Page 38 of Chaos & Carnage

“Good. That was a smart call.”

He nods, the nod of a natural-born leader that has me wondering if we should give him more responsibility after all of this shit has been sorted.

“I was looking for you and the others when I came across Marcus.” He swallows roughly, the only sign that he’s not as unaffected as he seems. However, his voice is strong, showing no hint of his concern. “His legs are pinned under a steel beam. I tried to lift it, but I couldn’t.”

I clap him on the shoulder, and he turns his head to look at me. “You did really good. I’ll have a look and we’ll find a way to get him out.”

Another curt nod, a moment of silence passing before the pressing question I’ve been trying not to ask comes out. “You didn’t see Sawyer?”

“No.” He gives me an apologetic look, but I already knew that was going to be the answer. He’d have said otherwise if he had found her. “Nor Dante or Enzo. Maybe they got out in time.”

“Yeah, maybe.” I can only hope that’s the case.

“Over there.” Bones points, and following the line of his finger, I find Marcus lying on the ground, struggling to push a long, steel beam that has fallen across his thighs, pinning him beneath it.

“Looks like you need a hand,” I jest when we reach him, trying to make light of the situation.

“Aye,” he chuckles. “If you wouldn’t mind.”

Bones hurries around to his other side. “On three,” I tell them, getting into position and ensuring I have a solid grip on the beam.

“One.”

“Two.”

“Three.”

Together, the three of us push—well, mostly Bones and me. The muscles in my arms and shoulders strain, and we’ve only managed to lift the beam by about an inch when Marcus grunts in pain. “Ow, fuck.”

My head snaps around as I scan his body, searching for the source of his pain. “Fuck,” I hiss when I spot the dark-colored substance quickly gathering around my boots, my voice low so as not to alert Marcus.

Bones gives me a questioning look, and I flick my gaze down to my feet. His eyes widen when he sees the blood pooling, and I tell him quietly, “Lower your side back down and have a look under mine, will ya?”

Nodding, he does as I say before ducking down to look under the beam, murmuring, “shit,” before he glances up at me with a grave expression.

“There’s a metal rod sticking out of his thigh.”

Fuck.Fuck, fuck, fuck.

I make sure to keep what I’m thinking off my face as I lower the beam back down. “Attached to the beam, I take it?” It would explain why the blood flow has slowed now that I’ve set it back down.

Bones' nod is solemn.

“Alright, man,” I say, raising my voice to a normal level as I turn back to a pale-faced Marcus. “Some bad news.”

“Just give it to me,” he grunts, slightly breathless either from pain or blood loss, or both.

“Seems you’ve got some rebar going into your leg. You’re bleeding out when we lift the beam.” Like a man used to receiving grim news, he just nods, accepting what I’ve told him. Still, I clap him on the shoulder, waiting until his eyes meet mine before emphasizing, “But we are going to get you out… then rush you to the hospital before you can bleed out all over the back of the Escalade and ruin Cain’s leather seats.”

He barks out a strained but genuine laugh. “I trust you. I guess I’ll just hang here while I let you do all the heavy lifting for a change.”

I snort. “Yeah, you take a well-deserved break. Can I get you a magazine or a cup of tea, perhaps?”

He scans the wreckage around us. “Well, I wouldn’t say no to some whiskey if you manage to find a bottle.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” I laugh, before growing serious and focusing back on his leg.

“We need to stem the flow,” I explain to Bones as I undo my belt buckle and slide the belt out of the loops. It takes some work, but I manage to thread it under his thigh. “This is going to hurt,” I warn Marcus, not giving him time to brace before I cinch the belt tight around his thigh.

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