In The End Box Set | Books 1-3 Stevens, GJ (story books to read TXT) 📖

his face, beckoning me in with a wave of his hand.

I stepped across the threshold.

The soldiers didn't follow.

64

“We need your help,” I said, almost breathless, the bright white room opening out with each step.

His wide, toothy smile remained fixed, but his beckoning halted as I caught sight of two soldiers standing behind the door. In their hands were yellow Taser stun guns held at forty-five degrees, their arms folded at their fronts. Although they'd drawn me in, they weren't the first thing I'd seen.

I turned back to the dentist chair in the centre of the room, my attention following down the side of the arm to the two sets of clamps hanging down, each fixed with four bold, oversized screws. On the other side stood a tall stainless-steel table with dull metal instruments resting on a green paper cloth.

It was only then I noticed the nurse in dark blue scrubs holding a stainless-steel kidney bowl. Inside rested a long syringe filled with a red liquid.

I felt the ties snipped at my back and my hands swung free around to my front.

White coat guy ushered me towards the chair as the door closed and locked at my back.

“Please take a seat,” he said, the smile still there.

“We need your help, please,” I replied, shaking my head. I squinted in the first artificial light I'd seen for over two days.

He took a step forward. I didn't need to step back to know at least one of the soldiers mirrored his movement, at the same time exposing the Taser’s prongs.

“What is this all about?”

The white coat's sympathetic smile widened.

“We have to be sure. Please, take a seat, sir,” he said, and took another step toward me.

“Is it about my leg?”

His smile widened even further, shaking his head to the two at my back.

“Do you know what's happening outside?” he asked.

I raised my eyebrows, not voicing my reply.

“Yes, of course you do. Then you'll understand why we can't take any chances. We have to check you out. If you prefer, you can just take your clothes off here. Once we're sure, you can be on your way.”

“We came here to get help.”

The white coat raised his eyebrows, at least pretending to be interested.

“It's our friend, Naomi. She's been bitten,” I said, and watched as he turned to the nurse; her eyebrows raised. They shared a look of interest.

“How long ago was this?” he replied.

I had to think for a moment; so much had happened.

“This morning,” I said, trying not to remember the details.

“How many hours?” the nurse added, her voice impatient.

I no longer had any reference of time. I’d never been one to wear a watch and my phone had died long ago.

“A couple of hours, maybe three.”

Their faces sank and I swapped my attention between them, but still he spoke as if going through the motions.

“Did you stop the bleeding?”

I gave a fast nod.

“After how long?” he replied.

I shook my head again and tried to remember. She was bitten out in the hills and we'd dragged her into the cottage as quickly as we could. She was still bleeding when we got her inside, but was she when I had to defend the building? When Andrew and Zoe made it back?

“Half an hour, maybe,” I replied, hopeful.

His face fell further and he shook his head.

“There's nothing we can do for her, I'm afraid.”

I felt the breath fall from my lungs.

“There must be something?”

“We can make her more comfortable, or...” he said, and turned to the nurse, “we can stop the worst from happening.”

My eyes widened and the nurse took over.

“We can stop her from turning,” she said, her expression jaded, but maybe there was a hint of compassion behind.

A radio squawked somewhere in the room; an urgent voice calling though, but using words I couldn't quite catch.

“Now, sir, we need to get on. We have more to deal with than you can imagine,” the white coat said.

I turned, hearing movement at my back. The right of the two soldiers had stepped forward again and held the Taser out.

“Easy way, or the other?” the soldier said, tilting his head.

I unzipped my jacket. As I pulled off each item of clothing, I felt the gaze of the white coat and the nurse peering over every inch of my skin.

The white coat stepped forward as I pulled down my jeans. The soldier stepped right to my back as the white coat peered down to examine my knee.

Nodding to the nurse and the soldiers, he stood and looked me in the eye.

“Everything, sir,” he replied.

I drew a deep breath and turned to the nurse.

“It's cold in here,” I said, and pulled down my boxer shorts.

The radio crackled again as I drew on my clothes, only just in time to be hurried back through the door and shoved to the side of the corridor by a blur of soldiers carrying one of their colleagues, horizontal, between them.

His hands and legs were bound as they rushed him into the room. I just about saw a blooded gauze pushed against his hand with blue gloves.

The door closed and the guard who'd stood there as I'd arrived turned his fallen expression away from the door and looked at me, his face pale.

“Do you know him?” I said.

The soldier didn't respond, his face staring at mine like he was looking to share his pain.

He gave a shallow nod as I held my expression fixed.

“I've got someone like that,” I replied. “She can't be helped, but it's not always a death sentence.”

His eyes narrowed, longing for the rest of my words.

“We know someone who didn't die.”

He looked to my side and