Replica(31)

“Who just got shot with silver bullets,” Lea said, climbing to her feet and pulling him with her. “I just told you they intended to kill us.”

“Play Hercules after we get off this train,” I said, moving over to the edge. Damn, this was going to hurt like a motherfucker. “There’s a field up here. It’s our place.” I was relieved to see several houses a few hundred feet away. We wouldn’t be in the middle of nowhere.

Lea and Ivan got into position beside me as the train turned the corner.

Tuck and roll.

I moved my bag around to my abdomen, then leapt, landing on my upper back with a jarring pain and continuing to roll. When I finally stopped, I lay on my back, staring at the stars in the clear sky. Pain shot through my shoulder and I sighed, my breath escaping in a white, wispy cloud.

“Rachel? You all right?” Lea asked to my left.

I pushed up to a sitting position, clutching my arm to my chest. Pain radiated through my upper body with enough intensity that tiny bright stars flashed across in my vision. “I think I dislocated my shoulder and maybe broke my collar bone.”

“Fuck.”

“I’m fine. Let’s go.” I got to my feet and opened my bag, feeling inside my padded computer case to make sure it had survived the fall. I couldn’t be positive it still worked, but at least it wasn’t in pieces.

“Rachel.”

I turned to face her, immediately regretting the rapid movement. “We have two hours tops until the sun rises. We need to get somewhere where we can hide and figure things out.”

She gestured to Ivan, who was lumbering to his feet. “He needs help. Can he make it to one of those houses?”

“I can make it,” he growled.

If I weren’t hurting so much, I would have laughed.

I started walking, counting each step as it sent a jolt of pain through my body. We slipped between two houses and onto the street.

“There,” I said, pointing to an older car parked in a driveway. “I can hotwire that car and we can take it.”

“No,” Lea said. “You and Ivan both need to rest and we’ll have trouble getting a motel room this early in the morning. That house at the end of the street…the one with the For Sale sign. It looks empty. We can hide out there today and rest, then take off tonight.”

“Fine,” I said.

A privacy fence surrounded the overgrown backyard of said house. When we reached the back door, Ivan held up a hand and pressed the side of his head to the door.

“It’s empty.”

I lifted an eyebrow.

“I was listening for heartbeats.”

I groaned. “Of course you were.”

Lea forced the door open and we walked into a kitchen and closed the door behind us. Ivan went straight to the refrigerator and opened the door.

“It’s fucking empty.”

“Then the house really is vacant,” Lea said. “We need to find the basement.”

I opened a door, revealing a set of stairs leading down into darkness, the pit of hell for all I knew. “Found it. Let’s just hope they don’t have any showings today.”

“Surely we’re about to get a break,” Ivan said as he started down the stairs.

With our luck, I wasn’t betting on it.





CHAPTER 15





LEA



Rachel clutched her injured arm to her chest. She was playing it off well, but the hammering of her heart revealed the extent of her injuries. The truth of it was, both she and Ivan were a hell of a lot more than bruised up.

“There’s a way to speed your healing, Ivan,” I said as I followed him down the stairs.

“I heal plenty fast.”

I stepped off the last stair and into the unfinished basement. Apparently the upstairs was empty because they’d shoved all their belongings into the basement. Everything from piles of clothes, carefully stacked framed pictures, a box labeled “Canned Food,” and a random pile of mismatched mattresses. Perfect. I grabbed the first mattress and pulled it away from the wall. “Ivan, lie down.”

With a pained grin, he went to his knees. “Not exactly soft and sweet, but I’ll take it.”

I pointed at him. “Stay.”

He would go along with what I was planning. Rachel, though...I wasn’t sure she’d like it. I took a breath. “Rachel, I need to put your shoulder back in and that’s going to be nearly impossible with a broken collar bone.”

She closed her eyes and sagged against the bottom of the stairs. “Why am I not surprised?”

“There’s a way around this.” I forged ahead before she could ask questions. “A small amount of my blood will help you heal faster. It’ll make it so we can set the bones without pain—”