Divided (25 page)

"Trying to get out of here, but you can't even get on the freeway. Jax told me I was a damn moron and refused to go with me, but I had to try."

As we walked into her house, the continued feeling that this was unreal overwhelmed me. Her house was exactly as it had been when I'd lived across the street from her. The entryway still had the same small circular table with a blue vase in the middle. The living room still had a beige leather sofa, and the same shaggy light blue rug was spread out on the floor. It had only been a couple years since I'd been in her house, but so much had changed for me that it seemed like things should have changed for everyone else too. It was a little eerie, really.

Vicki wriggled her shoulders as she looked nervously at my shotgun. "Could you put that by the door? They still make me really nervous."

I felt awful for not remembering Juan, but it had been like five years since he'd passed away. Juan was one of the sweetest kids you could meet. He was always a little slow to think things through, if he thought at all. I swear he had no impulse control whatsoever, but he was a sweetheart. He was only twelve when Vicki and Jax had been down the street at his house hanging out with a few other neighbors. He was showing off his dad's shotgun to Vicki and Jax and didn't realize it was loaded. You can imagine the rest. It's pretty much every public service announcement you've ever heard about having a gun in the house. It made me really uncomfortable to set down the shotgun, but I respected Vicki and understood her issues, so I leaned it against the door.

We walked into the living room, and she turned on the TV really low, smiling apologetically. "Sorry, the noise bothers Jax. He's had a headache for a few days. He's such a jerk when he's in pain."

I stood there watching the images of San Francisco burning, the Infecteds attacking the firefighters—it was so gruesome and horrific.

Vicki's voice was sad as she looked at the floor. "It's horrible, isn't it? I can't believe they show the pictures."

"Who the hell are you talking to!" The vicious yelling made me jump and stare at the hallway where Jax stood, looking about the same as he had when I'd left—tall, sort of on the thin side with blond hair like Vicki's. "And why the hell do you have that damn TV on when you know I have a headache!"

Vicki rushed toward him, her voice super-sweet. "Jax, it's Piper. You remember Piper?" Vicki was blocking my view of him as he stood behind her in the hallway, but he seemed to take up the entire space with the anger radiating off him.

His voice was so mean—so unlike what I remembered. "I want to talk to you."

He and Vicki had never gotten along together, so his anger toward her wasn't too much of a surprise. She followed him back to his room. I went back to studying the pictures on the TV, but turned the volume down all the way. To see so much of the area in ruins was awful. I couldn't believe how quickly they'd destroyed everything. I didn't see any images of Dev or Harm, and after a few minutes, they went back and cycled through the images I had already seen. I reached out and turned off the TV, feeling physically ill as the pictures continued to haunt my mind.

When I turned around, I jumped back, almost bumping into the TV. Two feet in front of me was Jax. I smiled, but knew my voice was shaky. "Geez, Jax, you scared the crap out of me."

He didn't say anything, which made me look up into his—
green
eyes. My heart slammed in my chest, and my eyes darted to the shotgun. Why did I leave it at the stupid door? I inched to the side, but he followed me, leering. "So how have you been, Jax? You look good."

He still didn't say anything, but his hands clenched into fists. I took a deep breath and made my legs move as fast as they could toward the gun. I wasn't fast enough. He grabbed me and threw me against the wall. My head slammed against it, and my vision blurred for a moment. I tried to block out the pain and claw my way to the gun, but he was in front of me, smiling in a grotesque way.

His voice was so cold and ruthless. "Always wanted you, Piper." He picked me up and threw me onto the couch.

I tried to get up, but I was so disoriented that I fell back again. He climbed on top of me and tore my shirt open. I started to scream, but he clamped his hand over my mouth. I tried to squirm for the walkie talkie, but it was on the floor where I fell after bouncing off the wall.

He licked his lips and stared down at my chest. "Looks like I finally get to have you."

I tried to shake my head, but he kept his hand so hard on my mouth that I couldn't even move it. I pushed and kicked and scraped and scratched, but nothing worked. He held up his palm to me, wiggling his fingers and smiling with excitement. Then he held up his index finger and brought it slowly to my chin, dragging it down to my upper chest, caressing the skin above my breasts. He slid his fingers back and forth from one side of my chest to the other. I could feel myself shaking.

