Walking Wolf Road (Wolf Road Chronicles Book 1) (40 page)

Beeping woke me.

That, and the dry ache deep in my throat.

When I finally persuaded my eyes to open, I blinked the bleari
ness out and tried to look around but the tracheal tube resisted the movement in a nauseatingly internal way. A bank of monitors blinked next to my I.V. drip, and I let my eyes sweep over the blue blanket that covered my body, the brace that held my left arm close to my chest, and the little white clip on my index finger. In the uncomfortable-looking chairs on the other side of the room, Mom was asleep in Dad’s lap, his head slumped and he breathed loudly as he slept, just shy of an actual snore.

I couldn’t speak with the tube down my throat, so I tried to sit up and a hot bolt of pain liquefied my muscles.

Ooh, SO not gonna try that one again…

I located the ‘call nurse’ button and reached for it with my good hand, trailing the tether that tied my finger to one of the machines. A minute or so later, a man with lightly grayi
ng hair and a goatee came in, a woman in lavender scrubs with a thick brown braid followed.

“Welcome back to the land of the living Jimmy. Good to see you awake,” he said in a gruff rumbly voice and used a penlight to check my pupils while the woman picked up a clipboard from beside my bed and wrote down stats from the various machines attached to me. I pointed over toward my parents with my meter-encumbered finger. He followed my gesture then nodded and stepped over to John and shook his shoulder gently.

John startled awake and looked around the room, before he noticed me looking at him. I raised my eyebrows and saluted him with my tethered fingers. He whispered my name as emotions I’d never seen in him before crashed through his wide blue eyes. He shook Mom awake and they rushed over to me.

“Jimmy!” Mom cried out as tears burst from her eyes and she threw her arms around me in a huge mom-hug. My eyes bulged as my shoulder flared like a hot poker and I flailed my arm. My reflexive gasp fought with the machine breathing for me and rewarded me with a hurried beeping from the E.K.G.

Thankfully, Mom got the picture, and stepped back into John’s arms. “I’m sorry baby, I got carried away…” and she laughed while tears dripped down her cheeks. John held her shoulders and she put her hands atop his.

I looked at the doctor and pointed at my breathing apparatus, and then threw my thumb over my shoulder. Universal sign language for ‘This. Out. Now.’

“You want that tube out?” he clarified, and I nodded with pleading eyes. “That should be fine. Nurse, could you please help me sit him forward…” They sat me up, and I clenched my eyes around the pain from my shoulder and side. “You okay son?” he asked, and I nodded despite the perspiration that filmed my skin.

He unhooked the machine from my mouthpiece and I got my first lungful of unfiltered hospital air, “Okay, we’re going to count to three, on two I want you to take a deep breath, and push out on three, understand?” I nodded again, and he grasped the end of the tube. “Here we go now, one… Two…” I sucked in a deep breath through the open tube, “And three…” and as I pushed out the air in my longs, he pulled the tube out of my throat. I felt the end of the tube climb up from impossibly deep inside my chest.

As soon as my throat was clear I coughed violently which pissed off the wound in my shoulder again. I reached up to hold my throat as I shivered from the pain. I really wanted to vomit, but thankfully I was able to hold my stomach in check as the nurse gave me some water. I took the little plastic cup with shaky hands and drank greedily. It didn’t quite cool the fire in my throat but dear lord it felt good!

“I was afraid we’d lost you…” I didn’t recognize the soft voice at first. I’d never heard John speak like that before.

I looked up at him and grinned, “C’mon, you’re not rid of me that easily…” I croaked in a horrifying parody of my voice, which sent me into another coughing fit.

John looked at me while the muscles in his jaw worked, it looked like he was chewing on words, and trying to find the ones he wanted to say. Finally, his blue eyes shimmered as he put his hand on my good shoulder and squeezed, “I’m proud of you son…”

I wanted to say something witty and sarcastic back at him, but I couldn’t make my voice work, so I just smiled at him instead and put my hand on his. “Gee Dad, if I’d’a known all it would take to make you proud of me was to pass P.E, and face an insane bloodthirsty zealot, I’d have done it sooner.”

