Page 83 of Mayflower

Dr. Hodges’s white coat is bloodied. There are injured guards in the hallway—the patient rooms filled up fast. There are children everywhere. Kat. Margot.

I grab Dr. Hodges and tell him what happened.

Raven is being wheeled in. Dr. Hodges shouts orders to the nurses. Little tries to run after Raven, but I tell him to stay back and look after the kids.

And I run after the stretcher and into the operating room.

Everything happens fast. The whole building is in emergency mode. Guards inside. Guards outside. Explosions now and then rattle the windows. There are gunshots outside the building.

The sounds drown my wild heartbeat but not the thoughts racing through my head. I failed him. I failed him. I failed him. I swore that we’d be safe, but I failed Raven, despite shooting Butcher.

I feel like I’m having a heart attack. My nerves are on edge. My heart is pumping. All I can see is Raven in front of me, being transferred onto the operating table. My entire body is shaking, but I breathe in and out in controlled breaths. He needs me now. Now more than ever. He needs me calm. He needs me not freaking out.

Dr. Hodges gives sharp orders. A clear mask is placed over Rave’s face. Someone is cutting the shirt and jeans off his body. An IV appears from behind me. I’m helping, obeying doctor’s orders like a soldier, but I can’t process what’s really happening, because all I keep thinking is, “Stay with me. Stay with me. Please, stay.”

“He lost a lot of blood,” the doctor says. “He needs a blood transfusion ASAP. We need to find a match or have it delivered from the mainland. But he might not make it by then.”

“The mainland?”

“He has A-negative. It’s quite rare.”

“I have A-negative,” I blurt out.

There are many coincidences in life that set you on the right path, precisely where you are supposed to be. Raven and I have had many. But this one might just save him.

A nurse yelps when she jerks her hand from Raven’s and inspects her fingers. “What sort of wounds are those?”

“Glass shards. Shrapnel. All kinds. They need to be treated. His knees too. Possibly his entire body.”

We removed his bulletproof vest on the ride back to Ayana, and after they cut off Raven’s clothes, his entire body is covered in blood, shredded, cut.

“Oh, God,” I whisper.

I’ve seen worse before, but not on him. Not on my Raven.

“He is losing his heartbeat!” Dr. Hodges yells.

And despite me being strong for Raven, I feel everything blur around me.

“Rave, please, stay with me,” I whisper as tears spill down my face.

28

ARCHER

Slate, my bodyguard, walks up to me and leans in to say, “Raven is at the medical center. He is in surgery. Lost a lot of blood. They are doing a blood transfusion, but it’s too early to say what the outcome is yet.”

“Thanks, Slate.” I nod and try not to think of the negative outcome.

Many lives are at stake right now. Most residents are in the Center. I hope all of them are. But who knows if any were high or drunk or doing God knows what and decided to wait it out in their fancy cribs.

The Center is eerily quiet. Everyone is talking in hushed voices. We are all glued to the screens, watching Ayana being torn into pieces by explosions, several villas completely blown up to ashes.

The Commander and his men are locked in one of the offices. I’m firing their asses as soon as this is over. Though I’m not sure we will get through this anytime soon. Not unless Tsariuk brings help, and he said he’s coming as soon as we contacted him.

The screens flare up with more explosions. There are fewer, but they still shake up Ayana at all entry points. Most of them are hitting no one.

There were two attempts to breach the entries, but they were fought off. The guards have clear instructions not to attack but rather defend. We don’t want to lose more men. The attacks are precise, unlike the attack by the kids, who were a distraction. Yet, these are sneaky attacks, prepared beforehand, probably in hopes to receive orders how to proceed afterward. When Butcher, the fucking commander in chief, was still alive.

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