Page 45 of Haunted By the Alien
“He’s been injured. It’s serious.”
Words follow me as I race through the maze of hallways. My heart threatens to explode from fear as my lungs constrict, making it nearly impossible to breathe, but I push on until I enter the E/R.
A hand lands on me from behind, but I shove it away. No one will keep me from Kobrik, no matter how bad it is.
“Kenzie, isn’t your shift over?” Dr. Wu asks as I race by him and thrust open the first curtained area. It’s an elderly man with a cut on his arm.
“Kobrik?” I call out as one-by-one I fling each of the curtains aside, startling patients and staff alike.
“He’s not here,” the marshal says behind me. “He’s in surgery.”
“Surgery.” It has to be bad if he’s already been rushed to surgery. I’ve only been gone from the E/R for ten, maybe fifteen minutes.
“Follow me.” The marshal heads outside.
“That’s not the way to surgery.” I turn toward the stairwell until a blue hand stops me.
“We moved him to our embassy. To get proper care.”
Proper care. Their medicine is more advanced than ours. “That’s good,” I mumble as the shock sets in and I follow the warrior outside.
We step into a spaceship. I’ve never been above the Earth. The closest I’ve come is hiking in Runyon Canyon and overlooking L.A. Helicopters are reserved for military and emergencies and airplanes practically don’t exist after the war. The wonder and awe of lifting a thousand feet into the air and zipping over L.A. doesn’t sink in. I’m scared shitless about Kobrik.
“Please, tell me what happened. Everything.”
“I don’t have all the facts yet, but he was shot by a male in the military. That’s another reason we brought him to our embassy. To ensure his safety. We took his prisoner as well. An og’dal. Kobrik called him Parsons.”
“Oh, my god. That’s the man that was working with Major Collins.”
“Collins is the name on the ID of the male Kobrik killed.”
“What? No, never mind. I don’t care about any of them. Just tell me about Kobrik. What’s his condition?”
“The og’dal stabbed him several times. The most serious was to his abdomen.”
I zone out, my mind sifting through all the stab wounds I’ve treated. Depending on the depth, length, angle, and position, it’s a survivable wound. That helps me relax, but not much. Nothing will until I see Kobrik for myself.
The city lights grow dim as we approach the outskirts of L.A. “Wait, you said something about Kobrik getting shot.”
When the marshal doesn’t answer, I take my eyes off the darkness below to take in his dour expression. “I’m a nurse. I can take it. Tell me.”
“Before Kobrik killed Major Collins, the major shot him. In the chest.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
KOBRIK
My chest hurts. As does my stomach and my leg. But krike, my horns feel drekking good.
That is rather odd. Especially since my eyes won’t open.
I must be dreaming.
“It’s been three days,” a male voice I don’t recognize says. “Go to the quarters that have been set up for you.”
“Which part of I’m not leaving him don’t you understand?” a lovely feminine voice replies with defiance.
Thatvoice… I can’t place it, but there’s safety in it. It doesn’t sound like my mother or my aunt. Younger, like my cousin Reeza. And soothing. Very soothing, like floating in a cool lake after a long battle.
