She pressed one hand to his chest and wormed the other beneath him to find the entrance wound on his back. She pulled in a deep centering breath.
A sweet half-smile in a pale, thin face beneath red brown hair flashed into her mind. Lydie had tried to smile at her as she’d pulled the collar free.
Lena’s centering breath faltered and her eyes flooded. She gasped it back and drew in a second shaky breath.
She focused her will on the Dust within Trevor. It wouldn’t be fast. Blood filled his pierced lung. The Dust would have to work a tandem job of healing the flesh and removing the blood that would otherwise drown him. She kept it focused, ignoring the sounds of movement and voices around her.
Trevor’s chest rose then fell on a sharp, clear intake of breath. Her hand fell away from his chest. She struggled to free her other hand until Trevor felt her movements beneath his shoulder and rolled over. He sat up and ran one shaking hand up across the spot on his chest where there had been a hole moments before.
“Trev, can you stand?” Roddric asked the man, voice low. “Can you walk?”
Trevor nodded. “I think I could run.”
“Good.” Alex said grimly. He pulled Lena to her feet, his arms sliding around her, offering his strength.
She gratefully took it. She leaned into him, pressing her face against his chest. After a long moment, she lifted her head to look around, her vision hazy. They all stared at her. Even Jackson.
“I’m sorry I zapped you.”
Jackson shook his head. “It’s okay. I guess I got off easy. That was a really big boom.” His attention swept along Alex’s arms around her, and his jaw tightened.
“We’ve got to go now.” Alex stepped away. He leaned over and picked up one of the smaller girls. “There’s a boat coming around that bend any minute, and there’s no way the prison didn’t hear the fight.”
Marissa was still tucked into Rose’s arms. Lena wandered back over to Lydie. Were they going to leave her? They were not going to leave her.
She squatted down and scooped up the smaller girl. The little girl’s limp body was heavy, but she managed to stand with her.
Alex sighed, the sound full of regret. “Lena, you can’t.”
“I can. I am.” She raised her chin and held tighter to Lydie.
Jackson stood back, but he shook his head. At Alex’s refusal, or at her desire to bring Lydie with them?
“You have to be practical,” Jackson began.
Her resolve hardened. She shook her head. “I have to be practical? Like you’re practical? If he told you to leave me behind, would you do it because it’s practical?”
Jackson blanched. He turned away.
“I wouldn’t leave you behind,” Alex growled.
“And how is she different? She’s not. I’m bringing her back to be buried. I will not leave her here so they can dispose of her like garbage, like she didn’t matter. She mattered!”
Roddric pushed past Alex. The Neo-barb leaned down and gently pulled at Lydie.
Lena resisted, pulling away from him with a furious groan, nearly stumbling to wrest Lydie away.
Roddric shook his head at her, making soothing noises. “I’m going to carry her,” he told her. His voice was soft. “There’s a spot, along our way home. We lost one of ours.” He nodded to the men behind him, solemn-faced. “He was snake-bit. We’ll take her to him and put her down in the earth with him. She won’t be alone.”
Lena felt her chin quivering and sucked air in through her nose. “Do you promise?” she asked him, not caring if she sounded like a child. She knew from personal experience that a Neo-barb oath wasn’t given lightly. “Promise!”
“I promise.” He reached out and took Lydie, draping her limp body across his chest and shoulder. As he turned and moved back through his men, he stopped first in front of Alex. “And you call us barbarians? We don’t leave our dead behind. Not ever.”
Alex’s jaw tightened, but he nodded.
As one, they all turned and moved across the rocky ground to the south. Lena, standing in the midst of them, allowed herself to be swept along. Her feet moved automatically, but her mind was far away with an unknown, faceless woman in another Zone, a woman who had named a baby girl Lydie and who would never know her daughter was gone.
***
They picked up the agent from the base camp along the way, Alex darting off to the side to order him out with them. The agent’s knowledge of a series of lava tubes for them to use kept them ahead of their pursuers in spite of the extra weight of the girls. But staying ahead meant no stops. Even when Roddric set Lydie’s body down briefly to pull a blanket from his pack, tuck it around her small body, and roll her in it, the others continued trotting. He settled her back in his arms again and caught up before the others were too far ahead.