“Get everyone into the garden!” I yelled to Chuck. It might be walled, but it was outside, and there had to be a door somewhere for lawn maintenance that we could use to escape. Then again, it was probably locked to keep the residents from wandering off.
“You get the nurse. I’ll get Thompson,” Chuck ordered. We sucked in deep breaths of air, then charged back into the activity room. The smoke was thick enough that it was like fighting my way through heavy fog and it hurt to breathe. I found Judy slumped over Mr. Thompson, grabbed her by her wrists, and yanked her toward the garden with all my might. It wasn’t gentle, but it beat burning to death.
Chuck was right behind me, carrying Old Man Thompson in his arms. We reached the far wall of the garden and looked back toward the nursing home. Most of the roof was on fire, and it looked like it could collapse at any moment.
“There’s a door!” I said, pointing farther down the wall. Chuck pointed his gun at the lock and fired. The door swung open into the parking lot, which was starting to fill with emergency vehicles. Just as Chuck fired, the roof’s main beams snapped with a crack as loud as gunfire, and the whole thing collapsed inward with a rush of flames and embers.
Chuck shouldered Old Man Thompson’s limp form, and I had my shoulder under Judy’s arm, dragging her with all my might.
Chuck and I made our way halfway across the parking lot before we collapsed. Firefighters rushed past with their hoses, but it was too late. Palmetto Meadows was gone. I dropped to the ground, sobbing beside Judy who was scratched and cut from having been dragged halfway across an asphalt parking lot. But she was alive, dammit. And so was I.
I looked for Chuck. He was doing CPR on Mr. Thompson, but I had the sinking feeling that it was too late. Paramedics ran toward us, shouting, but I was too hazy to understand what they were saying. One of them pressed an oxygen mask over my face and tried to make me lie down, but I fought him off, then pulled Baxter from my bag. He was struggling to breathe, and before the EMT could stop me, I tore off my mask and put it over the dog’s face. The paramedic didn’t argue, he just got another mask for me, while another member of his team took care of Judy. A paramedic eased Chuck away from Thompson and got him a mask, while two more took over caring for Thompson, giving it their best shot.
Baxter coughed and snuffled, but he was breathing more easily, and I hugged him close. The paramedics loaded Judy onto a cart and put her in an ambulance.
Another piece of the roof collapsed, and in the chaos, Chuck managed to get to his feet and throw his backpack with all of our weapons into his car before anyone noticed. Thank God: if someone official had glimpsed even half of what was in there, we’d be headed to prison before dinnertime.
Chuck refused treatment, but the cut on my arm was bad enough that I knew I was going to need stitches. Antibiotics, too, although whether they would be good against Nephilim taint, I wasn’t sure. If they weren’t, Mrs. Teller and Dr. Zeigler could fix me up. I was groggy and sore, bruised from head to toe, and my lungs felt like they were on fire, but all I could do was hug Baxter and marvel that we were still alive.
After I could talk, I tugged on the sleeve of the EMT who was giving me oxygen. “What about the others?” I rasped. “The patients?”
He looked away. “I’m sorry. You four are the only ones who made it out.”
THE DRUGS THEY gave me in the hospital knocked me out while they stitched up my arm and sent me into a deep, dreamless sleep. When I woke up the late afternoon sun streamed through the window, and Teag sat next to my bed.
“How –” I started to ask, but my throat was too raw to finish. Teag helped me sit up enough to drink from the glass of water by the bedside.
“I hear things,” he shrugged. Then again, it would be like Teag to have his computer to pop up an alert if I ever get admitted to the ER.