Page 106 of Deathtoll

“Linda!” Kate rushed over. “What happened?”

“The explosion knocked me down.” Her hair stuck out all over the place. “I used my hand to brace myself.”

“Do you think it’s broken?”

Linda rolled her wrist. “I don’t think so. Have you seen Tony? Do you know if he came to the parade?”

“Mr. Mauro? Definitely not. Still at the hospital. How about I stabilize your injury, then you’ll have the EMTs take a look when they get here?”

“Sounds like a plan. I’m really glad you’re here.”

Kate began rolling on the bandage, firmly enough to hold any pulled ligaments, but not so tight that it would restrict circulation. She tucked the end of the bandage in, then patted Linda’s shoulder. “All set.”

“Thank you. I’ll go outside and wait for that ambulance.”

Kate was going to walk her out, but a little boy with a badly scraped knee took the chair, confidently announcing, “I’m next.”

Kate’s father came by and handed her and the boy bottles of water from a plastic bucket, kissed her on the temple. “I don’t know what I would have done if anything happened to either of my girls.”

Kate gave him a quick hug. “I love you, Dad.”

Then she knelt in front of the boy. “Are you okay? I’m Kate. What’s your name? How old are you?”

“Zak. I am seven.” He eyed the peroxide warily. “I was running, and I fell. I can’t find my mom.”

“I’m sure she’ll be here by the time I fix you up and find you a snack in the kitchen. You know Broslin—somebody probably already saw you here and called her.”

The boy nodded with a serious expression. “Like how Mrs. Moses told her that she saw me skipping school?”

“Exactly like that.” Kate caught him glancing at a jar of glass eyes on the windowsill. “Have you ever been in here before?”

He shook his head.

“How cool are those eyes?” she asked as she cleaned the dirt from his wound.

He winced, but then he said, “Creepy cool. You think I could touch one?”

“I bet Mrs. O’Brian wouldn’t mind. I’ll ask her for you when we finish here.”

Kate found some antibiotic cream in an open first aid kit on the floor a few steps away and dabbed that on, Zak taking it like a soldier. Then she hunted down an oversized Band-Aid and covered the still-seeping wound.

“Zachary!” A disheveled woman who had the boy’s blue eyes just about flew through the room to reach them.

“Mom!”

She hugged him fiercely first before examining every inch of him, then turning to Kate. “Is he okay?”

“Just the abrasion on his knee. I gave him first aid. He’s as tough as a Navy SEAL.”

Zak grinned at her, but the grin disappeared as his mother tried to pick him up. “Mom! You’re embarrassing me.”

“Sorry, baby.”

“I’m not a baby!” He flushed. “Kate just said I’m as tough as a SEAL.”

He looked to Kate for help.

She winked at him. “Actually,” she told the mother, “I promised him a treat. If that’s okay.”