Page 19 of Never Give Up

“Help.” I hope he can hear my whisper, because it’s all I can manage over the shards of glass currently scraping down my throat.

Shock first, followed quickly by rage cross his face before he catches himself, and then it goes blank. “Get the EMT in here, now.”

“Fuck that, Jake. Move.” Brian is behind Jake, even though I can’t see him behind the taller deputy.

I lock eyes with Jake and manage to shake my head, pleading for him to keep Brian out of the room. I can’t let him see me like this.

I can’t let him see me broken.

He can’t watch me die.

“No. Go finish clearing the house.” Jake bars the door and doesn’t let him in.

A stream of officers I’ve known and worked with from state police and Birch PDdocome into the room, but not him.

Brian swears and a loud thud as he hits the wall would make me cringe if I wasn’t barely holding on. Jake moves into the room and picks up a towel from the floor. He presses it to my stomach to stop the bleeding, and more tears fall down my cheeks.

I can’t feel anything.

“Damn it, Jake, I need to know. Is she alive?” Panic threads in Brian’s voice, and it crushes what is left of my spirit into dust.

I’m going to die.

One second stretches for eternity, and I’m staring into Jake’s eyes, unable to blink. Unable to say goodbye.

“She’s alive,” Jake calls into the silent hall beyond the EMTs who are trying to move him away from me. “Go, Brian. You shouldn’t see her like this.” The EMT takes over for Jake but he’s right there, cradling my head.

“Jake.” Brian’s still standing there in the hall, just outside. Just far enough away that I can’t see him. “I can’t lose—”

“Go, Brian.” Jake cuts him off. “Just go.”

I find my voice as the footsteps fade. “Window. Woods.” That’s all I manage to get out.

Jake shouts into the hall, “Brian, the assailant fled through her window. Let’s go.”

They leave. Deputies, state police, and Birch PD. All men and women who I’ve worked with through the years. Every single one of them filled with righteous indignation, determined to hunt the man who hurt me. I hear them. Hear them all. But I can’t say a word.

I still can’t feel anything.

The EMTs I’m left with are whispering, talking about me like I’m a patient instead of their friend. Like I can’t hear them. They talk about moving me but can’t because I’m not stable. They talk about how my arm is most likely broken and how they don’t know how I’m alive.

I’m not.

Not really.

I held on as long as I could.

But now?

Now, I welcome the darkness I can only find in oblivion.

7

BRIAN

“Paul, you guys finding anything?”I speak into the portable mic on my shoulder and listen for the response.

“Negative. The dog lost the scent across the stream. We’ve got the ambulance on scene preparing to transport now; Jake’s at the house making sure the paramedics are secure as they get her ready for transport. They said she broke her arm struggling against him. And there’s damage to her trachea.”

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