Page 139 of The Wildcard

And his vision went dark with only a faint scream echoing in his mind.

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The first thing he heard was the uproar of voices all around him.

“Get a medic!”

“Where the hell is she?”

“–find her! RIGHT NOW!”

The second thing he heard was the sirens.

Angel groaned out loud, the sounds piercing his ears enough to set his mind pounding thunderously. He shifted on one side, aware that it was Kyle who had spoken before. Aware that they were now sitting in an ambulance. Aware that he was lying on a bed with his arm propped on his abdomen gingerly.

“Angel?” came Kyle’s gravelly voice on cue and Angel flinched at the nearness of it. He put his hand on his head and groaned again.

The third thing he noticed was the throbbing of his arm. Specifically, his right arm, with shots of pain running through his bones as he tried to move.

“What the fuck happened?” he managed to wheeze as another wave of pain washed down his body. It was everywhere, that pounding, that wretched feeling ofagony,and that–

Wait.

Wasn’t he shot?

Angel’s left hand shot up to his chest in surprise, just to make sure that his heart was beating. That this all wasn’t just a dream.

That he wasn’t actually dead.His eyes shot open when he felt the faintthud thudof his heart pounding against his chest.

His brows furrowed in confusion but dropped as soon as the agony in his hand intensified.

“They bombed the entire sight. We have a lot of casualties.” Came Kyle’s grim response and Angel turned his head sideways to look at him.

Kyle was slumped in his seat, his body rocking back and forth as the ambulance rushed to the hospital.

Angel frowned but pushed himself to sit up, subduing a groan as he did so. His mind had become a haze with all the memories of the previous–

“How long has it been?” he breathed as he sat back up with his uninjured hand poised against his abdomen. Kyle straightened, his hands laced together as he looked back at him. Angel grit his teeth against the sheer look of exhaustion and fury shining in those green eyes. His blonde hair was ruffled, dust and spicks of blood in those loose strands as a tick in his jaw appeared,

“Barely two hours ago,” he said, averting his gaze as he did so, “We were about to give up when we found you on the ground.”

“Akash?” he asked and saw the rage flare in those eyes. Kyle’s hands tightened to the point of his knuckles whitening,

“Gone,” he snarled venomously, “He got out with Irene and Myra.”

Angel breathed out and slumped against the surface of the ambulance as Kyle continued, “They might still be on the island though, which means we can still find them.”

Don’t be so sure,Angel wanted to saw but when he turned to Kyle– he turned away, something odd shifting in his eyes. Angel’s brows furrowed and he was about to question it when a series of images tumbled into his mind.

Ray beside him, thrown by the explosion. Akash standing above her, gun pointing in her direction–

Him covering her body with his own and–

Angel flinched, his left hand going to his back immediately as he recalled theinsaneamount of pain from the bulletrippingthrough his skin and piercing his blood before everything went dark. His brows furrowed further when he found no bullet wound on his back. His head snapped in Kyle’s direction, his eyes going wide,

“Bullet–” he managed before Kyle’s tired eyes shot down his right hand. The same hand that was bandaged and was aching as though it had been trampled upon by million elephants.

“Your hand.” Kyle responded, and Angel looked down at the bandaged mess. His brows furrowed as he tried to move it, but couldn’t bear the shot of pain that ran up his arm at the slight movement, “You were sprawled on the ground like that when we found you.”

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