Page 48 of N8
The grip around his throat disappeared as he and the guard stared in shock at Coxwell’s body lying in a disjointed heap. N8 was vaguely aware of the others turning on the remaining guards and quickly disarming them.
Leaving the guard’s body, he fell onto his knees and reached for Cydney. He turned her over as her eyes fluttered slightly. Hope burned inside him, and he yelled, “She’s still alive!”
“Here!” Something was shoved into his hands. “Press it hard against her scalp! You’ve got to lessen the blood loss!”
Things were happening too swiftly for him to comprehend anything other than the fact that Sheriff Biggs appeared beside him and lifted Cydney into his arms. “Come on, son! Let’s get her into the car so we can rush her to the hospital! There’s no time to wait for an ambulance!”
He trotted after Biggs, who shoved her inside the back of his SUV. N8 scooted in next to her and cradled her head in his lap as he continued to keep pressure on the wound.
As the sheriff drove away from the camp, N8 looked out the window to see three more sheriff vehicles had arrived, as well as more than half a dozen other cars and trucks. Nearly a dozen people were swarming the place, some in uniform, some not, as they took the remaining guards into custody.
When the sheriff finally reached the main road, they met a coroner’s wagon turning in. As they sped down the highway, back into town, N8 lowered his face to Cydney’s, kissed her cold cheek, and softly begged her to keep fighting. To live. To stay with him.
“Please, Cydney. Please.”
25Crea8
N8 was sittingin the waiting room, his face in his hands, when he felt someone touch his shoulder. He jerked and glanced up to see F8 smiling down at him. Sitting up, he stared at the sling around her arm.
“Are you okay?”
The others were slowly filing in to join him.
“I’m fine. They gave me some pain killers,” she assured him.
“I thought they’d shot you.”
“I must have moved at the same moment they shot,” she explained. “The bullet hit the tree and bounced off. It went into the soft muscle of my arm, but the doctors assure me there’s no major damage.”
“Any word about Cydney?” P8 inquired, taking a chair and dragging it over to sit in front of him.
N8 shook his head. “Not yet. What happened to the guards?”
Grabbing another chair, G8 twirled it around and straddled it, bracing his arms on top of the back. “Biggs has them locked up. He’s waiting for some state troopers to come tomorrow and take them into federal custody.”
“N8, the sheriff suggested we tell the authorities everything we know. He said that by revealing ourselves, the corporation’s dirty little secrets will come to light, and they’ll no longer have any power over us,” K8 told him.
N8 gave her a quizzical stare. “Corporation?”
“It’s called the Rexxt Corporation,” T8 clarified. “They own all the land where they built the underground bunkers. Get this. They also own Docenti Labsandthe mental institute.”
“Plus a few other businesses, I don’t doubt,” P8 remarked.
A hand touched his leg. “Can we get you something?” K8 inquired.
He glanced down to see the bloodstains on his jeans. “No. I’m fine. Thanks.”
“Hey.” G8 leaned in toward him. “It was an accident. You didn’t mean for her to be harmed. Stop beating yourself up over what you did.”
N8 tried to draw a breath, but it hitched in his chest. “If I hadn’t kicked out…”
“That son of a bitch would have shotyou,” T8 stated between clenched teeth.
“Or one of us,” F8 included. “Maybe not to kill us, but you never know.”
G8 gave his hand a pat where it rested on a knee. “You saved us, old man. But what we can’t figure out is how.”
K8 leaned closer, dropping her voice to a whisper. “Did you have something to do with that guard shooting Coxwell?”