He laughed. “You little shit…”

“Admit it; you wouldn’t want me any other way,” I teased as the nurse ran a loop of clear plastic tubing around my head and situated a piece in my nostrils to feed me oxygen.

He sighed, “Yeah, you’re probably right…”

I reached out and took Mom’s hand and squeezed it as John released me. “Where’s Loki, is she alright?”

“Loki’s here, she’s doing fine,” Mom said softly, “In far better shape than you I daresay. She’s been here with us as often as she could while we were waiting for you to wake up. The bullet broke one of her ribs, but they removed it fine and she’s recovering.”

My brain tried to regain control over everything that transpired. I swallowed hard and winced. I remembered everything perfectly—everything.

I noticed the light coming in under the drawn curtains of the window. “How long was I out?” I asked suspiciously.

Mom sighed and her smile slipped. “The three and a half longest days of my life…”

“Then where’s Jacob?”

“He’s staying with his friend Adam, telling everybody about his brother the hero.” She smiled at me and distinct discomfort bloomed inside me. I didn’t feel like a hero…

I changed the topic, “When can I see Loki?”

“Nurse Catlynn, would you mind getting Jessica for us?” Mom smiled at the nurse, who nodded and left the room. A couple minutes later, Geri pushed Loki through the door in a wheelchair.

My breath caught as I saw those familiar emerald eyes. Eyes I thought I’d said goodbye to forever in that dirty school closet. I strained my arm out for her as far as the pain would let me, and at the first touch of her skin, joy flooded me. Her hands shook but she leaned forward in her chair to rub her cheek into my hand as the hot water of her tears fell through my fingers. I closed my eyes and heaved a deep breath, my chest tight and yet liberated at the same time. She turned her face to kiss my palm, and looked up at me with glistening eyes and ruddy cheeks.

“You son of a bitch, don’t you ever do that again!” she cried.

“I’m sorry—” I started.

“I thought I’d lost you!” she screamed at me and clenched my hand so hard it would have hurt if I didn’t already have bullet and knife wounds, not to mention morphine.

I looked away, “You almost did. They… sent me back, they wouldn’t let me go.”

“Who?”

“Corwin… and Fen…” my mouth stretched tight in a grimace as I clenched my eyes against the tears. My sobs aggravated my wounds but I couldn’t stop them, and Loki cried anew. Inside, I silently mourned for
Qhipe
too. Geri looked away, and shrank into himself.

“I thought you were just down for the weekend?” I asked him.

“Well, I figured I’d stay a little longer since my friends just got shot.” He shrugged, and held himself low.

“Oh, you and I
so
have a score to settle,” I growled, and a look of panic spurted through his eyes, “Suffice to say: it’s not all in our heads.” He frowned, puzzled, and everybody looked at me like I was speaking in tongues.

“Okay, enough, the suspense is killing me. Now that everyone’s here, will somebody please tell me what the hell happened?”

They took turns telling different parts of the story.

“That was such a bullshit move Jimmy, telling me you love me right before going on a suicide mission!” Loki griped. “I had no idea if you were even alive until your parents came to see me after my surgery. The police interviewed us all, but until they find Jack, you’re the only one that knows what happened in the Library. They found you shot, stabbed, knife still in your side, bleeding and unconscious on a pile of your own shredded clothes.”

So they hadn’t found his body. Well, yet anyway.

“The police are baffled, nothing makes sense.” Mom muttered, “They found three different blood samples on the school floor, yours, his, and a third that tested as canine. One of the neighbors said they saw a black dog follow him from the school, someone else said they heard howling, and now the tabloids are having a field day claiming there was a hell-hound or some other supernatural nonsense.” Loki and Geri’s jaws dropped open and they gaped at me. I looked at them and nodded ever so slightly while Wolf flashed in my eyes.

“Okay, so what’s the final tally? Damage report please?” I steered the conversation away from carnivorous lunar activities.

