Page 19 of Rarely Pure and Never Simple
"Easy, easy. You need to breathe. Deep breath. Don't pass out on me."
Damien yanked in half a shuddering gasp and retrieved his fist from a surprisingly gentle grip. There it was again, the blanket Blaze threw over the shrieking instincts hijacking his brain, whether he realized it or not. He ran a hand over his face, managing to swallow the automatic apology, and leaned forward to peer at the darkening landscape.
The car eased uphill to a plateau amid the ever-rising rock formations. The prickling settled as a ball of pain in his gut, every nerve pulling in the same direction, the claustrophobic sense of end point hitting him hard.
"Here. Stop. Oh, God."
"Damn it." The car door slammed. Seconds later, the door on Damien's side flew open. Strong hands gripped his arms. "Damien! Don't go out on me. Is it always this bad?"
"No."
"Why now?"
"Because…" He pulled in a deep breath, one full of Blaze, which helped. He'd known but hadn't wanted to say it. There had been one instance when traumatic injuries had misled him. Now, there was no doubt. "They're dead."
"Dead? All of them?"
Damien shook his head. He put a palm flat on Blaze's chest to ease him back so he could get out of the car. "Two. There are two here."
"Two." Blaze's deep voice was flat, expressionless. He backed off, scanning the plateau. "All right. Damn it. I'm going to take a quick look around. There's some sort of building over that way." He pointed to the north end of the plateau with his chin. "Stay here?"
Damien nodded, distracted, aware only in a peripheral way that Blaze strode off and out of sight over the far edge of the rock table. There was a girl directly under his feet, under the cold dirt. A girl, he could almost see her. No, he saw her. He knew which one, which photo she matched, which name. Katie. Her name had been Katie, and she died in fear and pain, in abject despair. Under the ground.
No.No!
He ran around to the back of the vehicle and threw open the hatch. There, wrapped in canvas, Blaze had tools of some sort. He ripped off the cover and sorted through—hatchet, no, mallet, no, shotgun, no—there, that one. A folded entrenching tool gripped in his hand, Damien dashed back to the spot where the earth vibrated black and chill over Katie's shallow grave.
There had to have been a moment when he unfolded and secured the little shovel. He wasn't aware of it. One moment he stared at the bare dirt, the next he was attacking it with the sharp trowel point, frantically spearing up chunks of earth and rock to get to Katie. She was several weeks dead, he knew that. It didn't matter. He had to get her out.
His focus narrowed to digging—stab the dirt, shove in as far as he could, heave another patch away, stab, shove, heave. A sob caught in his chest when he unearthed a finger, then a hand. Discolored, decomposing, but certainly recognizable as a girl's hand.
"Drop the shovel! Hands up!"
The sharp voice froze his muscles in place. He couldn't have dropped the damn entrenching tool if he tried.Where is Blaze?
"What the hell is this?" A second voice joined the first, over to Damien's right.
He forced his head to turn. Two black-clothed figures stood on a boulder twenty feet away, silhouetted against the evening sky. Features blurred in the half light, but the outlines of weapons were clear enough.
"Some damn snoop. Don't know yet what kind." The first man lifted a rifle to his shoulder, the movement rustling the bush beside him. "You a fed, boy?"
"No," Damien managed softly.
"Hake! Get his ID!"
A rattle of rock behind Damien revealed a third man coming up behind him. He clutched the shovel hard in both hands, desperately willing his body to stay still, fighting the shuddering prickles that ran up his back.
Oh, God, no.
Not now.
Footsteps approached from behind. A hundred sinister millipedes swarmed up his back. The last sane bit of his mind registered the boom of an explosion in the near distance. Then the bush next to the first armed man burst into flames. Shots popped in what seemed random directions. Screams and angry bellows ripped through the air.
The steps sped up, nearly atop him. Damien leaped to his feet with a savage roar. The shovel connected with something hard. Pain creased his scalp, but he kept swinging the shovel, connecting hard again and again.
He fell to his knees, panting. Only his own harsh breathing and the sounds of crackling flames disturbed the night.
4
