Page 3 of Retribution

‘Daisy!’ I yell and listen hard.

The silence around me is like an unyielding weight pressing down on my shoulders.

But then I hear something. Faint.

Did I imagine it?

I cock my head to the side and strain as hard as I can to listen, holding my breath and willing myself to hear.

Was it just a rat? Another brick falling?

But there it is again.

A whimper. Weak and far away, but not water or debris.

Please be her.

‘Daisy?’

I hear it again. Louder.

I lurch down the tunnel, shining the light as far as I can in front of me, and I see a glimmer in the dark. Light skin, a pale face, eyes shining as they squint in my direction.

It’s her! She’s slumped by the wall, blinking slowly in the light from my phone.

Tears have tracked their way down her dirty cheeks. Her hand reaches for me as I fall to my knees in front of her. Her other one is clutching the flat bullet on the chain around her neck that Blake gave her for Christmas, I notice.

‘Daisy. Are you okay? Can you hear me?’

She stares at me.

‘Is this a dream?’ she slurs, her voice croaky.

‘No. I’m here,’ I promise her, taking her hand and squeezing it.

She lets out a shuddering sob. ‘I can’t hear you,’ she whimpers, touching her ear.

‘I don’t know what happened. I was in the lab. There was a bang and the room shook. I ran and there was smoke, and then the walls were falling around me. Ran for the door. I got it closed. But I think…’

She touches her head. ‘I think I’m hurt.’

That’s when I see that her hair is matted with something dark and wet.

Shit.

‘Is it just your head?’ I ask.

She looks at me blankly and then thrusts a plastic grocery bag into my hand.

I push it away, but she picks it up and gives it to me again with a frown.

‘I’m going to get you out of here,’ I say, taking the bag and looping it around my wrist absently.

I draw her away from the wall and up against me gently, watching her closely in case there are other injuries, but her eyes flutter and roll back in her head as she slumps forward limply.

She’s unconscious.

I pick her up, cradling her carefully and bringing the bag that she’s so adamant should come with us.