Sleepless (Bird of Stone), page 30
I unhook the restraints on my other wrist, then free my legs. When I jump down on the floor to check on Alex, I’m already in PJ mode. That’s good because PJ Nick is calm, efficient and self-assured while the Nick that’s in love with Alex is hotheaded and vengeful. I carefully roll her onto her back, being mindful of her head and neck. I do a blood sweep, looking for telltale signs of injury. I find none. I feel her bones and joints, testing for breaks, but she’s all in one piece. She’s unconscious but breathing easily.
“Alex.” I call to her, tapping her cheeks, trying to bring her around. I pick up her hand and pinch her fingertips hard. She doesn’t respond. Using my knuckle, I rub it into the bone of her sternum, pressing hard.
“Ow.” she mutters, weakly swatting at my hand.
“Can you hear me?”
“Yeah. Ow.” she says again, rubbing her hand over her sternum and blinking hard. “What were you doing?”
“Seeing if you can respond to pain. I didn’t know how hurt you were.”
“More now.” Her eyes open. “What happ—Nick!” she says suddenly, grasping my hand hard. “Did you see him? Is he still here?”
I nod gravely. “Yeah, he’s here. Would have been nice if you’d told me you were bringing my worst nightmare to life.”
“I kind of did. I couldn’t get specific. Surprise was all we had going for us.”
I look at the destruction the Jabberwocky has caused. “I don’t know if that’s true.”
There’s a crash that sounds more like a grenade going off and less like Godzilla in Tokyo. The ground beneath us vibrates.
“We need to leave. Now.” I tell her, helping her stand.
She tries but her legs are shaking. They go out from under her immediately, leaving her leaning all of her weight on me. She’s not that heavy, but I can’t carry her all the way out of here. I sit her on the bed where she flops over, unable to hold herself up.
“How badly hurt are you?”
“I’m not.” she says weakly. “I’m just so tired. It’s him. It took a lot of effort to bring him out. Way more than the stones ever did.”
“And more than I did.”
She frowns. “Yeah, that’s true. I thought maybe it’s just because he’s huge and alive, maybe that made it harder, but then why are you so easy to move?”
“Maybe because moving me is all you’re doing.” I tell her, creeping cautiously into the next room through the gaping hole. “I already existed. He didn’t.”
I look around the corner carefully, not willing to run into the Jabberwocky or any guards right now. Luckily, the coast is clear and I find what I’m looking for. I pull the wheelchair out from under some debris from the collapsed ceiling. It’s a little banged up and one wheel is bent, but it will roll. I have to lift it over some rubble to get it into the next room. I worry what the rest of the building will look like. The chair won’t be much help if the path to the exit looks like this room.
“I guess so.” Alex agrees, trying to sit up. “Remind me not to do it again. I feel hung-over.”
I help her slide toward the chair. “What you did is amazing, Alex. It scared the crap out of me to wake up face to face with him in real life, but it’s still incredible.” I catch her eye and grin. “Thanks for the sword, by the way.”
She smiles back and I’m relieved at how strong it looks. “You’re welcome. Keep that with us. We may need it.”
Once she’s safely in the chair I hand her the sword which she lays across her lap. I quickly push us toward the door, which is surprisingly still intact, and open it to check the hallway.
“Clear.” I say reflexively.
“We have to go back to the office.”
I look at her incredulously. “You can’t be serious. Why? For that guy?”
She frowns. “What? No, for files. There are others, Nick. We’re not the only ones they’ve done this to. I asked him if there were more and he lied. In fact, Liam point blank told me that there were other patients here at one point.”
“What are we going to do? Take his computer too? We’re lucky if we make it out of this alive as we are right now. We can’t haul a tower with us.”
“No, they wouldn’t be in a computer. At least not entirely. I’ve only seen him use a computer once. He’s old school. I promise you, he has it all written down somewhere.”
I shake my head, unable to believe we’re debating this. “We can’t do it. We have to get out of here now. The Jabberwocky is occupied but who knows when he’s coming back and there are guards running everywhere. We’re in the unique and unfortunate position of everyone here being out to get us. It’s time to go.”
