Torin (Hope City #9) - Maryann Jordan Page 0,59

out of their protective stances while others ran toward the sidewalks and some running toward her.

Torin. Her eyes widened, and jerking her head around, she tried to find him. Caitlyn! Oh, Christ! She had no idea which way to look. She managed to push herself to a wobbly stance and viewed the destruction toward the side of the street. He’d been over there. Why was he over there? Her darting gaze landed on something yellow on the pavement, and it took a few seconds to discern what she was looking at. Bananas… he went to get bananas. Remembering Caitlyn was behind her, she twisted around, almost falling over in the process, but only saw runners scattering in that direction. Please, God, let her be okay.

Knowing he would have been closest to the blast, she staggered in the direction she’d last seen him. Several people tried to call out for her to leave, but she pushed forward. The sirens were getting closer, but pandemonium was reigning as runners and spectators tried to assist those injured.

“Torin.” She tried to call out, but after running almost twenty miles, the word was barely a croak. Blood pooled on the street as the injured lay screaming… or silent. She knew she needed to assist, but cold numbness ran in her blood.

Her gaze landed on a man still lying on the pavement, a sleeve of tattoos covering his arm. Torin.

He wasn’t moving.

“No,” she whispered, forcing her aching legs forward. Reaching him, she dropped to his side and gently rolled him to his back. His leg was obviously broken, twisted at an odd angle. Blood covered the back of his shirt, and his arms and legs were marred with abrasions.

She stared, eyes unblinking as the horror washed over her, drowning her in the murky waters where past and present collided. Pulling him into her arms, she cradled his body, tears now falling freely as she slipped into the darkness.

She lost all sense of time as the world moved around her, but her universe consisted only of the bloody man in her arms. Wailing, tears ran unheeded down her face. At some point, she felt hands on her shoulders, and the sound of a voice cut through the cacophony in her head.

“Miss, miss. We need to get to him.”

She clutched him tighter, crying, “No, not again, no!”

“Miss, let us help him.”

The words slowly wormed into her consciousness, and she opened her eyes to see two men kneeling on the other side of Torin. Both wore bright yellow jackets with the word “Medic” emblazoned on the front.

“We’ve got to get him onto a stretcher and to the hospital, Miss.”

She stared at them, hearing their words but not able to take them in immediately. Hospital? Looking down, she saw Torin’s chest rising and falling, and reality slammed into her. Oh, Christ! He’s alive! Only then could she allow them to pull him from her arms. She scrambled to her feet as they maneuvered him onto a stretcher. Renewed with a sense of purpose mixed with desperation, she clung to his hand. “Torin, Torin.” Her ears were still ringing, making her voice a stranger to her own hearing. She had no idea if he could hear her, and if he could, if he would be able to recognize her voice.

One of the medics turned to her, his gaze moving from head to toe and back again. “Miss, stay here and someone will check you out.”

“No, I’m fine. I want to go with him.”

“I’m afraid that’s not possible. We’re already moving two patients at a time in the ambulances that can get through right now. He’s going to go to Hope City General Hospital. You can meet him there.” His gaze moved over her face, anguish in his eyes. Reaching into his pack, he grabbed a roll of gauze and handed it to her. “Here, use this, and someone else will be here in just a moment.”

They started to roll him away, but she grabbed Torin’s hand and bent low. Placing her mouth next to his ear, she said, “Don’t you give up, Torin. Don’t you leave me! Please, God, don’t leave me.”

That was all she had time to say before they rolled him past the barrier beyond the other people all around. She stared until she could no longer see him, tears still streaming down her face. I need to get to the hospital. The area was a mob scene, but as she looked around, the mental fog continued to lift