Page 78 of Uncharted
“Always,” he said softly, eyelids fluttering rapidly and closing.
“Reno!” I snapped, and his eyes opened, clearing slightly.
He frowned, his hand coming up to touch my face. “Your face.”
“I’m okay,” I told him. “Looks worse than it is, I promise. Hurts like a bitch.”
“I bet,” he chuckled, then groaned. “Oh God, who knew getting shot hurt so much?”
“I could have told ya that much,” I told him, forcing a smile on my face and hoping it didn’t look as grim as I felt. “Ya didn’t have to figure it out on your own.”
“I go to the school of hard knocks,” he said with a blood-stained smile and gaps in his teeth. “Could…just ask…my brother.”
“I’ll do that,” I told him. “And I’ll do it when you’re there. So I can laugh when he gives ya hell.”
“He’d love it,” he said, eyes fluttering again. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry, be awake,” I snapped, shaking his head slightly. “Don’t ya fuckin’ dare do this to me, Reno. Ya said they were comin’ and they are, okay? Every single one of ’em, they’re gonna be out here and they’re gonna save your ass and mine, okay? Every one of them.”
“Even Aidan?” he asked with a smirk that fell immediately.
“I’ll fuckin’ forgive him and suck his dick on the spot if ya stay awake,” I told him harshly.
“Don’t…think Mika would…like that much,” he said, frowning. “I feel…chilly.”
“You’re losing blood, that happens,” I told him, terror wrapping around my heart and squeezing so tight I couldn’t breathe. There was no way I was going to lose him, not when we had been so close, so fucking close. I swore if he died, I would spend the rest of my life in these woods, tearing apart every single drug-running fuck that dared to come through where they had taken too much from me, from all of us, from the goddamn world.
“Can you…tell…tell—”
“Tell them yourself!”
“Your brother—”
“My brother? Darren?”
He closed his eyes, but nodded. “Tell him…I tried my best.”
What the ever-living fuck did that mean?
God, please tell me that was people coming for us I was hearing, please God, please.
“Ya can tell him yourself,” I said and then stiffened when I swore I heard my name.
Then Reno’s name.
Fuck my ribs, fuck my aching body, fuck the dizziness in my head. I reared back and used every ounce of lung power I possessed and began screaming out for them. “Here! We’re here! Here! Over here!”
On and on it went, my terror winning as I screamed for rescue, screamed for someone to please, just fucking please, help Reno. I held so tightly to him I was afraid I would break him, but it had to be the only way I could keep him here with me, with us.
Please God, not like this, not like this.
“Here!”
11
RENO
My eyes burned when they opened, wincing against the harsh light before I closed them again. I wanted to retreat from the light, back away, where it couldn’t hurt me. Except to go back to the darkness meant going back to the dreams. The dreams of blood, splintered skulls, and gray globs dripping from the back of someone’s head. Of someone screaming with more heartbreak and desperation than I had ever thought someone could carry inside without somehow dying.
