Sparks

Chapter 68

I gag and quickly turn my head away from the headless corpse. My stomach is turning, but I stand up nonetheless and step gingerly to the side to avoid the growing pool of blood seeping from Jacob's stump. Won't be too much longer until he's completely out of blood.

Jamie walks slowly over to Carrie's body. She's still gasping for breath on the floor, tears streaming down her face, eyes fighting desperately to focus. Jamie flips her over until she's on her back and tries to separate her hands, but the metal on her fingers has solidified enough that they're permanently fused. Jamie puts one foot on her ribcage to brace herself and grabs the handle of her shortsword with both hands, giving it a solid pull. I cringe and cover my ears at the sound of metal against bone. A few seconds later, Carrie's eyes are glazed over and there's another pool of blood spreading across the floor.

"You did it," I finally say roughly. Tears come to my eyes. "You did it! You saved me! I'm safe because of y-"

"Aryn." Jamie coughs and continues calmly. "Take me to the hospital. Now."

She's still standing, but only barely. Her whole body is shaking and blood is seeping out of the wounds. As I watch she puts her hand first to the bullet hole in her chest and then the one on her shoulder. Both times there's a flash of white light and then the wound is burnt shut and kind of crispy along the edges. "I've bought myself some time, but we need to go."

I don't argue, instead taking her uninjured arm and putting it over my shoulder to help her downstairs and to the car. On the way I grab my backpack.

It isn't until I get to the car that the gravity of the situation finally hits me. We've got two dead bodies in the room upstairs and a girl who I still help into the car that just saved my life and almost died in the process. I shakily open the car door and shove her in before quickly moving to the driver's side. My hands fumble around for the key and as soon as it's in the keyhole and the car's started I'm reversing full speed down the driveway. At the end my back wheels slide onto the grass and spin fruitlessly but I simply throw the gear to drive and press the pedal to the floor.

We're travelling at a bit more than a hundred miles an hour, which I'm sure is breaking at least three laws, but I still keep glancing over to Jamie. She's somehow managed to get the seatbelt on which makes me smile slightly but every time I look over at her she's a little more limp, a little more unconscious. No matter how hard I press the gas pedal I'm never moving fast enough.

I turn the wheel violently to the side and barely miss a tree but I don't slow down. It's literally a matter of life and death. She has to live. I can't lose her, not now. With a trembling voice I remote-activate my car's emergency feature. It automatically connects me to the town's hospital line.

"Hello, this is the County Hospital, how can I help-" I cut off the bored-sounding voice and speak quickly, panicking.

"I'm en route already, I have a very injured girl in my car, I need help, what should I do?"

"How far away are you?" The voice remains calm but is now much less bored. I glance at the speedometer.

"At the speed I-I'm at, about fifteen minutes."

"Alright. Can you describe the nature of the injuries?"

"One big cut down the back diagonally and two bullet wounds, one through the flesh on the shoulder and one straight through the chest. All of which have been c-cauterized."

"Did you cauterize the wounds?"

"She did, but now she's unconscious."

"Fully unconscious?"

"I think? She isn't moving."

"Do you know if the bullets are still in the wounds?" At this point I'm not sure if this person actually needs the information or if they're just trying to distract me from the panic.