Broken Doll {ManxMan}

CHAPTER 41

Somehow through the sharp ring in my ears I could hear someone apologizing, a voice that sounded eerily similar to Bay, but when I cracked open my eyes from how I'd been pinching them closed, I didn't see him anywhere around me. I had dropped to my knees and was crouched down, curled forward towards the line of cars with my hands over my ears. Looking over at the parked vehicles showed my that Adalwolf was on the ground with Marlisa and Adalard, all three of them crouched like I was, with arms thrown over their heads or hands over their ears, moving slowly and shielding their eyes when they finally lifted their heads in curiosity.

I could feel arms wrapped around me, over my head, shoulders, and back, but it took me a moment to realize what had happened and who was shielding me, the ring in my ears dying down into a hum of screaming and yelling, cursing and crying. I could hear wood cracking, the jet passing again and the ground shaking furiously when another bomb was dropped further beyond the main house, maybe in the field where we'd had our bonfire a few nights ago.

A hand moved from my shoulder and to my head, cradling it, and I turned right to look at Emyr, whose eyes were wide in fear as he looked over me, "Are you okay? Can you hear me? Your ears...," he pulled his hand away from the side of my face, and my eyes flickered down to see the smear of blood on his palm, "The noise must have shocked your eardrums. Is your head okay?"

"I-I'm okay," I assured him, reaching up to my neck where blood had dripped from my ear, "What's going on?"

Emyr's face pinched up and he looked away with grit teeth, appearing as if he wanted to answer, but I turned away before he could say anything, to check on Tobias, who was crouched to my left. His head was lifted a bit so he could check on his people near the cars, but his face looked white and ashy, eyes glazed. He looked just like he had when he'd gotten his concussion, and I reached out to grab his face, turning him towards me so I could look over him and check for a head injury.

"Tobias?"

"You're okay," he breathed, reaching out to my face, probably wiping at the blood on my ears, "Can you still hear me?"

"Yea, yea I can hear you. Your face is pale, did you hit your head?"

"No, I think I'm okay."

"Your shirt is torn," Emyr noted, and I bristled at his words, dropping my eyes from Tobias' face to look over the rest of him.

I don't know how it slipped my mind that he could've been hurt somewhere other than his head, but I felt fear choke me when I caught the frayed tear of his shirt on the left shoulder, reaching out to touch it and cringing when my fingers were stained red.

"Oh god..."

"No, no, I'm fine," Tobias grabbed my hand, squeezing my fingers, "Can't even feel it."

"Move your hand," Emyr leaned over me, pointing, "Your left hand, can you move your fingers?" Tobias lifted his left arm, wincing and wiggling his fingers, the dusty light catching on his wedding ring, "Good, that's good. Debris probably caught you when it came by, hold on," he stood up and walked around us to crouch on Tobias' left, just behind him, his face pinching as he took a gentle hold of his shoulder, "Damn..."

"That bad?" Tobias asked, eyes widening before he turned his head towards the settlement, "Where is everyone? Bryn?"

My panic beat through me again with a vengeance, and I stood up, though Tobias kept a tight grip of my hand, not letting me move away from him as I turned to face the building. The moment my eyes settled on it, I felt everything grow sluggish, even the clouds of dust settling seemed to curl slower around me, and I could hear my own ragged breathing as my blood pumped in my aching ears.