Unsung

Chapter Ninety-Three

Once my mom was gone, McKayla sat down next to me on the hospital bed.

"You look like shit," she said, crossing her feet at the ankles.

"Thanks," I said with a snort. "I did just have a building fall on me though."

McKayla scrunched up her nose. "True," she said. "I guess I can cut you a little slack. But after this, you're getting a shower."

I chuckled, then looked around at the rest of them.

"How are you guys?" I asked. They each had their own bruises and cuts, but for the most part, they looked okay. "Sophia?"

The pretty brunette had taken the spot my mom had vacated, her back tall and straight, legs crossed properly. Even when nobody was watching her, she was prim and proper. And I wouldn't have expected anything less.

"Oh, I'm just fine," she insisted, waving off the question. "Got a little shot of somethin' that made me sleepy, and had a nasty ole headache when I woke up. But now I'm right as rain. Look at you askin' about me while you're lyin' there in that bed, bless your heart."

I glanced at the others. "And you guys?"

"We're fine," McKayla insisted, before the others could say anything. "Nothing we can't handle."

Suddenly I realized our group was missing somebody, and I struggled to sit up straighter in my bed.

"What about Austin?" I asked, the worry flooding my senses. "Is he okay? Did he make it out?"

Ris and McKayla glanced at each other, but didn't respond.

"What?" I asked, fear creeping up my throat. "Tell me!"

"He had to have surgery to remove the bullet and he lost a lot of blood," Garrick said, taking my hand and holding it gently as he talked. "But he's going to be okay. They said you saved his life."

I let out the breath I'd been holding.
"Thank God," I said.

"Not that he deserved it," McKayla grumbled.

"McKayla," I warned. "He made a mistake. You heard him. He did it to keep people safe."

"And look how well that turned out," she said gesturing to me lying in the bed.

"He may not have executed it well, but his heart was in the right place," I said carefully. "And in the end, he tried to do the right thing. He got shot trying to keep the senator from blowing the place up, for God's sake."

"Language," Sophia called out.

"Messed that up, too," Ris chimed in, picking at his nails absently. "The place still burned to the ground."

"You guys," I said. "We all messed up. We accused Jake, Trick and Lauren of being the bad guys. We let Senator Bradley destroy the hero school. If we had just asked for help, things might've been different."

"Yeah," McKayla said. "We could all be laying in a hospital bed right now instead of being the suspects of a school explosion."

"What?" I asked, jolting up in bed and then crying out in pain.

"Lay back down, Wreck It Ralph," McKayla said, gently easing me back against the pillows.

"McKayla," Garrick warned. "I thought we decided we would wait to tell her what was going on until after she was out of the hospital."

I looked from Garrick and then to McKayla and finally to the others. They all tried to avoid my stare, but I persisted.

"Tell me," I demanded.