Page 59 of Rarely Pure and Never Simple
"Blaze." Damien managed a shaky whisper. "He's here."
"How bad?"
"I don't…" Damien forced himself to look. "Not too bad, I think? His head's bleeding a little."
Crawling again, Blaze shoved through the grass to them, his hands carefully checking Shudder over even as he snarled, "Damn stupid moronic idiot thing to do! Eugene McKenzie, you hear me?"
Shudder put a hand to his forehead. "I hear you. Don't yell."
"No one's yelling." Damien slid a hand under his shoulder, preparing to help him up. "Can you move? They probably know we're out here now."
"I'm okay. I'm okay." Shudder rolled to his elbow, giving Damien a good look at the gash on the side of his head and the cuts on his hands. He made it as far as his hands and knees before whispering, "I'm not okay."
"Fuck." Blaze was up on one knee, weapon in either hand as he peered over the grass. "Yeah, there's guards at the wall now, aiming this way. They either spotted us when the mine blew, or we tripped an alarm with it. Damien, can you get him out of here?"
"I can't just—"
"Right behind you." Blaze flung an arm toward the rocks and the trail that led to their vehicles. "Go!"
Damien dragged one of Shudder's arms across his shoulders and heaved him up with an arm around his waist. If he'd been just a little bigger, maybe he could've slung Shudder onto his back. As it was, with Shudder's head flopping around, Damien didn't have any confidence that he could get them moving.
The first shot from the compound spewed up dirt not six inches from Damien's foot. The lightning rush of adrenaline sent his doubts flying, too, as he urged his half-conscious charge into a shambling jog. Behind him, Blaze returned fire, and Damien hoped, retreated with each shot.
Blood pounding in his ears, still Damien strained to listen for pursuit—vehicles approaching, the thud of rotors signaling small aircraft—but only the gunfire sounded behind them, the firing from the walls ever more distant.
He got them to relative safety behind the rocks and managed a controlled fall when Shudder collapsed. Too pale, his gaze wandering, Shudder's assessment ofnot okayseemed an understatement. The cuts on his hands didn't appear deep, but the gash along the side of his head had a darkening bruise around the front edge.
The thud of Blaze's boots reached them before he did. When he appeared, whole and still running, to throw himself down behind the rocks with them, Damien's heart gave a hard, relieved thump. He took the time to grip Blaze's arm hard, his warmth reassuring and solid.
Blaze leaned in to touch foreheads, still breathing hard, thumb brushing a bit of grass from Damien's cheek. "You all right? Those fuckers didn't hit you?"
"Yes. No." Damien shook his head. "I'm fine. They did a good job of missing."
"Hey, I'll take incompetence if it gets you not shot." Blaze kissed the tip of his nose before he sat back. "Hate to say this, but we have to keep moving. How bad is he?"
"I don't think we'll get him walking right now."
"Great. You pick the worst times to be a diva, Shuds." Blaze let out something between a snort and a sigh as he hoisted Shudder onto his shoulders. "We should be okay. They seemed more interested in driving us off than following."
With no pursuit and the day waning, Damien had come to the same conclusion. "Blaze, you're limping."
"Yeah, well. The fuckers weren't quite as good at missing me. Just a nick, Twitch. I'm fine."
Damien kept his thoughts about macho posturing to himself. They didn't have time to argue, andhecertainly couldn't carry Shudder over the uneven ground. He had to think. Regroup. Abandoning the kidnapped children was out of the question, but they needed a different approach.And probably a little help.
8
WHERE FRAGILE THINGS ARE LOVED
"Is he all right?" Damien asked in a hushed voice.
Blaze looked up from where he was settling Shudder in the front seat of the Raptor. "Don't know. Still out. Probably concussed."
"I wish we could take him to a hospital."
"Yeah. Well." Blaze belted him in and tucked several blankets around him. "He'd be arrested." He straightened far enough to lean his head on the top of the car. "Can you pilot a skimmer?"
Before he could stop himself, Damien put a hand on Blaze's back, disturbed that he was sagging with exhaustion. "I can. I've used them before over rough terrain." He found himself rubbing Blaze's back gently. "But we're out of sight here. I'm exhausted. You're exhausted. Shudder's hurt. I should look at your leg."
