Page 64 of One Step Sideways

I was a second too slow. The shadows ripped out of me almost instantly as the gun fired and I felt the fiery burn in my arm as a bullet hit.No.Fucking no. Too close to Danny. Pure incandescent rage filled me and before I even thought about it, the black cloud had Saunders in a chokehold. But it wasn’t enough. I’d never hung around to see the effects of my smoke before but this time I stepped into the cloud, my fingers finding the bastard’s throat. I was used to robbing them of vision and if Danny was right, all other senses, and nothing mattered right that second other than robbing him of oxygen.

“Kane,” a pain-filled whisper brought me back and I stopped immediately leaving Saunders to collapse on the ground as the cloud lifted. Fear quickly surpassed rage as I turned to see Danny with his hand splayed on his side and a red patch quickly staining his shirt.No.Fucking no. His knees buckled and I dived for him, lowering him gently to the floor. The bullet that had grazed me must have veered off and hit Danny. For far too many seconds all I saw was blood until another pained sound yanked me out of it.

“Get me something to press against it,” he gritted out, so I simply yanked open the buttons on my jumpsuit and practically tore off the shirt underneath. He hissed in a breath as he took it and pressed down. “We still need to make sure Ringo got them out.”

As if. As if I would let him take damage while I could do anything to prevent it. I knew we had to get out of here. I wanted to save the other enhanced, but having Danny hurt was a whole other thing. Nothing and no one was more important than him. Never would be.

I glanced up and with relief realized I could see past the first walls. “My vision’s coming back.” I took in the offices and saw they had been overrun and trashed. I could see past the admin block to the cafeteria and there were too many deranged prisoners from the other side taking advantage of their hour of freedom, and they werefar too close. I bent and lifted him as gently as I could. He couldn’t walk.

“Leave me. Put me back—

“Not a chance,” I vowed. There was no way I was putting Danny in that hole without me. He would never have to face his demons alone ever again. I clutched him close, trying not to focus on the hitch of breath signaling pain, trying to think. The chances of me getting Danny out the direct route without being decorated in a hail of bullets from the cops when they saw the jumpsuit was less than zero, so I changed direction and headed for the pods. I could get Danny out. To safety. To a doctor.

Then once he was safe, I was going to take out every fucker left that had thought to hurt another. I didn’t care what side they were on. I didn’t care. I’d loved two people in my life. The first had died in prison and I was damn sure that I would never let that happen to the second one.

“Take me to medical,” he croaked out and I stopped.

“No, I need Ringo to get you out. You need a doctor.”

“Take me to the fucking clinic,” he demanded, and I had to admit the swearing gave me pause. His face softened, even lined with pain. “I need to get this bullet out. We could be delayed, and it needs to be taken out.”

I didn’t like it because the rioters could come back at any moment, but the clinic was closer to the rioters, and we walked unopposed through two open security gates. Good because I had no pass to scan like Ringo had. The clinic had been trashed. Cupboards and fridges were open. Drug cabinets ripped from thewalls. Trash strewn everywhere. I laid him on the same pallet I’d sat on not that long ago and gazed around at the mess.

“What do you need?”

He grunted in obvious pain. “Forceps if they haven’t taken them all, and some bandages, pads, and some disinfectant or something similar.”

I nodded, sickened with the thought of what he was going to have to do. All the drawers were empty. I found something on the floor that looked like a large pair of tweezers and held them up. “Perfect,” Danny whispered. There were a couple of gauze pads, though most had been soaked in what smelled like bleach, but I found a few bandages still rolled and half a bottle of some pink stuff that Danny said would do.

He was even paler than before by the time I brought everything over. “You sure?” I asked.

“Yes. If I had to get shot in my stomach, better it missed my liverandmy spleen.” He took the tweezers and told me to pour the pink stuff over them. “When I do this, I need you to slap the gauze on me. If…if I pass out just keep holding it there.”

Fuck.“I decided to stop swearing,” I confessed as I poured the pink stuff all over the metal things. “But I think I might start again.”

“You would have to stop in the first place to restart,” he said, and caught my gaze. “You need to prop me up.”

Blood spurted out as Danny forced the thing into the hole, and he cried out. Sweat beaded his lip and tears pooled in his eyes. “Pull my hand out,” he gasped, shaking badly. I covered his trembling hand with mine, and pulled the thing out, the end clamped around a bullet. He sagged back against my arm, closing his eyes and, doing exactly what I’d been told, I laid him back down and pressed the gauze and the pads, to the wound and held them there. I glanced at the doorway. It was too quiet. I didn’t dare shout for Mark, even to find out if Ringo had gotten to them. I could see four empty rooms all around us, but still couldn’t see as far as the cells, but my eyes were getting better.

Danny’s breath hitched and he opened his eyes. “Any blood through the dressing?”

“No.”

He nodded. “Then prop me up so you can wind those bandages around me and we can get out of here.”

I did exactly as he instructed. I knew we had to get out of there, even if every pain-filled inhale he took ripped me apart. We couldn’t risk being here if the rioters came back. “I can’t hear anything.”

“You think they’re back at the other side?” Danny took a couple of deep breaths as I finished then squinted. “What about you? You’re hurt.”

“Graze,” I said decisively, “and yeah, I think they must be. If it was over this place would be overrun with cops. I don’t get why they didn’t go to the enhanced.”

“Unless they’re scared of them. I’d bet they came here hoping for the meds and a way out.”

Made sense. “You still need to get out.” I glanced at his bandage. He needed a doctor, a surgeon.

“Let’s go with the original plan. There has to be a way through the room you saw. They didn’t bring those enhanced through here.” I bent and went to slide my arm under Danny’s legs, but he stopped me. “I’m walking.” I stared at him incredulously. “Carrying me is putting a target on my back,” he said. “And I’m a Ranger. It’s the Marines that are pussies.” I huffed out a surprised laugh; I didn’t like it but complied, as we hardly had time for an argument. “Let’s head to where we think Ringo is.” he said.

I nodded. It was the best decision. “Every outside exit will be guarded by the prisoners. They’ll want us getting out about as much as they want the cops getting in. If we’re right and they’ve left the enhanced alone, that way is the only option.” Danny nodded as if he understood right away. He hissed and pressed a hand to his side, then waved it off.

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