Revolution (Collide, #4)(25)

"Whatever," Miguel said and gingerly picked up the dog around his middle like a soiled baby. "Nice doggy."

"It's a Jack Russell, Miguel, not a Doberman."

"Does it have teeth?" Miguel asked as he held it to his chest and grimaced as he climbed the ladder. "Then it's a Doberman for all I care."

Billings laughed as he climbed and I wanted to punch him. There was no time to laugh. He had no idea the hell that boy was about to go through. Only two people really understood what it was like. Sherry and Miguel.

Sherry…she was going to be devastated and pissed and angry. I growled and groaned as I jumped from the edge and wobbled to the elevator.

"What's up with you, mate?" Miguel asked.

"I jumped on the Marker to get him off Franklin."

He hissed through his teeth. "Oi, I heard about that from Ann. She said it sucks balls. That true?"

"Dude," I complained and chuckled in pain at the same time. "Shut up."

We emerged and I held my breath at the chaos about to erupt.

"Laura!" Ryan yelled. Franklin was out for the count still and Laura's eyes bugged. She ran toward us.

"What happened?"

As Ryan explained to her what exactly had happened…and what had to be done, Sherry ran to us, too. She covered her mouth shaking her head and glanced at me. I nodded and she squeezed her eyes shut tight for a second before standing straight. She took a deep breath and then yelled, "Marissa!"

Marissa, who'd been standing back giving them space, rushed to Sherry's side. She gasped at the dog, calling Sherry's attention to it. She balked at it, but shook it away and focused. Sherry grasped Laura's arm and said, "Laura, go with Marissa."

Laura shook her head, but Sherry stood her ground. "Laura, I know, ok? I know. But you don't need to be here right now. What they have to do him, you won't want to see, trust me."

She looked at her funny. "Why?"

"I had this done to me," Sherry whispered. "He'll be ok, I promise, but we need to help him now and you need to go so as soon as we're done, you can be there for him."

Laura looked at Eli and he shrugged, wiping his face to remove the look of anguish. He failed though. Marissa took Eli and Laura to the back. There was no way to remove them from the room, but they didn't need to see it at least. I took Sherry's hand. She jolted at my touch and I realized how worried and focused she was.

The girl who had taken Mrs. Trudy's place, and then in the past few days had lost her way a little, was back. She was back big time. I squeezed her hand and we pushed everyone aside. "Miguel, Jeff, Ryan, come on. Let's take him to the makeshift bathroom."

"I'm coming!" Calvin yelled and fought against Ryan's back. "I'm coming, too!"

"No, you're not," Ryan told him harshly. "This isn't your fault, Cal, no matter how much you want to believe it is. I'm not letting you come and torture yourself. We'll be done in a little bit and then you can sit with him."

"It was my fault. He wanted to come along because you let me help last time and I bragged about how cool it was. He didn't want to be left behind again."

The dog barked and yelped at Calvin's screaming.

Ryan sighed and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I know, Cal, but you can't come. I'm sorry."

Calvin huffed and sat down right there in the middle of the floor, his stake laid across his lap. The dog licking at his ear and arm.

We all gathered around Franklin, who had yet to wake up, and knelt at his side. Ryan pulled the sheets together so we'd have visual privacy, but no one was safe from the screams that were about to come from the kid.

"Where's Jeff?" Sherry asked.

"Right here," he answered and pushed the sheet away with his back as he came in. He had a knife in his hand and he was getting the blade red with a Zippo. Sherry grunted as she put her hand on Franklin's forehead. "It's going to be ok, big guy. Hopefully he stays asleep."

"No one can sleep through this, love," Miguel said and looked her in the eyes. "Right?"

She nodded, her tears begging to be released, but she refused them. Miguel reached over and took her hand. "His scratch is so small. It'll hurt, but there's not much area to cover. It'll be quick for him." He leaned back. "He's a big boy. Let's get on with it, Jeff."

Jeff took steps of a man that wanted no part in what he was about to do. I agreed with him. Sherry held Franklin's head. I took his shoulders to stay near Sherry. Though I was worried about Franklin, I hoped this wouldn't cause problems for Sherry, flashbacks or whatever.

"All right," Jeff said and leaned close and he pulled the Zippo off the blade. "Here we go."

What's This Life For?



Chapter 11


Sherry



I cleaned the wound and maneuvered around Laura as she gripped his hand and sat there in the chair. It creaked every time she moved, making me want to sigh with the bleakness of it all.

Franklin had woken up doing our…procedure. Oh, yes, he had. And it had been agonizing and ugly. I hadn't thought about using Lily's gift until that moment. But she told us that she couldn't 'fix' that kind of wound. That she only fixed human inflicted wounds, not supernatural ones. I thought back and realized that was true.