“Angel! He’s okay! He was right where you said!”
“Nick.” Even through the deepening rasp I heard the panic in my
voice. “Something’s wrong. Rosario’s hurt, too, but I . . . need help.” My legs. My left shin and foot were a dozen feet away, back where I’d fallen and had to crawl. And my right . . .
“Shit,” Nick breathed. “Do you know where you are?”
Oh god. My right leg lay crooked by Rosario’s head. “River.” No, that didn’t help. The river curved around the property and covered miles and miles. “Marla. Get Marla. Find us. Help me.” I coughed out a gobbet of something dark and nasty. “Call . . . call Dr. Ne . . . Nikas.”
I heard shouting on Nick’s end, and running footsteps. I tried to reach for the phone only to watch my arm pull away from my shoulder like wet paper tearing. No pain. No sensation. Nothing.
“Hur . . . hurry.”
“We’re getting Marla. Just hang on. Dr. Degas? I don’t know who that is.”
“Nee Kahs.” Had he understood me? I flopped to my back and stared up at the sky, terrified that if I twitched a single muscle I’d disintegrate completely.
White fog closed in. Nick’s voice came through the speaker, distant and muddled. Rosario gasped in pain.
Drifting.
Dying.
I’m dying.
No. I can’t. I won’t. I’m a goddamn zombie, and zombies don’t die. Not this zombie.
Silence.
I can’t die. My dad. Who’ll take care of my dad?
Something bumped my head, and my world tilted.
“Marla . . . off.” Rosario.
“Angel!” Nick. Close.
“Oh my fucking god in heaven.” Bear.
Nick’s face swam above me then whizzed away. Puking. Lots of puking.
“Her phone,” Rosario wheezed. “Passcode . . . nine-six-two-four. Dr. Ariston Nikas.”
He knew my passcode? Annoyance came and went. “Nick,” I tried to say, but nothing came out. Not even a rasp.
Voices blended and dulled.
Thwup thwup thwup thwup thwup. Sound pounded through me. I dragged my thoughts together. Dr. Nikas. He’d brought the helicopter.
Nick knelt by Rosario’s head, his hands on each side, stabilizing.
Bear shouted and waved at the chopper.
Dr. Nikas’s voice came through the cell phone. Yes, we see you.
Movement and hustle. Lots of it.
Jacques and Nick shifted Rosario onto a backboard.