Nate
“Nate!” Alissa gasped and shook my arm. “Nate! Nate! He’s breathing! He’s alive!”
I jerked my head upright. The breath whooshed from my lungs and my heart hammered back to life, slamming into my ribs. I opened my eyes, almost afraid to look in case it wasn’t true.
Tony chest rose, just barely, then fell. I pressed my ear to his chest, listening for a heartbeat.
Thump thump. Thump thump. Thump thump.
It was slow. But steady. We’d brought him back. Oh, thank God!
Relief crashed over me like a tidal wave. I squeezed Alissa’s hand in mine, overwhelmed by emotion. We’d done it. We’d brought him back.
Now we had to get him out of here.
The other dregs moved in close. “How’s he doing?” Luke asked. “Is he stable enough to move him?”
I swallowed hard, blinking back the wetness from my eyes. “No. But we have to get him out of here.”
“The building’s surrounded,” Tracker informed. “It’ll be suicide to go out there. A standoff could last hours. Days. Tony obviously doesn’t have that long. We have to find another way to get him out of here.”
Alissa raised her head from where she’d been listening to Tony’s heartbeat. “There’s a back entrance. It leads out into the alley. It’s clear in the very back of the building behind a bunch of pipes and things. Kenny showed it to me once in case anything happened to him and I ever needed to escape.”
Tony didn’t have much time. He’d lost way too much blood. His heart could stop again at any time. That back exit might be the only way to get him out in time. We had to try it.
“Ryan and I will keep the army engaged up here,” Luke offered, “while you guys sneak Tony out the back.”
I nodded. “Let’s go.”
Jacob, Tracker, Noah and Logan all lifted Tony from the center of the octagon. Alissa led the way. I stayed close beside Tony while my dreg brothers carried him away, constantly checking his pulse to make sure he was still with us. We made our way through the building to the back door. Then we slipped quietly out into the dark alley.
Continuous gunfire exploded from the front of the building where Ryan and Luke kept the army engaged.
We paused as a group of soldiers moved stealthily around the corner of building, heading toward us through the dark. Everyone froze.
Then Jacob slipped away, becoming the Phantom of Death, attacking the soldiers and knocking them down. He moved like a whirlwind in typical Jacob style, barely discernable to the human eye. Crack. Smack. Thwack. Thud.
The Company’s soldiers fell like dominoes, dropping one by one, until none of them were left alive.
Jacob returned, breathing heavily. “Let’s go.”
I clapped him on the shoulder, understanding what the effort had done to him, not just physically, but psychologically. “Thanks, man.”
He nodded, and we all moved silently away, hurrying the few blocks to where we’d left the vehicles parked. Alissa opened the back door back of the Escalade. Jacob, Tracker, Logan, and Noah all set Tony on the seat.
“We’ll go help Ryan and Luke,” Tracker said. “You got this?”
“Yeah, Alissa and I have it from here. Thanks.”
While the other dregs moved off, I quickly climbed in the back of the vehicle and hooked Tony up to an IV. Then I carefully assessed his injuries while Alissa waited patiently next to the vehicle. Tony had been beaten severely and tortured, his body riddled with numerous wounds, gashes, stab wounds, gouges, nasty bruises. There was a particularly severe wound to the left thigh, another ugly wound to the right arm, and an injury to his right hand that left his pinkie finger hanging by a thread. I would probably have to remove the finger. They’d worked him over good, the torture obviously severe. I determined the loss of blood was the biggest concern and most likely why he had died. He needed a transfusion. Immediately.
“He needs a transfusion. He’s lost a lot of blood.”
Alissa leaned into the vehicle and lifted her arm toward me. “Hurry. Give him my blood. I’m A-positive.”
I stared at her. “You’re serious?”
“Yes. Hurry Nate. You have to save him.”
A dark figure suddenly rose from behind Alissa. My skin prickled in alarm.
Romeo.
“Alissa!” I lunged forward, trying to knock her aside before he grabbed her.
But the bastard was quicker. He snagged a handful of her hair before I could reach her, and yanked her head back. He dragged her away from the vehicle with a snicker. “You’re going to die this time, bitch.” He lifted his gun.
Shit.
I yanked my own gun free from the holster at my back, and dived out of the vehicle, landing on the pavement several feet away. Laying out on my stomach, I raised my gun toward Romeo, but I couldn’t get a clear shot while he held Alissa in front of him. Son-of-a-bitch! I couldn’t let that bastard kill her.
Alissa fought and squirmed, pulling from his grasp, and stumbled back toward the car. Romeo tackled her and they fell halfway in, halfway out of the vehicle.
Then Tony’s foot arced out of the back of Escalade, ramming Romeo in the shoulder.