She presses her lips together as she does when she’s frustrated but eventually she nods in agreement.
I check the hallway again then push her out into it. It’s ugly out here. It makes for slow going trying to weave and dodge over the massive claw marks gouged into the flooring. Sections of walls are falling down and the ceiling is nothing but a memory. I can see up into the system of wires and ventilation ducts above us, all of them marred from the massive, angry body that tore down this hallway. Alex has to direct me and I hope she knows where she’s going because it all looks the same to me. They’ve labeled nothing, not a single door or intersection. It feels like it was designed to confuse a person. We reach the door leading out and head into a parking lot in a huge open cavern.
“Do you think there are keys in any of these Jeeps?” Alex asks, looking nervously over her shoulder behind us.
“Doesn’t matter.”
She looks up at me in surprise. “You can hotwire a car?”
I wink at her but say nothing.
We reach the nearest Jeep just as the Jabberwocky bursts through the door, blowing it off the hinges. It skids and sparks across the pavement toward us. I spare one look back at it and wish I hadn’t. The mere sight of it sends shivers through my body and I’m trembling as I run. It’s no longer hunched over by the constraints of the building. It stands at full height, flexing its massive, leathery wings and giving them a sharp snap. A gust of wind rushes toward us. I feel my blood run cold. I go to help Alex get into the Jeep when it lets out a shriek. I inadvertently close my eyes.
“Nick.” Alex says. Her voice is calm and soothing, as though the worst nightmare I’ve ever had is not descending upon us. I open my eyes and look at hers, so warm. So reassuring. She hands me the sword, wrapping my left hand around it firmly. “You’ve got this.”
I shake my head, fighting for air. “Alex,” I croak. “I do not. I absolutely do not.”
“I would do it for you, but I can’t. I can’t even stand. But you, you’re the bravest person I—“
The Jabberwocky has taken to the air and in one quick move, it’s landed hard on the Jeep beside us. The mass of metal crunches easily beneath the weight of the beast now standing a foot in front of me. I reach out to cover Alex, to throw my body on top of hers in whatever kind of protection I can offer, but the force of the collapsing car has knocked her chair over and sent her sprawling across the pavement. She moves, scrambling back as fast as she can. As she does I see the white pavement is red where she lay. A piece of shrapnel from the Jeep is embedded in her arm. Glass from the windows has shattered and cut into her hands and knees as she tried to get away.
“Nick, run!” she screams.
But I don’t because I can’t. I’ve held a man’s life in my hands, had a gun to my face, seen a rocket launched at a chopper I’m riding in, and I’ve never felt fear. I met it all with a cool indifference that most mistook for courage in the face of danger, which I knew very well it was not. But here is Alex, lying in a growing pool of her own blood, weary, shaken, unable to defend herself, and she’s fierce as a fucking lion.
Bravery is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.
I said it to Walters once and I’m looking at the definition of it now. It’s powerful, beautiful and mine. And if I want to keep it that way, I better pull myself together and be the man she keeps telling me I am.
My gut is full of heavy stone, but I put one foot in front of the other. I don’t know how to use a sword, I’m better with bullets, but I’m trained in hand to hand combat. I also have top of the line, best that science can build reflexes, if that mad scientist is to be believed. Time to give them a try.
I slice at the Jabberwocky, cutting into its leg and pulling its attention away from Alex. It snaps at me, nearly getting my arm in its jaws, but I jump back to avoid its reach. It follows me, stepping down from the remains of the Jeep, its claws clicking on the pavement and echoing through the cavern. It sounds like it’s everywhere. Hundreds of them circling around me, boxing me in. I have to tell myself not to look over my shoulder.
“Mind the tail!” I hear Alex shout from out of sight.
“Any other tips?!” I shout back, eying the tail warily as it whips back and forth behind him.
Alex pauses, then shouts, “Get it in the heart and don’t let it touch you!”
