A vertical brace bolted beside Tower Five's lower service hatch climbed into the ward rail. Seven taps moved up the iron, and Ty's loose rib knocked against Nessa's marked plate with each beat. Bed six's wheel skidded against its wheel cup; Tressa caught the breathing hose before the cot could drag it across the old woman's face.
The pulse shook her right wrist inside its cage. Blood slicked the split glove around her missing little finger; she closed her left hand around the plate and kept it against Ty's rib.
"If I loosen this strap, bed six rolls. The hose wound around her throat last time," Tressa said. She kept one hand on the hose and the other on Ty's buckle.
Jade had Ty's skull and chest against her shoulder, his pelvis gathered against her hip. His right hand still held the grooved rib at the rail. "I'll take Ty's hand and rib if you keep the strap end in the wheel cup."