"Ready?" he asked as I felt the point of his fingertip shove into my skin just above my left breast.

When it pierced my skin, I screamed out in pain, but he kept his hand on my mouth. I kicked and flailed pointlessly. He was too strong. So slowly that I really wanted to die, he cut a curved line from one side of my chest to the other. The pain was unbearable. He leaned over the incision and when I felt his teeth bite into the skin there, I thankfully passed out.

I couldn't have been out for long or the others would have come looking for me, but Jax managed to turn me onto my side, gag me and tie my hands behind my back. On the floor next to me was Vicki, and I tried to get to her, but the pain in my chest was so incapacitating that I could barely breathe.

Jax came back into my line of sight. "Awake again? Good. I was getting bored." There was blood all over his face, and I strained to see what he had in his hand, but then wished I hadn't. I wanted to throw up or scream, or just cry and cry as I realized it was Vicki's foot. He grinned at me as the tears ran down my face.

"Evie?" The walkie talkie spoke. "Time to go. Hurry up."

I stopped crying, and my eyes widened, but Jax threw Vicki's foot to the floor and straddled me again.

"Who's that?" He grabbed my shoulders and shook me.

I wasn't sure what hurt more, being slammed around or having the open wound on my chest disturbed.

"Who is that?" He smacked me across the face, and everything blurred again to where I couldn't keep my eyes open. He was too strong, and I knew my head could only take so many blows.

He was still shaking me as I heard the door fly open, and he growled this unearthly, evil snarl. Several shots rang out, but I still couldn't open my eyes. When Jax's weight was lifted off me, I started crying again. Was it Gary or Gabriel or Brian? It didn't matter. Someone was saving me. The seconds dragged by as I heard fighting. I opened my eyes, but everything was still spinning.

"Evie? It's Gabriel." His voice was shaking, and I felt someone untying my hands and even more hands untying the gag at my mouth. "You're okay now. I can't believe I let you—I'm so sorry, kid. This is all my fault."

I stretched my jaw, and someone tried to help me up, but I pushed them away when the pain in my chest was too much. "Stop." My voice was croaky and weak. "It hurts! Please—I'm so dizzy."

Gabriel squeezed my hand. "Listen to me, Evie. What day is it?"

I cried and screamed, grabbing at my chest, but Gabriel grabbed my hands. "It hurts!"

"Evie!" Gabriel's voice was insistent. "What day is it? Answer me."

I was crying so hard that I could barely get the word out. "Wednesday."

"What month is it, Evie?" He shook my hands to get my attention.

I closed my eyes and tried to get my brain to answer him. "June. Please, Gabriel. It hurts."

"Where are we, Evie? Where are we right now?"

I sobbed uncontrollably. "My old street. San Jose. Vicki's house." I tried to clutch at my chest again, but Gabriel held my hands.

Gabriel's voice sounded relieved, but I was still so dizzy and out of it that I couldn't open my eyes. "This'll pinch for a second then it'll feel better."

I didn't feel the pinch, but my chest felt like someone had used a blow torch on it. I was still crying when my mind and body just sort of floated away to the happy land of numbness.

***

When I started waking up, I took a very slow inventory of my body. My jaw throbbed, my head felt fuzzy, my back was sore, and my chest burned like someone had poured hot lava across it. Voices floated around me—Gabriel's I recognized, but a female voice I didn't know made comments. As my brain functions returned, I was able to focus on listening to Gabriel.

"I'm telling you, you taught her better than you should have. Not only did she have it all figured out, but she picked up on the whole San Francisco thing faster than I did. It wasn't until I saw the look on her face that I started putting two and two together."

I tilted my head, trying to stretch out my sore muscles. Why did I hurt so much? I specifically remembered my chest, but not the reason behind the sore muscles.

"Evie? You awake?" Gabriel's soothing voice washed comfort over me.

I groaned softly. "Sort of." My voice sounded awful. I swallowed hard a few, times trying to make it less scratchy.

"If you can sit up, I'll give you some water."

I tried to push myself up, which is when I realized I was lying on a seat or several seats. Slowly, I peeled open an eyelid. The darkness outside was a relief since I didn't think my eyes could handle daylight.

