devin rested his chin on my shoulder.
“Guess we’ll find out in a sec.” I accelerated gently, heading back for the safe houses.
“She’ll chew us the fuck out for failing if she is back,” Devin said. “Thing is, I’m kind of hoping for it.”
“Me too,” I admitted.
Once I parked in front of the house, Torr and Santos came around the side, both of them looking as somber as pallbearers at a funeral. Torr held a limp, unresponsive Rori cradled to his chest.
“Oh God...” Devin trailed off mournfully.
I helped him off the bike, then we hurried over to the two men who looked like broken shells of themselves.
“Is she...?” I didn’t dare finish the question.
“She’s breathing and has a pulse,” Santos said flatly, his eyes vacant. “But we don’t know if she’s...there.”
Torr carried her wordlessly into the house, assumedly to bathe her and put her in bed. She was covered in dirt and leaf litter on top of the blood that had already coated her arms, legs, and dress.
“What happened?” Devin demanded. “Is Tezca still...in you?”
Santos shook his head. “The gods left us as soon as the deed was done. They drew the Dark Mother out and cut her away from Rori, but...” He pulled in a shaky breath, looking as if he was moments away from tears. “She fought so fucking hard. We don’t...we just don’t know if there’s anything left of her.”
“Can you find out?” I asked.
“If she wakes up.”
“Fuck.” I was saying that a lot today. “I’m so sorry, Santos.”
