Running with Rogues

CHAPTER 70 - WHAT REMAINS

As I passed Sam, he clutched at my leg with a weak, bloodstained hand. He was so beyond saving that it didn't even occur to me to try. It was a miracle those holes in his neck hadn't killed him already, in all honesty. But I knelt beside him and took his hand in mine.

"The kids..." he began slowly. The words were mangled and hoarse, but I understood. Just. "Are they ... are they okay?"

Oh, Goddess. He had heard that scream. Everyone within a mile radius would have heard it. But I wasn't going to tell him. I couldn't. He was about to die, and there was just ... there was just no point.

"Yeah, Sammy. They're all fine," I said, trying to force a smile onto my lips. "Thanks to you, I'm guessing. Try not to speak. We'll get you some help now. You're going to be okay, too."

My hand was shaking. I hadn't even realised I was still holding the kitchen knife until I had started speaking. I knew what I was supposed to do now. A quick death was often the last and most valuable gift we could give someone. Goddess knew it was kinder than what would happen if he was still alive when the flockies got here. But still I hesitated.

"You're not ... very good ... at lying, Eva," Sam said. "Go ... save someone else. I'm a grown-up. I think I can manage ... to die ... all by myself."

I swallowed hard. How was I supposed to answer that? He was closing his eyes, as if that would get rid of me faster. Still his breaths came in racking gasps. Sometimes, our bodies didn't know when to give up.

I didn't see my dad come over until he was knelt beside us. Gently but firmly, he took the knife from my hand. I didn't fight him.

"Bryn's in a bad way," Dad told me quietly. I knew what he was offering - a chance for me to leave. To not have to see this next part. But I shook my head, and I stayed there a few seconds longer so I could keep holding Sam's hand as the knife went into his skull.

It was over mercifully quickly. His hand went limp, and then his chest stopped rising and falling. Dad wiped the knife on his own jeans. He'd helped raise Sam, but he hadn't hesitated. I was willing to bet he'd had to do that before. We all did, sooner or later.

Cassidy, Rhodri, Poppy ... and now Sam. That was four. And there were another three kids lying on the patio, fighting for their lives.

I let my body find its own way to the ward. I had to step over Rhodri's body to reach the supplies I needed. I didn't want to look at him, but it was difficult not to. He looked so much smaller lying there than he ever had when he'd been alive. The blood around him was beginning to darken as it dried.

How could he be gone? We'd fought so hard to keep him alive after Silver Lake. He'd beaten all the odds and lived then. But it had only taken one stupid mistake, one careless slip, and that was the end of it. How was I supposed to accept that we could all die so quickly? And so randomly?

I went outside again with my arms full of fluid bags, needles, antibiotics, tubing, IV catheters, bandages and all the gauze we owned. I was bleeding on it all, which wasn't very sterile, but it was the least of our worries right then. It was all dumped onto the paving stones anyway when I knelt beside Bryn.

I eased his mouth open to get a good look at his gums. Pale pink. Not a good start. When I pressed on them, it took almost three seconds for the colour to return. Also not good. But as long as I could keep his heart beating, there was no reason he shouldn't heal himself over the next few hours.

So I got him set up with a bag of fluids to replace the blood he'd lost, and then I moved onto the next patient, who was deathly pale by then. I didn't have to examine Matty to know that he'd need a line. The blood was still spurting from his stomach, which meant it was an arterial bleed, and he'd need all the fluids he could get.