“Seventeen years of this and that’s the best you’ve got?!”
“You want my help or not?!”
The Jabberwocky swipes at me, its claws nearly getting me. When I jump to the right, its head is waiting and snaps at my leg. I stumble, but I also swing the sword. I manage to slice it in the face, drawing a long line across its snout.
“Yeah!” I shout breathlessly, regaining my footing. “When are you going to start giving it?!”
“Are you watching the tail?!”
I am not.
It whips out from my left side, taking me by surprise. I only manage to dodge it by jumping closer to the Jabberwock’s body. I’m within the reach of its short arms now and the head is coming around, weaving on that long neck like a snake. I don’t have a choice. I rush closer to it, launching myself on its squat hind leg. I scramble as fast as I can, pulling on its scales and smelling its smoky, fire scent. It tries to knock me off, shaking wildly, but I hold on tight. When I’m on its back and raising the sword high, ready to drive it home and pierce through to the heart, I hear a whoosh coming at me. I’ve managed to forget the tail yet again. It slams into me from behind, pinning me to the Jabberwock’s body and knocking the sword from my hand. I hear it clatter to the ground. I groan and roll off its back, falling beside the sword.
The wind has been knocked out of me and my vision is a swimming blur. The beast towers over me, the talons on its hands hovering over my face. I’m sure it will be the end of me. Then I feel the sword under my shoulder. I gather my wits for one last stand. I roll just as the Jabberwocky leans down to grip me with its hands. I grab the sword as I go and when its body comes closer, when its talons scrape loudly against the pavement, reaching for where I had been lying, I lunge. I drive the sword deep into its chest.
I thought it would cry out, make some horrible sound that would haunt me for the rest of my days, but it doesn’t. It falls to the side, landing with a bang that reverberates through the garage and sets off car alarms. And then it’s over.
My nightmare is finally over.
Chapter Fifty-One
Alex
Nick comes around the side of the Jeep I’m slouched against, looking like I feel; finished.
“How’d you do it?” I ask curiously.
He kneels down and starts examining my wounds.
“Tried not to let it touch me. Stabbed it in the heart.”
“Looks like it got a piece of you.” I say sadly, brushing my fingers over the gash on his forehead. “Was it the tail?”
He looks at me pointedly. I smile, but I swallow my told you so.
“Thank you.”
“For what?” he asks, returning his attention to my injuries.
“This, what you’re doing right now. For risking everything. For facing your biggest fear to save me.”
“I wouldn’t be too grateful just yet. That thing was one problem. We still have plenty of others. The glass in your hands for one, the metal in your bicep for another, my splitting headache that’s probably a concussion, and the fact that we’re still on an island with an army of well-armed, angry people who don’t want us to leave and I just killed our only quasi-ally.”
I sigh and lean my head back on the side of the Jeep. “Couldn’t you have just said ‘you’re welcome’?”
He chuckles. Then he yanks the metal out of my arm.
I gasp so hard my throat closes up. I double over in pain. My vision goes dark at the edges and I’m worried I’ll pass out again.
“Breathe.” he reminds me, taking my shoulders and holding me firmly. “Try to breathe through it.”
Easy for him to say. My arm is on fire. I can feel hot blood running down into the crook of my elbow.
“Bleeding.” I manage to whisper, pressing my forehead against his shoulder and taking shuddering breaths.
“It’s fine. It wasn’t an artery, you won’t bleed out. I’m going to bandage it tightly and the bleeding will stop.”
“It hurts.” I moan.
“I know.” he says consolingly, pressing a kiss to the top of my head. “I couldn’t leave it in. It was more dangerous in than out.”
As my breathing steadies, I let loose a long string of curses, using classics and inventing some as I go. I can feel Nick silently laughing at me.
When I’ve composed myself, Nick bandages my arm with a towel he finds in the Jeep I’m sitting against and gets me loaded inside. He actually can hotwire a car and watching him do it is one of the hottest things I’ve ever seen. He even does the concentrating thing where he sticks the tip of his tongue out from between his lips, which is just adorable. When the engine springs to life, he looks over triumphantly and catches me watching him.
