Shit.
Again, he felt that force within him bubble to life. This time, though, it just seemed to sigh.
Daniel twisted, all too aware of what came next. That was good. It meant the bullet went through his calf, instead of his knee.
His leg exploded into agony, soon to be replaced by hot, leaden numbness. His back arched, a scream catching in his throat. The ground tilted underneath him, pitching up wildly.
Don’t fall, something in him screamed—something small and quiet, mostly drowned out beneath the flood of pain but just loud enough to be heard. Don’t fall. With that single, pointed thought came a surge of terror that soaked straight through him.
If he fell, they’d catch up. They’d get him. They’d get Alexandria. His friends would die, and all he’d be remembered as would be the Librarian who failed.
He’d be the one who let everything be ruined.
He couldn’t fall.
His leg screamed, still burning with hot fires that dripped blood down his ankle. That’s okay, he willed. Let it hurt.
His foot slammed down. It hurt—it hurt worse than anything he’d felt before—but it held.
He stood.
Hands were on him a heartbeat later. Daniel flinched, starting to pull away.
Leon. He was saying something, but Daniel couldn’t make out the words. Olivia took his other side, mute and pale.
He got the gist, though. Move.
Hobbling as best he could, he let them half-carry, half-drag him onward. The door to the car ahead flew open, with Maya sitting round-eyed on the other side.
Their enemies were still behind them. Daniel’s heart pounded. He kept waiting for another gunshot, an earthquake to sink the whole lot of them into the dirt. Only, it was asphalt under them, not dirt and it was his back to the gunman. They were close. The mages wouldn’t shoot him, not to kill. He staggered on, gritting his teeth.
And then someone pushed him through the door, and he hit the seat hard. “Careful!” he heard Leon hiss.
“Get in!” Maya cried. “Jesus, just-”
“Working on it,” James muttered.
Someone squeezed in alongside him— two someones. He lifted his head, his eyes watering. His leg was a dead weight, still seething with agony. Leon. Leon and Olivia. James had taken up a place in the front seat, and even as he looked up, the car started to move.
Leon slammed the door shut, pulling Daniel lower as she pulled them back out onto the street. “Drive!”
“I am,” Maya hissed from the driver’s seat.
Daniel glanced back toward the park, though, peering over the edge of the door. The groups were converging, staring after them. One of them had a gun, and-
A shot clanged off the car’s trunk. Maya shrieked, hitting the gas. They accelerated away.
As the park started to fade behind them, though, Daniel’s eyes lingered on that cluster of figures—and one man at its heart, crouching over the grass they’d so-recently trampled. His hand was in the blades of it. When he lifted it, a glimmer of red coated his fingers.
And Daniel couldn’t shake the feeling that the man was watching him.
A house flashed past, and the group was gone, the strange man wiped away along with it. Daniel sank lower, his strength ebbing.
But the sick feeling in his gut remained.
- Chapter Sixteen -
The car bounced, careening down the road. The suspension groaned.
Daniel shivered, flinching as the motion sent pangs of agony up through his leg.
“Holy shit,” he heard Leon say beside him. “Holy shit. Are they-”
“Keep driving,” Olivia said, squeezed in on his other side. “Don’t fucking stop.”
“I’m not stopping!” Maya cried. Her grip on the wheel was tight enough her knuckles shone white through her skin. “But- Where should I-”
“D-Don’t go home,” Daniel rasped, lifting his head from Leon’s shoulder. His calf pulsed with every heartbeat, soaking his pant leg in hot wetness. “Don’t...You don’t want to-”
“Don’t lead them back to where you live,” Olivia said.
Daniel grimaced. “Y-Yeah.”
Maya let out an irritated hiss, turning them around a corner with a lurch. “Okay, that’s fucking great and all, but what the hell am I supposed to do, then?”
A hand dropped to Daniel’s shoulder. “You okay?” Leon said.
He licked his lips, swallowing hard. “I’m fine,” he whispered. “Peachy.” He smiled faintly. He’d never seen Leon looking so run-down and ragged—but his friend still clutched the pipe he snatched from the ground, pressing it to his chest with his free hand. “You c-can...you can set that down, y’know.”
Leon’s lips curled down in a scowl. He didn’t even seem to hear Daniel. “You’re- You’re bleeding. A lot.” His hand squeezed Daniel’s shoulder tighter. “Christ. What should we do?”
Maya made a tiny, plaintive noise from the front seat. Daniel glanced forward, finding her craning her head back toward him. She flinched, flipping back around to face front as their eyes met.
“Sorry about your car,” Daniel mumbled. He didn’t have to look to know he’d left a streak of blood all across the seat when he got in, and...well, the footwell was probably going to look pretty rough by the time he got out.
The hand gripping his shoulders clenched so tightly it was almost painful. “It’s just a damn car,” Leon hissed. “Hey. Daniel. Lay down. And...you. Would you-”
“What?” Olivia squeaked.
“Take his leg. We’ve got to stop the bleeding.”
Daniel stiffened, trying to put up a fight, but the world twisted around him. A heartbeat later, he fell with a whump, the back of his head landing on something soft.
Leon stared down at him, his eyes worried even if his face was flushed. “You hanging in there?” he said, trying to force a smile.
A hand grabbed at his legs. Olivia—and a fresh wave of agony rolled through him as she yanked. Daniel bit off a gasp, stiffening. “Hey!” he heard Leon snap.
“You told me to!” Olivia hissed back. “What am I supposed to do?”
“That’s my question,” Maya called from the front. “Where are we going?