“The newspaper said Jack’s first victim was his
dad; he shot him in his own living room.” Loki said, “Tracy Walsh, Patricia Summers, Randy Price, and Officer Jenson are all dead. That fucker used Bo as a shield and shot Jenson through him…”

“Bo
not dead?” I asked.

“Bo’s—” Loki started, and the doctor picked up when she faltered.

“He’s in a coma, like you were. He’s still hanging on for now, but he’s unresponsive. He suffered a serious blow to the head, and the lung he was shot through collapsed. A machine is breathing for him right now. He made it through surgery, but some of us are afraid he might be locked in a vegetative state.”

His body’s alive, but no one’s home? It might just be possible…

No one seemed to notice that my eyes had focused just a little beyond the room as Loki continued, “I think the paper said that there were about sixty injuries, some just from panic or broken glass, ten were serious though. Four fatalities… So far anyway.” She sighed and pressed her face into my hand again.

I twisted my hand and pulled her head into my shoulder while I looked at the doctor. “Hey Doc, is there any chance I could see Bo?”

He crossed his arms as a stern crease formed on his forehead. “Not right now, we still have to finish checking you out.” I focused and pushed at him with my shifting energy, “Well, maybe later, if his parents are alright with it.” Handy.

“Well then, let’s get this show on the road. Time’s wasting, and Bo can’t afford it.” I smiled, free for the first time of any overshadowing fear.

The shadow from my dream, the shapeless darkness that pursued me, was finally gone. While hope remained, there was one more soul that I wouldn’t let that madman tear from me.

The doctor seemed surprised, “Are you sure you’re ready? You’ve been through a terrible ordeal—”

“And I’ve had sixty-plus hours of beauty sleep.” I cut him off, “I’ve had plenty of rest, but I would like some food, please.”

He shook his head bemused and left as Officer Parker stepped in with another officer I’d never met. They chased everyone out, and took my statement. It took all of my skill to blend the line between truth and lie. It seemed to work though. I didn’t try to explain more than I needed to, so they accepted my version with a minimum of cross-examination. I didn’t even try to explain why my clothes were shredded; I just said I’d already passed out. I didn’t know why he left either, but he was obviously unhinged and muttered something about dogs as I blacked out.

As they got up to leave, Officer Parker hesitated. “Jimmy, you can’t tell anyone, but I think you deserve to know. We ran forensics on Jack’s rifle, and the barrel markings matched the bullet that killed your friend.”

“I thought it would,” I muttered, “Jack said he was aiming at me.”

After they left, Loki and I finally had a moment alone. There was so much I wanted to say, so much I wanted to ask, I couldn’t even think where to begin. Just rubbing her hand with my thumb was a blessing. “So, how long have you uh… liked me, like this?” God, I sounded so awkward…

“How long have I had a crush on you?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Well, pretty much all along. I don’t know, it was weird. I mean, at first you drove me nuts with your pity-parties, and you don’t exactly fit my usual type. But it was like, right away, there was something about you that just… fit. Almost like I knew you, and knew I loved you, long before I ever met you. Your face was so familiar, and before and after you lost all that weight, nothing changed to me. I hid it to try and keep Fen off your tail, but yeah… what about you?”

“
Look, you don’t honestly think I had girls fawning all over me did you? You were the first girl I’d ever met who was both beautiful,
and
would give me the time of day. You pretty much hook-line-and-sinkered me the day you tackled me…”

“Ugh, you would remember that wouldn’t you!” she cried.

“Damn right! And I’ll tease you about it ‘till the day I die.”

“Which is
not
going to be any time soon got it? I took a freakin’ bullet for your ass, and now your soul is mine.” she said and clenched my hand to her chest. “All mine!”

Several hours, a multitude of tests, and most of my patience later, the doctor walked back into the room and flipped through some papers. “I just don’t get it,” he muttered, “The way you and Jessica have bounced back from your injuries and surgeries is nothing short of miraculous. I just can’t figure out why…”