The Host_ A Novel - Stephenie Meyer [202]
“I’m really okay,” I told Ian, my voice bouncing with Jared’s movement.
Uphill again, a steady jog despite my weight. I could hear the others running with us.
I knew when we were through to the main cavern-the angry hiss of voices swelled around us, turning into a clamor of sound.
“Out of my way,” Jared roared over their voices. “Is Doc with Jamie?”
I couldn’t make out the answer. Jared could have put me down, but he was in too much of a hurry to pause for that second.
The angry voices echoed behind us, the sound constricting as we entered the smaller tunnel. I could feel where we were now, follow the turns in my head as we raced through the junction to the third sleeping hall. I could almost count the doors as they passed me invisibly.
Jared jerked to a halt and let the sudden stop slide me down from his shoulder. My feet hit the floor. He ripped the blindfold from my eyes.
Our room was lit by several of the dim blue lanterns. Doc was standing rigidly, as if he’d just sprung to his feet. Kneeling beside him, her hand still holding a wet cloth to Jamie’s forehead, was Sharon. Her face was almost unrecognizable, it was so contorted with fury. Maggie was struggling to her feet on Jamie’s other side.
Jamie still lay limp and red, eyes closed, his chest barely moving to pull in air.
“You!” Sharon spit, and then she launched herself from her crouch. Like a cat, she sprang at Jared, nails reaching for his face.
Jared caught her hands and twisted her away from him, pulling her arms behind her back.
Maggie looked as if she was about to join her daughter, but Jeb stepped around the struggling Sharon and Jared to stand toe-to-toe with her.
“Let her go!” Doc cried.
Jared ignored him. “Wanda-heal him!”
Doc moved to put himself between Jamie and me.
“Doc,” I choked. The violence in the room, swirling around Jamie’s still form, scared me. “I need your help. Please. For Jamie.”
Doc didn’t move, his eyes on Sharon and Jared.
“C’mon, Doc,” Ian said. The little room was too crowded, claustrophobic, as Ian came to stand with his hand on my shoulder. “You gonna let the kid die for your pride?”
“It’s not pride. You don’t know what these foreign substances will do to him!”
“He can’t get much worse, can he?”
“Doc,” I said. “Look at my face.”
Doc wasn’t the only one who responded to my words. Jeb, Ian, and even Maggie looked and then did a double take. Maggie glanced away quickly, angry that she’d betrayed any interest.
“How?” Doc demanded.
“I’ll show you. Please. Jamie doesn’t need to suffer.”
Doc hesitated, staring at my face, and then let out a big sigh. “Ian’s right-he can’t get much worse. If this kills him…” He shrugged, and his shoulders slumped. He took a step back.
“No,” Sharon cried.
No one paid any attention to her.
I knelt beside Jamie, yanking the backpack off my shoulders and tugging it open. I fumbled until I found the No Pain. A bright light switched on beside me, pointed at Jamie’s face.
“Water, Ian?”
I twisted the lid open and pinched out one of the little tissue squares. When I pulled Jamie’s chin down, his skin burned my hand. I laid the square on his tongue and then held out my hand without looking up. Ian placed the bowl of water in it.
Carefully, I dripped enough water into his mouth to wash the medicine down his throat. The sound of his swallow was dry and painful.
I searched frantically for the thinner spray bottle. When I found it, I had the lid off and the mist sprayed into the air above him in one fast movement. I waited, watching his chest until he inhaled.
I touched his face, and it was so hot! I scrambled for the Cool, praying it would be easy to use. The lid screwed off, and I found that the cylinder was full of more tissue squares, light blue this time. I breathed a sigh of relief and placed one on Jamie’s tongue. I picked up the bowl again and dribbled another mouthful of water through his parched lips.
His swallow was quicker this time, less strained.
Another hand touched Jamie’s face. I recognized Doc’s long bony fingers.
“Doc, do you have a sharp knife?”
“I have a scalpel.