Page 88 of The Vipers and Their Venom

Still, they don’t move.

It occurs to me that I might be in more danger now than I was lying unconscious in the middle of the road in the dark. Who is this strange man, and what does he want? I try to push myself to sitting, but a fresh jolt of pain shoots down my neck. Fuck. That wasn’t good.

I try again. “Call nine-one-one. I need an ambulance.”

Instead, the stranger reaches for me. Hands grip my shoulders, and I shake my head. He can’t move me. “No,” I manage to say as I try to move, the pain at doing so ripping through me.

“Stop fighting me,” he growls.

“Call an ambulance,” I repeat.

“Shush,” he murmurs, his voice heavy with something strange. “I’m taking you home.”

I open my mouth and scream.

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