Arrows of Time - Kim Falconer [96]
Instantly she boosted her blade with her inner strength, a potent magic, the energy knocking him to the ground with a backhand slap, aiming to disable, not destroy. ‘If you’re smart, you’ll stay there,’ she said, ducking to ward off the short club that came out of the woman’s belt and was lowering towards her head. It struck her side as she leaned away, a winding blow. The next slice of her sword came so fast it blurred the air. She cut left, slicing the club in half just above the woman’s gloved fingers. Taking her sword in both hands, she held the blade high, boosting the tip with energy until the steel turned iridescent blue. The second woman had her weapon drawn and aimed at Rosette’s chest. She fired just as Rosette turned the blade side-on. The deflected ray shot back up the guard’s hand and the woman dropped her gun, screaming. The canine beside her let out a savage growl, lips pulled back, white fangs bared. It hurled towards the nearest guard.
A searing heat shot past Rosette and the young dog fell to the ground mid-launch. It didn’t move again. The next thing Rosette felt was cold metal against her temple.
‘Raise that weapon again and I’m going to lobotomise you. Do you understand what that means?’
Rosette froze, shifting only her eyes to look at the man who held her point-blank. Blood seeped from his fisted hand and saturated his sleeve. His jaw was locked, eyes steady.
Maudi, don’t fight them now. Just go along and we’ll figure this out. I’m with you. I can hear you. You can hear me. It’s all right.
There was that lovely voice again. It sounded worried. Well, why not? Even if it was her own schizophrenic demons talking to her, they had good cause for concern. She lowered her sword, pulling zaps of energy back into her solar plexus as she did.
She wanted to respond to the voice inside her head. It felt like someone close, someone she could trust, but she was having trouble linking words to thoughts. Like pages lit with a match, her mind was being incinerated, turned to char before she could read the words. Who are you? she asked the voice in her head.
I’m with you, Maudi. It’s okay. I’m just on the other side.
In the blackness that followed, she felt hands, hard and rough, buoy her up. Voices shouted at each other. More joined in. It meant nothing. The language was completely foreign again and the effort to listen took her last flicker of strength. She let out her breath, rolled her eyes up into her head and slipped away.
EARTH—TIME: BACKWARD
CHAPTER 21
Everett didn’t know how long the com unit had been blinking. His head had been so deeply buried in his studies, the flashing red light hadn’t registered. He checked the readout code and flipped on his monitor.
‘Kelly! There you are!’ A three-centimetre-square image of the admin operator shouted into his headset.
Everett enlarged the screen. ‘What’s up?’
‘You’re the kid on call, aren’t you? We’ve an emergency coming in.’
‘What is it?’
‘You think they tell me? Just get yourself to Trauma, stat. You’re the only one around.’
‘What about Hass or Richards?’
‘Out of the building.’
‘I can’t run it without an attending.’
‘They’re buzzed, on their way. If I were you, Kelly, I’d hurry. They’re having fits on this side.’
‘Which port?’
‘Trauma One. If you jump now, you can meet them at the doors.’
Everett scrambled out of his chair, a shooting pain going through his head. It felt like someone had clobbered him. He shook it off and bolted from the reading room. He ran down the hallway and into an elevator just before the doors closed. The numbers overhead flashed in descending order before coming to a halt on the ground floor—trauma Level One. He charged down the hall, a fellow med student thrusting protective gear into his hands.
‘Are they here?’ he asked. His breath came in gasps as he donned cap and mask.
She tilted her head towards the main entrance. ‘Just coming in now. They got hung up in traffic—lucky for us. I was sound asleep.’
A med tech rolled the gurney through the double doors. Another tech was astride