Page 88 of Uncontrolled

“I got shot. I just woke up. But he wrote the times so I would know because he wanted to stay.” My voice cracks. I’m not making sense. “I swear to God I’ll never ask you for anything else,” I plead.

“No,” Talia says. “I’m coming to get you, that’s it. Can you hide until I get there? Are there more hunters? How are you calling me?”

She’s trying to piece together the jumbled puzzle of facts I’ve given her, but I’m fairly sure there isn’t sense to make.

My fingers crawl forward and press against Christopher’s ribcage, over where his heartbeat should be. That heart is mine. I’m not letting it go. “Get your supplies,” I grind out. “Resurrect him and the cluster’s yours.”

In the stunned pause, I hear the engine of her SUV turn over. “It won’t change things, Allie. At the least, he’s got to—”

“He saved my life. Again. I can’t let it cost him his.” Even though he can’t feel it, I give Christopher’s hand a squeeze. “Hurry,” I tell Talia before I hang up.

Exhausted, I curl beside Christopher on the floor to wait.

Ploy

Apples. The scent of apples is the first thing I’m aware of as I regain consciousness. Apples and the iron tang of blood.

The first thing I feel is pain. It radiates through my side, through all the places Zen poked holes, every muscle in my body strained and aching. But the second thing I feel is the weight of a hand resting on my chest. Allie’s warmth chases away the chill of death where our bodies press together. She’s alive. I’m alive. I’ve got to get her out of here.

“Allie?” I wheeze. I can’t move.

Pressure lifts from the crook of my arm where she slept. She draws a sharp inhale and whispers my name.

“The Doctor,” I grate out through a throat sore and dry. “We gotta get you safe from him.”

A scoff that doesn’t belong to Allie makes its way to me from across the room and I realize we’re not alone. “All right,” Talia says, sounding resigned. “I will give you the fact he’s nothing if not consistent.”

With a groan, I crack my eyes open, the lids heavy and swollen. Allie smiles as I blink drowsily, trying to orient myself. We’re at Talia’s place. I’m lying on the pullout couch with Allie.

The wall is still covered in pictures of the hunters I can’t bear to face right now. Avoiding them, I focus on Allie.

“You woke up for a couple seconds halfway through the transfusion,” she says. “Scared the hell out of Talia when you started flailing and ranting about the Doctor coming for me.”

“You’re okay?” I ask.

The question brings an even heavier sigh of consternation from Talia, but Allie laughs.

“Yes,” she says, as she tucks herself against me again. “You should sleep. I’m okay. We’re very safe. Both of us.”

I take what I’m almost sure is nothing more than a long blink, but when I open my eyes again Allie is gone. Talia’s voice drifts from the breakfast bar near the kitchen.

“I mean, there’s a slight chance he came in and found everyone dead and figured you escaped, but I think it’s more likely the little hunter did what they trained her to do. Either way, the house was stripped by the time I got back there. I found nothing. No laptops. No notebook on the desk like you described. Nothing incriminating.”

“They didn’t find the girl yet?” Allie asks, and there’s a pause where I assume Talia’s shaking her head.

Keeley escaped. I’m still too worn through to unravel how I feel about it.

“Nothing on the Doctor, either?” Allie asks.

A pang shoots through my thigh as it cramps. I remember this from the last time Allie resurrected me, the blood clots working through my system. I’ve got hours of the random aches ahead of me. Trying to get comfortable, I adjust on the lumpy mattress. It creaks.

“Are you awake?” Allie calls.

Despite the cramp, I sit up and swing my legs over the side of the mattress. The room starts a slow sway. Okay, I think. Definitely not at one hundred percent.

Allie crosses the room to ruffle my hair. “Think you can eat something?”

The thought of food makes my stomach lurch. “Water,” I say, surprised by how weak my voice sounds.

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