Moonlight Medicine: Epidemic (The Moonlight Medicine Trilogy Book 2)
Page 24
“Nooooooo! Someone call an ambulance!”
Evelyn’s eyes were locked on Sara’s and she plowed directly into David, who engulfed her and held her tightly in his arms.
“Evie, God, are you all right?”
Evelyn didn’t look at him and tried to break his grapple.
“Sara, oh Sara, no!”
She managed to slip out of David’s arms and dropped to the floor by Sara’s face, and only then did she glance up at a worried and confused David.
“Sara’s been shot. Call 9-1-1!”
David looked down at the bloody girl and stood, shocked into stillness.
“David! Go!”
David caught Evelyn’s eye and Evelyn could see the hesitation on David’s face at the thought of leaving her, but his gaze flickered back to Sara, and he turned and ran back towards the rear of the room. Evelyn returned her attention to Sara and removed her suit jacket to press the fabric to the girl’s chest. Close up she could see the wet stickiness camouflaged by Sara’s gothic attire. Sara coughed again and Evelyn could feel the hot droplets of blood on the back of her hand.
“Shhhhh! You’re going to be O.K.”
Sara shook her head minutely.
“Just beat them,” she breathed then blinked twice and went still as her eyes glazed over and ceased seeing.
“No!”
Evelyn began CPR as if Sara had been a drowning victim. No one could pull her away or convince her to stop until the paramedics came. When they finally did, Evelyn collapsed into sobs and let Kim and David drag her back and hoist her into a distant chair. She tasted Sara’s blood in her mouth and bile rose in the back of her throat that she had to forcefully swallow back down. The commotion in the room had died down considerably and it took Evelyn a while to calm down enough to notice the quiet. She didn’t look, but kept her face firmly buried in David’s shoulder.
“I hope you appreciate that that girl took a bullet for you. Must’ve seen the gun before the crazy bitch fired.”
Evelyn recognized Caroline’s voice and she faced the other Beta just as David spoke.
“Caroline, maybe now’s not the best time-“
“Sara was my friend!”
Caroline looked down at Evelyn with a look of pity tinged with displeasure.
“Evelyn, she might’ve been the best friend you’ll ever have.”
Evelyn thought that was a horrible thing for Caroline to say, but she could think of nothing to say to it. David’s icy voice then issued from above her head.
“Caroline, you want to walk away now.”
“Love to, but I can’t. It has been left to me to coach you three on what to say to the police,” she said sourly, tossing her head towards the officers interviewing other Betas in the corner of the room, “and to see that you find yourselves to someplace safe for the night.”
Evelyn peered over and blanched. She hadn’t even realized that the police were present.
“Why are you being such a bitch?”
Everyone was shocked by Kim’s interjection and Evelyn smirked a little internally. Caroline did not condescend herself to look at Kim but instead addressed David.
“Who the hell is she?”
David bit back rage and answered through clenched teeth. “My bad, Caroline this is Kim, one of the strays that the Vulke created. Kim, this is Caroline, Beta of the Wahya pack.”
Kim might have been a lovely person, but she was no shrinking violet.
“Pleasure, now answer my question. Why be so mean to Evelyn? She’s the one who figured this all out and almost died telling the rest of you about it. Where were you?!”
Caroline finally turned to face Kim. “Listen to me Pup, you have no idea what’s going on here. If Evelyn here hadn’t called this meeting to show off how smart she was, then Sara would still be alive and the Vulke wouldn’t know that we know what they’re up to. We might’ve been able to handle this without out-and-out war, without endangering innocent people, without a bloodbath, but no, she had to put herself in the spotlight again, and now a lot of people are going to die.”
Evelyn sat there and her mouth dropped open. Caroline was right. Evelyn should have done this less publically. Maybe just met with Caroline and Madeline first and then slowly let other trusted Betas into the loop. All of this mess, including Sara’s death, was Evelyn’s fault. What was I thinking?
“Oh God.”
Evelyn crumpled back into David’s shoulder.
“Oh God, David, what have I done?”
Bio
My name is Jen Haeger and I have a degree in Veterinary Medicine as well as a Master’s in Forensic Science, so I decided to chuck all that and write novels. I used to read quite a bit as a youth, but was not introduced to truly spectacular writing until my husband showed me the works of Jim Butcher, Neil Gaiman, Philip Pullman, etc. We are both enormous dorks and enjoy Science Fiction, Fantasy, Board Games, and RPGs, but also try to get out backpacking every once in a while (much easier to do when we lived in New Zealand). I am so pleased to be writing this blurb for my second novel, and I hope that you will continue to enjoy following Evelyn in her adventures. Cheers!
www.jenhaeger.weebly.com
www.publishedramblings.weebly.com
www.crowdedquarantine.co.uk