“What?” he asks.
“I love you.”
“Yeah?” he asks with a grin.
“Yeah. I do. I really do.”
“That’s good.” he says simply, and throws the Jeep into reverse.
We tear out of the parking lot, leaving the body of the Jabberwocky in our rearview. We head through the endless black tunnel that leads up and out of here. I’m jittery and exhausted; a terrible combination. We round a bend and I can see light ahead. I can’t wait to see the sunlight, the real sunlight, and feel it warm on my skin. We’re driving up into the blinding light, unable to see the outside world as our eyes are shocked from the sudden change. As we’re closing in on the mouth of the tunnel and I’m leaning forward in my seat, anxious for fresh air, Nick slams on the brakes, cranking the wheel. The Jeep skids to a stop at an angle, the outside world on his side of the car.
I open my mouth to ask him what’s wrong, but my eyes adjust and I can see it. They’re waiting for us. Rows upon rows of the black uniforms of the clinic guard standing with weapons at the ready. There are other vehicles like ours and I think I see a tank, or at least a very well-fortified truck. I wonder for a moment if they aren’t waiting for us. Maybe this was all for the Jabberwocky.
“Think we can tell them you killed it and get a free pass out of here?” I ask Nick wryly.
“I don’t think it’s so much him they’re worried about.”
“Why not? I was.”
Nick looks at me seriously. “They’re more concerned with who made him real.”
“Me?” I ask in surprise. “This is not all for me.”
Nick shrugs. “For both of us then, but it’s no accident. We scare them.” He looks at me sideways and his face is grim. “You got anything else up your sleeve?”
I shake my head. “I’m tapped. I couldn’t Slip right now even if I could control it. How about you?”
“No. My tricks don’t work in reality.”
A line of guards is approaching us now. They’ll overpower us easily. We’ll be taken back to the clinic, or transported to one that we didn’t unleash hell on. Dr. Evans will be angry with us and show no more kindness. No mercy. Liam will be looking for vengeance and I’ll be an easy target for him. Nick will die. They’ll look for that elusive moment when he called out across the ether and found me listening. They’ll test it as many times as they can, but one day their toy soldier will break and they’ll toss him aside, looking for something new to play with. I’ll sit in my cell and hold onto my bird and wonder every day how I could have acted differently. How I could have kept him alive.
My bird.
I search frantically through my pockets.
“Get out of the vehicle!” a guard shouts, gun trained on us.
“Do it slowly, Alex. Don’t give them a reason.” Nick says, his voice low and resigned.
Nick! Nick has the bird.
“The sparrow, where is it?” I gasp, grabbing for his arm to stop him from opening the door.
He frowns. “The rock? I have it in my pocket. Why?”
“You said your tricks don’t work in reality.” I say quickly, watching the guards begin to circle the Jeep. “They don’t work on reality. The bird isn’t real. Or it is, I guess, because I brought it out and made it real, but it’s from a dream. It’s like the Jabberwocky. We made it. Nick, you made it! You made it and I molded it and it’s not real. It’s a piece of a dream. The rules don’t apply to it. Do you understand? It’s whatever you make it.”
Nick pulls the stone out of his pocket and looks down at it. His face is unsure, such a rarity for him, and I need him to shake it and be himself now. His cocky, arrogant self that I know and love.
“It’s impossible.” he mumbles.
“No. Nothing is impossible. The Jabberwocky should have been impossible. Slipping should be impossible. You and I, we are impossible, but it’s all true and real. This can be too.”
He doesn’t answer. He won’t look at me. I worry I’m asking too much.
“Try.” I whisper urgently.
He stares at his hand. I wait, knowing our time is almost gone. They’re closing in slowly and we’re moments away from being ripped from this car. My eyes fly wildly to each window, wondering who will advance on us first.
In my peripheral I see movement near Nick. I jerk back to him, mouth hanging open and heart in my throat.
