Chapter 147
- Evan -
Baby's fur bristled, her wolf-sized Pomeranian form glowing faintly in the dark as she nuzzled Duke's leg, ready to sprint.
Duke nodded once. "We'll be back fast."
Micah winced, clutching her injured arm. "Faster than fast, please."
Josh didn't even look away from Becky. "Hurry."
Duke shifted—light biting around his outline—and in a blink, he wasn't human anymore. A massive white Doberman, shoulders broad, eyes sharp as flint. In their animal forms, they could move much faster than they could on foot as humans.
The nurse stepped back in, asking for Duke, and Baby rushed out, paws pounding down the hallway.
It left us in the suffocating quiet.
Josh kept squeezing the bag—
Steady... steady...
His breath synced with it, his voice barely a whisper—like a prayer he didn't want anyone to hear.
Micah stood just inside the doorway, leaning on Tomo for support. James guarded the hall, watching for anything demonic that might try to push through.
The nurse who spoke earlier wrung her hands anxiously. "Please, let us sew up your arm." She asked Micah.
The nurse nodded, relieved—then hesitated, lowering her voice. Micah sighed. "Yeah, that's fine."
"And when you're ready...the other girl just across the hall. She hasn't made a sound."
The nurse's words hit harder than they should have.
The other girl... I knew who she meant. Kaysi. Something twisted, a dull pain in my chest. I had not checked on her even once since we got here.
Looking at Josh as he sat there keeping Becky alive with sheer force of will. His jaw clenched, eyes burning—not with fire but fear. Real fear—there was nothing little about the trauma he faced with her before and now.
He wasn't leaving her side on the cold, hard ground next to the cot.
I admit I know why I hadn't moved either.
If I opened that door...
If I look at her right now...
And she wasn't—
I swallowed hard, shoving the thought down where all the others lived.
"Evan." Micah's voice was soft and strained. "You need to go."
Tomo shifted her weight so Micah could lean heavier on him.
James looked back, seeing the look in my eyes. "I'll make sure they patch her up," he said quietly. "You go."
Josh didn't look at me, but his voice did the breaking for him.
"Please... Just check on her."
That was all it took. I know the worry was on everyone's mind. I was the only one not really doing anything right now.
I nodded once and tore myself from the room. The hallway felt too long. Too narrow. Every step sounded like judgment—each one mocking me. You should've gone sooner.
A nurse stood by glancing over as I passed, his expression unreadable. Maybe pity. Maybe a warning.
The door to Kaysi's room was cracked just enough for the darkness to seep through the gap, like the room itself was holding its breath.
I pushed it open.
Kaysi lay utterly still, hair fanned out across the pillow like spilled ink. Pale. Quiet. Too quiet. I didn't notice it before; she looked thinner, like she had lost weight in the battle.
Not lifeless but fading fast.
There was a chair pulled beside her—close enough, like a family member who refused to leave. The nurse must've set it here.
I sank into it.
For a moment, all I could do was look at her. The girl who fought storms and demons and hell... Now lie so small beneath thin hospital blankets.
"Kaysi..." My voice cracked, barely audible. "I'm here. The dome is gone... We finally made it back."
I reached out, hesitating before my fingers brushed her wrist. Her skin is cold.
"I only wish we could have come sooner," I whispered. "I would rather you had stayed here and not risked it in the last battle. You were not fully recovered. An...and I stole what little energy you had to save all of us. Thank you again, and I am sorry."
Something in me splintered.
The words stuck in my throat, heavy and useless. Apologies didn't mean anything when the person you were saying them to couldn't even hear you.
I bowed my head, letting my forehead rest against the back of her hand. Just for a second. Just long enough to feel something other than the cold.
A breath shuddered out of me.
"Please..." I whispered. "I need you to stay. Even if you can't wake up yet... Just stay."
A soft knock tapped against the doorframe.
I straightened up fast, wiping my face with the heel of my hand.
It wasn't a nurse.
It was James—breathing hard, eyes wide.
"They're back," he said. "But...Evan, you need to see this."
My stomach dropped. I gave Kaysi's hand one last squeeze and forced myself out. When I stepped into the hallway, I could feel the tension in the air.
I heard it.
An engine.
A real, running engine even after the dome's destruction.
James led me toward the front entrance, and Micah stood ready.
A construction truck—huge, dust-caked, dented—sat rumbling in the center of the room. The headlights spilled sharp white across the floor, cutting through the choking dark.
A working engine.
Inside the dome.
Even after the EMP.
Baby jumped down from the passenger's side, shifting back into her human form mid-stride, breath rasping with exhaustion. Duke slammed the driver's door shut, also back in human form, wiping soot from his forehead.
The nurses came running out, staring.
"H...How is this possible?" One whispered.
James leaned close. "It was hidden out of the dome. Parked a block outside the wall. The corrupted construction crew must've left it prepped to escape if the dome failed."
My chest tightened. Of course.
Some of the workers must have been afraid and unsure of their bosses' plan, or something else made them scared.
Josh's voice ripped through the room, ragged and frantic:
"Move! Becky needs to go—NOW!"
He was sitting on a stretcher; the nurses had slid Becky one to him, still pumping white knuckles with tear streaks dried on his cheeks. But the second he arrived at the truck, it was as if a fire had been lit behind his eyes—desperation turning into momentum.
Baby slid beside him. "Keep pumping. Do NOT stop."
Baby grabbed the stretcher and lifted her onto the flatbed.
Micah whispered behind me. "He's running on less than fumes."
Tomo murmured, "And she is the only thing keeping him standing."
The Duke turned to me.
"Evan, go get her... Get Kaysi."
I dashed off; I didn't wait for a second more.
I sprinted down the hall and scooped Kaysi into my arms, her body so weightless it was terrifyingly limp. Her head dropped against my shoulder—no murmur, no twitch, no sign she could feel any of it.
I could feel that all the skin was cold, yet her body was burning up. He has a fever somewhere.
The nurse informed me that when we got to the hospital, we should tell them she might be going septic and into organ failure.
I swallowed my rising panic and ran as fast as I ever had back toward the truck.
I arrived; Becky and Josh were already loaded into the back, with Josh hovering over her like a shield, still compressing the bag. Micah and James are in the back on the wheel.
Baby guided me to lay Kaysi next to her, adjusting the blankets, checking her pulse with a trembling hand.
"Good," Baby whispered tight under her breath. "Get in! Every second counts.
"There is not enough for me." Tomo sighed, "Just keep me informed; come back and give me an update. I will wait here for you and your uncle when he gets back."
I grabbed the rail, pulling myself up just as Duke slammed the tailgate.
He jogged around to the driver's seat, shouting over the roar.
"Hold on! This thing wasn't meant to be driven like a race car, but we're about to put it to the test.
The truck lurched violently forward the moment Duke slammed the door shut, the whole frame rattling like it hadn't been driven in years. Baby steadied herself with one hand on the metal siding while her other kept bracing Kaysi's shoulder, checking her breathing every few minutes.
Josh continued to pump the bag. Not once did his arm shake, nor did he slow down. Didn't blink. Didn't breathe for himself unless Becky breathed with him.
Micah leaned over the seat, clutching her newly stitched arm, eyes darting between Becky and Kaysi like she was trying to protect both at once.
James braced his feet on the back panel, holding both the girls in the middle. "Floor it—Duke!"