Boom!
The sound reverberated in my head. Panting, I jolted upright. Sweat poured from me, every one of my pulse points pounding to the beat of a riotous drum.
“You’re all right. I’m here.”
Cole’s voice. Strong hands urged me back onto the mattress.
I blinked to clear my vision, but only darkness greeted me. “Where am I?” I croaked, the words scraping against a throat gone raw.
“Ankh’s. He looked you over. Said you’d bruised a few ribs, had a few cuts, but were otherwise fine.”
As the surge of panic eased, aches and pangs battled for my attention, and memories surfaced. I’d survived another car crash, but others had died. I’d been hunted, nearly killed. I might have killed another human being. Tears burned the backs of my eyes, and I gave a humiliating sniffle—or six.
Cole linked our fingers and squeezed.
The crack in my heart widened a little more, and warmth seeped through...until I remembered something else. He’d come to the forest with Veronica. I tugged my hand free.
“Ali,” he said. A pause. Then, “Can you give us a minute?” he snarled.
Whoa. Where had—
“Tell us what happened, Miss Bell,” Mr. Ankh said, and I realized Cole hadn’t been talking to me.
I peered beyond his shoulder. Or tried to. The darkness was too thick to penetrate.
“Am I blind?” I shrieked.
“What?” Cole said. “No. Of course not. If you’re having trouble seeing, it’s because your eyes are a little swollen from the smoke and we put some salve on them. Don’t worry. You’ll heal.”
Okay. Okay, then. “I have to call the coffee shop. Tell them I won’t be in.”
“Already taken care of,” Cole said. “I told them you’d been in an accident.”
“Nana—”
“Knows you’re alive and well. I’ve stayed in contact with her and told her I’d try to have you home by eleven.”
“What time is it?”
“Eight.”
Three more hours; then I’d go home. Could I keep it together?
“Miss Bell,” Mr. Ankh prompted.
I still wasn’t his biggest fan, but the story poured out of me. I told him about Dr. Bendari. I told him about the photos and what I’d learned about my condition and the antidote. I told him about Justin and his sister. About the shooter, and the two drivers, and the chase through the forest.
I wished I could see his face, judge his expression.
“We found the photos in your pack,” he said. “The others must have burned in the fire.”
Some were better than none. “Which ones did I grab?”
“One of Justin’s sister. Four of an Anima facility, and two of a computer screen with a formula they used for what I’m guessing is an improvement on the antidote.”
Not a bad haul.
Mr. Holland cleared his throat, alerting me to his presence. “The shooter Cole brought in escaped his cage in this facility—the dungeon—and we have no idea how. He was weakened from blood loss. We don’t think he could have survived for long out on his own without medical attention, but to our knowledge no dead bodies have been found. He could still be out there.”
What Mr. Holland was trying to say without panicking me: the guy could still be after me. Just then, in the safety of the room, I didn’t care.
“Now I’m going to check your eyes,” Mr. Ankh said.
Footsteps. He gently wiped my eyes with a tissue, then flashed a muted light in front of my face. “I don’t understand—ah, there we go. You’re finally responding.” As he continued to shine that light, the darkness began to thin at last.
“It’s getting better already,” I said.
“Good. We ran some more tests and found your antizombie toxin is significantly lower.”
“The new antidote helped, then.”
“New?”
“There are vials of it in my pack.”
“I’ll take one and see if I can replicate it. I’ll send the others home with you.”