Gabriel's face peeked over the seat behind me, and the kindest "dad" smile was on his lips. "So now that you've tested the comfort of your new SUV, what do you think?"

I flexed my muscles a little and cleared my throat again. "They skimped on the cushioning."

Gabriel smiled wider. "Thatta girl. How's your cut?"

I shifted my shoulders, which sent a massive bolt of pain to my chest. Wincing, I squeezed my eyes shut again and tried to breathe through the pain. I focused really hard on breathing in a way that moved my stomach and not my chest.

"That's not good," Gabriel said loudly.

I kept breathing deeply until I had the pain under some sort of control then opened my eyes again. A stranger with dark eyes, dark hair, and deep olive skin peered over the seat at me. He smiled, but I had no idea who he was, and couldn't figure out if it was a ha-ha-you-look-like-a-train-wreck smile or a hello-hot-stuff-I'd-like-your-number smile. He reached down and started to pull at the collar of my T-shirt. I looked to Gabriel and pushed the stranger's hands away.

Gabriel patted my shoulder. "He's a doctor, Evie. He's checking your wound."

"That better be all he's checking," yelled a voice I would know anywhere.

My head jerked toward the driver's seat where Harm's voice had come from. Tears came to my eyes, and I felt so relieved and happy and just overwhelmed. "Harm?" I yelled, and my voice cracked. "Harm?" I was crying, trying even harder to sit up, but it hurt so badly. I kept glancing at the driver's seat, trying to see him.

"Whoa there," Dr. Stranger Guy said. "You'll rip out your stitches. Just stay still."

I didn't care about my freaking stitches. I just wanted Harm to make the pain go away. The woman in the passenger's seat peeked back at me. She was beautiful and reminded me of Halle Berry, but with shoulder-length golden brown hair and light brown eyes. Her skin was midnight black, but there was this undeniable glow underneath it.

Her eyes were so sympathetic. "Harm," she said gently, "put your hand back to her."

The second I saw his large, rough hand, I grabbed it and held on for dear life, sobbing like a child.

"It's okay, kid." His voice was as shaky as the day they'd taken Dev away from me. "You're safe now. It's gonna be fine, Evie. I promise."

I closed my eyes and just let the tears fall as he held my hand, firmly rubbing his thumb back and forth over my fingers. Holding my big brother's hand helped me so much; it gave me strength.

"Gabriel," Harm called out over his shoulder. "I'm gonna say three."

Gabriel laughed lightly and replied, "You have no idea what you're talking about in this scenario. I call one."

The kind female voice in the front added, "I call thirty seconds."

I closed my eyes, trying to focus on the comfort I felt from Harm, but it wasn't enough. Whenever anything bad happened to me, I always wanted Harm there. He was always the first to come to mind when I was in physical pain. But that was before Dev… "Dev!" I yelled, my eyes flaring open. I tried to sit up again. "Where's Dev? Is he here? Where is he?"

"Damn." The girl in the front sounded amazed. "That was less than fifteen seconds. She's good."

"Or obsessive," Harm mumbled. In a louder voice, he called back to me, "He's back with the others, Evie."

Screw the pain, I pushed myself up and clenched my jaw through the flames lighting up my chest. "We have to go back for him!" I moved one foot to the floor. "We have to get him. Harm, turn around."

"Stop." Gabriel put his hand on my shoulder, holding me from moving any farther.

The doctor guy put his hands out to stop me from moving too. "You'll rip your stitches."

I almost laughed at the doctor's earnest face. Did he really think I cared about some stupid stitches?

"He's following us Evie," Harm explained.

I shook my head at that and attempted once again to clear the fuzz from my mind enough to work through it all. "No, we have to get him now, Harm. They'll—he'll—"

"Evie," Gabriel interrupted. "He's in my truck following us—right behind us. Now calm down and lie back."

I didn't move. "Behind us?" I had to be sure.

"Yes." Gabriel nodded. "I promise."

"But—" I hated how small my voice became. "Why isn't he with us, or I mean, in here… with us?"

Gabriel patted my shoulder again. "We had some trouble leaving San Jose. He got stuck in my truck, and we haven't stopped since. He's not happy about it either, trust me. But you have the good doctor here, and that's more important. Now lie back down and relax."