DEAD IN BED By Bailey Simms: The Complete Second Book

PART 11, SECTION 12

After describing what had happened in a quiet, distanced tone, Ian now once again broke down sobbing.

I'd never seen anyone grieving so violently. It was as if his entire body and all of his consciousness were wound up tight in unbearable agony. Even when I'd seen Jason writhing in flames, he didn't seem to have suffered quite as deeply as I now saw Ian suffering.

"They were gone, Ash," Ian sobbed desperately. "Both my kids. Just like that. They were there, and then they were gone. Just like that."

This couldn't be true. I couldn't accept this. Tyler and Haley were safe somewhere. They had to be. Ian was their father, and he was lying here in front of me, alive, which meant that Tyler and Haley had to be safe. Because Ian either would have saved them or died trying.

Ian looked at me through bloodshot eyes and shook his head.

"They're not the only ones, Ash." He grabbed my arm. "I'm so sorry. It's not just them. Danielle . . ."

"Wait . . . What about Danielle?"

"I kept trying to save Haley. I knew she was gone. I'd shot her through the lung. I just kept trying to revive her. I don't know how long I just knelt there pumping her chest, her blood flowing through my fingers. I tried so long that her body started to go cold under my hands."

Suddenly the magnitude of what Ian was telling me ripped into my awareness. I came close to throwing up, but someplace in my thoughts I knew I had to be strong. I swallowed the bile and sobbed, waiting for him to finish his story.

"I didn't realize what your sister had done until it was too late. I'd set my pistol onto the bunker floor when I'd started to try to save Haley. I was still pumping her chest when I saw that Danielle had picked up the gun. I thought she was going to shoot me. I wanted her shoot me. So bad. But before I could even begin to register what she was doing, she raised the pistol to her head. And fired."

I couldn't believe that what he was telling me could possibly be true. But someplace deep inside, buried beneath my consciousness, I knew that it was. My niece and my nephew were gone. My sister was gone. Ian had lost his entire family in only a few moments.

". . . What?" I stammered. I couldn't feel anything. Not a thing. I was numb. My ears were ringing. "How is that even . . . Wait, what are you saying, Ian?"

He sobbed. "I'm so sorry, Ashley." he covered his face in irrepressible shame. "I couldn't protect them. I couldn't protect any of them. And now they're all gone. All of them."

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