Page 38 of Resuscitation
“One of them just left to go pee. If the other gets distracted, might be our chance. Under one minute, we’ll be outside and in the parking lot.”
“I don’t know,” Mom said in the tone that really meant:that’s too dangerous, you’re not allowed.
Evan heard that tone all the time whenever his friends wanted to do something fun like learn skate tricks or jump their bikes.
Mom always put safety first. But maybe this wasn’t the best time to play it safe. In the video games, it was always the stupid bystanders doing nothing that got killed first.
He looked at her, meeting her eyes. “Mom, I don’t wanna die here. We should get out of here, like he says.”
“Too dangerous,” Mom whispered.
“But if we stay here, it’s dangerous.”
“Wasn’t trying to upset you,” Tony said. “Just wanted you to know the layout in case you get a chance.”
A distant beeping, like an alarm clock sounded, caused the second guard to turn away, poke his head through the door. “Tyson?” he shouted. He turned, waved his gun at them. “Stay put.” Then he stepped into the hall—heading right, Evan noted. Away from their escape.
Tony jumped up, went to the doorway, and poked his head out, looking both ways. He waved to the rest of the group. “C’mon, it’s clear!”
Evan gulped, but squeezed his mom’s hand and hauled her to her feet. “Mom, we gotta go, now!”
Tony led the way. They turned left into a long hallway where all the patient rooms were empty, past the room where the doctor had soaked Evan’s foot—he still only wore one shoe, the other foot barefoot, he realized—toward a set of double doors.
Then two gunshots sounded from behind them. Evan’s mom froze, tugging him to a halt. “We need to go back, before they know we’re missing,” she said.
“Mom, it’s right there?—”
The sound of a man’s running footsteps, so loud they almost felt like more gunshots. Tony was mere steps from the doors to freedom, Evan and his mom caught between him and the footsteps.
A man pounded around the corner, his rifle aimed. He fired, Evan could feel the bullets scream past him, the sound louder than any thunder he’d ever heard. The shots hit Tony in the back, making his body jerk even as he kept on running, his arms reaching for the doors…until he fell in a heap. And didn’t move again.
Evan couldn’t hear anything, couldn’t see anything beyond the tight circle of light surrounding Tony’s body. He stood frozen, knew his mother was screaming and clawing at him, but he couldn’t move, not even when the man grabbed him, lifting him off his feet, carrying him like a baby. Pain lanced through Evan—the man’s rifle slung across his chest was pressed against Evan’s back, and it was hot enough to sting.
That never happened in video games.
And with a rush, Evan’s senses returned, and he realized this was all too real.
ChapterTwenty
Friday,February 13th, 9:16 P.M.
Nothing like tryingto perform a miracle in front of an armed audience, Sara thought.
Both Mercer and Brick stood, watching their every move, as Kelly and Nick prepped Connor for Sara’s exploratory surgery.
“This better work, Doc,” Mercer warned her.
As if she didn’t know the consequences.
“Yeah, he don’t look too good,” Brick added.
Great, another expert opinion chiming in.
But it was Connor who she concentrated on. Now masked, gloved, and gowned, she peered down at her patient, meeting his eyes. They were glassy, the nitrous doing its job. “You okay, Connor?”
“All good, Doc,” he said dreamily.
“Here we go, then.” She moved to his belly, Nick across from her and Kelly at her right, ready to supply Sara with whatever she needed.
