Free The Other Side by Joshua McCune Page B

the former. She skulks toward us and presses a finger to her lips. No worries, I will not make a peep. She reaches Sheriff and snaps his neck in one quick motion.
    Sheriff falls, and through the wetness that clings to my eyes, I see that the shadow is Colin. He removes the towel over my left hand and inserts a broken hairclip into the handcuff keyhole. After unclasping the second one, he rolls up my cap.
    He retrieves defibrillator paddles from the wall and placesthem against the CENSIR. The machine emits a gradient whine, then beeps. He brushes his lips to my forehead. “Stay with me, okay? This will hurt.”
    A jolt of hell blasts through me. When awareness returns, I’m in Colin’s arms and the CENSIR’s off. He presses me close and carries me through the hospital, past a deputy sprawled on the floor with his head turned the wrong way, Nurse Frown weeping in a chair, several people huddled in a group, and a couple of shrieking kids whose father got devoured by a dragon.
    Outside, the sun’s sitting on the horizon, and I’m not sure whether it’s rising or falling. He loads me into an ambulance, buckles me in, and says something about getting us to safety. We drive off, the sky darkens. I stare out the window at a world that seems tranquil. Rebuild the burned-down house across the way, fix the wrecked Jeep we just drove past, clean the random spatters of blood and mounds of dragon crap, and Dillingham’s good as new.
    If only humans could be repaired so readily.
    â€œYou okay?” Colin asks.
    When I don’t reply, he proceeds to tell me his strategy for our escape and rendezvous with Loki’s Grunts. I hear maybe half the words, provide him my limited information.
    Somewhere in all of his talking, he’s put his hand on my thigh, and he keeps glancing at me. I think he’s worried Imight open the door and jump. No, Mom taught me better than that. If you’re gonna go out, do it in a blaze of martyrdom for the entire world to see.
    But the world’s seen enough of me already, and I’ve seen more of it than I ever planned. I’m done with all this. When we get to Denver or wherever, I’ll leave Baby in the hands of the competent, and I’ll go visit Dad and hopefully Sam. I’ll stay with them as long as I can. And I’ll make sure to have a gun with me at all times in case—
    Kill emotion, human. Her voice is strained and distant.
    â€œGrackel!”
    â€œShe’s alive?” Colin says.
    I nod. Are you okay? Where are you?
    Do not worry about this one. You cannot even take care of yourself. Her growl echoes through my head. I wake and find myself buried in the darkness of rubble because of the invisible monsters. My tail is shattered, my back foot is missing, and my fire fails me. This is manageable, but then I hear you acting as if the world is over.
    They took Allie.
    Cry some more, then. What good will that do her?
    I’m glad you’re alive, Grackel, but I don’t need your lectures right now.
    Block me, she says, knowing full well I can’t in my current mood.
    Leave me alone.
    She does, for about a minute. Your boyfriend tried to talk to me. Is that what you need, human? A knight to protect you?
    For a moment, I think she means James, but then I remember Colin’s a dragon talker, too.
    I know what you’re doing. It won’t work. I lost her, Grackel. I promised I’d protect her, and I failed.
    You behave as if she is dead already. And what of Arabelle? Will you abandon her to your sullen reverie?
    What can I do? I don’t have an army. I can’t protect Baby. I can’t even protect myself.
    Give up then. Call it over and go home. Oh, wait, you have no home. You are stranded with yourself. I do feel bad for you now. I shall let you wallow, for I should conserve my energy for something useful. I cannot believe I sacrificed my beautiful tail for the likes of a coward such as yourself.
    â€œI hate