Romeo stumbled backward, falling away from the vehicle, pulling Alissa with him.
Romeo’s gun went off.
Alissa dropped to the pavement.
My heart stopped for the second time that night.
No! God, no! Please!
Romeo spun around to face Tony.
But Tony had passed out again. He lay unmoving on the back seat. Helpless. Vulnerable. At Romeo’s mercy.
Romeo raised the gun…
Bastard! I lifted my own gun again, aiming for Romeo’s heart, but before I could kill the prick, Alissa rose from the ground and tackled him, knocking him back to the pavement. Romeo rolled away, then twirled around, his fist slamming into her jaw.
She gasped, her head swinging to the side, then tumbled back to the ground and lay still.
Son-of-a-fucking bitch! He hurt her! He was going to die!
No one hurt my woman. No one.
Romeo rose and turned to me with a grin.
And then I did something I’d never done before. I reacted without thinking. I let my emotions dictate my actions. I just reacted.
I saw red. A blinding hot surge of rage, it swallowed me up in its force, sucking me in like an undercurrent in a fast-flowing river. Overtaking me. Controlling me. And I let it.
I tossed my gun aside and lunged at Romeo, knocking him backward into the vehicle. His head cracked into the side of the car with a thud. A quick death was too good for him. He needed to suffer. And suffer badly. At my hands. I would gladly deliver the punishment.
The gun went off again as it flew from his hand.
He fell to the pavement with me on top of him. I slammed my fists into Romeo’s ugly face, over and over. My only thought was revenge. To punish Romeo. To torture him. To make him pay.
Alissa slowly rose from the pavement to my left. I jerked toward her in surprise. She reached inside my pant leg and pulled the knife from the sheath at my ankle. There was a feral gleam in her eye I’d never seen before.
Shit. She’d lost it.
“Alissa, no,” I warned.
A sharp pain suddenly pierced my side. Romeo smirked as I gasped and doubled over. The bastard had stabbed me, taking advantage of my distraction. He yanked the knife out of my side and slowly rolled to his feet. He and Alissa slowly circled around each other, their knives at the ready. Alissa would never beat him in a knife fight.
I swung my foot out and tripped him, trying to give her an advantage. The moment he started to fall, she launched herself at him, jabbing my knife into his neck.
He hissed and swung his knife toward her, but she leapt back out of the way. While all this was going on, I retrieved my gun from the pavement. While it had felt good to pound on him, tossing my weapon aside hadn’t been the smartest thing I’d ever done. I’d been trained to never let my emotions dictate my actions, but I’d done exactly that. I’d let my emotions get in the way and I’d almost gotten Alissa killed.
When Romeo rose to his feet, I was ready.
I lifted the gun and fired one shot at Romeo.
The bullet hit him right between the eyes.
He dropped instantly and didn’t move.
With a sob, Alissa rushed to my side. I yanked her close, breathing in her scent, feeling her body against mine. She was alive. She was unhurt. Thank God.
She leaned back. “Nate! You’re bleeding. What happened? Did he shoot you?”
“No. He stabbed me. Come on. Let’s get Tony out of here.”
Urgency drove us back to the vehicle. I dumped coagulant over each of Tony’s wounds to temporarily stop the bleeding until I could get him to a safe place to attend the injuries. Then I quickly hooked Alissa up to an IV line and the blood collection bag, then began the blood transfusion. Her blood wouldn’t give him the dreg immune system boost or the faster healing abilities, but it would help keep him alive.
“Watch his wounds and let me know if any of them start bleeding again.”
Alissa nodded, her expression grave. “I’ll keep an eye on him. What about your stab wound? Shouldn’t you do something to treat it?”
I rubbed some coagulant on it, then slid behind the wheel and drove away. I would take care of it later. Tony was my main priority.
Gunfire erupted around us as we headed away from the Spartans’ warehouse. I just kept driving, determined to get Tony out of here. I couldn’t lose my best friend.
At last, we reached the military barricade.
“I’ve got a wounded soldier,” I informed the guard on duty. “The others dregs will be coming along soon. They could probably use your help back there. It’s a war.”
The young man nodded. “Roger that. I’ll see if I can get them some help.” He saluted me and we raced away, speeding toward Eatonton.
“How’s Tony doing back there?” I asked Alissa.
“He’s still hanging in there,” came her response, but she sounded scared. “Drive faster, Nate.”
My dreg brothers might be dying back in Augusta, but there was nothing I could do nothing about that. I had to save Tony first.
I pushed my foot down harder on the gas pedal. The car was pushing 100 miles an hour. Certainly not safe. But my goal was to save my best friend.
And nothing—not sirens or flashing cop lights or bullets whizzing past—would stop me from doing that.
Nothing.