Page 109 of The Tomorrows After You
I listened, and it clanged again. I moved toward it but slammed my head into a fallen beam. I groaned but pressed forward, keeping my arms in front of me, shuffling my feet.
I called her name, again and again. The soft clang echoed a few more times before something clattered to the floor and it stopped.
“Nicolette, please. Please. Stay with me. Listen to my voice!”But the caverngrewsmaller and smaller, the ceilingsgroanedand Iwasaware it could collapse further at any time. My feetshuffledfaster until my toetippedsomething soft.
In the darkness of the cavern, Ikneltdown to feel the soft skin, cool and damp. My heart flooded with so much relief I easily dropped to my knees. Her handswereoutstretched, a small pipe in front of them. Therewasa beamtippedover her.
“Just hang on, Nic. Please, just hang on,”Ibegged, running my hands along the wall,lookingfor anything to illuminate the impossible darkness. My handsmetall kinds of equipment and Iwasdistantlyremindedof an old science lab.What the hellwasdown here?
My fingers found what felt like a grill lighter. That would do.
In the dim light of the flame, I could tell therewereall kinds of industrial equipment.
I hurried back to Nicolette and a fresh wave of relief and worry hit me like a truck when I saw her blonde hair fanned out on the ground, her face covered in dirt. The beam that was over her wasn’t pinning her down. I ran the tiny flame down the length of her body to make sure nothing was punctured before grabbing her hands and dragging her limp body from underneath the beams.
I was acutely aware of the searing pain in my ribs but nothing compared to the gaping wound in my chest knowing I’d cast her out and this is where she’d wound up.
More commotion had grown at the top of the mine entrance and it was the first time I was thankful that I was being hunted like a nine-point buck. I got as close to the edge of the mine shaft as I dared.
“Help!” I screamed. More shadows and lights beamed down. I sat down against the metal elevator door and pulled Nicolette into my arms, cradling her. My tears fell onto her face, leaving streaks of dirt and rusty blood on her skin.
I pressed two fingers to her neck for a pulse and screamed for help again when I couldn’t find it. My hands were shaking so hard I cried out in frustration. I leaned my ear to her lips. Was that a breath I felt? Or was it the hope in my heart playing a cruel joke on me?
“Don’t move!” A gruff voice from above. I shielded my eyes from what I now saw was a helicopter hovering overhead, beaming that glorious light onto us, illuminating Nicolette’s beautifully damaged face.
I pulled her tighter to my chest, trying to warm the translucent skin that covered her lifeless form.
42
Nicolette
Iwas floating. No flying. In circles. Up and up. Higher and higher, the glaring white light stinging my eyes.
Fuck, I’m dead.
My throat tightened.
I was dead.
I died.
How the fuck had I letthathappen?
My mindreeledback to my last moments...
I had hit send on all the various emails I had drafted initially just to hold them. But I had learned I always needed a failsafe, so I sent them all to Dr. Moore. I wanted to send them to Riot. But it felt weird, to send pictures of his dead mother to my ex-lover. The thought made my chest hitch.
He wasn’t even an ex because we were never together, not really. We were cut short before we could begin.
“Just couldn’t leave well enough alone,”the familiar facepeereddown at me, and rageboiledinside me.
“You…” I growled. “Really!” My voice echoed up the elevator shaft. “The water guy?!” I shrieked. Geoffrey Brown’s ugly, fat face stared down at me.
“Sorry, sweetheart, but nothing happens in my lab without meknowingabout it. Ihavecameras on cameras filming other cameras. They comein real handy. Especially when nosy little Nancy Drews trespass in the middle of the night.”
I mustered all the confidence I could.
“Oh, you have no idea what kind of shit you’re in. All of this is on its way to the press right now,” I lied. He squinted at me but I could tell he was calling my bluff.
