Page 285 of Immune

KAITO

Mercer doesn’t answer me.

For a few weighted seconds, no one does.

The hallway is too quiet for the amount of blood in it.

Bodies are littered on the floor. Guards with weapons lowered but not far enough. Valeria barking clipped orders at people who look like they might vomit into their own boots. Fletcher keeping Maine from lunging through broken glass to get to his sister. Xeon standing between Dakota and the closest guard without uttering a single word.

And Dakota.

She’s in Ewan’s arms, coated in blood, and shaking so hard I can see it from where I’m standing.

She’s not crying.

She’s not screaming.

She’s not collapsing into Ewan’s arms.

That would have been easier to witness. Instead, she’s standing there like her body finally came back without asking the rest of her to follow.

Ewan holds her with one arm around her back and the other pressed against his side. He’s pale. Too pale. The shock baton got him real good, but he doesn’t seem to know that. Either that, or he knows but he just doesn’t give a shit.

Because his eyes are on Dakota.

Only Dakota.

Good.

Mercer finally pulls in a breath before he says, “We need to get her to medical.”

Dakota flinches. It’s a small and fast little action, almost nothing at all, but I catch it and my jaw locks.

“No,” I say.

Mercer looks over at me. “Kaito—”

“No.”

“She needs to be checked over.”

“What she needs is for people to stop talking about her like she’s nothing more than a paperweight sat on a table,” I argue without raising my voice, because that seems to have a better effect than if I shouted.

Mercer’s mouth shuts just as Dakota’s fingers curl tightly in Ewan’s shirt. There’s blood under her nails, blood on the backs of her hands, and blood drying on her wrists. She looks down at it and her breathing changes.

“I need it off,” she says, her voice barely even there.

Ewan’s face tightens. “Kota.”

“I need it off,” she repeats, still weak-voiced and trembling.

Maine jerks against Fletcher’s hold. “Then get her somewhere with water, for fuck’s sake. Why are we all just standing here?”

“Because half the room is armed,” Fletcher snaps. “And the other half is stupid.”

Valeria turns on the guards and finally says, “Weapons away. All of them. Now.”

This time, they move faster.