Page 29 of Sinner's Salvation

She stopped, carefully laid the soldier down on the ground, then grabbed him by the legs again and made a valiant effort to look like she was having trouble dragging him. His head bounced a little as she crab crawled out into the open. It was a good thing he was wearing a helmet.

A knot of five people was running toward them. Three were in military uniforms and others in firefighter uniforms. At first, it didn’t seem like they saw her or the man she rescued, but as soon as they got close enough to see her behind Evan’s large body, they put a little more speed on.

She playedwounded bird, coughing and hacking, and flopped onto the ground.

Two of the responders stopped to help Evan, who looked like he was ready to go on a long-distance hike with the Homeland Security agent over his shoulder.

The other three responders ran to her and began shouting at her at the same time.

“Ma’am, are you okay?”

“Are you injured?”

“We’ve got you. Just rest there. Paramedics are on their way.”

She made a show of coughing before squeezing out some words. “Please, check the soldier. We were making our way to the exit when the ceiling collapsed right on top of him,” she said, between coughs. “I managed to drag him out here, but he hasn’t regained consciousness.”

She made eye contact with one of the men, a firefighter. “Please tell me he’ll be all right.”

The firefighter stared at her with respect in his gaze, then glanced at the soldier, who was quite a bit bigger than her. “That’s a long way to drag someone.”

“I couldn’t just leave him behind,” she said, indignant. “He would have died.”

“I’m not complaining, ma’am,” the firefighter said, with a surprised grin. “I’m seriously impressed with your persistence.”

He moved to pat her arm, but stopped before he could make contact. Her suit jacket was scorched in some places and completely missing in others. Parts of it were pitted with holes, burn marks, and blood. Her visible flesh was mostly red, raised, and covered in a bloody sheen that only came with deep burns. There were, however, two spots that, instead of looking swollen, were depressed and a darker, charred red. She wouldn’t be surprised if the burns went all the way to the bone.

“Ma’am,” the firefighter said, in that calm tone first responders used when the worst-case scenario was staring them in the face. “I want you to stay right here, while I get those paramedics.”

Anna studied her burns, and absently said, “I didn’t realize the burns were this bad.”

She’d been burned before, back in the days of mobs with pitchforks. It had taken her body several days to heal. She knew the worst burns didn’t hurt at first, because the nerves had been destroyed.

But the pain was ratcheting up higher and higher every second. Healing from getting shot earlier had taken a lot out of her. Which meant it was going to take longer for her to recover from the burns. She needed blood in order for her body to have the energy to heal, but she wasn’t going to get it anytime soon.

The pain and her thirst made her vulnerable, almost human.

“Anna.”

The sound of her name in Evan’s voice had her turning to look at him. He was on his feet and walking toward her. Behind him, Ledger was moaning as he was moved onto a gurney. An ambulance had arrived, and she hadn’t noticed.

She sucked in a shocked breath. For her to miss the arrival of a vehicle...maybe the smoke inhalation had done more damage to her lungs than she thought. Or perhaps her body was struggling to heal so many injuries too close together.

Evan crouched down in front of her. “Anna, are you okay?” His voice was tight with concern, his eyebrows low over his eyes.

The firefighter’s gaze danced between them.

She turned to show Evan her burns and winced at the movement. It was really starting to hurt now.

“Holy shit,” Evan breathed out.

The firefighter got to his feet. “I’m going to grab another ambulance for her. She needs a hospital with a burn unit.” He hesitated. “She zoned out there for a moment. Will you stay with her?”

“Yes.” Evan nodded, but didn’t even look at the man.

As soon as the firefighter was out of earshot, Anna said, “Find Brian.” Her voice came out rough.

“I’m not leaving you, Sunshine.” There was no give to his tone, no opening for negotiation.

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