“Get up. We’ve got to go. Now!”
With Ely barking orders at her, she had to obey. If that hadn’t been bad enough, a howl of excitement came from inside the house. They were probably done with McKenna by now. The thought sent a sick squelch of anguish through her, but she didn’t have time to think about it. She had to move.
Despite the pain in her heart and her body, she had to move. Because she couldn’t die here in this yard. Not when McKenna had given her life to save her baby’s. Because if Lily died, then Josie would, too.
She was the only person on earth who loved this baby like her parents would have loved her. It was her job now to keep her safe.
So she moved. She ran like she’d never run before. Past the pain. Through the fear. Despite the panic. She ran.
Ely was ahead of her. She could see the strap of the backpack in his hand as he ducked around the car. A moment later, she flung open the door of the Cayenne. Her breath caught as a Tick crashed through the upstairs window.
For a second, it perched on the roof. Then, in one crazy motion, it leapt the distance from the window to the tree, landing nimbly on one of the branches.
It swung on the branch with the skill of an Olympic gymnast. She slammed the door of the Cayenne closed as the Tick let go of the branch and soared through the air.
“Ely!” she cried in alarm.
He yanked the door closed on his side of the SUV and thrust the backpack into her arms. “I see it.”
But his keys were still in his pocket. He raised his hips up and dug into his pocket, but panic must have made him clumsy. The Tick landed a few feet in front of the car. Despite the darkness, she could see its features clearly: the heavy, too-large head. The distended jaw. The thick brow ridge. The jutting lips that couldn’t quite contain the leonine teeth the Ticks used to devour their victims’ hearts. The fresh blood rimming its mouth. The Tick cocked its head to the side, staring at them through the glass. Puzzling it through.
She could hardly breathe her heart was pounding so hard.
Josie was squirming in the bag, making a confused, mewing sound that was almost crying.
Ely still hadn’t found the keys. He was cursing as he patted his pockets frantically. The Tick just stood there in front of them, a pained expression on his face, like he was trying to remember what this strange metal thing was. Or maybe like he couldn’t quite figure out how to break open the crunchy, outer shell of the car to get to the yummy goodness inside.
Either way, Lily wasn’t going to wait around for him to figure it out. She ignored Josie’s crying and carefully lowered the backpack to the floorboard between her feet. Then, she scrambled in the seat so she could reach around into the backseat of the Cayenne for her bow and arrow.
“What are you doing?” Ely demanded.
“I’m protecting us. Find the keys, damn it. Let’s just pray they weren’t in the backpack when you dumped it out on the floor.”
She blew out a puff of breath and thrust open the door.
She put only one foot out the door—her other foot was useless anyway. Agony seared through her left bicep as she extended the bow. Blood seeped through her shirt where she’d ripped through the stitches. But she pushed past the pain and tried to steady the bow as she notched an arrow and lined up the shot at the Tick. He was still ten, maybe fifteen feet away, but she saw the instant he drew in the scent of her blood. She had one chance to get him through the heart. One chance for the clean kill or she wouldn’t have time to notch another arrow. She waited until he roared right before he launched himself at her. She fired, but didn’t wait to see if she’d landed the kill shot. The Cayenne’s engine rumbled to life as she ducked back in the car. The momentum of the car lurching forward slammed her door closed. The Cayenne rammed right into the Tick and for one horrible moment, he clung to the hood of the car, the arrow piercing his chest, his face contorted into an expression of too-human horror. Then Ely cut the steering wheel hard to the right and the Tick flew off the hood before the Cayenne sped away into the night.
For a long moment, she just sat there, struggling to suck air into her lungs despite the pain wracking her body and the shock wracking her mind. Beside her, Ely was still cursing. His anger or maybe his fear made him mean. As for her, she had nothing left in her except the need to see Josie. To make sure the baby was okay.
Her hands shook as she reached down to the backpack. Josie was still crying, so Lily knew she was alive, but was she hurt? She couldn’t tell from the increasingly frantic cries.
She unzipped the backpack and spread it open. It was too dark to even see the baby, so she fumbled for the overhead light and flicked it on.
Lily slipped a hand beneath Josie’s head and slowly raised her up out of the bag. The sheet that they’d wrapped her in had unraveled, revealing her tiny, naked body. At some point, they would have to stop and get the diapers out of the back, but for now Lily just looked at her. She was tiny and fragile, her limbs wobbly; even her skin looked thin. Her crinkly red skin and scrunched-up face hardly looked human. Despite that, Lily felt an almost overwhelming need to protect her. To actually curl her own body over the baby’s and shelter her from everything.
Looking at Josie, Lily felt a strange sense of peace.
Strange because she should have been overwhelmed. She
She had just lost McKenna. Her best friend had just died. A horrible and pointless death, which Lily would never be able to make peace with.
And to make things worse—she was wounded. The gunshot wound on her arm had broken open. And she was pretty sure she’d sprained her ankle when she landed from the roof. Worst of all, she was with a guy who thought anyone who wasn’t able-bodied was a liability.
Despite that, she felt a renewed sense of resolve.
Strangely, the ease with which Ely had handled McKenna’s death brought her comfort. Three shots across the forehead. There would be no coming back from that. He’d been freaked out, but he’d done it. That meant, if the time came, he would do the same for her. But it wouldn’t come to that. She would protect McKenna and Joe’s baby. No matter what.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Lily
“What the hell are we going to do with this damn thing?”
She looked up at Ely. The dome light in the car was still on and she could clearly read his expression of pure disgust.
Lily just shrugged. She didn’t know what to do with Josie. She’d dug out one of the way-too-big diapers and sort of had it on her, but beyond that, Lily was lost. Josie’s tiny body looked so pale that it was nearly blue, even though the light had a decidedly yellow cast to it. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “I don’t know anything about babies.”
“Obviously.”
“Aren’t you supposed to be the expert? All those siblings and cousins. Isn’t that what you said?”
He scowled at her, then turned his attention to the road ahead and didn’t answer.
“Are you just full of crap or what? Do you know anything about how to take care of babies or not?”
Ely made a grumbling noise, almost like a growl. He glared at her. “Cover her up.”
“What?”
He gestured toward Josie. “Can’t you tell she’s cold? It’s friggin’ freezing in here for me and I wasn’t just born an hour ago.”
“Oh.” God, Lily felt like an idiot. She quickly wrapped the sheet around Josie like she was a burrito, but didn’t know what to do with the ends of the sheet, so she tucked them under and then brought them back around and tied them in a loose knot. “Better?” she asked.
