Out of the Black - Lee Doty [66]
Pain exploded up from her right elbow again and she heard and felt the crunch of breaking bone. Her eyes popped open from the shock, and she saw feet flying by... she didn't remember going down, but wasn't all that surprised. At least not until she realized she was still standing and the Harm's feet were upside down before her and flying from right to left. Pain and another sickening crunch came from her left knee and the flying feet changed trajectory, swinging loosely toward her as the Harm's upper body whirled away from the impact with her knee.
Clarity. The world almost stopped under the weight of Anne's epiphany. The Harm was clearly dead, its little evil plans unexplored. Its arms and legs swung without volition as it spun away from the beast that had killed it- the beast that was now looking in disbelief at her own bloody hands and wondering how she could live with this.
"We see you! See! You!" The dry leaves voice hissed from the air around her, but it was blowing away now, fading into whispers and crinkling, then gone.
Her eyes went to the other Harm. She was still strapped into the gurney where Anne had drawn her blood. The restraints had held, but she had not. Her rigid body was contorted in death, the horrible rictus frozen on her darkening face, blood flowed from her eyes and nose.
Murderer. The word bloomed in her mind, driving all other thoughts aside. She could feel the weight of the big, confusing universe pressing in on her, could feel a patented Anne Kelley anxiety attack looming. The room was silent. All eyes were on her, mouths gaped, pressure mounted.
But then she was saved. Wyler groaned. His face was still slack, but his eyes were riveted on her and filled with at least three kinds of shock.
She bent quickly and picked him up. He felt like a feather. She put him on a gurney and applied a sterile pad from a nearby triage kit to his bleeding ear. He didn't flinch. Time for bedside manner...
"This probably feels worse than it actually is." She said conversationally. "Why, I heard of a man in Seattle who had his whole head bit off and he's fine now."
"Wpfr." Wyler said.
"You're going to be okay. The stun you took should wear off in a few minutes."
"Wmph." He gave what might have been a twitch or a nod.
"See?" she said, giving him what she hoped was an encouraging smile, "you're already starting to bounce back."
Using some adhesive film, she anchored the sterile pad to Wyler's damaged ear and started to move on to the next victim, but she felt a weak hand on her wrist. She looked back and saw that Wyler had grabbed her. "Wow." he said finally, lips pulling into a warm smile, his eyes damp with thanks and relief, "Wow!"
She smiled and blushed. He released her wrist and she placed his arm back on the gurney. His smile broadened, her blush deepened until finally she turned away. As she moved on to the fallen EMT, she keyed the emergency code on her collapsed tablet. She assumed someone else had already done the same, but it never hurt to be sure.
"...no way! Supergirl's thinner... and blonde." a young girl's voice came from outside Anne's field of vision. She turned and saw a boy and girl of about six years old, clutched in their frightened mother's arms. The mother stared at Anne with a sort of bemused horror along with everyone else, but the boy replied. "Well, she's not Spiderman, that's a boy!"
"Maybe it's the Incrangible Hulk?" The girl offered reasonably, but the boy made a few clicks on his tablet and presented it to the girl. "Nope, green. See?" He said decisively. Mom made no moves, thought no thoughts.
"Maybe she's a new one?" The girl said, turning to look at Anne again.
"A new one." the boy said, awe in his voice. They both stared and nodded.
"Hmm," Anne said, nodding, "a new one."
Insight
Ping woke with a start and a massive headache. His dreams were getting weirder, that